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We’d Vletter Get a New Candidate!

Friday 18th March 2011 in Elections, Lead articles
12 Comments.

Just a week after elections results night, Michael de Vletter (pictured above, left) has stood down as Education Officer-Elect, having received a superior job offer which couldn’t be deferred.

De Vletter, who was the only candidate for Education Officer, stated “I had always thought that if it was between the job and Education, I would always take Education. I thought that right up until my phone rang saying I was successful (in the job application), and as soon as you hear those words, everything changes.”

“I hope people run in the by-election, and I look forward to seeing the results”, he said.

A by-election was already set to take place as there were no candidates for the position of Black and Minority Ethnic Officer, and nominations will be opening for both positions soon. “It’s always a massive shame when you lose an Exec Officer-elect”, Democracy and Communications Officer George Wright said, “but there will hopefully be a successful by-election with multiple candidates.”

Dave Jackson

Comments









  1. NUTS
    March 18th, 2011 at 14:16

    NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

    We’ll miss you, MDV. :’(

  2. Will Bickford Smith
    March 18th, 2011 at 14:29

    Real shame to see MDV pull out as he would have been a fantastic education officer.

    Hopefully some new people will put their names forward for the role. I’d really encourage anyone interested to come and chat with me. It really is one of the most influential roles on the Exec and you get a real level of responsibility, regularly representing 33,000 students on University committees. Anyone interested should get in touch with me at: sueducation@nottingham.ac.uk

  3. Charlie Sheen
    March 18th, 2011 at 15:27

    What is the superior job?

  4. Andy
    March 18th, 2011 at 16:26

    Always think this is really poor when an election winner. Unless you are absolutely sure you want the role, over a job offer, you shouldn’t run.

  5. RBarham
    March 18th, 2011 at 17:04

    Wot a pun

  6. Matt
    March 18th, 2011 at 17:56

    Noooo! MDV would have made an amazing Education Officer!

    Sad, sad times! :(

  7. Rupert
    March 18th, 2011 at 20:18

    What an absolute disgrace. He campaigned for two weeks, and then ducked out because he got a job offer? Just proves how much hot air he spoke in the two weeks of the campaign. Surely he knew that if he got the job he would accept it? He should not have led students on in that way.

    I personally voted for Michael- I thought he was a fantastic candidate, and that this is a real shame.

  8. Anon
    March 19th, 2011 at 10:31

    Though this is a huge shame, it was clearly a very difficult decision for Michael to come to. If he’s been offered his dream job without the chance to defer then how many of us wouldn’t do the same?

  9. MDV
    March 19th, 2011 at 13:15

    Hi all,

    I would just like to add that I did not take this decision lightly and am genuinely devastated that I am no longer Exec-elect. I knew this would be a possibility, but honestly thought I would choose Education. But faced with two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and only 24 hours to decide, I had to consider a number of things.

    I chose the job for the security it offered me, and the knowledge that I could grow to resent being Education Officer as a result of turning that security down. However, I feel awful and can only apologise to all those that supported me and voted for me.

    The fact that I campaigned solidly for two weeks, despite being uncontested, I hope shows my passion for the Union. Were I to have been contested this decision would have been all the more difficult.

    All I can hope for is that we see a number of competent candidates running in the by-election and that, without my imposing on them, the winner will allow me to share some of my ideas with them and accept my support as a current Faculty Coordinator.

  10. Mark
    March 19th, 2011 at 13:51

    What a shame, it seemed to MDV had a lot to give to the position and some great ideas of how to reform the education network. Lets hope there is someone else out there that feels they can do the job, although based on the fact no one else nominated themselves for the elections the first time around, I imagine the chances of that being slim.

  11. Anon
    March 20th, 2011 at 14:06

    There were at least two people that I know of who were going to run for Education, but didn’t because they found out Mdv was and knew that he was a fantastic candidate, so I’m pretty confident that these people will now take the opportunity to run in a by-election. It’s good that the position was originally uncontested in a way, because it means that someone else didn’t spend two weeks campaigning their socks off, to then lose, to then see Mdv step down.

    It’s a real shame that this has happened, as he will be a huge loss to the Union, but I don’t think anyone can blame him for the decision he made, or criticise him for making a job-application and running for exec at the same time.

  12. Francois Truffles
    March 21st, 2011 at 13:55

    The IMPACT election curse strikes again…