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ULSU Elections 2011 (Voting Thursday March 24)
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So she is. Fixed, thanks.Sceptre, Aoife Kenny is the EDUCATION OFFICER/VP ELECT, NOT Welfare!)
Yeah, sort of two conversations at once ("Hang on and I'll type this quickly")thedesertman wrote: »Eamonn, that was probably a typo since when he was writing it I was talking to him,0 -
Thank god this only happens once a year....my nerves are still in bits.
Well done to all!0 -
Well done to the winners, comisserations to the others - some rollercoaster of an evening!!
COME ON THE DALY!!!!!!!!!!!0 -
Congrats to the winners, felt a bit sorry for barry kennedy, thought he had some good proposals but unfortunately some people lose out i guess.0
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Delighted for Paddy, couldn't of gone to a better guy Imho.0
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billy the squid wrote: »have already forgotten the names of those I voted for. none of them were memorable, well apart from the fella with the giant horse whose name I forget, remember the horse though.
was not canvassed by any of them.
Pity you have a terrible memory then and sorry that all the candidates couldn't actually talk to all 12,000 students. A few do fall between the cracks. Given that we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear (if you took the time to look at any video on the ballot), 30% of what we see (the horse or anyone in a t shirt), 50% of what we see and hear (again the video anyone walking around and chatting) and 70% of what we discuss with others, it's quite obvious you did not care about this election and didn't take any time or effort in your vote if you can't remember anyone :-)
You know, sometimes if people care about their University and Students' Union it is their job to go and ask the questions, not sit and wait idly by to be canvassed and then complain when your not.
Fair play to everyone, and best of luck to those elected.0 -
billy the squid wrote: »have already forgotten the names of those I voted for. none of them were memorable, well apart from the fella with the giant horse whose name I forget, remember the horse though.
was not canvassed by any of them.
Your comment shows you in a very negative light, and disrespects the union the university and especially the incredibly hard working candidates and their teams. As far as i can see it you ignored your responsibilty of informing yourself, the information was freely available online and everywhere else on campus if you wanted it. Lots of people available to talk and discuss the issues if you approached them.0 -
billy the squid wrote: »was not canvassed by any of them.
I walked up and down from the kemmy a few times and not one person canvassed me. The online voting seems to give a new dynamic to the spread of campaigners.
Congratulations to the new team. Please, do the union proud. And commiserations to the rest. I hope you learned much about yourselves from the week.
[Edit] I've just read the conversation after the quoted post. It seems to have turned sour and feel I need to be clearer.... Not one person canvassed me on my trips from the kemmy... otherwise I was canvassed in the courtyard when I first arrived.0 -
Ginge Young wrote: »You know, sometimes if people care about their University and Students' Union it is their job to go and ask the questions, not sit and wait idly by to be canvassed and then complain when your not.
Fair play to everyone, and best of luck to those elected.
If we learned anything from this week it's that 12 people were ready to put themselves out there just to support the 12,000 students who they share a campus with. Everyone should be proud of the effort that went in.
From myself, I want to say a massive, massive thank you to my campaign manager, who couldn't possibly be a bigger hero if she tried. Of course the campaign team I had were fantastic, it was great to have people that I hadn't even met before out there trying to get me votes! I only wish I could have put in more myself and maybe got a few extra votes, but a turnout of nearly 4,000 voters is some achievement for the SU. Congrats to Tara Feeney, her bear and all her supporters, the hard work starts in July and I'm 100% sure she'll be a brilliant Welfare Officer.
Well done everyone!
Tom Cranley0 -
Well the results are out and unfortunately, in my case it was just not meant to be. I’m obviously destined for something else. I had an amazing week and got to meet so many amazing people. I spoke to so many students this week and did my best to listen to their problems. It was a real eye opener. My only regret from the entire week is that there wasn’t enough time to meet more students. If the only thing I achieve this week is bringing some of these problems under the spotlight then I have achieved something that I can be proud of.
I am fortunate enough to have had an insanely dedicated team of friends who went above and beyond anything that I could have ever expected of them and all of them did it without having to be asked. To all the people who helped me this week, there are no words for how greatful I am and I don’t think I could thank any of ye enough. A few people in particular need special thanks Eoin Mooney, Lorcan O’Neill, Marie Casey, Eammon Gardiner, Seamus Ryan, Niamh Seary, Hugh Adams, Pa Golden, Kelly Mulligan, Aidan McDonagh and Dave Ryan who helped me out so much this week. If I’ve learned anything this week, it’s how blessed I am to have such an amazing group of friends.
