Elections Guide 2015

— GOLDSMITHSSU ELECTIONS 2015: The 2015 Handbook with everything you need to go go go #golddecides

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The everything-youneed-to-know contents _

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Welcome

Positions

FAQs

Key dates

Guidelines

Contact

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A welcome to Elections 2015 from Ibby Mehmet _

Dear Students, Goldsmiths Students’ Union is a diverse, vibrant, award-winning organisation, providing a range of services for the students of Goldsmiths. By deciding to become an elected representative you can be a big part of it.

Being an elected officer of the Union is an excellent experience and I would recommend it to everyone. It puts you at the heart of the organisation, in a position that can truly make a positive difference.

The elections process is a part of being a representative and regardless of the outcome you would learn greatly from it.

This handbook aims to provide you with an insight of what the elections process involves, but if you would like to speak to someone about it, feel free to contact me and I would be glad to help you.

— Ibby Mehmet Democracy & Governance Manager Goldsmiths Students’ Union

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All the key dates _

12 Jan – 9 Feb 11.00 and 14.00

Manifesto Open Sessions Angela Davis Room (Student’s Union G floor)

19 January 10.00

Nominations open

9 February 16.00

Nominations close

9 February 18.30

Candidates’ Briefing meeting RHB 143

26 February

Collect your election publicity Students’ Union Reception

26–28 February 18.00

Question Time Café Natura (Students’ Union 1st floor)

4 March 10.00

Voting opens

6 March 16.00

Voting closes

6 March 20.00

Results Night The Stretch (Students’ Union 2nd floor)

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THE POSITIONS _

Full-time Officers (Trustee paid positions, renumeration £22k)

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President The President is the Chair of the Trustee Board, Chair of Staffing Committee, spokesperson and representative of the Union and students to the College, local community and at national level.

Education Officer The Education Officer attends the University Academic Board, works with the Departmental Student Coordinators, as well as working on internal and national campaigns surrounding education.

Campaigns & Activities Officer The Campaigns and Activities Officer represents activities within the Union’s democratic structures, as well as directing the Union’s campaigns internally, locally and nationally.

Welfare & Diversity Officer The Welfare and Diversity Officer is responsible for supporting the liberation groups on campus through workshops and campaigning.This role also sits on the a number of related committees, including the Equality & Diversity Committee and Mental Health Committee.

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Assembly Members (Part-time voluntary positions)

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Assembly Chair, Black & Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer, Campaigns Coordination Officer, Disabled Students’ Officer, Ethical & Environmental Students’ Officer, Housing Officer, International Students’ Officer, LGBTQ Students’ Officer, Mature Students’ Officer, Palestine Twinning Officer, Part-time Students’ Officer, Postgraduate Students’ Officer, Societies Officer, Sports Officer, Student Parent Officer, Volunteering Officer, Women’s Officer

Nation Union of Students (NUS) Delegate 1 women’s, 1 liberation, 1 open space You will represent Goldsmiths Students at NUS regional meetings, national conference and attend NUS composition.You will act as the voice of Goldsmiths Students at a national level.You will also be expected to report back to the Student Assembly on all NUSrelated experiences.

Student Trustees 4 Student Trustees You will sit on the Union’s Trustee Board and be making key decisions about the Union’s long-term strategy and finances.

Student Media Smiths Magazine Editor, Leopard Newspaper Editor,Wired Radio Station Manager, Made In Goldsmiths Director You will be responsible for student media, handling a budget of up to several thousand pounds and creating publications and media that can be contributed to and accessed by all students.

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THE GUIDELINES _

Some of the guidelines are obvious, but all are important, so please make sure to read fully. — 1. Nominations (i) All candidates must be proposed and seconded by a full member of the Union. (ii) No candidate may propose or second any other candidate running in the election. (iii) Individuals may only propose one candidate and only second one candidate in the election. (iv)You can only nominate yourself for one position, except NUS Delegate. (v) Elections committee

will meet to review the nominations after the close of the nomination period.The committee will ensure all forms are valid and that the candidate may progress to run in the election. (vi) All full members of the Union are eligible to stand for any Union Office, except those with quotas. (vii) Candidates shall run independently and shall not have joint and/or shared publicity. (viii) It is mandatory that all candidates attend the Candidates’ Briefing, which is organised on the same day as nominations close. Candidates must attend and only exceptional circumstances may be given in order not to attend. If the candidate

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is unable to attend, they should send a delegate. (ix) Failure to attend shall result, at the discretion of the Returning Officer, in the candidate being deemed to have withdrawn from the election.

