Development & Democracy Officer Blog

Benjamin's Blog October 2026

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:08:51 +0100

My First week in office (gone wrong...):

June 15th comes along, my contract starts. It is the first week in office and I am excited and raring to go. I had just completed my Placement Induction Session with the university, who stressed on how important making a good first impression was. Little did they know, the first impression that the Operations Team, and the Chief Operating Officer of the Student’s Union would have of me would be where I had accidentally locked myself in a meeting room, in the office…. Below are some photos for your reading pleasure, I do not believe I need to explain myself any further… Not only was this embarrassing on a whole new level that I didn’t think was possible. I went to my desk the next day, only to find the culprit (the dodgy lock that had locked me in there in the first place) on my desk, taunting me...

Yes, you can see my phone in the window of the (in this moment) locked door, with a photo of the lock (the culprit being on the right), trying to explain that I could not unlock the door from the inside. I don’t think anyone can top my extraordinary first impression.

Second week in office:

After being set free from the above, I made my way down to Loughborough. Here I attended a conference held for Midland’s Student’s Unions to address the discontent held within Unions that had National Union of Student’s Membership. I took with me valuable student feedback, that I had acquired before my term in office. My first conference where I represented students!!! Here I connected with CEO’s and other Officers, discussing finance concerns, governance concerns and also what went well within the NUS. This was all in aims of formally approaching the NUS and enacting change within the organisation. Overall, I found it quite enjoyable, I learnt a lot from it, and I was able to close a feedback loop that I had with students. Loughborough’s Student Union was blissful during the megalithic heat wave that set upon destructing the UK at the time, as it had full and working air conditioning. I was living the dream. Representing Students in a Climate controlled environment – This is the luxury!!!!

Second Conference (I have lost count of the weeks):

My second conference was held in Leicester University (not to be mixed up with DeMontfort University, to which I almost attended instead). Here I partook in Trustee Training whilst also gaining key connections with other University Student Unions. One of these Universities was Staffordshire University. I shan’t be going into the lore and rivalry that Keele and Staffs have, but let’s just say they will not be winning varsity this year... Leicester Student’ Union was again air conditioned, which was a lovely feeling, especially when you have just drive in the scorching Saharan heat that climate change has inflicted upon us. I enjoyed the brutalist architecture of Leicester University, I felt like I had just come out of post-communist Russia.

I am particularly proud of this photo, hence the full page spread.

And finally, Graduation week. Commencing 13th-17th July 2026:

This is the biggest week of my life. Not only was I able to practice for my own graduation in two years’ time. I was able to literally do everything – even Hannah was amazed at how much I was able to do. There are three main categories:

Mace and Bedel:

The Mace and Bedel lead and follows the procession of academic staff, university council, and also the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and/or Chancellor (how many times can I say chancellor challenge.)

The Bedel bears a baton as a symbol of office; they lead the procession into the ceremony (held in a gorgeous non-denominational chapel by the way??) and assists the party to the platform. The Bedel was commissioned and introduced in 2014 to take responsibility for the dignity of the ceremony.

The Mace Bearer bears the ceremonial mace (made primarily out of 925 silver) and is a traditional symbol of authority. The mace is around 3ft 6” and is split into three sections. On the top third, it has inscribed: ‘Presented to the University College of North Staffordshire, by the Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation, 1956’

On exit of the ceremony, the procession is led by the mace bearer who bows to the conferrer first hand. They are then followed by graduation students in order of academic precedence. Followed by guest, friend and families of the graduates.

I have loved every minute of these roles, and I am truly grateful that I have the opportunity to both Mace bear and Bedel bear. The following pages are dedicated to the photos I took during these roles.

Figure 1 Myself and the Bedel, Infront of the Library

Figure 2 Myself and the Mace Infront of the Library

Figure 3 Myself with the Mace and Bedel

Figure 5/6 The front and Back of the Mace

Speeches:

As a representative and leader of the Student’s Union, I was able to deliver speeches at some of the graduation ceremonies, in rotation with my fellow officers. I had been nervous of public speaking, as the last time I had done one, was running for Head Boy. But I managed to pull it off. For this I had to wear the graduation gown, with a hood. I got congratulated many times as people though I was also graduating, but unbeknownst to them I was just rehearsing for my graduation in two years’ time. Muahahahahaah!!!

At points during my speech, I caught myself saying words incorrectly, and even made eye contact with people, and watched them panic, when they made eye contact with me. This made me laugh and you can see this in the image below. I was having the time of my life!

I have concluded that I like giving speeches.

Other Shenanigans, I managed to pull off:

I mentioned to Hannah, that I work In Argos/Sainsburys in Newcastle, and that I sometimes go into the Tannoys to give announcements. She kindly told me that the graduation ceremonies have ‘Tannoy-like’ announcements. My reaction to this information was: ‘I will be on that Tannoy announcement’. She told me to prepare for rejection, as she believed that they would not let me do it. She was wrong. She was amazed at the sight and sound of my voice echoing throughout the center of campus telling graduands to make their way to the chapel, as the ceremony would start soon.

Hannah now knows that when I have a will to do something, I will find a way.

Another thing that I had managed to do, was receive a professional photograph of myself in the Mace and Bedel procession gown! I found myself cheekily asking the photographer if I could please have a photo taken, to which she responded, ‘Yes of course!’ She took my photo and printed it off free of charge, one for myself and one for my parents.

Some other photos that are worth mentioning:

My desk, in the office – I love a corner

As you can see, I am very engaged in my very important meetings

Pictured above are my fellow officers and I, Infront of the Library.

Tom's December AGM 2024

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 15:31:16 Z

New Multifaith Spaces around Campus
Another £1500 grant secured for a 2025 Warmer Winter Campaign!
Recruitment: CEO and the University's Chancellor.
Planned and helped deliver the new CEO's introduction calendar.
SU Strategy Stakeholder Sessions with University Executives.
HYSD and Elections oversight and reformation.
Campaign planning for semester two!

