YOUR UNION
YOUR UNION
SPRING ELECTIONS
SPRING ELECTIONS
cardiffstudents.com/elections
2 21
2 21
LEAD
LEAD
Useful Contacts
The best people to discuss the details of running in the elections and to gain advice from are those who have gone through the process themselves and are currently working in the position that you are interested in. Their contact details are below.
FULL TIME ELECTED
CAMPAIGN OFFICERS
SU President VP Education
VP Welfare & Campaigns VP Societies & Volunteering VP Postgraduate Students VP Sports & AU President VP Heath Park Canpus
Tomos Evans Hannah Doe Georgie East Luke Evans Jane Chukwu Jude Pickett Sebastian Ripley [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Ethical & Environmental Officer Black & Ethnic Minority Officer Students with Disabilities Officer Mental Health Officer
International Students Officer LGBTQ+ Officer (Open)
LGBTQ+ Officer (Trans) Mature Students’ Officer Welsh Language Officer Women’s Officer Julia Komar Isadora Sinha Megan Dee Alfie Potter Megha Roy Georgia Day Lucas Jakabovic Hannah Louise-Salter Owain Beynon Polly Denny [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Interested in running
for a position?
Cardiff Students’ Union is a democratic organisation which is led by students for students. Therefore the Students’ Union election gives all students the opportunity to have a say in the way it is run and its direction for the future. We represent students on issues they tell us to and we campaign for the changes that our members have asked for and provide services to enhance their time at University.
To make sure we are relevant and effective in our work we always need students to get involved with their Students’ Union, by voting, by debating policy, telling us what we need to do better, and by standing in elections.
IT’S YOUR STUDENTS’ UNION SO IF YOU CARE ABOUT IT, STAND FOR IT
You can be elected to one of these 4 types of positions:
FULL TIME ELECTED OFFICER
Position is taken up on 22nd June 2021 and is carried out as a year out from your studies or after graduation as a full time paid role. You may not take annual leave during the first four weeks of your employment, if you believe this to be a problem – please contact us to discuss options.
CAMPAIGN OFFICERS
Position is taken up on July 1st for 12 months and is carried out as a voluntary role alongside your studies.
NUS UK DELEGATE
The NUS UK conference takes place in the spring of each year and sets political policy on a national scale for students. Representatives of every affiliated Further and Higher Education in the UK attend to debate, discuss and decide what policies NUS UK should work on to improve the experience of students across the UK. We have nine delegates places, which are gender balanced - five reserved for women and
four open positions. Ordinarily attendance at the conference would require some nights away, but we anticipate the conference being held digitally in 2021. The scheduled dates are Monday 12th April to Friday 16th April and you would need to be available throughout this period.
NUS WALES DELEGATE
The NUS Wales conference takes place in the spring of each year and sets political policy on a national scale for students. Representatives of every affiliated Further and Higher Education in Wales attend
to debate, discuss and decide what policies NUS Wales should work on to improve the experience of students across in Wales. We have nine delegates places, which are gender balanced - five reserved for women and four open positions. Attendance at the conference often requires some nights away, but we anticipate the conference being held digitally in 2021. The scheduled dates are Wednesday 3rd March and Thursday 4th March and you would need to be available throughout both days.
If you have any further questions about getting involved and running in the Students’ Union elections then email Student Voice Team on [email protected].
You must be a registered student at Cardiff University, not have been disqualified under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, not disqualified by the Charities Act 2011, and be over the age of 18. If you have any questions on these please do get in touch with us via [email protected].
Full Time Elected
Officers
There are 7 full time Elected Officer positions that will commence in June. These roles are paid, full time positions. In these positions there are a number of roles that the successful candidate would be required to fulfil:
1. COMPANY DIRECTOR
You may be confirmed as a company director of Cardiff Union Services Ltd, the trading company that provides many of the services of the Students’ Union (three officers are directors of CUSL). The legal duty for a company director is ensuring that the organisation maintains its ability to trade and that it meets all its legal requirements. The company that you will be a director of has a turnover of over £7,000,000.
