ULSU Elections 2014 (Voting Thursday March 13) #VoteUL

sceptre

To vote, click here. Voting will take place on Thursday 13 March.

This is a list of candidates confirmed at close of nominations at 6pm on Friday, 7 March.

Elections will take place on Thursday 13 March.

As manifestos are issued, feel free to discuss your choice of candidate and why. Some of the candidates have boards.ie accounts and may reply. As usual, If you are campaigning for a candidate or are a candidate, I expect you to declare that interest if posting. This will be done on the honour system, though in the interest of fairness I will point the finger at anyone who disregards this - for anyone who aims to deceive there's a good chance you'll be found out and I'll point the finger loudly (and probably forum ban for the duration). Any attempt to sock puppet will get a loud and public slap. Let people know your connection in your first post and there shouldn't be a problem - actually I'd like to see campaigners posting. There's no reason to shill, just declare your interest. Accusations of undeclared interest should not be made on-thread as it'll derail any discussion, use the report post button and I'll look at it.

If candidates have a webpage and they want it listed here, I'll edit in one link per candidate to an official webpage or facebook page (one per candidate) if they (or their campaign manager) let me know by PM at any point during the week. You may have both of these - one of them will be listed here. It's your choice as to which you want listed and your own responsibility to keep information up to date and accurate.

Additionally I will include details of any blogs declared as independent if I'm informed of them. Any blog with any association to a candidate is, by definition, not independent.

I'll add any other relevant/necessary details to posts that I'll insert immediately below this one. Note that if you want to get replies to this thread sent to you instantly by email, click the "Follow thread" button on the top right of the screen.


If you didn't read the rules, you probably should have:) Broadly speaking, it's "don't be a dick".


Here are your candidates:



President
Lorna Bogue URL="https://www.facebook.com/VoteBogue"]webpage[/URL
Mark Nother URL="https://www.facebook.com/mark.nother.ULSU.president.election"]webpage[/URL
Tommy O'Bolguir URL="http://www.facebook.com/Bolger.for.president.ulsu"]webpage[/URL


DP/Welfare
Caroline Hennessey URL="https://www.facebook.com/carolforwelfare"]webpage[/URL
Shane McCormack URL="https://www.facebook.com/ShaneMcCormackForWelfare"]webpage[/URL

Academic
Mike Ford (unopposed and deemed elected) URL="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Forde-VP-Academic-Elect/433256833476018"]webpage[/URL



List via the ULSU facebook page and via boards member TwilightFan88. Candidates listed in alphabetical order by surname


Good luck to all candidates!

Expected hashtag for the twitterati is #VoteUL.

TwilightFan88

Following the close of nominations we can announce that the following individuals will be running for ULSU Sabbatical positions:

ULSU President,
Lorna Bogue, Tommy O'Bolguir, Mark Nother.

ULSU DP Welfare,
Caroline Hennessey, Shane Mc Cormack

ULSU VP Academic,
Mike Ford.
Unopposed and deemed elected. Congratulations Mike!

We wish all candidates the best of luck with their campaigns next week!

Elections will take place online next Thursday the 13th of March. Every registered student will be eligible to vote, please make an effort to get to know the candidates and make an educated vote!

Emma


VIA SU FB PAGE

Polar Ice

sceptre wrote: »

Expected hashtags for the twitterati are #VoteUL and #VoteUL14.

This happens every year driven by the above post. Don't split the focus - keep it all on #VoteUL

sceptre

Polar Ice wrote: »

This happens every year driven by the above post. Don't split the focus - keep it all on #VoteUL

Actually, originally I listed one, yet people insisted on using two but I'm happy to pretend that anyone pays attention and have thus edited out the second one.

Jester252

This is going to to one sided.

Lorna and Caroline are the ones to beat. Both have good Su and C&S ties

Shane and Mark are dark horses. Both are involved with the SU but seem relatively new.

The less said about Tommy and the SUs past deals the better. His would/should be targeting non/anti SU people.

