Students vote to stay in NUS as full-time officers elected
By Molly Pipe, Student Life Correspondent
Two officers were re-elected and five elected for the first time after polls closed late last night.
Students voted in favour of reaffiliating with the National Union of Students in a referendum that comes every three years. The result looked to be close this year, following a strong No campaign led by head of the Liberal Democrats Society, Fergus Ustianowski. In the event, however, Yes won nearly two thirds of the vote: 1,192 compared to 599 for No.
Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, current Undergraduate Education Officer, led the Yes campaign and said: ‘I’m so pleased that Bristol Students have overwhelmingly chosen to remain a part of our National Union of Students!
‘NUS has fought extremely hard to ensure that it delivers for students and I’m glad Bristol will be a part of shaping an organisation that will continue to fight for, advocate on behalf of and champion a better student life and experience for ALL students.
‘Thank you to everyone who supported the #YEStoNUS campaign and I hope that everyone who voted No will see more reasons over the coming years that Bristol is better standing united with NUS, than divided.’
'I’m glad Bristol will be a part of shaping an organisation that will continue to fight for, advocate on behalf of and champion a better student life and experience for ALL students'
Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, Lead of the Yes Campaign
Ustianowski said: ‘Whilst we are disappointed at the result we firstly thank Yes to NUS for running a good campaign. We’d like to take this opportunity to formally back her for VP Higher Education in the NUS national elections.
‘We have highlighted a number of issues which we hope they will take on board. We are looking forward to working proactively with the NUS going forwards to address the issues raised in the referendum.’
Jason Palmer was re-elected as Equality, Liberation and Access Officer, and the unusual entry by Rory ‘Bristruths’ for Union Affairs Officer was seen off by incumbent Julio Mkok.
All other full-time officers were elected for the first time. Ruth Day, who lost out on the role of Student Living Officer by 45 votes last year, won by a landslide 1420 votes in the final round. The count was 630 more than the second-place candidate.
The other full-time officers elected were David Ion (Undergraduate Education), Leah Martindale (Postgraduate), Roy Kiruri (International Student), and Rushab Shah (Sport and Student Development).
The official results event in the Balloon Bar was cancelled today due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) concerns. Candidates were told the results in person at the Students Union, however, and many gathered in the Balloon Bar to celebrate or commiserate the outcome.
Full Results
Full-Time Officer Team
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Jason Palmer | Equality, Liberation and Access Officer |
| Ruth Day | Student Living Officer |
| Julio Mkok | Union Affairs Officer |
| David Ion | Undergraduate Education Officer |
| Leah Martindale | Postgraduate Education Officer |
| Roy Kiruri | International Student Officer |
| Rushab Shah | Sport and Student Development Officer |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Khadija Meghrawi | Chair of BME Network |
| Thomas Melo Covill | Chair of Care Leavers and Estranged Students |
| Imogen Andrews | Chair of Disabled Students Network |
| Emma Thomas | Chair of International Students Network |
| Joshua Short | Chair of LGBT+ Network |
| Ben Hobbs | Chair of Mature Students, Parents & Carers Network |
| Kavya Sharma | Chair of Multifaith Network |
| Syirah Ami | Chair of Societies Network |
| Jenny Herring | Chair of Sport Network |
| Ifrah Farooq | Chair of Student Council |
| Marten Payne | Chair of Trans Network |
| Olivier Levy | Chair of Wellbeing Network |
| James Fishwick | Chair of Widening Participation Network |
| Anna Vause | Chair of Women's Network |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Lu Macey | Faculty of Arts - PGR Rep |
| Dave Jones | Faculty of Arts - Undergraduate Rep |
| Evangelia Nicolaidou | Faculty of Engineering - PGR Rep |
| Flo Ingram | Faculty of Engineering - Undergraduate Rep |
| Daisy Gaunt | Faculty of Health Sciences - PGR Rep |
| Becca Pullin | Faculty of Health Sciences - Undergraduate Rep |
| Darrian Paul | Faculty of Life Sciences - PGR Rep |
| Iona Marshall | Faculty of Life Sciences - Undergraduate Rep |
| Emmanuel Bempong-Manful | Faculty of Science - PGR Rep |
| Zoe Wang | Faculty of Science - Undergraduate Rep |
| Raffaello Rossi | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law - PGR Rep |
| Sid Sreekanth | Faculty of Social Sciences & Law - Undergraduate Rep |
Full voting breakdown to come soon...
Featured images: Bristol SU, Banner: Epigram / Patrick Sullivan
Are you happy with your newly elected team?