Tab Top Trumps: AUSA election candidates

Voting opens tomorrow – here’s The Tab’s rundown of your potential leaders.

| UPDATED

Did you know voting for the AUSA executive committee opens tomorrow? Nope, neither did we.

Any idea who’s running? Didn’t think so.

So we’ve done The Gaudie‘s job for them (soz guys, but you kinda missed the boat here) and put together a handy guide to the candidates. Please use this as the basis for choosing next year’s leaders as reading their manifestos in a oner is a health hazard – it had us reaching for a drink.

 

The battle for: President for Environment and Ethics

Dominic O’Hagan

BNOC Factor: He’s one of Alfie’s most loved staff. ***

Policies Rating: They’re pretty darn smart, like Rowan’s. ****

Relatability to average student: Again, the accent. ****

Degree respectability: Politics and IR. DUDE. *****

Lovability: Top lad, but wouldn’t want to piss him off. ****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: High. But at least he won’t sell us to the oil companies. ****

Superpower: Top quality banter

Kryptonite: That accent, though.

This chap is straight to the business, and this is no bad thing. Whilst other students may be out on the booze or perfecting their Tinder-swipe-to-the-right, Dom is busy dreaming of lobbying the university for a biomass compactor and getting serious about the housing co-op. Practical and realistic, he knows what he wants and how to get it done.. and wait is that a hint of banter in his tone? Is he one of us??

Rowan Callarman–Williams

BNOC Factor: You’ll have at least seen the hair **

Policies Rating: They’re pretty darn smart, like Dom’s. ****

Relatability to average student: If vegans were average… ***

Degree respectability: History. Nuff said. **

Lovability: We could sit and brush his hair all day long. ****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Doesn’t strike us as a lone wolf.  *

Superpower: Hair

Kryptonite: Hair

With big ideas and bigger hair, RCW rocks the environmental hippie vibe to a tee – which is fortunate considering the position he is running for. Passionate about getting the ball rolling with this housing co-op and also investing in renewable energy to name a few things, Rowan is strong on policy, but perhaps seems just a little less specific on practical application of ideas compared to his opponent… that hair though!

 

The battle for – President for Charities and Communities

 

Rachel Donald

BNOC Factor: Notorious rebel, just this time with a cause, right?****

Policies Rating: More communities than charities, but still strong. ****

Relatability to average student: Wait til you see her AUSA rap. ****

Degree respectability: Literature. May as well have not come to uni. *

Lovability: Some days she’ll kiss you, others eat you alive. ***

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Will she fire us for the truth? *****

Superpower: The Tab.

Kryptonite: The Tab.

Currently the queen (editor) of the Tab, but let’s not hold that against her (please don’t fire me). Rachel enters the ring promising to rebuild student engagement with AUSA, using her media savvy. She’s gonna develop fresher and bigger ideas for raising money that students will be desperate to be a part of – graduation bar crawl, anyone? She’s got a lot of plans, including introducing a community reach out campaign to break down barriers between university and secondary schools, and wants to slash rent prices in Abz. She can neck a pint real fast too (seriously don’t fire me?)

 

Jenny Waters

BNOC Factor: Got her foot in the AUSA committee door. ***

Policies Rating: Charity is definitely her thang, community is yet to blossom ****

Relatability to average student: I’d hug her ***

Degree respectability: IR and Legal Studies. Dayum girl U smart ****

Lovability: If her heart could write songs I would buy that album ***

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: For magic powers? In a heartbeat ****

Superpower: She’s got the Charities tee.

Kryptonite: Bungee jumping is a dangerous art, think of the children.

Currently in the VP role, this is the moment where Jenny is ready to step up and make a play for the big Presidency position.. if this was House of Cards, somebody would probably be dead right about now. Jenny has been responsible for RAG week successes such as setting up the £1 Challenge (raising £1500) and also helping to bring that big-ass bungee jump to the campus. If elected, some of the key issues she wants to focus on are celebrating volunteers’ hard work (e.g. volunteer of the month scheme) and rep system for students living in halls.