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(x) The Returning Officer or nominee shall have the sole responsibility of declaring a submitted nomination form valid.

In the event of two or more candidates having the same proposer or seconder in an election for a single position, the Returning Officer or nominee may allow up to 24 hours for the candidate(s) to find fresh proposers and seconders and/or allow the nomination to be valid at their discretion.

(xi) When the Returning Officer is satisfied, all valid nominations will be confirmed with the candidates.

2. Campaigning (i) Campaigning is defined as ‘a series of coordinated activities, including but not limited to, public speaking, social media and demonstrating, designed to achieve a social, political or commercial goal’. (ii) No campaign material may be distributed in advance of the time and date of the start of campaigning. (iii) Candidates will not move/alter/remove any publicity of any other candidate. (iv) There can be no

campaigning whilst engaged in paid employment at the Union or while involved with any Union committees. In this case candidates must take holiday or step aside from their position for the duration of campaigning. (v) During the period of nominations and during the media week, candidates may declare their intent to run but may not engage in any campaigning. (vi) No candidate or campaign team member will sabotage another candidate’s campaign. (vii) No candidates are allowed to be sponsored in any way, including but not limited to, by any organisations and companies.

(viii) All publicity shall be approved by the Elections committee or the designated person.

The amount and type of publicity will be explained at the Candidates’ Briefing. (ix) There will be a creative budget, which is self funded, to the amount of £40. How and what the creative budget may be used for is to be outlined at the Candidates’ Briefing. This is limited to the elections of the Sabbatical Officer Candidates. (x) All spending must be recorded in the form of receipts and submitted to the Elections Committee before voting opens. If no receipt is available, the Elections Committee will find the average price of such items and use it as a

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point of reference. (xi) During the Candidates’ Briefing, all candidates and campaigners will be advised as to where you can and cannot campaign and canvas.

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(xii) Promotion by a candidate, be it through online, social media, video etc., shall be made in a process accessible to all candidates in a fair manner, adhering to budgeting guidelines. (xiii) Whilst campaigning, candidates must be wearing their assigned lanyard identification card.

official manifesto stating what they wish to achieve in their year of office, if elected. The manifesto is only plain text and of no more than 300 words of size 12 font. All the manifestos will appear on the Goldsmiths Students’ Union website for all voters to read prior to them casting their votes, in the same size and type of font.This shall be accompanied by a photograph taken at the Candidates’ Briefing meeting. (ii) Manifestos must be submitted to the Returning Officer, or their nominee, at a time and in a form determined by the Returning officer.

3. Manifestos (i) All candidates, before the close of nominations, are allowed to have an

(iii) Manifestos shall be displayed in appropriate areas as decided.

4. Mentors (i) The Union will have a pool of mentors, whereby all candidates are able to contact these mentors for advice and guidance on: (a) Guidelines and Regulations of the elections; (b) strategic advice on campaigning; (c) Manifesto creation and development. (ii) The mentors will be open for guidance to all Sabbatical Candidates running in the elections. (iii) The mentors will meet and advise candidates at their convenience and are to be contacted in advance. (iv) All mentors must have signed a Goldsmiths Students’ Union Election Staffing Declaration.

(v) Advice and guidance from mentors is to be used and taken at the risk of the candidate. The role of the mentor is to offer a prospective and guidance. They are not bound by their advice and are not accountable to consequences of their advice. (vi) Mentors will be appointed by the Deputy Returning Officer and approved by the Returning Officer. —

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Explaining key terms _

Pool of mentors

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The pool of mentors comprises of various full-time staff members of the Students’ Union, who are volunteers to guide and offer support to sabbatical candidates throughout the elections. The list of mentors will be made available to candidates at the Candidates’ Briefing and online, with further explanation on how to contact them and what to contact them about.

