The University of Sydney has announced the candidates for the elected undergraduate and postgraduate student positions on the Senate, which is the highest governing body of the University.
Eight candidates are running for this year’s Senate elections, with three and four candidates contesting the undergraduate and postgraduate Student Fellow positions, respectively.
The undergraduate student fellow candidates are SRC Social Justice and Global Solidarity Officer Yang Tu (I N T E R P O L), SASS Ethnocultural Officer Ben Jorgensen (Mod-Lib) and engineering student Aaron Kumar.
Tu and Jorgensen are also candidates in the current SRC Elections, with Tu running on the ‘INTERPOL for STEM’ ticket and Jorgensen on the ‘Lift for Women’ ticket.
Meanwhile, the postgraduate student fellow candidates are SULS Vice President (Careers) Thrishank Chintamaneni, former SUPRA Education Officer Yinfeng (Benny) Shen, Peer Learning Advisor (PLA) Amrutha Amesh, first year Juris Doctor (JD) student Lehi Dudley, and FASS researcher Evan Hughes.
The incoming Senate student fellows will be replacing Gabi Stricker-Phelps (undergraduate fellow) and Lachlan Finch (postgraduate fellow), whose Senate term has been characterised by a distant, if not hostile, relationship with other student representative bodies such as the SRC and the USU.
Although Senate elections are typically less visible than SRC or USU elections, there is expected to be some level of contestation.
According to the University’s Manager (Academic Governance) Michael Kusi-Appauh, there are no restrictions on when candidates may begin campaigning.
Voting will open for two weeks from 4 October to 18 October.
