By Lisa Jesudas and Levin Stamm
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17:30 – The live blog is hereby closed. We hope you enjoyed following the Election GA and wish you a great start into the new week.
17:27 – That was it from the Election GA. Venturin rounds off by thanking the board she has worked with throughout the year.
17:26 – The next president of the AUCSA is Bartolomeo Attolico.
17:25 – Lucas Serralta is the next secretary of the AUCSA.
17:25 – Tension! The treasurer is announced: Eva Ebbers.
17:24 – The CAOs are announced in reversed alphabetical order: Sam Ringeling, Dhruv Gulati and Francesca Drewell.
17:23 – The moment everyone waited for has arrived. The candidates are asked on stage.
17:18 – New honorary member Mak points out that the AUCSA would also like to accommodate to different personality types. Not everyone may be as comfortable in being interviewed in front of a group of people. He believes that enough transparency is given with the GA and the election commission.
17:17 – Another student asks a question on whether the interviews are transcribed to provide voters with more information. Bernard says that candidates are not allowed to talk about their interviews to prevent other candidates from knowing the responses. So, it is unlikely that the interviews will be released soon.
17:15 – A procedural question is posed on why the election commission presents a proposed board before the voting procedure. Venturin explains that the election commission takes each individual candidate into account based on their skills and ability to work as a team. Bernard adds that the election procedure is based less on by popularity and, so, the election commission offers students more information to learn more about the candidates as some students may not have the time or means to do that.
17:13 – A practical question is asked about the ERO position. Venturin answers that the tasks of the ERO are not set in stone yet. If another board member decides that they would be happy to take over the tasks of the ERO, then this would be possible.
17:11 – Gulati asks for more specific information on the honorary members. Venturin says that honorary members have more experience and can offer more information to the current AUCSA board.
17:10 – NemoVote has been closed. The open floor follows. It is an opportunity to ask questions for any of the present members of the AUCSA.
17:01 – The voting has been re-opened, the issue seems to be fixed. Some students who experienced difficulties before report that it is working now.
16:58 – Venturin gathers everybody’s attention and informs them that since an overwhelming number of students are experiencing technical difficulties, the voting will be re-opened and everyone would need to submit their vote again.
16:53 – The vote is open during ten minutes, afterwards there will be another short break. A good amount of students (about half) is experiencing technical problems connected to their vote. They stream to the stage to West and Bernard to get support.
16:50 – The great moment has arrived. The voting process starts. Oliver West makes the vote available on NemoVote. Venturin points out that the vote does not have to correspond to the proposed board by the election commission.
16:45 – Zonneveld presents the proposed board for the election commission. The decision was based on the capabilities of individual candidates, their possible contributions, and the cohesiveness of the board. The proposed board is: Francesca Drewell, Sam Ringeling, Dhruv Gulati (all CAOs); Eva Ebbers (Treasurer); Lucas Serralta (Secretary); Bartolomeo Attolico (President).
16:43 – After a 10-minute break, the election GA continues. Venturin presents the election commission that is appointed by the advisory council. This year’s commission consists of Vera Zonneveld, Stijn Maathuis and Lidewij van der Vaart.
16:26 – Dhruv Gulati is the last candidate for CAO. His prime goal will be to grow the involvement of the AUC community. He would like to establish an academic committee that treats a subject that is of interest for most AUC students. For instance, one that discusses issues in environmental studies. He would also like to work on safety issues and focus on the collaboration of peer support with other committees or activities. A question concerns his views on sustainability. Gulati says that sustainability means a lot to him. “I love plants,” he says. He would like to have weekly meetings with the other CAOs to discuss sustainability.
16:24 – Next on the agenda is Francesca Drewell. Her main focus is to improve the application process for the AUCSA as it is currently somewhat intimidating. She would also like to improve the overall productivity of the AUCSA.
16:23 – How does he ensure that the strong collaboration with UCSRN continues? He highlights that he wants to strengthen the coordination between the two departments that represent AUC in the UCSRN.
16:22 – A question is posed on how Ringeling plans to increase attendance at events. Ringeling wants to increase publicity on events and getting students to attend because they would find it enjoyable.
