Analysis: Who's who in the race for USU Board?

Daany Saeed explains the dynamics of the upcoming USU Board race.

Note: Daany is a former member of NLS.

Student politics is upon us yet again, my friends. The devotees of sub-factions, Courtyard deals and walk-and-talks have been hard at work over the summer break, armed with new ways to irritate us. The first major political event of the campus calendar is the University of Sydney Union (USU) Board elections, nominations for which closed on the 9th of April. This year, the garishly-clad sensory overload of campaigners on Eastern Avenue has been moved online as a result of COVID-19, and voting is between 18 - 22 May, with online campaigning opening on the 6th. Students have until 5PM on the 15th of May to sign up to USU membership, which is free. 11 elected Directors sit on the Board, who each serve a term of two years, and receive an honorarium of $4994 per annum. This year, five candidates will be elected, two of whom must be non cis-male identifying. 

Why should I care?

The USU is an organisation that turns over almost $30 million a year, and it gets almost a third of your SSAF fee, the biggest chunk of any organisation on campus. It’s also responsible for a huge part of your campus experience - food outlets, clubs and societies, as well as things like arts and culture on campus. On top of that, not wholly unlike SRC elections, a successful Board run often catapults directors into a life of cushy air-conditioned paper-pushing for various political parties and consultancies - so your vote might just fast-track the leadership ambitions of a rising rabble-rouser. Candidates for Board tend to be slightly less political than those running for leadership in the SRC, by virtue of Directorship being an altogether more corporate role, with less capacity for activism. Expect buzzwords. Lots of buzzwords.

Who’s running?

There is never a shortage of factional drama when it comes to Board elections, and this year is no different. There’s eleven candidates gunning for five spots, all of whom bring distinct personalities and CVs to the table.

Nick Rigby (Moderate Liberal)

The Sydney Arts Students Society (SASS) has become a springboard for aspiring Board candidates, with the biggest society on campus lending huge visibility to its executive members, especially the President. Nick Rigby no doubt knows this; barring Brooke Salzmann last year (who herself authorised the mod-lib affiliated Cream for Honi), every single SASS President in recent memory has had a successful tilt at Board, all of them moderate Liberals. It’s only fitting that the Tories’ centrist golden boy secured the Presidency for himself in last year’s infamous AGM. He’s carefully curated his image through his time at university as the quintessential ‘good bloke’, making sure to diligently stick his fingers in C&S pies and preemptively distance himself from his faction’s disastrous SRC campaign last year. With mentor Jacob Masina having shot from the Board to the cushy bosom of the Prime Minister’s office, this Barton Deakin hack no doubt has his sights set much higher than our humble Union.

Belinda Thomas (Labor Right - Unity)

Belinda Thomas hails from the powerful Right of the Labor Party, known as Centre Unity. As the dominant faction of the ALP, Unity tends to bring considerable physical muscle to student elections; the outgoing President of the USU, Connor Wherrett, is a senior figure. A second-year Music student, Thomas is perhaps best known for her role in last year’s SASS AGM controversy, marred with allegations of stacking and opaque horse-trading. Unity and the moderate Liberals allegedly traded delegates to the National Union of Students for executive spots, seeing Thomas snare Secretary over spurned mod-lib hopeful Pablo Averia-Jiminez, who was controversially instructed to stand down by his faction as part of the sweetheart cross-aisle deal. The role of SASS Secretary is also her first significant C&S position, posing questions over her experience, particularly in a field full of heavily-padded resumes.

Ben Hines (Libdependent)

In the first major political twist of the year, the Liberals see themselves with two candidates. Ben Hines hails from the renegade, ideologically bereft Dore faction, and pits himself directly against Nick Rigby as a ‘libdependent’ alternative. The Dore faction, named so after ex-Young Liberal president Alex Dore, sits as a moderate foil to the Party’s conservative ‘soft right’, and in largely personality-driven opposition to the establishment moderate faction, from which Rigby hails, as does ex-presidential candidate Josie Jakovac.

In keeping with the philosophical melange that seems to characterise his faction, Hines has C&S experience across a range of large societies (as well as electoral experience, having managed last year’s Privatise the SRC), and is the serving VP of the Liberal Club. Hines seems aware of his significant uphill battle to siphon votes from the similarly centrist Rigby and Thomas, having enlisted debater Alex De Araujo as a campaign manager. With the debating vote generally committed to progressive candidates, and the conservative vote generally unchallenged, it is unclear whether there is an electoral path to victory at all for Hines. Claiming independence has been a successful formula for Liberals in years gone by, and with Hines being the only debater in the race, it may be an inspired move. 