I put my heart and soul into this and unfortunately I didn’t win but that’s a risk you take when you put your name on the ballot. I had nothing but the utmost respect for my fellow 11 candidates. It takes so much to put yourself out there and take the pressure and critism. Congratulations to the new sabbats and commiserations to my fellow unlucky candidates. I think all the campaign teams did a brilliant job and did so in such a friendly way. This was probably the most friendly SU elections I’ve ever been involved in. Congratulations and best of luck in particular to Aoife Kenny, who ran a good campaign and was a gracious winner.
Sorry for the long post but sometimes short and sweet just doesn’t do it. Thanks again for everything. This has been one hell of a week and for that I would like to thank each and every one you for that
Regards
Barry Kennedy
PS thanks to the two lads I met walking home with a “Vote Barry Kennedy” sign last night. They were kind enough to let me take it and it will take pride of place on my wall and I would like to ask anyone who helped me this week to call over to the house at some stage to sign their names to it.0 -
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FrankAmazing wrote: »I also saw one person knitting which I thought was quite rude.
Knitting isn't rude. I don't know where that comes from! It's a way of keeping the hands occupied while you pay attention to something else.0 -
whatever way the results came out...it took immense bravery by all candidates to put themselves forward...not something for the fainthearted and i've immense respect for everyone of them.
Im gutted for Tom, wish we had got him in so i could feel i repaid at least some of effort ive seen him put in to the rugby club...but it wasnt meant to be and im sure things will work out for him in the future...
i'm consoled by the fact that were going to be well served by Tara feeney..indeed by all the sabbats....its a very high standard that got in again this year
By far this was one of the best weeks ive had in UL, ive been at times broke, sleep-deprived and suffered some of the worst sugar crashs ive ever experienced...during the week ive handed out countless amounts of sweets/tea/condoms..ive spent a good part of a day getting kicked/punched/tackled by friends and strangers, ive met some of the funniest and friendliest people ive ever had the pleasure to meet and got to know so many people im goin to have trouble remembering names. I was cut up last night but that isn't what im goin to remember when i remember this week. It will be everything else.
Now to get back to the growing pile of projects ive been neglecting:p0 -
Ginge Young wrote: »Pity you have a terrible memory then and sorry that all the candidates couldn't actually talk to all 12,000 students. A few do fall between the cracks. Given that we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear (if you took the time to look at any video on the ballot), 30% of what we see (the horse or anyone in a t shirt), 50% of what we see and hear (again the video anyone walking around and chatting) and 70% of what we discuss with others, it's quite obvious you did not care about this election and didn't take any time or effort in your vote if you can't remember anyone :-)
You know, sometimes if people care about their University and Students' Union it is their job to go and ask the questions, not sit and wait idly by to be canvassed and then complain when your not.
Fair play to everyone, and best of luck to those elected.
whilst the candidates could not talk to everyone, their canvassers could have made more of an effort. was canvassed by most of the candidates last year.0 -
Deleted User wrote: »Your comment shows you in a very negative light, and disrespects the union the university and especially the incredibly hard working candidates and their teams. As far as i can see it you ignored your responsibilty of informing yourself, the information was freely available online and everywhere else on campus if you wanted it. Lots of people available to talk and discuss the issues if you approached them.
Hardly/. It is not my fault that many of the candidates were uninspiring.
And the fact that I was not impressed by most of the candidates being somehow disrespectful to the University? Are you serious?0 -
billy the squid wrote: »whilst the candidates could not talk to everyone, their canvassers could have made more of an effort. was canvassed by most of the candidates last year.
Apologies put I am not going to let you criticize my canvassers, however other candidates feel I don't know.
You came on here and you basically bashed all the candidates saying that you did not know their names and that none one tried to canvass you all week, now your taking a step back.
The point is while every single effort possible should be made (and my team did amazing on such short notice and that I have not heard another person other than yourself criticize them) to make the students aware of who running etc at the end of the day if a person cares about their Union they go out and make it clear that they do.
My e-mail and phone number were on all manifestos for the week, I had amazing publicity so people knew I was running and an incredible amount of information was available on the ballots including full manifesto.
So if you judge your choice in actually getting canvassed and not actually reviewing material and asking questions when there is ample opportunity then I must agree with tony sheridan in that you are disrespecting the University, the Union and *ALL* of the Candidates who ran.
There is a difference in not liking any of the candidates or their policies having chatted to them/asking questions and actually not making an educated choice blaming the candidates and their teams for not coming up to you specifically when there was so many ways to actually get in touch with them.0 -
Ginge Young wrote: »Apologies put I am not going to let you criticize my canvassers, however other candidates feel I don't know.
You came on here and you basically bashed all the candidates saying that you did not know their names and that none one tried to canvass you all week, now your taking a step back.
