On Thursday October 16th, hustings for the sabbatical officer by-election took place in the Agricultural Science building. The event saw ENTs Officer candidate Luke Sherlock and Campaigns & Engagements Officer candidates Kelvyn Fields and Rajul Bhitre face questions from the UCDSU returning officer, student media and students.
The event, attended by roughly twenty five people, began with Luke Sherlock vying for his position. Kelvyn Fields and Rajul Bhitre then gave speeches in support of their campaign, followed by questions from the audience. To finish, the candidates had the opportunity to ask each other questions.
Luke Sherlock
Sherlock was the first to speak and opened his speech mentioning the various events he has planned for the remainder of the academic year. These include a charity 5-a-side, regular cooking classes and an “Irish night” which would spotlight Irish culture such as trad and folk music, and a student art gallery. His focus is on engaging with “underrepresented students in UCD”.
When asked why he didn’t run for the SU the first time round he responded that he was “having a mare at the time, and couldn’t really do much”. On his proposed cooking classes, Sherlock revealed that he has discussed it with “a friend working in fine dining” and a nutrition professor who is “really keen on providing good nutritional meals”.
He has centred his campaign around achievable events, though he only launched his campaign in the hour preceding hustings. When asked by a member of the University Observer whether students can be confident in his ability to organise and advertise events considering his campaign in the least advertised so far, he pointed to the fact that he is “uncontested”.
He was also asked about the lack of spaces for societies on campus, and how this has led to competition between societies, to which he responded; “I’ve no idea, sure I’ll think about it in a bit” and stated that the issue sounds “pretty dire”.
One of his main objectives is to change the times events are on so that commuters are able to attend. The SU Education Officer noted that an Ents Survey has been conducted, and asked what he would do differently, to which Sherlock responded that “using data is one thing, constant data is another”. Sherlock was also questioned about his plans for UCDSU’s biggest event annually, UCD Ball but replied that he “would need to be elected to be able to give you a better statement on that”. When asked what his overall vision for the role is, he replied “Engagement, you know?”. Sherlock used his closing speech purely to plug his Instagram.
Kelvyn Fields
Kelvyn Fields thinks students should vote for him because of his experience. As someone who has been in UCD since 2019 he has been auditor for both UCD’s History Soc and the UCD Volunteers Overseas Student Society. He wants to ‘really politicise the union’ and is ‘passionate about politics and has been for a long time.’ Fields was an active member of the student Palestine movement as a member of UCD BDS and was present at both the UCD and Trinity encampment. He is a member of United Against Racism and Comhlámh. He emphasises that he knows how UCD operates. In his own words ‘it’s not my first time at the rodeo.’
In terms of concrete policies, Fields wants to host regular town halls in order to engage with students. His plan is to model the halls on TD constituency meetings so students can come and speak with him. He plans to relaunch the student action group for housing, SUAGH, and has also proposed a dedicated anti-transphobia policy for the Union.
When asked about why he didn't run for the position originally, Fields, similarly to the other candidates, cited the heavy workload he was facing as a masters student. Now having finished his studies, he said he has the time now to focus on the role.
Fields was asked by a UO reporter that ‘given you’ll be starting the role more than halfway through semester one, how can you be confident in achieving these ambitious goals?’ and whether he could list three things he would achieve throughout his tenure.
Fields agreed that his manifesto was ambitious and admitted that it leant towards buzzwords but said that considering his manifesto and previous SU campaigns officer Hazen E. Griffin’s were quite similar, he would be able to build on his work. He also said that he had a larger more detailed manifesto yet to be published.
When asked by a student about an issue they had with a housing complaint, Fields said that solving small issues and big issues were not mutually exclusive. For Fields, achieving his aims is about ‘pressure, pressure, pressure’ and protesting in a very real sense. ‘If they [UCD] won’t play fair, then we won’t either.’ He also promised to use direct action tactics to force bus companies to run more services for students.
Fields has promised to implement UCD BDS policies in the union. When asked about how he would actually make UCD exclude Israel from the Horizon Europe Project, a project UCD has little control over, he referenced the recent Palestine protest and walkout on UCD. For Field’s it is a national and international effort. ‘We’re not just asking UCD to kick Israel out - its with us as a university, universities across Ireland and across Europe. We have to get the ball rolling, thats what the walkout was for today.’
Rajul Bhitre
Rajul Bhitre, having finished a masters in Philosophy and Literature, is running on a platform of “Student life shouldn’t be an oxymoron”. Rajul is focused on concrete and achievable goals. These are centered around addressing the parts of student life that students are being priced off.
In terms of on campus changes, she will endeavour to set up bookable study hubs and greater access to power outlets for students, to help address some of the common frustrations of students. A capstone of her campus policies is starting a ‘Union on the Ground Initiative’. This will involve Students Union officers out on the campus actively engaging with the student to help address concerns, by talking to students at ‘non-traditional’ SU locations, such as by Bus Stops, the Village, and the Lake.
To further aid in addressing the concerns of the Student body, she wants to launch a ‘Have Your Say’ portal on the SU website so that students can log complaints, petitions and mandates easily with the Union. Speaking on campus accommodation in UCD being the most expensive in Ireland, Rajul “will lobby the university” to help address the severe management and cost issues. The lobbying will also extend to trying to improve the transportation issues, by lobbying for improvements with the buses where students need them.
In her closing speech, Rajul reiterated that she is not one for talk, but for action, and will not cower from taking on the massive fights, as well as ensuring the smaller issues facing students still get the attention they need.
Head-To-Head
To finish the event, candidates were given the opportunity to ask each other questions. Bhitre was the first to be offered the chance, but said she had nothing in mind. Fields then urged her to ask a question, as he wanted the opportunity to ask her one. Despite Bhitre not asking anything, Fields did take the chance to ask his opponent why she hasn't engaged with UCDBDS. She replied, “My knowledge regarding Palestine is a bit restricted, I need to educate myself more on that. I’ve not been actively engaging but if elected I will definitely do that. I’ve not directly engaged in protests as I was swamped with academics”.
Sherlock then took the opportunity to ask Fields how he would engage with ENTs. Fields acknowledged that he’s committed to working with the other sabbatical officers, but that working with the ENTs officer on events wouldn’t be his priority. He jokingly replied, “It’s hard to foresee how I could be playing a really instrumental part in a piss up in the clubhouse.”
Voting is scheduled to take place on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2025. The elections will take place by way of online voting only. Results will be announced on 24th October 2025.
Contributing writers: Aaron Ó Muircheartaigh, Aidan O’Sullivan, Alice Keegan, Adam Schmitz