My fight for DPCS

This year I ran for DPCS in the Union Elections, and here's the story of my campaign.

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote for me and spread the word around. I really do appreciate it, and despite losing by quite a bit in the end, looking back, I’m really happy that we managed to get as far as we did.

Why? Because before these elections, I was a lurker. I’d gotten involved in a few societies, but I was essentially a nobody in the wider world of Imperial. If you heard my name or saw my face, it probably wouldn’t mean anything to you unless you took a class or played hockey with me.

So why did I run? In a chance encounter one evening, at a Guitar Soc Open Mic Night, the wonderful Chris Kaye bought us a round of drinks. This was such a lovely gesture that I went over to thank him, and ended up showing him a few magic tricks. Long story short, he’d drunk enough at that point to think that I would have made a good sabb.

I was sceptical because of my lack of experience, but interested, so I talked to Ben, the current DPCS. He told me that no matter how much experience you think you have, you’re never ready for the actual job.

So with the knowledge that anyone who got the job would struggle no matter how much more they’d been involved, I decided that I’d give the campaign a go.

I’ll be honest, and admit that half of my motive at this point was to use the campaign to get some publicity for Magic Society, and the other half was that I didn’t feel like getting a real job at the end of the year.

We prepared our campaign, and I think we did a pretty good job. I finally used up some of the printer credits that the College has been chucking at us for four years, and pasted my face all around campus in the hope that people might possibly notice.

Before these elections, I was a lurker

When the polls opened, however, something strange happened. As I walked around, brandishing a giant picture of myself on the end of a hockey stick, giving sweets to strangers and performing magic tricks in an attempt to get them to listen to my pitch, I started hearing real stories from the students who ran into problems running their clubs. Be it room bookings or budgets, it was clear that the world of clubs and socs at Imperial had fixable issues, and I started to actually want the job. I realised that it’s a position where you can make a difference to a lot of people, and that it would be a great opportunity to meet and help out some genuinely cool people.

So I campaigned a lot harder than I thought I would. I fought through the many straight rejections from students that were completely uninterested, talked to a tonne of people, and honestly enjoyed the experience of seeing what people thought of the uni we all study at.

Meeting the other candidates was just great too: I realised that it was a mistake to lurk like I did for three years when there are so many cool people to meet if you just look a little harder.

I went into the results party, wanting the role for completely different reasons from before I started campaigning, and genuinely hoping to win despite the odds. In the end, I lost by quite a large margin, and at the time I was pretty surprised and disappointed.

I was quite angry too, as the other candidates didn’t show up to the results party. How did I lose to a guy who doesn’t even care enough to see the results with his competitors?

Looking back, I was never going to win. There’s no way that two weeks alone can get you from pretty much unknown to the winner of what is essentially a popularity contest, and I’m glad I got out of my little bubble to meet some great people I would never have had any contact with otherwise.

If there’s a moral of the story, it’s that if you’re a natural lurker like me, you should try to get involved even if it’s outside your comfort zone. This applies especially if you have any inkling towards running for a position in the future, because in reality a campaign starts years before the elections begin, when you meet people and start building your influence.

I hope I don’t sound too bitter about my loss. I truly wish James, next year’s DPCS, the best of luck. From the look of things, it’s a position that feels like you’re on a treadmill that always moves twice as fast as you can run. With over 300 clubs at Imperial, it likely feels more like a vertical climb than an uphill battle, but I still would’ve loved to have given it a go. I’ll buy you a much deserved pint when I swing back around the Union! And please be nice to my Magic Society? It wouldn’t be the same at Imperial without the small niche societies, so I hope you give them the attention they need too.