SU Elections

Green_Hand_Guy

Green_Hand_Guy wrote:

Would you walk into a job interview with no experience and ask to be made CEO of the company?

None of the candidates have no experience...they are all finished their courses so you really aren't saying much for DCU by that statement. Fair enough, they might not come know much about the internal workings of the SU but as I said last year, that might not be a bad thing...a change of direction might be on the cards...

TheChrisD wrote:

So now we're a bunch of yobs because we have a point, know what we're talking about and know what this position entails? We're not attacking other people, merely voicing our opinion's about your opinion, in a free and open environment...Yet you don't seem to notice that other people in this thread have been around the forum longer than you, have more posts and generally post quite a good bit more in the forum than someone who has joined just to prove a point?

You come across very condescending and that seems to be the whole vibe on here to the point that ye are so frustrated when someone else comes on and disagrees with the feeling of the board. I was a committed Doyle supporter and still am but not at all to the same degree, simply down to what I have read here from his supporters...

Green Hand Guy

Deleted User wrote: »

None of the candidates have no experience...they are all finished their courses so you really aren't saying much for DCU by that statement. Fair enough, they might not come know much about the internal workings of the SU but as I said last year, that might not be a bad thing...a change of direction might be on the cards....

I was talking about SU experience. And there's a difference between having new ideas and not having a clue how things work. If you were running a hospital, would you appoint a random patient chief surgeon? I'm pretty sure he'd have some crazy new ideas, but at the same time a qualified doctor might be better for the job

Carri

Elections Cancelled...







April Fools \o/

So really, anyone who wants to be su president should start getting involved as soon as they walk in the door?

Green Hand Guy

Deleted User wrote: »

So really, anyone who wants to be su president should start getting involved as soon as they walk in the door?

Not necessarily, though I think they should at least have been a class rep before, or worked with the union in some capacity.

Winters

Deleted User wrote: »

So really, anyone who wants to be su president should start getting involved as soon as they walk in the door?

I would say, anyone wanting to go for SU President should properly do research on the position and talk to people involved in it to find out what they can and cannot achieve.

Even looking back at past election threads here shows so many promises that are made that get repeated every year which are infact unachieveable in the position but people will vote for because its what they want. The best candidite is one who knows what they can achieve and will achieve it, not one who will promise the world and then discover that they cannot achieve anything they wanted to so just sit in the bar for the year.

Due to being unable to vote in SU Elections I dont have any alligeance to any runner but wish them all good luck as it is a very time consuming and hard campaign to run.

gizmo

While I'm going to hold off on my main post until I hear more about how the hustings went, I do feel compelled to clarify something regarding my post from earlier in this thread.

Back then I said that, after reading the manifestos from the two Presidential nominees, I felt it was clear one knew what the job entails and other did not. Those feelings have been echoed by many other posters here which clearly shows I am not alone in this opinion.

Reading the follow up posts from some of Ciaran's supporters, I must say I'm somewhat amused. Now I obviously can't speak for everyone but personally, I don't really care if he played GAA. I played Gaelic and Soccer for over 10 years before coming to DCU, granted they were for Rocommon based teams but that shouldn't be held against me.

On top of this, we have the E&S association which some feel reflects negatively on him. While people are entitled to their own opinion on this matter let's get one thing straight, the claims that E&S were solely responsible for any buzz around DCU are ludicruous and only seems to be made by those who were members of the society - that alone says more about their activities than anything else. Outside of that, I think there is far more to be concerened about...

Now, let me be very clear on this point, I have two reasons for why I would not vote for Ciaran. The first point is the one I already mentioned, from reading his manifesto he does not appear to know what the job of SU President entails. His points refer to things which are either unobtainable, lack any plan to implement or have nothing to do with the role itself. Now, I'm sure he's a lovely guy and has done some great charity work, I for one wouldn't question that. What I do know, however, is that nothing which he has described is going to help him when he's sitting in the DCU Executive boardroom during Governing Authority or Academic Council meetings. In fact, I'd wonder do some of you people or, god forbid him, even know what these meetings are?

