Everything You Need to Know About Arc Board Elections in 2026

Elections for four of Arc Board’s eight Student Director positions open tomorrow (Tuesday, the 7th of April) at 7 am and close on Thursday, the 10th of April at 9 pm. If you don’t know anything about what the Arc Board is/does or who’s running for this election, this article is for you.

Why does Arc Board matter?

As a UNSW student, you’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard of Arc. But if you haven't, Arc is the organisation that manages most of the social aspects of university life, as well as providing services to students. 

The Arc Board is made up of 15 members, including Arc’s CEO, Shelley Valentine, the President of the Student Representative Council (SRC), Billy Scharzenberger Moran, the President of the Postgraduate Council, Ada Choi, eight elected Student Directors, two Alumni Directors appointed by the Board and two UNSW Directors appointed by the university. 

Together, this group oversees and governs all of Arc’s operations; this does not include the day-to-day matters, but it allows the representatives to give feedback and direction to the CEO and her team. This means that the board has opportunities to make changes in many aspects of non-academic student life, including clubs, sport, volunteering, and university services such as the legal/financial advice and wellness teams.

What am I voting for in this election?

This election requires four Student Directors to be elected for the Arc Board. Once these students have been elected, they will hold the position for two years, finishing in June 2028. 

It is a requirement that two of these positions be filled by women and/or gender diverse individuals, and the other two positions may be filled by a person of any gender.

How do I vote? Do I even have to vote?

To vote, go to your emails! You should have an email including a voting link sent to whichever email you used to sign up to Arc from Arc’s Returning Officer, Phillip Binns. If you do not receive a link but would like to vote, please email the Returning Officer ([email protected]).

To actually place your vote, follow the link to the voting portal. On this portal, you will find information about the candidates, such as photos and candidate statements, as well as boxes you can number to vote for them. Arc Board elections use preferential voting just like our federal electoral system, meaning you can vote for a single candidate or number your preferences so if your first choice candidate doesn’t get in, your vote can still carry over and so on. On this ballot, you can rank as few or as many candidates as you like.

While you do not have to vote in this election, you should highly consider it. The Arc Board makes many of the decisions that impact your student experience at this university, and this is your chance to decide who gets to make those choices for you. Considering that voting in this election is not mandatory, it is even more important that you do vote, as every vote makes a big difference to the outcome. Voting is quick, and you are able to do so online from a personal device.

Who should I vote for?

Well, I’m not going to come right out and tell you who to vote for. You, dear reader, are a person with many thoughts, feelings and opinions, and they may be very different from mine. So while I don’t think I should come right out and give you a cheat sheet, let’s discuss your options a little.

Unlike previous years, there has been a significant escalation in campaigning for Arc Board elections this year. So while I don’t have information about all the candidates running yet, as voting isn’t open, here’s what is known so far about the candidates who have publicly announced their intent to run. 

Waterboarding for Arc

Waterboarding for Arc was the first ticket launch I saw while keeping an eye out on Instagram for Arc Board intel. The ticket has two candidates: Jimmy Wu and Lydia Gao.

Wu unsuccessfully ran for the General Secretary position with the group EDGE for SRC in last year's SRC election. EDGE is an independent ticket that got their Ethno-cultural Officer candidate, Ethan Lin, onto council last year, but failed to win any seats this year.

The pair are campaigning on the promise of cheaper meals, expanding clubs' storage spaces, improving cultural inclusivity on campus and “ending the Rubric rort,” referring to the surcharge fees Rubric requires when making payments through their system.

In a post about this issue on the Waterboarding for Arc Instagram page on the 20th of March, they mention that the surcharge is $1.37 on top of a $5 club membership fee. However, a few days before, on the 9th of March, Arc Clubs Assistant Manager Jamie Chambers had posted to the club leaders Discord server to announce that Arc had made an agreement with Rubric to instate a flat rate of 4%+$0.99 capped at $5 per transaction, the resulting surcharge is slightly less than what the post was complaining about and this nevertheless suggests that a lower price is unlikely to be able to be renegotiated.

