Tánaiste Custance

As DUSA President, I’m here to build our collective power by working with you, not above you. I lead by serving—helping turn individual struggles into collective solutions.

I believe we hold more power than we realise. Too often, education feels like it’s only about passing exams, rather than discovering what it means to be human and socially engaged. I studied Community Education because I believe learning should be liberating. As the poet Langston Hughes wrote “I see that my own hands can make / The world that’s in my mind.”

As a working-class, queer, and autistic person, I take the struggle for equality and dignity seriously. My priorities this year include defending essential student services—like disability support and counselling—from further university cuts, protecting your academic interests, and making sure any consultation with students is genuine and meaningful, not just a ‘tick-box’ exercise.

Most students work part-time to fund their studies. As a trade unionist, I’m passionate about improving working conditions for students and making sure DUSA plays a role in making work in Dundee fairer. I also want to challenge the high rents – you do not deserve to be ripped off by anyone!
At the national level, I work with other student unions across Scotland to put student interests front and centre with politicians and parties. Higher education is underfunded, and too often, universities mismanage the money they do have.

Other political issues I care about include: the climate crisis, the genocide in Palestine, supporting student sex workers, trans rights, neurodiversity and fighting the rise of the far-right.