Now some people may look at that and go, "Who care about stuffy meetings, the SU President is there for the students! They want fun!". Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble but while having fun is certainly an important part of college it is not why you're here. It's to ensure you get a good education and hopefully, a job afterwards. As Student's Union President, this should be your primary concern.

On top of this, you're going to be dealing with some pretty serious issues from some students regarding not only their academic, but also personal lives during their time in DCU. These are things you will never hear about on forums or in general chat around campus, but constitute a very important part of the SU execs responsibilities. Why do I bring this up? Well it's because these are the things I want to see a President be aware of or even make mention of. I couldn't care less if you want to throw the biggest party ever seen in DCU, what I want to know is, if someone goes to you with a serious problem then you'll be equipped to deal with it. The fact that Ciaran spends so much time harping on about events and the like leaves me with little confidence in this area unfortunately.

Finally, the second reason why I wouldn't vote for him. Now, anyone who has read this thread will more than likely spot some shenanigans on Page 2 in the posts following my original one. Hopefully most of you will be able to put two and two together and see what happened here. The presence of an Admin should reinforce this. It is this type of behaviour which effectively solidifies my opinon of him as a candidate. It can be denied all you want but don't think for a minute we don't have ways of checking this.

Now, I'll discuss the rest of the manifestos in a future post but, in the meantime, I should also mention I have some queries regarding David's manifesto, specifically regarding his point regarding the Hub refurbishment . That being said, from what I've seen so far he still appears to be the best candidate for the job, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Winters

http://www.dcufm.com/?page_id=145

DCUfm are interviewing the three candidites at the moment. Great listening for those of us who cannot be in DCU for it.

robby^5

Hub refurbishment, I really hope the mens toilets are a top concern in that regards. The bog roll holders are all pretty much broken or in disrepair, a lot of the hand dryers dont work or are crap, often I find the place to have only 1 working soap dispenser, there's graffiti everywhere and generally they could be cleaned a little more often or more thoroughly.

Other than that the equipment room still needs a facelift. Drama will have their own room soon so it will be cleared out quite a bit, but it would be great if they could gut the place, get rid of the infested carpeting, slap a bit of paint on the walls, throw up some new shelves and maybe identify the areas for each society visually with a notice designating their space so we're no longer dumping things in front of each other, making it even more difficult to access your societies equipment.

Winters

Wow, two of the candidites not actually knowing/understanding the constitution. Shocking.

Daysha

Well I know who I'm voting for now anyway.

MonaghanPenguin

i'm in work so I can't listen to the debate, anyone around from DCUFM? Will this be available again later?

Daysha

MonaghanPenguin wrote: »

i'm in work so I can't listen to the debate, anyone around from DCUFM? Will this be available again later?

Yeah a link will be made available online later on in the week. I'll post the link here once it's up.

Nanaki

I would also like to point out who organised carol singing outside Spar and in the Hub two days running around Christmas time in aid of Unicef? Nudie Hughes and charitable friends of his from the DCU football team. They collected over 500 euro. What was the purpose of that? To be nice!!!!! Was it Raise and Give week?? NO! Simply a charitable act around Christmas. Nobody asked them to do so!! He didn't even use it as a plug in his speech!! Nudie is a nice genuine caring person so give him a chance to show you what he is worth!!!!!!

lololol
They plugged in a stereo and played [not christmas] music, mumbling along now and again, while shaking a bucket at people. Caroling implies you have to sing.

And listening to him right now on dcufm, he hasn't a clue.
When asked for his opinion of the constitution, he said he'd be willing to read it.

TheChrisD

robby^5 wrote: »

Other than that the equipment room still needs a facelift. [..] and maybe identify the areas for each society visually with a notice designating their space so we're no longer dumping things in front of each other, making it even more difficult to access your societies equipment.

I really don't want to name names, but yes this gets really annoying when people just throw their crap on the floor directly in front of shelves and lockers belonging to societies who need to access them several times a week to move out a lot of heavy equipment :mad:

Winters

TheChrisD wrote: »

I really don't want to name names, but yes this gets really annoying when people just throw their crap on the floor directly in front of shelves and lockers belonging to societies who need to access them several times a week to move out a lot of heavy equipment :mad:

Students are lazy, messy and inconsiderate to others. Get used to it

I'll be looking forward to the podcast of the DCUfm interviews, had to cut my listening short due to meeting but it was very interesting and I think benefitial to many students to actually discover just how poor some of their options are. I'd expect people to read the job description at least before applying.