2. CHARITY TRUSTEE
The full time elected officers will be formally confirmed as the Trustees of the charity that is the Cardiff University Students’ Union. Being a trustee, you have a legal duty to ensure the long
term sustainability and legal compliance of the organisation and its functions as well as ensuring that the organisation operates within its stated charitable objectives. The charity that you will be a trustee of provides services to all 28,000 students studying at Cardiff University. Two Sabbatical Officers will also be trustees of Cardiff Volunteering.
3. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
In holding one of these positions, you are an elected representative of the student population and you will be representing the views of the whole student membership within the Students’ Union, to the University and to other organisations or individuals. This does not mean that you will or are expected to know what students want; instead it means that you have been given the right to consult with students to understand and represent their views. You work with the Students’ Union, University and other organisations or a local, national and even
international level to ensure students are getting the best experience and education whilst at Cardiff University.
4. OFFICER ROLE
Your specific role may have a specific group that it represents. You will have close links with this group and need to work to satisfy their needs and represent their views within the organisation. Similar to your Student Representative role, it is unlikely that you will know what your constituents will want until you have consulted widely with them. At times their needs or wants may conflict with other groups needs or wants and part of your role will be to negotiate on their behalf.
5. TEAM MEMBER
You will be a member of a team of 17 officers. As a team will be able to achieve far more by working together than trying to achieve your own goals on your own. Not only that, you’ll be a member of the wider Students’ Union team, around 100 staff members who are all working towards improving the student experience at Cardiff University.
FURTHER INFORMATION
As mentioned the full time officer roles are paid positions, with a salary of circa £21,000 to undertake the roles. As well as working together as a team each of the officers also has individual responsibilities. The officer job roles can be found on cardiffstudents.com.
The positions available are: • Students’ Union President • VP Education
• VP Heath Park Campus • VP Postgraduate Students • VP Societies & Volunteering
• VP Sports & Athletic Union President • VP Welfare & Campaigns
There are 10 Campaign Officers who work alongside the full time Elected Officers and take up the position for a year alongside their studies on a volunteer basis. Similar to the Full Time Elected Officers, they will have a number of roles to fulfil. These include being a representative of all students and representing the constituency or student demographic that your role is focused upon.
The positions available are: • Black & Ethnic Minority Officer • Ethical & Environmental Officer • International Students’ Officer • LGBTQ+ Officer (Open)
• LGBTQ+ Officer (Trans) • Mature Students’ Officer
• Students with Disabilities’ Officer • Welsh Language Officer
• Women’s Officer • Mental Health Officer
All the Campaign Officer positions work to represent their appropriate student group within the University, locally, and nationally by liaising with relevant organisations and professional bodies. They convene and chair meetings with their relevant committee or association, working to identify and organise campaigns to raise awareness of relevant issues.
Campaign Officers
TO RUN TO BE A
CAMPAIGN OFFICER
FOR NEXT YEAR MUST
BE A STUDENT IN
THE ACADEMIC YEAR
2021/2022.
What To Expect
From Elections
NOMINATION PERIOD
Your nomination must be completed online before the closing time and all information and details on the form must be complete. Nominate yourself at cardiffstudents.com/elections
CANDIDATES’ MEETING
After the close of nominations all candidates are required to attend a candidates meeting where the general protocol of elections, the rules and regulations and any administrative matters are discussed. There are two officer briefing sessions. 5:30pm - 7pm Campaign Officer Candidates 7pm - 8:30pm Sabbatical Officer Candidates (any positions that have ‘President’ or ‘Vice President’ in the title).
PREPARATION PERIOD
The time between the close of nominations and the start of campaigning is known as preparation period. This is the time for you as candidates to spend developing a strategy for reaching as many different students. Ordinarily during this time candidates will create t-shirts and banners and design posters. Depending on coronavirus restrictions there may be some students on campus, but be prepared to run a digital election campaign instead. You will certainly need to write your manifesto at this point. Previous manifestos are available at cardiffstudents.com/ elections.
CANDIDATE DEVELOPMENT
To help prepare candidates for elections the Union will a host a series of sessions to help you be the best candidate you could possibly be. This includes public speaking, social media campaigning, campaign strategy and manifesto writing.
CAMPAIGN WEEK
Campaign week is your time to shine and show the rest of the student population why they should vote for you and allow you to run their Students’ Union.
