Manifesto Analysis: Ailsa Martin

Athletic Union President candidate Ailsa Martin has written a concise and understandable manifesto with her vision and hopes for the coming semester, with an emphasis on her ‘protecting wednesdays’ plan, enhancing the availability of resources, and reviewing the current structures of sports volunteer programs. As the only candidate for this position, Martin’s manifesto briefly reflects her goals and qualifications, with little specificity on plans of action to achieve such goals.

Widening Participation

For example, in her ‘Protecting Wednesday’ plan, she hopes to free Wednesday afternoons from academic commitments for all students, so students can miss less and be more active. She says she will also “work to” create a schedule of recreational sports for students that are not paying members.

Membership Fees

Increased Gym and Sports membership fees have been a contentious issue within Saint Sports in recent years, and previous Athletic Union President, Jess Smith, defended these reforms. Despite these exciting and likely popular goals for the coming semester, Martin neglects to mention this ongoing issue, or how she will go about making these changes.

Support

Another one of Martin’s goals is expanding supportive resources in sports. She says she hopes to organise 2 or 3 events each semester to cover an unfocused and broad list of topics, including but not limited to: nutrition, leadership, wellbeing, psychology, diversity and inclusion.

Despite its brevity, Martin’s manifesto provides sufficient evidence for her qualification in the role, and is applaudable for its clarity. More goals reflect her slogan; “support for students, by students,” including the informative resources mentioned, as well as reviewing volunteer structures, supporting leaders in volunteering, and expanding advertising for volunteer opportunities.