 

The battle for: President for Education and Employability

 

Rob Henthorn

BNOC Factor: The local papers love him. ****

Policies Rating: Written by the same hand that got us our 24 hour library. *****

Relatability to average student: He rides a bicycle. ***

Degree respectability: History and Philosophy? Really though? **

Lovability: This man knows how to rally a crowd. ****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: So far, so good guy. **

Superpower: Awesome work he’s done so far.

Kryptonite: Did you see his old haircut?

It’s apparent from the get go that this isn’t Mr Henthorn’s first day in student politics; and indeed it isn’t – this year he runs with the hopes of being re-elected as President for Education and Employability. Everything about this chap is super polished – his policies, his responses, his political turns of phrase. Rob brings a lot of experience to the table, whilst promising to ensure proper exam feedback sessions are set up during refreshers week AND attack the dreaded library fine system. Grab your books and run people!

 

The battle for: President for Welfare and Equal Opportunities

 

Genna Clarke

BNOC Factor: LAX gal by day, Nightline by night. ****

Policies Rating: We believe she cares. ***

Relatability to average student: Down-to-earth doesn’t even cover it. *****

Degree respectability: Psychology. Safe bet. ***

Lovability: If you look closely enough you can see her halo *****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Never. Zero stars.

Superpower: Cake-baking skills.

Kryptonite: Too caring for her own good.

Like some sort of empathetic batman, over the last three years Genna has sacrificed her nights to help and support the students of Aberdeen as part of one of the Universities more successful schemes – Nightline. Now she hopes to represent minority groups and ensure general student wellbeing. Admittedly her policies seem a little more general in areas, however perhaps this comes with the nature of the role. Interests of note include tackling lad culture on campus, overcoming the stigma of mental health and introducing a welfare officer to all sports clubs. Also she’ll be offering self-defence classes to students – maybe that’s her inner batman shining through again.

 

 

The battle for – President for Societies and Student Activities

 

Veronika Hofmann

BNOC Factor: You’ve probably heard her. ***

Policies Rating: Office hours? That’s dedication. ****

Relatability to average student: We want to be her friend. ****

Degree respectability: IR and Sociology? Latter half brings her down ***

Lovability: Loads of fun but a little scary.. ***

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: There’s something about her… ***

Superpower: Sleek campaign.

Kryptonite: King’s Ball hangover.

Veronika is currently President of the Politics and IR society, but is stepping up to bat for President of ALL the societies. Dat girl cray. She places a slightly different emphasis on where to take societies moving forward, to that of her salsa-dance-loving competitor. Veronika recognises that the society online member sign up wasn’t a great success last year – many society’s numbers dropped as a result. She plans to make an alternative where members can pay cash to their society treasurer. Simples. Also she hopes to tackle the current cap on societies, only 120 currently allowed, finding a way to better balance resources and allow more societies to be affiliated with AUSA.

 

Ergun Karasalih

BNOC Factor: You’ve probably seen him cutting shapes on campus ***

Policies Rating: Interesting ideas, strange tribal packaging.. ***

Relatability to average student: Potentially high, but seems in his own salsa dancing world. ***

Degree respectability: Economics?! Did not see that coming. *****

Lovability: You can’t help but love him. *****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: How would he dance if he had no friends? *

Superpower: Making the masses adore him.

Kryptonite: Referring to us students as tribes.

Ergun offers something a little out of the box when it comes to the general run of candidates this year. As self proclaimed “tribe leader”, he hopes to unite all the societies (tribes?) and allow for healthy competition between them. He proposes to do this by introducing a societies league, a societies magazine, and a greater collective online presence for societies to share and communicate. He also teaches salsa dancing too – I hear that’s what makes a good president. I’m looking at you, Obama.

