Mark Griffin, Manifesto
Hi I’m Mark Griffin and I want to be your next Student President!
I am 4th Year DMD student from Castletroy in Limerick. I have lived in Castletroy my whole life and my brothers have all went to UL before me. I want to make a positive change to every aspect of the college life. This ranges from events, gym facilities, clubs and societies, transport, post grad students and life after college and facilities like the gym and the services we use like Brightspace. I have listed the points below that I will work tirelessly on so that when I leave next year UL will be in a better place than it was when I started my presidency. I also want to implement plans presidents so that the progress made in my term is not lost.
Main points – Manifesto
EVENTS
More inclusive events, like Ag week. International days, trip to ploughing championships.
Restructuring of the clubs and societies. I want the voices of clubs and societies to be heard. The structure of the clubs and societies is outdated and unfair. Many clubs and societies have no funding including the DJ society to which I am a part of.
I want there to be ongoing input from students on what events are going on and what events the students want to see. I know myself I am big fan of music and sports, but I know that I am only a small minority of the UL population and the broader the suggestions the better the campus will get.
Remember ULConfessions? I want there to be a free public suggestion service for students to ask people questions about any sort of problem like what is on in stables that night or where can they find the academic services building. This will work in with my plan for a fully live timetable where it can be a one stop place for students to attend any sort of event. I want the timetable to be updated as soon as the event is announced and enable students to set reminders for future events through emails and text messages. I want to accommodate to every student in UL and I feel like some events are lost in the abyss of Instagram and facebook and it doesn’t accommodate the students who don’t follow these accounts or have accounts on these platforms. A live website accessible by all students is a lot more effective.
Facilities
Being from Limerick, I have been a member of UL Gym for the past 8 years which is pretty clear with the size of me ?? and what I have noticed is that it is too packed and the machines are always broken. I want there to be more awareness on what facilities are available and where to go as from experience I know there is an upstairs to the gym and there is also a north campus gym. I also want to lobby to get the sauna and steam rooms to be operational again as we have no update since after covid to why they aren’t operating. I also want a restructuring of memberships as they have been changed to unfreezable term memberships . Gym 101 class maybe working with students in sport science. Also a planned martial arts room was planned.
Remember UL Confessions? I want there to be a free public suggestion service for students to ask people questions about any sort of problem like what is on in stables that night or where can they find the academic services building.
A restructuring of library bollards and student card options. As mentioned above I have been a member of the UL gym for over 8 years. Through the years I have seen the entry into the gym go from a membership card to my student card to a fob on my key chain to a QR scanner on my phone. Over the years previous candidates have promised that they will work towards an online student card but I have used this desired service in UL and it is possible! I will do my best to get these services that are already operating in UL Gym and get them into the library.
Goods and Services/ After College / Post-Graduate Information
Work closely with brands to get better prices and better services on campus like sponsored events and free items.
“When Brightspace was introduced did you have a say in how it designed, did you have a say in how the library was designed” Students will have an input into the whole campus study facilities and Brightspace.
Post grads can vote. Restructuring of post grad payments lobby the government to value these students more when they are researching.
Have you thought about what you want to do after college? I want to have more support and awareness about after college programmes and grad programmes. These emails we get at 3am every night about jobs closing is NOT enough.
I didn’t get to go on Erasmus myself as I wasn’t fully motivated to as I didn’t know the support available for this. I want to have as much support and awareness to make anyone’s dreams of going on Erasmus possible.
More local student and local enterprises. I have been involved in student businesses and events planning and would love to hear what businesses and events that students run would like me to do as president to help Starbucks shouldn’t be in over small businesses. Prices for monsters and coffee etc.