Tuesday 25th March is our AGM and the following positions will be elected:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Campaigns Coordinator
Fundraising Officer
Publicity Officer
Press Officer
Website Manager
**2 x Ordinary Board Members will be elected at the beginning of the academic year.**
The current committee have given a short description of their role in the hope of giving you a good idea of what each entails, however, there is always the opportunity for committee members to expand the roles if that person has other ideas and/or new projects arise.
If you want more information, please drop us an email! mail@guamnesty.org.uk
President (Ruth Brown)
The president has overall responsibility for the activities of the group and chairs the weekly committee meetings. Much time is dedicated to supporting each committee member in their role so it is necessary to have a good knowledge and interest in all aspects of how the society is organised and operates. The President facilitates the society meetings but all committee members play an important role in organising and running these meetings. Each week a newsletter must be written and sent to the membership detailing the group’s upcoming activities as well as promoting relevant events. It is also up to the President to take responsibility for all the resources (awards, materials, banners etc) that are passed on to each new committee.
This year has been so successful that it’s hard to choose one event that I enjoyed the most. For the campaigns, I liked hearing from all of our guest speakers, and also taking part in the various photo actions. As for the fundraisers, I thought Jamnesty was fantastic!
Vice-President (Debbie White)
As Vice-President, I support the President, feed in ideas and generally help with the organising of meetings and events. In the first few weeks I helped to lead meetings as we had so many people we had a splinter group in Committee Room 2.
This year, I took particular responsibility for organising the Secret Policeman’s Ball and managing the SPB sub-committee, which was great fun! (It isn’t always the VP’s responsibility; last year, our Vice President organised the Scottish Students’ Conference instead)
Secretary (Jana Sweeney)
Secretary mainly does a lot of the behind the scenes organisation. You’ll be in control of the email account, checking and responding to emails, making sure people are aware of various events and checking their own emails. If there is letter writing, you’ll be the one to post the letters, so you’ll creep out your local post office by constantly posting letters to various Heads of States! Also have to take minutes at all the committee meetings! During the summer, you’ll be dealing with all the affiliation documents and over the year you’ll be checking our post cubby in the SRC. You also have to assist any other member of the society with admin tasks they need doing and just generally running a lot of small tasks throughout the year!
My favourite thing this year was running the Pub Quiz with Duncan!
Treasurer (Duncan McNab)
The role of treasurer involves managing the group’s finances, collecting and depositing money that has been fundraised, and keeping an accurate record of expenses and the like. It generally more technical/practical stuff. The majority of my  in the role is away from meetings in terms of counting money going to the bank and so on. Beyond that you’re kind of free to help however you can in the group.
My favourite amnesty thing I was involved with this year was probably writing and hosting the pub quiz with Jana. It was good fun. Also counting money is quite therapeutic.
Campaigns Coordinator (Ali Cooper)
Campaigns Coordinator has responsibility for investigating and planning our various campaigns that run throughout the year.  Keeping on top of emails and researching changes and updates in the relevant areas is crucial.  Coming up with interesting ways to promote campaigns and (importantly) thinking of specific ways GU Amnesty can confront these issue is key. Providing a support role to other committee members in research/investigation is also important.
I really enjoyed the challenge of organising the panel discussion “Syria: I can still see hope”. Â I got to meet some fantastic speakers and whilst getting them initially involved was challenging it paid off and the event was a great success. Â *** Dom needs a mention here! – I only took on the role from him recently from him and I had big shoes to fill: Coca-cola petition on Change.org, Jamnesty etc!
Fundraising Officer (Maisie Peebles)
The role of fundraiser involves the managing of events that raise money for Amnesty International UK. This person must organise fun and exciting events that bring people along and are a financial success. Therefore, it includes liaising with the unions and various managers of venues and bands in order to find the best possible places and people to take part in our many fundraisers. It involves a lot of emailing and researching in order to draw together the most effective plan for the event. This year we have had a pub quiz, Jamnesty, carol singing, Secret Policeman’s Ball, cake stalls, sponsored hillwalk on Arran and there is still a ceilidh and Amnestea in the Park to come!
