Harvey Penycate-Smith - Vice President Communities

About Me

I'm currently President of our Circus Society (formerly the VP for three years) and Welfare Officer for Digital Art and Game Dev. I have also been the Halo rep for SVGE, and have been VP/Welfare of a currently unaffiliated bouldering society under ECSS.

I've led a "congress of small societies", where committees of smaller societies join to discuss their needs and organise collaborations.

My Promise

If elected, I will put one idea first - University is a place to have fun, with countless opportunities to try new exciting things, and to enjoy your youth before the world takes it from you. 

That means it is essential that we enable all students to participate in as many activities as possible, from the most popular societies, to the smallest and most niche. Everyone deserves a chance to follow their interests, practise their hobbies, and find new ones too.

That's why small societies are my number one - I want to protect those we already have, resurrect those we lost, and foster those that want to start. 

One thing that sets us apart as a student's union compared to other universities is our range of societies, and that's something I want us to always maintain, always protect, and always expand. No matter what it is you do, who you are, or what you care about - you will find community here.

It is through these groups that I've met the friends I treasure to this day. We owe that chance to every student, at the very least.

In technical terms, I want to lobby the university to move away from the idea that societies must be self-sufficient in funding, and that there could be some minimum membership a society must meet. I will also push to increase the transparency of the grant allocation process, to address the disparity students have observed and at the very least communicate the full process. We've made strides, but I think we can still do better.

Furthermore, I want to continue Sparkle's excellent work in social media outreach, providing every society the chance for promotion. 

I will also work to organise collaboration events between societies, to give members of each chances to try new things and meet new friends.

Finally, I want to look for more opportunities for student societies to collaborate with the local community. For example, my Circus Society recently ran a skills workshop for the local climbing gym. These are sources of revenue for societies, and can be an excellent way to build a strong community in the city itself, to foster solidarity between students and residents.

As an extra point, I am firmly anti-AI and will work strongly to discourage the use of any and all AI generated content for SUSU and the wider University.

I'm up against a word count here, so please ask me some questions if you want to know more about me and what I stand for!