Promises, Promises..

Vainglory

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p218/ucdsu06manifestos/

I was going to ask people to point out the broken promises, but it would probably be quicker to point out the promises they actually KEPT...

But away with ye any way you like, I suppose.

Thanks to gubbie for providing the manifestos for perusal.

Jonny Arson

Link doesn't work for me!

Blush_01

It's not working for me either.

Vainglory

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p218/ucdsu06manifestos/

Does that work?

Vainglory

Grr, I can't get it to transfer properly from the Sabbatical Elections thread. Gubbie has the link posted properly on the second last page of that thread.

Can a mod help?

humbert

Seems to be working fine now

Vainglory

Phew. Let the games begin then.

humbert

I'll make a start as soon as i get back from microwaving my lunch in the SU shop :mad:

Blush_01

I only read Barry's but I was so sickened by the pure and utter bullshít that I have to wait before reading the others. I remember parts of Holly's and it's a doozie unless I'm mistaken.

Vainglory

Barry's is actually pretty far from being the worst.

Blush_01

I know that, that's why I'm avoiding the rest for the moment!

I don't know what your manifesto was like Vainglory, but at least you got visible things done.

Vainglory

Heh, I thought someone would bring up my manifesto. Although Blush_01 isn't doing it in an attacking way I'll just post a swift defence as I'm sure someone else will - and I'm offline for the rest of the weekend so won't have an opportunity to do so when it does happen.

Like every sabbatical officer, of course not everything in my manifesto was 100% achieved. It's simply impossible, especially as stuff comes up during the year that you didn't realise would when you were running that you end up having to spend an inordinate amount of time on (e.g. S&M in my case). However I still think I got a respectable amount of stuff done that was in my manifesto, or at least work started in some areas- and I think proof of this is in the Observer end-of-year interview which complimented me for being able to point to "solid work" in most areas of what I had said I intended to do. Coming from a paper that had been mostly critical of me all year I think that's a good indication that I got a decent bit done of what I promised to do.

How come all the manifestoes bar Holly's look almost identical in layout?

Waltons

I've only had a quick glance at some of this year's manifestoes, but Viv's "Cupla focal", if memory serves, looks extremely similar to Barry's

fullstop

"Dan will dramatically reduce prices in SU shops". What a load of absolute horse ****. If memory serves, prices have gone the other way in the past year - certainly for confectionary anyway.

"Introduce a student parking permit..." Obviously another very successful venture.

This years Ents manifestos are almost identical to Holly's which is obviously a great thing :rolleyes: . (Beergarden, go-karting etc)

Although Barry Colfer has been involved in some excellent work such as the 'Please Talk' scheme, I don't feel he has done as much as promised either, although he has done a lot more than the other two mentioned.
I can't be arsed reading the rest cause it's always the same old ****.

I honestly don't know why anybody bothers voting in these elections. These guys just seem to be a bunch of chancers who want something to put on their CV.

panda100

Vainglory wrote:

Like every sabbatical officer, of course not everything in my manifesto was 100% achieved. It's simply impossible, especially as stuff comes up during the year that you didn't realise would when you were running that you end up .

Exactly.Thats why this thread and looking back at manifestos is just a complete waste of time.
Everyone,except perhaps first years, realise manifestos only serve to give a general outline of what the persons theorys/thoughts and direction for the union are.

Last year the one thing that was really promised in Dan and Daves lecture addresses and canvassing was creating awarness of the union in every faculty. For once its not just art students who know that the union exists. Health science students are using its facilities/services and are actually aware of its existence for the first time.It is easier to access the union then ever before with the suggestion boxes in every faculty and with the excellent leaflets handed out in the second semester. Along with this Dave produced more class reps then has ever been seen in the union.

The union presence is building up slowly but surely. If that is one thing that we have got from this year then I am pleased.

Dan said at the hustings that he would build up a positive image of the union.One that would not get sidetracked by 'non student ' issues. He has made first years realise what the union is all about instead of us who have a bitter taste in our mouth after all the wasted money on protestor fees's,shell to sea etc.

