An Interview with Nostra BDE

Interviewed by Lily Barnett

This interview and the other campaign list interviews were conducted by writers of the Sundial Press. To ensure uniformity across list interviews, interviewees were given the same amount of time to answer questions, and lists for the same permanent bureau (ex. the two BDA lists) received the same questions. The interviewees had not seen the questions they would be asked, and a member of the campaign committee also assisted and supervised the interview. Although the interviews have been edited for clarity and concision, everything written was said by the list members.

Today, we’re here to provide a little insight into Nostra BDE, a campaign list running for the Bureau des Eleves (BDE) during the 2022 Campaign Week on campus. We met with Théo Visconti and April André, the co-presidents of Nostra BDE.

Nostra BDE Team Members

Executive Pole:

Théo Visconti: Co-president, Armenian, French, and American (EURAM)

April André: Co-president, French, Portuguese, and Haitin (EURAF)

Blanche d’Aboville: Secretary, French and American (EURAM)

Ryan Josoa: Co-treasurer, French and Malagasy (EURAF)

Tedo Sandroshvili: Co-treasurer, Georgian (EURAM)

Communication Pole

Jodie Zakine: Head of Communications, French (EURAM)

Sofía Prado Arenzana: Online Presence, Spanish (EURAM)

Samuel Lapacas: Montage Videos, French (EURAF)

Event Pole

Nour Bayassine: Head of Events, Moroccan (EURAF)

Justin Beauchamp: Logistics, French (EURAM)

Kadidiatou sow Diakite: Partnerships, French, Senegalese and Gambian (EURAF)

Bianca Faelli: Trips, Italian (EURAM)

Jose Herrador: Logistics, Spanish (EURAM)

Well Being Pole

Anaïs Laureri: VSS Representative, French (BASC)

Sydney Mardon: Head of Well Being, Canadian (EURAM)

Tanguy Pousset: Well Being, French (EURAM)

Q: Please briefly introduce your list and the members of your team.

April: On est Nostra BDE, une contre-liste pour le Bureau des Elèves. On est 16 membres, je suis coprésidente avec Théo. Je suis en Euram et lui en Euraf.

Théo: We are Nostra BDE. We are counter listing the current BDE list. We are 16 members, my name is Théo and my co-president is April. I’m EURAM and she’s EURAF.

Q: Why is your list running? What are you hoping to bring to campus life at the Reims Campus of Sciences Po?

April: On sait qui vit très bien l’expérience Sciences Po; c’est souvent ceux qui sont dans les soirées, qui s’amusent. Mais on a tous vu sur Yik Yak au début de l’année des messages très négatifs qui montrent que certaines personnes se sentent seules, sont déprimées et vivent très mal l’expérience Sciences Po. Donc notre but est vraiment d’intégrer tout le monde, de porter aussi de l’attention à ceux qui vivent mal l’expérience Sciences Po, avec notre pôle Student Life et avec le Well-Being. Le but est de pouvoir se souvenir de ces années dans cinq ou dix ans comme étant les meilleures années de nos vies. Notre objectif est aussi d’aider les étudiants internationaux au niveau de l’administration française à travers la création d’un compte en banque par exemple. Ensuite, les VSS sont extrêmement importantes à nos yeux. On aimerait que nos événements soient les plus safe possible. Par exemple, hier on a fait une bar night et à la fin on a raccompagné tout le monde. C’est aussi à travers la prévention et la formation; on va vraiment travailler en collaboration avec Ignite et expliquer aux étudiants quelle est la politique de Sciences Po par rapport aux VSS. Beaucoup de gens ne savent pas comment monter un dossier, donc l’idée serait d’aider les personnes qui sont victimes de VSS en les orientant, en les accompagnant et en les conseillant.

Théo: I think to elaborate on that, two of our main missions are to clarify all of the procedures that students have to go through at Sciences Po and then to guide them through them as well. So clarifying french bureaucratic procedures, especially for international students who don’t have access to translators, which can be really expensive, but also bringing them to the centers and helping them with the papers and with what they need to hop through all the hoops. Also, speaking on Pole Sante, a lot of students don’t know how the VSS procedure happens at Sciences Po, and it’s true that it’s very unclear. We want to bring this forward and tell students how to navigate the procedure, and bring them to the Pole Sante if they need, as a lot of international students have a hard time even going to the Pole Sante since they don’t even speak English yet, and thus have a lot of trouble with the many international students here who have no idea what to do if something happens to them. We’re really here to help them and help guide them, not only through VSS procedures, but also with mental health as well. It’s super important and a lot of international students struggle with not only feelings of homesickness but also loneliness because they’re really far from home and from their normal grounds, and so helping bring them to trusted health professionals in Reims that are suited to work with the needs of international students, especially translation. Also, our Pole Sante is overwhelmed as is, I heard the doctor will not be here until next Friday, so if you’re sick what do you do? We want to be here to help with that and bring aid to the students, international and French alike.

Q: In what ways do the members of your list accurately represent the diverse student body of Reims?

April: Beaucoup de membres de notre liste font partie de différentes associations; les associations féministes, l’ASPA, Elefunk, et encore d’autres sont représentées chez nous. On a des EURAFs, des EURAMs, et même une BASC. On a réunies des personnes qui ne se connaissaient même pas avant. On vient des quatre coins du monde et chacun a sa propre histoire. On a une très belle diversité, je trouve.

