STAR Election Survey: What do you Look for in a Candidate?
The results of the STAR Election survey are here.
115 of you gave us an opinion about the most important issues affecting the St Andrews student body, and what you look for in a candidate.
 |
Students were asked to select the most important election topic, the results of which can be seen here. It is clear that academic representation, cost of living, reading week, union redevelopment and university accommodation are the top priorities for St Andrews students. Interestingly, not a single student listed ‘library opening hours’ or ‘freshers week events’ as the most important issue, although many candidates campaign with these topics at the top of their agenda. Several students left comments on the STAR survey. Multiple students were annoyed about the harassing style of campaigning in St Andrews and ‘popularity contest’ style competition. “That students vote about what name they hear the most, or based on popularity is silly and should have died with their student councils in high school” “I'm sick of spineless people with no principles being elected on a platform of popularity” These students stated that they wished to see an election based on principles and competencies. The results of the survey found that 58% of students would ‘strongly’ vote for someone they know personally. However, 85% said would vote ‘strongly’ based on policies and platforms, which was distinctly considered the most important reason. Perhaps worryingly, 14% of respondents voted that that would ‘strongly’ vote based on the candidate with the coolest sounding name. |
Two students mentioned booking rooms in the union for society use was a particular area they would like to improvement, especially in the light of redevelopment. This will hopefully be an issue that the new DoSDA will be able to address.
One student commented that:
“The AU is a paradox wrapped within an enigma packaged in a Mars candy wrapper.”
This highlights the lack of clarity behind-the-scenes of the AU, which has come to the forefront since the AU Exec debacle which you can read about here. Transparency in the AU and addressing the proposed changes will be important areas for the AU President Candidates.
Click here. if you would like to see the full election survey data.