I know many people think there is a 'cosy' relationship struck up between the union and the college authorities but I can only see this as a beneficial thing. I can only speak for my own faculty but communication between students and college authorities are completly differnt to what they were last year. Proffesor Powderly knows exactly what is going on with us and more then willing to engage in what the students want.



What really dissapoints me is when officers dont deliver on their fundamental promises and ones they deem as 'top prioritys'. Barry did not deliver on his 'top priority' of mental health awarness with absolutly no awarness campaigns in the first semster. However I realise that he did get side tracked with his sti campaigning so he has done some good in his year as welfare officer.

panda100

Myth wrote:

How come all the manifestoes bar Holly's look almost identical in layout?

Because its the same people who write them,edit them and mold them year in year out

panda100

panda100 wrote:

Because its the same people who write them,edit them and mold them year in year out

That's... quite boring.

humbert

panda100 wrote:

Exactly.Thats why this thread and looking back at manifestos is just a complete waste of time.
Everyone,except perhaps first years, realise manifestos only serve to give a general outline of what the persons theorys/thoughts and direction for the union are.

Last year the one thing that was really promised in Dan and Daves lecture addresses and canvassing was creating awarness of the union in every faculty. For once its not just art students who know that the union exists. Health science students are using its facilities/services and are actually aware of its existence for the first time.It is easier to access the union then ever before with the suggestion boxes in every faculty and with the excellent leaflets handed out in the second semester. Along with this Dave produced more class reps then has ever been seen in the union.

The union presence is building up slowly but surely. If that is one thing that we have got from this year then I am pleased.

Dan said at the hustings that he would build up a positive image of the union.One that would not get sidetracked by 'non student ' issues. He has made first years realise what the union is all about instead of us who have a bitter taste in our mouth after all the wasted money on protestor fees's,shell to sea etc.

I know many people think there is a 'cosy' relationship struck up between the union and the college authorities but I can only see this as a beneficial thing. I can only speak for my own faculty but communication between students and college authorities are completly differnt to what they were last year. Proffesor Powderly knows exactly what is going on with us and more then willing to engage in what the students want.



What really dissapoints me is when officers dont deliver on their fundamental promises and ones they deem as 'top prioritys'. Barry did not deliver on his 'top priority' of mental health awarness with absolutly no awarness campaigns in the first semster. However I realise that he did get side tracked with his sti campaigning so he has done some good in his year as welfare officer.

Balls to that. It's well and good making broad statements about raising awareness about the union but when you make specific promises such as to lower prices in SU shops or put microwaves in them and dont deliver your either lying or incompetent. Either way you shouldn't be doing the job.

Blush_01

panda100 wrote:

Exactly.Thats why this thread and looking back at manifestos is just a complete waste of time.
Everyone,except perhaps first years, realise manifestos only serve to give a general outline of what the persons theorys/thoughts and direction for the union are.

No, I firmly disagree here. Yes, manifestos are an outline of what you intend to achieve if elected to the position. If you attempt to do everything and not all of it gets completed, but a lot of things get started and could be continued by incoming candidates for the good of the student body, then you've achieved a lot, even if it's not everything you promised. Overall, getting somewhere, even if it's not the entire way to the finish line is a good thing. Making empty promises and delivering little or nothing, by comparison, is not. Credit where credit is due here Panda! By looking at what previous candidates promised and didn't achieve, said candidates who are running again can be judged on their past performances and new candidates can be challenged on how they hope to achieve things that others have failed to achieve in the past. A nation that cannot remember its past is destined to repeat it. A Student's Union is no different. (Maybe we should just forget about history totally and start from scratch. How likely is that?)

panda100 wrote:

It is easier to access the union then ever before with the suggestion boxes in every faculty and with the excellent leaflets handed out in the second semester. Proffesor Powderly knows exactly what is going on with us and more then willing to engage in what the students want.

