Hi! My name's Olly and I am VP Voice for 2018-2019. It's my job to ensure that the Voice Zone works to represent the breadth of the student population, no matter who you are and what you're studying. Over the year, the Voice Zone and I will ensure that students have an opportunity to act upon their views and make change, whether that's through the Course Rep programme, the Student Voice Forum, or getting involved in Surrey Decides.
What is the Voice Zone?
The Voice Zone is the Zone for students that have something to say. It is responsible for obtaining student opinion on issues that have an ever-present impact on student life. It's also paramount that democracy remains at the heart of the Union and, most importantly, in the overall student experience.
The Voice Zone is an elected team of five part-time officers and led by the VP Voice. Together, the Zone takes a lead on feedback surveys, ensuring that all electoral processes are upheld with fair and just democratic procedures and ensuring that this is continually made accessible to all students. Most of all, we support students by giving voice to concerns that they express, and the passion to drive change at the University.
If you would like to know more or get involved in the Voice Zone, you can find our minutes and details of meetings
here.
Meet the Zone Committee
Ajay Ajimobi
Hi, my name is Ajay, I'm a final year Law student and I'm from London. I was previously the President of the African and Caribbean Society (ACS), a Student Life Mentor and I represented London on the National Youth Board for the National Citizen Service (NCS).
As an executive on the Voice Zone I will be focusing on actively engaging with societies with the intention of effectively representing diverse groups to ensure that students voices are heard whilst also retaining anonymity. This also coincides with my other objective, whereby I aim to communicate with the library and advocate for a wider range of books written by diverse authors who identify with minority groups, alongside campaigning for a greater availability of e-books for your academic endeavours.
Furthermore, I would like to run Activism training and workshops to support students creating social action projects which will equip you with vital leadership skills and values. This is something I feel extremely passionate about as I have taken on several leadership roles, gaining transferable skills which have helped me develop as an individual, I have also created my own social action project.
Michael Taricone
Hello! My name is Michael Taricone and I am a fifth year, master's student studying Electronic Engineering with Communications. I am originally Italian but I was born and raised in London. I've been the president of the Italian society as well as treasurer, VP and (currently) president of Dodgeball. Last year I became a course rep and began to realise the impact that students' voices have so I decided to run in Surrey Decides to address some of the issues that were raised. My focus for the year will be to persevere with the Panopto lecture recordings and ensure a satisfactory policy based on student collaboration is established, further improve the way Course Reps can communicate and engage with their cohort as well as provide feedback using SurreyLearn, and create a placement hub that students can refer to when they are in their placement year to ensure that they still feel part of the community here at Surrey.
I look forward to collaborating with the other zones and the VPs to help improve the student experience here at Surrey, I'll be around campus often so I'm sure I'll see you around (or in Rubix)!
Akanshya Gurung (AK)
Hi! I'm AK and I'm a final year Politics student from London. I'm a socialist, a feminist and currently co-chair of Surrey Labour Students. I ran as part of the Alternative Union slate.
I'm super excited to be part of the Voice Zone this year. My main aim of being part of the Voice Zone will be to help increase engagement and democracy between the SU and the students. I would like to focus on increasing the power of the Liberation Committee and work to make Exec more accessible and democratic.
I would also love to be involving in running campaigns on student politics and teaching students on how they can contribute to making change to the SU and the university. Students and staff underestimate just how much power we can have and how much change we can achieve through solidarity with each other.
Alex Simpson
Hey, I'm Alex. I'm a second year Liberal Arts and Sciences student majoring in politics and economics. I was elected as part of the Alternative Union Slate. I am Co-Chair for Surrey Cut the Rent and Campus Campaigns Officer for Surrey Labour Students.
I am a Libertarian Socialist and believe that we should push for liberated and democratic universities run by students and workers, that are free to attend. I will be seeking to expand the democratic powers of students; creating a culture of activism on campus and working closely with the trade unions. I wish to disentangle the University management from the USSU and for the Liberation Committee to have proper representation on the Executive Committee of the SU.
This year I will be campaign for student workers to join trade unions and raise awareness of the importance of trade unions in improving our workplaces and in turn our university.
In an effort to create a stronger method of accountability, I aim to write reports about my activity as a PTO on a fortnightly basis. Feel free to come talk or write to me if you want to chat about the SU, activism or life at university in general.
Tobi Dada
Hi, my name is Tobi and I am in my second year of studying Computer Science. As someone who grew up in South East London I never truly knew the vast amount of opportunities going to university could offer me. Furthermore, as someone who believes passionately that there is power in conversation, I lead a society called #WOKESurrey. It's main objective is to facilitate debates and discussion about issues that affect the BAME community. We meet every Thursday in LTJ, please come down, if you're free everyone is welcome. My main objectives for this academic year is to ensure that the voices of ethnic minorities and first year students are heard by senior university management. I will also be pushing for more events that promote the university's diversity on campus.
If you see me around please feel free to come and talk to me about anything, I am always looking for ways to help other students.
Voice Zone Projects:
