ISSUE 210 - FREE
SAINT
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ST ANDREWS, 2 March 2017
JAMIE RODNEY
D
uring a 14 February joint meeting of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and Student Services Council (SSC), a motion to create an SRC member for mental health awareness was rejected. The motion, which was proposed by Director of Representation Jack Carr and Director of Student Services and Development Caroline Christie, would have replaced the SRC wellbeing officer with the SRC member for mental health awareness. The proposed member for mental health awareness would have worked to organise the University’s annual Mental Health Awareness Week and "assume strategic and operational control over all campaigns operated by the Students' Association in relation to mental health." During the Joint Councils meeting, Mr Carr
said students had expressed interest in standing for the role. He added that the position would make campaigns relating to mental health at the University easier to run on an operational level. However, Mr Carr "didn't necessarily feel confident that by introducing this motion, we're bringing an aspect [of mental health awareness] which is different from the director of wellbeing." He explained that creating such a position could lead to the individual holding it "going rogue" by taking on responsibilities beyond the remit, including advocacy and counseling. Given these concerns, the motion was not officially endorsed by the sabbatical team. SRC members also questioned how the new member would be trained to handle more sensitive aspects of the role, though Mr Carr said he was "confident" suitable training could be arranged. However, SRC Member for Widening Access and Participation Chris Wilde objected to this,
Photo: Sammi Ciardi
THE
saying that completing suitable training for such a position "could take years,” and it could potentially be "dangerous" to allow someone who had not undergone this training to assume such an important role. Association President Charlotte Andrew agreed, saying that such a role would constitute "an uncomfortable level of risk to an unpaid scholar who is young and vulnerable." Even SRC members who were in favour of creating the position in principle argued that the role described in the motion could be better carried out by the mental health coordinator within Student Services. The motion was ultimately defeated after a lengthy debate. Despite saying that he was "extremely enthusiastic about the motion” during the Joint Councils meeting, current Wellbeing Officer Nick >> see MENTAL HEALTH, page 3
MEMBER FOR MENTAL HEALTH? Joint Councils reject proposed creation of SRC member for mental health awareness, citing similarity to DoWell, emphasis above other aspects of wellbeing
Nominations for student elections prove chaotic, voting opens JONATHON SKAVRONECK
News editor
Nominations week for the 2017 Association elections proved tumultuous. Many candidates waited to submit their nominations until the latter half of the five-day nomination period, with some being confirmed just minutes before campaigning began. For sabbatical positions and down-ballot races alike, the field of candidates shifted due to many withdrawals. Most notably, the race for Association President was fluid up until Saturday afternoon, when early nominee James Bundy withdrew his candidacy. Earlier in the week, Guy Roulstone was nominated but also withdrew his nomination. Lewis Wood, the current
Association LGBT+ officer, originally was nominated for the newly created position of director of wellbeing but pulled his nomination and entered the race for president shortly thereafter. Saturday saw only Mr Wood and fellow nominee Lewis Campbell remaining. Nominations week also saw multiple positions left uncontested or without a nominee. Both the sabbatical positions of Director of Education (DoEd) and Director of Student Development and Activities (DoSDA) faced uncontested races on Friday evening. The withdrawals of Mr Wood and Linsey Welshman caused the landscape of the Director of Wellbeing race to shift throughout the week, leaving just one candidate, Claire Shirey, by the start of campaign activities.
Important seats on the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and Student Services Council (SSC) were also left without competition. Little interest was shown in the roles of LGBT+ officer, charities officer, and societies officer, with each garnering just one nomination. In total, 22 of the 61 available positions were vacant or had just one candidate. This is an increase of almost 50 per cent from the 2016 elections, when just 16 positions were unfilled or uncontested. Uncontested races narrow students’ choices at the polls. Voters can either select the candidate or opt to re-open nominations. It is a rare occurrence that a candidate loses to this option. At the time of publication, the races for postgraduate academic convener and Italian convener still had no nominations.
The Association elections committee sent an email to the student body just hours before nominations closed. The message urged students to “take an interest and have a chat with your candidates” as well as vote. St Andrews maintained the highest student voter turnout among UK universities for four years running until 2016, when engagement declined and the University fell in the rankings. Ultimately the week ended with 122 students being nominated for 61 available positions. Voting for all positions opened Thursday at midnight and will continue until Friday at 6 pm. Results will be announced beginning at 8 pm. For more information on candidates and their campaigns, visit The Saint’s online election hub at thesaint-online.com/ elections-2017.
4
number of candidates who have withdrawn or changed their nominations
122
number of students running for 61 available positions
22
number of positions vacant or with one candidate