A bye election for the role of Editor of The University Times will be held from April 4th to 7th, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has confirmed.
Sole candidate for the role Mairead Maguire was defeated by an organised campaign to re-open nominations (RON) earlier this month. Maguire won 40 per cent of the vote against RON’s 60 per cent.
Nominations will close at 9am on Monday, March 21st. As with previous elections and referenda this year, voting will take place online. Students can register to vote here.
Maguire, the paper’s current deputy editor, ran on a platform of maintaining the professionalism of The University Times, but promised to make it more accessible and approachable. However, the race was dominated by accusations of journalistic misconduct on her part. She strenuously denied the allegations, calling them “wholly false and defamatory”.
Towards the end of the campaign, Trinity’s Junior Dean instructed the organisers of the RON campaign to remove a number of Instagram posts from its page on the grounds that criticisms of Maguire in the posts were excessively personal.
In a statement to The University Times at the time, Maguire said: “I am glad that the posts have been taken down. They contained misinformation and were deeply personal. As a student, they were hurtful to read.”
“Speaking to students and having the support of my campaign team are what kept me going during this difficult time. I look forward to what’s left of election season and I am really grateful for the support thus far”, she added.
In a statement to this newspaper, the RON campaign said: “We archived posts on the JD’s request, and will comply with any investigation necessary.”
“We have all been personally detrimentally affected by the Deputy Editor’s reporting but are still willing to work with others and hear out alternative perspectives”, the statement said.
The option to vote to re-open nominations is available in all union leadership races. The last time a formal campaign to re-open nominations for a sabbatical race was in 2019.
Muireann Kane, a final-year history of art and architecture and Italian student, was running uncontested for the position. Students behind the campaign said they launched the campaign due to the lack of competition in this race.
Kane was narrowly elected to the role, with 51 per cent of the vote against RON’s 49 per cent.