Elevate4Arc

Elevate4Arc seems to be a college's ticket as far as I can tell, with Sam Baker, current Honorary Treasurer of the Arc Board, running for re-election. In his campaign post, Baker mentions that he has previously delivered cost-of-living support, a permanent home for FoodHub and better recognition for club executives during his first term on Arc Board. If he gets in for a second term, he aims to fight for a permanent $5 canteen on campus, reduced Rubric fees, and better mental health support. The three candidates running with him, Charlotte Last, Saii Yashaa and Lucas Yeo, are running on similar campaigns.

Non-ticketed Candidates

The only non-ticketed candidate I can currently find any information about is Valeriia Sedlak, a Master's of Education student campaigning to ensure belonging for international students and to better connect the Kensington and Paddington campuses. 

SHOUTOUT!/365

Maybe most interestingly, SHOUTOUT! and 365 for SRC, two tickets that have been strong in SRC elections, seem to have merged for Arc Board elections and are promoting the same candidates. Each of the candidates these factions are promoting are running with different campaign matters in mind.

Conroy Blood, ex-Students with Disabilities Officer on the UNSW SRC, Greens Councillor for the Canterbury-Bankstown area and Co-Convenor of the NSW Young Greens, is running to ensure Arc improves its gendered violence training, free live music at the Roundhouse, and that Arc brings back independent student media, most likely referring to its numerous publications: Gamamari, Blitz and UNSWeetened.

Surabhi Govind, WanderSoc Marketing Director, is running to promote safe and accessible spaces for Collectives, improve gendered violence complaint procedures for clubs, and host more free community events.

Sumaya Sultana, a radio host, writer and unsuccessful councillor and National Union of Students (NUS) delegate for this year’s SRC with SHOUTOUT!, wants cheaper food on campus, ethical investments by Arc, and improved logistics for club executives.

Luc Harvey, an unsuccessful candidate in the SRC elections for this year’s council also with SHOUTOUT! and a National Labor Students (NLS) member (this is the more left-wing faction of the Labor Party), is fighting for better quality services for students, more affordable food options, and more student input on how Arc’s portion of Student Services and Amenities Fees (SSAF) is spent.

Interestingly, the 365 account has neglected to repost Luc Harvey’s campaign material, but has posted each of the other candidates; SHOUTOUT! has posted his material. We can’t be certain if that’s intentional and based on internal preference deals or accidental. 

Student Alliance

Student Alliance, a ticket affiliated with Unity (the right-wing faction of the Labor Party), have made considerable efforts in their social media campaign. They have four candidates running: Nadia Mostafa, Harry Ledger, Jack Knight, and Lucy Quince.

This group is running on a campaign of $5 breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as cheaper drinks at the Roundhouse. They have also posted about a letter they sent to Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs calling for relaxed attendance requirements and online exams in an effort to assist students during the current fuel crisis. This is a legitimately good call; however, do remember that Arc Board has no sway over the academic side of UNSW, so if these candidates get in, this is not something they will be able to directly influence.

I’ve also had a decent walk around campus to look at the poster boards recently, and alongside the usual brightly coloured posters outlining the candidates, there’s been a mysterious black and white poster asking the simple question “Want cheap drinks?” with a QR to scan.

Now, to the unassuming student passing by, it might just seem like another random initiative, but if you look at the tiny fine print on the posters, there’s an authorisation from Daniel Gulic, current SRC councillor and Unity member. When you scan the link, it takes you to a form to sign up for emails and texts from UNSW Unity about student elections. 

These strangely out of place posters aren't the only unusual ones I’ve seen on the poster boards erected specifically for Arc Board campaigning. Two housemates, Ava and Stevan, as well as cat Bertie, have put up some posters advertising their search for a fourth housemate, and someone else has put up an advert for contact lenses. UNSW itself has also violated the terms of the temporary poster boards with a recruitment poster for their marketing team pitch challenge. 

My best advice is not to try to vote for any of these people, you might be sorely disappointed to find them absent from the candidate list. 

Happy voting, everyone!