There was confusion at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Central Societies Committee (CSC) at the end of last month when the wrong candidates were mistakenly announced as elected before being promptly unelected.
According to those present at the AGM, the results were incorrectly read in reverse order so that the candidates with the least amount of votes were thought to have won their respective races.
Shortly thereafter, it was announced that a mistake had been made and the correct winners were announced.
Speaking to Trinity News, one society treasurer who was present at the event said: “They had basically inverted it. So in races where there were three people, the person who they had read out had actually come third, not first. So it all got flipped.”
“It was quite an intense moment. The whole room was like ‘Oh my goodness’”, the treasurer added.
The CSC has not responded to Trinity News’ request for comment.
Following the mix up, Faith Olopade was elected CSC Chair. Olapade, a third year Computer Science student currently serves as an ordinary member on the CSC executive.
Henry James, who is also a current ordinary member of the executive, was elected Treasurer. While Jack Palmer was elected Secretary and Conor Grimes was elected Amenities Officer.
Martha Ryan, Anna Sawicka, Bernice Guerrero, Leah Weldon, Conor Casey, Rachel Doyle, Fáolan Doeke-Launders, and Florentina Chelaru were elected as ordinary members of the CSC Executive Committee.
The CSC is the College body responsible for the funding and recognition of societies on campus.
This year, A record-high nine societies were granted provisional recognition by the CSC for Hillary term, including three societies who were previously derecognised.
DU Dance, PoolSoc and the Geographical Society (GeogSoc), who were derecognised after failing to submit accounts for two years, were among 14 who applied for recognition by the CSC.To be provisionally recognised, a society must present a petition with 200 staff and student signatures to the CSC.
Provisional recognition by the CSC lasts for eighteen months. Provisional societies are eligible for grants, excluding travel fees and room expenses. To gain full recognition, societies must submit accounts of the income and expenditure of at least one year, a secretary’s report for the same period, a constitution and evidence showing that the society has 50 or more fully paid-up members.
