– No Comment!

The General Board is the governing body of SiO. At the end of the day, the four student politicians on this Board of eight members decide because they enjoy majority through the Chairman’s casting vote. For instance, they may decide to sell Bjerke Student Village, increase the semester fee to NOK 5000 and provide free kindergartens for all students with children. Furthermore, the Chairman has, through the majority-deciding casting vote, a good chance of setting the political agenda.

On 6 October, it is up to the Velferdsting (a central body safeguarding the welfare of students) to elect the successors of the social democrat Magnus Worren and the conservative Christoffer Wiig, the current Chairman of the General Board. Effectively, the first step towards finding a new Chairman is taken. The chair is normally given to one of the two who has already served half of the two-year term. However, political groups play an important role in the political game of the chairmanship. But so far, there are no official candidates.

Quiet Before the Storm

– I do not wish to comment on that until at least another two or three weeks have gone by, member of the General Board Finn Olav Haga says, when confronted by Universitas about his potential candidacy.

Haga is a former welfare executive with the Student Parliament and a current representative from HF-lista (a political group from the Faculty of Humanities) on the General Board. He is one of the two members who still have one year left to serve. The other is Silje Winther, a former member of the Senate, who is representing Sosialdemokratene (a political group of social democrats).She is also reluctant to discuss the chairmanship.

– I do not wish to comment on this matter until I have discussed it with the Velferdsting, Winther says.

Warm Winther

However, Solveig Riiser Aase, spokesperson for Sosialdemokratene in the Velferdsting, is able to confirm that Winther is a candidate. Sosialdemokratene`s second chair on the General Board is therefore up for grabs when Magnus Worren resigns his post.

– We wish that Silje Winther be Chairman of the General Board and will not recommend any other candidates, Aase says.

She does not wish to comment whether Sosialdemokratene are planning on trading votes in the election of the Board with votes in the election of the Chairman. However, she speaks highly of Winther’s leadership abilities.

– Winther is an intelligent social democrat who has among others been a member of the Senate, and she is currently vice-chairman of the General Board of SiO. She knows the ropes and is familiar with student needs. She is objective and well-informed and employs good leadership abilities, Aase says.

Empty Words

Øyvind Gjengaard, representing SV-lista (a political group from the Faculty of Social Sciences) and the faculties in the Velferdsting, is not equally convinced that Finn Olav Haga is a candidate.

– Prior to all such elections, there are a lot of empty words and opinions, Gjengaard says. His opinion is that any attempt to answer whether Haga will run as a candidate for the chairmanship would be «highly hypothetical».

However, Gjengaard admits that the political groups from the faculties, as opposed to Sosialdemokratene, *have* a candidate for one of the two available chairs in question, namely former president of the Student Parliament Eirik Nedrelid. He represents SV-lista like Gjengaard and enjoys full support from the faculties. Nedrelid confirms that he is «willing to run if he is wanted». But he guarantees that he will not be a candidate this year.

– It is completely out of the question to run for Chairman this year, if I get in, Nedrelid reports to Universitas.

Not as Chairman

In addition to the faculties and Sosialdemokratene, Venstrealliansen (a left-wing political group) and Moderat gruppe (a right-wing political group) are also represented in the Velferdsting on behalf of the University of Oslo. The Velferdsting is otherwise comprised of students from the Norwegian School of Management (BI), who make out a group of their own, and independent representatives from the smaller scientific institutions. Between the four political groups, there is only one candidate who has notified his interest: Trond Enger of Moderat gruppe. He used to be leader of NSU (the Norwegian union of students) and confirms his interest but he also denies that he will run for Chairman in this year’s election.

– I think it is a good tradition that the Chairman has one year of experience, to put it that way, Enger says.