Elections 2013: Student Leader Predictions

Following the Sabbatical Predictions The Tab have decided to focus on the often neglected other roles, the Student Leaders.

Student leaders work under the Sabbs, heading up a department, faculty or committee. Student leaders sit on Union Council, the highest making decision body within SUSU, which makes them kind of a big deal really.

Since several positions are only up against RON and highly likely to be elected we won’t be considering them in this article. Below is a selection of predictions on who will come out on top in the contested student leader elections.

Student Groups Officer

• Jade Head
• James Hemingway

Jade Head is currently the Societies Officer and she’s done a fantastic job alongside having a positive and friendly attitude around SUSU. James is the current GeogSoc President and departmental societies officer which will sway a massive amount of votes from the geography clan. It will require a large amount of campaigning but overall, my money is on Jade.

SUSUtv Station Manager

• Tim Brooks
• Catherine Darcy

Tim is the current Head of Technical, while Catherine heads up Current News. With someone from behind and in front of the cameras, you can guarantee whoever wins they will work together throughout next year to improve and develop SUSUtv. Based purely on campaign so far, I would say Tim has a slight advantage.

Surge Station Manager

• Jamie Barker
• Claire Joines

Claire is current Head of Marketing and Jamie runs Surge News. Jamie is recognisable around SUSU for being involved with pretty much everything, which makes me wonder how he will cope with this massive role alongside everything else he does. You can’t fault him for that, however it’s just a point worth noting. Claire is also a strong candidate with a huge backing and following. I wouldn’t want to call this one personally.

Edge Editor

• Matthew Timmiss 
• Megan Downing
• Howell Davies

The battle for Edge Editor should be an interesting one as all three candidates sit on the current committee and are arguably qualified for the role. I would like to see Megan get this one as she has been talking about running for several months and is clearly very passionate.

 

The student leaders for VP Education are split up into eight Faculty Officers who are charge of the Academic Presidents and Course Reps. The Faculty Officer is a big role for a student as they are basically the firing board for complaints from every subject in their faculty. The guys in Democracy are jumping up and down with excitement as for the first time ever there is a candidate for each position.

Business and Law

• Ahmed Baya
• Jack Brigden

Sadly this will probably come down to popularity so I am predicting Jack to win. Ahmed, if I could vote for you, I would.

Medicine

• Alexander Oldman
• Harriet Kinderman

Alexander wants to improve student access to clinical resources and record lectures whilst Harriet wants to improve allocation of placements and provide pastoral support. I like Harriet’s welfare orientated approach and I don’t think many of Alexander’s ideas are achievable. Based on my interpretation of their manifestos, Harriet to win.

Natural and Environmental Sciences Officer

• Maha Olschowksy
• Kane Hands

Maha is rerunning and spends time talking about what she has done for the faculty in her manifesto. She argues that she has the wealth of knowledge and experience to suit this role. Kane would be new to the role although he has some experience by being a course rep already he has some exciting ideas about introducing problem based learning into lectures. I can see Maha being elected.

RAG (Raise and Give) Officer

• Ross Nation
• Charlotte Von Sicard
• Alice Grey

I like how Alice has ‘vote 50 shades of grey’ as her slogan that should attract some interesting voters! All three of these guys sit on the current RAG committee and would all be good for the role. Ross has an incredibly engaging campaign video which I think will give him the edge.

Sports Participation Officer

• Adam Proudly 
• Jack Kanani

Both have sat on Union Council before, both have lengthy manifestos. They talk about intramural sport in their manifestos and I think either of them could greatly improve it. Much of their success depends on the VP Sports elected, again couldn’t call this one!

Equality and Diversity Officer

• Andy Ngai
• Thomas Gleeson

Andy has a very limited manifesto which is somewhat reminiscent of Li Li’s last year. Thomas’ is longer and actually includes a few ideas about what he would like to do with the role. Thomas has to get this one.

So here is your happy bunch of contested candidates, good luck to all those running and let us know who you will be voting for in the polls above and comments below.