Analysis: USU Executive Election 2020

Ellie Stephenson explains the new USU Executive and Office Bearers

You can watch a recording of the meeting here.

The USU Executive Election for 2020 is complete, with the Board welcoming an incoming Executive consisting of Ruolin (Irene) Ma as President, Nick Forbutt (NLS) as Vice-President, Cady Brown (Moderate Liberal) as Honorary Treasurer and Yinfeng (Benny) Shen as Honorary Secretary. 

Irene Ma beat Benny Shen for President, receiving nine votes to Shen’s four. Shen likely received his own vote, as well as votes from Vikki Kailin Qin, who seconded his nomination, and Prudence Wilkins-Wheat (Switchroots), whose preference deal in the USU Board Election probably involved committing to voting for Shen. Ma was nominated by Nick Forbutt, who was at one stage running for President but appears to have offered his support in exchange for the Vice President position. The Senate Appointed Directors (SADs), Marie Leech and Jane Drummond, appear to have voted for Ma, although their votes would not have been decisive. 

The role of the SADs on Board has been especially controversial this election, after the University Senate withdrew its ratification of changes to the USU Constitution which would have removed the SADs’ vote for the Executive. The power of SADs has faced longstanding criticisms, especially from the Left, on the basis that they afford the University the opportunity to intervene in the running of the USU. The lack of transparency of the University Senate, upon which only two student representatives sit, makes this influence problematic, as well as the concern that SADs might overly promote the interests of University management. The recent past elections for the Undergraduate Senate Fellow have been plagued with accusations of coercive and undemocratic behaviour. Unsurprisingly then, the Senate intervening in USU Constitutional decisions hasn’t exactly pleased everyone. 

Despite the contestation over President, the remaining Executive positions were elected unopposed, presumably in line with pre-established deals between the candidates. Notably, like last year, the Executive includes collaboration between Left and Right. Last year, Vice President went to Moderate Liberal Lachlan Finch while Switchroots’ left-wing Maya Eswaran got Honorary Treasurer. This has essentially been reversed this year, with Nick Forbutt, who belongs to Labor Left, taking out Vice President and Moderate Liberal Cady Brown receiving Honorary Treasurer. This is unsurprising given the fairly apolitical nature of the Board, although Forbutt did refer to a number of left-wing causes in his acceptance speech. A common message throughout the new Executive’s speeches was the need for financial recovery for the USU, which has been hit hard by COVID-19. 

The Directors of Student Publications will be Ben Hines (Libdependent) and Vikki Kailin Qin, as well as Benny Shen as Honorary Secretary. DSPs are responsible for reading and approving Pulp articles. While Pulp is largely independent from the USU, the DSPs’ role is to ensure nothing defamatory is published. We hope that this year’s DSPs like the free press! 

The meeting also saw the election of Directors onto various Committees. These Committees are where a lot of the USU’s decision-making occurs, where Directors are expected to review the organisation’s various programs and act as a bridge between the Board and the USU’s management. 

Some of the positions were uncontested: Nick Rigby (Moderate Liberal) was elected to the Finance Committee and Prudence Wilkins-Wheat (Switchroots) will sit on the Electoral Committee. Belinda Thomas (Unity) got an unexpected position on the Awards Committee after Nick Rigby attempted to nominate but was ruled ineligible because the position must go to a first year Director. While Rigby was only elected this year, he is serving in the position vacated after Oscar Bai was found not to be a USU member. As a result, he’s technically not a first year Director.

A more contentious election occurred for the Remuneration Committee. Prudence Wilkins-Wheat and Ben Hines both nominated for the position, with Hines winning by one vote (7-6). Wilkins-Wheat ran on an openly left-wing platform and was explicitly critical of the USU’s cut to staff hours last month. She boasted a lot of experience with HR decisions, sitting on the SRC’s 2019 General Executive and on University Committees. She also had personal experience working for the USU, and promised that, as a law student, she had the requisite knowledge to serve on the Committee. Hines, who is affiliated with the Liberal Club but ran as an independent, emphasised his desire for an apolitical Remunerations Committee in light of the USU’s financial travails, suggesting that factional influence on Remunerations would be inappropriate. Hines offered 8 reasons he thought he’d be qualified for the Executive position, including a passion for “management consulting”. Pulp understands he initially only had six reasons, and we can only speculate how the vote would’ve gone if the Board didn’t know that Hines was also a law student. The Left is likely to be disappointed with this result; a spot on the Remunerations Committee is attractive for advocates of workers’ rights and Hines’ vision for the Committee seemed to be at odds with pursuing political goals. Given the USU will, once again, be involved in the selection process of a new CEO, the Director on the Remuneration Committee will be on the selection panel, given them a large amount of influence in the direction of the organisation.

Ruby Lotz (NLS) and Belinda Thomas competed for a spot on the Clubs and Societies Committee, with Lotz edging Thomas out in a 7-6 vote. As a result, Lotz will serve as the Deputy Chair of the Committee. Both candidates talked about the importance of the C&S program in their time spent at University. 

The last set of positions available where the Portfolio holders, who manage the Wom*n’s, Queer, Environment, Ethnocultural, International Student, and Disabilities Portfolios. All these positions, except for the Environment Portfolio, must be filled by someone who fits the relevant identity category. 

Ruby Lotz and Belinda Thomas contested the Wom*n’s Portfolio, with Belinda winning with seven votes to six. Thomas also ran against Di Eve Wang for the Ethnocultural Portfolio, which must be filled by someone who identifies as a person of colour, marginalised by white supremacy, or Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander. Wang received the position with yet another 7-6 vote. 

Prudence Wilkins-Wheat, who is currently an SRC Environment Officer and who ran on a heavily environmentalist platform, was unsurprisingly elected to the Environment Portfolio unopposed. Vikki Qin, the only international student to be elected to Board in 2020, was elected to the International Student Portfolio. 

While the USU’s Regulations set out that Portfolio Holders should be elected from the non-Executive Directors, if no one is elected, Executive Directors can take the portfolio.This was the case for the Queer Portfolio; as there were no eligible non-Executive Directors, Vice-President Nick Forbutt  took the position. 

No candidates fulfilled the affirmative action requirements for the Disabilities Portfolio, so the Regulations require the Portfolio to be managed in consultation with relevant community groups. The Board will appoint a Director to fulfil that role at its next meeting.

In summary, the results were as follows:

President: Ruolin Irene Ma (won against Benny Shen 9-4)
Vice President: Nick Forbutt (elected unopposed)
Honorary Treasurer: Cady Brown (elected unopposed)
Honorary Secretary: Yinfeng Benny Shen (elected unopposed)
Directors of Student Publications: Vikki Kailin Qin, Ben Hines (elected unopposed)
Finance Committee: Nick Rigby (elected unopposed)
Remuneration Committee: Ben Hines (won against Prudence Wilkins-Wheat 7-6)
Electoral Committee: Prudence Wilkins-Wheat (elected unopposed)
Awards Committee: Belinda Thomas (elected unopposed)
Clubs and Societies: Ruby Lotz (won against Belinda Thomas 7-6)
Wom*n’s Portfolio: Belinda Thomas (won against Ruby Lotz 7-6)
Queer Portfolio: Nick Forbutt (elected unopposed)
Environment Portfolio: Prudence Wilkins-Wheat (elected unopposed)
Ethnocultural Portfolio: Di Eve Wang (won against Belinda Thomas 7-6)
International Student Portfolio: Vikki Kailin Qin (elected unopposed)
Disabilities Portfolio: vacant - no nominations.