Tom d'Ardenne - Nominated for Association President

[Dardar]

Hello!

This thread seems very different from the last one I ended up writing on at the end of the Bigger Brother event!

If you have any questions regarding policies (including how I REALLY met Dave Vinton), I would be happy to answer them, and will try to do so as quickly as possible.

Tom d'Ardenne

[Harry Giles]

If elected, what commitment to environmental and ethical issues can the students expect from you? What do you consider the role of President in this regard to be, and how do you intend to best fulfil that role?

--
Harry Giles
Nominated for SRC Environment & Ethics Officer
http://www.yourunion.net/main/represent ... tees/eande

[tordenskjold]

How do you see your tenure as senior student in John Burnet Hall as preparing you for a position in the Union?

Do you have any experience of Union politics?

How do you answer criticisms levelled at you as discriminating against old memebers of hall and alienating them? Does this reflect a policy of lumping all 'troublemakers' together and blaming them all in one group? Would you do this as President?

How would you explain the actions of the JBH committee in still owing 30 pounds to an old member of Hall? The committee has been swift in filing claims against old members' and their 'damages' but surprisingly tardy in clearing this. As senior student do you take responsibilty for this?

[hr]

Kæmp for alt hvad du har kært,
Dø om så det gælder.
Da er livet ej så svært,
Døden ikke heller.

[Dardar]

Quoting Harry Giles from 10:39, 11th Mar 2006
If elected, what commitment to environmental and ethical issues can the students expect from you? What do you consider the role of President in this regard to be, and how do you intend to best fulfil that role?

--
Harry Giles
Nominated for SRC Environment & Ethics Officer
http://www.yourunion.net/main/represent ... tees/eande

Hello Harry - thanks for the question!

As far as I am aware, the twin issues of environment and ethics are not the primary concern of the Association President. Indeed, the Students' Association laws go so far as to state that the Association President may not vote on any issues related to 'equal opportunities and ethics and environment'.

That is not to say that I do not care about the environment or ethics. Believe me, I still get really worked up when I see my cleaner (I still live in Halls) continually placing all of the paper I have placed into the paper recycling bin into her general waste bag and completely ruining the whole exercise. However, I feel that the role of the Association President is to help the SRC Environment and Ethics Officer to carry out his job to the best of his ability, and assist them wherever possible by helping to bring about THEIR ideas, rather than treading on their toes by telling him/her what I believe they should/should not be doing. The SRC Environmental and Ethics Officer, in turn, as well as formulating their own ideas, should also be listening to the students themselves to find out which issues THEY are most concerned with and how THEY think problems should be tackled.

Obviously this will require a far greater correspondence between the Association and the general student body because, in my opinion, the Association is currently too insular - and this is a problem that people within the Association themselves have already raised. My commitment, therefore, to environmental and ethics issues is to facilitate a greater dialogue between the general student body and the position of SRC Environment and Ethics Officer to help the latter work more effectively for the former.

I hope that this answers the question - if something is not clear or makes no sense, please tell me.

Good luck with your own campaign!

Tom

[Dardar]

Quoting tordenskjold from 14:28, 11th Mar 2006
How do you see your tenure as senior student in John Burnet Hall as preparing you for a position in the Union?

Do you have any experience of Union politics?

How do you answer criticisms levelled at you as discriminating against old memebers of hall and alienating them? Does this reflect a policy of lumping all 'troublemakers' together and blaming them all in one group? Would you do this as President?

How would you explain the actions of the JBH committee in still owing 30 pounds to an old member of Hall? The committee has been swift in filing claims against old members' and their 'damages' but surprisingly tardy in clearing this. As senior student do you take responsibilty for this?

[hr]

Kæmp for alt hvad du har kært,
Dø om så det gælder.
Da er livet ej så svært,
Døden ikke heller.

Hello Will! - Thanks for the questions! I will answer them in the order you have placed them.