The point is while every single effort possible should be made (and my team did amazing on such short notice and that I have not heard another person other than yourself criticize them) to make the students aware of who running etc at the end of the day if a person cares about their Union they go out and make it clear that they do.
My e-mail and phone number were on all manifestos for the week, I had amazing publicity so people knew I was running and an incredible amount of information was available on the ballots including full manifesto.
So if you judge your choice in actually getting canvassed and not actually reviewing material and asking questions when there is ample opportunity then I must agree with tony sheridan in that you are disrespecting the University, the Union and *ALL* of the Candidates who ran.
I only remember your campaign because of the horse, not because of anything your canvassers said or did.
I think the chaim that one is disrespecting the whole university because they express an opinion that the campaign wasn't inspiring is somewhat extreme in nature.
anyway, before this gets too psycotic, I will bow out of this discussion.
just a quick adendum: whoever put the online voting together, with all the candidates material on each page, did a good job. well done on that.0 -
Despite the best efforts of everyone involved in the campaigns there will always be students who we can't get to it. I know I made my best effort to get out and speak to as many students as I could. I walk around the campus more times that my feat would care to remember, I knocked on doors, handed out flyers, delivered 600 free tea bags and gave several lecture addresses. My team gave a similar commitment and from what I saw during the week so did most of the other candidates/teams. As someone who's seen a lot of SU elections in various capacities over the years, I think the standard of campaigning was quiet high.
If interest in the Union has increased even by a small bit this week then it is a success. Most students don't see the SU as something important, its just something that's there. Hopefully we're closer now than ever towards dispelling that myth. If more students are now aware about the role of the education officer or welfare officer or about the services the SU provides then we've achieved something.
I would echo the calls here for people to engage more with the candidates/officers. The SU officers exist to represent you and have a duty to listen to students. As with an elected official, its up to the people they represent to keep them on their toes. Any candidate worthy of a vote should be willing and able to answer your questions.0 -
and so the election is over. sleep was nice last night. a good coffee (and not the bucket i was soooooooooo grateful for in the staff restaurant yesterday) awaits me in cafe Kaos later. also breakfast at breakfast time (and not a rios battered sausage meal at 10:00pm).
also no more trolling about my drinking habits and mudslinging at my friends and colleagues for another year....thankfully
and just to declare its been (lets see, 7th of November 2006-to-today....) about 4 years, 4months and 15 days since my last drink. but then again the troll probably didn't really care about facts and figures or about hurting people or causing embarassment to the people i hurt with my own stupidity in the past (after four years they may have gotten a degree of closure).
suffice to say i meet my critics head on, I dont hide who i am and i DARE anyone else to deal with me in the same way. If you dont, well then you're not brave, or virtuous or using a nom-de-guerre; you're just a damn coward.
Eamo0 -
billy the squid wrote: »whilst the candidates could not talk to everyone, their canvassers could have made more of an effort. was canvassed by most of the candidates last year.
OK dude, who are you really? Wednesday night I arrived in UL. There was canvassing of all the student villages and Brookfield Hall.
After putting the candidate to bed and then his campaign manager 3 hrs later after a final meeting, I went and did leaflet drops in Oaklawns, Briarfield, Elm Park and Milford Grange.
I also went postering in the UL Main Block at 5am.
We started canvassing at 7am. In that time we were canvassing in the ULSU courtyard, the Main Block, the B1 canteen, the A2 and B2 corridors, the Main Block Lawn, the Library, the KBS, the Concert Hall, the Jean Monet, the Living Bridge, the Health Sciences Building, Cappavilla, the IWM building, the PESS building, the Schroedinger building, the CSIS building and all paths and routes liking those places including the Living Bridge.
At 6pm we moved the candidates focus to the student villages and we canvassed (house-to-house, door-to-door) in Kilmurry and Plassey student villages as well as College Court.
As canvassers we introduced ourselves by our candidates name and our own names. We were unfailingly polite and did not press our views and we got a largely positive press.
And this was just OUR candidate for instance!!!
I can thus surmise one of four logical outcomes.
1. You're deliberately stirring it for some reason.
2. You managed to succesfully avoid ALL of the canvassers from each of the campaigns (over 100 people desperately seeking out those who hadn't voted).
3. You have severe issues with your memory, probably met every canvasser on campus, voted several times, ran for election yourself and resigned in disgrace worthy of Silvio Berlusconi/William Hague.
4. You weren't on campus, or were on campus and never left a computer lab/office all day long, thus according to accepted ERB campaigning rules and ordinances officially 'OFF LIMITS' for canvassers.0 -
For the frequenters of boards, someplace I have been around for a long time, I just want to make a short(ish) full blown comment.