Eh, there were leaflets? For what? I didn't get a leaflet for anything other than some student Ladies Night thing. As for the suggestion boxes, I don't know about elsewhere, but the suggestion box in Arts is behind a pillar and is far too high for anyone who is moblity impaired to get at it. It should be in a very visible place and be hand high, as far as I'm concerned.

While the idea behind the Please Talk campaign is a good one, how much money has been poured into it (t-shirts, badges, cutouts, the website etc.) and where exactly are people supposed to go to talk? The links on the website are for the facilities that already exist and are advertised at the beginning of the year in the fresher's guide, have stickers on the back of bathroom doors, posters all over campus etc. If not enough people are using those facilities, then how is a website telling them to use them going to make things better for people who feel like they can't approach the existing services? It offers NOTHING new, except a few shoddy badges that fall apart (yes, I am a bit bitter about that bit ) and some bright colours. The site itself is frustrating because there's no way of actually using it to contact someone independent of existing services. I'd love to see it being an active, user-friendly (not in an ease of use, but rather an approachability way) site where people could talk, but all it is is a five page web ad that tells very little.

gubbie

*cough* I'm not a hack *cough*

Ah you should see the crap in them
Hollys class trip abroad is a bit on the far side.

How come all the manifestoes bar Holly's look almost identical in layout?

Half of Dave's manifesto was just lifted straight from Dans as they were running a joint campaign and Dave, knowing he'd win but all his efforts into Dan winning.

But education must be my favorite! I don't think he's done one thing on the back of his manifesto. It has classic jems such as "Force the university to inform students of all the future changes to their degrees"... eh you mean like the degree weighting coming out?Honestly his performance as education officer compared to Jane's would put me off voting for FF in the elections for anything

I remember reading the sabbatical candidates manifestos from the previous year when they were given in the freshers guide (which really was a good idea. Apparently the reason why it wasn't done this year is because Dave had it written in his manifesto the first time around that he would but didn't in his second and deemed it a waste of space). They all pretty much kept to what they promised, and they listened to motions!!

Everyone,except perhaps first years, realise manifestos only serve to give a general outline of what the persons theorys/thoughts and direction for the union are.

And thats not how they should be. And everything you suggested-about the awareness was not really their job. The reason why its so well known in Health Science is thanks to the job done by Colm and the other class reps. How many times have you seen Dan or Dave down in the health science building?? And this wouldn't even take up that much of their time... so what have they been doing with it?

While the idea behind the Please Talk campaign is a good one

Credit where credit is due but I believe that that was a joint UCDSU-chaplain-UCD thing and it was the chaplaincy that was advertised at the opening ceromony. One good campaign and the union don't have much to do with it




And a bird pooped on my jumper on the way home so sorry if I'm mad

Blush_01

The bird poop thing - be happy, that's good luck you just got shat on with!

yevveh

Half the stuff here reminds me why I didn't really vote much. Perhaps it's just me but even when something happens, I don't hear about it, so its a cycle of cynicism for me here. Holly has been a bit of a disappointment unfortunately, though she has put on a few gigs alright.

As for our Education Officer, there's been such low communication with him that I genuinely forgot we had one until someone in this thread mentioned it. Ents will always be in the back of peoples heads, as its always very popular (usually twice as many candidates as anywhere else, far as I can see), but the others generally rely on people doing stuff. Barry seems to be doing a fair bit, Dan and Dave I don't know but they're both quiet types anyway so they're probably rather modest when it comes to their achievements.

Stepherunie

In defence of Brian I have to say I found him rather helpful when I worked with him. Now we did sort out a lot of our issues ourselves but that was because we had a good relationship with the lecturers involved but Brian was great for meeting with the school and discussion issues etc and really was a good help.

He may not have been the most high profile of ed. officers but he did work hard from what I can see and was always approachable.

beanyb

Brian does appear to be quite approachable, but all his public statements drive me insane! It's like he doesnt want to upset anyone or offend them. His job is not to suck up to Hugh Brady it's to stand up for students. Almost every quote I've seen of his in either of the papers generally tend to sell the UCD company line.