Dr Gogoal Falia has been elected Vice-President of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) on with 52 per cent of the vote.
Falia beat sole opponent Jamie Farrell by just 21 votes – 6 per cent of the vote – securing a victory in the only contested race of this election season.
Falia ran a campaign based around combating sexual harassment in academia and offering support to international students coming to Trinity. While increases in postgraduate fees have recently become a pertinent issue for the GSU, Falia gave them only a light treatment throughout his campaign, instead focusing on issues which have received less attention among the postgraduate community.
Speaking to The University Times after the result, Gogoal said: “It’s overwhelming. We will start working from tomorrow itself. There will be no resting. Things are going to get aggressive now, but through it all we are going to be here for you, we are GSU.”
Speaking to The University Times before campaigning began, Falia claimed that he wanted to “try and bring some kind of change to Trinity”. While Falia has experience with the GSU, the Vice-President’s race often highlighted a clash between his “outsider” perspective and the expertise of his comparatively experienced opponent. Discussing the need for new voices in the union, Falia argued that a newcomer can potentially “see the issues which you can not see while you are already in the union. It’s always good to have a new pair of eyes”.
In an election season that saw a distinct lack of engagement from postgraduate students, Falia aimed to promote participation and involvement from students, arguing that “postgraduate students have less time to hand, they have a lot more issues to deal with”. Resultantly, they are more likely to focus on their studies “instead of trying to participate”.
A GP by profession, Falia is currently studying for an MBA at Trinity, specialising international business.
The role of vice-president is one of two full-time sabbatical officers elected by the union and focuses on the academic and welfare-based issues facing postgraduate students. Falia takes over the role from incumbent Vice-President Madhav Bhargav.
This year’s elections saw a particularly low turnout, with only 339 students coming out to vote. This continues a trend that could be seen throughout the week, with only a small crowd attending hustings and the last GSU council of the year failing to reach quorum.
