Comsoc Elections (2 Viewers)

[Eagles]

Hihi James

Friday, 7th October 2005
I don't like to write crap here.

However, theres an interesting election happening at the commerce society. Here's a few observations: It is puzzeling to find that all these people (you know who you are), whom, to the best of my knowledge, have never been involved with COMSOC before, suddenly became campaigners.
Some are passionate, while others appears indifferent.

Heres a quick run down of the campaign:
Question: Have you voted?
Answer (1): Yes
Answer (2): No
Answer (3): Not going to
Response (1): Ok, thanks. (read: you are useless to us now)
Response (2&3): Have you heard of the election? Heres why u should vote for us.. (continue to crap on about some BullSh*t. *begins to herd you towards the election place*)

(Feel free to chuckle to yourself about their amateur salesmanship)
Anyway, question remains: why or how they suddenly got involved?
Is it because one or a few of their friends are running?
Is it the free shirt?
Is it the 'feeling of importance' that Dale Carnegie talks about?
or are they just following people like mindless lambs?
Who knows?

Heres a thought: Yes, I'll see them again after the election, but will I hear from them about COMSOC again after the election? It's doubtful.

So what choices do we have?
1) vote for those who've annoyed us.
1) don't vote for ones who've annoyed us. I.e. vote for other team.
2) don't vote and continue to solidify ourselves. Who cares if say they have contacts? You should make your own!

"Invincibility comes from oneself."

Oh gosh, forgot about the campaigning for the CV bit

*sigh* tuesday will pass soon enough...

Yikes, you guys were at uni till 3AM??

 

[lizbon]

hey james and mat, its york here from the eco comp presentation nite, can u forward the fotos to my email as well. Kfc was definitely the highlight of the nite lol

 

[Shawny]

well morgan seems to like reform, why doesn't he FURTHER reform the system to make it even more accountable, open but with enough checks and balances to ensure that ppl dont abuse the system


btw septh, that certain UNSW union exec/shangsoc exec and comsoc exec candidate have done quite a bit for commerce students, he was the force behind initiation dance party which to some was totally shit but its his first time doing such a thing and he did do it and gave the great majority a great time and it took a lot of hardwork from a lot of people to bring that through(and btw i never got involved so im neutral). Point here is, what his done is more than i can say for almost every other candidate on both sides.

btw mat, man i feel for u, calls at 3am and shit, tats just fuking ridiculous, ur a human, u got a life and u have study and sleep to go through too, whoever calls u at 3 in the morning is just a selfish mofo who doesn't give a shit at all about how other ppl's lives aren't run around theirs. To make it worse, its just for a fuking comsoc election, if it was a federal election one can understand, but wtf, comsoc man, this is going wayyyyyy too far

and guys quote me on it "GOINGGGGGG WAYYYYYY TOOOOO FARRRRRRRR".

and i agree, its a bunch of com/law students hording and dominating these things. But to be a nice guy and see it from a nice POV, few bcom or beco students are really politically motivated, fewer Bsci students are, but relatively more say Barts(politics/international relations/policy studies) and Bcom/law students are more politically motivated. How geniue that motivatoin is, who knows, i know some who are geniunely motivated, others of course and i must say the majority are CV orientated.

 

[Bambul]

The active member rule was in place for 1 year. The point is, when it comes to ComSoc elections, more voters is not a good thing unless the people voting know what they are voting on. We used to get 100 people voting, most of whom were involved in the society in some way during the year (volunteering for one of the social activities, publicantions, careers seminars, etc) in a ComSoc activity (of which only the social activities seem to remain). These 100 people made educated decisions, after having heard from the candidates themselves. Now most people voting don't know much about ComSoc at all (some don't even know it exists) and have no chance to meet the candidates and hear why they should vote for A instead of B.

I've got no problem with having any Commerce student vote, I think they should. But to vote you should need to come to an AGM one evening to meet and hear the candidates speak before you vote for them. Not have a voting booth open for an entire week where the amount of votes that you get is determined not by how well you can convince others that you personally are good for the position, but by how well your team can convince others to vote for your team (not necesarily by convincing them that the team is the best for the job, but merely that they want it more).

 

[Eagles]

I hear ya Bambul, never heard of them before... Most voters are probably completely ignorant of who's what.

Heh, most of the info I hear about COMSOC are from BOS.

There are so many issues that we can branch from this election BS.

Certainly makes people wonder where all these 'campaigner' suddenly poped up from doesn't it?

Then again, I may just be ignorant about their 'activities'.

You guys voting?

 

[Sarah]

I admit i didn't vote. My reasons were because i wasn't familiar with their policies/ideas of Drive and Unity. I'm also a fan of the principle behind below the line voting as it gives voters a chance to support individuals who you see as having the best ideas and best interests of the club.

i propose that they should just have separate societies representing different groups without the COMSOC umbrella. eg Actuarial Society, Marketing, Finance and Economics (who are very poorly underrepresented).

