SU Elections 2016 hustings take place at CRC

March 30, 2016 News, Students' Union

The first round of universal hustings for the 2016 Students’ Union elections took place at today’s Class Rep Council. Candidates running for SU positions gave a brief introduction of themselves, discussed their manifestos and took questions from the floor.

The sabbatical positions covered at hustings were; Vice-President for Academic Affairs, VP Engagement & Development, VP Welfare & Equality and VP Education & Placement.

 

Education & Placement

First to take to the stand were the candidates running for Education & Placement.

Running for this position are Stephen Rixon and Manus McLoughlin.

Rixon told the audience that feedback needs to be given on all assignments, that all courses should have a reading week and that information should be provided to students in the year prior to their INTRA placement.

McLaughlin called to bring shuttle buses in for students on placement, if elected. He also expressed that the mental wellbeing of students moving campuses is important.

Both candidates agreed that their presence on both campuses would be vital if elected.

 

Welfare & Equality

Up next were the candidates running for Welfare & Equality.

Running for this position are Alison Ring, Cody Byrne and Shane Parsons.

Byrne spoke about implementing a peer to peer support system, reducing campus resident fines and establishing a Friday Nubar night for students that stay on campus for the weekend. He later mentioned bringing in a healthy eating week.

Parsons promised that if elected, he would hold a mental health awareness day. He wishes to put an emphasis on consent while working on sexual health within the welfare role. He discussed bringing in an “accommodation clarification app”, that would help students to find accommodation.

Similar to Parsons, Ring focused in on accommodation, stating that she would start up an accommodation advisory service, with an online portfolio for housing. She proposes an accessibility week in DCU, along with workshops on consent. Finally, Ring’s last main point looked at bringing in a physical activity week.

When asked by an audience member to name five different learning disabilities, both Byrne and Ring succeeded. Parsons named three.

 

Engagement & Development

Next to take to the stand were the candidates running for Engagement & Development

Running for this position are Naoise McHugh, Stephen Hallinan, Eimear McGuire, Keith McGinty and Jack Bruton.

Focusing on events, Bruton wants to create an Ents committee, promote bigger SU events and run a larger amount of daytime activities on campus.

Hallinan said he wants to motivate people to become class reps, through starting up a class rep of the month competition.

 

McGuire wants to provide sufficient training for class reps, in the hope of running these in conjunction with USI. She admitted that St. Pats will need a helping hand to throughout the integration with DCU.

McGinty plans to run a survey of engagement before the end of this academic year and again next year, to compare and contrast figures to determine if there will have been an improvement in engagement. He wants to develop the inter-campus bicycle scheme to the students, not just the staff of DCU.

McHugh wants to implement time management workshops. He promises to bring in convener training to take place over the summer. Finally, he discussed implementing a week long Clubs & Socs fair.

All candidates running for this position were asked about the inclusion of mature students. Each candidate expressed similar views on the matter, suggesting finding out what they have an interest in and contacting the Mature Student Society.

 

Academic Affairs

Academic Affairs was up next with just two candidates running this year, James Donoghue and James Nolan.

Donoghue, current SU Education Officer, took the majority of his time to discuss how the experience he has gained this year will help him succeed in the role, if elected. He also discussed rolling out a Careers Week across all campuses.

Nolan wants an on the ground support system for students. He also called for increased room and seats in the library during exam time and extending hours for the St. Pats Drumcondra library. Another main point Nolan brought up was the release of earlier repeat exam results.

Both candidates discussed implementing an easier appeals process.

 

President

Last to the stand were the candidates running for President.

Candidates running for the position are Ayub Beshir, Sean Cassidy, Ivan Hynes, Dylan Kehoe and Cormac Kilty.

Beshir wants to bring all the cultures on campus together and build a better community. He also wants to set up a website to help students find accommodation and extend library hours during exam time.

Cassidy wants to “fundamentally transform this Students’ Union”, tackle fines and rent increases in campus residence and provide free microwave services throughout the campus.

Hynes discussed the importance of mental health awareness on campus. He wants to make the Irish language more present on campus.

Kehoe put an emphasis on more student events on and off campus, stating that “events have been slacking in the past two years”. He has set €100,000 as a charity target, if elected.

Kilty focused on creating a more open environment between the SU and the students.

When asked about the Seanad elections, Hynes, Cassidy and Kehoe promised to lobby for a DCU vote in future Seanad elections. Ayub said this wasn’t something he has put thought into and Kilty admitted that he has “no idea about these sort of things.”

Hustings continue to take place over the course of the next week. The next universal positions hustings will take place tomorrow, 31st March at 1pm followed by a final universal hustings on 4th April at 1pm. Faculty specific hustings took place today, with more tomorrow and next Monday.

 

Hayley Halpin

 

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