The UK’s SouthBest West’s Best Publication Student Publication The Student 2023
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ISSUE 769 26 MAR 2025 exepose.com @exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Students speak out: low election turnout raises doubts over Guild’s future Students struggle with inconsistent AI policies Page 3
Image: University of Exeter Students’ Guild
Gracie Moore Editor-in-Chief
EXCLUSIVE
‘I don’t need therapy, I need a revolution’ Page 24
Multilingual article — Gender equality in the Netherlands Page 27
Images (top to bottom): University of Exeter, Fred Murphy, DG EMPL via Flickr
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N the 14th March, the results of the Students’ Guild elections for the 2025/26 Guild Officers were announced with 3,043 students casting 19,049 votes over four days — a 9.7 per cent turnout from the student body. The six positions that were up for election were Guild President, Education Officer, Societies and Employability Officer, Student Living Officer and Sports President. Seb Racisz collected 51.5 per cent of the votes for Guild President at 1,304, meaning he narrowly won the presidency over Kobby Boakye-Dankwe’s 1,141 votes. In his campaign, Seb mentioned that his most crucial goal will be to continue amplifying student voices, improving transparency and making the union more accessible and responsive to the needs of all students. Elsewhere, Francis Steptoe was elected from the three Education Officer nominations, with 828 of the first preference votes going to him (38.5 per cent) and Gemma Veal will be the next Societies and Employabilities Officer, collecting 1,292 of the 2,057 votes cast in the ballot (62.8 per cent). Kira Brookes has been re-elec-
ted as next year’s Student Living Officer after having worked for a year in the role. 60.6 per cent of all votes cast went to them (1,229 out of 2,027). The role with the most nominations was the Communities and Equality Officer. Five candidates campaigned for the role with Rose Arhin being named next year’s officer. After first preferences were taken into account, RON (Re-open Nominations) was excluded followed by Zach Smith, Kady Byrne and Dougie Barber respectively. After this, Rose had 853 votes against Olivia Williams’s 712, meaning Rose won. Finally, there was only one candidate for Sports President, Chloe Whitworth, who won 1,850 votes against 151 who voted to re-open nominations. This means Chloe will be next year’s Sports President, falling back into the role after a year in post. Questions have been raised as to the low turnout of voters in the Students’ Guild elections. Exeposé launched a journo request for students as to whether they voted in the elections or not, and their reasons for this decision. When asked the reasons why students didn’t vote, some stated it was “completely pointless” and “the candidates were too woke and making points I don’t believe affect education but personal beliefs and aims.” Many also discussed the Guild website as being part of the problem with one stating: “I tried to
vote but I found the website very difficult to navigate as I was flicking between agendas and voting pages. I also found it hard to find much out about the candidates and didn’t feel strongly about any of them.” Some of the respondents mentioned that they didn’t believe it was important to vote in the elections, with some stating: “they do nothing. They are people who have pens and paper who get paid £26,000 for the privilege. And holidays. Sorry, I mean ‘educational’ trips abroad.” Another expressed their concerns about the election process itself, saying “the Guild Officers don’t do anything meaningful and they’re all the same. Plus they’re not allowed to mention specific policies they’d employ in their manifestoes. The Guild blocks them from doing anything but be faces on the DH1 walls.” Speaking on recent society news, one student also said: “everyone I have spoken to about the elections seems to feel completely hopeless that anything will change, especially in light of recent events with Freedom Society.” Despite this, many students believed it was important to cast their votes. On the importance of the vote, one student said: “It’s about who will represent us and what they can do for us,” with another saying “voting gives students the power to influence future decision making on campus by selecting canidadates who will make
the changes that students want.” A spokesperson for the Students’ Guild said: “This year, we did things differently. Change Week created more ways for students to shape their experience — whether through voting, sharing feedback in the Big Guild Survey, joining campus activities or celebrating changemakers at our Fun Fair. “9.72 per cent of students cast 19,000 votes this year, ensuring student voices shape Guild decision-making. Your Elected Officers work throughout the year to drive change on issues that matter to you — improving assessments, making campus more accessible, advocating for better housing, and running awareness campaigns like LGBTQ+ and Disability History Month. Their work is shaped by student voices, advisory boards, research and direct collaboration on projects like making campus food more inclusive. “While we always want to see more voters, we know that representation is about more than just elections to ensure your voices are heard throughout the year. To do this, we know our representation model needs to evolve. That’s why we’re creating new paid opportunities for students to represent their communities in more diverse, relevant and impactful ways. Change is coming, and we’re excited to share more soon.”