You will have experienced nothing like it, you will be on the go promoting yourself to the entire student body explaining to them why youwould be the best candidate for the job. Not only will you need to encourage the student body to use their vote you will work hard to persuade them to vote for you.
VOTING
Voting takes place online, (students can vote from home, in the library, or on their phones and tablets). Because of the restrictions likely to be in place, it is unlikely that there will be ballot stations around campus.
The Students’ Union election uses a transferable voting system which in essence democratically elects the most popular candidate as it takes into account voters’ second, third and fourth and subsequent preferences. When you come to vote you rank each candidate with a number starting with 1 as your first choice. For each position as well as the candidates themselves you are given the option of voting for R.O.N which stands for re-open the nominations if you feel that none of the candidates running are suitable for the position.
FINANCIAL ELECTION REGULATIONS
Money should not be a barrier to any student wishing to run in elections. This is why the Union provides campaign allowances to all candidates and also restricts candidate expenditure to the set amount. Candidates standing in the elections are given an allowance of £20 (refunded by Cardiff University Students’ Union). This allowance is to spend on your campaign. You cannot exceed the amount allocated. All candidates are required to produce receipts for all of their expenditure on the campaign by the candidates meeting along with an expenses form. More information can be found in the election rules.
Election Regulations
Please note: when these regulations refer to ‘candidates’ it is also referring to campaigners/ campaign teams.
Cardiff University Students’ Union elections are governed by 5 core principles which regulate campaigning and candidate conduct through all of elections. We want you as candidates to be free to campaign in clever and creative ways without worrying about remembering long lists of rules. Instead the 5 principles should guide candidates’ decisions making about their campaign.
That said, should candidates act contrary to spirit of the principles they are subject to sanctions.These can vary from restricting different kinds of publicity to in extreme cases removal from the election.
THE PRINCIPLES
1. Students must be free to
cast their vote without undue
influence or pressure.
2. Obey the law, union and
university policies
3. Treat others as you wish to
be treated
4. Items produced or primarily
used for your campaign must
be accounted for within the
given allowance in line with
the unions’ financial election
regulations.
5. Campaigning will start on the
agreed upon day.
BREACH OF CONDUCT:
Upon report of a breach of conduct candidates will be reported to the Returning Officer who will conduct an investigation and will apply sanctions if the candidate is found to be in breach.
The Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer have the right to sanction and even remove a candidate from the election process if they feel it appropriate.
HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT
All complaints must be received within 24 hours of the incident occurring and must reach the democracy team in writing by the close of voting (Friday 12th March at 5pm).
Complaints are made by completing the web form available here evidence is to be submitted directly to [email protected]
The Elections Returning Officer will be reviewing and ruling on all complaints prior to the
commencement of the Count.
ASSESSING COMPLAINTS:
The Returning Officer or their nominee assesses all complaints on an individual basis against a somewhat standardised formula. By posing a series of questions the committee ensures to treat all candidates equally.
IF YOU ARE RUNNING
IN THE ELECTION YOU
MAY NOT
UNDERTAKE
ANY WORK FOR THE
STUDENTS’ UNION DURING
THE VOTING PERIOD. IF
THERE ARE ISSUES WITH
THIS PLEASE CONTACT
Important Dates
2nd December
DATE
DAY
ACTIVITY
LOCATION
TIME
Monday Nominations Open Online 09:00
11th February Thursday
Nominations Close Online 11:00 There are two officer
briefing sessions: 17:30 - 19:00 Campaign Officer Candidates / 19:00 - 20:20 Sabbatical
Officer Candidates (compulsory). This session will be recorded and made
available online.
Zoom will be sent to all candidates
17:30 and 19.00
17th February Wednesday Deadline for submitting text for translation for
your publicity. Your text will be translated and returned
to you as soon as possible and before the
27th February cardiffstudents.com/ elections and [email protected] 11:00 10:00 8th March Monday Voting Begins Online at
cardiffstudents.com/vote 17:00 12th March Friday Voting Closes 17:10 Candidate Debrief (Compulsory) Zoom Link to be sent to all candidates
14:00 13th March Saturday RESULTS Live streamed
S TA GE 1 INF ORMA TION S TA GE 2 PREPERA TION S TA GE 3 IMPLEMENT A TION Online at cardiffstudents.com/vote 1st March Monday Deadline for providing
us with your publicity document. This needs to be provided in either a bilingual format or with an separate
English and Welsh version
To be emailed to [email protected]
Still Reading?