Prudence Wilkins-Wheat (Switch)

Prudence Wilkins-Wheat arguably has the most impressive resume of any candidate this year, having served in almost every representative apparatus available to undergraduates, as well as in a variety of clubs and societies. A highly popular law student, member of Switch and Grassroots and a staunch activist, Wilkins-Wheat had a shot at Directorship in 2019 before being forced to withdraw from the race. With another year’s experience under her belt, it is difficult to see her missing out, having gotten a chance to develop relationships across factional lines, endorsing the Liberal-led Pop for SULS last year. The questions for Wilkins-Wheat are not necessarily that of her capability to be elected, but the capacity for the highly corporate USU to pursue a truly progressive vision.

Ruby Lotz (Labor Left - NLS)

The progressive half of the Labor Party, National Labor Students, are a staple of student politics, and it is unusual for them to not run candidates for Board. In keeping with that, their candidate this year is second-year Ruby Lotz, President of the newly-minted Drug Law Reform Society, one of a trio of NLS-fronted societies registered in the past year. Despite her age, Lotz is no stranger to stupol. She sits as an SRC Sexual Harassment Officer, and was locked out of a Committee position in the aforementioned 2019 Unity-Liberal SASS lovefest. In recent years, leadership candidates for both Board and SRC have gotten younger and younger, age seemingly no deterrent to aspiring student politicians, and Lotz is simply the latest in this line. However, having served as a dutiful political campaigner in her time at university, and having been a driving factor behind NLS’ vibrant SRC branding, an online election bodes well for Lotz. 

Ada Choi

The only postgraduate in this race, Ada Choi is a jetsetting Masters of Commerce student, having completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries at the Queensland University of Technology. Choi boasts an impressive resume, having served time on the executive of the powerful Chinese Students Association, as well as various musical societies. The trend of Board candidates running with less and less C&S experience has continued with Choi, only in her first year at the University, most of it spent online. In that lies her biggest challenge: having been at the University for such a short period of time, what can she bring to the Union over far more experienced alternatives? While Choi’s political background is unclear, ostensibly independent candidates have occasionally taken advantage of factional support in the past to ride through to Board spots, and it seems she may need it. 

Eitan Harris

Eitan Harris shapes as an interesting candidate in this year’s race, with no shortage of political connections. Harris was a core campaigner for the 2018 Reboot for SRC campaign, which was managed by outgoing Board President Connor Wherrett. With Wherrett’s beloved Student Unity forming behind Belinda Thomas, Harris may well find himself gifted a ready-made preference deal. Harris serves on the NSW Executive of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students as Leadership and Development Officer, alongside one-time stupol firebrand Gabi Stricker-Phelps. Harris could loom as a dark horse candidate heading into a race where preferences could mean all the difference, and may be well placed to benefit from this year’s centrist logjam.

Amir Jabbari

Amir Jabbari is a third-year Civil Engineering student, who describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur and ethical hacker”. A LinkedIn novelist with 500+ connections, there’s little known about Jabbari’s political background at this point, and he describes himself simply as a Labor voter. As a former President of the Iranian Society and the director of a digital marketing agency, it seems his managerial chops are up to scratch, even if his electoral capability is completely unknown. With the election going online, there’s no doubt that Jabbari has a convenient mix of experience to make a red-hot go of this race, and Pulp understands he intends to manage his own campaign.

Vikki Kailin Qin

Little is known about Vikki Qin, making the rumours that she’s backed by Board Director Benny Shen all the more curious. A third-year Economics student employed as a Campus Activity Coordinator, Qin will at the least be aware of much of the comings-and-goings of the USU, even if she lacks political or management experience. Her recent forays into COVID-19 related campaigns suggest an expanding interest in politics, and in this may lie some support from the progressive half of the field. Even so, the endorsement of a board director (particularly one that performed so well) is nothing to sneeze at, and suggests Qin has friends in convenient places heading into May 18th, and as such her preferences may well prove critical.    

Teresa Li

Of all the unknown candidates with negligible public profiles, Teresa Li must be the most low-key of them all, with little to no known political affiliations or experience. A second-year Design Computing student, Li’s society executive experience is equally negligible; she currently serves as marketing executive on the Chocolate Society. She describes herself as a left-leaning independent, and her campaign is being managed by Hon Ng. Without a major campus presence or apparent factional links, it is difficult to see Li being a significant player in the race.  

Jiale Wang (Panda)

Jiale Wang is a third-year Commerce student who has cultivated a fair chunk of political experience in his time, serving as the 2019 SRC Global Solidarity Officer, and running on a Panda SRC ticket in 2018. Wang campaigned for Benny Shen, himself a slightly mysterious candidate who leveraged a hodgepodge of factional affiliations to romp home in 2019. Despite this, Wang is understood to not have Shen’s support for his own candidacy. Nonetheless, with a relatively strong electoral record behind him, and as one of the more prominent international candidates, Wang shapes as a front-runner in this year’s race.