Popoutman

(Interest: personal friends with Lorna and Carol)
Going to be interesting. I'd say that the C&S choices will be the two girls, and tbh I'd expect them to do good jobs in those roles, knowing both of them. The fight will be to get the wider apathetic student body, that cares not for C&S, to vote at all and to vote for these two. I'd expect a fair proportion of the apathetic group to vote against those that are and have been active in C&S purely out of begrudgery.

Carol should be able to tap into the International soc vote, and will likely have the support of both the OPC and the Kayak club given the involvements there.

A pity that there wasn't another candidate for VP/Academic, I prefer it when the successful candidate can say that they have a mandate from the student body and end up having to campaign and get recognised on campus as it really helps the successful candidate to be approachable.

marblepaper

Quite lifeless and boring overall.

Personally I would have loved to see Emma Porter in the mix again.

Lorna.
Carol.
Mike.

Jester252

Well Shane could be in trouble

https://www.facebook.com/ShaneMcCormackForWelfare

NewShoes

Jester252 wrote: »

Well Shane could be in trouble

https://www.facebook.com/ShaneMcCormackForWelfare

Mark has one too..... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Nother-1-for-ULSU-President/621482297906994?fref=ts I imagine they were already approved before putting them up?

Polar Ice

Dante on Fire wrote: »

I cannot wait to see the standard of students running this year. I have been approached by 2 students interested in my position and one thing is for certain each position is going to be hotly contested.

What happened between them approaching you and close of nominations? Scare them off?

Chavways

The campaigning was allowed to start as of 6pm Friday evening as far as I know.

Dante on Fire

Polar Ice wrote: »

What happened between them approaching you and close of nominations? Scare them off?

You see this quite often, FYP's mainly and hearing who's running against you etc. In terms of scaring them off, both of the candidates that expressed interested did not seem fazed by the level of work or the difficulties described to them.

That being said very well done to Mike and best of luck to all the candidates. Interesting group running this year. Looking forward to next week and to Hustings.

Cadroc

President
Lorna Bogue - Can see being a huge contender. Will have a big backing from c&S .
Mark Nother - Also can see being a huge contender. His campaign started strong, and his manifesto looks good.
Tommy O'Bolguir - I've seen nothing from him yet, and reckon he's in it for the guaranteed job rather than for the good of the union.


DP/Welfare
Caroline Hennessey - Not seen anything from her yet but from what I know of her Shane will have to move mountains.
Shane McCormack - Seriously who is this guy? I keep getting added to his group and I don't have a clue who he is.

Academic
Mike Ford (unopposed and deemed elected) Congratulations Mike. Best of luck with the year ahead.



No offense intended toward Mike, but what happened to RON?

Well_Then

Cadroc wrote: »

what happened to RON?

I think it was removed this year because they could not successfully implement it into the e-voting system (But will be there next year I think!)

Jester252

Well_Then wrote: »

I think it was removed this year because they could not successfully implement it into the e-voting system (But will be there next year I think!)

That doesn't make sense. How can they not add an extra candidate.

Well_Then

Jester252 wrote: »

That doesn't make sense. How can they not add an extra candidate.

I don't know the full details as I only heard it off hand but they had issues implementing it properly or something so weren't able to this year.

wnolan1992

I heard they asked ITD for advice on how to do it.



This resulted in several bricked servers, days of panic and multiple deaths.

Jester252

The ERB can really hurt a campaign.

Shane has to wait until tomorrow to get his manifesto approved while Mark has his out

Chimaera

I find it amusing that they didn't have their manifestos ready well ahead of time so that they'd be clear of the ERB as soon as nominations were closed. Doesn't bode well for someone who wants to be in a senior position in the union.

reunion

Well_Then wrote: »

I think it was removed this year because they could not successfully implement it into the e-voting system (But will be there next year I think!)

It's odd because I tested the server this year with 2 fake candidates. Why not use one of those fake candidates as RON?

I'm sure there is a valid reason to not permit RON as an option; however I would like the SU to state why and how they are going to resolve it before the next election (it should have also been an option last year as far as I'm aware).

phish

Can I just say if I'm going to be bribed I expect sweets not strawberries and peanuts!