16:20 – A student wants to know how exactly he would improve connections with other universities. Ringeling highlights, next to the social side, the political side. He mentions an initiative that he would like to join with AUC that promotes the agenda of AUC-like schools.
16:17 – The candidates for Committee Affairs Officer are next. Sam Ringeling is the first to present his speech. He wants to increase connectivity with other university colleges in The Netherlands and schools all around Europe. He would further want to have more communication between the AUCSA and the Student Council. He concludes with wanting to build a greater sense of community at AUC.
16:14 – Davide Convertino, the second candidate for treasurer, begins his speech. He wants to allocate more budget to safety at events to avoid, among others, new spiking incidents from happening. Reduce the amount of merchandise, they had extra this year. Be more careful with the inventory, and thus with the spending of budget. He wants to give more attention to the student initiative fund. He wants to give more attention to the spring market.
16:13 – A Solace representative wants to know how exactly she would want to work on the spiking issue. Ebbers says that she wants the anti-spiking scrunchies to be free and bag searches to be conducted more thoroughly.
16:11 – A question is asked on more specific instances of Ebbers’ experience and how she will apply that to her role. She answers that she was the secretary of the AUCSA merchandise team and that experience working with the current AUCSA team will help her with the role of treasurer.
16:08 – The candidates for treasurer are now presenting! The first candidate is Eva Ebbers. The second-year Science student would strive for optimal use of the budget. She noticed an overwhelming amount of events in a short amount of time. She believed that this led to little participation and to some events not breaking even. The spiking conflict is in her opinion a central aspect that must be addressed and budget allocated to. She also wants to improve connectivity with UvA and VU, maybe opening up events to them and promoting their events to the AUC student body, given it is safe.
16:07 – What forms of communication does Jamard like of the current board. What are ideas he has on his own? Jamard answers this question that there is a strong focus on audiovisual content, which he likes. He says he would like to improve the AUCSA website and make instagram stories more concise.
16:05 – Mak poses a question on how Jamard plans to balance informal and formal communication between the AUCSA board and students. He replies that while this is new territory for him, he is confident that he can be adaptable to each situation and which form of communication would be most effective.
16:01 – Next, the sole candidate for Secretary, Lucas Serralta Jamard, presents his speech virtually through Zoom. In his speech, he says that he has been on exchange in Canada and that’s why many people may have not seen him around. He states that he wants to make sure that all relevant information for students is accessible in a concise manner. He would like to work on the website, the AUCSA board’s instagram and on the newscast. “Communication between board members and students is key,” he concludes. He highlights that people should vote for him because they think he is the right fit for Secretary, and not because he is the only candidate.
16:00 – He is asked how he was prepared in his first year for this role. He says he immediately knew that he wanted to be part of AUC’s student life and thus joined the board of Handson.
15:56 – The next speech is presented by Bartolomeo Attolico, also a candidate for President. He aims to focus on inclusivity at AUC due to multicultural nature of the community. He would like to encourage more AUC students to participate in committee events. He also envisions collaboration with other organisations outside of AUC. A point that he repeats when asked how exactly he would encourage more participation.
15:55 – The second question concerns internal mediation within the board and how he would address conflicts. He says that he would try to address the root cause of the conflict and that he would attempt to make sure that each board member really understands the others point of view. He would then proceed to find possible compromises.
15:53 – A question is posed on how he envisions each role of the AUCSA in the AUC community. Antúnez de Mayolo replies that he would like to be more informed on the workings on each role.
15:51 – The first speech is presented by Nicolás Antúnez de Mayolo, a candidate for President. Antúnez de Mayolo points out that it is leaders that make communities great and that he is on himself.
15:50 – Now the most exciting part of the GA starts. The candidate speeches! Venturin explains the procedure. Every candidate gets a two-minute speech and three questions from the audience.
15:47 – Further nominations include Bram Mak, Vera Zonneveld and Clelia Venturin. All nominations are passed by acclamation and under loud applause.
