URN

Today on the Pulse, we spoke to Drew who was part of Channel 4's 'My Transsexual Summer'. She told us about her experience of the programme and how life has changed since it aired.

We also chatted to Elliot, the Student Union's LGBT Officer about the LGBT Network

Earlier this week, we saw SU elections candidate, Taryn, pull out of the race for Athletic Union Officer.

Only two days later, another AU Candidate, Alex Dakin, has also pulled out of the race. Posting on Facebook he says:

"Hi everyone, I'm so so sorry but I have decided to withdraw from the race for AU Officer. I feel I need to focus more on my studies n the more I learnt about the role the more I disliked. All ur support means the world to me and I would like thank all of you individually! Special thanks to John watson for his epic skills in photo shop n design, thanks alot mate! I'm really sorry once again, but I think it's the right decision. Happy Days!" (sic)

Tune in to The Pulse and The Elections Show from 5pm on Tuesday to hear from the remaining candidates for the AU Officer position, Hew Williams and Jonny Bell.

SU Elections voting kicked off just less than an hour ago, and Nick Redfern has just announced he is pulling out of the Accommodation & Community Officer race this morning - leaving Sian Green running unopposed for the position. This was announced on his Facebook page today, and in a statement to URN, Nick said:

"I have decided to resign for several reasons: I feel I have not been able to give enough time to the election, due to my course and other commitments. Also, I had reservations about taking a year out in the middle of my degree. Finally I believe that Sian will make an excellent Accommodation & Community officer, and I wish her the best of luck, along with all the candidates in the other elections."

URN will be talking to Nick this evening on The Pulse - tune in at 5 for all the latest SU election news.

Today at Midday, SU Elections Candidates donned their t-shirts and revealed their banners as the official start to campaigning began.

Candidates gathered in the SU Hub to meet their opponents for the first time, and to bond over some snacks...

We managed to grab some of the candidates inbetween mouthfuls. Here are the candidates for Activities Officer: Daniel, Michelle and Sam

Candidates were then given advice by the current Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer, Rosie Tressler pictured above.

And finally, Democracy and Communication Officer, Danny Barry sent candidates on their way:

"Solidarity through Sport" was her campaign slogan - and Taryn Belcher-Brown yesterday showed her solidarity and commitment to our netball team when she pulled out of the race for Athletics Union Officer in the 2012 SU Elections.

Speaking to Taryn, she explained how she "underestimated the commitment of a campaign", an issue which is seen every year by potential candidates and that the SU have tried to combat this year by reducing the campaign period from 14 to 9 days.

As Club Captain of Netball, Taryn says "I just wasn't prepared to sacrifice training in matches", this is with the Netball Cup Final coming up, as well as further upcoming title clashes and of course Varsity training for the match against Nottingham Trent University on March 21st. Another issue was Sutton Bonington Candidate Question Time, which coincided with the Netball 1st Team's match in Birmingham, as well as the Campaign Launch clashing with the 3rd Team's Semi Final - and as Club Captain Taryn said that she put supporting her team before running in the SU Elections.

Taryn told us how she was confident that she could have made a great AU officer, and that this was a difficult decision to make - but campaigning was just too long, and she couldn't make that sacrifice.