Nominations for this year’s CUSU elections closed at midday on Wednesday February 28. For the first time in recent years a group of candidates are running on a slate system, with six left-wing hopefuls uniting under the banner ‘A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action’.

Three candidates have put themselves forward for the Presidency. Daniel Perrett, of Queens College, is running on the A Little More Action slate, while former Jesus JCR President Mark Fletcher and Girtonian Tom Howard are running as independent candidates. There have been no nominations for three of the positions, including the sabbatical post of Ents Manager, and seven of the seventeen appointments are uncontested. In an attempt to boost turnout, which last year dropped to 16 per cent, CUSU has introduced a system of online voting. Students can vote online from 7am on Monday until 8pm onTuesday. A traditional paper ballot will take place in colleges on Wednesday. Hustings will go on throughout the week.

The candidates on the A Little More Action slate are running with manifestos that set out identical broad aims, and are printed according to a standardised format. The group aims “to draw together… a broad coalition of groups and individuals who can, collectively, campaign for progressive change in our University”. The slate calls for CUSU to support autonomous student movements and to “express solidarity” with specific campaigns such as Campaign Against The Arms Trade and the Cambridge Living Wage Campaign. Every slate member’s manifesto makes the statement “We believe in protest”.

The group brings together prominent members from a range of liberal campaigning groups. It is thought that the key figures behind the emergence of the radical new movement are Dave Smith, who narrowly lost last year’s Presidential election, ex-Union President and Labour Club Chairman Luke Pearce, ‘Education Not For Sale’ activist Ed Maltby and outgoing CUSU Democracy Officer Jacob Bard-Rosenberg.

The attempt to repoliticise CUSU was met with frustration by some members of the established student political parties and JCRs. Peter Cui, Cambridge University Conservative Association Vice-President, said “CUSU is not about the left or the right, it’s about serving the students of Cambridge”. Asked why CUCA did not consider putting up its own slate, he said “We don’t see the point of putting up a slate just for the sake of opposing the so-called ‘left’”. Duncan Crowe, Cambridge Students Liberal Democrats Secretary, said “the biggest problem with CUSU is the amount of apathy towards it… maybe if they got in it would provoke a reaction from the other side. That may not be a bad thing”. Sara Lloyd-Jones, former Downing JCR Vice President, told Varsity “CUSU works best when it’s run by moderate people. If you’re too radical then you just put people off… it has to keep appealing to the JCRs”.

The slate has also met with a lukewarm reception from students. A second year Classicist said “We’ve seen this bunch before. All they do is sit around and talk and they aren’t even very good at that”. A third year SPS student also outlined his fears, saying “The slate’s candidates are hopelessly out of their depth. All their campaigning rhetoric is completely irrelevant and I think they will fail miserably in the task of providing the best services to students”. Although the slate’s Facebook group boasted a membership of 293 as Varsity went to print, attempts to find students in support of the slate proved remarkably difficult.

One of A Little More Action’s candidates, Chris Lillycrop, hopes to fill the Open Portfolio position as a so-called “Campaigns Liaison Officer”. He wants to rejuvenate CUSU’s campaign leadership and to “manage and co-ordinate union support for student campaigns”. He promised that if he was elected CUSU would support “any campaigns”, provided that they did not contravene CUSU regulations. Lillycrop is also standing for a place on CUSU’s National Union of Students Delegation as a candidate for the ‘Justice for Palestine’ movement. He denied any potential for a conflict of interests.

The slate’s approach is likely to re-ignite debate over CUSU’s role as a campaigning body. In November 2005, a motion was proposed by then HE Funding Officer Dan Swain at an open meeting that troops be withdrawn from Iraq. Swain is now standing for Academic Affairs Officer on the A Little More Action slate. The same term, moves were made to boycott Coca-Cola on the grounds of alleged human rights abuses in Columbia. The Charity Commission’s guidance for student unions states that “a charity cannot campaign on an issue which is unrelated to its purposes, even if its trustees may regard the issue as interesting or important”.

At the time, Graham Virgo, University Reader in English Law and expert in charity law, told Varsity that such motions were ultra vires and that were CUSU to implement them it would be acting in breach of the Education Act of 1994, because the issues “do not affect the welfare of students as students”. Dave Smith, an influential figure behind A Little More Action, called Virgo’s interpretation of the Charity Commission’s guidance “a load of bullshit”. A Little More Action’s Presidential candidate Daniel Perrett feels that the issue has not gone away. This week he expressed concern that “ultra vires has been used to shackle CUSU. It’s being used as a political tool”.

Perrett intends to adopt an aggressive stance towards the University administrators and has repeatedly expressed his plans to “gatecrash the all-powerful covens of senior bureaucrats”. Were Perrett to be elected, his relationship with Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education Melveena McKendrick could be fraught. He told Varsity “she is in a bad position” and “she has been pushing for a few untoward things”. “She should be doing a few things differently and we intend to make that clear to her”. Incumbent President Mark Ferguson’s attitude has been that “the best way to deal with the Pro-Vice Chancellors is to get them onside. Overt criticism of members of the University must be a last resort”.

A Little More Action’s Richard Braude is standing uncontested for the post of Higher Education Funding Officer. Braude emphasises CUSU’s role in resisting University fees, insisting that “we have to campaign for free education” and that living grants should be provided for all students, regardless of income. He told Varsity that he will attend a ‘Feminist Fightback’ demonstration on Saturday. “If we can get the feminists to rise up,” he said, “the Revolution happens”. He revealed that a last-minute meeting on Wednesday resulted in the decision to change the group’s campaign colour from red to green.
Last year Mark Ferguson was elected President on less than five per cent of first preferences. Jacob Bard-Rosenberg memorably described student turnout as “fucking disgraceful”. Ferguson’s defence then was a plea that students “judge my Presidency on next year’s turnout”. Results will be announced in the small hours of Thursday morning.

Elliot Ross
News Editor

The Candidates:

Mark Fletcher:
College
Jesus 

Subject and last classmark
Land Economy; 2.i

Experience
JCR President
JCSU Welfare Officer
May Ball President 2007
Trained Peer Supporter

Key Proposals
A co-ordinated rent reduction campaign with JCRs.

CUSU campaigns on issues directly affecting students: smaller subjects, top-up fees and student safety.
Implementation of the Development Planning Committee’s restructuring proposals.
Assist Access by providing comprehensive information on financial support available.

Tom Howard:
College
Girton

Subject and last classmark
English; 2.ii

Experience
Girton Bar Officer
Spring Ball Drinks Officer

Key Proposals
Increase ethnic minority applicants and launch a nationwide media campaign to publicise available financial help.
Set up an e-mentoring scheme in which current students provide advice to prospective applicants.

Lobby Cambridge City Council to lower speed limits near colleges.
Campaign to keep Cambridge independent.

Daniel Perrett:
College
Queens

Subject and last classmark
Classics; 2.ii

Experience
CUSU Communications Officer
Executive Member
Education not for Sale Activist
No Sweat Activist

Key Proposals
That CUSU be prepared to help every student campaign
To tour all colleges in the Easter term.
Pressure for fair rents, the end of fees, the prevention of investment in the arms trade and support for threatened subjects.
Adoption of an aggressive approach to University bureaucrats.