Hello, I am Oscar Blake, a student of BA (Hons) Economics, hoping to be your next Student President!

I shall outline most of my major policies and potential university improvements below; however, in short, I am focused on activism and equality within and surrounding UWE.

Policies:

1. Lobby the University to introduce a mandated Reading Week / Rest Week in at least Semester One, to allow students (and staff) to recover, catch up on work, or simply to take a break, which will likely improve student satisfaction and attendance rates.

2. Help introduce a near-complete ban of all staff using Generative AI or LLMs (such as ChatGPT) in any format (unless strictly necessary) to keep a consistent, human standard for higher-level education. This would also improve the universities' aim to be more eco-friendly.

3. Aim to create a fairer and more equitable distribution of accommodation pricing so students are not paying more/less for essentially the same room.

4.  Create connections with city bus companies (such as FirstBus) and request the creation of cheaper student bus pricing / passes to and from the city centre.

5. Further boycott of corporations/firms complicit in global issues, such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, etc. (who donate to or support Israeli occupation), alongside opportunities for involvement in organised student action.

6. Improve visibility of mental health services and introduce attendance assistance programs/reward schemes.

7. Introduction of student poll boards, which are weekly student prompts such as “What is your favourite song this week?” or “What is your favourite part of the campus?” as a fun way to improve community interaction, and occasionally to collect student opinions on certain topics.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my policies!
Let's make a better university for everyone!