Tuesday 6th January, 2009
Green flag given to Election campaigning; the race is on
Issue #1396 [Feb 15th 2008]
Nominations for next year’s Sabbatical team, Student Trustees and NUS delegates closed on Sunday night (at one minute to midnight to be precise) revealing the potential 2008/09 President and Deputy Presidents. Sabbatical positions, or Sabbs – which include the offices of Deputy President Finance & Services (DPFS), Deputy President Clubs & Societies (DPCS) and Deputy President Education & Welfare (DPEW) alongside the office of Union President and Felix Editor – last for a year and are taken up by current students either during their degree or after their final year. Alongside the Sabbs, candidates for the eight NUS delegate positions were also revealed (they are the people who will be representing the Union at the NUS conference between 1st and 3rd April this year) along with the two potential Student Trustees (students who sit on the Trustee Board which oversees the Union).
The position of President appears to have the most heated competition with six candidates vying for the job. Current Royal College of Science Union (RCSU) President Jennifer Morgan, Athletic Clubs Committee (ACC) Chair Luke Taylor and former DPFS Jon Matthews all fulfilled Felix’s prophesy (cast your over-eager eyes back to issue 1,391) by running for President. Alongside these faces, former Felix columnist Diogo Geraldes, Choir Treasurer Edward Hughes and City and Guilds College Union (CGCU) Honorary Secretary Edward Judge are also in the competition.
The next most hotly-contested position is DPCS with Felix correctly predicting only one candidate, Lily Topham, Social Clubs Committee (SCC) Chair for this role. Alongside Ms Topham is John James, stalwart of the RCS Motor Club and Jess Marley the Netball Club Captain. The diversity of candidates can only make for a promising contest with perhaps differing focuses and purposes. DPEW is going to be fought between two familiar faces: SCC Secretary Ryan Dee (as predicted by Felix) and Welfare Campaigns Officer Hannah Theodorou. Poker Society Treasurer Christian Carter is the sole student candidate for DPFS other than the possibility of re-opening nominations – this may not provide the most thrilling of contests for a role that is often deficient of candidates.
Obviously the most important position, Felix Editor, has drawn three experienced candidates from the current Felix team in Nightlife Editor Gregory Mead, Sports Editor Jovan Nedić and News Editor Andrew Somerville. However, at the time of going to press Andrew has expressed his desire to withdraw from the race due to disillusionment with the role of Felix at this university (see page 3).
There are eleven candidates for the eight NUS delegate positions and two candidates for the two Student Trustee positions; these roles are not to be ignored.
For each field in the election students have the opportunity to vote for Re-Open Nominations (RON) if none of the candidates float your boat. If RON wins, nominations will be opened up again for another election.
One thing is for sure this year; there are many experienced and familiar faces and that the joke candidate factor (proportional to the farce factor) is at an all-time low. This means that Hustings (the candidates’ chance to convince you to vote for them in a public forum) might be relatively farce-free with competency rather than pint-downing as the order of the day. Might be...
There will be Hustings on Monday 18th February at 12pm in the JCR and on Thursday 21st February at 6:30pm in DaVinci’s. Look out for the candidates’ manifestos in next week’s Felix and on Live! (http://live.cgcu.net).
Voting opens online on Friday 22nd February at one minute past midnight and closes Tuesday 26th February at one minute to midnight.
Remember that you are voting for the future of the Union and if you are leaving this year, then it is a good way to get back at the College for giving you a third. Resentful, moi?
The position of President appears to have the most heated competition with six candidates vying for the job. Current Royal College of Science Union (RCSU) President Jennifer Morgan, Athletic Clubs Committee (ACC) Chair Luke Taylor and former DPFS Jon Matthews all fulfilled Felix’s prophesy (cast your over-eager eyes back to issue 1,391) by running for President. Alongside these faces, former Felix columnist Diogo Geraldes, Choir Treasurer Edward Hughes and City and Guilds College Union (CGCU) Honorary Secretary Edward Judge are also in the competition.
The next most hotly-contested position is DPCS with Felix correctly predicting only one candidate, Lily Topham, Social Clubs Committee (SCC) Chair for this role. Alongside Ms Topham is John James, stalwart of the RCS Motor Club and Jess Marley the Netball Club Captain. The diversity of candidates can only make for a promising contest with perhaps differing focuses and purposes. DPEW is going to be fought between two familiar faces: SCC Secretary Ryan Dee (as predicted by Felix) and Welfare Campaigns Officer Hannah Theodorou. Poker Society Treasurer Christian Carter is the sole student candidate for DPFS other than the possibility of re-opening nominations – this may not provide the most thrilling of contests for a role that is often deficient of candidates.
Obviously the most important position, Felix Editor, has drawn three experienced candidates from the current Felix team in Nightlife Editor Gregory Mead, Sports Editor Jovan Nedić and News Editor Andrew Somerville. However, at the time of going to press Andrew has expressed his desire to withdraw from the race due to disillusionment with the role of Felix at this university (see page 3).
There are eleven candidates for the eight NUS delegate positions and two candidates for the two Student Trustee positions; these roles are not to be ignored.
For each field in the election students have the opportunity to vote for Re-Open Nominations (RON) if none of the candidates float your boat. If RON wins, nominations will be opened up again for another election.
One thing is for sure this year; there are many experienced and familiar faces and that the joke candidate factor (proportional to the farce factor) is at an all-time low. This means that Hustings (the candidates’ chance to convince you to vote for them in a public forum) might be relatively farce-free with competency rather than pint-downing as the order of the day. Might be...
There will be Hustings on Monday 18th February at 12pm in the JCR and on Thursday 21st February at 6:30pm in DaVinci’s. Look out for the candidates’ manifestos in next week’s Felix and on Live! (http://live.cgcu.net).
Voting opens online on Friday 22nd February at one minute past midnight and closes Tuesday 26th February at one minute to midnight.
Remember that you are voting for the future of the Union and if you are leaving this year, then it is a good way to get back at the College for giving you a third. Resentful, moi?
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