"Agitate Them"; SU Presidential Candidate Patrick Keegan on Direct Action, Student Spaces, and Accessibility
Eliora Abramson
To anyone who has been paying attention to the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) this election season is not the first time you will have seen or heard of Patrick Keegan. Holding the current positions of International Student Officer, Business School convenor, and Chair of BDS, the Business and Political Science student has set his sights on becoming TCDSU’s next President.
Keegan describes the role of President as “the best job you could possibly have”. He tells me, “the role of president can actually allow you to change things and actually push the college in the way you want to push it”. He adds, I love campaigning so for me this is the perfect job. I can actually spend a year fighting for student rights”. Keegan considers himself an “activist first”. He tells me, “I consider everything I do with the core motivation being that I’m an activist”.
As current chair and previous secretary of Trinity BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions), Keegan has plenty of experience with direct action which he plans to put to good use in his potential presidency. He believes in direct action not just for direct actions sake but for the true purpose of enacting change. He shares that he has learned that direct action is crucial for when college refuses to negotiate or does not negotiate in good faith. When I ask him what sort of direct action he has in mind, he says the “key aspect is that it disrupts usual activities”, including banner drops, sit ins, and even the recently seen balloon campaigns.
Through his experience, Keegan tells me that he has “institutional knowledge of how the union works”. This allows him to have seen what works and what doesn’t. Keegan praises the current SU saying, “the college never knows what to expect” in terms of their creativity and campaigns. He says that the SU’s challenge of college and actually getting work done, pointing out the gaeilge signage as an example, is highly commendable. With his role as BDS Chair, he has experience organising campaigns, protests, direct action, and negotiating with the college Of the SU’s relationship to college
and notable figures within it, Keegan says “I think it’s important to work with them but also agitate them when need be. When you can work together, which I hope often we can, it’s about constructive criticism of the college. You want to be able to negotiate with them and work with them”. His improvements, he says, is to bring wider awareness of what the union does to the student body. He tells me, “not just the past two years, but in general students just don’t know what the Union exactly offers them or they don’t know what they’re doing”. One example of this, he shares, is the 100 euro short term loan for food insecurity offered by the Union. Keegan hopes to publicise this and other supports available for students as well as expand via fundraising.
Keegan also plans to continue to push forward the work the current SU has done for the Irish language. Though an American, Keegan shares that he has taken Irish language classes and that he sees a large responsibility for the president to support the Oifigeach na Gaeilge. This means continuing to push for Irish signage around Trinity as he says “the more you see it, the more people are encouraged”.
Keegan also hopes to work with the Education officer to lobby for modules, courses, and tutorials offered in Gaeilge. He tells me, it’s all “about supporting the Irish language community as much as possible because that is the home language of Ireland”. When it comes to how he would approach the role, Keegan tells me “It’s most important to remember you are representing all students. It’s your job to take what the students say and what the students want and represent them at college committees and go from there.” Motivation, he says, is how things get done. “I know well myself working with college a lot that Trinity bureaucracy is not something that’s light at all, you need to keep pushing and pushing. Things could take awhile, Trinity time is very slow”.
In regards to what he would address first, he says the first month or so of the presidency would be about laying the groundwork. To continue the current protests for better LENS support, he would
negotiate with the college for lecture recordings and better accessibility. Keegan states there are “huge problems with accessibility around campus”, naming Teach 6 and the GMB as “huge examples of places where elevators have been in the works but it’s about pushing it forward”. Also at the top of his list are introducing a red line for student fees, saying “we will take action against college if they try to increase fees. Students are already hurting enough as it is”.
Keegan’s manifesto includes these points along with others such as campus safety and general improvement of student spaces. Keegan hopes to implement the Blue Light System at Trinity, something that is standard in colleges around the world. He says this is not something that would be done quickly but could be an ongoing project for the Union. In regards to student spaces, he says it is critical to have consultations with students to gain knowledge into what they want to see brought to student spaces and to bring to Keegan’s
attention any spaces that could be advocated for.
Student spaces are a critical factor for Keegan. “The most important one in terms of long term impacts for students would be student spaces”, calling the current spaces “lacking”. In working forward to create better student spaces, Keegan says this is “not just something that will help us next year but will help us in the years to come. In terms of longevity of plans, that’s something tangible that we can actually do”.
The aforementioned direct action aspect of Keegan’s campaign and potential tenure also focuses on his goals for the college's relationship with Palestine. As one of the three SU representatives on the college’s task force along with current SU President Jenny Maguire, he says moving forward “it will really depend if the task force is still something making movement”. Keegan tells me he is “cautiously optimistic”. “I want to keep hope that something will actually get done but knowing Trinity, who knows” he says. “Will there be
large-scale direct action? I hope not”.
When it comes to leading a team, a large part of the role, Keegan says it’s about “collaboration and constitution”. He insists, “it’s about making everybody not just feel involved but be involved”. Democracy, he tells me, is important to this and should be visible in every aspect and that for the president, it shouldn’t be about making decisions from the top down. He’s not in it for himself, he says, but rather to continue his passions as an activist and represent his peers. Campaigning began on Monday the 17th and results will be announced on Thursday.
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Presidential Candidate Seán Thim O’Leary Wants to Strengthen Student’s Ability "to Take Collective Action”
Ila Raso
Fifteen minutes. Floor after floor. No empty and quiet space in the whole Arts Block building. We settled on the GMB, or rather a stairwell in it. This scene could be described as a catalyst for why Seán Thim O’Leary is running to be SU President. They are a current class representative of Junior Sophister PPES and the first Archivist of the Student Union. Witnessing “how unfair things are for people” pushed O’Leary to “want to make a stronger stand and [initiate] change for people’s benefit”. These seemingly miniscule discrepancies in college life have a significant impact, and O’Leary plans to tackle these challenges.
In stride with their belief that we need “persistent and strong action for students’ rights,” O’Leary helped to set up the SU Archive to ensure easy access to the database. Working firsthand with the archival material of the SU only further amplified O’Leary’s commitment to student activism and voices. “It’s hard to feel the impact that one person has over one year span, but if you take a look at what happened over the course of a decade, you'll suddenly realise that people's actions do have long-lasting consequences and long positive change,” O’Leary explains. In addition to working within the SU, O’Leary serves as a trustee at Courtown Community Council, where they work alongside their community to solve a myriad of concerns–most recently focusing on pushing for more bins around town. O’Leary
again emphasises the importance of ensuring that these seemingly “benign” things actually take place in order to foster a healthy community–an approach which they plan to apply to the Student Union.
In an interview with the University Times, O’Leary charted their plans “to bring a welfare and service-oriented approach to the Students’ Union, in combination with the grassroots momentum that’s been building up over the past couple of years.” In terms of welfare, O’Leary emphasises their plan to push for a change at the college level for funding towards the health service, disability service, and student counselling service. O’Leary further explains the shift they hope to apply to the Union in the face of government underfunding. “It’s really important that the Students' Union takes a more proactive role in highlighting the areas of
underfunding and [combines that] with the grassroots approach of engaging with students,” they explain. In terms of their service-based approach,
O’Leary points to their personal experience as a commuter to and from college.
