The chance to play a part in leading Cardiff University Students’ Union is up for grabs in October’s by-election.
Seven non-sabbatical positions will be contested in the elections and nominations open from Monday October 1 for five days.
However, the by-elections were never the original plan for last year’s executive, with all the offices up for the vote next month being the ones that went unfilled at last year’s full executive election.
In the last few years, student political engagement has been at an all time low, with turnout being less than a fifth of the student body at Cardiff. However, the trend isn’t restricted to Cardiff, with similar trends all over the country. It’s made all the more obvious by Cardiff’s turnout at the last election , which was the third highest in the UK.
So gair rhydd will be taking a detailed look into the role that non-sabbs play in our students’ union and how officers from Park Place to the NUS’s headquarters in London are trying to get students interested in representation again.
A non-sabbatical officer is a part time official of a Students’ Union that’s elected somehow. Being part time though means that they work for the union while doing a degree at University still. Non-sabbs at Cardiff could be split into two broad categories: representational and defined.
Defined officers like Quench Editor, Xpress Radio Manager and Athletic Union Vice President have their duties set by the constitution of Cardiff Students’ Union. However, representational officers like the Heath Campus or LGBT officer are generally expected to represent their minority (the NUS uses ‘liberation group’) or satellite campus.
The distinction becomes important because most of the positions up for by-election are representational rather than defined.
So why are non-sabbs so important to Cardiff Students’ Union? Jo Roberts, Women’s Officer for NUS Wales, explains how valuable she thinks that non-sabbs are to a well run Students’ Union: “non-Sabbatical officers have significant value in each Students’ Union. Sabbatical officers can rely on non-sabbatical officers to arrange student forums and gather information from students at a grass roots level to feedback into the Union.”
“Non-sabbatical positions represent different groups within the student community and it is important that ALL students have this representation. It would be difficult for sabbatical officers, who already have a large work portfolio, to take on additional work, when non-sabbs can do it for them.”
So non-sabbs can be a link back to students for sabbatical officers who by virtue of their jobs aren’t students at the time. Kate Monaghan, former non-sabbatical and last year’s Health and Welfare sabbatical, agreed.
“I think that the sabbatical officers need to use the non-sabbatical officers more, as they are a great support and can be really well tuned into what students want on a day to day basis, as it is easy for sabbatical officers to lose touch with the student way of life.”
But what do some of this year’s non-sabbs want to accomplish? Ted Shiress, Students with Disabilities (SwD) Officer said: “My major goal this year is to ensure all parts of the university fully comply with the Disability Discrimination Act and the Disability Rights Act. Sometimes it is all very well having able-bodied people making a building seem ‘accessible’ in accordance to a guideline set out on a piece of paper, but the question remains is it actually accessible to everyone?”
People still seemingly don’t want to stand for non-sabbatical positions though. In an election that saw a record number of candidates, many of the non-sabb positions were uncontested or unfilled. Yet, as many as seven candidates competed to be Societies, Postgraduate and International officer. Perhaps there isn’t enough of an incentive to be a part time officer of the union?
This year’s AGM saw the introduction of an hourly wage for non-sabbs. They can earn up to £80 a week for the work they do. But the ‘incentive’ wasn’t introduced to bribe students into running according to last year’s exec; instead it was to give potential candidates who needed to work a chance to run.
Rowena Vassallo, Vice-President of Cardiff Students’ Union, said: “I certainly hope that students will no longer be discouraged from standing for election for fear of also having to balance this commitment with a part-time job. We recognise the amount of personal time our non-sabbatical officers give up in order to help the Students’ Union, and introducing a payment system was our way of rewarding this.”
Some unions don’t think we need officers. Instead, they have committees to represent minorities. Aberystwyth Guild of Students is one of the students’ unions that’s using a committee system to go with their non-sabb officers.
Sam Lumb, President of Aberystwyth Guild of Students, said: “Some of our posts require us to have sub committees because there is such interest particularly in sports and environment issues.”
Constitutionally, such a system is possible here at Cardiff and Cardiff Students’ Union says it’s open to the possibility of change.
“It is therefore essential that we do not rest on our laurels, but that we regularly review – and look for ways to improve – the effectiveness of our democratic and representative structures.”
However, it still remains the case that students don’t seem to want to get involved with the election process. Ted, the current SWD officer said: “I felt a bit put off by the distinct lack of competition I faced. It instantly showed me how low the profile disability has in Cardiff thus proving how much work I have to do.”
But NUS Wales don’t think that students are disengaged: “NUS Wales can say that this certainly isn’t the case in other students’ unions in Wales. We have found this year that the more students’ union officers engage with us, the better their democratic processes and engagement of students, not only in union processes but also with an increase in contested elections too.”
It remains to be seen whether the NUS are right and that this year’s by-elections will encourage more students to be involved in their union.
Hopefully the turnout will be better than last year’s 1.6% of the student body who wanted to vote for their non-sabbatical officers.
Nominations open on Monday October 1 and close on Friday October 5. The elections will take place on October 22 and 23. For more information, go to the Student Services Lounge on the Third Floor.
