Felix Interviews Deputy President (C&S) Candidate: Tom Rivlin

Voting is now open! Click here to take part now.

Already voted? Take part in our exit poll to tell us who you voted for!

What made you run for this position?

I’m sure everyone says this, and I’m sure it’s true for them too, but I genuinely love the Union, Imperial College, and the clubs and societies here. I feel like being part of clubs/societies has significantly improved my time here, and I want to give back to the community who made it all possible. I want everyone’s extracurricular experience to be as great as mine has been. I’ve also really enjoyed the experience of managing large groups of clubs and making important decisions on council this year as SCC Chair, and want to do that sort of thing full-time.

What is the main change you would like to implement if elected?

In short: the presentation of information online. This is really a cheeky way for me to phrase multiple manifesto points as one ‘main change’, but it makes sense. The fact that no one knows what Council/CSPB do (or what they are), the fact that eActivities is a mess… it all comes back to how information is presented on the imperialcollegeunion.org website and on eActivities.

Candidates (myself included) always say they want to listen to what students have to say. I want to make it easier to tell people what goes on in the Union, in order to invite constructive criticism. The catchy buzzword I think sums all of that up is that I want to make the Union “user-friendly”.

What is your favourite thing about Imperial?

I’m sure quite a few people will say something like this, but the fact that we’re all scientists. On some level, everyone at this institution is here because we love science, technology, engineering, and medicine (‘science’ for short). Sure, you can be cynical about it and say half of us are only here to get into banking, but I don’t buy that. I think everyone here loves science, and I love it too. And being surrounded by so many other like-minded science lovers every day is incredibly rewarding.

What is the biggest challenge you foresee in the next year?

We have about 350 clubs now – the highest of any UK university. They’re hugely varied in terms of scope, size and the activities that they do. The fact that about a third of students are involved in the running of clubs shows how much we care, but it also shows how much work a DPCS needs to do to keep the whole thing running smoothly. I’m sure the other DPCS candidates will agree with me when I say that the actual day-to-day running of the clubs and societies at Imperial is going to be a huge challenge for whoever wins the DPCS role, but it’s one I’m looking forward to.

What do you mean when you say you want to defend the autonomy of all clubs?

I’m pretty much specifically referring to the issue of club elections being moved to the Big Elections without consultation. I’ve spoken to the current DPCS and DPFS about this and they had their reasons, but it feels like something our Union, which usually places so much trust in our clubs, shouldn’t be doing. I’ve also spoken directly to some of my SCC clubs who have been negatively affected by the decision. As DPCS next year, not only will I work to mitigate the effects of this change, I will ensure something like this doesn’t happen again. I will make club autonomy a priority by telling them what we’re planning on doing before it’s too late to change anything.

How exactly do you plan to increase transparency?

As above, by changing how information is presented online. Something like a “What’s Council/CSPB up to?” tab on the Union website would be really useful. Reorganising the website would be a real advantage to everyone, too.

Also, as trivial as this sounds, I plan on sending better emails. Very few people read the emails the current DPCS sends out in their entireties, and only a few more even skim-read them. This is a bigger problem than you’d think! It reduces participation, and it means important information which we’re trying to make transparent can get lost. It’s also really easy to solve: just re-frame the information in the email so you don’t have to scroll through loads of stuff.

The use of eActivities is already covered in existing training booklets, what other information do you feel these fail to communicate?

All of the information a student needs to be able to use eActivites exists online… somewhere. The problem is that it’s spread over almost 20 training manual pdfs, each dozens of pages long. I want to create a document or a Wiki which explains what every tab does in detail, to work as a quick reference for everyone using the service. In short: eActivities For Dummies!

Maybe you’re reading this and wondering why you should care about eActivities. If you’re part of a club, you depend on the committee using it effectively. A dozen SCC clubs this year almost got no money from the Union because they missed a tab in the budgeting form. This isn’t a trivial issue!