USU Board elections: an analysis

Fabian Robertson explains, scrutinises, and predicts.

Factions

Board Directors are elected as individuals and not as members of a faction - there is no official indication of party membership on the USU ballot. Despite this, it would be misguided to ignore the role of factions entirely. Candidates often run with the backing of a specific faction on campus. Even those who run as an Independent are rarely completely independent and will typically have strong ties to factions.  

Presidency

Factions also play a part in electing the USU President. Once elected, the eleven Board members will vote on the Presidency, with most candidates likely to back their fellow faction-member. Benjamin Hines, Ruby Lotz, Vikki Qin, Belinda Thomas and Prudence Wilkins-Wheat are in the second year of their Board Director term and are therefore eligible for Presidency. From these five, a President, Vice-President, Honorary Treasurer, and Honorary Secretary will be elected. Hines (Independent with Liberal ties) and Wilkins-Wheat (Switch) are rumoured to be very keen for the Presidency.

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The following outline has been collated from a variety of sources. From stupol experience to mere Facebook likes and LinkedIn profiles, no scrap of evidence has been ignored in painting the best available picture of each candidates’ factional affiliations.

Pablo Avaria-Jimenez

Avaria-Jimenez is a member of the Sydney University Liberal Club and headed the Liberal ‘Boost for Multiculturalism’ ticket in 2019 as part of Josie Jakovac’s failed SRC Campaign. In 2019, Pulp reported that Avaria-Jimenez was stabbed in the back by Nick Rigby and the Moderate Liberals when they asked him to step down from running for SASS Secretary as part of a bipartisan deal with Labor Right faction Unity. According to his LinkedIn, he has worked for NSW Legislative Council Liberal MP Mark Coure and has been a Campaign Volunteer for the NSW Young Liberals for more than 2 years. Avaria-Jimenez’s lack of explicit factional backing in conjunction with the strength of the other two Liberal-affiliated candidates (Comino and Zhu) indicates that he may struggle to get on Board.

Nicholas Comino

Comino is a Moderate Liberal with stupol experience both at the University of Queensland and USyd. Typically, Moderate Liberals hail from the USyd Conservative Club as opposed to the Liberal Club.

Comino was an SRC Councillor in 2020 elected on the ticket ‘Colleges for SRC’ and was campaign manager of Moderate Liberal Nick Rigby’s semi-successful Board Director run in 2020. He was on the executive of USyd Conservative Club in 2020, alongside his campaign manager Benjamin Jorgensen, who was an SRC Councillor in 2020 elected on a Liberal ticket. Comino has also worked as an Intern for Federal Liberal MP Dave Sharma. Comino will receive strong support from both Colleges and the Moderate Liberals, boding well for his campaign to get on Board.

Isla Mowbray

Mowbray is running for Switch. Switch is a left-wing activist faction that is synonymous with the other left-wing activist faction Grassroots. In the 2020 SRC Elections, Switch and Grassroots effectively combined to form Switchroots - the now dominant force in the SRC.  

Mowbray was an SRC Councillor in 2020 elected on a Switch ticket. She is hoping to be part of an “openly progressive and environmental union”. Mowbray’s strong factional backing and likely support from SUDS amount to a large potential voter base that should prove sufficient to get on Board.

Telita Goile

Goile is the other Switch candidate and a member of both Switch and Grassroots. She identified herself to Pulp as a “feminist, left-wing candidate” who wants to “fight for workers rights”.

The success of Goile and Mowbray’s campaigns may be instrumental in deciding the Presidency, with both certain to back Wilkins-Wheat for the role. Wilkins-Wheat’s ability to attract the highest number of primary votes in the 2020 Board Elections bodes well for the Switch candidates and has no doubt sufficiently emboldened the factional higher-ups to nominate two candidates rather than one. This is a somewhat of a risk, however, as the nomination of two candidates will split the number of primary votes received from the activist Left in two. Will Switch’s audacity be rewarded by two seats on the Board, or will their gamble prove calamitous?

Du Du

Du is running as an Independent with no stupol experience but is linked to Penta due to her friendship with SRC Vice President Maria Ge. Penta, previously known as Panda, is the largest international student faction on campus. Penta teamed up with Switchroots in the 2020 student elections to lock most of the Liberals out of Office Bearer positions. The influence of Penta is such that both progressive and conservative factions will often scramble to make expedient deals with them to solidify their political success.

Ruiqi (Rachel) Jia

Jia is a member of Penta and was elected to Residential Colleges Officer on the SRC on a Penta ticket. She initially told Pulp her manager was Maria Ge but has since requested it be changed.

The Penta vote will most likely be split between Du and Jia, with the sheer volume of voters associated with the faction giving both candidates a decent chance of election.

Yìmàn Jiâng

Jiâng is running as an Independent. She replaced Mengyuan (Derek) Zhu when he resigned from his SRC Councillor position in 2020. Zhu was elected on a Panda (now Penta) ticket.

Jiâng’s involvement in the SULS International Committee strengthens her campaign. Pulp also understands that Jiâng is backed by Hines, whose connections may be enough to push her over the line.

Cole Scott-Curwood

Scott-Curwood is an Independent but President of the Sydney Uni Engineering Undergraduates Association (SUEUA). He is currently an SRC Councillor elected under Engineers for SRC. By all appearances, Scott-Curwood is apolitical - his involvement at USyd has not been coloured by any engagement with political factions. Despite this, he has extensive experience as a student leader in addition to being an SRC Councillor. This includes the university’s WHS Committee, Widening Participation and Outreach Program, and several STEM-related societies. He also ran for Senate in 2020 but was defeated by Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps. Scott-Curwood’s considerable experience as a student leader may give him the credibility and connections to get on Board.

David (ZiYan) Zhu

Zhu is running as an Independent but is currently Vice President of the Sydney University Liberal Club. Pulp understands that Zhu is close mates with Hines, who successfully ran for board as an Independent despite also being VP of the Liberal Club. Zhu also campaigned for Hines in his successful 2020 run. Hines will no doubt pull all the strings to get his mate on board, who would in turn back him for Presidency if elected. Zhu’s extensive involvement in societies also strengthens his chances of election.

Joe Fidler

Fidler told Pulp that his campaign is “fiercely independent”. Although he is running as a joke (whether for clout or for kicks remains to be seen), it may be of interest to note that his liked Facebook pages include USyd Labor Left, Sydney University Labor Club, Extinction Rebellion Sydney University, and the Australian Young Greens. It’s pretty unlikely that Fidler actually wants to get on Board, let alone has a chance of doing so. Regardless, let’s hope his irreverent antics provide some comic relief in the coming weeks.

Early predictions

These are my personal predictions and do not represent the opinions of anyone else. Take them with a grain of salt.

Comino, Mowbray, Scott-Curwood, and Zhu appear to be strong contenders due to their combination of stupol success, society involvement, and factional support. Although Goile and Mowbray are reliant on a strong left-wing voter turnout to get on board, Wilkins-Wheat’s dominance at last year’s election is a good sign for the Switch hopefuls. At this stage, it is perhaps too early to make a call on any Penta-affiliated candidate.

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Online campaigning began today and in person campaigning begins on Monday. Voting is online and opens 9:00am May 17 and closes 5:00pm May 21. Voting is exclusive to USU members. Sign up here.

The article has been adjusted to remove incorrect information about Mengyuan Zhu.