Exeter’s new Guild President will be Shades, it was announced tonight – following a record-breaking elections week which saw 44% of students turn out to vote.
https://twitter.com/ExeterVote/status/832684684811313152
Taking over from current President Toby Gladwin, Shraddha Chaudhary – known throughout the week as Shades – will head up the second all-female Sabbatical team in three years.
She will be supported by new VP Activities Becca Hanley, VP Education Bry Loveless, and VP Welfare and Diversity Kat Karamani. Meanwhile Jim Balshaw takes on the role of AU President.
The new Sabbs take up office over the summer break. Paid full-time roles salaried at £18.5k a year, the jobs will see the team represent the student body to the University, local community and wider public on a variety of issues.
Becca Hanley clinched the Activities race – beating Alasdair Gibbs and Charlie Smee to Tristan Gatward’s current position.
Becca Hanley, VP Activities, and birthday girl! Congrats! #ExeterVote
— Exeposé News (@ExeposeNews) February 17, 2017
Meanwhile, Bry Loveless will take over Harry Reeves’s role as VP Education, winning the vote ahead of Matt Wilcock and Helena Leslie.
VP Welfare & Diversity was a hotly contested position this year, with eight candidates running for current Sabb Alec James’ role. However, the final results saw this year’s DVP Wellbeing Kat Karamani take on the job.
Exeposé Social Sec, now VP Welfare & Diversity, congrats Kat! #ExeterVote
— Exeposé News (@ExeposeNews) February 17, 2017
The night also saw Jim Balshaw elected as Exeter’ 2017/18 AU President. Beating five other candidates to the role, Balshaw will take over from current President Josh Callander.
Voting for the 2017/18 Sabbatical Elections officially closed at 5:05pm on Friday 17 February, following a last-minute website crash that saw the deadline pushed back five minutes.
Voting has now closed folks! Congratulations to all our campaigners this week for all their hard work! Stay tuned for results tonight! pic.twitter.com/y5jvaFx8iJ
— Exeter Guild (@ExeterGuild) February 17, 2017
8,607 students voted in the elections: a record breaking turnout of 43.5%.
Also celebrating their elected Guild roles on the evening were new VP Postgrad Research Malaka Schwaikh and VP Postgrad Taught Caitlin Rankin-McCabe, alongside four new DVPs: Cora Hurley (Sustainability), Kamya Gopal (Campaigns), Sophie Stieglitz (International) and David Pugh (Wellbeing).
Talin Aslanian, Azhar-Jamal Chaudrhry, Malaka Schwaikh and Jack Hindson are Exeter’s new Student Trustees – while Malaka will also represent the University at the next NUS Conference alongside fellow newly-elected delegates Shades, Harry Reeve, and Charlotte O’Halloran.
Alongside the official Sabbatical Election results came the “Sabbies:” informal awards presented to students for various achievements during the week. These went to:
- Most Engaged Subject: Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology
- Most Engaged Society: Clarinet Choir
- Most Engaging Game / Event: Hayden’s Bed
- Most Creative Design: Kat Karamani
- Most Innovative Use of an Online Platform: Matt Wilcock
- Most Supportive Campaign Team Member: Rose Ahier
- Outstanding Commitment to a Campaign: Laurel Bibby
- Best Campaign Manager: Pete Anderson
- Outstanding External Contribution to the Elections: James Cunningham and James Woolcock
- Outstanding Internal Contribution to the Elections: Sam Jackson
#ExeterVote: The Stats
56% of this year’s voters (4,820 students) identified as female, 43.8% (3,773) as male and 0.2% (14) as non-binary.
34% of voters were Freshers, while 28% were in second year, 27% in third year and 7% in fourth year.
In total, 54.7% of Guild society members turned out to vote – compared with 59.4% of AU club members.
The only Guild-affiliated society boasting 100% turnout was Clarinet Choir – with all 22 members voting.