Daisy888

gizmo wrote: »

Finally, the second reason why I wouldn't vote for him. Now, anyone who has read this thread will more than likely spot some shenanigans on Page 2 in the posts following my original one. Hopefully most of you will be able to put two and two together and see what happened here. The presence of an Admin should reinforce this. It is this type of behaviour which effectively solidifies my opinon of him as a candidate. It can be denied all you want but don't think for a minute we don't have ways of checking this.

are you trying to say any supporters of Nudie on this thread are Ciaran...?
Sorry to disappoint..,im not Ciaran!

futurista14

Does any know if Colin Oliver has posted his election poem online??

Would love to hear it again! Was a nice touch to his speech and manifesto...

gizmo

Daisy888 wrote: »

are you trying to say any supporters of Nudie on this thread are Ciaran...?
Sorry to disappoint..,im not Ciaran!

Nope, I'm referring to a particular one. Go back to the relevant posts and have another look.

irish_boy90

Daisy888 wrote: »

are you trying to say any supporters of Nudie on this thread are Ciaran...?
Sorry to disappoint..,im not Ciaran!

it was not about you, read the thread and you should be able to see it.

Carri

Is it true that Megan plans on giving one free membership to clubs/societies a year and that the money will come from the said Club/Society?

Cause tbh, I'm a chair of a reasonably small society in DCU and the membership fee is out *only* income bar the funding from the SPC.. Free memberships, what a joke of an idea.. It'll completely wipe out some societies.

lithiumoxide

Carri wrote: »

Is it true that Megan plans on giving one free membership to clubs/societies a year and that the money will come from the said Club/Society?

Cause tbh, I'm a chair of a reasonably small society in DCU and the membership fee is out *only* income bar the funding from the SPC.. Free memberships, what a joke of an idea.. It'll completely wipe out some societies.

Indeed. But surely it's a moot point: the SU has no jurisdiction over SPC or SCC affairs.

Carri

But then why promise something she can't really hold up?

She also said on DCUFM earlier that €5 is alot of money to ask students to pay for joining USI... (Not that I'm for or against rejoining the USI)

But €4 is grand to let people away with even though it just goes back into running the society? I don't see her reasoning.

There's €1 in the difference.

MonaghanPenguin

I had to leave early but just came from the presidential debate in the bar. I said after hustings that I knew who I was voting for. Now I don't. Policy and experience are part of the job, an important part but this job also requires empathy, civility and people skills. Something Dave and his team showed they have a complete lack of. They were nothing but a bunch of condescending bullies who I would find it very hard to vote for.

Attol

MonaghanPenguin wrote: »

I had to leave early but just came from the presidential debate in the bar. I said after hustings that I knew who I was voting for. Now I don't. Policy and experience are part of the job, an important part but this job also requires empathy, civility and people skills. Something Dave and his team showed they have a complete lack of. They were nothing but a bunch of condescending bullies who I would find it very hard to vote for.

I've been sick this week so have missed everything.

What happened?

gizmo

MonaghanPenguin wrote: »

I had to leave early but just came from the presidential debate in the bar. I said after hustings that I knew who I was voting for. Now I don't. Policy and experience are part of the job, an important part but this job also requires empathy, civility and people skills. Something Dave and his team showed they have a complete lack of. They were nothing but a bunch of condescending bullies who I would find it very hard to vote for.

Wow, that's utterly disappointing.

Can you elaborate on what happened Niall?

Daysha

The Presidential debates are now online at www.dcufm.com if you missed it earlier.

MonaghanPenguin

I know the people involved in Dave's campaign, we've been friends for a long time. That makes what I'm about to say very hard because I'm so shocked and appalled by their behaviour and would like to personally distance myself from it so much. That and the fact that I've just come from the bar where I was myself the subject of intimidation and threats from Dave's team.

So the debate started with Education and Welfare and there was a little bit of an attitude towards LeeAnne coming from certain quarters. This wasn't Dave or many of his team but some of them were involved. There was a strange atmosphere in the bar but it was hard to pinpoint what was going on. It wasn't really anything LeeAnne couldn't handle but I remember thinking "I wonder where all this is leading".

