After a thrilling election period which saw three women candidates running against each other for the first time in 99 years, we can announce that the UJS President 2019-2020 is Esther Offenberg from Birmingham J-Soc!
The President-elect said: ‘Thank you to everyone who voted, everyone who was by my side throughout these elections and also thank you to Lauren and Joanna for being such great candidates and running incredible campaigns. This election year already started off great with the first of having all female candidates and in the year to come I am excited to see more regional work with our campuses, having more student led initiatives surrounding mental health, celebrating all of our identities and so much more. I am looking forward to implementing my manifesto and working with our student community to shape our Union, so we continue to be the best voice of Jewish students we can be.’
Watch the announcement of the winner and Esther’s winning speech on our Facebook page!
Our current President Hannah Rose said:
‘Congratulations to Esther on her election! I am proud to have a woman successor, leading, defending and enriching Jewish life on campus in the 100th year of UJS!
I would also like to congratulate the other two candidates, their teams and all the Jewish students who participated in this election. It is so inspiring to see almost 1000 Jewish students engaging in our democracy, having their say and shaping their union. Every year, UJS conference shows that our student community cares about what we do, and proves this by engaging in the debates at conference. We have passed some incredible motions this year, and I have no doubt the President-elect will do a great job implementing these in her mandate. We will continue to work to be unified and not uniform, using our diversity as our strength and celebrating Jewish life on campus’
This is the breakdown of the votes:
Round 1:
Lauren 414
Esther 464
Joanna 83
RON 18
Round 2:
Lauren 418
Esther 471
Joanna 86
Round 3
Lauren 445
Esther 500
Find out more about:
- The motions debated at this years conference
- The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP