Shaz Oye has been elected President of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) on the third count, defeating Gogoal Falia and Michael Sonne to the position.
Oye, who this year served as Diversity and Equality Officer of the GSU, won with 52 per cent of the vote. She received 274 votes out of a total valid poll of 528. Falia claimed 217 votes, while Sonne was eliminated after the second count.
Falia won 217 votes, while Sonne was eliminated after the second count.
Speaking to The University Times, Oye said: “We ran on a ticket of putting postgrads first. We’re ready to start that conversation but we can’t do it alone.”
“We’re going to make a place for them in the GSU”, she said.
Oye ran on a joint ticket with newly elected Vice President Gisèle Scanlon. The pair campaigned for the allocation of affordable accommodation, employment rights for PhD students and the abolition of re-entry visas for postgraduate students.
Throughout her campaign, Shaz focused on her three pillars of “inclusivity, vision and engagement”. In an interview with The University Times, Oye said: “I want people to see a black dyke. I want them to see a black queer woman as the president of the GSU. I want minorities on campus to see themselves represented.”
Seeing someone like her in a position in the GSU, she said, could help people find their “tribe”