1. The first question is a good one. I believe that the position of Association President is primarily one of representation. You might disagree on this point, but taking the Candidates' Guide to Elections as a reference the Association President is 'Responsible for the external image of the Association'. Representation, then, is the key issue. I have continually represented the students of John Burnet successfully at many different levels. At the very base levels, I have always been courteous to members of staff from my cleaner through to the residence managers. 'Please', Thank you'. You might think it sounds pointless, but I think it makes a lot of difference - representation goes on 24/7 - 365 days a year. Then there are more significant concerns - a weekly meeting with the Office Staff at 8.30 on Tuesday mornings. I have yet to miss an appointment in nearly two years. Lastly, and most importantly, I have represented the students of my hall at some of the highest echelons of the university - at least in accommodation spheres, and feel I have achieved results that many others, including my predecessor, would have found unobtainable. As an example, getting the University to accept that a £1100 bill for damage to the roof over a year previously was unfair within one month of being elected Senior Student. I believe that, at the very least, I would make an excellent representative of the student body.

2. No I have not, with the exception of attending the odd SRC meeting. However, as I believe the key issue is 'Representation', I believe I gained as much, if not more, experience than many SRC members from my position as Senior Student.

3. I have not once in two years heard any criticisms of the kind that I have either 'alienated' or 'discriminated' against any member of the ex-atholl community, and am very surprised at these comments. Please give me, at the very least, an example to respond to. All members of the ex-atholl community remain more than welcome at any event which we hold, except those banned from the Hall by the wardennial team. The John Burnet Hall Committee has no power to ban any individual from the premises - this remains at the discretion of the Wardennial Team. Any complaints should be made to them. Indeed, this year I personally have successfully campaigned to the wardennial team to allow certain ex-athollites who were previously banned to be allowed to return.

4. In the whole of this academic year the John Burnet Hall Committee has issued ONE invoice for damages to ONE ex-resident. The ex-resident in question threw a chair against a wall with enough power to leave a significant hole. Unfortunately for him, several current Athollites saw him do it and gave witness to it, and I do not see why the John Burnet Committee should have to subsidise such actions.

With regards to the £30 owed, this particular debt was incurred before my tenure even began. There were no records of it made, nor does the claimee have any evidence in the form of a receipt that the JBH Committee ever received a payment. Despite this, as you know, compensation was very generously offered, and has yet to be claimed.

I hope that this satisfactorily answers your questions! Tom

[tordenskjold]

Yes that answers my questions.
As to the idea of the Hall issuing receipts for cheques received from residents, that's unlikely to ever happen. Still I'm sure that can be ironed out with the aid of those old committee members who accepted the money in the first place.
As to the state of the ex JBH community I can only say what I have observed.
The questions of past experience etc are just run of the mill.

[hr]

Kæmp for alt hvad du har kært,
Dø om så det gælder.
Da er livet ej så svært,
Døden ikke heller.

[flossy]

My usual question for all potential sabbs: wnat are your plans for next year if you don't win?

[hr]

Not to put too fine a point on it, say I'm the only bee in your bonnet

[lethe]

Could you please quote the part of the Association laws that bans the President from voting on environment and ethics issues? The last I noticed it didn't allocate direct responsibility for the area to the President - it was a DoR issue - but that doesn't mean that the AP can't get involved. In fact, with the strategic and external remits I would have thought the involvement and activity of the President on the area would be vital.

[Dardar]

Quoting flossy from 19:51, 11th Mar 2006
My usual question for all potential sabbs: wnat are your plans for next year if you don't win?

[hr]

Not to put too fine a point on it, say I'm the only bee in your bonnet

Hello Flossy, thank you for the question!

Should I not win the position, I would like to continue studying modern history - either at this University or Cambridge. Should I stay here, I would hope to pursue Environmental History as my course of choice.

Best wishes! Tom

[Dardar]

Quoting lethe from 03:31, 12th Mar 2006
Could you please quote the part of the Association laws that bans the President from voting on environment and ethics issues? The last I noticed it didn't allocate direct responsibility for the area to the President - it was a DoR issue - but that doesn't mean that the AP can't get involved. In fact, with the strategic and external remits I would have thought the involvement and activity of the President on the area would be vital.

