There are three candidates for the Position of President this year, and for the first time ever their manifestos are available online in the one place.

The following year will be an important one for the QM, so please take the time to read through each candidates manifesto. Voting takes place on the 5th of March, and all members can vote between 9am and 6pm.

Manifestos for the other positions are available from Monday in the Election Smallsheet. You can also attend the heckling meeting on Wednesday at 6pm in Jim’s to ask questions of any of the candidates.

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Lewis Mackenzie

Proposer: Martin Black
Seconder: Andrew Landels

Manifesto:
Hi, my name is Lewis MacKenzie, I’m a second year Physics and Astronomy student and I am running for the position of QMU president.

Why should you vote for me as president?

I have been an ordinary member board since 2007, and since then I have given 100% to make the QM as best as it can be. Most notably I started and continue to run “New Comedy In Lacuna” – which rivals professional comedy clubs – and have also helped clubs and societies run incredibly successful events such as the Secret Policeman’s Ball and Global Village.

If elected, my top priorities will be to:

 Make a serious point of increasing recycling in the QMU. At the moment there is little more than a few paper recycling bins on the third floor. We should do more.

 Increase the general student involvement in the four committees of the union. There are simply not enough students getting involved when there is so much potential for new ideas and talent. I want to ensure the voices of the committees are heard, which has not always been done in the past as much as it could have been.

 Hold scheduled office hours that will be strictly adhered to. I will be somewhere easy to find so members can speak to me face to face.

 Make sure all appropriate ideas are nurtured and not dropped because of lack of attention.

 Raise election turn out: last year less than 10% of members voted.

Other ideas include:

 Develop further and promote Lacuna on the second floor further.

 Create a “Glasgow University Student Comedy Awards” to promote and develop the amateur comedy scene on campus in the past year.

 Renovate the study rooms on the third floor. They are under-used and need updated, with the right attention they can be an excellent alternative to the library for QMU members.

I will be a student and QMU member for several years to come, so any decision I make will be relevant for the members and the union as a whole. I will not be here today, and gone tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to read my manifesto.

Aaron Murray

Proposer: Gordon Brady
Seconder: Fay Sandford

Manifesto:
Hey, my name is Aaron Murray and I am running for QMU President on the 5th of March.

I am currently the Assistant Honorary Secretary of the QM. As a member of the Executive Committee I sat on the Freshers’ Week Committee which brought you our most successful Freshers’ Week to date.I also sit on the Finance Committee of the union. The relationships I have formed with members, board members and cross campus representatives and my experience on the Executive this year make me the best person for the job of President.

As President I would strive to

Provide better value throughout the bars, catering and shop. Everyone is feeling the pinch and I would aim to build on the cheap drinks offers we have recently put in place.

Look into the redevelopment of Qudos. As our main venue we need to ensure that Qudos is kept up-to-date and exciting.

Improve communications with Clubs and Societies. Eradicate the culture in which we merely facilitate our clubs and societies. We need to be pro-active to ensure that we are providing the best opportunities for them to feel at home and successful in our union.

Bring back debating. Our union has a long and proud history of debating which has been overlooked since the mid-90s. I successfully organised an Independence debate in 2008 and have been successful in forging links with the Dialectic Society. As President I would bring this back with regular debates involving MSPs and MPs.

Secure the union’s future. In the last five years the university has cut our funding in half and has recently commissioned a report on the future of all the student bodies on campus. It is imperative that the QM has someone experienced to fight our corner.

The QMU has been a huge part of my university life from my own Freshers’ Week right up until being on the Board of Management. From Cheesy to C-Card to the Nestle Ban and the Pub Quiz we have a union which we can be proud of yet make stronger. I am the person to achieve that.
Vote Aaron Murray QMU President

Angus Shepherd

Proposer: Christopher Aikman
Seconder: Greg Stevely

Manifesto:
Hey, if you’ve ever spent any time in the QM you’ll have seen me at least once, I spend a lot of time there messing around with the guys up on the second floor. I see many problems with the running of the QM, for starters I really want to sort out the room booking system, it’s awful.
Constantly double booked,the booking system messes with a lot of societies. The QMU affiliated societies are the lifeblood of this union, and mean people have a really cool place to hang out before or after society activities. If societies can’t sort out where the rooms they have booked then they effectively can’t hold meetings. This effects societies that use the third floor.
Secondly there’s the woefully slow QM wireless, which I intend to have reviewed and fixed, the speed of it is deplorable at best. Understandably there can’t be an über fast connection but as anyone who has tried to use the QM wireless can tell you it’s awful. I’ve heard so many people complain about how slow it is, personally I’m sick of it. I’ve used the QM wireless, whoever gets elected please fix the wireless. If there’s one thing I want sorted early in my presidency it’s this problem.
Thirdly I want to have the president keep to office hours, so I will if elected. This means that if there is a complaint, query or even if you need help with something, either as a society then you can come to me directly and sort it out. Maybe it’s just me but I want to have a constant presence in the QMU, if you can’t find me in my office then I should be back in five minutes. This means that people who are really busy such as presidents of societies or their representatives can get a hold of me when it suits them.
Lastly I have always thought that people who are in a position of authority or responsibility should receive feedback from someone each week. Otherwise they are not doing their job right. The fact that I’m stand for president is great but if you don’t tell me what’s wrong I can’t fix it. Think of the president as someone who fixes problems, I can go looking but if you tell me then it gets fixed quicker.