Sabbatical elections up and running

BOB JORDAN, deputy president of USI, and Colman Byrne, president of the DIT students' union DITSU will contest the presidency of USI this year when current president Colm Keaveney steps down after three years in the national union.

Both Jordan and Byrne had been widely tipped to run for the office of president. Jordan was USI's union development, officer last year and is a graduate of both UCD and DIT Kevin Street. Byrne is now in his second term as overall president of DITSU and is a former convener of the students union of the DIT College of Marketing and Design.

Nominations for the five other full time officer positions in USI also closed at the weekend. Noeleen Hartigan, USI's welfare officer for the past two years and a former welfare officer in UCD students' union, will contest the position of vice president with Eugene Lyons, president of the students' union in Tralee RTC.

Helen Ryan, convenor of the students' union in DIT Kevin Street, is the sole candidate for welfare officer in USI. Fiona McAuley, USI's current women's rights officer, was nominated for the position but her name was withdrawn.

Three candidates will contest the position of education officer. The first, Ollie Moody, is currently USI's western area convenor and is a former UCG student. Malcolm Byrne is a postgraduate student of law in UCD, a former education officer in UCD students' union and is, at present, development officer for that union. Finally, Matthew O'Callaghan is vice president of Cork RTC students' union.

Two candidates will run for the post of union development officer. They are Dermot Quain, president of Limerick RTC students' union, and Eoin O Cathain, president of the students' union in Portobello College, Dublin. He is the first student from a private college to run for an officer position in USI.

Finally, Kelly O'Dowd, women's rights officer in Queen's University, Belfast, is the only candidate for the position of women's rights officer in USI. Voting for the WRO position takes place at USI's Women Congress on March 8th. All other positions will be voted on at USI's National Congress, which is being held in Galway from March 21st-24th.