Faculty elections swing around

Although the biggest results have already been announced this Tuesday for the Imperial College Union elections, election fever is far from over, with nominees vying for the votes for positions on the committees of the RCSU, CGCU and ICSMSU. All three unions are running their own election for members to choose a new committee to represent them for the upcoming academic year.

ICSMSU nominations closed last Sunday, with the final hustings taking place tonight at the Reynolds Bar, Charing Cross, where candidates will be questioned on their experience and ideas for representing Medicine, Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacology students. 16 positions are available, with only 4th Year medic Suzie Rayner running for President (Interview: Page 8). She is the only candidate running for the position. She said that she is paying close attention to the ideas being put forward by candidates for other positions: “There’s so much competition this year for some of the positions that it’s been great listening to it.” She added that “I’ve been scribbling down ideas either thinking how similar they are to mine, or how good other ideas are that I want to borrow.”

Colin Hill, Julian But, and Tsz Kwan are all running for President of the CGCU, whose elections are also currently in full swing. Efforts will be focused on increasing the turnout after disappointing figures in previous years. According to current President, Victor du Mesnil du Buisson, this is partly due to problems in management that the union has faced. He believes that “the CGCU needs some kind of rebranding to become more approachable to students” and hopes that next year’s committee “is firmly prepared and are motivated to start the next year and bring back CGCU.”

The RCSU will also be looking to increase participation amongst its members, with nominations having closed on Thursday. Current president, Scott Heath, hopes that the turnout for these elections will mirror the record-breaking figures from the ICU elections earlier this week. However, he admitted that it’s not going to be an easy task with about 40% of the voting population in the RCSU being postgraduates. He says he finds it “very difficult to get them enthused about the election”. When considering only the undergraduate turnout, the figure stands at roughly 24%, and this year’s plans to get more students to participate in the elections include lunchtime hustings with free food, in the hope of increasing the turnout.

Hustings:

Medics – Friday 18th, 7pm, Reynolds.

RCSU – Monday 21st, 12:15pm, Student Activity Space, 2nd floor Union