Mud slinging starts as election fever turns nasty

The exec elections kicked off on Sunday evening to reveal 21 eager candidates willing to take on the chore of helping run the SU. 

But one candidate has come under intense criticism. Bryn Wilkes, the current VP Media, is keen to run for a second year. He said: “Going to keep building this long term legacy (of LSU Media) there needs to be an element of consistency.”

Last night, Wilkes was left sweating at the Bubble Debate by ruthless panelists as they asked what happened to Wilkes two promises of both a new website and “critical journalism.”

History and Politics third year, Mark Osmond doesn’t think he should be allowed to run for a second term. Osmond wants change, and he wants it now.

Osmond is campaigning for Wilkes to not be elected, and wants people to re-open nominations, defending himself against claims he is a wind up merchant.

Rights fight: Osmond says RON is the route to constitutional change

An open letter from Mark Osmond

To the members of Loughborough Students’ Union,

In about a weeks time, all members of LSU will have an incredibly important decision to make – whether to re-elect Bryn Wilkes as VP for Media or to re-open nominations.

Ok, so why has this RON campaign against Bryn Wilkes been set up? Is it a personal vendetta, or is it merely a wind up merchant? Absolutely not. This is a serious campaign and should be taken as such.

The long-term aim is to change the LSU constitution to forbid people from staying on Exec for more than one term. To make this change, I will go to the VP for Union Affairs and the Union Council and it will no doubt be a long and drawn out process. Nonetheless it is something that I am willing to do.

In the short term this campaign, and hopefully some of its momentum, will send real shockwaves through the Union Council and highlight to the powers that be that change is necessary and, more importantly, demanded.

I will now set out a number of my arguments:

1) Nobody is naïve enough to think that the ‘grand reveal’ is in fact the first time people know who is going to be running. A large number of people who are elected onto Exec come from their respective committees such as Action, RAG, AU, Media etc.

Murmurings about who will be going for Exec will have been going on for a long time, and if someone who perhaps harbours ambitions of Exec then hears that the incumbent is seeking re-election, this will surely dissuade many. These people being deterred may have brought fresh and innovative ideas to the table, but instead, they don’t run as they are intimidated – something that I think is unacceptable.

2) During campaigning, anyone seeking re-election is forced into taking 10 days holiday and is isolated from Exec. But is this fair to the people that voted last year?

In my opinion, once again, absolutely not. At this time of year the Exec is at its most visible and all hands should be on deck. But instead deputies and interims have to be appointed and all the while the most qualified person for that role is banging the drum for their new campaign. Is this what we elect people onto Exec for? Also, what would happen if in future years if someone does challenge the incumbent and the incumbent loses the election? Will their position still be tenable? Will they still have the same drive and will their heart still be in it?

3) An argument against my view, will no doubt be the re-election Isobel Ford – the VP for Welfare and Diversity. Last year the candidate running for this position pulled out at the last moment and the position went to interview. A number of candidates applied and were interviewed by the great and good of the Union – and Isobel Ford was selected. Whilst by all accounts Isobel has done a fantastic job, I think that this still represents a major conflict of interest and doesn’t look brilliant on the Union – there are certainly overtones of nepotism. This is why I think the constitution needs changing, and I hope that this campaign will inject some energy into it.

Lastly, one of the massive attractions of Loughborough is opportunity, whether it be playing sport, getting involved in charity work or playing a role in the Students’ Union. I strongly believe that allowing people to stay on for a second term restricts opportunity, it stifles innovation and is wholly impractical during Election Week.

It’s incredibly easy to keep things the same way and be apathetic towards our Executive Committee, but I believe that this is wholly wrong. Loughborough Students’ Union has a proud record of being groundbreaking and record-breaking, so let’s follow this tradition and create change for good and send a real message to those in the Union Council that change is what the people want.

Yours in hope,

Mark Osmond

RON Campaign