With voting for the Kent Leadership Elections 2014 opening tomorrow, hustings have been taking place over the past few days for the candidates.
As part of The Medwire team,I ventured down to Canterbury to interview some of the candidates and listen to what they had to say on Canterbury Question Time.
University politics was not something I had a lot of knowledge about before I arrived in Medway and if I’m honest, I didn’t really understand it in first year either. But the more involved in University life I have become, the more I understand how important these officers are for change. Afterall, this year’s cohort have done a brilliant job and they have the results to prove it.
However, this time of year makes me feel incredibly defensive and protective over the Medway Campus. We are a secondary campus and although there are other universities here too, we are all Kent students.
No matter what University you go to, you want the best for it and you want to get the best out of it; social life, societies..oh, and a degree.
I want the best for Kent University too, but I also want the best for Medway and the students that study here. What struck me the most when speaking to some candidates wasn’t that they didn’t care about Medway, they all said they did, it was that they didn’t know a lot about it.
I accept that Medway is a much smaller campus and doesn’t make up a majority of the voters that will be choosing who they want to represent them come 1pm tomorrow. But we’re still students here and we still matter.
There are already a number of great schemes that have been brought in to strengthen the links between the campuses, and also enhance the student experience in Medway. There is the shuttle bus to Canterbury, Medway activities and Team Medway that have all contributed towards improving life at the Medway Campus. And I really hope that whoever takes on the leadership roles for whichever position has the passion to take these improvements even further. But first they need to know about what the students want, what they already enjoy about the campus and what they want to change.
I have lived in Medway for 18 months so maybe I’m biased but I have grown to love it. In terms of the area, Medway might be one of the most deprived in Britain but I would argue that the University experience here isn’t. If you take the opportunities that are offered and make the most of them then Medway is a great place to study. It may be different and of course there are things that can be improved but we get along just fine.
I really hope that those studying in Medway vote tomorrow because it is a vote for Kent students. All of them. Lobbying those at Kent Union for what we want on the Medway Campus and for the University in general will be much more effective if the Kent students studying at Medway are actively involved in the voting process. That way, these officers will be more accountable to us and no matter what they do or do not know about Medway now, they will have to find out.
So to all those at Medway, VOTE. You are a Kent student too. And to those students at the other Universities on the Medway campus, I would say the same thing about your university elections. It’s the only way.