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Nidhi Hiranwar is running to be your Welfare Officer.
When asked about why she wants to be the UCD’s next Students’ Union Welfare Officer, Hiranwar cited her own personal experiences, saying “People really don’t take mental health seriously in India,” and there were times that, “I really needed someone to share my emotions with and feel like they are there for me… so when I saw this position I was like, so there are people like me who really need someone to listen to them, to help them, to support them. That's when I decided I should be running.”
Hiranwar feels these experiences have prepared her for the role of Welfare Officer: “I needed someone to be there for me but nobody was, so I had to manage myself and my emotions and take care of myself so that is something that’s deepened my strength to take care of people [and] to understand what they are going through.”
Initially when asked about the state of welfare in UCD currently and whether she had any problems with it, Hiranwar said “I have no opinion on this,” but later, when asked what the top issue affecting students was said, “for now I’d say its safety,” and later when asked what the three issues UCD students were most concerned about said safety, scarcity of part-time jobs, and deadlines.
Hiranwar thinks there should be an increased number of people on campus whose job is to specifically to look out for students while on campus: “I think there should be people around the campus looking [out] for students, if they are okay or not, if someone is doing well or not, if someone needs help, so I think there should be people to take care of people.”
Initially when asked about UCD’s current approach to sexual consent and victim support, Hiranwar said, “I have no opinion on this,” but on a follow up question said if she becomes Welfare Officer, she will implement programs to prevent non-consensual behaviour. She cited the long waiting times for complaints to be addressed as an issue and said that, “If I am there as a welfare officer . . . I’ll be planning some things out to make sure that if a victim is there I’ll make sure to support the victim and make sure that people know that this is actually happening here and get justice for the victim.”
Hiranwar would like to set up teams to conduct workshops and stress and burnout clinics, saying, “I’ll have a team and I’ll try to conduct some workshops for students: stress burnout sessions and things that can help [with] relief from stress.” When asked about the different welfare events she plans on hosting, Hiranwar is a strong believer in art as something “that helps a lot to relieve mental stress,” and as a Welfare Officer will host art and painting events, but also plans to conduct other types of workshops after speaking more to students.
While Hiranwar thinks this year has been a good year for engagement with the student union she “will try [her] best” to increase it by engaging with students “by engaging with them more through social media, by talking to students on campus [and] by taking workshops and other things.”
When asked about student counselling at UCD Hiranwar replied that “I think there should be more counsellors in UCD,” citing her own difficulties in getting counselling in UCD. Hiranwar says "UCD needs to work on the fact that there are a lot of students and they don’t let everyone take counselling. I think they need more counsellors." When pressed on the answers to the issue whether it be paying more competitive wages or the outsourcing of counselling, which were put to her as examples, Hiranwar agreed with both of those solutions.
“I think that I’m very empathetic as a person and really able to understand emotions and feelings that someone is going through.”
When asked about physical welfare as well whether the level of disability supports in UCD were good enough Hiranwar said, “I don’t really think so,” but admitted she hadn't “thought about this area much yet,” but would be thinking about it more.
Hiranwar would like to push for more flexible attendance for students. From her own experience Hiranwar has found that studies alongside work means sometimes she cannot attend her classes due to tiredness and burnout, stating "I get very tired from other things that I'm doing". Though at the moment she seems unsure as to the likelihood of lecturers agreeing to such measures nor clear about her plans to achieve this.
Many of Hiranwar's manifesto points are still undeveloped and as of the time of the interview she had yet to make concrete plans and was unable to answer questions for the following manifesto promises, citing feelings of being underprepared:
- Promotion of information around extensions and other circumstances.
- Training for student reps
- One click crisis support page.
- Emergency money
- Advocating for students in emergency situations.
When asked about whether she thought racism is a big problem in UCD Hirawar had “no comment on this” but when the topic came up later stated that “as an international student I haven’t faced racism yet.”
When asked what the main challenges facing the Welfare Officer were, Hiranwar responded, “I have no idea to be honest.”
Hiranwar was also asked about some of the Student Union's current policies such as being mandated by the student body to support BDS and Palestine and mandated to offer gender-affirming products to Trans students in UCD - both of which Hiranwar refused to give a comment on.
In her opinion, the Welfare Officer is someone who if you are going through something, if you are sick, or if you have "any life issues," you can come to for help. She also states that she believes her goals are very implementable, and will be able to do even more than her manifesto sets out.
Outside of helping with some events for UCDSU’s graduate officer Shreyansh, Hiranwar has been uninvolved in the union previously.
When asked why students should vote for her over the other candidates, Hiranwar said, “I think that I’m very empathetic as a person and really able to understand emotions and feelings that someone is going through. As someone who has faced a lot of mental problems alone, I know how it feels to deal with things alone, so I’ll be the best person . . . I’ll be someone who’ll be able to understand you.”