SU Executive Election: “I’ve been here for six years – I’ve seen a lot of things!”
Running for President of the Students’ Union (SU) Executive Election is MSc Mechanical Engineering student, Shahbaaz Kiani.
“I’ve been here for six years now – I’ve seen a lot of things!
“Obviously things have changed either for better or for worst, but I want to be the person that can help us get back to some kind of normal stage.”
Kiani is keen to get going with lots of changes and campaigns planned. One of his main campaigns is spreading more awareness about sober socials.
He wants to get sober socials “more integrated, especially since Fresher’s week starts early.
“There is a big drinking culture with sports societies, and from playing volleyball, I can see students that don’t drink feel left out.
“A lot of my friends are non-drinking as well, and they struggle to find friends sometimes.”
Another point on his manifesto is that communication has become harder since the pandemic, with many students not having enough contact hours.
“For me, personally, I only get one hour of contact time, per module. That is not enough, especially with the situation now.”
Kiani wants to change this and work closely with the SU to express and solve concerns University of Leicester students have.
“As I have been here for six years, I saw how the university was before. I want to keep some things that have changed, like having the option to join your lectures online. I think this works.
Optimistically, Kiani says, “I think everything on the manifesto is achievable, and at least half of it can be done quite quickly.”
In addition to his detailed manifesto, Kiani highlighted other issues he wants to address, such as bringing more awareness to men’s mental health. He plans to do this by building upon the current Wellbeing Officer’s campaign work.
From experience at work, he has always been a natural leader, stating: “everywhere I’ve worked, I’ve always somehow managed to work closely with the managers to help change the situations.
“It makes work overall easier for people around me, just by introducing simple new things, it’s not even that complicated.”
Since he joined the University six years ago, he has represented students in a variety of roles. He was elected as vice-president of the Pakistani society and served on the committees of multiple societies such as volleyball and the art society.
Ultimately Kiani believes he’s the right man for president and can “help the university get back to some kind of normal.”
All candidate manifestos can be read here.
Vote on the SU website here. Voting closes at 12pm on Friday 11th March 2022.
This article is part of a series of articles covering the SU Executive Election. You can view all articles here.
Emily Herbert is a second-year student of Journalism at the University of Leicester, with further aspirations of pursuing a career in TV.
BA Journalism at University of Leicester
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