In response to Pulse’s request for a clarification regarding a claim that the democratic process as per section 19.1 of the KSU statute was not adhered to in relation to the election of KSU Education Commissioner, earlier this afternoon Kunsill Student Universitarji issued the following Press Release:
Following the statement issued by the student organisation Pulse, the KSU Education Office is publishing the below clarification regarding the Education Commission’s meeting held yesterday, Monday 25th April 2016. During the said meeting, an election was held to elect the incoming Education Commissioner for the term 16/17.
Prior to the commencement of the election, Mr Matthew Bonello, the current KSU Education Commissioner, explained the entire electoral process to the Student Representatives present, and all proxy forms received were read out. After the first round of voting, a Student Representative on the Senate, approached both the KSU Education Commissioner and KSU Education Co-ordinator, stating that he was entitled to another vote as he was also a Faculty of Law Student Representative.
At that point in time, it was immediately explained that since no resignation letters were received, neither from the allegedly resigned Student Representative, nor from the Registrar’s Office, the Student Representative in question was still a member of the Commission and thus had a right to forward a proxy form and vote in the election. The Student Representative claiming to be entitled to another vote, also stated that he had gotten elected in the last Student Representative elections held in February 2016. At this point it was further explained to him that Student Representatives who were elected in February were not entitled to a vote as their term officially starts in May 2016.
At this stage, both the KSU Education Commissioner and the KSU Education Co-ordinator, asked whether there were any further questions or clarifications regarding this issue and no further questions were brought up.
With regards to the updated list of Students Representatives, the KSU Education Office is in constant contact with the Office of the Registrar to make sure that all elected Student Representatives are included in our mailing list, so as to keep in touch about any upcoming meetings and events. However, the Office of the Registrar does not pass on any sensitive information pertaining to the Student Representative, including email addresses, as this is prohibited under the Data Protection Act. The above-mentioned Student Representative that claimed to have replaced the alleged resigned Student Representative, could also have brought this issue up in the previous two KE Meetings- one held in February and the other in March. However this Student Representative did not show up for these last 2 meetings.
The KSU Education Office has strived throughout this past year to further strengthen the voice of Student Representatives and push for more promotion of the Student Representative elections to ensure that the student body is truly represented. The KE Standing Orders were also sent out two weeks prior to the meeting, as stipulated by the KSU Statute, so as to allow any student representatives to raise any questions they may have had.
Matthew Bonello
KSU Education Commissioner