By Lola Bailey
The annual student leadership elections are fast approaching at De Montfort University (DMU) with nominations already open for people to put themselves forward for roles.
Each year, the De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU) gets students involved in important roles such as Union Development Executive, Academic Executive, Equality & Diversity Executive, Opportunities & Engagement Executive Officer and Welfare Executive Officer.
This year the roles are changing to Student Voice Leaders, Liberation Officers, Faculty Lead Representative and Society Committee Members, with nominations for the elections staying open until February 17.
DMU’s Welfare Executive Officer, Fluffy Adewola, said: “This is my second year as an officer, and so that means the students have had the opportunity to vote for me twice now. The first time I wanted to become an officer was because of my empathy, if I may say.
“I’ve volunteered before in the past for care homes, offering mental health support. I’ve worked for Cancer Research UK, United Nations women, volunteering. So when I saw this opportunity and my role, welfare officer, I felt that was something I was really passionate about.
“I was like, okay. I could just do something for the students too.”
She is originally from Nigeria, and said this role has helped her with her communication skills and fostered a connection with the community as she took a break during her studies and forgot what it was like to be a student and have the support a student might need.
Fluffy has created campaigns such as a sexual harassment campaign and also the DSU Pantry.
“I currently lead on a project, which is the DSU Pantry that the university just approved on cost of living affecting students, which means we will soon have a pantry for the students,” she said. “They can come in and get whatever they need from the pantry.”
A sexual harassment campaign will take place on April 2 as that will be Sexual Assault Awareness month.
“According to the Office for Students, there’s an increase in sexual harassment across campuses in the United Kingdom.” Fluffy said. “So that also made me aware that we need to do something like this. We need students to be aware of these things.”
The DSU roles can be for anyone. Hussain Mahetar, the academic representation coordinator, said: “Any student who feels that they can recognise student issues or make a big or best change across the university, they should nominate themselves. Because, it’s a really, really good thing for them to actually progress with whatever they wanna progress within their careers.”
When Fluffy was asked why students should nominate themselves, she said: “For my role in particular, why I would encourage somebody to put themselves forward is because this particular role is really important.
“This particular role is very important because you get to advocate as a student, not just for yourself, but for other students. Inclusion, diversity, equality is a very big deal. Wellbeing is important. Your mental health is important. We need students to advocate, to put themselves forward to be champions for change.
“The initiatives I’m working on, I would like that somebody continues those changes, like, those positive changes so that it doesn’t just help you. It helps a large number of students, and you don’t know who you might be impacting.”
