CUSU Election Hustings – as it happened
Follow Varsity’s live blog as this year’s sabbatical candidates clash at Mill Lane
Live Text
(Refreshes automatically)•Join us for full coverage of the CUSU/GU elections hustings from 6-7:30pm
•President, Education, Access, Women’s, Welfare and Rights, and Disabled Students Officer candidates set to debate
•Check out our live blog on Violet where Matt Gutteridge is blogging whilst playing our elections drinking game
•Play Varsity's elections bingo here!
Thanks everyone for following the hustings live blog! You can catch all of our coverage throughout the campaigns here. Here's a policy matrix of what the candidates think and don't forget to vote in our opinion poll! Our full report will be up later.
7:33pm Aaaaand we're done!
7:32pm Drury: "I recognise that I am an unusual candidate. I am going to do things differently. It is worth a punt for this year. If I can't engage to the heights of 25% then ultimately you will have the same candidates up here again next year and no one will have lost out"
Eyre: "I am well rounded, competent and passionate candidate. I want to be there for you."
Murison: "I have already shown that I can deliver on my manifesto points. I will make university a better experience for those who feel they don't have a voice here".
7:31pm And, finally, we have reached the very last question. All three candidates are asked to summarise themselves in one sentence.
7:30pm Drury says it is "unacceptable" that CUSU "underestimated the cost of remaining affiliated with the NUS by almost 2,000 per cent"
7:29pm Murison: "it's about showing the University and student body that CUSU is value for money. Bad press is always going to happen – it's CUSU"
7:29pm Amatey asks a question! "The main stumbling block is resources, funding for student unions is not a priority for universities. The lack of funding and staff begin to take a toll. How will you lobby for more funds? How will you respond to the bad press for not getting things done?"
7:27pm Murison says the funding changes are "interesting". "CUSU is very strange organisation, it's not funded like any other SU across the country"
7:27pm Drury says the key question colleges ask on debating affiliation is: "Can CUSU be said to represent value for money?" He says: "I will make CUSU value for money."
7:26pm A question from our own Louis Ashworth on new proposed funding models for CUSU.
7:25pm "We need to take issues out of CUSU council to engage more people than simply those present at council" argues Murison.
7:24pm "Engage!" shouts Murison.
7:23pm Drury slams CUSU Council as a "consistently late bureaucratic monolith".
If you're just joining us, we're following the CUSU presidential elections hustings LIVE pic.twitter.com/CJc800J9iR
— Varsity (@VarsityUK) March 6, 2017
7:23pm Eyre describes her vision for CUSU Council under her as a "policy creation forum"
7:22pm Beef over interest in students is emerging. Murison says, "The problem with your solution Jack is that it completely ignores the students." Drury: "I wouldn't be here, pitching myself in front of the electorate to spend a year of my life on CUSU if I wanted to ignore the students."
7:21pm Drury condemns the elections system from last year as "beyond shoddy", because it produced a turnout of "15 per cent"
7:21pm Eyre admits that "Participation is a massive issue with CUSU." She says that promising to talk to students more is a fairly big promise. "I have visited 12 colleges already. We need to get our ideas from students and take them forward, and therefore students will be interested."
7:19pm Murison wants to meet with societies: "it's who we talk to, and how we talk to them"
7:18pm an audience member raises the eternal issue of "dire" student participation with CUSU.
7:18pm Eyre says that the intermission campaign includes students that are thinking of intermitting so it needs to be advertised more widely.
7:17pm Murison says, "Make disabled students part of the conversation."
7:16pm Drury, on intermissions policy: "I want to be the CUSU President who goes to colleges and has these discussions with Senior Tutors"
7:15pm Murison: "if we are going to be protecting students we need to work with those organisations"
7:14pm Drury on hearing about the acts of anti-semitism said he would have acted straight away. He thought it was awful they took a few days acting on it. Murison says "we need to work with the police and the wider community because these are illegal acts".