So the format of the debate was that all candidates had three minutes to make an opening statement then the mic went around the floor and people could ask whatever they wanted, even direct questions at any candidate. I've never seen this in a DCU election before. What happened next was utterly unbelievable. Dave's team went right on the attack against Megan. I don't mind someone attacking a policy but it was like five or six questions in a row picking at flaws in every aspect of her policy. This wasn't an attempt to beat her, it was an attempt to belittle her and intimidate her and basically came with the attitude of "you stupid little girl who do you think you are thinking you can do this man's job?". Note these weren't directed at her and Ciaran, they were going after her alone. Relentlessly. The person on Dave's team who was doing all the attacking, I sent him two texts during this telling him that if this was a boxing match that the ref would have ended it at this stage and that if they went any further that they would risk turning it into a sympathy vote for Megan. This was completely ignored, if anything it only encouraged them. They didn't want to beat Megan in an election, they wanted her to question any bit of self worth she had. As the atmosphere got nastier and nastier in the room Megan's voice at one stage began to crack but she held it together admirably.

Finally I got the mic into my hands and tried to ask a question that all three candidates could reply to, I'm pretty sure this was the first time that Dave or Ciaran got to answer a question all night. But instead of this then turning into a real debate, Dave's cronies again went on the attack, all directed at Megan.
Then Dave, obviously not feeling like his cronies were doing enough, started taking the mic off Megan whenever she was finished answering a question to totally put her down and explain exactly why she was an idiot (to him anyways). Dave's entire attitude was one of "oh my god why do I have to put up with this just elect me already." I have no problem with someone not respecting someone else's policies but showing a complete disregard for them as a person is something else. At one stage while Megan was answering a question Dave stood up and loomed directly behind her in an obvious attempt to intimidate her while she was speaking.

I had to leave before the end as I said before, but I understand that it continued in the same vein all the way and was so bad that Alan Keegan himself had to ask the question "how would the candidates tackle the perceived elitism in the union when one of the candidates has talked down to everybody that addressed him?"

So after I got back from the cinema I called into the bar and couldn't help but voice, unfortunately a little hot headedly, my opinion to Dave. I think my exact words were that he was a disgrace. The reply of one of the aforementioned cronies? "Shut the f**k up and don't be so childish" and he also asked me if I would care to "step outside". Being that I was someone who was scheduled to sit at polling stations (I resigned after this incident) I plan to make a formal complaint about the intimidating behaviour of Dave's team.

At this point in the election I have to say that it's my opinion that you can teach someone what committees they sit on and what the job is, but you can't teach someone basic common decency towards others. It really seems that if you vote for Dave you're voting for an elitist, crony, condescending union that won't suffer anyone not deemed worthy of their high position.

OrionsBelt

seems to be a lot of arguing about the President here. what about the other sabbatical positions?

for deputy, leeanne has my vote cos her campaign has more in it that will benefit the college.

for vice, it maeve, cos while collie is a nice guy and all, her campaign is again more about improving the role and making the college better. anyone else have an opinion?

ollieyonex400

futurista14 wrote: »

Does any know if Colin Oliver has posted his election poem online??

Would love to hear it again! Was a nice touch to his speech and manifesto...

Election:

Campaigns and Information yes I will run,
Representing the student body from all areas under the sun,
Across the waters, big, small or old,
In listening to our students, the union will not fold

My door will always be open so come in for a chat!
Whatever your needs may be I will pledge to sort your problem out stat
You may play sports, you may play music, you may even play tiddlywinks, it makes no odd
Everybody is equal in my eyes if I am given the nod.

You will see me around campus, the ears and mouth of DCU
Even though it will be hard to top John Mel and Al, a meticulous SU
DCU has afforded me with an abundance of skills, great memories and friends
That I will definitely cherish until this big bad world ends

This college has spoiled me! Now it is time to give something back….
YOUR own fond memories and friends and of course a whole lot of craic!
If elected I pledge to diligently campaign and communicate in person by mail and phone,
For this is Dublin City University, my life and my home....

By Colin Oliver