By Sharlotte Thou
2021 Science Society President Su-En Hia (she/her) has announced she will run for Clubs Officer in the 2021 ANUSA election.
Hia’s experience in the Science Society executive since 2019, namely holding the General Representative, Social Officer, Vice President and President roles, has given her a “unique insight into how clubs should best be supported”.
Hia believes clubs are “an underutilised part of the ANU” and that it is “crucial” to promote and support them effectively to facilitate ANU’s thriving social scene.
Hia’s policy broadly aims to bring “clubs to the forefront of the ANU social scene”. She plans to achieve this by strengthening support, training and funding in order to increase the number of events run throughout the year.
Further, she hopes to increase club visibility by “providing a weekly or fortnightly calendar with club and department events” as well as by ensuring “clear and consistent” communication to guarantee Market Day runs smoothly.
She aims to have clubs run their own events during O-Week and Bush Week, which will prevent them from “having to fight for space and student engagement”. Hia also said she will work to increase club engagement by communicating with the social committee as well as the individual clubs to ensure they have sufficient support to run these events. She states this will “lead to more engagement within the student community, along with more publicity for clubs”.
Under her policies, Hia affirms that clubs will gain and retain more members, further increasing the number of social events.
Further, she expressed interest in implementing free and subsidised upskilling programs, such as RSA and First Aid training. These programs would be aimed at all ANU students, but particularly at club executives to aid in the organisation of large events. She also is interested in collaborating with the ANUSA Vice-President and Welfare Officer to run barista training courses that may be useful for job seekers.
Another of Hia’s goals is to increase event accessibility. She hopes to give clubs increased visibility on campus through better communication and consultation hours and the running of online events. In addition, she hopes to create a grant for equity funding so clubs can afford equity tickets. If elected, Hia noted that she will provide accessibility training to club executives and work with the Disabilities Department to ensure that events – in particular large ones such as Market Day – are accessible.
Hia has no political affiliations.
Graphics by Joseph Oh
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