“There are still day-to-day issues, for people like me that are commuters, that can't afford to live in Dublin and who also, consequently, can't afford to buy a hot meal in Dublin every day,”
O’Leary says. This prompts their plan to continue pursuing the installation of microwaves, kettles, and student kitchen spaces across all of campus. In lieu of student spaces, O’Leary hopes to implement a standardised system of booking student study spaces across all of campus as well. O’Leary’s plans for direct communication and streamlined standardisation come to fruition in their proposal to bring back the Stu-
“Students Are my Boss” President Candidate Giovanni Li's Interview
step process to walk through these very significant things is really important.” The Handbook would also highlight “important services around the college that students can access, so as they have a straightforward and easy set of steps they can follow to get involved with the SU, get their issues resolved through college administration, and to know that the SU has their back for everything,” O’Leary says.
dent Union Handbook.
The Student Handbook will “enumerate the rights of students in it, so everyone knows what their rights are, and it would act as a guided introduction for first years,”
O’Leary explains. Many students don’t know what their rights are, and thus don’t know when those rights are breached. O’Leary wants the Student Handbook to ensure that “all of the students’ rights can be enumerated and collated together,” which will amplify the SU’s job of stepping in and taking on methods of recourse.
Not only does the clear and concise description of student rights have a place in the Handbook, but O’Leary explains that having a descriptive guide to navigate overwhelming college paperwork is an absolute necessity. They explain that whether it is filling out forms with regards to registering for postal vote or housing, “having a step-by-
O’Leary’s personal experience as a commuter to college has influenced much of their policy position on the housing and transportation accessibility crisis. They propose lobbying for the Leap card to be accepted on all public transport in Ireland and further grassroots SU push for improved public transit, including reduced student rates. In terms of the ongoing housing crisis, O’Leary proposes continuing to lobby the Government for increased higher education funding and reducing the rent burden. They emphasise that every student should have access to safe housing and a reliable transportation system. “The state should do everything in its power to ensure that everyone has a roof over their head, and that everyone is able to have a roof over their head while they're [engaging in] their education, [students] shouldn’t have to worry about that,” O’Leary asserts.
Despite being the youngest candidate for Student Union President in years, Giovanni Li sees himself as a “fresh unbiased outlook on the college”. Li, a first year Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures (MEELC) student, said in conversation with The University Times, “I've only been here for so long and I see so many issues”. Li serves as the Ethnic Minorities Officer for the SU and assistant treasurer for the Korean Society. Li’s manifesto for president covers topics from sleeping pods for students, a SU leased accommodation, and reforming exam resits. His points are aimed at making Trinity “a stronger, more connected, and economically resilient student body” as he says, “I don't care about the role of being president. It's more about being able to serve the students because at the end of the day the students are my boss”. Li’s ideas for education include resits at periodic intervals during the year, course switching with transferable credits as well as the abolishment of the student contribution fund. Finances are a priority for Li and something he believes he holds an advantage in, saying “I'm very well versed in finances. I know how to work with money. I know how to make money. I know how to give money back to the students”. Li explains in his view, the college treats it’s students as cash cows, particularly international students, who despite paying high fees aren’t having their basic needs met. Li proposes a zero profit policy for the budget which he explains as the SU not making any money but rather, giving its profit back to students in forms of support or
jobs. He states this circular economy “would help students alleviate a lot of costs, instead of spending it on external things” adding that the idea is “to give students jobs and ownership of their agency within the college”.
Student wellbeing is a high priority for Li, who hopes to implement ideas such as food and stationary banks, student cleaning services and fancy dress rentals. Li says, “it’s about making needs be met because we have to look at the basic principles of things for us. People are struggling, they're not able to pay rent, they don't have a place to live. They don't have places to heat up their food, things that are becoming too expensive, they don't have jobs”.
If elected, Li promises to push against college for these rights as well advocate for cheaper accommodation and begin the process of leasing a building through the SU that would offer rooms to students at a low price.
The building would be run by students, offering jobs as well as accommodation, and the opportunity “to take back their financial freedom to not struggle against our oppressors within the college”. He acknowledges this process is a long-term venture and would prioritse laying a foundation.
Li proposes other long-term projects such as sleeping pods, which he explains are common in Japan and where students can stay overnight for reduced fees. He hopes this will alleviate stress for commuter students and pose an answer to the logistical issues of accommodation and Dublin public transport.
Li speaks of equality in his manifesto with ideas for trans
visibility with workshops, mentorship programs, and a “pushback against the health sector in Ireland to establish broader base of supports for LGBTQIA+ students. Li states “I will harass them if I need to” to ensure students have access to treatments including HRT, blood tests, and surgeries. On the work of the current Students Union, Li says he would hope to continue to work with the BDS Chair to make sure that college completely divests from funding the genocide in Palestine. Li praises current SU president Jenny Maguire and former president László Molnárfi for having set up a “really strong basic foundation”, calling the SU’s “extremely negative stance against Israel” as “absolutely needed”.
we must embrace it and allow it to flourish”.
Li adds that the main thing is to work with the ongoing momentum and continue to question college about their Israeli ties.
In addition to continuing the current SU’s support of Palestine, Li hopes to continue the union’s work for the Irish language. Li proposes for college to make lessons, translations, and interpretations accessible to students as well as “tactical campaigning to advocate for courses to be taught as gaeilge and literary”. Li states in his manifesto, “we cannot and will not abandon the Irish language,
Li sees compromise and diplomacy as key. Li explains that he believes he can run a team due to his background as the son of a diplomat, saying that he sees a compromise in every situation. He hopes he will “be able to learn from the role and be able to develop myself as a person as well as be able to give the opportunity to other students to develop” in all regards, not just academic.
Li pushes back against the other two candidates running for president saying, “some of the other candidates may have more experience in me in terms of how long they've been here, but experience means nothing when you do nothing with it”. He’s firm in his belief that the political affiliations of the other candidates is a disadvantage, saying he doesn’t “think it is in the best interests of students”. Li wants “to raise concerns about” these affiliations, saying “in politics, people are trained
to be able to speak well, be able to manipulate. So I want students to be able to know what they're voting for”. In a closing statement to UT, Li says “everyone should be careful and do their considerable research into, you know, what each political candidate represents because you wanna be fully informed on what you vote for”. He adds, “if you're voting for the other candidates, then you must understand the politics that goes behind it within these parties. And if you like them, by all means vote for them… But if you want to remain in a position where students come first, then I would urge you to vote for me. Vote Giovanni and break free”.
Eliora Abramson
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh Talks Plans for Irish Language, Increased Responsiveness
and Exams Policies.