I also resent the fact that the student rep body comsoc is dominated by a bunch of CV building, shallow commerce-law students. there should be a rule saying that a min %age of ppl from must come from other commerce degrees. otherwise, at present as the balance is shifted towards the c/l students, how can we truly say comsoc equally represents all com students!?

The blatantly unfair comsoc constitution rules are a cancer on commerce student population: i strongly advise that we abandon the present comsoc and pursue a more decentralised network of student societies.
Ends rant

I'm still a fan of the concept of Comsoc being the club/society for FCE students but i wouldn't want to see it abandoned in pursuit of decentralised network of student societies. I think these seperate student societies and comsoc would do better if they worked closely with eachother. In the end, they help each other achieve similar goals whether it be for social events, mentoring programs and careers information. In short, perhaps the structure of Comsoc should change? Maybe to incorporate these clubs. Or at least have them affiliated in someway and acknowledged for the services they deliver.

Not all schools in the FCE have clubs representing them. I don't even think there's an Economics society.

I think that CV driven ppl aren't that bad as long as they get stuff done. There just needs to be a balance between those and others who genuinely do want to contribute to the student community.

Out of interest, Seraphim aren't you an undergraduate representative of Commerce students? If so, wouldn't it be possible to raise these concerns with David Morgan or another relevant person within the faculty?

The active member rule was in place for 1 year.

I've got no problem with having any Commerce student vote, I think they should. But to vote you should need to come to an AGM one evening to meet and hear the candidates speak before you vote for them.

Out of those alternatives mentioned, I'd rather the active member rule than having any Commerce student vote. Although (imo) it's slightly better than what's in place, the problem with allowing any FCE student attending the AGM to vote is that it still has the potential for it to become a popularity contest. All you need to do is get your friends to come along to the meeting and vote.

 

[§eraphim]

i have personally raised my concerns with the staff members but they were not acted on. also, student reps aren't given much opportunity to contribute to any of the committee meetings as they are not allowed on the standing committee and there are <2 meetings per yr (the bare min.). fce just passes the buck to comsoc, who they think represent the student populace.

unsw fce has far greater concerns than student welfare; they're running a loss so they're doing all they can to boost revenues and cut costs (info sys is first on the chopping block).

if comsoc exists purely as a vessel for social events, you don't need a society to provide those; you could just have cooperation between the societis. also, comsoc marginalises economics students who are on the fringe. i am still in favour of separate societies - social events pitched at ppl doing the same course would be better for networking, and provide closer contact between students doing the same stuff. also, the execs could probably have better links with industry by negotiating with sponsors relevant to their field and any careers education thing would definitely be better (you could approach lecturers, etc, for assistance).

also, a mentoring and pass program can be combined like in actuarial studies. i am strongly in favour of the actuarial pass model and it would be good to see it incorporated in all of the other schools (it costs nothing and it promotes better relations between students and lecturers). pm lawforever as hes the organiser.

what surprises me is why the sponsors aren't asking why their money isnt being spent more wisely.

 

[§eraphim]

and i agree, its a bunch of com/law students hording and dominating these things. But to be a nice guy and see it from a nice POV, few bcom or beco students are really politically motivated, fewer Bsci students are, but relatively more say Barts(politics/international relations/policy studies) and Bcom/law students are more politically motivated. How geniue that motivatoin is, who knows, i know some who are geniunely motivated, others of course and i must say the majority are CV orientated.

yeah that's true. to everyone, althought comsoc and lawsoc both receive a lot of funding, what makes lawsoc so good?

 

[Sarah]

yeah that's true. to everyone, althought comsoc and lawsoc both receive a lot of funding, what makes lawsoc so good?

I don't do law but there are some observations based on friends doing law or being involved in law soc that i can make.

Just a guess but perhaps it does things other than socials? e.g Moots, Law Review (well they'd have a strong interest in it even though it's open to other students outside the faculty), they actually have student publications, they foster relations with potential employers though careers fairs, publicising opportunities to meet law employers outside careers fairs.

Also, the intake for Law tends to be smaller. Most ppl doing law seem to know eachother and perhaps that makes communications amongst students easier.

 

[Harimau]

I don't do law but there are some observations based on friends doing law or being involved in law soc that i can make.

Just a guess but perhaps it does things other than socials? e.g Moots, Law Review (well they'd have a strong interest in it even though it's open to other students outside the faculty), they actually have student publications, they foster relations with potential employers though careers fairs, publicising opportunities to meet law employers outside careers fairs.

Also, the intake for Law tends to be smaller. Most ppl doing law seem to know eachother and perhaps that makes communications amongst students easier.

And it's also probably because the funding for lawsoc is almost 8 times the funding for comsoc.

