SASSE awareness, involvement and traditions: An interview with Alice Leijonqvist

“Being Big Mommy for the B&E students was both overwhelming and the best thing I have ever done at SSE”, says Alice Leijonqvist. As Big Mommy she realized her love for both SASSE and its members and she “isn’t ready to let go just yet”. She wants to take her commitment to SASSE to a new level, by running for president.

As Big Mommy, Alice realized many members have an excessive focus on joining a committee since there is a lack of awareness about the range of activities SASSE has to offer.

This leads to an understanding that “either you are in by having a heavy role or you are out.”

SASSE needs to communicate what opportunities all members have and enhancing this “SASSE awareness” is her first election promise.

To make her point clearer she shows me the map of the organization on SASSE’s website. Here you can see the council, the board and the committees, but not any of the numerous other projects SASSE offers. “This mirrors the view that committees are the only way to engage with SASSE”. Instead, she would like to create a “SASSE map” which includes the whole organization. Another suggestion is listing all the projects in short videos, similar to the ones new students are shown during the introduction week.

This segues us into her second election promise, which is “facilitating easier involvement in SASSE”. As president, Alice would “welcome and encourage” new projects in SASSE, since there is room for more initiatives. She points to the Guru fund and the Initiative fund as underutilized and says members do not know about them or how to “take the first step”. An easily accessible and understandable form for members to register new initiatives is her solution. “It would lower the barrier to entry in SASSE.”

She also wants to improve the promotion of already existing projects, stating that “sporadic story posts don’t reach everyone and aren’t enough.” A fair for all the smaller projects with less exposure and mandatory “highlights” for each project on the responsible committee’s Instagram are two of Alice’s plans. She would also like to see clearer role description during application periods. Since she has heard of members being reluctant to apply due to confusion over the tasks and scope of certain roles.

Lastly, Alice brings up her third election promise: elevating traditional student life. This idea came from the fear of missing out on the types of student traditions that exist in cities such as Uppsala and Lund. Alice would take inspiration from these more established student cities. The founding of a yearly student ball in the style of Uppsala’s Spring ball is her personal goal and rightly so. She would also give the pub a face lift, including the “Torsdagspub” being more reliably open every Thursday. “Why go to Hirschenkeller when you can go to your own pub?” she says with a smile.

Alice focuses on both the new and the old to shake up SASSE. An exciting combination.