Integration, clarity, Generative AI and Irish language initiatives are topics that frequently came up when The University Times spoke to Education Officer candidate
Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh. Getting his start as the Tech Officer for the Science Society in 2022 and a regular Electoral Commission (EC) member, Ó Cathasaigh has been actively involved in campus life for the greater part of his time at Trinity. A fourth-year Math and Statistics student from Kerry, Ó Cathasaigh has served as Chair of the Electoral Commission last year, while serving as the Undergraduate Studies Rep in his final year. Calling his position as EC Chair “ a controversial job”, Ó Cathasaigh has had experience with running the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) elections and interpreting its constitution. While moving away from strictly TCDSU-related positions this year, Ó Cathasaigh has worked closely with the current Education Officer
Eoghan Gilroy as the Undergraduate Studies Rep, holding one of the “highest academic offices on campus.” Enjoying interpreting the constitution and getting into the “nitty-gritty details and running elections” felt like fun for Ó Cathasaigh and motivated his later interest in the EC Chair position. Ó Cathasaigh thinks that it was this position in particular that introduced him to the work of the Education Officer since they function as EC Secretary. Seeing the work of the Education Officer in the sphere of exam appeals, supporting of Class Reps and ensuring adequate representation motivated Ó Catha-
saigh to consider running for the position himself as there was “a lot of overlap between what I was already doing.”
“I've never thought about running for anything else,” said Ó Cathasaigh when asked about why he chose to run for the position of Education Officer specifically.
As he has always been interested in academic policy and advocacy, the position of Education Officer as well as Deputy President of the SU fits well within his goals to integrate postgraduate students more into the Union as well as ensuring a better representation system within the Union overall. One of his aims in particular is to “start structuralising things a bit more” in terms of postgraduate representation. Citing a lack of representation since the collapse of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) in 2022, Ó Cathasaigh feels that while the current Education Officer has furthered the cause, there remains much more to be done.
His manifesto touches on postgraduate integration, promising a reform of the Constitution to formalise their integration. Speaking about this, Ó Cathasaigh praised the creation of the Postgraduate Research Council, while highlighting the need for further prioritisation of postgraduate taught students. Ó Cathasaigh said that he wants to work “with them to find a way that sort of, they feel a bit more represented in each structure” as well that he wants to make faculty assemblies less undergraduate heavy while envisioning a “ sort of integrating, some of those ideas, more formally, into the Constitution,” in the long term. Through spotlighting var-
ious academic weeks, he hopes to make students who “feel like they haven't typically been represented very well in the union feel like the SU was there for them, and that there's someone that they can talk to or the SU does care”.
Outlining a clear generative AI policy while maintaining varied forms of assessments for students is another goal for Ó Cathasaigh. When asked about his plan for achieving this Ó Cathasaigh said that he feels that “STEM students don’t necessarily do well on end-of-year exams” and that “exams are not a great way of testing all the skills.” By pushing for forms of assessments other than end-of-year exams, Ó Cathasaigh hopes to ease students’ anxiety. While recognising that the move to in-person exams has come as a result of increased generative AI use, Ó Cathasaigh wants to work with various Schools to “adapt our assessment policies around that, and sort of trying to move, sort of change […] how we assess people to have critical thinking” as AI is “definitely here to stay, whether we like it or not”.
for his pilot scheme of making the submission of assessments available in Irish. One of these Schools could be the School of Law where there already exists a high level of Irish-speaking staff due to “Irish [being] an important part of interpreting the Constitution.” Basing his scheme around the Welsh Standards Act, Ó Cathasaigh wants to deal with the potential problem of teaching staff not having enough Irish proficiency to correct assessments submitted in Irish by making it “the responsibility of the university to translate those” or to “find maybe a similar alternative member of staff who might have enough Irish to be able to correct it”.
In his words, the most ambitious points of Ó Cathasaigh’s manifesto are his Irish language initiatives. By conducting a survey he hopes to identify levels of Irish in different schools, with the Schools with the highest levels of Irish then being chosen
Buster Whaley: Modular Billing Will Support "Completely Isolated" Students
Anyone who’s watched Buster Whaley’s campaign video, heard him speak on the steps of the Dining Hall or met him while campaigning will have heard of modular billing.
It’s the most central facet of Whaley’s campaign for Education Officer for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), and it began because of his own experience coming through a university which he says has a “horrible system” for charging its students.
such a comprehensive overhaul of the billing system in a college that notoriously moves at a snail’s pace. Whaley referenced College’s plans to restructure the MyTCD and SITS programs as a part of the strategic plan for the next five years. He says it’s the perfect time to change the system.
Commission.
But Whaley doesn’t see it as a disadvantage.
Ó Cathasaigh thinks that the inability to communicate in Irish in the academic sphere is “almost an accessibility issue in many ways, because, if you're doing maths as Gaelige, you'll have built up a lot of termino ogy of like, what it is in Irish, but you might not necessarily know what any of those terms mean in English”.
“It's just like a language barrier”, he added. Another way he hopes to integrate Irish more into academic life is to introduce an option for Irish-speaking students to indicate their language preference when registering in first year as well as make a list of Irish-speaking staff available to these students. Additionally, an Irish-speaking tutor could be assigned to Irish-speaking students “if practical and feasible.” Finally, he added that “it is a decision of this college that the Irish language is sort of sidelined” and that “you can't just put Irish in the box”. Ó Cathasaigh thinks that every officer has a responsibility to “make sure that Irish is revitalized and, you know, becomes part of, you know, having a bilingual University.”
“I think students have a lot of trouble in this college, more than other universities perhaps,” Whaley said. “[Modular billing] is what kind of inspired me to go down that route [of running for Education Officer]. I actually had never even heard of it until a couple months ago.”
Modular billing would require College to charge students per class rather than in a yearly tuition payment – which would allow those students who fail a module to retake the class alongside their degree progression, rather than repeating the year or going off-books.
“The college, they don't care. They see that you failed the exam and [if] you're not going to pay to repeat the year they say, “oh, we'll see you in a year. You can try again”. And so then the consequences for students are you're left completely isolated because you were one minute part of the college community. You had friends, you were on track to get a degree, a career, and the next, you're stuck in limbo for a year,” Whaley said. I asked Whaley about the feasibility of implementing
“In the past, the college said, this is going to cost a million euro, I think was the price they gave for modular billing. And that was because the current system would have to be completely replaced, but now they're already going to replace it,” Whaley said. “As long as [the new system] can accommodate it, it shouldn't be an issue.”
Modular billing isn’t the only goal Whaley’s hoping to accomplish were he elected Education Officer. He’s also spoken at length about the importance of affordable food on and around campus, which he hopes to promote through further implementation of venues like the current SU Café in Goldsmith Hall.
“If you had, in the new student centre, ‘the SU Dining Hall’, and if you had another SU Café in the Hamilton … maybe even in TBSI, they had a café close down – you can reopen it as a Student Union Café,” Whaley said. “Those are things that make an extreme difference in people's lives on the day-to-day level. And they're very visible.”
