News

Last week saw the OUSA 2014 Executive Candidate Forums take place in the Main Common Room. With more candidates standing than usual, Bella Macdonald went along to suss out who prioritises what.

Presidential Candidates

Ruby Sycamore-Smith

Ruby’s confidence in her achievements as Welfare Officer for OUSA in 2013 was evident. “Your priorities should be mine,” she told the audience. As a strong advocate for women and equality, she hopes to maintain events such as Women’s’ Week if elected President. She also believes that the prospect of a student bar is “real,” but that it would need to be the result of a partnership, probably between OUSA and the University. Flats are also an issue Ruby would look to address if elected.

Ruby hopes to bring bigger and better events to the University next year, and to get the Executive more involved in organising events like Women’s Week. The sole female candidate for the position, she argued that it was important for women to have role models in politics.

Zac Gawn

Zac “the foxy fox” Gawn went in with confidence, relying on the knowledge of OUSA he has gleaned through his current position as Administrative Vice-President. Zac wants to make OUSA accessible to the majority and get the 16,500 students who don’t usually vote to vote. Zac felt that “decomposition of Scarfie culture has come too early,” and recommended preserving it by way of a new student bar. He believes a student bar would also help to address issues around women’s safety, as well improving safety for the student body as a whole.

Zac would also like to promote more involvement within faculties, so that students can get more out of them. He believes a new bar is a commercially viable idea, but that it would need to target the majority of students (unlike ReFuel, which he feels targets the minority).

Jordan Watts

Jordan believes that “OUSA is better served by someone with a fresh perspective.” A bar, he said, “is not a commercially viable idea,” considering the number of pub closures in the past few years. “It would be throwing money into a black hole and [would] become a liability,” Jordan told the audience.

Jordan would prioritise better University internet over a pub. If elected, he would focus on events that make students care more about OUSA and would encourage students to “get together a lot more.” As for the free breakfast scheme, he said he did not know many people who use it. However, he said that OUSA should be more focused on being a service provider. Jordan believes that a low voter turnout could mean that people are already satisfied with what OUSA can do for them.

Admin VP

Ryan Edgar

Honesty was Ryan’s policy, stating that as politicians have a very bad record of keeping promises, he would not make any. But his number one focus – unsurprising given his status as your typical Scarfie – was the preservation of student culture. His Scarfieness also manifested in less desirable ways, however; he was frequently lost for words, and proved unable to express his opinions in the heat of the moment.

Paul Hunt

Paul seemed to want to convert Otago into Canterbury Uni. With his frequent references to the great way that UCSA runs the Foundry, he seemed to think it was possible for Otago to do the exact same thing with a campus bar. He was all for saving Scarfie culture, wanting to talk to local breweries and negotiate with local sponsors.

Kamil Saifuddin

Running for both VP and International Officer, Kamil’s introductions consisted of rattling off greetings in multiple languages, showing the diverse roots that he would bring to the Executive. He hopes to get more international students integrated into society, and Critic wishes him luck. His experience with the International Food Festival and International Cultural Night shows that he is definitely capable of managing events successfully.

Welfare

Nali Lee

Nali claims to “[give] a shit about you.” A confident speaker, she was on the fence about the prospect of a student bar but was less prepared when it came to questions about VSM and the SLA. She is definitely able to think on her feet, describing herself as a talkative person. This was evident – she only just managed to say what she wanted to in the given timeframes.

Jenna Bone

“I put the PRO in Procrastination,” Jenna said, referring the amount of time she spends reading about current events. Critic wonders whether a propensity to procrastinate is something we should look for in an Execcie. However, Jenna did show an interest in making changes for the benefit of students and in making campus more environmentally friendly.

Payal Ramritu

Despite wanting to pull out due to nerves, Payal bravely took to the stage to tell the audience why she wants to be Welfare Officer: so no one else ever has to go through what she had to. If Payal gained some more confidence, her past experiences would make her a great advocate for student welfare.

Finance

Nick Tenci

Newly elected into the role, Nick wants to continue in this position, boasting that “I know my shit.” While not competing against anyone else, he has shown he is capable of doing the job. He believes that the safety of women on campus “rests in men’s laps.” Critic wasn’t sure whether or not the pun was intentional.

Education

Thomas Mitchell

Thomas made a bit of a statement before leaving halfway through the forum, telling to the audience that “the best way to stop rape is to stop raping.” He also said that students can’t learn in mouldy, damp flats, prompting speculation as to whether or not he could be the voice of a student population who have thus far proved him wrong.

Jordan Taylor

Jordan’s confidence and calm responses showed his experience in his role as the current Education Officer and his knowledge of OUSA. He introduced Sex Awareness Week this year, and will prove a hard candidate to beat. Not so keen on a student bar as of yet, Jordan wants to prove that OUSA can run ReFuel before taking on another such commitment.

Recreation

Dan Stride

According to Dan, this role is about representation and administration. However, his anti-E-Sports perspective won’t win him the votes of the hundreds of gamers out there. He believes that the $15,000 that was going to be put towards E-Sports could be spent in much better places. However, his experience and knowledge of OUSA might be to his advantage.

Henri Faulkner

Henri is your stereotypical gamer and science student, who would be a strong advocate for E-Sports. With experience running a gaming club, he has knowledge of the organisational skills required by such tasks. He also showed an interest in keeping other sports clubs running, and having had experience running a club with zero funding would likely be unperturbed by having to do so again.

Campaigns

Hamish Barker

Hamish wants to represent the best interests of the student body, taking a “no-bullshit” approach. He appeared to have your typical Scarfie attitude, but wants to be proactive about the potential loss of Scarfie culture. With praise for the way OUSA handled Hyde Street this year, he is sure to reflect the opinions of the majority of Scarfies out there who want to uphold these traditions.

Jarred Griffiths

Another Scarfie campaigning for Campaigns, Jarred will “make the best campaign machine in 2014.” He also wants to open up things to the majority of students, firstly by tackling ReFuel. While his critiques of Hyde Street (mainly focussed around the wristbands and ticketing system, which he believed didn’t work) threw sand in the eyes of OUSA, Jarred has the potential to be a good advocate for the mainstream.