Hi. I’m Eddie Jacobs, standing to sit. on the board of trustees, the body with ultimate legal responsibility over the SU’s compliance with the law, accountability in promoting the interests and welfare of students, strategic direction, and management of resources.

In fits and bursts, I’ve gained a breadth of perspectives on what goes on within the university - as an undergrad, research staff, postgrad, suspended student, so am well positioned to know how initiatives are likely to be received and experienced by different sectors of the community.

This wouldn’t be my first rodeo - I have experience of serving on the board for a large (£3.2m spend in 2021) charity, so am familiar with the grind of legalese, numbers, and bureaucratic processes involved.

I’m a single-issue politics kind of guy (but luckily there are three posts for trustee, so..?). The cost of living crisis isn’t going away any time soon, and has the potential to massively impact nearly every element of the student experience. This will be aggravated for those already experiencing dimensions of vulnerability. As well as making sure the SU’s spend is rightly focused on how to cushion the impact on students, I want to keep the university and colleges’ feet to the fire on financial support. Big endowments are meant to secure proper functioning through the business cycle, and neither the University nor colleges are properly functioning if students are distracted by financial anxieties. 

[Image: A headshot of Eddie smiling while trying to communicate a subtle vibe of benevolence and competence is superimposed above a red-tinted stock photo of the radcam]