11 to Run in TCDSU Elections, with 3 Presidential Candidates

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

11 people will contest the six races in the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) sabbatical elections this year, with three candidates to run for president.

László Molnárfi, Zöe Cummins and Tilly Schaaf will battle it out for the role of TCDSU president this year. Molnárfi is a third-year PPES student and the current Social Sciences and Philosophy convenor for TCDSU, and has previously served in a number of Union roles. He also serves as the Chairperson of Students4Change.

Cummins is the incumbent education officer for TCDSU having been elected last March. Within the Union she has previously served as STEM convenor, physics convenor and undergraduate studies committee representative. She was also a Student2Student(S2S) head mentor, president of the Trinity branch of Irish NGO SUAS and a Trinity Access Programme (TAP) ambassador. Schaaf is a third-year physics student from Luxembourg. She has previously been involved with Voix des Jeunes Femmes, a feminist organisation from Luxembourg established in 2017, and was the president of Zonta International District 01, an organisation that aims to “contribute to the improvement of the legal, political, and professional status of women, and provide financial assistance to local and international services for humanitarian, social and cultural purposes”, from 2018-2020.

The race for this year’s education officer will see Catherine Arnold battle it out with Elizabeth O’Sullivan.

Arnold is a final-year sociology and philosophy student and serves as the current Deputy AHSS convenor within the Union. They have previously served as the TCDSU Joint Honours representative and as a class representative. They have also worked as a research assistant at the Young Woman’s Christian Association (YWCA) and have served as the Gender Equality Officer for the Labour party.

O’Sullivan is a second-year political science student. She is a member of the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) and has taught debating in schools outside College. She is a member of the DU Players production crew.

Aoife Bennett will run uncontested in this year’s welfare and equality race. Bennet is a third-year English Studies student who has previously served as the Welfare Officer for the Trinity Hall Junior Common tion throughout this process” and the EC “for their hard work in this election period so far”. “I have total faith in the Electoral Commission’s ability to conduct this election, and ask that all candidates continue to comply with the Electoral Commission’s requests. Best of luck to all the candidates”, she finished.

Room (JCR) and worked with the UniCoV scheme in Trinity.

The communications and marketing race will have Aiesha Wong as the sole candidate. Wong is a final-year law and political science student who has previously served as a first-year class representative for TCDSU. She has since worked with a number of societies including DU Dance, where she was previously the Public Relations Officer (PRO) and now serves as the society’s Chair. She has also previously worked with District Magazine, a Dublin-based magazine focusing on Dublin and Irish culture.

This year’s ents officer race sees three candidates going head to head for the role – Nadia, Sam Kelly and Olivia Orr. Nadia is a fourth-year computer science student who has previously served as a class representative for two years as well as helping to organise STEM Ball. She ran for ents last year but was unsuccessful.

Kelly is a third-year BESS student currently serving as Ents Officer for the College Historical Society (the Hist) and previously serving as pro-Records Secretary. He is also a youth volunteer with Jigsaw.

Orr is a third-year PPES student and the current Treasurer for Trinity ents. She has previously served as the JCR ents officer for Halls as well as a team supervisor for the UniCoV study.

This year’s sole candidate for Editor of The University Times is Clara Roche.

Roche previously served as the paper’s Deputy Societies Editor as well as briefly serving as the paper’s Deputy Editor. She has also worked with Evergreen Trinity as a regular contributor and sits on the Editorial Board for the Trinity Journal of Histories. She has also worked with the disAbility hub as a student trainer as well as sitting on the Schools Outreach Subcommittee.

Campaigning will take place from February 20th to March 2nd with voting taking place between February 28th and March 2nd. Results will be announced on the evening of March 2nd.

Since this article was written, Elizabeth O’Sullivan dropped out of the education race, meaning Arnold will now run uncontested.

Cummins was initially removed from the ballot last Tuesday following an investigation which revealed that section 4.7 of Schedule 3 (the document governing the rules and regulations of the elections) had been breached. Section 4.7 deals with candidate conduct. It states that “Verbal, physical, online or other forms of attack or intimidation used against other candidates, members of the Electoral Commission or any student or staff member will be considered a serious offence by the Electoral Commission” and will “result in a candidate’s name being immediately struck off the ballot”.

In an email statement to The University Times, the EC stated: “The Electoral Commission has disqualified Zöe Cummins from the TCDSU Presidential Election in accordance with section 4.7 of Schedule 3 of the SU Constitution”.

“Due to the highly sensitive nature of this matter and out of respect for the privacy of those involved, the Electoral Commission will not be providing further comment”, they added.

They also stated that the EC “reminds candidates, their campaign teams, and students that the dignity and respect of all members of the college community is of the utmost importance and must be upheld throughout the election period” and added that any questions “should be directed to chair@tcdsu.org or welfare@tcdsu.org”.

At the time, the Chair of the Oversight Commission (OC) stated that an OC investigation is ongoing but could neither confirm nor deny the subject and scope of the investigation.