Sabbatical Elections

pretty*monster

daboyfergie wrote: »

They organised an increased levy on the current students to help pay for a student centre that we won't be here to use. .

Not really correct at all. The union organised a referendum on the levy. But, in this case as in many others "The union" takes little action as a whole, the no campagin contained a lot of class reps and at least one sabatical officer, while the active members of the yes team were, if I remember correctly, mostly drawn from societies and student media outlets.

TYhe union is far from irrelevant, though some may wish it were. The people elected are going to be mambers of Governing Authority for heavens sake. They have power, whether they can exercise is well or at all is of course another matter.

Students get the union that they deserve, you're the voters and you're all eligible to run or be involved. I'll be voting this year as usual.

Riamfada

MarkOShea

I would if I could, but I'm not around. So I can't. Fair play to Stephen this year though, UCD Ball aside he really came up trumps.

fillefatale

+1 Conor Prendergast for welfare

stereoroid

Treebeard for the Ents position.

ronaldburgundy

Look ronald burgundy is on bebo. VOTE RON



RON-UCD.bebo.com, join the campaign

Riamfada

Funny Page. Funny some of the responses. Me thinks some people take this election Buzz a bit seriously. I mean for the people who posted on the page. If there is a difference between that page and this weeks Tallyrand I dont see it.

G

redcar

Not that I particularlly care about the elections but do they only campaign in Arts and Science and any other place with a big theatre? I have most of my lectures in Quinn and havent seen one person come into a class there, only when I am in Science do they appear.

Like last year the only time I remember seeing a candidate there was election day when I was jumped on by a candidate and a dozen campaigners.

farva

ronaldburgundy wrote:

Look ronald burgundy is on bebo. VOTE RON



RON-UCD.bebo.com, join the campaign

I take it that you set up that page?

I have no interest in Student Union politics but as Aido is a good mate of mine I feel obliged to post a response to this sh1te. That page seems to be a personal dig at Aido based on the fact that he apparently called someone a bogger once and that the creator of that page dislikes Irish which he actively promotes. Whoever set up that page is an absolute wanker.

Do you even know Aido? He did an unbelievable job as B&L class rep in 2nd year, way more than anyone else I've heard of. He has done a great job as Irish language officer this year promoting Irish, they must have had a record number of Irish events! Just because you believe that you've "had your fill" doesnt change that fact that he is a hard worker at what he believes in.

I know Aido, he's a genuine decent bloke, his heart is in it - he has plenty of aspirations for the position and he is a good worker. And I can honestly tell you that there is no better man for the job.

remus808

redcar wrote: »

Not that I particularlly care about the elections but do they only campaign in Arts and Science and any other place with a big theatre? I have most of my lectures in Quinn and havent seen one person come into a class there, only when I am in Science do they appear.

Like last year the only time I remember seeing a candidate there was election day when I was jumped on by a candidate and a dozen campaigners.

I would guess it only makes sense to target the larger faculties so as to optimise time spent campaigning, in terms of the number of people reached. Although I do think taking a trip out to the likes of Quinn, Health Sci, Richview etc. would prob be best practice in terms of canvassing.

Raphael

*sigh*

Apparently people weren't listening when I said to keep the election talk here.

Also "ronaldburgundy" has been banned permanantly from UCD. Have some sack and use your real account, you know who you are. Boards.ie frowns on multiple accounts.

redcar

It makes sense obviously going for the big theatres, but it just makes me laugh with some of the campaigns like esspecially for Deputy President, and Dan ONeill for example wanting to be "Your Voice in the Union" and Isobelle O'Connor who is going to "represent YOU the student." How do you do that when you only talk to a selective part of the student body. Like I am sure they are great people and all but I find it a bit hypocritical in a way.

remus808

redcar wrote: »

It makes sense obviously going for the big theatres, but it just makes me laugh with some of the campaigns like esspecially for Deputy President, and Dan ONeill for example wanting to be "Your Voice in the Union" and Isobelle O'Connor who is going to "represent YOU the student." How do you do that when you only talk to a selective part of the student body. Like I am sure they are great people and all but I find it a bit hypocritical in a way.

I see where your coming from, but at the end of the day when you strip it down: canvassing is about getting votes, not engaging with the student body (presumably that's to follow), and logistically it dosen't make sense to expend time and effort on the smaller faculties, unless you have a large campaign team/alot of spare time.