Whaley is unique in that he’s never worked with the Students’ Union before: a stark contrast to opponent Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh’s status as former Chair of the Electoral
“It's a school of 20,000 students, and most of those students also don't have experience with the union. And you don't have to look any further than the past referendum that they just did, where you had 800 people who voted …this isn't a critique or anything, it's just the fact that the union does have an engagement problem,” Whaley said. “I think if you have the drive and the motivation and the passion to try and accomplish these goals, that should be enough. It should be your ideas and your willingness to enact them rather than how much experience you have.”
Whaley also has ambitions to promote visibility of the Education Officer’s duty to students as a representative.
He suggested encouraging course convenors to send more regular emails with resources – he said he’s only heard from his own course convenor via emails for one year of his degree – as well as traditional methods of engagement like office hours, postering and online visibility initiatives.
“You're the sole student representative for any kind of cases or appeals for students,” Whaley said. “More students should be aware that you have
someone who's there willing to fight on your side, even if it's something like plagiarism where you might be guilty.
You're still entitled to representation and you should have it and you should be able to have someone to reassure you that, look, it's not the end of the world.”
Whaley praised the direct action that the current sabbatical officers have pushed, including the recent LENS reports protests, which have led to LENS Compliance Enhancement Reports from the DisAbility Service. He says that “doubling down on their commitment to proactive lobbying” would be a centrepiece of his tenure, with an emphasis on extending support for LENS students to include further accommodation of extensions, and proposed more accommodation across College for students who have difficulty fulfilling deadlines.
“Generally speaking, I want to broaden the grounds for getting an extension, because right now, even if you have
a LENS report or if you are going through the disability service, it's tough to get an extension,” Whaley said. “If you have a job and you're working through college, it’s even worse. They won’t do anything.”
Though direct action would remain at the forefront if Whaley was elected to the role, he also emphasised that compromise with College is a necessary step for progress and would be a cornerstone of his work as Education Officer.
“If you reach a point where you're actively at odds with [the college], you can't get anything done because you rely on the college to make the change,” Whaley said. “The Students’ Union can't make the changes themselves. They have to convince the college to do it. So compromise is good, but you have to be firm with your compromise.”
Molly Wetsch
Natalia Kamendy
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Nina Crofts Wants “a More Connected Campus”
When it comes to experience, Nina Crofts has plenty. Crofts is hoping to bring their three years of Students’ Union experience to the role of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Welfare and Equality Officer, for which they are one of four candidates. Crofts is a third-year Politics and Sociology student; in their second year, they served as LGBTQ+ Rights Officer and this year serves as Citizenship Officer for the Union. I sat down with Crofts, oversized cappuccino for them and piping hot mint tea for me, to discuss their campaign, motivation, and what it means to be the Welfare and Equality Officer. Both the LGBTQ+ and Citizenship Officer roles require constant communication with students, Crofts explained. That communication gave her the opportunity to spot which issues are the most pressing for students across campus. That, combined with their status as Co-Sex and Relationships Editor for Trinity News and former Equity and Inclusion Officer for the Hist, certainly cements one idea: Crofts knows College.
“I've seen the real direct impact that we can have on campus life in the Students Union, but I've also seen that that direct impact comes when we actually talk to students to figure out what's affecting students,” Crofts said.
One of the points highlighted in Crofts’ manifesto is increased mental health support – the key word there is “increased,” not “improved.”
Crofts explained that she knows of several students who have had great experiences with Student Counselling Services, and empha-
sised that the problem lies not with the service itself, but with its funding.
“Student counselling is an incredible resource, but so poorly underresourced,” Crofts said. The number of students I've had come to me in my roles as a [PartTime Officer] telling me they are struggling and they need counselling but they can't get a SNAP appointment– they’re telling them it's three weeks out, or they get a SNAP appointment and then they're told ‘we can't give you the six sessions you probably need’. It's really disheartening and it's something that college absolutely can change, can fund.”
They also highlighted the importance of active, timely action alongside more longterm projects like the pressuring of College and the government to reform issues like the housing crisis. Crofts said that ensuring students have resources which help them right now, rather than in the long run, is key.
“[Regarding] the issue of cost of living and food insecurity, how can we help people who are struggling right now? What sort of financial supports and loans can we get people? What funds can we introduce?”
As Welfare & Equality Officer, one of the most important parts of the job is visibility: whether through office hours, postering, or online campaigns, students need to understand the support that is available to them in order to avail of it, Crofts said. Though they don't think that all visibility and engagement methods are created equal.
“I've been enlightened by previous Welfare officers that honestly, office hours isn't, in some ways, the best
way to go about [student engagement] in a really public way,” Crofts said. “I more think it's about being really visible both online and through postering and making it clear to anyone on campus that as a welfare officer, I'm a resource you go to and these are all the things I can do– because a lot of people really don't know all of the connections your officer has for you.”
Part of Crofts’ expertise comes from the work she’s done with past Welfare Officers Chloe Staunton and Aoife Bennett and current Welfare Officer Hamza Bana. She said it’s given them a unique perspective from which to approach the work.
“Passionate
about the Things I Want to Change”: an Interview with Welfare Candidate John Garvey
Eliora Abramson
“I was just seeing the really different but impressive takes they've all had on the role, and how versatile it can be depending on what your priorities on campus are,” Crofts said.
Projects Crofts is keen to continue from past Welfare Officers include the period product campaign initiated by Bennett, which has seen success but which Crofts claim should see more reach.
“The period products initiative needs to be more comprehensive,” Crofts said. “I've got several friends in [Trinity Business School] who always tell me ‘I have to go to the arts box if I suddenly get my period’. That's not the point. The point is that you should be able to go to any bathroom on campus and get one.”
Crofts also cited issues with
consent training as a major oversight from College, though she acknowledged that the problem is complicated. The FRIES guidance (Freely given, Retractable, Informed, Enthusiastic, Specific), Crofts says, is too narrowly useful to comprehensively cover students’ welfare.
“I've toyed with the idea, but also never really loved it of doing mandatory consent training in first year for all students. I thought that'd be really important. But then I also know that's something that if you are a survivor of sexual violence, it's incredibly uncomfortable. So I want avenues to get that connection for different people in different ways,” Crofts said.
“Sometimes sexual violence is unfortunately something people tend a blind eye to, and that's really something that can be changed. If we work on building community, that's a fantastic way to stop it.”
Most sabbatical officers have a mark they hope to leave after their year in office is
up– a project completed, an action taken, a demand granted. What is Crofts’ goal? It’s perhaps not as tangible as a period products initiative, a direct action or an encampment. It certainly comes back to the building of community that they’re so passionate about.
“My main thing that I would just love to see even in a more abstract way is a more connected campus. People feeling more like they belong on campus. That starts with first years, post-grads, people in their first year of studying anything,” Crofts said. “And [that starts with] the Union actually reaching out to them, the Union making it so we are a safe space we can go to. I've got in my manifesto a bit about improving campus culture and I think a huge part of that is from the get go, letting people know that the SU has different ways for you to meet people through all of your different groups of entering college.”
