Following the nomination-window in Week 7, the time for students across campus to climb atop their sop-boxes in a bid to gain the votes of their peers is once again upon us, as this year’s JCR Elections begin in earnest.
Throughout the evening of Monday, Week 8, hustings will be conducted for each position up for election across the eight undergraduate colleges, and for the Cross Campus Officer and Students’ Union (LUSU) Councillor positions. Candidates will be required to give a brief speech indicating the most salient points of their manifesto; they will then face a grilling from the outgoing JCR member of their contested role, along with questions from the floor, which usually consists largely of students of the college.
Positions range between colleges, though each college will be electing new representatives for its core Executive positions, such as President, Vice President (many colleges have differentiated elected positions with the remit of a Vice President), Social Secretary, Chairperson, Treasurer and Welfare Officer. Certain colleges have roles specific to the facilities available within those communities; Lonsdale, for example, has the position of DJ Manager up for election, and Cartmel is seeking an Audio-Visual Technician and a Magazine Editor as part of the college’s co-ordination of its unique provision.
In total, there are 92 JCR positions across all eight undergraduate colleges, nine Cross Campus Officer (CCO) positions, six LUSU Councillor positions, and one position as a student representative on University Council up for election. However, students may only vote in elections taking place either within their own colleges or across the whole of campus.
The nine CCO positions up for election are: Media and Communications, Socials, LGBTQ*, Welfare, Education, Democracy, Activities, Environment and Ethics, and International.
Current JCR members are gearing up in anticipation of what they hope will be a positive show of engagement from the student population. Pendle Democracy Officer Grace Parkin had the following to say:
“I hope that participation in all aspects of elections will be up from last year not only because it will prove that jazzing up the publicity campaign with a cow was not a ridiculous idea but also because it is always good when the student body actively has a say in what happens at university.”
Voting opens Wednesday 28th at 10am and closes Friday 30th at 4pm. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the LUSU Democracy Cow, coming soon to pastures near you…
