This year’s SABBs. Image credit: Exeter Students’ Guild
The announcement of the full list of candidates running for Sabbatical Officers has shown an approximate 50% increase on last year, after 31 students put their name forward.
VP Education and VP Welfare & Diversity have the largest number of nominees – 8 – with VP Activities having 6, AU President 4 and Guild President 5.
The group will now be involved in ‘information week’, which ends on Friday and have until Wednesday to submit their manifestos.
Candidates for each of the roles will be involved in debates between February 1 – February 5 and the results will be announced on February 7th. A full timetable is available on the Students’ Guild website.
Last year, 21 students vied for the sabbatical positions while in 2012, 22 students stood. The elected officers will spend next year leading the Guild in full time positions, representing Exeter students.
Exeposé will be providing extensive coverage of the elections over the coming weeks, using the hashtag #ExeterVote.
A full list of candidates is available below.
Guild President Candidates
Ajay Gaur
Rachael Gillies
Ronnie Henderson
James “The Goat” Hitchings-Hales
Joel Smith
AU President Candidates
Ali Borland
Andy Higham
Indigo Hull
Emily “Robbo” Robinson
VP Activities Candidates
Matthew Bate
Kit Fortheringham
Daniel Richards
Michael Smith
Douglas Statt
Sam Woody
VP Education Candidates
Hannah Barr
Holly Collenette
Jessica Fenlon
Meghan Honeysett
Matthew Mackenzie
Charlotte Rush
Ben Street
Matthew Thatcher
VP Welfare & Diversity Candidates
Charlotte Cooper
Kate Hawkins
Charlie Mackay
Lydia Popiolek
Jaz Sansoye
Katherine Sladden
Spike van der Vliet-Firth
Disun Vera-Cruz (Dis)
Harrison Jones, Online News Editor,
Additional Reporting by Tom Elliott, Online News Editor
Jak Curtis-Rendall, Abbe Cooper and Emma Ollis took part in the VP for Participation and Campuses in Newman A on Monday evening.
Photo credits to Guy Janaway
Jak, who entered in a lemon yellow “Jak 4 PAC” t-shirt stressed in his opening statement that he “enjoyed listening and representing students” on both campuses in Exeter (Streatham and St Luke’s).Amongst his proposals, appeared bigger sports screens, dedication towards music and promoting entrepreneurship.
Abbe Cooper followed Jak by stating her past experience but did not give her main manifesto points in her opening speech.She told the audience of her experience as VP of the Bracton Law society, a member of the Welcome Team and being in the RAG committee.
Last but not least, Emma took to the stage and praised the Student Guild for being “fantastic”. Emma also wished to stress the importance of “talking to people” over the past week and wanting to give back the experience to current and future students that she had over her years at Exeter.
Jon Bagnall, the current VP PAC asked the three candidates how they could integrate St Luke’s campus more with Streatham campus. RAG posters from 2011 and old Students’ Guild logos on St. Luke’s seemed to irritate Jak along with the removal of food at Cross Keys.
Service over surplus was Abbe’s motto, who also wanted to promote the Bop at St Luke’s. Emma on the other hand, if elected, explained how the loss of a community feel at St Luke’s had to be tackled.
The highlight of the evening was when Jak attacked the Students’ Guild website for being “dull, black and white, unattractive and boring” while comparing it to other Student Union websites across the nation.
Tom Payne, editor of Exeposé, questioned how the candidates would go about improving media such as Xpression FM and Exeposé Online. Emma answered first by praising Xpression FM as “great” and saying that “it was a shame Xpression isn’t played in the Ram bar”. Jak emphasised “more technical support especially for Exeposé Online” and suggested “possible apps for the media”.
Abbe made a slight blunder, referring to Exeposé Online as “Xmedia Online”, but suggested better marketing could get students more interested.
The three candidates then addressed the issue of drop in membership and sign-ups for societies. Abbe suggested cash in hand and investing in electronic bar code machines which would help in the long run. Jak echoed Abbe’s idea of cash in hand and demanded closer ties with academic departments.
He went on to say that he wished to collaborate with international, postgraduate and mature students in order to “diversify” societies. Emma showed her frustration of the present system by stating that it was “really annoying” and pushed for her Big Society Swap idea.
One audience member challenged the three about how they hoped to represent the student body, whilst also working alongside the Guild- by whom they are all currently employed. All the candidates asserted that their experience working with the Guild had gifted them with a greater understanding of the sorts of problems which occur, making them more suitable for the post.
Later on, the candidates were quizzed on how they would support struggling societies such as Pagan Circle and Dance Soc.
Photo credits to Guy Janaway
Abbe stressed that a better scheme for the allocation of funds was needed, while also suggesting the use of the facilities on the St Luke’s Campus could help tackle a lack of space issue.
Meanwhile, Jak deplored the current online booking system, which has made it difficult for societies to book up rooms.
In her closing statement, Emma claimed that she was “learning more and more” from speaking to students during elections week, which better equipped her to take up the position of VP for Participation and Campuses.
Jak also stated that an entrepreneurship hub would facilitate this, and really emphasised the importance of “getting student products in student shops”.
Abbe touched upon some of the key points from her campaign, including starting up a ‘Cornwall column’ in Exeposé to see a greater engagement between the campuses.
Tuesday’s debate will see Ledys Sanjuan, Sam Syce and Chris Rooktin battle it out for VP Welfare and Community in the Alumni Auditorium from 6.30-7.30pm.
For full coverage of the debate, and a look at the candidates’ manifestos, visit the Xpression page!
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