Tom's October 2024 UGM

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:34:35 Z

CEO Recruitment and Induction: CEO Recruitment took up much of my working time over the last few months. Using NUS’ CEO Induction guidance, I have drafted up an induction calendar and put together an all-encompassing folder with many of the documents relevant to a CEO’s introduction. I am also now assisting with the CEO’s probation meetings.

Campus Faith Spaces: Previously I mentioned that I had written a paper, with student feedback and assistance from the chapel, around faith spaces on campus. I am happy to say this is a project, under the new head of estates, is reported to be currently undergoing a largescale prayer space review – one which will make spaces available in Chancellor’s, Keele Hall and elsewhere on campus.

New Chancellor Recruitment: The process for another chancellor has begun and I have been part of the Nominations and Governance Council Sub-Committee to help decide who it should be.

Simplifying and streamlining the SU: A priority of mine this year is simplifying the SU and its processes for the benefit of students. This has begun with merging the four officer Instagram accounts into one joint account; this allows for consistent branding, prevents duplication of efforts and centralises information for students.

Student Voice Manager Interviews: I sat as part of the panel who was presiding over the appointment of the new student voice manager. I am happy to say the candidate is now in the new role.

Warmer Winter Campaign Application: similar to last year, I have been granted principle funding and put in an application for £1500 from Staffordshire County Council’s climate action fund. I should hear back from the council in mid November.

Tom's February 2024 UGM!

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:15:18 Z

Shag Week: I’ve re-launched SHAG Week (I’ll put some info on the board at the end with events etc) but most importantly: Our Quiz about Sex, where you can win Sex Toys is on the 13th February in the Ballroom. We have lectures about HPV and Feminism and pornography, a vulva cake decorating session, free cocktails and glass painting and loads more, so do try and attend as much as you can!

I collaborated with the UCU on a few projects, including trying to get better support or parent/carer students through the nursery on campus. This feedback has gone to the University Student Voice Committee and we’re hoping for feedback soon. We also started to look into the viability of changing lecture timings as part of this project. Unfortunately, our UCU/SU Liaison representative had to step back from his role, so I’m pushing for a replacement as it has been really nice to get insight on their plans, as well as work together to lobby the University.

Imputed into the Universities 10 year plan, which you can also do at their Keele 100 event on 13th Feb in Chancellors (It’s before the Quiz don’t worry).

International students: Spoke to the incoming January cohort of international students and highlighted the benefits of getting involved in the SU. Myself and our deputy CEO Fay met with academics regarding the lack of support for international students and are currently in the planning stage of how we can negotiate and collaborate with the University to offer better support mechanisms.

Would it be a Jade Cioffi update without me talking about Networks? Call us misses worldwide, because myself and Tuesday have been talking with other Officers across the Country about Networks, giving them advice on how they can increase memberships and be more sustainable long term. Which confirms what I always tell people anyway: Our Networks are extremely good (please join though x).

My most exciting project has been working on reviewing the effectiveness of our democratic structures and how we can better utilise the resources we have to ensure students are getting the representation they deserve and need, as well as support in other areas. There’s a presentation on this later in the UGM so hopefully you’ll be as excited as I am.

Finally, I’m leading on CEO recruitment over the next couple of months so that will be an interesting new experience. The CEO is delegated responsibility by the trustee board to act in the best interest of the SU and ‘lead’ staff teams strategically. If being a trustee sounds super fun and exciting, run in our full time officer elections.

Tom's December 2023 AGM!

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:08:27 Z

Hi guys, here's a quick list of all the things I've been doing since the last UGM.

Met with PVC International to highlight some of the issues international students are facing and how we can better support our students, and got him to support the SU and out Parent carer network on some initiatives.
This turned into a second, broader meeting about the Universities student numbers and how we can better cater to an international markets needs.
I then spoke with the Humanities and Social Science faculties, and gave a presentation at their Internationalisation and Partnerships meeting about how academics can do more to make education more accessible for students. This led to Natural Sciences also contacting me and asking me for work on Academic Misconduct levels, and also to present to them at their faculty EDI meeting.
Met with Mondrem Group to discuss sustainability on campus. Mondrem Group own Nurture, a green charity located on campus. Together we can offer better volunteering opportunities for students who want to get more experience in this sector. We can also co-host events and find more things for students to do during the day which are free, and fun.
On the topic of sustainability, I met with Alana Wheat from Green:Keele, and we discussed turning this years Green Week into a two week celebration to give it a bigger platform, with more opportunities to engage.
Me and Tom are working on National Student Money Week, (mainly Tom)
After a year and a half I finally secured a Transport Committee meeting! We discussed parking issues, and I got to raise many of your problems, and also spoke about FirstBus, who had a representative there. Many of the issues around scheduling should (hopefully) be fixed by Semester 2- which I have said is already unacceptable.
I've been liaising with the UCU a lot around collaboration, and have used our Bi-weekly meetings to mobilise all three staff unions on campus, as well as our Parent/Carer Network to push for changes regarding the Nursery on campus.
Unfortunately, our CEO is leaving us in January, so much of my time has been spent on recruitment and talking to our Trustees
I've also lead the effort to appoint two new Student Trustees, who will help form the Unions strategy at the highest level!
Also, I had the opportunity to talk at an event for Officers in Birmingham and use my experiences to give support to other officers around the country.
Lastly, I've been doing lots of work for the Upcoming General Election! If I'm late for this AGM, its because I'm at their manifesto summit in London! I collated responses from 283 students about what they want from political parties this election and fed back to the NUS. This has all been made into a manifesto, which will be pushed to every political party.