Moxy Shazbot

Does any one have a link to their manifestos or if they can post them here? I briefly saw one of them on a mates phone and I think a dissection of them is in order!

Also does any one know if ulsu elect is coming back?

Interestingly the slogan for Lorna's campaign is

"Demand: better ULSU services
Demand: Exam reform
Demand: A president who returns her salary to the students

Demand Lorna Bogue for ULSU president."

https://www.facebook.com/VoteBogue full manefesto available here. The third line is an interesting one. What do people think?

To declare allegiances, I'm already decided that I'm voting for Carol cause she is a friend and she is great, and I know all three presidential candidates so I'm voting for inanimate carbon rod in the presidential race.

Tommy Bolger's campaign video may not show him in a very presidential light, or put forward any campaign ideas or anything of substance.... BUT it is really really funny and makes him look like he's good craic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbfuzMmvts

reunion

Deleted User wrote: »

Demand: A president who returns her salary to the students

I don't demand this; I am 100% against this. This sets a bad precedent for someone who wishes to run after Lorna. The ~€15,000 salary it is now is about the same as working in a petrol station for 5 days of the week so it's not exactly extravagant. Additionally, I would prefer pay wasn't a factor; imagine if someone needed the ~€15,000 to live and had to repay a student loan? Someone's personal financial situtation shouldn't be a campaign point.

MonkeyWolf

I'm with you on that, she is trying to make it seem like she is making this huge contribution back to ULSU. In the bigger scheme of things it wouldn't really do much. Proper and efficient running of the SU would get more money back I rate.
I also feel some of the things she is trying to bring in on the exams side and repeats is just giving students more excuses to not put the hours in and have a second chance to save themselves from not studying/ working throughout the semester.... others thoughts??

I don't believe Lorna has much support from C&S... she has a massed a few enemies in her time, and everyone knows she joined C&S Exec to put it on her CV and improve her profile for the ULSU elections.

Anyone hear anything about Soul Week which was her baby (at least she spoke about it at c&s council a lot) but nothing came of it... i heard great plans but the week went completely a miss, i doubt it will be back next year it was a great idea.

Moxy Shazbot

Lornas manifesto:
Action
My first action as President would be to donate my wages back to Student Services leaving myself with €150 per week take-home pay. This will represent a saving of over €14,000 to your Students’ Union. This is a personal decision that I will be taking and I wouldn’t expect anyone else to do it, however, I have personally taken this decision for several reasons
Eamon Gardner 2.0 Completely not neccessary from a financial aid point of view but hey her money
• Many students upon graduation are currently being expected to take a JobBridge position, or to accept a much reduced unemployment benefit.
Many? I think not.. UL has one of the highest employability rates in the country. Maybe their grades arent good enough? I don't know but I'd need to see her research
Taking this wage voluntarily means I will have a greater standing to campaign on a national level on these issues. The Irish state continues to fail us and your SU should represent you on a national level.
Pro USI? - Waste of Money
Student Nurses are also currently paid under the minmum wage for very difficult jobs. I would like to reflect the reality that they face in their working lives in order to campaign for them in an empathetic way.
Said every year
• Many current students are expected to live on a reduced grant payment while at the same time paying higher fees. This wage cut reflects that reality.
Many? once again wrong - figures speak louder
• The savings to the Union will be used to concretely benefit ULSU members. 50% will be given to UL’s disability services
fair enough
and 50% will be used to create an additional emergency student hardship fund, which will be granted without expectation of repayment.
Already in place just not advertised. Also isn't that the welfare officers role?
Furthermore, I will be pursuing higher contributions from the University
so more money from students? that's where it comes from.. alot of homework not done her.
and will be looking for contributions from other organisations.

I am not interested in being President for the pay, I want to put my money where my mouth is and work solely to benefit the students. I believe that this new approach to student politics will benefit students.