7:12pm Responding to a question about the recent rise of anti-Semitic incidents in Cambridge in recent weeks, Eyre says that working with groups representing groups of "disenfranchised and disadvantaged" students would be a priority for her.
Presidential candidate Keir Murison in action pic.twitter.com/mLXqVLsPF1
— Varsity (@VarsityUK) March 6, 2017
7:11pm Drury on divestment: "because of the lack of transparency I do not know much about that".
7:09pm A question on divestment now from a member of the Zero Carbon Society (ZC), who points out that none of the candidates mentioned it in their manifestos. Eyre says that she would actively push the university to secure divestment; Murison talks about wanting CUSU to work with societies such as ZC; Drury says that divestment comes at a cost, and that it could be to the detriment of teaching quality.
7:11pm Don't forget to vote in the Varsity opinion poll on who should become president!
7:09pm Question from the floor: "If you don't have as much time as you thought you would, which policy would you give up on or not be able to finish?" Drury: Wednesday afternoons off for sport, Murison: workshops, Eyre: review on access in Cambridge.
7:05pm Now for Keir Murison. He begins with his three major issues: mental health and welfare, college disparities, and to engage the student body.
7:05pm Eyre throws out another tripartite, she will emphasise "activism, communication and representation".
7:05pm Next up, Daisy Eyre. She will focus on access, mental health and student work load.
7:04pm Drury addresses the issue of an opt-out for Class Lists:"If I have to do opt-out in Sharpie in Senate House yard, I will". Drury lead the Save the Class Lists campaign earlier this year
7:03pm Drury on mental health: "Mental health training for all porters and tutors is essential and I will name and shame those that don't accept this."
7:03pm "There is an enormous potential being squandered. We need to recognise that it is in colleges that CUSU should be working" says Drury.
7:02pm Want to liven up hustings? Remember to try Varsity hustings bingo!
7:02pm Drury starts off, "I am one of the students who has spent two years laughing at CUSU".
7:01pm Keir and Daisy are both wearing stickers with their campaign logos on. Drury currently logo-less.
7:00pm Don't forget you can follow our other live blog on Violet where Matt Gutteridge is well into the elections drinking game...
6:59pm While we wait for one of the presidential candidates to return from the toilet, Amatey is running us through the changes to CUSU's constitution that students will also be voting on from the 7th to the 10th March.
6:59pm Now for the big one - the presidential candidates are set to debate, bring on Daisy Eyre, Jack Drury and Keir Murison.
6:58pm CUCA have arrived, en masse.
We're getting some photos through now – here's Welfare & Rights Officer candidate Micha Frazer-Carroll pic.twitter.com/3dNY2ml1de
— Varsity (@VarsityUK) March 6, 2017
6:57pm On improving taxi experiences Oulds says, "I could quite easily create a resource for saying how to interact with a disabled passenger. Don't ask them about their disability, they will have heard that question a million times".
6:55pm Asked about how she might differentiate between self-defined disabled students who are seeking a diagnosis, and those who have already received them, Oulds says that she would work to publicise the grants available from the Disabilities Resource Centre to help students get diagnoses.
6:55pm Oulds would facilitate diagnosis by providing grants for the disabled research centre. Ashworth argues that determining who is and isn't disabled is not part of their role.
6:53pm Oulds says, "There is no need for students to struggle with these things which should already be sorted".
6:52pm Oulds talks about her plans for collaborations with the student press, especially with matters such as publicising disabled student forums.
6:52pm Louis Ashworth shouts out to the positive change from the Varsity intermissions investigation
6:50pm "There is scope for creating good relationship with Uni4" says Oulds, even as a Homerton student who "knows the flaws of Uni4".
Varsity just got its second shout-out of the night, not that we're counting… (*immediately calls home*)
— Varsity (@VarsityUK) March 6, 2017
6:47pm She is also keen to emphasise the way in which provision for disabled students can vary across colleges.
6:48pm "A lot of the treatment of disabled people comes from ignorance" says Oulds.
