Cartmel College - Lancaster University - Official Website

Michael Payne is Lancaster University’s Students’ Union President and a former Cartmel Student. He studied Law for 3 years when he was an undergraduate. And yes it’s a lot of text, but it’s actually quite interesting when you get into it. Honestly.

How has being in Cartmel affected your University experience?

The colleges are at the heart of Lancaster university, and there’s a real feeling of community in all of them. While I was here for three years, the JCR Executive who run the social and student experience sides of things in colleges did an excellent job of hosting various events with support from the Student’s Union. Being in a college that was a little quieter than some of the other colleges, being on the outside of campus, was quite nice because you’re away from the central buzz of campus, but when social activities are taking place you can easily go and get involved and feel the atmosphere.

Why did you choose to run for LUSU president?

I’m sure this will sound clichéd but I really did want to make a difference, and most of all I wanted to change the Union to make it more relevant to it’s members. LUSU shouldn’t just be seen as a place to get a Purple Card – it’s much more than that and can provide a whole new experience for students.

How do you feel about the success of Friday Fury last year, and do you think you’ll continue with the same idea, or a different social this year?

The success of Friday Fury was absolutely phenomenal, and there are various different arguments about the economic success for the bars but certainly from the student’s Union’s perspective and the college’s perspective, the inclusion of eight of the college bars across campus, the buzz on a Friday night (which historically has always been college night) was fantastic. Sadly, however, a decision that was made over the summer about the bars has put a stop on the temporarily. It’s a shame that sometimes politics can stop events from happening, and it’s very frustrating. What we’re planning to do is speak to the colleges, and if the colleges want us to support that event and run it again, then we might do a revival at the end of this term, and really make it big and successful. Watch this space!

Cartmel bar is one of the bars that have recently been taken over by the university to a massive outcry from the student body. What is your opinion and what are you doing to fight for the students?

It’s very difficult because the decision was made over summer when the students weren’t here and what I’m very conscious is as the prime representative of the student body, I didn’t want to make a decision that wasn’t in line with what the colleges wanted. It’s your social facility, it’s your bar and it should be your decision. Now the students are back I want to discuss with them where they want to go with this as I think it’s a real opportunity for them to gear and guide what happens in the college bars. The university is aware that 12,000 students are their customers on this campus and if you don’t cater for those students you will rapidly find that you don’t have a customer base. So in order for the bars to be economically viable, they have to meet students’ needs.

What do you want to achieve as LUSU president?

There are various things I set out in my manifesto and one of them was improving officer communication across campus and we’ve implemented a great deal of online technology.
Secondly, I said I’d like to introduce a sabbatical ‘Question Time’ and hopefully this will be starting later this term or next, and I’d quite like to get L.U.T.V involved to perhaps film it and put it online. This would be an opportunity for any member of the students’ union to come along and question to sabbatical team on whatever they like, and realise that we’re not six full-time officers who sit in the building and don’t get out there and speak to the members.

How do you feel about the University’s affiliation with BAE systems, a weapons development company that sponsor a course at the management school?

Well this question is always going to be a controversial one! My job is to ensure that we have that open debate in the relevant committees. I think you have to deal with issues like this case by case- if Union Council decided that we’re firmly against this and disagrees with the university having this course at Lancaster University then I am more than willing to go to the university and relate that and vice versa if they are in support of it. I’m there to be mandated by the membership. There are various student officers who have taken this issue up and I have said to them that the proper thing to do is sit down and write a motion which I’ll support them on, we’ll have that discussion in union council, we’ll have a democratic vote and we’ll see what the outcome is.