After serving as Welfare Officer for Trinity Hall Junior Common Room (JCR), John Garvey is ready to take on welfare on a bigger scale. The final year English and History student from Mayo is campaigning for the role of Welfare officer against three other candidates. I sat down with Garvey to better understand his experience, passion, and vision for the role. Garvey tells me the role appeals to him as he loved the equivalent role he held in the JCR. During his tenure as Welfare Officer he gained knowledge that he sees as invaluable to the sabbatical role including casework serving on the Welfare and Equality Committee, as well as working with previous welfare officers.
Garvey tells me a large part of his vision for the role of Welfare officer would be to bring back Welfare Campaign weeks. He says that there needs to be a better balance between the bigger events and more individual welfare such as closed space events. “Students might not all suit a Pav Friday, not everybody is that kind of student”. Garvey believes campaign weeks such as SHAG or Rainbow week were pulled back because they didn’t have the same attendance of larger events but he says this is not a great metric to judge the usefulness or the necessity. Giving the example of a campaign week including a conversation about PReP, Garvey says “If one student gets something out of that, that’s the metric we need to value. Garvey tells me he would like to work with Ents to create spe-
cific and closed space events for women, non-binary and queer people, to “broaden the scope of what Ents is”. He sees this push for continued large-scale events and more specific ones as marrying two aspects of welfare.
Garvey shares this experience as Welfare Officer for the JCR makes him well-suited for the role as he has done case-work and even planned and ran a campaign week before. He has also served as class representative and worked with previous Welfare Officers as part of the Welfare and Equality Committee, saying that this gives him a good idea into how the job works.
Accessibility is also a priority for Garvey and his campaign. Garvey hopes, if elected, to work with the company Dancefloor Intimacy to make clubbing more accessible. Garvey tells me this push for accessibility focuses on crucial aspects like how security works and respite spaces, saying there’s a lot more to accessibility than just getting people in the building. In a similar vein, Garvey also hopes to expand the work of the Dignity, Respect, and Consent team whose workshops, he says, are currently only available in Halls. “In terms of feasibility” he tells,
“I think the workshops are the best way to get that information across, if a student can ask a question, or even just be engaged. Garvey also plans to implement an online module, with pages of resources for sexual assault and harrassment as well bystander intervention training.
In fact, in Garvey’s first month as welfare officer, his expansion of Dignity, Respect, and Consent would be top of his list. He says that within counselling services, the first month of college is referred to the red zone in regards to sexual violence. Garvey says, during this time, it’s crucial that “training is available as widely as possible, as quickly as possible. Because I think that at the moment, just being in halls is not good enough. I think it needs to be pushed further.
Garvey also hopes to provide better support for student parents. He shares that due to the fact that they have different midterms than the rest of the students, parents are forced to pay for extra childminding during that period. Garvey sees an opportunity for improvement by working with TCD Sports who hold camps during midterms. He tells me that if student parents were able to reserve spots for their children beforehand, they may feel more supported by the college. Accommodation is also on Garvey’s manifesto which includes points about continuing working with the Accommodation Advisory Service. He hopes to better help students who live off campus, as well as protesting
and lobbying for students rights when necessary.
Garvey praises the SU for their campaign focus, particularly current Welfare Officer, Hamza Bana, saying he has “done great things for diversity”. Garvey adds that Bana is very good at being there for students and is a friendly face around campus, something he calls “a very important part of the job”. The Welfare officer, as Garvey sees it, should “fight within college for the kind of people who are under your purview”.
As well as this, Garvey mentions collaboration as a key aspect of the role as well as simply knowing the system, someone who is “dedicated to student mental health and can fight within college over issues” he says. He plans to work closely with the future Education Officer, telling me “if a student is struggling with a LENS report due to disability or divergency, the education officer and the welfare officer work together in those situations in terms of student cases”.
Garvey additionally calls the SU’s push for the Irish lan-
guage as “really impressive” and that “their attitude to it has been perfect, like, everything is translated”. If he were to hold the role of Welfare Officer, he would prioritise the language by “making sure that there is Irish at every event, so that we don't lose this language” as well as translating all documents. In addition to working closely with the Oifigeach na Gaeilge, Garvey sees plenty of future collaboration with the new Ents officer. Garvey says that though this might not be a “typical thing”, he sees lots of room to work together especially when it comes to training the Ents team in issues under his purview like accessibility and sexual violence training. He calls this future collaboration for better accessibility something that “out of all the positions, something that I’m most excited about”.
Garvey tells me that when it comes to fighting for students, “I am very passionate about the things I want to change” and that he is “more than willing” to work for that change.
Molly Wetsch
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Accessibility, Consent and Therapy Dogs: Welfare and Equality Candida-
Deirdre Leahy on Creating a Trinity for All
Contesting the position of TCDSU Welfare and Equality Officer is fourth year student Deirdre Leahy. The final year Occupational Therapy student got involved with the Union last year as a Class Representative and a Welfare and Equality Committee member. Prior to this, Leahy served on the JCR Welfare and Equality Team in Trinity Halls. A social tag-rugby enthusiast, musical theatre veteran and Cork native: Deirdre Leahy’s love of Trinity’s people and potential is embedded into her manifesto and intentions for the year ahead. In speaking to The University Times, Leahy reflected on the ingredients of a successful campaign, the challenges facing Trinity students today, and her plans to make Trinity an inclusive and accessible university for all.
Leahy described her experience of studying Occupational Therapy as the foundation to her passion for social equality. “I chose to do occupational therapy, which a lot of it is about helping people do what they want and need to do. [...] And so that was always a passion of mine: accessibility and changing the world to suit people - people shouldn't have to change to suit the world.”
In fact, Leahy believes her experience as a Health Science student is what makes her an ideal candidate for change. “3% in the last ten years of Sabbat officers have been Health Science students”, Leahy explained. “You need more representation to be spread equally. Yes, people from different faculties can represent everyone, but those numbers - they're not
adding up, they're not representative.”
As Welfare and Equality Officer, Leahy believes her presence in the Union could bridge the gap that persists between Health Science students and Union affairs. Others in her course “really don't know a lot about the SU because they're off campus, and there's not as much focus based on it there”. According to Leahy; “each year, [the Union] does a little bit better, but there's still a long way to go with actually getting the information to Health Science students”. When asked about what she would do in her first month as Welfare and Equality Officer, Leahy shared that she would put first years first. Social and emotional training for incoming first years students is an aspect of the orientation process that Leahy is seeking to improve.When it comes to consent training and other informative talks, Leahy acknowledged that Trinity Halls residents are the only first year recipients, however Leahy endeavours to have these talks administered to all first year students during orientation week. “I think it's so important to, in first year, as soon as possible, get that information out so people are aware. Because often people are away from all their support structures, they're away from their family. It might be their first relationship, [...] so to know the signs of an abusive relationship, it's just something that didn't get told to me and all my peers the first year - I think it could be really important.”
Leahy’s plans to support Trinity students are not constricted to Trinity soil. Hear-
ing stories of how her peers have “felt so unsupported” by Trinity while on Erasmus, Leahy expressed her intention to implement “supports for both outgoing and incoming Erasmus students”. Her manifesto outlines the avenues to achieving this, such as promoting the Ambassador Program for outgoing students and a Peer Support system for incoming students.