Hello Lethe! A very good point - please let me elaborate.

You are correct - I was a little vague. The Association law prohibits the President from voting at the meetings of the CHESS group on matters relating to 'equal opportunities and ethics and environment', and I was using the example to point out that environment and ethics are not the PRIMARY responsibility of the position. That is not to say that I would not get involved, because, as you point out, the remit of the Association President means that he/she would have a significant role to play on those issues - especially with regards to the external and strategic remits.

Of course if something came to my attention while working for the Association which suggested there was a problem with regards to either of the issues I would raise it as soon as possible and play an active role in correcting it. However, the commitment which I make to Environment and Ethics, as the original question asked, is to better enable the student body in general to come forward with their concerns more readily, so that we can better represent them - and not to demand from the privilege of the position of Association President environmental and ethical reforms which may or may not be appropriate, of my own initiative.

I hope this clarifies! Tom

[Dave the Explosive Newt]

This question goes out to all the AP candiates - no copying from each other, kids.

Following on from the other thread, it's a great shame how under-advertised this election has been thus far and the high number of uncontested seats can only be deleterious to the quality of candiates being elected. Do you believe that the student population is, by and large, quite apathetic towards union politics and how would you go about solving this problem?

[hr]

It has been brought to my attention that certain people refer to me as a legend. Should you meet one of these people, maintain a safe distance and telephone the police. Under no circumstances attempt to deal with them by yourself.

[Dardar]

Quoting Dave the Explosive Newt from 01:32, 13th Mar 2006
This question goes out to all the AP candiates - no copying from each other, kids.

Following on from the other thread, it's a great shame how under-advertised this election has been thus far and the high number of uncontested seats can only be deleterious to the quality of candiates being elected. Do you believe that the student population is, by and large, quite apathetic towards union politics and how would you go about solving this problem?

[hr]

It has been brought to my attention that certain people refer to me as a legend. Should you meet one of these people, maintain a safe distance and telephone the police. Under no circumstances attempt to deal with them by yourself.

Hello Dave, apologies in the delay in getting back to you.

I agree entirely with your statement. One of my greatest concerns about the current Students' Association is that a gap has developed between themselves and the student body in general. Many people on the SRC committe blame this apparent lack of interest on student apathy - I know this because I have asked them.

I think they are wrong. Certainly 27 students turning up to the hecklings for the Association positions on Monday was disgraceful - but only so much of that can be blamed on apathy. I cannot believe that in a univesity of 7000 students, only 27 care significantly to vote on who represents us. So why:

1) Poor communication between Association and the Students about the elections. You cannot expect people to care if they are not informed about anything. Where is the publicity?!
2) Lack of information about the Association in general. Before running for the position of President, I asked 30 'normal' students about the Association to gauge opinions. Only 6 could tell me the current president's name. Of those six, none could tell me what his job actually was, or what he had done in the last year. Why? Apathy? No! Because nobody has bothered to tell us. There is no way of finding out! You can email directly, but there is certainly no guarentee of an answer. Nor has anybody really ever made it clear about how important these positions actually are.
3) The current SRC, by the admission of at least three of its members is 'very insular'. Many 'Hacks', I feel, because they are involved day in, day out working hard at the Association they assume that the 'average' student knows about the issues, but choose not to address them. More awareness needs to be given at the top that the people at the bottom are not apathetic - just underinformed.

This is a key issue which I am addressing as part of my campaign. If you would like more information, please visit:

www.tomdardenne.me.uk

Tom

[tordenskjold]

Maybe you and Preston should run together seeing as your thinking is so alike? (just from reading your last response and his earlier ones, yes I'm bored.)

[hr]

Kæmp for alt hvad du har kært,
Dø om så det gælder.
Da er livet ej så svært,
Døden ikke heller.

[Fawksie]

Taking my lead from some of the other presidential candidates' threads here. Knowing that you want to improve communication between the Association and students, and the "outside" world, would you use STAR FM as a tool in this, and what steps would you take to support it?