Again, that's just my guess. I'l pass your thoughts on to Dan, see if I can't convince him to go further afield. I know some of the candidates have been going door-to-door on res actually.

pretty*monster

If you can catch people who nare usually in small groups when they're in big groups then you're doing better. Simple as. Door to door is diferent since it's generally done out of hours

MarkOShea

I agree with redcar. A trip to Quinn isn't exactly a million miles away from the Arts block and if candidates visited at a peak time there's probably going to be 6/7 classes of 50 students going on every hour. If just 1 or 2 of the candidates did this I'd say it would leave a more favorable impression of them on these students.

Last year I had Barry call to my door on Res and, maybe because I was high as a kite at the time, we chatted away for a few minutes. That won my vote anyway, not that he had much opposition!, but to be fair everytime he sees me now he'd say hello.

I'm on exchange at the minute and the student elections are going on this week. It's very competetive but there's none of this handing out flyers cr*p. The candidates had 2 live webcasts broadcast over the college network, with a proper chair and what not. I'm not sure wheter they ahve lecture addresses or not

Oh, and you vote online. Thought it was a very good idea.

Ballerina

farva wrote: »

I take it that you set up that page?

I have no interest in Student Union politics but as Aido is a good mate of mine I feel obliged to post a response to this sh1te. That page seems to be a personal dig at Aido based on the fact that he apparently called someone a bogger once and that the creator of that page dislikes Irish which he actively promotes. Whoever set up that page is an absolute wanker.

Do you even know Aido? He did an unbelievable job as B&L class rep in 2nd year, way more than anyone else I've heard of. He has done a great job as Irish language officer this year promoting Irish, they must have had a record number of Irish events! Just because you believe that you've "had your fill" doesnt change that fact that he is a hard worker at what he believes in.

I know Aido, he's a genuine decent bloke, his heart is in it - he has plenty of aspirations for the position and he is a good worker. And I can honestly tell you that there is no better man for the job.

Well said and very true

princess-sprkle

farva wrote: »

I take it that you set up that page?

I have no interest in Student Union politics but as Aido is a good mate of mine I feel obliged to post a response to this sh1te. That page seems to be a personal dig at Aido based on the fact that he apparently called someone a bogger once and that the creator of that page dislikes Irish which he actively promotes. Whoever set up that page is an absolute wanker.

Do you even know Aido? He did an unbelievable job as B&L class rep in 2nd year, way more than anyone else I've heard of. He has done a great job as Irish language officer this year promoting Irish, they must have had a record number of Irish events! Just because you believe that you've "had your fill" doesnt change that fact that he is a hard worker at what he believes in.

I know Aido, he's a genuine decent bloke, his heart is in it - he has plenty of aspirations for the position and he is a good worker. And I can honestly tell you that there is no better man for the job.

well there's no other man putting themselves forward, is there?

that said, i actually hate elections. The candidates all make the same unrealistic promises every year. it feels like nothing ever changes in UCD at all. I'll be avoiding voting stations like the plague next week!

Stepherunie

karmabass wrote: »

I see where your coming from, but at the end of the day when you strip it down: canvassing is about getting votes, not engaging with the student body (presumably that's to follow), and logistically it dosen't make sense to expend time and effort on the smaller faculties, unless you have a large campaign team/alot of spare time.

Again, that's just my guess. I'l pass your thoughts on to Dan, see if I can't convince him to go further afield. I know some of the candidates have been going door-to-door on res actually.

In fairness Dan is stating he wants to abolish the registration fee as one of his big things - if he does that what's going to pay for the SU, i.e. his salary???

The_Minister

Some activists seriously overestimate their own power

Notorious

I'm not too happy with the lack of choice for ents officer, I'd say I'll go for RON there. Lynam definitely won't get my vote, that guy is a moron!
If anyone was brave enough to life that idiotic coke/nestle ban, they'd get my vote... and probably most of the student vote.

MarkOShea wrote:

Fair play to Stephen this year though, UCD Ball aside he really came up trumps.

Eh, I dunno about anybody else but I thought Stephen did a poor job (although better than Holly Irvine last year). All I ever saw on campus was adverts for electronic music (and I like electro, but variety is the key), and those trashy (reads: s***) 'indie' bands like Delorentos. The UCD ball he promised for the start of term fell apart, and that was what he was fronting his election campaign with. That and his 'connections'.

