THE entire incoming executive of DCU students' union resigned last week amid questions over the nomination, process for the previous week's sabbatical elections.
When the DCU student council convened last Monday, all but three of the incoming officers had announced their decision to step down. The remaining officers announced their resignation following the meeting. Problems arose for the union when only eight nominations were received for the eight sabbatical positions, two of which are full time officer posts. Nominations were not re opened and the elections went ahead.
Eight officers were selected by plebiscite in voting on Wednesday March 6th and Thursday March 7th, with Nigel O'Flaherty and Justin Naughton taking the positions of president and deputy president/ education officer respectively. O'Flaherty is currently deputy president of DCU students' union and Naughton the PRO.
The nominations process was already the subject of complaints before the result was announced, amid claims that neither the nominations process nor the hustings were advertised sufficiently and that union officers had made no class visits to inform students of the opening of nominations and the impending elections. Subsequently, the election was appealed on constitutional grounds, with the complainants citing the haphazard publicising of nominations and the claim that one polling centre was not open for the requisite eight hours.
By the time the student council convened on the following Monday five of the part time officers had already indicated that they would, not be taking up their positions.
Following the council meeting the remaining incoming sabbaticals indicated that they would also be stepping down, incoming president O'Flaherty among them. This followed a vote by council which overwhelmingly favoured their resignation.
Nominations have since been reopened, according to DCU students' union president Ciaran Duffy, who described the situation as "unfortunate". He said that the problems had at least raised student awareness about the elections and expressed the hope that more nominations would be received as a result. "It's a lesson in more publicity for the whole procedure," he said, indicating that full elections would be held in May.
It now appears that this will not be the case and that by elections will be held on May 1st to May 2nd, necessitating a quorum of 10 per cent of the student population, rather than the 20 per cent required for a full election. The issue is likely to go before the union's arbitration council in April, but some students are already believed to be considering an injunction if full elections do not go ahead.
The re opening of nominations and the scheduling of new elections is not the only worry for the union.
Last Tuesday only 18 student councillors attended the DCU hustings for the USI officer positions, two less than the required quota. It was imaginatively suggested by one councillor that since 18 was nearly 20 perhaps the council could go ahead and vote anyway, although this suggestion was rejected.
Councillors then took an vote indicative of the direction of DCU's vote for the USI presidency, which split evenly between the two candidates, USI deputy president Bob, Jordan and DIT president Colman Byrne. The direction of the DCU vote was almost a moot point, since DCU only paid its USI affiliation fees last week. Without payment, its representatives might not have been entitled to vote at USI Congress next weekend.