Manifesto Open Sessions and one-to-ones During the election’s nomination open period, Ibby Mehmet will be hosting manifesto Open Sessions to aid and offer practical support to candidates on the creation of their manifestos and publicity. It is recognised that some candidates would prefer their standing for a post to be private until the close of nominations, which is respected and therefore may request a one-to-one session confidentially.

Question Time All candidates will be giving a statement and answering questions at the two Question Time events. Candidates will make a brief statement on why they are best suited to the position and before bing put questions by the Union and by students in attendance. This event will be recorded and streamed live for those who have friends and family distant and would like to view the proceedings.

Creative budget The creative budget is a self-funded amount of money, which will be £40 in this election. The creative budget is only for sabbatical officers.This is to assist the candidates in their campaign and all purchased items must be available to be purchased by all candidates, with receipts to be provided to the Deputy Returning Officer. No merchandise is to be used that does not hold the stamp of the election’s committee.

Results Night With tears and cheers, this is when the results of the Elections will be announced. It is always a fun and emotional evening and it is recommended that as many of your friends and supporters attend. Winning with a large audience of supporters is always an amazing feeling!

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Manifestos and publicity _

Manifesto

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Candidates should submit a manifesto no longer than 300 words outlining why they are standing and what they plan to do if elected. It is important that you make clear what your intentions are as a candidate, in order to encourage students to vote for you and inspire people to support you during your campaign.

These manifestos will be published online and also put into a hard copy brochure, which will be distributed to the student body. With your manifesto, a passport photo will be required.

Video Manifestos Each candidate will be given the opportunity to have a 1 minute video manifesto, which will be recorded and edited by the Union’s Communication team. The recorded manifesto will go up on the Union’s website as well as being made viewable on the Electronic Ballot Sheet, so that all students who vote can find out more about the candidates). The video is not compulsory, but is highly recommended.

Publicity This is your chance to design a leaflet or poster, which will be printed by the Union for you to use during your campaign. All posters need to be approved by the Elections Committee with a stamp, otherwise the candidate will be held accountable. — To offer candidates support during the nominations open period on manifestos and publicity, Open Sessions for support will be available to all candidates.

These will be held in the Angela Davis Room, found near the Students’ Union Reception.

If you would like private consultation for any reason, please contact Ibby Mehmet at ibby@goldsmithssu.org to book a one-to-one session.

Please note, all material must use a font size of at least 12 in sans serif, for accessibility reasons. If publicity and manifestos are not submitted by the close of nominations, candidates may be removed from elections and will not be able to run.

Publicity and Manifestos should be sent to ibby@goldsmithssu.org before the close of nominations on 09.02.2015.

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FAQs: Your questions answered _

Who can run in elections?

Any registered student (this does not include visiting students) can stand for election. In order to run for a departmental representative position you will need to be a student in the department that you would run for. Likewise, if you want to be the Mature Students Officer, you will need to be a mature student. If you are an international student and wish to run for a sabbatical position, please consult the college’s Advice team at advice@gold.ac.uk.

What if I am already a member of student staff in the Union?

That is not a problem.You can still run, however you won’t be able to campaign simultaneously while working in your position.

Where can I find out more about the roles?

You can go to the Union’s website and follow the links to the Elections page, or you can contact Ibby Mehmet, the Democracy and Governance Manager, at ibby@ goldsmithssu.org.

If elected, do I need to do anything before I start?

We try to keep demand on time to a minimum before you start your role. However, we will be running a training session that will be compulsory for you to attend.

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What are the time commitments?

Sabbatical Officers are required to work as full time representatives thus working a minimum of 37.5 hours a week. In addition to this, Sabbatical Officers are required to attend respective college committees and sit on internal committees of the Union, ranging from the Trustee Board to the Staffing Committee.

Student Trustees are required to attend all trustee board meetings of the Union.

Assembly Members are required to attend all the student assembly meetings for the coming year. In addition to this, they will need to make sure that they fulfil their role either by representing their cohorts to the student assembly or by fulfilling the pledges highlighted on their manifestos.

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Who to contact _

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Ibby Mehmet Democracy & Governance Manager / Deputy Returning Officer — ibby@goldsmithssu.org Jamie Green Democracy & Communications Coordinator — jamie.green@goldsmithssu.org Kieron Broadhead Returning Officer — Please contact via Ibby