Since the first Sydney University Law Society (SULS) debate where five Presidential candidates pitched themselves to the cohort, two candidates have bowed out, and the three remaining candidates have filled their tickets out with executive members. Wonder led by former International Student Officer Michelle Chim, DRIVE led by incumbent VP (Careers) Priya Mehra, and Good News led by incumbent Socials Director Zara Paleologos are contesting the race.
After consecutive uncontested races, last year’s two-way race and this first three-way contest in four years demonstrate that law students are as eager as ever to go to an election, rather than merge. Most people in the room will not have a memory of the three-way contest in 2020, with Paleologos as a member of one of those tickets.
The debate was moderated by current SULS President, Dani Tweedale, and Assistant Electoral Officer, Felix Wood, who also both acted as fact-checkers. As opposed to the one on one debate between Presidential candidates last year, three members of each ticket faced a crowd of mostly other ticket members and dedicated supporters.
Wood said that the debate would focus more on policy as opposed to the personal profiles of the ticket heads. That message did not seem to get through, with the majority of the answers not addressing specific ideas but rather general principles or personal experiences that all the tickets shared.
‘Diversity’, ‘inclusion’, and ‘accessibility’ became buzzwords across the debate with all three opening statements spending less time promising direct changes to how SULS is run and more time reassuring the audience that they were an experienced but approachable team.
Chim’s main pitch across the debate was that Wonder had the “widest spread” of law students including JD and LLM students and would often refer to that cohort diversity when answering questions. Relying on the lived experience of the President was not unique to Wonder. Paleologos brought up her age multiple times. “I’ve been at law school longer than anyone in this room,” she said, and argued this gave her a unique insight into what SULS was like before, during, and after COVID. Mehra, who has served on the last two executives, pointed to that experience as evidence she knew the best way forward.
When pushed by Honi on how the policies would appeal to the general law student population, many reverted to the same recount of personal anecdotes or tales of ‘revitalised diversity’. There is no doubt that experience is important, but all three tickets struggled to explain how that experience would lead to inclusivity without defaulting to their own journeys within SULS. Both DRIVE candidates Kierem Usta (VP Education) and Maddy Lamb (Socials) said that entering SULS as first years without friends was evidence they knew how to connect with people. Good News VP (Careers) candidate, Oliver Xu, said that “regular law students” interactions with law school included career events and their first competition. Both these answers seem to be directed less at the average law student who is disconnected and more at students who already engage with SULS events.
Similarly, Wonder VP (Careers) candidate Simon Homsany argued that Chim being an LLM student meant she understood what students at all points of their degree went through. With the other two tickets having multiple JD members and people from across the various LLB cohorts, the unique insight of one masters student appeared to be an overplayed card by Wonder.
DRIVE was asked by Paleologos and Wood if they were an insular ticket composed of past executive members and “close friends.” Mehra pushed back, saying she had consulted 80 people when forming her ticket and that she was confident her team came from a broad cross section of the law school, disagreeing with the claims.
More than half of the questions submitted to Wood for the debate were about the competitions portfolio, with all three tickets proposing small refinements to the existing competitions offered. Usta said DRIVE planned to create new shorter sessions that students could attende to learn about competitions and to create a centralised calendar to make signing up easier. Chim suggested SULS join more international competitions and promised to create “clear judging guidelines” to improve standards. Good News VP (Education) Ella Ye argued SULS should reintroduce more holiday competitions.
Wood pressed the candidates on these ideas, arguing that holiday competitions had “historically low demand” and Tweedale pointed out that international competitions were expensive investments. The quibbles mostly revealed how safe the policy proposals were.
Questions around how tickets would improve communication and transparency cemented that most processes would remain the same. Homsany proposed someone being in the SULS office every Tuesday before being reminded by moderators that someone was already in the office daily and remained till late on Tuesdays to which Homsany claimed Wonder would increase late hours further. Mehra said she wanted to see more events like executive wide coffee catch ups that were “casual” and “humanising.” Paleologos argued the issue was there were “too many committees” or some had too many members which was contributing to the irregular communication between executives and students. She suggested cutting the Treasury and Socials committee and adding a Sponsorships committee.
Even when tickets were asked specific questions about their own policies, they struggled to distinguish them from existing SULS initiatives. Chim was asked why SULS needed a new mentoring program when one already existed. Chim responded that even though the program is already successful, “we need an environment that is friendly,” and referred again to the push for casual approaches to SULS events.
Paleologos, when asked about Good News’s social policies, suggested a new Halloween party at the end of the year. When asked how this fits with her narrative that people suffered “events fatigue” by the second half of the year, she said that “the Halloween party is only slightly bigger and would only occur when we front load the larger events”, she said.
Perhaps the most insightful moment of the whole debate was when Mehra explained DRIVE’s idea to expand sponsorships beyond law firms. While unclear if they have the same desire to invest, Mehra pointed out that “a lot of law students go on to have diverse careers” outside of the law and SULS’s connections should reflect that.
Ultimately, Law students are unlikely to sift through the sparkly websites to determine which ticket is actually the most experienced or diverse. The similar messaging makes it more likely that the winner will be the ticket that best harnesses social media and their own personal networks across multiple year groups.
Voting opens on Monday October 21 at 9:00 am and concludes on Friday October 25 at 5:00pm.
