Vote for Maya

Congratulations to every one who was elected for the 2020-2021 Student Union. I know it's a really critical period for our SU to work and unite and support students with UCU strikes, Covid-19 and the uncertainty of the future of higher education. Everyone who ran had such strong goals and ambitions for their respective roles and it was really inspiring to watch, even as a prospective candidate myself.

Want everyone to know who helped me with my campaign that I'm so grateful and moved by your efforts to help me, even overseas and with all the stressful stuff that's going on right now. Thank you to the 59 people who voted for me, it means a lot.

Congratulations to Yasmin on becoming the next Co-President Welfare and Campaigns, you ran a fierce campaign and I wish you the best of luck.

✨🙏🥰

请为我投票 🌟🗳️💫

(谢谢胤超 💜🙏)

🗳 Voting opens at 10am Thursday 19th March 2020 🗳

👩🏼‍💻soasunion.org/elections

Please vote for me ✨💜

Thank you 🙏

✨✨✨✨✨TLDR; Please vote for me in the SU Elections ✨✨✨✨✨

Online Hustings Answers

1 - Why are you the best candidate for this position?

💜I joined SOAS in September 2019, I found that my experience as a postgraduate in London was much different to working in London and studying elsewhere. The SOAS administration was often disorganised, I’d often thought about dropping out due to the unhappiness that I’d felt. As the Co-President Welfare and Campaigns, I am able to enact much of these changes that would really impact the student’s wellbeing. I have many achievable goals to enhance the satisfaction of many students from different backgrounds and am able to draw upon years of SU experience; namely Women’s Officer 2017 and FemSoc President 2015.

2 - How do you see your role interacting with: a) other full-time and part-time officers, and b) permanent SU staff?

⚡️Student welfare is a priority for all SU staff and any goals that other candidates have put forward will be best achieved through the collaboration of other officers. In relation to my own goals, I hope to work particularly closely with those with equality and liberation roles. With joint efforts from myself and other officers, I hope to improve student engagement, particularly those who don’t understand what the SU is or why it is there.

3 - What makes SOAS SU different from other Students’ Unions? (Don’t take this question too seriously, let’s have a bit of fun!)

🌪SOAS SU really engages with the creative side of students who feel they can express themselves freely. SOAS itself holds so many diverse and exciting courses that it’s only natural that our students are just as enthusiastic and inspired. We even have a nap society. 😴

Part 2 - Welfare & Campaigns only (no word limit)

1 - This role has a broad portfolio attached to it and, while both areas are highly interlinked, they can also be understood in different ways. How do you understand “Welfare” and what are your priorities in regards to that part of your role?

✨Welfare isn’t just about physical or mental health of students but it’s also about their safety. Part of that is ensuring that they feel secure on campus; race, religion, sexuality/gender, special assistance socio-economic status which I feel that SOAS tackles, for the most part, efficiently. However, it’s also about accommodation, living environments, social circles and even just knowing that you have support when you’re a student at SOAS. My priorities in this area are to ensure clean, safe spaces, support students in times of need and providing students with the tools they need to look after their physical and mental health.

2 - SOAS SU supports many student-led campaigns, some of which have more support than others. How do you see yourself promoting and encouraging engagement with our campaigns, while navigating different priorities within the student body?

🤛SOAS SU’s student-led campaigns are integral to the SOAS experience and while the SU may have priorities within the student body, the SU’s priority and certainly my priority is the students. Bringing the focus back to student engagement, I think it’s important that the student body knows who their officers are. In my experience, it is only the existing engaged students who are involved with SU campaigns and for me, wider outreach to the student-body will reflect that the SU does not just represent the students but it is also there to support them and any activity they may pursue.

🗣 In terms of campaigns themselves, I really want to empower students to empower themselves and other students, ensuring that the SU is student-driven is such a top priority for me. Especially with such universal campaigns that everyone can get behind such as voter registration and blood donations, it is my goal to have top student engagement.

💪I have been a strong ally of the UCU, and I really hope that as a prospective SU Officer, I can strengthen relations between staff and students, particularly in the period of uncertainty with strikes and the concerns about the future of education. Campaigning for things such as graduate teaching assistants and proper contracted work is definitely something I’d like to work on. Particularly as many of my points of contacts for support within the University are also on the temporary contracts which has impacted on not only mine, but many students wellbeing and caused much unnecessary stress.

3 - SOAS SU’s engagement with the School can sometimes be helpful and sometimes be limiting. With the understanding of the SU needing to maintain a relationship with SOAS management and its Director in order to get demands met, how would you approach that relationship?

⚡️With SU and SOAS Management meetings, any points from the SU directors should be realistic and achievable. Through experience, vague and long-winded answers often lead to bad projects, therefore each meeting with Management should be structured, organised and ensure that each person is accountable.

⚡️Along with student engagement, I’d ensure that student leaders participate in these meetings so that they can have first-hand experience and raise their own questions and further ensure that the SU is for the students and have the option to stand-in temporarily in cases I couldn’t make it but still want to be up to speed.

⚡️Relationships work both way, if we needed Management to help us, I would ask what their needs were in terms of student engagement and work alongside them if we could make their goals possible and tangible. Where the SU has a better reach with students, the relationship can only be positive if it’s mutually beneficial.

If you want a distraction from Boris, please watch my cringey video and consider voting for me in the SU Election

A vote for me is a vote for an SU that cares ❤️

Thanks 💜

Co-President Welfare & Campaigns: Maya Maya is running to be your Co-President Welfare & Campaigns!

I haven't played piano in quite a while so sorry for the shakey Coldplay cover.

Didn't realise my friend was filming, bless and thank you Zeger. 🙏

This was in the SU and it would be my priority to ensure that the SU is not only a safe and physical space where all students feel at home, but it is important to me that our SU social spaces are clean, friendly and the food doesn't cost more than your daily commute into London.

It would also be nice to get the piano tuned but baby steps right?

Please vote for me, co-President Welfare and Campaigns 🙏 Thanks so much

My manifesto :)