Simon Lock

The Cambridge Union is preparing itself for a fiercely contested presidential election this Friday between Charlotte Ivers, a third-year Pembroke philosopher, and Sachin Parathalingham, a Law finalist at King’s.

The contest comes after an eventful term for the Union, celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, which saw it host controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose appearance prompted the resignation of Women’s Officer Helen Dallas over an outstanding rape allegation against Assange.

The Union also hosted U.S. television host Jerry Springer, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Debaters have included notable figures including civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence.

The presidential contest, between the Union’s current Treasurer (Ivers) and Speakers’ Officer (Parathalingham), has prompted a wide variety of reactions from apathy to strong recriminations from each candidate’s camp.

Among his manifesto commitments, Parathalingham, who has served as Speakers’ Officer and Ents Officer, has promised to extent the ‘Meet the Speakers’ initiative, extend member participation in the Union and collaborate with the Women and Diversity Officer to ensure a higher number of women and BME speakers at the Union.

A Sachin campaign supporter told Varsity that they were supporting Parathalingham because they wanted to see “the experience he has being used to the benefit of Union members”, pointing out the “unbelievable number of Union roles [he has had] over the years, including organising the massive Bicentenary Ball, and this term secured some of the best speakers the Union has ever had with Vivienne Westwood and Baz Luhrmann”.

The insider also pointed to Parathalingham’s time as President of the Law Society and King’s Affair. “No-one else can offer anything like the sheer volume of experience Sachin has, and that’s why he deserves to win.”

An insider in the Ivers camp also told Varsity that they found “Sachin’s technique of handling people, when he is in a position of authority, questionable at best” and that his “commitment to some of the roles he has taken on this term has been lacklustre”.

They added that Ivers was seeking the office because “she cares, rather than wanting to add another title onto her CV”.

Ivers’ manifesto states the Union “should never shy away from hosting controversial speakers”, but stresses that free speech “means more than this; it is about widening the debate”. It state: “We should be platforming voices rarely heard elsewhere and having the debates nobody else is having”.

Speaking at a hustings yesterday, Ivers said that “every time we have a conversation that affects a marginalised group, we should have people representing that minority group”.

“With me as President, we will never have a meeting where people leave the room because they find the atmosphere unbearable. I would never shy away from controversy, but I think there are other things that are part of free speech as well.”

Not all Union members are as passionate about the election, however.

Reacting to the hustings, one Caius fresher said: “The candidates for most of the roles seemed to come from a recycled set of Union stalwarts – there wasn’t much difference between their manifestos as presumably they have been working together for several terms anyway. It doesn’t really help the Union’s image.”

Another anonymous union member told Varsity that the election is “a boring irrelevance to most of us” in which “a self-selecting group of people persuad[ed] each other as to who’s the big name this particular term.”

“What was once a fairly important institution is now just a corporate proxy, attracting self promoters, excruciatingly dull politicos and banal high society seekers rather than future leaders.”

One student, affiliated to one of the two presidential campaigns, even admitted to Varsity that they “really do view the thing as a bit of a vanity project”.

Union members go to the polls this Friday and the results will be announced shortly thereafter.