Life of an Executive Officer appears to have many sides. On the one hand, we see smiling people drawing promo materials on the ground. On the other hand, the behind-the-scenes appear to be filled with anonymous threats and abuse.
During last Friday's hustings, which can be watched here, the candidates for each of the Executive roles answered questions asked by the student community. The three aspirants for the Presidential role, Nyasha Mutembwa, Josh Sutcliffe and Jake Mace, were asked about the experience they have that makes them suitable for the role. While they all mentioned their collaboration with various societies and University's committees in the past, the candidate Josh Sutcliffe, this year's Vice-President of Student Activities, provided us with an insight into the unpleasant realities of being on the Exec:
"You receive abuse online. You receive hate mail. You get 2am drunken messages from people who you barely know, or people you are close to saying that they hate your guts because of the things that you haven't actually done but your Association [DUSA] stands for. "[...] When it gets to the point when your non-sabs [the volunteering Executive officers] don't want to go to class anymore because they're scared to seat shoulder to shoulder with the people writing these messages, you know you have a problem."
It is not the first time that the Execs report falling victim to anonymous threats or allegations. The culture of Dunfess has long ago eclipsed the now recovering quality student journalism in our city. To help us create reliable source of information for Dundee students, join our Digital News team here.
Marcin Kielczewski