Firstly, I would like to congratulate Joe Farish on being elected as Access Officer, it has been a very closely contested election, and I know that Access is in very safe hands over the upcoming year, and I have no doubt that he will do a fantastic job.People have asked me how I feel about not winning and my opinion on the outcome. Being honest – you learn a lot about yourself in these elections – doing things you never thought would be possible for you to do. But there was something that I realised long before voting even opened, let alone closed, was that there could only be one possible main winner in the CUSU election; but this winner didn’t actually attend any hustings, this winner didn’t even submit a manifesto, in my opinion, the main winner in this election has got to be Access.
Three very passionate and experienced candidates saw Access leap to the forefront of everyone’s mind; there were questions galore at some hustings for the candidates vying to be the potential Access and Funding Officer, and Access made it onto the front page of a student newspaper for the first time in my Cambridge memory.
I have had writers from both of the papers e-mailing me asking for my opinion and comments on the latest report into poverty being the biggest barrier to academic achievement as part of articles to go in both papers this week.
Seeing Access in the spotlight as much as it has been is not something that I expected at all when I submitted my nomination, but it is something that I’m really, really pleased about. Too often, the issues go unnoticed, left to the Access Officers to consider. Hopefully, the media coverage can help Access to maintain its profile, because there are important issues, which whilst may not be of relevant to your average student, do still mean that it is more important than ever that CUSU and the University in general are driving and extending our access programmes. As I know only too well, the Access programmes aren’t just things the University do to make it look good in the media, which has no effect – these schemes benefit real students and help ensure that those students who have the potential realise that Cambridge is a place for bright students, and that financial, social and educational background are not factors which should stop you in your quest for academic success.
For those of you wanting an answer to the question ‘So what is next for Andy?’ Well, whilst I am (obviously) gutted not to have been elected, the key thing to remember in all of this is that Access is about more than one person. It is not just about the person who holds the title of ‘CUSU Access Officer’; it is about the students in the colleges, organising their own access projects, it is about the students who give up their time to go and visit local schools voluntarily to talk about their experiences, and it is about those students who open Oxbridge up as an opportunity to those students who may never have considered it as an option before because of their misconceptions, or their fears. That, in my eyes is what Access all about, and that is what I intend to continue to be involved in – I will continue to dedicate my time and energy to Access, I will continue to do everything within my power to get the real message out about Cambridge.
So finally, if I’ve played even the smallest of parts in raising awareness of access and the many tough issues related to it, and created a springboard from which Access can jump to even greater heights, reach even more students and result in more Access success stories – then I’m proud to say that I had a part to play in that.
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