New Executive Committee at the Student Parliament

– For the second year in a row, it has been up to Moderat Gruppe to find a female candidate for the Executive Committee, says Lene Camilla Westgaard from Moderat Gruppe (MG), the departing University Board Member.

The two board member positions must be filled by one woman and one man, and last year Westgaard too received the place due to the quota regulations. She is very likely followed by MG’s Camilla Strandskog who, due to the same requirements is preferred over MG’s original candidate to the position, Per Øyvind Voie.

Westgaard suspects foul play from Sosialdemokratene (SD) and Venstrealliansen (VA), together with Grøn Liste (GL).

– The irony is that VA and SD, who strongly advocate the quota system, never put forward female candidates, Westgaard claims.

Disagrees

Venstrealliansen’s Johan Brox does not see the irony.

– We have a longstanding tradition of promoting good female candidates, says Brox, and points to the work they did last year when they worked to get Lina Johanne Strand as President of the Student Parliament.

Torkel Nybakk Kvaal does not agree with Westgaard’s statements either.

– I cannot see where Westgaard is going with this. MG was just interested in the position as university board member, and chose the seat over the person. They are not in a position where they can pick and choose.

– Challenge

Departing President of the Student Parliament, Lina Johanne Strand, does not know why there seems to be a greater barrier for women to aim for the position as university board member than for men.

– Some of the reason behind this must be attributed to the gender roles in the society at large, while other reasons are more to do with the character of the Student Parliament and the Executive Committee. At present, it is simply more common among male student politicians to aim for a position in the Executive Committee. We need to face up to the challenge and tell women in the Student Parliament that this is an exciting job, she says.

Voie from MG denies that he is disappointed with having to give up the position in favour of Strandskog.

– Naturally I would love to work for the University Board, but I am certain that the people who are elected will do a very good job. I don’t fell that I lost this due to quota regulations, and will do my best to back them up while I’m a part of the Parliament.

Skipenes takes the lead

Heine Skipenes from Fakultetslistene will take over as President, while Signhild Stave Samulesen from GL takes over as Executive of Educational Affairs. Ola André Gjerde from SD becomes Executive of International Affaris, while Strandskog becomes University Board Member together with VA’s Thomas Tallaksen. The position as Vice-President will be decided internally. Nevertheless, Skipenes is ready to take on his new responsibilities:

– I can’t wait to get started, he says.

Camilla Strandskog was not available for comments when Universitas went to print.