The events that unfolded during the first week of education campaigning have quickly turned the education race into a battle of personality and visibility.
Both Rachel Barry and John Cooney proved that they are fully committed to “out-campaign” the other candidate. The red and blue campaigners on the Barry and Cooney teams respectively, were extremely visible on Monday morning, aggressively handing out manifestos to potential voters and pushing their candidate’s policies. However, on assessing the policies outlined in the manifestos there seems to be a large degree of similarity. In their manifestos, the candidates illustrated differing positions and ideas on fees, but when questioned it was plain that neither of them disagreed with the position of their opponent.
With the generic policies that each candidate holds, the race to become Education Officer will only be won through personality and who can hold the most t-shirts on the ground at any given time. Monday morning hustings outside the dining hall gave both candidates the opportunity to showcase themselves in that respect. Unfortunately, speaking without microphones and with construction work being conducted all candidates were difficult to hear no candidate came out on top.
Fines became an issue on the first day of campaigning for Barry’s team as allegations of slander came from the EC stating that a group of Barry campaigners were spreading rumours about Cooney, claiming that he “touches little kids”. The EC took this behaviour seriously and confiscated ten t-shirts from Rachel for the week.
Despite early setbacks for the Barry campaign, polls on Tuesday showed that the SU Assistant Campaigns Officer (54%) has a strong lead ahead of the EMS Day co-founder (32%). Barry’s success in the polls was derived from her late night campaigning in halls on Monday night. Several miniature rave parties in various apartments took place, which was followed with a free “party bus” that Barry had organised to transport students to Alchemy in town. Students were reportedly very enthusiastic towards Barry’s strong efforts and were also extremely happy with the promise of concessions at the door of Alchemy if you said: “Vote for Rachel Barry”; a campaign strategy that would land her in hot water by the end of the week.
Both Cooney and Barry teams had a significant presence in the Hamilton Building on Wednesday, ensuring that t-shirts were on the ground. Soon the EC made another appearance in the Education race as Cooney campaigners had been retaliating with more slander. It became evident that statements were being made in regard to Rachel’s relationship with alcohol. Later it was revealed that these assertions were made by Cooney who is known not to consume alcohol himself. Rachel later received an apology from John, after he’d received a fine from the EC.
Thursday’s campaigning was incredibly slow. Blue t-shirts were marginally more visible in the Arts Block. The reasons as to why red t- shirts were not as prevalent as in previous days surfaced on Friday as the EC issued Rachel Barry with another punishment, confiscating thirty t-shirts in total for the week. The EC claimed that Barry was in violation of campaigning conduct when she used her name to give stu- dents concessions into Alchemy on Monday night. However, voters do not seem to be fazed by Barry’s EC violations as she held her ground against Cooney in Thursday’s polls. One student told The University Times that “I don’t even know who the EC are. Whether they take t-shirts away from people from candi- dates doesn’t matter. You’re not vot- ing for who has more t-shirts.”
Without stands in the Arts Block for Education candidates, the candidates have to rely on the sheer visibility of their t-shirts. Both candidates seem to be hopeful about the week ahead, with t-shirts being returned and the race beginning again on a level footing.
Leanna Byrne
