Four students have so far announced their intention to run for the position of Auditor of the 161st session of the Literary and Historical Society (L&H). The four confirmed candidates are Grattan Aikins, Lucy Murphy, Joanna O’Malley and Conor Rock. There is the possibility that further students may announce their intention to contest the election.
All four confirmed candidates are committee members of the society’s 160th session. Aikins is the current Honorary Librarian. Murphy is Senior Committee Member, and O’Malley is the Public Relations Officer (PRO). Conor Rock is the Honorary Correspondence Secretary, and also serves as Arts Convenor for UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU).
The L&H is UCD’s biggest student society, with membership of approximately 6,400 students for the current academic year. An election day to choose the next auditor has not yet been confirmed, as of going to print.
Several candidates spoke to the University Observer about their reasons for running. Rock, a second year Arts student has said he aims to “open the society up to people who wouldn’t have traditionally got involved and to improve the standard of competitive debating.”
O’Malley, a second year Science student, is also aiming to make the society more inclusive. “I see the society as having a huge amount of potential to get involved with everybody on campus. We’re not a faculty society, we’re for everyone and there is so much potential to do more.” Aikins, third year History and Economics, hopes to “hold more events that will appeal to our members who do not debate competitively, especially by expanding training programmes and improving social events.”
The auditorial elections for the L&H and their rival debating society UCD LawSoc are usually a high profile affair, as candidates campaign across campus and place election posters all across UCD. No candidates have yet announced their intention to run for UCD LawSoc’s elections.