12 people put their names forward, if you didn't like the choices and wish to complain you should have done so yourself. In addition there were hundreds of people across the week who were willing to stake their friends and other people's opinion of them by pitching for any of the 12 of us. I know I am extremely grateful to my campaign team and I know they enjoyed the week.
All of the candidates ran with the best interest of the students at heart. The unsuccessful candidates will not be forgotten by the winners and as President next year I have already asked the 2 officers-elect I had coffee with this morning to review their opponents manifestos and speak to their opponents about ideas that they hadn't included that may be worth exploring. I will be doing likewise over the next few weeks.
I fully expect to be held to account. It is for students to do that and they are extremely poor at doing so currently, so get on it.
I comiserate with those who were unsuccessful, but having lost an election in the past, I can tell you that the value of future wins will be all the more powerful, knowing how your opponents feel.
To be honest, when I was brought in to be told the result, I didn't know what to expect, especially considering the horse, the banners and all of the stuff that was missing from my campaign that others had.
I appreciate fully the mandate I have been given by students in the largest election ever and I will aim to be fair and realistic with students and know that there will be times when it just won't be possible for me to tell you what you want to hear.
Changing roles is a challenge that I look forward to embracing, and I only hope that I am up to the job.
I also want to mention that it was Róisín Monaghan who dealt with the software providers, ITD and Acting Secretary to ensure we could get the voting online. She has been at this behind the scenes since last summer and deserves immense recognition.
Derek0 -
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For the frequenters of boards, someplace I have been around for a long time, I just want to make a short(ish) full blown comment.
12 people put their names forward, if you didn't like the choices and wish to complain you should have done so yourself. In addition there were hundreds of people across the week who were willing to stake their friends and other people's opinion of them by pitching for any of the 12 of us. I know I am extremely grateful to my campaign team and I know they enjoyed the week.
All of the candidates ran with the best interest of the students at heart. The unsuccessful candidates will not be forgotten by the winners and as President next year I have already asked the 2 officers-elect I had coffee with this morning to review their opponents manifestos and speak to their opponents about ideas that they hadn't included that may be worth exploring. I will be doing likewise over the next few weeks.
I fully expect to be held to account. It is for students to do that and they are extremely poor at doing so currently, so get on it.
I comiserate with those who were unsuccessful, but having lost an election in the past, I can tell you that the value of future wins will be all the more powerful, knowing how your opponents feel.
To be honest, when I was brought in to be told the result, I didn't know what to expect, especially considering the horse, the banners and all of the stuff that was missing from my campaign that others had.
I appreciate fully the mandate I have been given by students in the largest election ever and I will aim to be fair and realistic with students and know that there will be times when it just won't be possible for me to tell you what you want to hear.
Changing roles is a challenge that I look forward to embracing, and I only hope that I am up to the job.
I also want to mention that it was Róisín Monaghan who dealt with the software providers, ITD and Acting Secretary to ensure we could get the voting online. She has been at this behind the scenes since last summer and deserves immense recognition.
Derek
Here here. I like the sound of that. Congratulations Mr President.0 -
Forgive me if this is easily available, the turnout of 3865, how does this compare to previous (non-electronic voting) years?
Do hope the college WiFi & internet infrastructure is an issue for the Union.
Since coming back from Coop in January I've realised how terrible it is at times, and un-acceptably so. The fact that some buildings have no WiFi is quite shocking too (e.g Schroedinger, most of the Schumann).0 -
Congrats ninty9er.
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Zeouterlimits wrote: »Forgive me if this is easily available, the turnout of 3865, how does this compare to previous (non-electronic voting) years?
This year had the highest tournout ever, The previous record was 1996.
That said, there was probably a smaller student Population in 96, so the proportion of students who voted may not be the highest ever.0 -
Zeouterlimits wrote: »Forgive me if this is easily available, the turnout of 3865, how does this compare to previous (non-electronic voting) years?
I was taking to Tomas, the returning officer today. Excluding part time students, the poll accounted for 40% of the full time student population which i think is an incredible achievement. The turnout in 1996 was exceptionally high due to the Repeat Referendum.Zeouterlimits wrote: »Do hope the college WiFi & internet infrastructure is an issue for the Union.
Since coming back from Coop in January I've realised how terrible it is at times, and un-acceptably so. The fact that some buildings have no WiFi is quite shocking too (e.g Schroedinger, most of the Schumann).