Anybody else notice those 'poses' a lot of the candidates are throwing on the back of their manifestos? Check out Isobels one; its funny - in a laughing at her kinda way of course

arsebandity

Ok I'm relatively new to posting on boards but here goes a bit of a rant about the whole SU business.


First of all, it's fair to say that for the most part I'm not a fan of the hack element of it. It's too much of an intrinsic community, and even going into the corridor for a cup of water is intimidating. I don't like it, I don't like the atmosphere surrounding the whole thing. What's more, I don't like how interlinked it all is. Evidence of this is the fact that everyone posting previous to this knows all of the characters and are referring to them by first names and know their personality traits. This isn't a bad thing of course, I'm just saying that no dark horses ever run, and I don't think they'd be welcome to.

Dan O'Neill is playing his "Break up the Party" card pretty heavily but it's holding no sway for me when he's walking around with a possé of other candidates, these aren't the attitudes of those who are going to pull their flailing co-workers in line. Join the queue Dan, no one believes promises like that from those that behave in a manner that gives the impression of the opposite.

I'm going to interject here, because I know that I'm going to be attacked left, right and centre by the likes of his friends and so on, so again I'll make the point, these are the impressions I've gotten, not a personal attack (well, not yet).

Moving on to some of the other candidates, I think something telling about our other Deputy President candidate, Isobel O'Connor (a Physiotherapy Student) is that she mentions in her manifesto lobbying for financial assistance to those on teaching practice, as well as Nurses and Radiographers. Yet neglects Physiotherapists. Just a thought.

I'm a Science student, and two consecutive days, her and Dan O'Neill came into the exact same lecture theatre, for the exact same lecture, being given by the exact same lecturer.

Ents wise, it remains to be seen. The Holly Irvine debacle has shown what effect a weak Ents officer can have on the social life, whereas someone (much-maligned though he is) like Stephen Quinlivan, questionably competent can at least get some decent bands in. Admittedly, if you weren't in to Electro, which I'm not, a couple of the bigger names would be lost on you that have come in. It would have been nice to see a slightly bigger act then The Saw Doctor's being the story of the Ents Year so far, but then when Quinlivan's people were promising Snow Patrol in the Bowl at the Res' doorsteps last year, only the most naive would have believed it.

Lastly, the President thing. I can only judge the man by personal experience, but what I have had to do with him has consistently left a sour taste in the mouth. He seems uber arrogant (yes, even for a pushy-Gaeilgeoir and yes, even so by the lofty standards of the hacks en masse) and I know of more than one person who claims that he had ignored them despite clearing knowing their names until the last week when he suddenly has developed in an interest. Yes, this is the politician in him and fair play, but that kind of behaviour doesn't go unnoticed by the little people and it's hard to know if he will get a strong mandate. He will win of course, because RON hasn't gained anything approaching a head of steam in that or any of the other races, which is a pity, if only to keep the candidates on their toes.

I notice one of the above commenters calling Paul Lynam a moron. Be aware that I would be the first to slate him, and I certainly have had nothing to do with his campaign, nor have I ever met the chap, but he seems very competent and despite voting against him for Education last year, I think he will get my vote this time round.


Commence the barrage.

Stepherunie

arsebandity wrote: »

Moving on to some of the other candidates, I think something telling about our other Deputy President candidate, Isobel O'Connor (a Physiotherapy Student) is that she mentions in her manifesto lobbying for financial assistance to those on teaching practice, as well as Nurses and Radiographers. Yet neglects Physiotherapists. Just a thought.

Just on this point, it was purely a question of space in her design, she also left out medical students, ags and vets to name the ones I can think off, it was more to give an overview than a definitive statement, any health sci student is very well aware of the situtation regarding placement for courses.

The reasons she said radiographers is because I asked her to as I am one.

EDIT: If you read the manifesto, it actually says such as, ie that that is not the definitive list

gubbie

Stepherunie wrote: »

As for paying lip service? Where? I've read all of the manifestos, from what I saw most had some good ideas and knew where things were bad and where they had to be worked on.

Come off it Steph! Every year candidates have a piece along the lines "The union has become too much of a clique. I want to bring it back to the students, make sure every students voice is heard by bringing in more class reps". Every year. Seriously. Well at least for the past 3. Even the ents officers have it to some extent by promising "more class partys". Its time people came up with some origional ideas. We know from history it doesn't work. People like the union as much now as when they did back when I first started

Last year 4,500 people voted

My experience is you need one person in there who's really competant at their job. I find the Deputy President this year absolutely brilliant for help. I've come to her telling her things about Welfare, Education and she's always been really helpful.

redcar wrote: »

Not that I particularlly care about the elections but do they only campaign in Arts and Science and any other place with a big theatre? I have most of my lectures in Quinn and havent seen one person come into a class there, only when I am in Science do they appear.

