QUT Guild remains without a president after the president-elect Carmen Martinez Harris stepped down before accepting the position on Tuesday.
The Student Representative Council (SRC) held a council meeting on May 22 in which the casual vacancy for president was addressed following Aaron Bui’s resignation.
Five candidates ran for the role, and following an SRC vote, Harris was elected as president.
The new SRC members began inductions on Monday and it was after this induction and in-person discussions with current SRC members that Harris notified QUT Guild she wouldn’t be accepting the role.
Harris said it wasn’t an easy choice to decline the role. She ultimately made her decision after considering her other commitments.
“I had to really assess where I was in this current moment, what my future plans were going to look like and what I had on my plate,” said Harris.
“Something was going to have to give.”
Harris said she felt she wasn’t going to be able to give 100% to the role.
“It sort of just hit me like a wave of realisation that it would be selfish. Ultimately, it would be selfish for me to take on a role I would have to split my attention and my focus constantly,” Harris explained.
When asked if she had a message for the students of QUT, Harris emphasised the importance there it is for students to engage with the Guild if they want to see change.
“You can invoke change and put it forward. The Guild is ready to listen to the things you want different and what you want to change.
“The voice you have matters. The ideas, the ambitions and the things you find unfair matter to someone.”
Following Harris’ withdrawal, QUT Guild has appointed Secretary Sebastian Page as the interim president after he was elected to secretary just over a week ago in the same meeting as Harris.
“It definitely came as a bit of a surprise. We weren’t really expecting it,” said Page.
Page says he is not too worried about taking on the presidential responsibilities over this assessment period.
Page will hold the role of interim president until an election can be held at the next council meeting on June 19.
If you wanna run for president or seek more information, follow QUT Guild’s socials for any announcements and DM the Guild Instagram account if you have any questions.
