Peter Caddle, one of two candidates in this year’s race to become editor of The University Times, has announced that he will not attend tonight’s equality hustings.
In a statement released on his campaign social media accounts today, Caddle said that he would “instead use the time to focus on producing more content expressly for those students so often ignored during campaigning”.
“While my team and I believe that the Caddle for Editor campaign has gone exceedingly well up until this point, we have realized that we have fallen somewhat off course from our initial goal.”
“We have always been highly critical of the SU establishment for not effectively engaging with the wider student body. However, our own campaigning has been largely dedicated to appeasing the SU niche, and as a result, we left the ordinary student member out of the conversation.”
“As such”, it continued, “my campaign team and I have made the decision that I will not attend tonight’s hustings. We will instead use the time to focus on producing more content expressly for those students so often ignored during campaigning.”
Tonight, candidates at hustings will face questions from the SU ethnic minorities officer and LGBT+ rights officer, Trinity Ability co_op, and Oifigeach na Gaeilge, among others. The focus will be on how candidates will promote inclusion and diversity in their respective roles, if elected.
This is not the first time candidates for editor would have been challenged on these topics. At Council hustings on Tuesday night, when asked about his plans to cover race issues and boost diversity in the paper, Caddle did not directly address the issues, saying instead that engagement with The University Times had to be improved first and claimed that there was a “writer problem”.
Last night, Caddle was questioned over insulting comments he made in the Burkean about women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In a fresher’s week guide, Caddle ridiculed members of the LGBTQ+ community and described some non-binary people as “horrid creatures” who should be avoided.
Caddle asserted that the quotes read out to him were not an “honest representation” of his articles and failed to consider their “comedic tint”.