So, if you’re still reading, hopefully you are interested. Our advice on what to do next would be:
• Go and speak to one of the current offi cers, either the one in the role that interests you or any other. Ask them about the election process, about the job, about the good bits and also the bad bits.
• If you have any questions that this pack doesn’t answer (we’re sure there will be plenty), speak to us and hopefully we can fi nd the answer for you.
• If you want to run but there are things preventing you from doing so, please let us know what it is and maybe we can help fi nd a solution.
If you’re going to go for it:
• Ensure you get your nomination in on time.
• Ensure you thoroughly read the candidates pack that includes election rules and any other information we provide.
THINK YOU WILL BE
cardiffstudents.com/elections
NOMINATE YOURSELF NOW
UP FOR THE
Full Name:
Does your name need to be amended for the ballot?
Yes No
If yes, what does your name need to be amended to?
Please note: this is not for you to add any campaign slogan to your name, it is if our system has you listed under a different name from the one you preferred to be called. Any questions relating to this please email [email protected]
Which position are you standing for?
SU President Vice President Welfare & Campaigns
Vice President Heath Park President Postgraduate Students
Vice President Education Vice President Sports & Athletic Union President Vice President Societies & Volunteering Welsh Language Officer
Mental Health Officer Ethical & Environmental Officer Students with Disabilities Officer LGBTQ+ Officer (Trans)
LGBTQ+ Officer (Open Place) International Students Officer Mature Students Officer Black & Ethnic Minorities Officer Women’s Officer
Are you a Welsh Speaker?
Yes No
Simultaneous translation will be provided if there are candidates that wish to speak in Welsh at either of the Candidate Question Time Events.
All prospective Trustees must read and sign the declaration below and return the form with their application / election nomination. I declare that:
• I am over 18 years of age;
• I have never been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or deception that is not regarded as legally spent;
• I am not an undischarged bankrupt;
• I have never been removed from office as a charity trustee by a Court or by the Charity Commission; • I have not been disqualified under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986;
• I have not made compositions with my creditors from which I have not been discharged;
• I am, in the light of the above, not disqualified by the Charities Act 2011 (Section 178) and subsequent related amendment to the Charities Act 2011 (Charities [Protection & Social Investment] Act 2016, Section 9) from acting as a charity trustee;
• I understand that if appointed as a Trustee I will also be appointed as a Company Director in line with Cardiff University Students’ Union’s status as a Charitable Company (Registered Company Number: 07328777);
• If applying to be a Student Trustee or Sabbatical Trustee, I am a registered student of Cardiff University; • If applying to be a Sabbatical Trustee, I understand that I shall sign a contract of employment with the
Union upon taking office on Monday 21st June 2021 for the duration of 54 weeks and shall be excluded from employment with the Union and its subsidiary companies for two years thereafter;
• If applying to be a Sabbatical Trustee, I understand that I shall not be permitted to take annual leave between 21st June 2021 and 16th July 2021, except for one day to attend my graduation ceremony from Cardiff University.
FULL NAME (PRINT):
CANDIDATE’S NAME: POSITION:
CANDIDATES ADDRESS:
This Expenses Form MUST be submitted to [email protected] before the close of voting. Candidates who have not spent any money on their campaign are still REQUIRED to submit this form.
You must provide UK Bank account details as payments will be made via BACS.
Sort Code - - Account No.
DATE
DESCRIPTION OF EXPENDITURE
AMOUNT £
TOTAL EXPENSES CLAIMED
£
CANDIDATES SIGNATURE:
DATE:
RETURNING OFFICERS SIGNATURE:
DATE:
CANDIDATE’S NAME: POSITION:
I am satisfied with how the election process has been carried out over the campaigning period.
I recognise that I have had an opportunity to raise any complaints which I may have about this process and I am happy that any matters arising have been dealt with. I am therefore happy for the count to commence.