[Dardar]

Quoting Fawksie from 21:25, 14th Mar 2006
Taking my lead from some of the other presidential candidates' threads here. Knowing that you want to improve communication between the Association and students, and the "outside" world, would you use STAR FM as a tool in this, and what steps would you take to support it?

Thank you for your question.

I believe that using STAR Radio would be an excellent way of promoting the Student Association to the 'outside world', and using it as tool to promote relations between the two could only be beneficial. However, and this is far from the definitive answer on the topic, I have been informed by others that there are considerable problems with making STAR FM a yearlong project.

Firstly, it would cost a considerable amount of money - I think the figure quoted was £15,000 although please do not hold me to that. It is an estimate taken from memory. However, I believe that it is of primary importance to consult the student body whether it would prefer to see that kind of money spent on STAR radio, or on some other project.

Secondly, and more importantly, I would ask STAR radio themselves if they wanted to broadcast annualy. I might be wrong, but I was informed that they were far from keen on the idea. As far as I know, the subject would raise considerable legal problems, and result in a greater outside influence on what should, in my opinion, be a predominantly student project. Indeed, if STAR Radio needs supporting, I would be happy to back it in any venture it happened to want to undertake, provided the students themselves approved.

Tom

[someone]

Quoting Dardar from 23:42, 14th Mar 2006
Thank you for your question.
I believe that using STAR Radio would be an excellent way of promoting the Student Association to the 'outside world', and using it as tool to promote relations between the two could only be beneficial. However, and this is far from the definitive answer on the topic, I have been informed by others that there are considerable problems with making STAR FM a yearlong project.

Firstly, it would cost a considerable amount of money - I think the figure quoted was £15,000 although please do not hold me to that. It is an estimate taken from memory. However, I believe that it is of primary importance to consult the student body whether it would prefer to see that kind of money spent on STAR radio, or on some other project.

Tom,

For starters, £15,000 was the exact figure stated, by me, on Monday night at the Association Presidential hecklings, regarding the amount of funding I would choose to extract for student development from the Association's annual interest from the EI fund. In fact, set-up costs would be considerably less, probably in the range of £8000 to £10,000. Those numbers come from studies commissioned by Alex Walsh, the creator of the STAR-FM concept six years ago, and were carried on by Anthony Warner, Harry Watkins, Andre Wegner and I in a second research project conducted in the 2003-04 and the 2004-05 academic years.

Furthermore, aside from web broadcasting, STAR-FM's primary audience is the students of the University of St Andrews, not the outside world. Its radio range is not more than several miles. Excluding the possibility of acquiring a Community Radio License from OFCOM it would in fact remain a station exclusively for St Andrews' students.

Finally, STAR-FM is, and shall remain, a student project, particularly as is likely to become an association sub-committee, which essentially guarantees that the station remains in the hands of students. Hence, expansion of broadcast time to year-round does not introduce any problems regarding outside influence to the station at all.

Bearing these facts in mind, could you elaborate as to what you have done during your tenure as John Burnet Senior Student to incresae contact with the outside world, particularly in light of your profound misunderstanding of the status of STAR-FM? Do these things demonstrate your qualifications for the job of Association President, which is fundamentally a "director of external relations"?


someone.
Nominated for Association President.

[someone]

Pardon me-- a correction and a further question.

1) it will be an association sub-committee, it isn't one yet.

2) As an addition, there is some resistance in STAR-FM to becoming a year-round radio station. You are correct in that respect. However, do you think that the needs of the Association to communicate more widely merit STAR-FM's development beyond just a few-weeks-a-year-project?

[AR]

I think your comments on StarFM are spot on. As a student, I wouldn't want to see even 8,000 pounds of union money going to a project that doesn't benefit as many students as it could. I think Preston's comments are off base.

[hr]

"Well la de dah... la de dah"
--annie hall

[Bonnie]

Sorry, posted on the wrong thread.
Good Luck!

[hr]

I love cheese.

[Cain]

shouldn't questions to preston stay in preston's thread?

mods?

[hr]

I hold an element of surprise