6:47pm Oulds talks about her experience on the Disabled Students' Campaign, and argues that it has put her in a strong position to take on the role of DSO.
6:46pm We're on to the Disabled Students Officer with Florence Oulds and Louis Ashworth from Varsity as RON.
6:45pm Olufemi argues, "The core value is to protect the students that are most marginalised but that does not mean that there cannot be allied."
6:42pm "I would work with the Disabled Officer to gather experiences of disabled women in Cambridge to see how provisions for welfare is gendered in the university" says Olufemi.
6:40pm Hannah Dawson as RON argues that Olufemi's proposed feminist reading group would only attract those already interested in feminist theory. Olufemi counters by talking about her previous experience of running such groups, and claims they are a good way to introduce people to feminist theory.
RON says feminist reading group would target people who already know feminist theory - need to embrace people who wouldn't go to a group
— Varsity (@VarsityUK) March 6, 2017
6:39pm "I want this university to be a more bearable space for women and non-binary people", concludes Olufemi.
6:39pm Olufemi argues "This role is about collective history but it also about legacy".
6:38pm "Feminist knowledge is for everybody" says Olufemi.
6:38pm "Most people have no understanding of the myriad ways feminism has changed our lives", begins Olufemi, quoting bel hooks.
6:37pm Next up, Lola Olufemi for Women's Officer and Hannah Dawson as RON.
6:36pm Frazer-Carol acknowledges that she has only had an experience as an undergraduate student but is keen to ask postgraduates what they think to make sure the GU is represented.
6:34pm Catch live tweets on the event by our very own Editor, Millie Brierley @VarsityUK
6:32pm Gurtler asks Frazer-Caroll about whether the fact she has not been a Welfare Officer on a JCR might hinder her should she be elected.
6:30pm Frazer-Caroll talks about how her own mental health crisis led her to become interested in welfare, and how she has since set up a magazine which focuses on mental health.
6:30pm Frazer-Carroll to focus on 3 things: standardisation across colleges, access to resources and intersectionality.
6:29pm And now on to Welfare and Rights Officer. The candidate is Micha Frazer-Caroll, and the RON is Matt Gurtler.
6:28pm Hylton-Pennant is asked about whether, as Access and Funding Officer, she would prioritise divestment from fossil fuels, or securing funding for PHDs from fossil fuel companies. She says that she would seek feedback from students on this.
6:28pm "We need more publicity. Current students could make materials for school students to bridge the big gap between school and university," says Hylton-Pennant.
6:26pm Hylton-Pennant wants to create something that echos Oxford's Oxblog. "It's currently a centralised initiative at Cambridge but we need to cover a wide range of backgrounds and communities".
6:24pm Just a reminder that you can play along with our hustings bingo game here.
6:23pm On transparency before people come to Cambridge, Hylton-Pennant says she wants to simplify the current website or create an entirely new website.
6:21pm RON Ashworth focuses on transparency: "CUSU has issues with its communication platforms on social media and its web activities".
6:20pm "I'm keen not to over promise and under deliver" says Hylton-Pennant.
6:20pm Next up, Access Officer with Olivia Hylton-Pennant and Louis Ashworth as RON.
6:18pm Krish says she will "make the faculty forum a fruitful environment".
6:17pm "I think there are lots of problems with postgraduate study at the moment", says Krish, after being asked about her plans for postgraduate provisions.
6:16pm "I don't think it's true that there is widespread apathy" says Krish.
6:14pm Krish champions "mobilising students" to create a "unified movement".
6:12pm "Disabled students are let down by the current system" says Krish.
6:11pm And we're off! "Positive change in our education system is not a given, but something which must be fought for year after year", begins Krish's speech.
6:10pm One member of the student press is acting as RON for each uncontested role in order to provide debate
6:09pm First up, Education - Martha Krish faces Hannah Dawson as RON
6:07pm Hello and welcome to our live coverage of hustings for the CUSU/GU elections! We're Anna Menin and Sophie Penney, and will be keeping you up to date with everything that happens over the next hour and a half or so!
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