Stephen McHale, for Advice, Support and Equalities
officer
My name is Stephen McHale and I’m
running for Advice support and
equalities officer. My motivation for this
stems from seeing the daily struggles
and oppression the friends I have made
at University face, solely because of
their culture, gender or sexuality.
Although we are progressing towards
equality, we still need change in our
society to give everyone the basic human right of not being
discriminated against because of who they are.
One of my aims is to make Queen Margaret more culturally
representative and accommodating. I constantly hear how the
food options of 1875 are not always inclusive with a lack of
Halal, kosher and vegetarian. By collaborating with the
catering staff, we can have more of these options.
I believe we should have more celebration of holy days of
other cultures, with events or decoration around the University
or Union, such as Chinese New Year, Diwali and Hanukah.
Students could also be offered talks on different religions, if
possible by a follower of the religion.
Although many people are aware of the issues of sexuality in
LGBT, there is still a lack of knowledge and support around
Trans* people issues. I would work towards ensuring help and
support is given to Trans* people as they progress through
university.
I hope to improve the representation of LGBT, ethnic
minorities and disabled students in campus. My aim would be
to have better representative pictures of Queen Margaret’s
student with greater diversity.
Furthermore I will create a gender equality society. It would be
amazing to use all of the experiences of our universities
women to tackle gender inequality issues, such as
perceptions of femininity and masculinity in gender
stereotypes, and also form a supportive community. This
group would be able to isolate issues relating to gender and
create feedback that can be used to improve student life and
also direct support.
If you vote for me, I will work to create a university where
everyone is an equal and free to express themselves, whether
that be through their sexuality, sex gender or their culture,
without judgement, and has their human rights respected.
Thank you.