 

[Newbie]

i suppose i should say something in regards to this since the email mentioned CASOC and by implication the Guild.

I am the sec/treas elect for the Guild. Yes I am a campaigner for the CommUNITY team. But as an individual and not the Guild's representative. In fact several Guild members are campaigning for the other team.

The Guild's position on this can be described as statutory indifference, the organisation is bound by its regulations and policies to be neutral in all elections.

Any implication by any communication regarding any bias on the Guild is false.

love and peace
john

 

[Bambul]

Out of those alternatives mentioned, I'd rather the active member rule than having any Commerce student vote. Although (imo) it's slightly better than what's in place, the problem with allowing any FCE student attending the AGM to vote is that it still has the potential for it to become a popularity contest. All you need to do is get your friends to come along to the meeting and vote.

That's not a problem under the AGM model, because each candidate brings friends who will vote for them, but will then consider each of the other positions after hearing the candidates speak. The same goes for your position. So you might get 10 friends to come along, but 90 other people who are friends of others come along too, and it is them who decide the outcome of the election after listening to you and the other candidates for the position.

Of course, this doesn't work if you are only allowed to vote for one group or another. The introduction of that was a mistake and needs to be reversed.

 

[mr_shittles]

That's not a problem under the AGM model, because each candidate brings friends who will vote for them, but will then consider each of the other positions after hearing the candidates speak. The same goes for your position. So you might get 10 friends to come along, but 90 other people who are friends of others come along too, and it is them who decide the outcome of the election after listening to you and the other candidates for the position.

Of course, this doesn't work if you are only allowed to vote for one group or another. The introduction of that was a mistake and needs to be reversed.

One of the advantages of teams being formed is that its easier for ROs to count. Howver, with the current campaign generating close to 100 votes already, I' sure the active meber model would reduce it.

 

[E3k0]

you fools

all you base are belong to us




~Respect

Dr[1]ve
-----------------------------
ing no where

 

[E3k0]

omg omfg wtf

moodoo is in charge?

Oh shit

really regret bashin u in high school brah



hope u don't hold grudges

 

[truly-in-bliss]

seraphim - the difference between lawsoc and comsoc is mainly structural, comsoc's rules and structure is pretty shotty comapred to lawsoc also lawsoc gets a lot more funding. firms are reluctant to fund comsoc because commerce represents anithing from marketing, to hospitality to economics to accounting. if ur an accounting firm, you would be reluctant to give money to comsoc because how would u know that ur chanelling ur money to accounting students ONLY?

in addition, comsoc is mainly social based whereas lawsoc is a lot more spread out with more career orientated focus.

as for elections, yeah its a bit screwed up. its def hard to be an RO, and matt is doing as good of a job as he possibly can, though its not easi to act impartial all the time.

in terms of teams. both teams have good candidates and shit ones. but the candidates are in the teams due to their circle of friends or *support base*. one side is guild backed (with the face of non-guild candidates) and the other team is bound by their hate of guild and honkies who only speak in canto. but yeah its sad how capable dancdidates cant unite together and work together based on a common goal to better comsoc, but yeah you cant blame them, cuz after all the allegations and fabrications some candidates are contemplating bodily harm on its oppositions ahha

uni politics is petty though. compared to lawsoc, comsoc is sorta like a bunch of kids in the playground throwing sunnyboy and ham sandwhiches at each other, maximum noise and little substance.



minai - guess who is doing eco comp next year? ahhaha

 

[Shawny]

mat's doing as good a job as one can do in his position, big thumbs up to him

thank god theres only 48hours left before University COMMunity can reclaim the commerce courtyard.

in summary

comsoc electoins= friend vs friend

guild elections= whites vs asians

token democracy sucks

 

[Harimau]

mat's doing as good a job as one can do in his position, big thumbs up to him

thank god theres only 48hours left before University COMMunity can reclaim the commerce courtyard.

in summary

comsoc electoins= friend vs friend

guild elections= whites vs asians

token democracy sucks

We can hope so anyway...

A recurring nightmare of mine for the last four nights has been that when the votes are counted, they are split 50% exactly for each side. I've woken up abruptly with cold sweat everytime i have that dream. >_<

 

[mr_shittles]

We can hope so anyway...

A recurring nightmare of mine for the last four nights has been that when the votes are counted, they are split 50% exactly for each side. I've woken up abruptly with cold sweat everytime i have that dream. >_<

It was 50.6% to 49.4% on Friday's interim count. Clear as mud. Can't be 50/50, go back to sleep!

 

[Harimau]

It was 50.6% to 49.4% on Friday's interim count. Clear as mud. Can't be 50/50, go back to sleep!

That alone made me unable to sleep on friday night. I can't imagine what will happen to me if it becomes 50/50 on tuesday. I think i'll commit suicide if that happens.