Cassidy Pemberton is the Women’s Officer for the Guild in 2021 and her pronouns are she/her. She is studying Creative Writing and is about to commence her second semester.

Cassidy loves playing video games, listening to music and spending time with her dog, Milo. She is a proud queer woman, and is always keen to listen and help whenever anyone feels they want to come and have a chat!

What is your favourite campus food?

My favourite campus food are the fresh, warm donuts from Bookmark Café. They’re so good.

What is your biggest whine/peeve about campus?

Honestly, my biggest whine about campus is having to pay for parking on campus. The fact that I have to pay to park my car at my institution of learning is just ridiculous. With my timetable, I don’t even have to be on campus every day, so I imagine that those with heavier schedules are even more annoyed than I am.

What would you like to do after you graduate university?

I would love to be an author of some description, such as a novelist, playwright or screenwriter. I just love being creative in general, so even if there was another position or job that would let be creative and help people, I’d definitely take it.

How can the Guild help make university life better?

The Guild can help make uni life better in a number of different ways! My favourite are the discounts at Guild outlets, saving you some of your hard-earned cash.

The Guild as a whole really enriches the campus culture by hosting events, such as Street Party last year, helping with the formation of clubs, and their continued support to students no matter what the problem.

The Guild can help if you have any troubles at university with finances, living situations and more through Student Assist. I haven’t needed to use this service yet, but I know that if/when I do, I’ll be in expert hands.

How and why did you get involved in the Guild?

I got into student politics by Lucy, our current Health Sciences Rep, as we went to the same high school. I’d always been interested in politics and I leapt at the opportunity to get involved, and put my hand up to become Women’s Officer as soon as possible. I got involved because I love helping people and meeting other like-minded individuals, and I‘ve loved every second of it so far.

How do you think you can make a difference this year, and what are you hoping to achieve?

I think I can make a difference this year through my position as the Women’s Officer. I’ve already started to grow Curtin’s Women’s community online and in person, and am working on events and projects to commence this year.

Overall, I’m hoping to assist all women and non-binary people on campus as much as I possibly can during my term, and be a strong and approachable representative for them.

What is your advice for making the most out of the uni experience—especially for first years?

I think to make the most of your uni experience, you should get involved in something, such as a club or a program. I honestly still feel like a first year, due to my first semester last year being consumed by COVID-19, but I still feel like I’ve had a rich university experience so far. I’ve made many friends by being involved with the Guild, which has made me feel more comfortable and content at university.

What is the most important issue for students today?

I think the most important issue for students, specifically, is how our quality of education is decreasing as time goes on. We need to take more action and show Australian universities and the Government that we won’t stand for it.

How do you see universities adapting to students’ needs in the future?

With the way things are going, I’m not sure how universities should adapt to students’ needs in the future, if at all.

Students are paying more for their degrees than ever, and our quality of education is being decreased at the same time with less and less face-to-face lectures, for example. I would hope that universities, especially Curtin, will listen to their students and the Guilds that represent them. I’ll be doing my best from within the Guild to achieve the best outcome for students at the end of the day.

If you could make any changes in the university, what would it be and why?

No more parking fees. Enough said.

If you were the Prime minister of Australia for a day, what would you do?

There’s so many things I could do, but I would love to make all health and mental health services free, especially therapy appointments.

This article is part of a Curtin Student Guild interview series that was first published on their website.

Email Cassidy on women@guild.curtin.edu.au

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