Why I'm voting for Ben Howitt for Deputy President (Clubs and Societies)

It’s that time of year again. Endless Facebook invites, Haribo flung at you down every corridor and people you’ve never heard of stopping you legging it from your last lecture by shouting terrible hashtags as you, so by the time you get to the JCR only the crap paninis are left.

If your mate’s running, you vote for them, and aside from that you don’t really pay much attention. But if you do anything at Imperial besides work, voting in a decent DPCS is something you should care about.

Most of you have probably had to wrangle eActivities, beg for money from a committee at some point, or justify your need for more planes (I’m looking at you, Gliding). It’s all well and good to have a friendly sabb who you can wave at down the Union, but for a position like DPCS, you want someone who really knows their shit and won’t have to spend the first half of their tenure learning how it all works.

Ben knows how it all works. He’s treasurer of the Recreational Clubs Committee (RCC) which includes anything that isn’t media or sport and so looks after a load of clubs and societies. Maintaining these clubs takes time and effort, as anyone on a committee will know, and Ben wants to support the volunteers on these committees by making himself available and visible every week to answer questions, as well as actively checking in with clubs. One of the biggest challenges new societies face is having to muddle through all the union’s bureaucracy and bull, which if you haven’t dealt with before, can be a total minefield. Training in this stuff and avenues to talk to the union aren’t readily available at the moment, but Ben has promised to provide it.

Acton. It’s happening, and we can’t really fight it. More freshers are moving into halls in North Acton this year and whether you agree with the move or not, realistically we have to provide for them. Ben hasn’t shied away from this on his manifesto and I think the fact that he mentions such a contentious point means he values the student experience more than others in the running.

Look, I am biased. Ben writes for Felix, and can do things with a pole that would make your granny blush. But I wouldn’t tell you to vote for him if I didn’t think he was beyond capable. He’s always solving someone else’s budgeting issue, making you a snakebite down the union, or doing one of the gajillion of his own hobbies. I’m surprised he even does a degree. So for God’s sake, vote him in as Deputy President of Clubs and Societies, because I think he needs an excuse to know this much about the union.

VOTING IS OPEN NOW! Click here to make sure you have your say.