In a statement during the UCDSU 2024 Executive Elections Hustings, the returning officer announced that the current Business College Officer Simon Van Beek, running for the role of Graduate Officer, has officially withdrawn from the race.
During the UCDSU 2024 Executive Elections Hustings, held in the student center Atrium, the returning officer announced that current Business College Officer, Simon Van Beek, withdrew from the Graduate Officer race. Since the announcement, the candidate stated that he withdrew from the election due to the "bias-driven harassment".
The candidate has not publicly expressed the motive for his withdrawal. His absence leaves Kylie McCardel as the sole candidate for the role of Graduate Officer.
The candidate's comments about the union's stance on Gaza and his own have been heavily scrutinized since the release of sabbatical race profiles earlier this week. He had initially criticized the Union’s response to the Gazan crisis, formally arguing against a mandate for Palestinian solidarity within the union and saying: "the truth [about the crisis] is somewhere in the middle”. Since then, the candidate claims to have reviewed his stance and called for both a statement from the university and a ceasefire.
The UCD Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement group had voiced their plans to interrogate the candidate about his statement during the 2024 UCDSU Executive hustings.
This story is being updated.