Groove for SULS have been elected as the 2024 Executive for the Sydney University Law Society (SULS) winning 54% of the vote.
The incoming SULS executive team consists of Danielle Tweedale as President, with Ellie Mangharam, Priya Mehra, and Jessica Xu as Vice-Presidents of Education, Careers and Social Justice respectively, John Mentzines as Secretary, Amante Abela as Treasurer, and Antonia Odegbaro as Sponsorship Director, Mounica Akula and Zara Paleologos as Social Directors, Kiana Asgari and Daniel Kim as Competitions Directors, Charlie Hua as Sports Director, Ben Cullen as Campus Director, Kate Sinchilo as Publications Director and Phan Vu as International Student Officer.
In contrast to the past two years , this year’s election saw two tickets running for to control the Law Society in Bloom for SULS alongside Groove. 579 ballots were cast, with 312 votes going to Groove, 256 to Bloom, and 11 informal votes. After a mid-exam period election, voting closed at 9am on Saturday 25 November 2023.
This election was the first uncontested SULS Executive election since 2020, with a growing trend of mergers between presidential candidates and their prospective tickets in recent years.
Groove for SULS outlined their vision with a focus on “intentional event planning”, “transparent decision making”, and “an accountable executive”. Though their policy platform is primarily based on improving existing SULS activities, Groove are bringing in a host of new initiatives.
This includes introducing more social activities such as an official Law Ball after party, end-of-semester parties, and a faculty-wide sporting competition called “Law Championships”. Their welfare-focused policies include a SULS student discount database that gives members discounts as well as a twice-per-semester wellbeing room in the Law Lounge.
Groove are also offering more support for Juris Doctor (JD) students with a JDI retreat as an “introductory social event” much like the law camp for first year Bachelor of Law (LLB) students. They are also proposing workshops from high performing students, and a mentoring program for JD students involved in competitions.
One of their key policies include a reintroduction of the much-loved Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) which was discontinued last year. Groove have proposed a SULS-run version of PASS with an “Academic Pilot Program” to run from Semester One next year, assisting both LLB and JD students with Torts and Contracts while they work with the Faculty to reintroduce the original program.
President-elect Danielle Tweedale told Honi, “I’m feeling very honoured to have been elected today, and incredibly thankful to everyone on the ticket and to our supporters. The entire Groove team has put in countless hours of work, and I am so excited to see everyone take on their roles and enact their visions for 2024.
“In particular, I’m looking forward to working to make sure SULS is as transparent and accountable as possible, and that we create streamlined communication with the student body to ensure SULS is enacting what they want to see.
“I’d like to especially thank Bloom for putting together such a fantastic campaign, and putting into the spotlight SULS’ role in making students feel welcomed and included on campus.”
Groove’s full list of policies is available on their website.
