"To tackle these issues one at a time and understand more about them" - Cal De Nicolas on Running for Equality Officer
The role of Equality Officer on the MSU executive is to assist the VP for Welfare and Equality “with equality-based campaigns.” They confront and address social injustices which impact student livelihoods. Cal De Nicolas is one of the candidates for this position in today’s MSU elections, hoping to give all students equal opportunity and security throughout our university. I arranged a one-on-one interview with Cal, to discuss what he has in mind if he gets in office.
Finn: What is your name and the position for which you are running?
Cal: My name is Cal De Nicolas; I’m running for the part-time Equality Officer position in the MSU.
F: Can you recall your first day at Maynooth University, on campus?
C: I can! It was my orientation day. The group I was with was left alone, so we got kind of lost. But it was a very nice opportunity to bond with other students, one of whom is still my friend to this day. I also remember the interactions I had with the MSU officers, and them informing me about the academic representative positions.
F: Did you take to any of those positions?
C: I served as an academic rep in my first year; I found great interest in it, and the MSU in general. I put myself forward to be one the year after, but the system had changed [...] I was EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) undergraduate rep for the psychology committee instead. [I was also] on the Students With Disabilities advisory panel via Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éireann, the national students’ union (AMLÉ), and the student access organisation Ahead.
F: With specific respect to your role as an EDI undergraduate rep, do you think that your experience has equipped you for [confronting issues] as an equality officer?
C: Absolutely. It’s taught me a lot about how to survey student population – how to get feedback, which is one of the biggest parts of the job. It’s also given me a lot of experience of being on committees and panels, [which would be] parts of my responsibilities. [In respect to] events and policymaking, I received less experience, but I gained that experience [elsewhere], like on the Students With Disabilities advisory panel and as micro-intern for the EDI Office (at Maynooth University), reviewing their EDI policy. I’ve got a wide range [of experience], but still a lot to learn, because EDI is a massive field, but it’s a good start.
F: You were speaking at the hustings (which you can find our summary of here) about using Microsoft Forms as a means to get student feedback, is that something you picked up from your experience as well?
C: Yes, that’s something I did in my first year as academic rep. We had a lot of students who were very frustrated about the feedback they received for a specific assignment, so I drafted up a form, reviewed all of the data, made graphs and sent it to the department. Then, they changed the way we [receive] feedback; now it has to [include] criteria sheets, [in] the Psychology Department at least. It’s that kind of surveying I want to keep implementing – obviously, the feedback will be more qualitative, [with] longer answers to analyse, hence why I want to review it a little more frequently as it’s slightly vaguer data.
[That being said], the system I want to put in place is a form – people can also come to me if they’re not comfortable filling it out – which for anonymity, is a great way to [gather] information. Depending on the issues, if it’s an issue of case work, then that’s Ty – Ty Layberry Ling, VP for Welfare & Equality’s – domain. I wouldn’t be as allowed to [handle] case work, but I would [...] within my capacity. But if it’s an issue of infrastructure, university-wide, being brought up by a lot of students, my goal would be to have focus groups made. They could deal with [and understand] specific issues [...] because I can understand my experience with student issues, but I would never be able to understand the experiences of an ethnic minority student, for example [...] Then we could implement policy, and short-term measures, to deal with [the issue], but especially the latter to help students, right now.
F: If you were to encourage students to come up to you – a question of engagement came up at the hustings, as well – how would you make yourself known to people?
C: I think having posters around campus is a good way [to do that, as well as] interacting with societies, events at the MSU [...] I would also talk in lectures, going to students there to say ‘Hey, this is who I am, this is my position [and] what I do, this is how you can give me your feedback.’ I would want to the (aforementioned) form to be available on the MSU web and other places like the library, to have a wider range of access to students. Currently, our main issue is (that) we have a majority of commuter students. They have a hard time engaging with the MSU and the University as a whole, because of their bus times and workloads. They simply can’t have that burden on them, so I want to take [it] off and make it far easier by having access to the form. The MSU website – the university website, if they let me (provide it there) – things like that.
F: There have been a couple of issues with the MSU website recently. Would there be any capacity [in which] you could take to resolve those, or is that more of an Executive-wide goal?
C: It’s more of an Executive-wide goal; that being said, updating the website would be very beneficial for student engagement and accessibility reasons [...] I think that getting students involved in the design of the website is important [and] beneficial.
F: Would that be (grounds for) another focus group, then?
C: Yes. It would [comprise] focus groups, talking to Computer Science students and having them review the website; talking to certain groups, like the MAP Office, [groups surrounding] the EDI Office, and the Students and Learning Office. Having those departments interact with students and review the website [could] be very beneficial, with their ideas and perspectives. Currently, the website is not great, less than ideal (and hard to navigate); the MSU mostly functions through Instagram, which not everyone has, so a student website would be a good goal. It’s not a priority of mine, because there are other, more pressing issues in my opinion, but [could] be put in motion.
F: Would you mind elaborating on what some of those pressing issues are?
C: I know that Ty is currently working on a transition fund – the ‘T-Fund’ – to be implemented in the university, [and] there’s the name-change policy that is also a focus. We’ve (additionally) had a lot of issues with students from ethnic minority backgrounds, especially Indian students, who have been attacked – not so much within our university, but that is a nationwide issue that needs to be a major concern of ours, because student safety is our priority.
In terms of access, a lot of our bathroom and accessible doors around campus are broken, so that is [another priority; we] would put in place a review policy for that. There’s a couple of issues for major (demographic) groups [...] gender equality issues, (for which) Family Carers students don’t have a lot of supports [...] Some mature student and age policies (also) need to be updated. I obviously can’t tackle all of those issues – my plan is to be in very close contact with the senators who are responsible for those cohorts, like the carers’ senator, for example. That will [make it] easier to implement big changes, because if I took on all of that workload, [solutions] would never happen, which is an issue we have frequently. So I would rely a lot on the senators, and the Senate in general, to tackle these issues one at a time and understand more about [them]. I’m one person, (so) I can’t understand everything, so I think that would be how I would go about [confronting] that range of issues we have to deal with.
F: That concludes the interview, thank you so much for coming out today!
C: Thank you so much!
Cal will be alongside Gracious Momoh in the ballot for Equality Officer, so make sure to carefully consider your choice for the upcoming elections. Voting will be available both online (from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) and in person at booths (open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) in the Arts Block, TSI, Library, MSU Club Foyer, and MSU Info Centre – the latter will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Whether voting online or in person today, students are encouraged to take the time to review their options and make their voices heard.
Happy voting!
