Presidential Election Scandal: Trevelyan

Trevelyan College JCR have been accused of being ‘undemocratic’ and an ‘elite oligarchical cadre’ after disqualifying Presidential Candidate, Jeremiah Riad.

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Tempers have flared among the students of Trevelyan College, whose Junior Common Room has been accused of corruption and totalitarianism after disqualifying a presidential candidate ahead of tonight’s hustings at College Formal.

On Friday 25 January, an anonymous supporter for Mr. Riad’s election, posing under the pseudonym Suzanne Sandwiches, created a Facebook page entitled ‘Vote Jerry’ to support his campaign. The page quickly circulated among Trevs students and attracted  both likes and general attention.

Disqualified presidential candidate Jeremy Riad

However, the next day Jeremiah Riad was disqualified by JCR Chairman, Benjamin Lambert, and the Trevs JCR ‘Steering Committee’ for breaching standing orders over Presidential Elections.

The constitution of the college, freely available on their website, states that ‘no materials may be given out to voters during canvassing’ and that ‘a candidate may not utilise poster campaigns nor any form of electronic media at any point in their campaign.’ Their full reasoning can be found here.

In a meeting with JCR Chair Ben Lambert, Jeremiah attested to having no association with the page and there being no hard evidence to support such a claim. At the same time the anonymous owner of the page denied publicly, and privately in messages to JCR Chair Benjamin Lambert, that Mr. Riad had any involvement in the page.

Despite this, the candidate’s disqualification was upheld by the Steering Committee, who deemed he had ‘implicitly endorsed’ the page by liking both it and multiple comments on it.

JCR Chair Ben Lambert demands the anonymous supporter explain themselves. They politely decline.

Following the actions of the JCR, Trevelyan College student Mary Offutt-Reagin addressed an open letter to all members of the Trevelyan college JCR sending it by email and posting it on Facebook. The strongly worded letter has received prolific support on Facebook but received no official reply from any member of the JCR.

The JCR Chair, Ben Lambert did not reply to our requests for comment at the time of publication. The letter can be found here as published on the Tab.

264 students have liked the ‘Vote Jerry’ page and therefore, as phrased by the JCR Chair, ‘implicitly endorsed’ the show of disdain and disapproval for the current administration.

Accusations levelled at the JCR by their own members include corruption, lack of credible and effective elections, oppression of free speech, disdain for democratic process and totalitarian decision making all carried out by an oligarchical self serving cadre of students.

At their college formal, Trevelyan students will hear a single candidate, Adam Thompson, hust for the position of President next year. This will be the third year running in which only one candidate has stood for election.

Amid the controversy and accusations levelled at the Trevelyan JCR, and ‘implicitly endorsed’ by more than third of their members, it is hard to see how any electoral process will retain any credibility until the issues raised by Jeremiah Riad’s disqualification are dealt with.