A top priority for Leahy is to “reduce barriers to health” by reforming the College Health booking system. “I've had so many friends, myself included, having to just go through those three numbers on that website and ring them one after the other at 9am over and over again until someone maybe picks up - it’s definitely not the best way you could do it.” Leahy endeavours to “streamline the service and reduce that stress of evening booking in the first place” by implementing an online booking system. For many students, the thought of having to call and book an appointment puts them off completely, as Leahy shared. She hopes to see this online system boost healthcare accessibility and engagement across the student body.
Leahy shared her fresh perspective on the type of exam support the Union should be providing. Straying from the usual RedBull and PotNoodle distributions during exam season, Leahy wants to deliver partnerships with local businesses to provide nourishing meals as a practical way to improve student welfare during exams. Businesses such as Sprout and KC Peaches were among those mentioned.
Leahy believes that “if you're actually feeling good, you're going to perform better. No one can do an exam if their anxiety is spiking, like it's so hard”. It is on this basis that she aims to work with the Counselling Service to hold Therapy Dog sessions in the run up to exams. “I don't understand why the college wouldn't do everything they could to help their students perform better”.
Leahy expressed a strong understanding of the road to change. “For things like getting buildings to be more accessible: you have to have backing and you have to have funding. And to get backing, you need attention in the first place.” It is on this basis that Leahy expressed, “I think what this year’s Sabbats have done well is starting to increase engagement.”
When asked about what qualities she believes are important to the role, Leahy mentioned the importance of being a “good listener when people are coming to you with very serious issues, but also having the personal ability to be able to keep
Welfare and Equality Officer Bhargavi Magadi Draws on Personal Experience in her Campaign to Make Lasting Change
Helena Thiel
going.” Throughout her experience of studying Occupational Therapy, Leahy shared how she has acquired a skillset that is very compatible with the position she is contesting. Resulting from her time on clinical mental health placement, Leahy shared, “I know how hard it is when people are coming to you and telling you the worst parts of their lives”. “It takes a certain kind of skill - that you have to learn - to be okay with that and respond well in the moment - and also be okay after that.” Students may expect an engaging and exciting campaign from Deirdre Leahy. Described by Leahy as “theatrical presence”, she believes “you have to have a little bit of flair, a little bit of something that catches peoples’ eye, calls their attention, and gets them to care about the issues”. She speaks of her vision for Trinity with palpable passion and enthusiasm, and seems determined to become an advocate of change within the Union.
In her third year of studying Political Science and Economics, Bhargavi Magadi knows what it’s like to deal with college services and the burden often placed on students. She is grateful for the support they provide but believes that they need to be made more accessible. “Trinity has all these different services and supports for students, but in reality, it's incredibly hard to actually access them.” She considers herself both Indian and Irish, having moved to Ireland when she was eleven years old, and she hopes to use her personal and professional experience to advocate for increased accessibility on campus.
Magadi says her lived experience at Trinity is what inspired her to run for Welfare and Equality Officer. During our conversation, she acknowledges how disability services have benefitted her personally, and that without accommodations “I literally could not do exams, I could not pass my tests.” At the same time, she is critical of how they operate and points out instances where they have failed her, and where they fail Trinity students. She wants to put the administrative burden on the administration itself, not the students it is supposed to help. Through dealing with Trinity’s student services she “found that the support system could be so much more practical and helpful if they [...] just expected students to do a little bit less work [...] to be able to access them.” This problem, she believes, could be solved through increased information and better communication.
In addition to her personal experience in dealing with college services, Magadi cites her previous volunteering experience as making her aware of student issues. She speaks excitedly about spunout, a website whose mission is to help young people navigate life. Her work with spunout taught her the importance of “making sure that information that is provided to students is accessible, easy to find, and it's publicised as much as possible.”
She plans to bring the experience she gained from volunteering to the role of Welfare and Equality Officer, to ensure “that every student [...] in the college is aware of all the supports and reasonable accommodations that there are”.
In making disability services more accessible, Magadi hopes to destigmatize disability and break down the stereotypes that surround it. She points out how they are supposed to cater to all types of disabilities, not just physical. Even though mental health is “something that every student struggles with almost, [...] a lot of students believe that the disability services aren't for them”.
While she has many of her own ideas on how to improve student welfare, Magadi pays due credit to the current sabbatical officers, especially their recent attempts to hold the college accountable to LENS reports. While Magadi plans to continue campaigning in the same manner, she emphasises the need for more permanent change. “Oftentimes, the Students’ Union will fight for an issue, and then the next year they have
to fight for the same issue all over again”.
Magadi has already begun to consider the changes she would implement if she were elected. For example, she wants to mandate disability services staff to schedule follow-up meetings and regular check-ins, something that she did not receive despite being told otherwise. She stresses the importance of these checkins to ensure that students not only receive the accommodations that they are entitled to but also that “students are finding their accommodations useful”.
In addition to improving disability services, Magadi wants to tackle accommodation issues. Campaigning for rent freezes and putting pressure on Trinity to mitigate the housing crisis is only one part of her plan; Magadi also wants to help students navigate the current housing market. She reiterates that Trinity has services but that it does not advertise them enough. Taking the Accommodation Advisory Service as an example, Magadi believes that it should be expanded “so that it suits the need, specifically, of international students” who face the additional challenge of mov-
ing to a new country. Magadi is optimistic that “even though [...] we can't resolve the housing crisis, we can help”.
Describing herself as queer, Magadi also wants to destigmatize queerness as it falls outside the binary. She says that, though “everyone in the LGBTQ+ community faces discrimination”, there exists a hierarchy “of marginalization, or acceptability”. As the Welfare and Equality Officer, Magadi wants to raise awareness about all expressions of gender and sexuality. As part of this, Magadi wants to work with Trinity Inc (Inclusive Curriculum), Trinity’s sensitivity training to combat unconscious bias. Her goals are to improve the curriculum and eventually make it mandatory for staff. A first step would be to include a greater variety of experiences, “racial experiences, non-binary experiences, trans experiences”, and to encourage staff and students to take part by having it promoted and “regularly flagged”. Bhargavi Magadi is one of four candidates running for the position of Welfare and Equality Officer and sets herself apart from the other candidates with her personal experience of student services, which she believes provides inadequate support. Improving these services is an important aspect of Magadi’s voting platform, but to make lasting change, she will “take action and be proactive” in lobbying the college and elected officials who have the power to transform it.
Yasmin Rasheed
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Channing Kehoe Wants to Make the Students’ Union
Accessible and Transparent
On the light-grey floor above the chock full Student Union Café, Channing Kehoe sat down to chat with The University Times about her campaign for the position of Comms and Marketing Officer in the TCDSU. Hailing from the sunny, rural part of Arizona, Channing said that coming to Trinity was the most important decision she ever made. As a final year Law and Political Science student, Kehoe has acquired a wide breadth of experience throughout her years at Trinity, serving as class rep since second year. Four years later, Kehoe hopes to give back to the place that provided the background for which they grew into themselves.
