Hello Roehampton,

My name is Matthew Sterritt. I am a second-year business management and entrepreneurship student, and I am running for Southlands Deputy President. When I moved to Roehampton from Belfast, Northern Ireland, I was taken by surprise by the beauty of our campus and how welcoming the people were. However, as the year went on I realised there was, and still is, a lot of problems occurring behind closed doors that urgently needed to be fixed. I want to be the student voice for Southlands, making sure we all have a say in how our campus is run.

My Motivation:

Last year myself and a lot of other students on campus had continuous issues with accommodation and security, making us feel as though our voices weren’t being heard nor appreciated. There are too many stories of showers causing rooms to flood, issues with mould and incidents where students have felt unsafe or threatened on campus. This is no way for anyone to live and with the amount of money we are all paying to be here, there needs to be change.

If I am elected to represent you as Deputy President of Southlands, I will make sure that the issues below are addressed.

Security.  Security is my top priority. In the past, students have complained about on-campus security not being available when needed or showing no interest in their job. People are still not satisfied with the quality of security they receive, which is simply unacceptable. If elected, it will be my priority to meet with the security supervisors on a regular basis to discuss concerns and thus ensure every student on campus feels safe and secure in their home.

Accommodation. Upon moving into our accommodations, we were promised our rooms would be ready, yet just like last year and the year before students continue to have problems with rooms. I will push to make sure every student in Southlands has their room to an acceptable living standard and will support you in your claims to ensure you are compensated adequately if your room is not satisfactory.

Southlands Gate. We all have had the issue of returning to campus and having to walk up to the security gate as the Southlands gate is locked. I want to look at extending the opening times for the gate thereby making it more accessible to on-campus students.

Southlands Pond. Currently the Southlands Pond is over-grown, covered in algae and potentially harming the wildlife living there – it is in urgent need of addressing and I plan to start cleaning plans as soon as possible.

Community. To celebrate the diversity of our student body, I plan to run events raising awareness on important cultural events and educating the community to respect each other’s backgrounds and beliefs. 

I would like to thank you for your time reading my manifesto and I hope that I can count on your support! If you have any questions or ideas you would like to share, don’t hesitate to send me an email. sterritm@roehampton.ac.uk