 

The battle for – President for Sport

 Marc McCorkell

BNOC Factor: Big name in the gym, it counts ****

Policies Rating: The boy loves sport ****

Relatability to average student: He knows the pain of leg day ***

Degree respectability: Simultaneously to being a sport legend he also got a degree in IR! *****

Lovability: He’s like a life-size Andrex puppy ****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: It’s about the sport, not the power. *

Superpower: That Irish accent and his ace work so far.

Kryptonite: Liquid Wednesday.

Marc has been involved in shaping the sportier side of university for the past five years, and is currently campaigning to be re-elected as President for Sport. Stamina! Building on the work he achieved last year as President, he now hopes to focus on lobbying for better outdoor floodlit sports facilities across university, and ensure that clubs get fairer training times with the ASV. He also wants to work with the local council to improve the health of the wider community. If we’d been stuck at uni for six years, we’d have probably lost our minds by now..… so good job Marc McCorkell. Good job indeed.

 

Arttu Narhi

BNOC Factor: Well known in a galaxy far far away. **

Policies Rating: We respect him looking out for the underdogs! ****

Relatability to average student: He goes swimming in the North Sea… **

Degree respectability: Anthropology and Sociology, but mostly surfing. **

Lovability: Cool accent. ***

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Don’t see it *

Superpower:Caring about people who care about ultimate Frisbee.

Kryptonite: Star Wars references

Or should we say, Arttu D2! This dude is currently vice captain of the surf society, but is he ready to ride the riptide straight into Presidency? He certainly seems to care about not only sports, but physical health as a whole, promising free fitness classes and emphasising the importance of health, fitness and eating right. Arrtu also specifically expressed support for smaller clubs such as the women’s football and ultimate frisbee teams who might struggle to find suitable practice areas. To this he suggests we might have to look outside the ASV, possibly to sports facilities around town or on campus in an effort to properly accommodate teams of all sizes. This is a man who can think outside the box.

  

The battle for – Student President

 

Hannah Smith

BNOC Factor: She’s everywhere ***

Policies Rating: Squeaky clean ****

Relatability to average student: She reminds me of my mum a bit sometimes ***

Degree respectability: Education and Politics… is she raising an army? ****

Lovability: She’s got fire in her belly. ***

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Friends and family more likely to become members of her army. **

Superpower: Red campaign theme.

Kryptonite: Being scary.

Shooting for the position of top dog, Hannah comes with a vat of experience. Currently, she’s the chair of the student council and AGM, and a member of the Education committee at AUSA, as well as the University of Senate. Busy!! If elected, she hopes to channel student desires into what becomes of our new union building, increase technological support available to students by introducing an I.T. help desk, and ensure exam dates and feedback are released earlier as well as ensuring more methods of alternative assessment (not just exams) are introduced into curriculums. The first thing Hannah would do if elected el Presidente would be to work out ways that AUSA could better engage with the student body as a whole, instead of being locked away in the fortress of positive energy that is Butchart.

 

Emily Beever

BNOC Factor: With the slogan Beever Fever, who doesn’t know her? ****

Policies Rating: She has specific aims and knows how to do it ****

Relatability to average student: Best-friend material ****

Degree respectability: MA German and International Relations eeek ****

Lovability: Gives Marc McCorkell a run for his money ****

Likelihood of selling out family and friends for power: Years ago ****

Superpower: That soft appearance hides a steely reserve.

Kryptonite: “Too many dicks” motion.

Our current President for Charities and Communities – Emily Beever, aka “The Beevester” (probably) to her friends and loved ones, is gunning to be this year’s cherry on the election cake – Student. President. If successful, she hopes to focus on three core elements in the coming year – developing the new union building in line with the desires of the students; equality by way of challenging sexism on campus; and access to education for students from all variety of financial backgrounds. She has made clear that she’ll stand up to the Uni in order to get what students deserve, and isn’t afraid to get a little mean in the process. This Beever’s got a bite! Her surname is Beever, do you expect us not to use that in some way?!

 

Keep an eye out tomorrow for The Tab’s guide to each presidential role. Because AUSA’s descriptions are less fun.

You’re welcome.