This is an area I raised in my manifesto and one which I hope to bring up with Aoife Kenny when we meet. The biggest challenge for this is securing funding (according to my source it would cost €600 per building :eek:). I have heard a story that the reason the Schumann building didn't have WiFi was because it was "wet out" the day they were going to install it.0 -
bazkennedy wrote: »I have heard a story that the reason the Schumann building didn't have WiFi was because it was "wet out" the day they were going to install it.
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billy the squid wrote: »Hardly/. It is not my fault that many of the candidates were uninspiring.
And the fact that I was not impressed by most of the candidates being somehow disrespectful to the University? Are you serious?
You are quite obviously backing down on what you said and/or deliberately misinterpreting my point. You cannot deny that your tone is highly disrespectful... at the very least.
A later point you made that the campaign teams should have tried harder... i may ask you back are you serious? Have you ever tried to stand out in a public environment and grab people and discuss a manifesto?? It must be incredibly tough on them... they are just students, who may be nervous speaking to people, or whatever... and more importantly they are at a very stressful time in the college semester and giving up there valuable free time in support of a friend/stranger/person they believe in/whoever. How selfless of them, and for you to think that you have the right to criticize them is ridiculous.
Your comments come across to me as bitter and cynical. I think it is egotistical to expect that out of 10,000 students you would be canvassed directly as a prerequisite... you have the full right to approach any of the canvasers or candidates and ask questions if you so wished, i was in the courtyard and red raisins a lot during the week and no one from a particular campaigners group had approached me, so i approached the candidate themself as i wanted to inform my myself so to make a better judgement, they were happy to answer my questions, as was other candidates campaign teams when they were approach by me. If you didnt want to approach them you could have sourced information online too, my point is that i believe dont care about your university if you didnt wish to inform yourself as to who was running and who would best represent you.
I believe you have genuinely upset/angered many people with what you said, but i get a feeling too, that it was your intention to do so, which is worse.
I think you indication that you were happy to stir sh*t, and then "bowed out" without having the courtesy or courage to back up your statements isn't fair. I feel an apology is owed to the campaign teams and candidates from you.0 -
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I'd very much prefer that people didn't get personal with each other. Kindly knock that on the head, people.
When people put their names forward for election (and kudos to those who did), they should be prepared for an element of slings and arrows (and outrageous fortune) but merely having a point of view on the election isn't a crime. Don't try to make it a crime as I won't have that on this forum.
That's the end of the /mod part of the post.
However, while it's entirely up to the candidates to impress attendees at hustings (who are, after all, there specifically to see them) and ideally candidates should impress as many of the electorate as possible (and judging by what I saw done both up close and from a distance by campaigners, they were certainly trying), it's incumbent on members of the electorate to educate themselves as much as possible before casting their votes. As usual, there were many flyers and campaigners around the college campus. All candidates were provided with space for a week-long campaign stand in the canteen, as usual. At least 10 of the 12 candidates availed of that opportunity and had a fixed location where anyone could just walk up, pick up a flyer and ask questions. Most student houses in Castletroy were visited by at least one campaign team, probably most of them. For students who live outside Castletroy, even a cursory walk through the main student courtyard on Thursday would have presented an opportunity to stop a campaigner and ask them questions. As well as being able to go to the stands in the canteen all week.
Travelling around the student villages and housing estates early on Thursday evening, most people had already been canvassed (a small few hadn't and a smaller few still didn't know there was an election on) - that's to be expected, despite best efforts. People may or may not have rung the bell of my city centre flat during the general election - I was very rarely there in the evenings - but I still went and read the literature popped in the mail box and made myself aware of what people were touting. Every candidate had at least a facebook page with details of who they were and what they wanted to do (I think I got invitations to all of them and a "friend" invite from one candidate I'd never met. And one from Welfare Bear. I joined none of them as it happens, except for Welfare Bear, but the info was there). Hustings were held on Wednesday evening (with online voting, personally I think they should be pushed back to Tuesday evening) and there was a chance to ask questions there. Any of the candidates could have been doorstepped after hustings and a question asked privately. Many campaigners were wearing campaign tee-shirts and they were difficult to miss. Keith Young's horse (as it's been mentioned) was pretty much surrounded by people on his campaign team and it's not that difficult to ask them questions.
Additionally, the SU themselves provided multiple links to candidates' webpages, facebook pages and videos for each candidate outlining who they were and what they wanted to do. That also acted as information for people on co-op, erasmus and study abroad who for the first time had the opportunity to vote.
Broadly speaking, it's difficult to see what else could have been done to give more information to people or allow them access and opportunity to ask any questions they might have had. Am I missing anything?
Student population in 1996 was roughly half the current population.deise go deo wrote: »That said, there was probably a smaller student Population in 960 -
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maybe he was afraid of horses....or gingers
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