Théo: The idea of constructing this list was to make sure we were picking people from a bunch of different groups, not only EURAM or EURAF but also within EURAM and EURAF, how do we represent the different types of people in the student body? Not just the same friend group, or the same overarching friend group just in the two programs, but really how can we bring forward the ideas of every single friend group on the campus, and how can we find a link between them and make events for everybody. Our team is really built for that. We also, as April was saying, have members in ASPA, Elefunk, Bolden, ALAS, and AIRA. We really represent all the regional assos on campus. We’re here to bring the cultural diversity, regional diversity, and diversity of ideas and interests forward. I think we represent over 20 assos on campus. We want to keep bringing that forward and make sure the most students can have access and knowledge to what’s going on on campus, because we are also a part of all those assos we can bring forward that information to the students.

Q: In your opinion, what is the main shortcoming of the permanent association you are running for, and how do you wish to address these shortcomings during the next academic year if you are elected?

April: On voudrait être transparents financièrement. On a déjà un site internet où on a commencé à diffuser nos dépenses. Souvent, les gens ne comprennent pas pourquoi un gala coûte 40 euros, donc déjà on aimerait proposer des prix abordables, mais si un gala coûte 40 euros, c’est parce qu’il y a énormément de choses derrière: la location d’une salle, la caution, la nourriture, l’alcool, les groupes de musique etc. Tout ça, les gens ne le voient pas donc on aimerait le montrer par exemple sur instagram ou faire des réunions où les gens peuvent venir. Ensuite, en ce qui concerne les VSS, on voudrait que toute la liste soit formée sur ces questions-là et on est intransigeants dessus.

Théo: Also in terms of financial transparency, we also want to increase access to events. April was talking about the barriers of entry where events can be too expensive for scholarship students, so we’re not only here to talk about transparency and this vague idea of what it means to make events accessible but we’re also here to make use of what the city of Reims has in terms of contracts and subventions that the city of Reims can give to the BDE for integration events. For example, we already have the contract – not signed – with the city of Reims, available on our website. They give BDE lists up to 1000 euros for integration events. There’s a bunch of student aid in Reims that we are unaware of and so we can make student life a lot more accessible if we bring this forward. This is one of our big goals, which is really our action plan, because we already have this set of contacts and also the willingness to work closely with the city to bring money to the students, and not let them spend money frivolously when they could be getting a lot of student aid. Again, with administrative procedures, CAF and APL, all of these procedures that students can get. For international students it’s a lot harder as non-citizens to get this aid, but, for example, the CAF is a great way to get a huge amount of money back in your budget, but the administrative procedure is so byzantine that it’s really hard to do that. Even for me as a French speaking French national it’s complicated to get through these procedures if you weren’t born in France and have parents here able to help you.

Q: What do you feel are the most important characteristics of a BDE member?

April: BDE veut Bureau des Elèves donc le but c’est pas de se concentrer sur un échantillon qui n’est pas représentatif de la globalité des élèves. Le plus important c’est de faire sentir aux étudiants que c’est pas parce que tu n’est pas français, c’est pas parce que tu viens d’Italie et pas d’autre part, c’est pas parce que tu es une fille ou un garçon ou que tu ne te définis pas par selon ces critères binaires, c’est pas parce que tu as une certaine orientation sexuelle, c’est pas parce que tu as une certaine couleur de peau, on s’en fiche en fait! Et c’est pas parce que toi tu adores Sciences Po ou parce que tu n’aimes pas du tout Sciences Po, que tu ne dois pas te sentir écouté ou représenté au sein du BDE. Et c’est difficile de représenter 1600 élèves, mais il faut essayer le plus possible, parce que sinon c’est pas un Bureau des Elèves, c’est une association pour un groupe, et ça c’est pas le but.

Théo: I think to really hit on one word it would be warmth. We especially picked students who are super warm within their own friends group but also super willing to meet new people, and to socialize, and be here for students, listen to them. We’re really happy with our list and team because everyone is willing to do that and listen to people and so warmth is a key characteristic. As April was saying it’s the BDE so it’s here for everybody but obviously with 16 members you won’t be able to touch the entire student body so the best thing you can do is have members who are willing to do so. We want to continue with this warmth throughout the campus here. It’s part of the personalities of a lot of our list so it’s not something that will go away when campaign week is over but something that will be here all year.

Q: If students want to learn more about your mission and what your campaign offers, what is the best way for them to find out?

April: La meilleure solution c’est de venir nous voir sur le stand. Ça nous fait tellement plaisir quand vous venez nous voir et que vous nous demandez quels sont nos objectifs. Là on vous kidnappe pendant au moins 5 minutes, on vous déballe tout, mais ça nous fait super plaisir parce qu’on sent que vous êtes investis et nous on a beaucoup travaillé pour vous présenter toutes ces missions. Bien évidemment, vous pouvez aller sur notre compte Instagram (@Nostra_bde) et sur notre site internet (www.nostrabde.com). Mais venez nous voir parce que ça nous fait tellement plaisir de rencontrer tous les étudiants!

Théo: First, our stand, we are here all day at all hours, so you can see us and talk to us. We love to explain our mission, whether while putting glitter on your face or making bracelets with you. We also have our instagram @Nostra_BDE, where you can find information on events, our promises, and our people. More importantly, we have our website NotraBDE.com where you can see our financial transparency, our VSS charter, and you can see all of the members of our list, our assos, and our languages spoken.