Advocacy
In terms of advocacy there are many issues that I would like to represent ULSU members on. I believe that the SU should function in the same way as a Trade Union. So if there are issues that need to be advocated for we should be using collective bargaining to affect change and ensure that every student in UL has the best possible experience of their time in University.
Some of the Issues I would like to advocate for:
• An improved Co-op program where the university fulfills its duty to provide students with real choices and monitors student experiences to prevent abuse. Failing that, the provision of better alternatives to Students. The current alternative program for students who do not get co-op is not broad enough in terms of content and should be more of an opportunity for students to improve their degrees and Final Year Projects.
Sounds like an academic officer promise
• A removal of the limit on the number of exams a UL student can repeat and a lowering of the cost of repeating an exam. Also, the removal of the payment on having exam papers rechecked. In UL we pay €171 for each exam repeated, with a cap of 2 repeats per semester. In NUIG by comparison there is no limit on the amount of exams you can repeat and a flat fee of €200 covers all repeats, regardless of how many you sit. In UCC there is also not a cap on the number you can repeat and individual repeats cost €50 with an upper limit of €240 in total. Our practices seem unusually punitive and I will definitely be questioning them at the highest levels.
fair enough
• Strongly advocating for students who have different requirements and advocating that their requirements are met. Particularly students with Disabilities, who have found that vital services that assist them in gaining education have been quietly cut in recent years. I also would like to create more awareness of the issues that students with disabilities face and believe that our very strong student council is the way to go about this.
again sounds more like welfare

Reality
I can’t promise that these will all come through, and my experience in the SU so far means that I know what I can and can’t promise. What I can promise is that as President I will do everything in my power and explore every avenue to protect the interests of students and particularly those who are struggling right now. This is a Manifesto you can keep. It’s time for your Students’ Union to start critically questioning the practices that are taken for granted in UL which adversely affect your university experience.
I think you're running for the wrong role Lorna.. Sorry just my opinion

Can some one post the rest of the manifestos I'm not on fb

Moxy Shazbot

Deleted User wrote: »

Tommy Bolger's campaign video may not show him in a very presidential light, or put forward any campaign ideas or anything of substance.... BUT it is really really funny and makes him look like he's good craic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbfuzMmvts

I personally laughed.. But from a voting point of view not a hope.. He'll be the most liked but least voted for.

I eagerly await to see his manifesto. I know he does alot of charity and can be serious when he needs to but I dont think that video will do him any favours in regards to a pres election, he'd def get in for Campaigns officer - ya know, if it was still there.

reunion

MonkeyWolf wrote: »

I also feel some of the things she is trying to bring in on the exams side and repeats is just giving students more excuses to not put the hours in and have a second chance to save themselves from not studying/ working throughout the semester.... others thoughts??

The exams idea is a fantastic one; while I was lucky that I never had to repeat anything, I don't look down on anyone who does. Generalising that it's due to people not studying or working is totally neglecting actual reasons why people mightn't perform to their potential during an exam.

MonkeyWolf wrote: »

I don't believe Lorna has much support from C&S... she has a massed a few enemies in her time, and everyone knows she joined C&S Exec to put it on her CV and improve her profile for the ULSU elections.

I think it would be disgusting for someone to abuse their position that way so I'm glad she isn't attempting to do so. Many people might know her from C&S if that's why they vote for her, then the other candidates didn't publicise themselves well enough.

MonkeyWolf wrote: »

Anyone hear anything about Soul Week which was her baby (at least she spoke about it at c&s council a lot) but nothing came of it... i heard great plans but the week went completely a miss, i doubt it will be back next year it was a great idea.

You can't really blame someone for trying a good idea. good things start small and it might be back next year with some good lessons learnt.

MonkeyWolf

You nailed that, Moxy.
Especially the whole thing with students not getting jobs/ coop-it is because their grades and or cv are not worth looking at... When I did coop, only one person in engineering got coop without pay.

A lot of things there aren't her position.

djnr8

No allegiances this year but keeping an eye on it anyway.

This has to be the most communist looking election poster I have ever seen