The names are out, the list of candidates for the SUSU Sabbatical Elections was officially published last night after rumours from us and the Portswood Press. As always, there were some familiar faces, some not so familiar and a few last minute curveballs. I’ll list the candidates, whether we spotted them in our original rumours article and my educated guess at first glimpse on who will triumph in each position.
President:
- Sam Ling
- Simon Boyce
Only two candidates, something many will be disappointed about. We got Sam but Simon Boyce was, by his own admission, a spontaneous candidate. In this election, it has to be said Sam has a massive advantage of having a year in post to enact his manifesto and plan for the future, whereas Simon’s was thrown together in an hour (apparently) Notwithstanding a concerted effort for a Re-Open Nominations (RON) vote, Sam has clinched it for me.
VP Academic:
- Sasha Watson
- Mairead McGuirk
- Sophie Kamperis
- Rachel Stockey
- Oliver Bills
60%, 2:1 for The Tab here. My SUSU involvement is mainly on the academic side (and of course irritating the Wessex Scene!) and I haven’t heard of Mr Bills or Miss McGuirk. Nevertheless, prior experience isn’t everything, Sasha won convincingly last time around without any official SUSU Academic experience. As with all re-runners, the immediate smart money is on them. But Rachel heads up the representation for the enormous Faculty of Humanities, which is invaluable experience for this role. My prediction: Sasha wins it, with Rachel a not-too-distant second.
VP Comms
- Chloe Richardson
- David Gilani
A full house for us this time, this position will be hotly contested. Dave Gilani has a wealth of SUSU media experience, but Chloe seems to know EVERYONE and it’s numbers that win elections. In this case I can’t call it, we’ll have to wait and until we see manifestos and campaign ideas. Inconclusive.
VP Sports
- Dean Jones
- Sam Huish
- Laura Gottlieb
- Thomas Norton
- Jocelyn Makin
- Sion Roberts
4 out of 6, bordering on a first! This is the most hotly contested role this year, which seems odd. With such a wide range to choose from, second and third votes are going to be hugely important here. Dean is the only Student Leader here, he’s the Sport and Health Officer. It’s likely he’ll campaign again as the Dean Giant and as he’s run two elections with that slogan, his name is out there. If he can conquer his public speaking problem, Dean has got it in the bag.
VP Student Engagement
- Natalie Ralph
- Shane Murphy
- Robert Leane
- Lisa Falquero
We got three of them, with Lisa Falquero coming as a bolt from the blue. Shane will be very tough to beat. His “Smurph” campaign was highly visible and highly successful last year. He really knows his stuff and it’s likely he’ll win again. But until we see manifestos from the other candidates, it’s a mystery.
VP Welfare
- Chloe Green
- Frank Sondors
- Simon Eyles
- Nick Johnson
Another 100% for us here. The infamous Chloe Green is very well known around campus, and this nomination has been a long time coming. We initially reported Simon Eyles as running for Student Engagement, but perhaps campaigning against his mentor at Glen Eyre JCR and close friend Shane Murphy was too much for him? Frank Sondors is student enterprise officer but has been on Erasmus for 6 months so may be a little out of the loop. Nick Johnson is PhilSoc president and may have some good ideas. The result I think is most likely? A victory for Chloe.
In what possible way does Shane “know his stuff”?
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Chloe will win comms because she’s a fit blonde girl and we all saw how that turned out for charlotte woods
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One hopes that the integrity of voters has increased in the last few years, and that it is the manifestos, policies and experience on which people base their vote, for any of the candidates.
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That’s a rather naive thing to say
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Coming from someone who I don’t think is even a student anymore…
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Chris Houghton is the best thing ever to happen to Soton media you tool
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Pft, that is the quote of the century!
Chris Houghton is the beating heart of a generation
Bob, Chris Houghton IS a student here. get your facts right !!
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Yeha definite win for Chloe Richardson, her huge bazookas will win her loads of votes
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By bazookas, I think you mean her very intelligent points on her manifesto!
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For those who are re-running: its time to leave the uni bubble and get a fricking real job!
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Never a finer word spoken.
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I hope people vote for Gilani he deserves it his manifesto is good and its wrong that sabb elections turn into a beauty contest.
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I’d say Chloe’s manifesto is better. Gilani’s is very good indeed… but it just looks like it is not intended for the “average” student: most of it is about societies members, some specific student groups, etc that are already well aware of how SUSU is running. Gilani seems a bit in his SUSUclique bubble to me.
I think Chloe focuses on a much more important issue which is getting students aware of what SUSU is, what it can do for them, and get them involved. Also, the words “sites”, “NOC”, and “Winchester” don’t even appear in his manifesto, whereas Chloe has a whole part reserved for them. Her point about foreign students is also very good: Having no clue of how Student’s Unions are in the UK, it took me probably more than a year to have a rough idea of how SUSU was organised, what it could do for me, how I could get involved, etc.
Her ideas about the SUSU website seems quite good as well. There used to be a forum if I remember well, but it got outdated and thus scrapped. Shame, it was a really good way to ask questions and get a quick answer. The part about societies is really good since if you missed bunfight it can be a real mess to find who is in charge of a society…
Chloe’s manifesto remembers me a bit of Sam’s last year. She tries to address issues of students who are not very actively involved with SUSU activities: the “average” student. And we all know how it turned out in the end, since this kind of student is maybe not the loudest, but in the end they are probably a majority and they indeed do vote.
IMO, if she wins her bra size will have little to do with it.
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And it’s also wrong that people discredit candidates because of what they look like too; it should make no difference either way! Saying somebody shouldn’t win because they look a certain way, is just as bad as voting for someone based on what they look like.
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Perhaps they should vote based on prior experience within SUSU media…….
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Media is important, yes, but the role is much more than just that, so both candidates are decent.
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Or not just Media but Communications as well, as the role is Media and Comms,not Media or Comms.
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The role is VP Communications, literally, but obviously media is under the remit too.
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Frank has not been on Erasmus at all. The information is incorrect!
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Well he certainly hasn’t been at union council….
http://minutes.susu.org/files/council_attendance_at_standing_committees_up_to_30_january_2012.pdf
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