Looking at ... The SRC

Continuing on the theme of looking at the bits of the Students' Association, next on the ballot paper is the Students' Representative Council. Starting on a very poor note is the fact that three of the convenorships are uncontested.

Whilst I'm not surprised that Postgraduate Convenor (or the Maggie Chapman Memorial Seat as I've called it before) is uncontested. The fact that External and Academic Services are unchallenged bothers me. Had I not been graduating, Laura Baker would have faced a fight on her hands from me. I also struggle to believe that AS has no competition, whereas Teaching & Learning has 5 people standing - I realise the two are not equal, but it is a shame that possibly so many good candidates may miss out. I'm disappointed that Thomas Graham has got the job. As far as I'm concerned, he has shown a great deal of arrogance at the SRC this year (not least with his very personal attack on me in January - both uncalled for and unnecessary) and I worry how this will translate onto a role on the Executive of the SRC. Both Thomas & Laura are 1st years, and so how this will translate to a stable SRC Executive waits to be seen - and both (interestingly) are aligned with the Labour Students group: it's a point I'll come back to later.

The Teaching & Learning race is surely going to be very interesting. Emma Chapman (the current incumbent) who has done a job this year that was always going to be hard in the wake of Ross Neilson and Tim Cobbett, takes on four young pretenders. Leah Volger - despite only being a candidate for two days - is the one I have heard the most chat about. And despite us all wanting to be an issue about the issues, all I have heard so far is about her looks - even Emma commented that this what she had heard. Clearly it is going to be a vote winner with the men, and noting how few female candidates there are this year, this could be a focal point. Still looking beyond Emma & Leah, the three candidates are all well versed in EUSA. Stephen's (also coming from the Labour camp) website is straight to the point, as is Ondrej, whereas Stewart's site is still to come. With so much at stake, one of these candidates will be looking to step forward soon.

Welfare Convenor is also looking like a very messy race. On the EUSA Forums there is plenty of discussion and mud slinging going on. It appears that Nick (Labour camp) and Adam are taking pot shots at each other through the medium of their supporters. I can't claim to have read either websites in detail or the forum thread, but Adam's simple snappy website (complete with requisite puns) takes on a very airy fairy website from Nick - he seems to be more interested in photos that policy. SRC Editor is an election between SRC stalwart, Guy Bromley (Labour camp) and Ross Cullen. I don't know anything about Ross, and the lack of website plays very well for Guy - although his site is just a shell currently. It'll need more progress from both candidates before people will really care.

In the officers section, Accommodation is a three-way battle and includes Greta Dargie who went up against Grant Management. Simple name recognition could do the trick here, although it has to be noted that her two opponents - Sam Hansford and Fiona Jarvie - both have websites to help their support and campaign.

Community Officer - well I've mentioned that I think Joe Calvert's candidacy is a joke, because people who haven't done anything shouldn't be re-elected. Joe hasn't done anything and it beggars belief that he's standing again. With both Jude Harrison & Sarah Nash, I simply don't know enough about them. I've heard that Jude either sits in the Tom/Adam camp or the Josh/Labour camp, but I'm not qualified enough to say which - although I think it may be the later, as Joe seems to be supporting Tom, and I doubt Tom/Adam would allow two of "their people" to stand against each other. Either way, manifestos will be important.

Equal Ops Officer - a position that was to be done away with in the Constitutional Amendments that have twice not been passed by a quorate General Meeting - is also a three-way contest. All seem to be supporting the same sort of ideals and I'd be interested in anything any of them can say which is fresh and new.

Down the School Reps list, elections are taking place in Biological Sciences (only two candidates have website, but all are in the same year), History & Classics (with Ben Politowski putting in his parachute here), Law (with a massive 5 candidates), Management & Economics (with an even more massive 6 candidates), "Philosophy, Psychology & Language" (with 5 candidates) and Social & Politics studies (with Josh MacAllister also putting in his parachute). Pleasingly, every school bar one has a representative.

The real battle will be in the Ordinary member elections - inevitably with such a large field (some 30 candidates), there is a lot of double ticketing. A quick glance of the candidates show that something like a third of them are standing elsewhere on the SRC ballot, which dramatically shrinks the voting field (obviously something we will only find out post election). Also in the mix are four current/past sabbaticals, which will have its own dynamic on the electoral result.

With so many elections, Thursday 1st March's count looks to stretch long into the night.