15:45 – The next nomination is Rein Bernard. Bernard has assisted with maintaining the AUCSA throughout the pandemic. The nomination is passed by acclamation.
15:42 – Next, the honorary members are being introduced. Sarah Lange presents the first nomination: Ankita Brahmachari. Brahmachari is the current secretary in the AUCSA board. She has, with multiple other projects, “set up the newscast,” Lange explains the nomination. The nomination is passed by acclamation.
15:38 – Venturin takes the stage and moves on to discuss the Advisory Council. Bram Mak introduces the Advisory Council for 2022-2023: Oliver West, Alizee Junco, Freya Baker, and Rein Bernard. The advisory council’s role is to support the newly elected board, especially during the transition period, but also when being confronted with more diffuclt dilemmas throughout their tenure.
15:37 – The addition to the article is passed by acclamation.
15:35 – A question is asked on how much leeway does the new article allow for committees to continue as there can be unique cases. Bernard acknowledges that specific changes will be made to the respective case and their circumstances. In other words: There is no fix minimum number for board members in a committee. The important question is if the committee manages to maintain its operations.
15:33 – An addition to the nepotism article is proposed. In there, the change states that CAOs can question the future of a particular committee, in case it is “unable to achieve its core objectives”.
15:32 – The vote for the policy manual change on nepotism is passed by acclamation.
15:29 – The nepotism article states that all committee board positions must be announced clearly and openly to all AUCSA members. The article also describes the procedure for complaints in case there are suspicions for nepotism or cronyism.
15:28 – Next on the agenda regards policy manual changes surrounding nepotism in the AUCSA.
15:27 – The vote for the policy manual change is passed by acclamation.
15:24 – Bernard specifies what the addition of the ERO position will entail and goes through the specific articles.
15:23 – The first vote has ended and the motion has passed.
15:22 – The first vote of the day has started. Does the student association approve the addition of the ERO position?
15:19 – Another question concerns the low number of candidates for board positions in light of the ERO position. Bernard states that the ERO position can also be kept vacant in case that there is no candidate.
15:17 – Sam Ringeling asks how the new position will affect the connections between Amsterdam and other parts of The Netherlands. Bernard notes that the focus will be on strengthening connections within Amsterdam.
15:16 – An exchange student asks how this position will be filled. Bernard points out that the position will only be filled in a year from now.
15:13 – Rein Bernard, AUCSA treasurer, introduces suggestions for policy manual changes. This includes the addition of an Executive Relations Officer (ERO). With the ERO, AUCSA hopes to strengthen its presence outside of AUCSA. Among others at other university colleges, students associations and student councils.
15:11 – Venturin now explains the voting procedure. This year, it will be happening with NemoVote. She points out that people will not be allowed to leave once the voting begins. Simultaneously, students can arrive latest five minutes before the voting begins.
15:09 – AUCSA president Clelia Venturin opens the General Assembly. She thanks the election commission that has guided the candidates in the process so far. She continues with presenting the agenda of the day.
15:06 – There is a steady stream of students signing in ready for the proceedings. The candidates are now seated in preparation for their speeches.
14:52 – Welcome to the 43rd General Assembly of AUCSA! The chairs are set up, the candidates are standing ready in the cafeteria of the academic building. Except for the candidates and the current AUCSA board, not many students have shown up yet to cast their vote.
It is election time at AUC! Today at 15:00, the student community will be deciding on the future board of AUCSA for the academic year 2022/2023. The Election GA will take place in the academic building.
This year’s election promises to be an exciting affair. The treasurer and the president will be decided between two candidates. In contrast, the election of the secretary and the three committee affairs officers will be a mere formality.
You could not make it to the vote? No problem, The Herring’s Live Blog will keep you updated on what is happening in the AB during the Election GA, starting from 14:45.
Overview of the positions and candidates:
President: Bartolomeo Attolico; Nicolás Antúnez de Mayolo.
Secretary: Lucas Serralta Jamard.
Treasurer: Davide Convertino; Eva Ebbers.
Committee Affairs Officer: Dhruv Gulati; Francesca Drewell; Sam Ringeling.
The Herring 