Manya Ranganathan

From being confused and lonely in a new town, to becoming a confident girl perusing her dreams with great friends, I have loved my journey in Belfast so far.

Hello, my name is Manya Ranganathan, and I am a first year Medical student from India. I have been brought up in a country where diversity is our strongest pursuit. From early years, the spirit of brotherhood has been inculcated in me. I have been taught to look at people for the person they are and not let their cultural background cloud my judgement. This is the atmosphere of inclusivity I wish to create at Queen’s. My country has a motto of ‘Unity in Diversity’. I want every student to be able to identify with this and feel as if they are part of the team because I strongly believe that we can make our culturally vibrant student body the pride of our university.

My main aim as your Student officer would be to make each and every student’s voice be heard. I will strive to ensure that I create a safe space for every student to express their opinions and concerns. At the same time, I will be your go-to solution person.

I have been fortunate enough to get a warm welcome in Belfast and I aim to ensure that all other students do too. I want to run a campaign for zero tolerance towards discrimination. I believe every religion, race, gender, ethnicity, and all personal preferences deserve respect. I believe every person deserves respect. I would promote more multi-faith rooms around campus, bilingual signage, using the correct pronouns especially for non-binary genders, inclusion of cultural competence and trans–inclusion in all curriculums, making the campus more accessible and add better support for student parents. I think it would be beneficial to have facilities for day-care for children in the Students’ Union and I would work to get it done. I believe the best way to eliminate any existing discriminatory practices is to make every case be heard and resolved. For that I will create a new anonymous system to report any such incident.

As an International student I understand the struggles of moving away from home and leaving your familial support and safety net behind. I want every student to have a similar support system for them away from home. I will motivate all students to be actively involved in the Union and ensure you always have a listening ear. I plan on organising more inter-society events for everyone to participate in and intermingle. As part of this initiative, it would be my priority to celebrate every person’s background. Every festival would be celebrated with equal enthusiasm and zeal. I also want to organise a pride parade which every student is a part of and where everyone is free to express themselves.

Lastly, I want to run a campaign to reduce the fee disparity for International students. In some courses, we don’t even have scholarship options and I wish to propose a referendum for the same. I want every student to have equal opportunities, and this is the first step towards it.

I have always been an active part of my school’s Student council. I am also a Global Student ambassador for the University. I have immense experience as a Student representative to fulfil the duties of this role. As an International student, I will always stand in support of my peers and all other student groups that feel underrepresented.

I would be honoured to be your representative!

To see all the candidates running, visit the Queen’s SU website

SU23 - Manya Ranganathan for Equality and Diversity officer