November 2017 saw elections for the position of rector at Aberdeen. As a full time job representing students to the University court, the role is usually occupied by graduates rather than students, but this was no ordinary election.
Candidates included previous rector Maggie Chapman, singer and charity worker Fiona Kennedy, Conservative Party member Andrew Bowie and notoriously opinionated student Angus Hepburn. Aside from mass condemnation of Angus for his alleged homophobic and transphobic views, the campaigning and voting period seemed relatively uneventful.
However, weeks after the initial vote, we had no update. Emails circulated about “irregularities in the campaigning process”, but we’d been assured we’d get the results promptly. After two weeks of radio silence, the election was declared null and void. Kennedy, Hepburn and Bowie had raised concerns about the behaviour of Chapman’s campaigning team. A hearing found that the Returning Officer, who issued the annulment, should have given Chapman’s team time to refute the allegations. Nevertheless, the Elections Committee had sufficient evidence that posters had been deliberately removed or covered up.
Consequently, the void results were never announced and a new election took place - this time with more controversy.
Andrew Bowie dropped out and in his place stood Israr Khan and solicitor James Steel. Declaring to protect ethnic minorities and LGBTQ rights, Khan instantly became the favourable student candidate. Steel had run previously in 2014, and still had the same, somewhat rushed, campaign using cardboard posters. Despite this, he was a respectable candidate.
In the following weeks, another candidate emerged – Buttons the cat. This famous feline even appeared on The Independent. His slogan, ‘Cats Not Beaurocrats’ struck a chord with the disillusioned students. Sadly, the Elections Committee ruled that Buttons could not run for rector.
In a controversial move, Buttons began to show distaste for Israr Khan, who he accused of using “dirty tricks” after posting an Instagram picture of himself and the cat, and sending private messages to Buttons asking for support.
Buttons’ unusual amount of aggression towards Israr – with several paragraphs of criticism and comments targeting Israr’s campaign- did not match Buttons’ words about Angus, an alleged homophobe and racist, which were brief and unspecific. Arguably, Buttons did bring some unique opportunities to Aberdeen students, one noble chance to protest bureaucracy, and one slightly less noble chance to argue with an online cat about his lack of condemnation of homophobia.
At Aberdeen University Student Association’s annual general meeting, a friend of Angus’ proposed the elimination of safe spaces (i.e spaces in which members of minority groups can speak freely about their experiences). This proposal gave us the opportunity to experience the unique views of a proud member of the Aberdeen University Free Speech Society. His cringe-worthy speech, read fresh from what looked like Facebook Messenger, legitimately included words such as “thought police” and described the world in which he can’t be racist and homophobic as “totalitarian”.
Unsurprisingly, he was thoroughly ridiculed. After the motion’s overwhelming rejection, Angus wasn’t happy. Yelling about how unfair it was, and how stupid everyone in the room was for not letting him be bigoted, he stormed out of the AGM making noises I can only liken to supervillain-esque screaming. As well as being terrifying, his tantrum after not getting his own way demonstrated his lack of maturity.
Yet he remained a candidate for the rectorial elections.
At the hustings, students had their chances to ask candidates questions. After being asked about gender-neutral bathrooms, Angus delivered his ill-informed opinion that it was in the interests of men and women to be protected from the “dangerous ideology” of transgender people needing the toilet. He also repeatedly clapped over Chapman’s speech and justified it by accusing her of “talking overtime”.
For other candidates, the hustings wasn’t all bad– Khan had a chance to demonstrate his experience as an international student, Steel demonstrated his passion for the university, and Chapman showcased her previous achievements as rector. After over an hour of questioning, the candidates were dismissed and voting began.
Thankfully, the results were released promptly. Champan reclaimed her role, with Khan coming in second place. Online however, Hepburn’s was not finished. Describing the campaign as a ‘battle’ and Chapman as ‘evil’, Hepburn called upon his fellow candidates (in a now deleted Facebook status) to join his fight for ‘real change’ and ensure that ‘Maggie and her maggots’ did not destroy the university.
After the ridiculousness of a campaign involving a cat and an alleged transphobe, it’s easy to get lost in the idea that our voices aren’t heard. In some ways, particularly demonstrated by the University providing false information about the strikes, allegedly assaulting students and poorly handling domestic abuse, the University has far to go before it can claim that it supports students. But in other ways, like the open condemnation of Angus for his bigotry, the rejection of a motion to repeal safe spaces, and ongoing Cut the Rent campaign – it is clear students within the university can join together to support both each other and themselves.
