The DoRep presents us with quite possibly the most unpredictable battle for all of the SABB roles. While the DoES and DoSDA are both two-horse races, the fact there are four highly qualified candidates only makes the decision even harder.

Jack Carr has been an active member of the student community, acting as the President of the School of History. Carr has placed particular focus in his manifesto at looking to address the stress places on students that have particular health issues. All of Carr’s policies are very sensible and seem relatively achievable, he does however present a lot of ideas in his manifesto without following up with explicit plans on how he aims to achieve them.

Joshua Gumbley has served as a senior student at McIntosh and as a class representative, which, like Carr, make him experiences in dealing with students and their needs. One point that STAR thinks particularly impressive is Gumbley’s policy on exam feedback. Gumbley wants better exam feedback so students can see improvements in exam situations over the duration of their time at University. Gumbley also wants to assess how the University deals in regards to mental health issues, he proposes the idea of a full-time professional to help the situation. Gumbley’s ideas are certainly innovative and make for good reading, he suffers from what Carr struggles in too. Both struggle with exact plans that outline how all of these policies will be completed during their time.

Fallon Sheffield is the third candidate running for DoRep. Sheffield too has a lot of relevant experience in regards to student representation having served as LGBT Officer, a role that has seen her gain vast experience with the inner working of the Union. Sheffield wants to have an open door policy that will encourage all students to speak about their problems. Sheffield places particular emphasis on minority groups too and will aim to make opportunities to these groups more readily available.

Last but by no means least is Joe Tantillo, or JoeRep if you go by his catchy social media campaign (although Carr’s ‘Back Jack’ is quite good too). Tantillo is the current Association Chair which gives him an advantage into the inner works of how the Union is run and the rules and regulations attached to the job. Tantillo wants a better advising system, where each student has an advisor for their four years while at University. Tantillo also emphasises the need for more study space and speaks briefly on Reading Week, while both are good policies they appear to be nothing more than buzzwords at this point unfortunately. Tantillo’s is probably the widest manifesto of he four that addresses a large plethora of factors, again, whether all of this is possible is to be seen.

The race for DoRep will be closer than any of the previous elections we have seen. With four extremely serious and equally credible candidates, STAR couldn’t even try and predict at the minute who is the current favourite is. Only time will tell.