A campaign has been started by students to re-open nominations for the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) presidential race, in the face of what they are calling a lack of diversity, representation, competence and passion.
Pointing to “the mediocre standard of candidates”, the group is asking students to use their vote to re-open nominations and “send a message that students want high-quality candidates and a high-quality SU”.
A Facebook post by the campaign notes the similarity among all the presidential candidates. Calling on students who want to see the union as a “ferocious and formidable force”, the campaign aims to highlight the lack of diversity in all aspects of the current campaign, including in gender and in policy.
In an email statement to The University Times, Luke Smyth, a member of the campaign, said that this is not a negative campaign against any particular candidate but “a campaign to convey the message that we can and should have a more diverse and inspirational field of candidates”.
“We believe that this lack of diversity of candidates is a cause of the massive apathy and disenfranchisement in the student body toward the SU elections and the SU generally. Furthermore this disenfranchisement discourages people who would not fit the mould of a traditional candidate (women, queer people, ethnic and racial minorities etc.) from running”, he explained.
If students do vote to re-open nominations, Smyth says that they hope “it would encourage a wider range of people to run for President and create a field of candidates which is representative of the demographics of the student body”.
The option to re-open nominations is available in all union leadership races. As the option implies, it would re-open the nomination period for candidates for the race
In an email statement to The University Times, Gender Equality Officer of TCDSU Áine Palmer said that “seeing the immense lack of diversity in this years election campaign has been incredibly disappointing”.
“Regardless of who students decide to vote for, or whether there is a call to re-open nominations, we need to make sure this does not happen again as a community. That means making sure that whoever is a sabbatical officer next year prioritises diversity in leadership”, she explained.
Palmer urged whoever was successful to make encouraging women and those from underrepresented communities to run in next years campaign a priority. “We as students deserve a diverse range of passionate and high quality candidates running for election”, she said.
