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ISSUE 729 15 FEB 2022 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
In conversation: Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter
Guild justifies removal of manifestos for upcoming elections
Page 6
Image: Oliver Leader de Saxe
Your campus crushes! Pages 5, 14 and 27
Images (top to bottom): Chris Andrew, Wikicommons, Guanaco and subsequent editors, wikicommons
Supported by the:
Oliver Leader de Saxe and Lucy Aylmer Editor and Deputy Editor
T
HE Student Guild have announced plans to reform Guild election processes as the nomination period for candidates opens up. Instead of a manifesto, candidates will be required to write a personal statement to explain “why they are suitable for their chosen officer role” and “why they would be the best candidate” to represent students at the University. Exeposé spoke to the Head of Student Engagement at the Student Guild and a representative from the Voice Team who stated that the decision was informed by educational consultants to help improve the Guild election process and student electoral engagement. He further stated that the “ma-
nifesto approach is flawed” due to it being a “winning votes tool”, with candidates making promises that they won’t be able to fulfil. They also argued that the current system is out-of-date because manifestos are made months in advance of the officers obtaining a Guild position. As such, manifesto pledges are largely redundant due to policies either already being achieved or becoming less of a priority. In addition, the Guild expressed that the reform aimed to introduce greater diversity within student engagement, ensuring that all students are represented by Guild Officers. The Guild reinforced that it was less about the number of votes, but rather the quality of votes obtained to ensure all voices are heard. Exeposé questioned the Guild on whether removing manifestos will impact Guild democracy due to incumbent officers obtaining an unfair advantage if the election is based purely on experience. In response, the Guild stated that “incumbents always have an advantage,” as they can use their past achievments in the role as evidence of their skills or in the past to shape their manifestos. The Guild stated that reforming the Guild election process will improve dy-
namism in the Guild by enabling officers to respond to current student issues, rather than outdated policies made in advance of officers acquiring their position. They also stated they wanted to increase the voice for incoming postgraduate and first year students in September. To help address student engagement in the upcoming Guild elections, the Guild have decided to organise workshops to give students more information and to encourage more candidates to apply by briefing them on important information and policies. As a result, the Guild believes candidates will be able to better represent the student body. Alia Manshi, President of The Iraqi Society acknowledged that the reform is reasonable given “student priorities change throughout the year” but “to not have a manifesto is another step towards the Guild becoming a bureaucratic institution. By saying that candidates should simply describe how they are best suited to the role, it feels as though it’s turning into a game of personality politics where we are focussed on the individual and how much we like them, not their actual intentions. I am very disappointed about this change”.
Several other societies have also voiced their concerns. Jewish Society, which has endorsed candidates in the past, expressed doubts about the new election process: “As a society, we think the decision to not have manifestos in the elections this year is a step backwards, as it makes it unclear what each candidate would bring in terms of policies, and could reduce the race to being a contest of personalities whilst leaving students in the dark.” Meanwhile Debate Society, which has a strong contingent of members from an array of political societies, shared their “serious concerns” about the change. They stated that “by removing the ability for candidates to outline their policies in a manifesto, students will no longer be able to select the candidate whose policies serve their interests or the interests of student groups or students as a whole.” They also highlighted that “there is no such thing as a policy-less candidate” and “by not advertising said policies in a manifesto, the Guild effectively ensures voters are uninformed about the policies that are enacted in the coming year.” Continued on page four...