Like last year the only time I remember seeing a candidate there was election day when I was jumped on by a candidate and a dozen campaigners.

I completely agree! I think if they came into engineering and gave a speech to one of the classes - about 30 people they'd be a lot more likely to vote for you then a stupid poster. They're a lot more likely to vote for you, and remember you cos you took the time to talk to them. No one listens in the big classes and I'm sure its better to get 20 people out of a 30 person class then 0 out of a 200 people class cos people are either disinterested cos its the 12th speech they've had and all the others can't hear you because everyone else is talking.
Candidates in the past have lost it because they only focused on arts and science

In Conor Fingletons defence, he was never ever ever considered a hack. He is the dark horse. I didn't believe that he was running even when he shoved the voting form under my nose

Red Alert

I am now in my sixth year in UCD - I have seen all the campaigns before. Gubbie's point about candidates talking about de-cliquifying the union and bringing it back to the students is simply hot air. I will vote for a candidate who offers small achieveable aims and shows commitment to showing results.

The_Minister

Notorious wrote: »

Lynam definitely won't get my vote, that guy is a moron!

Sorry, but no.
Lots of people dislike Lynam, for many varied reasons, but idiocy isn't one of them. The man is smart, well-read, and knows everything there is to know about the education area.

Riamfada

This seems as good a time as any to let you folks know that

Belfield FM is hosting election debates tomorrow, Monday 3rd between 3pm-6pm with all candidates. You can watch by following this link Webcam, listening on 97.3FM or heading down to the big screen in the student center for lunch. All comments and questions sent it to the candidates will be read (obiously not nasty ones). Text in on 0857160379. Every texter is in with a chance to win a 2 hour driving lesson thanks to the Independent Directory and Eddie Rockets vouchers.

G

Also Starring LeVar Burton

gubbie wrote: »

In Conor Fingletons defence, he was never ever ever considered a hack. He is the dark horse. I didn't believe that he was running even when he shoved the voting form under my nose

Nor has Ciara Broderick ever been considered a hack. You say Fingers is the dark horse and that may be true, but only for the reason, he doesn't know what he's doing - he more or less admitted it during his Tribune interview and then again at the L+H Hustings. Also, while trying to get my vote he told me that one of his biggest concerns was to get a printer credit machine put into every building - I hope this isn't how he approaches everyone. Having said that, as a person, I like Fingers better than Scottie or Pendergrast and could possinly give him my second preference, but Ciara is really the only candidate in the Welfare race worthy of the vote, IMO.

Some people have been giving Aodhán a right bashing on this thread and claiming he only has political aspirations. Having known Aido for a good 10 years now and having worked closely with him this year for Seachtain na Gaeilge and all Cumann Gaelach events, I've seen first hand the work he has put in and can see he really cares about the lives of UCD students - anyone bad-mouthing him on this thread, has probably never even attempted to speak to him.

arsebandity wrote:

Dan O'Neill is playing his "Break up the Party" card pretty heavily but it's holding no sway for me when he's walking around with a possé of other candidates, these aren't the attitudes of those who are going to pull their flailing co-workers in line. Join the queue Dan, no one believes promises like that from those that behave in a manner that gives the impression of the opposite.

Just because Dan is friends with other candidates is that to say he can't "Break up the Party"? If you're going to male comments like that, you should also take a look at Dan's campaign team and you'd see that the majority of his campaign team have nothing and never had anything to do with the Union, unlike certain other candidates, who's entire campaign teams consist of Union hacks.

The_Minister

I will remind people that everyone who is a member of a campaign team has to announce it here. That is everyone, no exceptions. I will look at this sometime Monday afternoon and get out the ban-stick if affiliations for some people are not posted.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

The_Minister wrote: »

I will remind people that everyone who is a member of a campaign team has to announce it here. That is everyone, no exceptions. I will look at this sometime Monday afternoon and get out the ban-stick if affiliations for some people are not posted.

See post #23. We hardly have to announce it each time we post, do we?

The_Minister

Not you. Someone else, further back in the thread.