With the motto, “What the union is doing, why it matters, and how to get involved”, Kehoe hopes to make the union more accessible and visible to students at Trinity. Having been a part of student government since second year, Kehoe has witnessed all the great work the student’s union has done, and has gotten to see that work “become more publicized and catered towards the students who are here”. “At the end of the day, the Union could be doing great work, but if the students don’t hear about it, it can easily be overlooked,” Kehoe says, emphasizing how they want to build upon the strong social media presence that has already been established by previous Comms and Marketing Officer, Beth Strahan. Echoing the famous Comms and Marketing buzz word, “engagement”, Kehoe intends to “make people genuinely care” - “You can have
a big audience, but unless you are getting that engagement, it’s all for nothing”.
Kehoe believes that one of the most important aspects of the Comms and Marketing officer is making sure that students not only know what is going on, but also who to go to for help. Reflecting on a conversation with the Ethnic Minorities Officer, Kehoe highlighted how many students only reach out at points of crisis rather than during the term when they are going through a hard time. She wants to make sure that students are informed enough to avail of the many initiatives and know that those supports are there consistently, not only in times of desperation. Kehoe sees it as the responsibility of the Comms officer to not only inform, but rather guide students throughout their time at Trinity. For that to work, though, the SU needs to “genuinely target everyone” - and one of the ways in which Kehoe wants to make the SU more accessible is by implementing an accessibility role to the comms team in order to make sure that all communications are accessible to all.
Drawing on her experience as a legislative and case work intern for senator Mark Kelly and her work on the US overseas voter campaign, Kehoe highlights how they see themselves as the medium between the initiatives and activism of the students’ union and the students themselves. Kehoe highlights how mediating workings of the union, which many students might be unaware of, is an important part of preserving
the potency of any movement or kind of activism:
“If you don’t convey the right message, at the right time, to the right students, the momentum can be lost.”
With a good understanding of the complexities of the union, and how to get issues across, Kehoe wants to use the role of the Comms and Marketing Officer to make the work of the union more easily digestible.
An integral part of Kehoe’s campaign is to further the SU’s commitment to the Irish language by making sure that Irish is centered in all communications - not only in translation, but as a living entity. Citing effort on an allIrish takeover campaign as PRO of Trinity Musical Theatre, Kehoe emphasizes how they can draw on that previous experience to strengthen and prioritize the Irish language in the Students’ Union and on online platforms. She believes that Irish ought to be treated with the same creativity and attention that we give English, adding that “people are passionate about Irish being integrated in a strong and creative way,” and emphasizing how international students also benefit from being exposed to the culture and heritage of the Irish language.
Yuv Garg Runs for Ents Officer, Promising Increased Accessibility, Platforms for Culture, and “Bigger and Better” Events
Isabella Roussel
Yuv Garg, who is the current Welfare and Inclusion Officer for the Ents committee, is one of four candidates running for the Entertainment (Ents) Officer position this year. He cites Engagement and Accessibility as his top priorities.
In an interview with The University Times, Garg, who is in his fourth year of Global Business studies, reflected on his breadth of experience in leadership roles in his time at Trinity, and highlighted this as his key qualification for this year’s most hotly contested student union position.
Another key point of Kehoe’s campaign is the publication of a sponsorship transparency report. Kehoe thinks it is paramount that the sponsorship and business sponsorships the union takes on are aligned with the values of the students. In order to do this, she wants to set up a clear vetting framework to ensure that sponsorships have “passed our test”; “I want people to be able to see that there has been thought and effort put into why we are pursuing and nurturing a sponsorship relationship with this company,” Kehoe tells the University Times.
Although running uncontested this year, Kehoe wanted to make it clear that she has experience that enables her to do the job well: “I genuinely want to prove to students why I am best suited for the job”. They highlight how Comms and Marketing is a role that necessitates
constant involvement and work throughout the year - something that Kehoe believes is ensured and enabled by passion and an understanding of who the work is benefitting: “It’s about knowing, big picture, what you’re doing it for and never forgetting that and never forgetting that you are working for the students and that they have chosen you because they think that you would do a good job.”. Kehoe wishes to channel her own passion and dedication into the role as Comms and Marketing Office and thereby “turn ideas into action, activism into engagement, and services into tangible student support”.
“When I was JCR sports officer in second year, that like, that’s when I started organising events, and when I saw people enjoying themselves, it gave me a sense of joy and accomplishment within myself”
In addition to being JCR sports officer, Garg has previously worked as President and Treasurer of the Indian Society where he organised last year’s Holi celebration - the Hindu festival of colours. Organising one of the largest cultural events on campus is something which required “a lot of communication with the college” as well as “getting the DJ, making sure there’s insurance. There’s so much stuff”. Garg feels his past experience with organising such wide-scale events will serve as an ideal stepping stone for the role of Ents Officer, who is responsible for organising student events throughout the year including Trinity Ball. Throughout our conversation, Garg frequently referred to communication as one of the most important skills for a successful Ents
Officer. This came to the forefront for him when he was working as Treasurer for the Indian Society while doing his Erasmus in Sweden for a semester. Having to coordinate everything from abroad highlighted for him the importance of “knowing how to be a leader”, how to “delegate work” and “how to organise staff”. When asked to assess the performance of the current Ents Officer, Peadar Walsh, whom Garg has worked with closely this year in his role on the Ents committee, he stated the former had “done a great job. We’ve had far more society collaborations. We’ve had large scale Pav Fridays which we’ve never seen before”. Garg hopes to build on Walsh’s work: he plans to implement “Creative and Culture Nights”, which would be an opportunity for smaller cultural societies to engage with one another, as well as an “Irish Language Pre Pav”, where Irish speakers on “all levels” can come together to practice speaking Irish for an hour on Fridays. When asked what he would do differently, Garg emphasised his plans to organise sober events, and spoke eagerly of using them as opportunities to explore different genres of music. “Whenever we think of music, we always think of the Pav, and like a nighttime club event.
I want to change that, like, perspective”. The nature of these events would be more relaxed. People may bring their lunch, perhaps coffee or energy drinks would be served. “We could have jazz or trad and stuff like that”. He feels this would expand Ents’ reach to newer audiences and foster a stronger sense of community on
campus. “This will increase engagement as well," he noted, “which is like, I feel like the theme of my whole Ents campaign”.
Garg’s most passionate idea is a “college wide calendar”, which would include all student events taking place. He hopes this would help prevent any occurrence of overbooking and ease communication, citing an incident where the Pav Fest clashed with the Asian ball. He feels the implementation of the calendar will smooth coordination between events, and avoid confusion.
Inclusion is a central element of his campaign. In his manifesto, he promises to collaborate with societies and the Pav to create events that cater to groups often neglected in the student social scene, such as people who don’t drink alcohol, the disabled, and Health Science students. To make events more accessible, he plans to ensure plain text graphics and readable captions on Trinity Ents social media, as well as providing accessibility reports before events, feeling that this would create “a transparent relationship between Ents and the people” and “hold Trinity Ents accountable for what they’re doing”.
