The university elections are finally over and we have some exciting winners. They have put hard work towards campaigning and receiving votes from the university students here at Curtin University. The Guild is made of students elected to be your Guild Executive, Faculty Representatives, Equity Department Officers and Guild Councillors. There are also first-year committee members who are there to improve student life at Curtin. To view the winners for 2023, visit the link below!
https://guild.curtin.edu.au/elections/candidates/
Candidates for The Guild President
Both the candidates are strong and wanted to focus on issues at Curtin which were current and relevant to students and the university overall. Mihir Pareek outlined that, “Profiting from students is not expected from the University. Parking is just an example. I will approach all student issues by collaboratively developing a clear set of questions for the management”. Parking definitely is an issue that needs to be addressed as students especially first years find it difficult to arrange parking while trying to adapt to the university culture. Mihir also believed that profiting from student parking is not acceptable which I completely agree with. Mihir has put forward some valid points towards addressing parking issues at the university like he intends to speak with the management to reach common ground and implement creating a long-term parking permit. He also believed that HECS is something that needs reduction and activity seeking student feedback is going to benefit improving the learning experience.
Dylan Botica is the current winner for the Guild 2023 elections has done some great work towards implementing the changes which are to come. His team has led a massive parking campaign that is mobilising students which caused a shift from the University on parking policy. “It was Illuminate that delivered students the first parking fine warning. It was Illuminate again that increased this to two warnings per year”. Dylan has put forward some really strong arguments like focusing on forming on relationships with a broad range of representatives to improve the student experience, focusing on the sustainability issue, clubs, student welfare and parking. Overall, both the candidates were strong and I thought that Dylan’s campaign was backed up by actions and their dedication towards student life which is one of the key aspects that we as students and staff appreciate at Curtin.
Curtin Guild Vice Presidents
There were multiple candidates who fought for this position and reading their interviews has given me a better perspective of their thought process, motivation, dedication and their priorities. The vice presidents focused more on building and improving the community in general and would like to focus on certain issues at the university. Most of the candidates seemed very passionate about their roles and had put forward a very strong argument against and for the police and how they could either be implemented, improved or demolished. Their answers outlined importance of these change for the betterment of the student culture and life and how they would go about initiating thee changes.
Curtin Guild Equity Representatives
The equity representatives had put forward some relevant arguments and action plans for the respective issues they would like to address at Curtin. Issues such as sexism, mental health and specific disability support issues are some of them which they are currently focussing on. Each one of the candidates had an action plan set out which seems to be well planned and organised. All seemed to have had some experience in working with the issues they are addressing which makes each of them strong in their fields. All the issues are very relevant and important and deciding one winner is going to be hard.
Overall, the elections this year had some really strong candidates. Their passion, dedication and focus is truly commendable. They all have a proper action plan set that they would like to implement, they have all done their research and analysis before joining the elections at Curtin and are very well aware of what they have to do to make university life better for everyone.
To find out more about the elections and the winners for 2023, check out our latest articles on Grok and visit the links below!