To me, the most important role of The Gryphon’s Editor-In-Chief to enabling others to share and contribute to the best of their potential. I began writing for The Gryphon shortly before the Christmas break in 2018.
Fast forward a year and a bit to now, and I’ve used the foundation that I gained to start writing and editing for other publications and get some amazing experience along the way. I want as many people as possible to go on the same journey I have, beginning with (very nervously!) sending off my first article and ending up with valuable new skills and a huge passion for journalism.
The top priority of any society should always be their membership, and we have amazing writers that are the lifeblood of The Gryphon – but we still have so much further to go to better represent the entire spectrum of people we have within our university. If someone wants to contribute and share their work, it’s our responsibility to empower them to do so.
The only essential thing, in my opinion, is that articles add something new to the topic they engage with. There is a wealth of untapped perspectives within our community that we would all benefit from listening to, with new ideas and angles that, at the moment, don’t get the space and time they deserve.
I do, however, recognise that my perspective alone isn’t the best suited for a solution. Instead, by engaging directly with the people and groups this affects, listening to them and taking on board their ideas, we can work together to make The Gryphon more accessible and, as a result, more diverse.
If I was elected, I would continue to fight to let people express themselves, as I have done in my role as a Features Editor, giving my full support even if I don’t agree. It’s not really about me – it’s about what I can do to help everyone to grow with The Gryphon. In order to offer a more opportunity to more contributors, though, there’s no doubt we need more funding for equipment and resources. I believe it’s about starting small and building gradually.
Firstly, we should encourage more partnerships with local businesses, and I’d love to explore the possibility of including exclusive discount codes in adverts with a referral payment going to The Gryphon for each code use.
We have 34,000 LUU members, including a lot of potential customers that businesses would love to appeal to. That won’t fund expensive equipment by itself, but it’s a solid first step – imagine if we grew to get similar deals on The Gryphon website with larger businesses and brands, both local and further afield!
Of course, this isn’t going to just happen overnight or fix our need for more funding on its own, but this is only one possibility. The limited space here means you’ll have to look out for me around campus to hear more ideas and share any of your own with me. I’m looking forward to listening!
