Manifesto Analysis: Lucy Brook

Director of Events and Services (DoES) candidate Ms Lucy Brook has produced a detailed and impassioned manifesto, focusing on union events, customer safety and relationships with subcommittees. Ms Brook has previously been involved in the Union and Events by working at the Union bar for over three years and being a member of the Entertainments (Ents) Crew for five years. She has had experience in working with previous DoES-es during her time at university.

Union and Events

Ms Brook plans to tackle a lot with the Union and its nightlife, but her emphasis won’t be heavily put on BOPs. Instead, Ms Brook proposes to make Saturdays a more relevant attraction for students by allowing societies to run themed nights. Sinners will also see some revitalization; signature drinks and deals will be at the head of this. Overall, she aims to improve night time events by allowing students to have more control over the music. Opening interest to all students is a main point of Ms Brooks, and she plans to add events during Freshers’ Week for those not wanting to go out, adding more alcohol-free drinks to bars and making the Union more affordable. Entry fees for Tuesday and Thursday plan to be cut, but Ms Brook’s ambitious goal to add a new sound system in 601 makes her affordable plans seemingly difficult to achieve.

Student Safety

Ms Brook highlights the increased incidents involving spiking and AirTagging. She provides a comprehensive list of ideas to treat this problem with the seriousness it requires. She will introduce additional first aid training for staff to both detect and handle these incidents. She also wishes to improve the facilities which work towards customer safety. She suggests increasing the quantity and ease of access to drug testing stips in the Union, providing the example of a stall on busy nights. She will implement drug testing of unattended drinks to monitor the presence of spiking incidents. These active suggestions are encouraging. Ms Brook also wishes to increase awareness of how to stay safe. She emphasises the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme which allows customers to speak to a member of staff when feeling unsafe. She would also raise awareness of resources such as CCTV to support victims in their reports and advertise the existence of the Quiet Room on club nights. These ideas are positive, but there is a lack of explanation as to how raising awareness will reduce the number of spiking incidents directly.

Sub-committee Relationships and Catering

Ms Brook provides clear and concise points on how she will ensure the Union supports other organisations, including Mermaids and Ents. She expresses a desire to expand their potential, but does not give specific details. Instead, she suggests she will follow the lead of the committees themselves. Her experience with On The Rocks speaks to her desire to give the festival hands-on support. She acknowledges the Barron Theatre debate but does not provide any specific details on her position regarding the desire for its re-opening. With regards to Union catering, she proposes more bar snack style food into the evening, such as platters. The fact that this was done pre-pandemic suggests it is possible. She also expresses a desire to reduce drinks prices, but acknowledges that this can only be done within the parameters of Scottish law.