SU21 - Chloe Ferguson for Campaigns & Engagement Officer

Hi folks, I’m Chloe Ferguson, and I am rerunning to be your Campaigns and Engagement Officer.

I’m rerunning on a platform of community, change and care. Your input matters, and your voice should be valued, both in the classrooms of your university and with the decision makers at Stormont.

Student life has continually been scapegoated as the problem during this pandemic - by the media and politicians, but also by our university. There’s a constant narrative that you deserve less help and more punishment. That’s simply not true. Our collective determination has pushed our needs to the top of agendas, but you shouldn’t have to fight so hard to get the bare minimum.

I want to continue amplifying the Student Voice, ensuring it is represented both internally and externally to the university, empowered to take lead and make change where you think it is needed.

Whilst the Student Voice stands together, the issues impacting it are varied and numerous. It is crucial we consider student individuality to ensure no one is left behind. Giving me your vote is voting for radical structural change which values individual needs, not just convenience.

The way we currently build community and engagement needs reset. In the midst of a mental health crisis, key services are at a breaking point and continuing down the path of shoehorning students into one prescribed version of being is only going to worsen that. There’s no one way of being a student, so why do we keep trying to give singular solutions to the issues at hand?

If elected, I will establish joint student-staff engagement networks at a school level, focused on nurturing learning and social communities in and outside of the classroom. By bringing together different contributors to the student experience such as academic society members and peer mentors we can collaboratively and creatively think about individual school needs in terms of both teaching methods and social events. This will ensure opportunities to engage for all.  

The backbone of the student experience during the pandemic have been our student leaders. This doesn’t just mean the Student Officer Team or Councillors, this means every clubs and society committee member, every activist, every course representative. The student volunteers on the ground, experiencing all the highs and lows of university life, giving up their time to improve your experience. These brilliant people need more say in our decision making processes, and if elected, increasing their resources with engagement and promotion tools, and the ability to feed in on the wider SU’s direction will be prioritised.  So many students are involved in student life, but right now, the pathway to voicing opinions and creating change is not clear or accessible.

In order to facilitate the change students want, I will implement a Campaign Development Plan to empower your voice on campaigns you want to lead. This includes a Campaign Resources Hub on the QUBSU website, training sessions and an Activism Fund. Covid-19 has highlighted the power of collective student action, and we must embed a Students’ Deserve Better style campaign group as a permanent fixture within the Students’ Union. 

The third element of my platform hinges on care. This is care for our isolated students, for our international students and for our student workers. If elected I will work to improve support and feedback structures for different groups. For example, developing an International Students’ Network and Online Hub, and coordinating an information campaign informing student workers on their rights. Additionally, creating a charter to hold Queen’s and local businesses to a high standard of support for their staff.

If elected, I won’t just listen to your voice passively, but actively bring it with me, normalising its presence, rather than an opt in, in every room and Teams call that comes our way.

A Student Officer’s job isn’t always to be the voice shouting into the megaphone, but instead, acting as the megaphone itself, ensuring you have the right tools and support to be heard.

I would love to continue representing your interests in the SU, so #CountonChloe with your #1 vote for Campaigns and Engagement on March 1 to 4, for a student voice embedded in community, change and care.

To see all the candidates running for this position, visit the QUB SU Website.