I’m Jack Steele, and I’m an undergraduate running to be a representative on the SU because I care about young people. We are each different, with individual issues and concerns, and everyone deserves to have their voice heard. I am committed to fighting for everyone on campus!
Increase pastoral support for student welfare
- Impact of Covid has been colossal, with a great many young people being deprived of those essential formative years during their time as a teenage. I routinely observe the disastrous impact that isolation has had upon anxiety and depression. My aim is to support those working to relieve this burden, and help to address this consistently ignored issue.
- Tackle the growing rigidity around male mental health. Young men have inherited the belief that it’s unacceptable to feel emotionally vulnerable. This is a truly degradative reality, and I would like to work on this issue, helping other young men to see that we need to speak about our problems.
- Mental health as a whole, is desperately in need of additionally support. More than ever, students face pressure beyond what they should, and you can very easily find yourself lost amidst so much stress. I would like to work with the current on-campus groups to continue supporting the wellbeing of young people.
Support for on-campus debate
- For many young people today, it has become difficult to express their personal opinions on a range of matters, out of a fear they will be labelled ‘wrong’ and this is wholly unacceptable. As academics, we need to uphold the right of each individual to freely retain their beliefs, without trepidation. Freedom of speech is the pinnacle of academia, and a necessity for attaining compromise, and moving forward together. If elected, I will remain unflinchingly committed to the principle of free discussion, by giving support to those societies, students and communities which champion decorous debate!
- I am unashamed in my Christian beliefs, and it has helped me to understand the importance that faith can play in a young person’s life. Those young people who adhere to faith today, often find themselves marginalised or feeling alone. If elected, I would be committed to ensuring that those students of faith from all religions, would be free to practise without the fear of discrimination.
Encourage Relevant Life Skills
- University affords an immense deal of independence and responsibility to young people, and it is essential that we ensure students can navigate their way through young adolescence, in preparation for adulthood. I would like to see an increase in the availability of on-campus workshops which teach practical and paramount skills, in relation to home renting/ownership, taxes and finances, employability skills, and improving work ethic and outlook toward life.
Improve Student Finances
- We are in a cost of living crisis, and many students are struggling with the day-to-day cost of finances. Be that in affording rent, budgeting for each month or seeking to improve student loans.
- I want to work for all students to assist with the difficult circumstances which many finds themselves in, and I’m committed to sourcing out better financial solutions.