I enjoyed the Love is a Human Right Gig Night the most as it was the best way to chill after the stress of organising it.
Publicity Officer (Nikola Cabanova)
Publicity Officer promotes the activities of the society.This person takes care of the Facebook page, Twitter and Tumblr (posting updates about meetings, Amnesty activities, photos from the events, creating events). Although some of the tasks are often shared between the members (if someone is busy) it is publicity officer who is required to make some of the promoting material such as making the poster, flyers and sharing these on social media.
E-mailing is a big part of each of the committee member’s role. The Publicity Officer uses it to communicate with other university societies, student bodies and institutions about possible ways of promoting Amnesty events and causes. A big part of this role is also all the crafts. This consists of storing the material, buying new one (paint, brushes, cards etc.), organizing the banner and poster making part of the meetings and making sure the material is used well, is not wasted and nothing gets lost.
I would say that my favourite part was going to the Art store, where we got most of our craft material from, seeing people getting their hands all dirty and climbing on the tables while painting banners and carrying our massive LGBTQ+ posters around the campus to give it to each respective student body who supported our campaign while it was extremely windy. One piece of advice: no task is ‘done’ until it is really done. If you get a task at the beginning of the year which is not extremely urgent it does not mean you can push it down or even out of your ‘to do’ list.
Press Officer (Ellen MacAskill)
This role involves writing about all the great stuff we do every week. The blog on our website is the most regular task. It’s anything between 500-1000 words about what we did at the meeting, or any other campaigns and events. It is also up to the press officer to get our news out and about in other publications. This could be by going along to pitch meetings for Qmunicate and the Glasgow Guardian, or by emailing press releases about our events to wider outlets. Starting this year, there will be a GU Amnesty magazine which the Press Officer will help put together and more recently, there has been an opportunity to get involved with Subcity Radio.
Basically you’ll be the one scribbling away furiously during talks, then finding an appropriate use for said notes later on. The role is relatively new so there is all sorts that you could do with it. There are some press-related guidelines from Amnesty UK which I’m happy to pass on when necessary.
Website Manager (Rob Hallam)
I am responsible for keeping the website up and running- from posting photos (that I take mostly!), to emailing newsletters, to online ticket sales. The aim is to ensure the website contains an up-to-date record of all the great things we’re doing through the year!
One of my personal highlights – you could pick any part of the year and it would qualify – would be getting the brand-new ticketing system up and running. Not only was this one automated more than the previous system, generating and sending the tickets without intervention; it gave us proportionally more money. Bonus! Not to mention it got me a mention – complete with an unforgettable ‘Captain Website’ slide – at the SPB.
[To be elected in October 2014]
Ordinary Board Member (Alex Pancheva)
As one of the Ordinary Board Members, I had the chance to do many small things such as researching campaigns, emailing speakers, publicizing events, and arranging meetings. Your main responsibility will be to help the other committee members but at the same time you can take the tasks that you would enjoy the most. This position will give you insight of how the society functions, and you will get an idea which position would be suitable for you in the future.
This year has been amazing, and we’ve done a lot, so it’s difficult to choose one favourite moment or event. In terms of campaigning, I enjoyed the demos (for example, going around the campus in an orange jumpsuit is a must). As for the fundraisers, I enjoyed both Jamnesty and the SPB.
Ordinary Board Member (Domi Bacanskaite)
Initially as an ordinary board member I wasn’t sure what my responsibilities were, but now that I think of it, one of the best things about this position is that you can help out with many different things and see what it is you enjoy doing most – and what you are best at! It’s a good place to start with the committee and later on you know what other positions you’re interested in. I was the Amnesty representative in the International Women Week’s committee, and organised two events: a talk by our previous member and a qualified Amnesty speaker Elena Soper about women’s rights in Afghanistan, together with a workshop by our president Ruth about the socialisation of young people and the media; and ‘Consent’ film screening with a guest from Rape Crisis Scotland.
My favourite moments must have been those of Jamnesty though – I was stressing out beforehand, but everything went well and we ended up listening to a lot of great music (and raising money at the same time!).
