Currently a College Officer for Arts, Rosaleen Aljohmani has big ideas for the union to work on if she is elected President.
“Aljohmani states that she does not have any experience of internships, and claims that she would only need experience of managing events, for which she has “quite a big CV.””
Rosaleen Aljohmani is a French and English student competing for the position of UCDSU President. Her interview features extensive questioning on the six-page manifesto she provided to the University Observer. Key aspects of Aljohmani’s manifesto are to improve student engagement, ‘internships for all,’ increased library spaces, and a more diverse selection of on-campus food.
To Aljohmani, the role of President means “numerous things… you sit on a lot of boards and… you lead the SU in the direction that you feel is best.” She mentions FRAMC as one of the boards the President sits on, but is unable to recall what FRAMC stands for.
When asked how she would rebuild UCDSU’s damaged reputation, Aljohmani states that “[the] way to do that is to engage and inform [students] of who the SU is, who the sabbaticals are and what we can do for you… the way to fix reputational damage is to represent [students] and improve services as well as improve their day-to-day life.”
Aljohmani claims that the a lack of student engagement can be fixed at council level by encouraging class representatives to attend council and through more social media engagement in the form of vlogs. “[Getting] College Officers to have their own nights out and events within their college councils and within that, they’ll be more likely to come to council [sic]... actually knowing what council is and explaining mandates and stuff, that’s something I really, like, went into this year [sic].”
Aljohmani would like to see a more diverse food selection on campus. When asked why she mentioned burritos and spice bags in her manifesto rather than halal or vegetarian foods, Aljohmani stated that “‘spice bags’ means Chinese foods, and ‘burritos’ means Mexican,” and so these items would be bringing a diverse range of food options with them. Aljohmani believes that her campaign for a more diverse food selection would not be hampered by her desire to have Aramark removed from UCD campus. “They’re just a catering company. Once they leave there’ll be other restaurants there… I don’t think it would stop us from increasing food variety.” When asked whether Aljohmani would work with Aramark-catered or Aramark-owned restaurants, she states that it depends on whether a motion for such was passed at council. She further stated that she would support a motion to boycott Aramark-related services.
Aljohmani believes that internships are currently limited to “two or three people per course” and wants to create “interchangeable posts within organisations.” She acknowledges that an issue would be the need to train in a new intern every two months and states that SU-run workshops and seminars at the beginning of the semester is the answer. When asked how the ‘Internships for All’ programme was accessible for students doing part-time jobs or with full weeks of 9am to 6pm, Aljohmani suggests that they partake in part-time internships on the weekend. When pressed for a type of company that would offer meaningful internships on a weekend, she says “I have 12 months to look into this.” Aljohmani further states that the internships would realistically be unpaid, while claiming that startup companies are “begging for interns.”
Aljohmani states that she does not have any experience of internships, and claims that she would only need experience of managing events, for which she has “quite a big CV.”
When asked about ‘Solidarity,’ a one-day event to promote inclusiveness and integration which Aljohmani was in charge of running and which never took place, she states that “honestly, other events were prioritised.” A presentation shown to UCD Societies and uploaded online stated that the event was to hear from speakers such as President Michael D. Higgins, UCD Chaplaincy, The Young Turks host, Cenk Uygur, and former-Glee actor Iqbal Theba.
Aljohmani states that she does not have any experience of internships, and claims that she would only need experience of managing events, for which she has “quite a big CV.”
Although Aljohmani states that SHAG Week and RAG Week played a part in the cancellation of her event, neither of these events were held in the same week in which Solidarity was to be held. “You had SHAG Week and RAG Week and all these other weeks, my event was on 20th February, planned from the start, and it was cancelled.”
When asked whether she had communicated to the societies involved that the event was no longer taking place, she states “I wasn’t allowed to email [the societies], it had to be a sabbatical, and they were meant to email.”