He plans to organise events for Health Science students on placement. “I have talked to a few health science students," he said, explaining why this was a part of his manifesto, “and they were like, yeah nothing really happens for us”. Making plans to accommodate Health Science students, he claims, will involve taking into consideration their calendar, which is longer than the academic year of other
degrees, and communicating with class representatives (reps) to work around their schedules. His specific ideas for events so far include a coffee morning at St James’s. Garg’s plan for charity, an outlier among ideas for events in his manifesto, would see a year long “party for purpose” campaign, where two events per month are dedicated to charity. He would also implement a “deposit return scheme” whereby the cans collected from said events would be returned. The levies claimed from this would go towards the Return for Children charity. “Giving back to society is a very integral part of Trinity Ents” he stated, rationalising the decision behind this.
One of the things that sets this year’s election apart from previous ones is the integration of postgraduate students in TCDSU, which was formalised last November. This year’s Ents candidates will be tasked with accommodating them. Garg
feels equal to this challengein his manifesto, he vows to organise monthly events for Post Grads.
“The biggest issue with post grads is they’re only here for a year”, he stated, reflecting on how representing them may differ from representing undergraduate students “They don’t have that communication. Stuff doesn’t reach them that much”. He plans to address this by collaborating with the Postgrad officer on the Ents committee as well as course reps to increase communication and create a space for giving feedback. “It’s all about just getting the word to them so they come to the events”. In my time with Garg, his passion for organising events and giving back to the community shone through. He wishes to “give that experience that I have had these past four years to everyone like, to have, so that they can enjoy their four years in college as much as possible”
Freja Goldman
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Finn Hallwood on Accessibility and Increasing Student Involvement in Trinity Events
I interviewed Finn Hallwood, a candidate running for Trinity Ents Officer, about his experience, vision, and plans for the role. The thirdyear student studying mechanical and manufacturing engineering, hopes to develop Ents into something that “fully represents the entire student body.” In Hallwood’s three years at Trinity, he has been a S2S mentor, stand-in secretary for amnesty, and treasurer of the carting society. Since his first year, Hallwood has also been a part of Jailbreak, a multiday charity event. Initially a participant, Hallwood became a director in his second year and now serves as Head Tracker, in charge of organizing challenges and coordinating logistics. He is also currently a swim team club captain. Alongside these roles, Hallwood shares his involvement in event organising and fundraising. He has taken on “varying roles,” from organising charity initiatives from a “multiday scavenger hunt around Europe” that raised 10,000 euro for Amnesty, St. Vincent de Paul, and An Cumann Gaelach “to a “300+ person event for Movember, raising over 5,000 euro.” He has also hosted open mic events in aid of Palestine and coordinated student surf trips.
Hallwood’s main priorities as Ents officer are to expand the number and variety of events offered at Trinity to better reflect the interests of the student body. While he acknowledges that "the events thus far have been incredibly rich in experiences delivered and the people they reach,” he believes that “the vast majority of these events only reach a specific demographic.”
One way he hopes to address this is by making events more accessible. He plans to ensure that all Ents events provide “accessible seating and respite areas for those who require it” and potentially offer noise-canceling headphones for those who may need them.
To guarantee that all students can take part in Ents events, Hallwood wants to introduce once a semester event timetables that will provide accessibility, information, times, and costs for the events.” He believes this will particularly benefit students in “busier degrees” those who “require extra support in getting to and from events, or need more support on the day.” The timetable will include “clear and detailed accessibility information,... details about how to book tickets,” and “accessibility in and around the venue,” which he says will be “announced on every Instagram post.”
For longer charity events, Hallwood promises that as soon as he takes office, he will “set up dedicated sub-committees" to ensure that these events are “fully laid out and planned, with their information being available on the proposed timetable.”
Another way Hallwood intends to make Ents more representative of the student body is by increasing “support for smaller societies.” To achieve this, he plans to hold “meetings with every club and society committee at the start of both semesters. These meetings, he explains, will be an opportunity to "talk to them about their plans for the next semester” and “ask if they require any support on their events, whether that be “more publicity or help securing a venue.”
In addition to supporting smaller societies, he also wants to expand Ents’ role in assisting “charitable organisations and cultural societies and clubs by developing their individual events into university-wide events.”
One way he plans to do this is by diversifying the music played at Ents events, as he believes they currently rely too heavily “on a specific type of music.” He admires how Eurovision sparks interest in different languages and cultures, exposing people to countries “that they might not have had an interest in before.” Hallwood hopes to bring a similar approach to Trinity by introducing a broader range of musical genres at Ents events.
He points to Irish music as an example, noting that students often have to seek it out rather than encountering it at large events. He suggests that incorporating a wider variety of music could make people more engaged or interested in the culture.
While Hallwood shares his appreciation for Judith Robinson, the Ents Officer of 2019 to 2020, for establishing Pav Fridays, he expresses his hopes to expand Ents beyond club nights by increasing collaboration with societies such as Players Theatre, the jazz cave sessions of TCD Jazz, the DUAMs Open Mics, or any other events organised by the clubs and societies at Trinity.
Beyond working with societies, Hallwood wants students to have “more say in the events that are run at Trinity”, which he believes requires as much interaction with students as possible.
Ents Candidate Orla Norton Discusses Crowd Control, Anti-Spiking, Sustainability and Accessibility Measures.
“I don't think I could reach everyone in Trinity with the Ents role, if I'm not meeting as many people as possible,” he says. To facilitate this, he hopes to create what he calls a "roaming office,” explaining, “Maybe I'll have a day where I'm working in the arts block. Maybe I'll have a day when I'm working in the business building. Maybe I'll have a day when I'm working somewhere in the Hamilton.” Hallwood believes that “people deserve to see what Ents is.” He states, “I think they should be able to see and ask a question about any event and have it answered pretty quickly. I think they should be able to turn up to any meetings and offer their opinion.”
To encourage student involvement, Hallwood wants to increase the opening hours of the Ents office and release the minutes of each committee meeting to demonstrate that Ents is fulfilling its re-
sponsibilities.
In addition to increasing accessibility, he shares his hopes to make events safer and more comfortable for students. Hallwood plans to introduce several new initiatives, including providing “anti-spiking lids at every Ents event,” offering “free welfare training to all Trinity students throughout the year,” and inviting guest speakers to come in to discuss important topics such as “sexual and mental health.”
Hallwood’s main motivation for candidacy can be summed up in his desire for Ents to reach a “greater variety of people." He explains, “I have always thrown myself at whatever comes my way to experience all that Trinity has to offer, and I want to provide the same opportunities that I was.”
Alannah Wrynn
Orla Norton is one of four candidates running for the position of Ents Officer in the upcoming TCDSU sabbatical election. A senior sophister psychology student who has acted as events manager for the French Society between 2022 and 2024, Norton feels she has developed considerable skills in events management, leadership and teamwork commenting that “It's on a larger scale, but it's basically the same job that I have been doing within the French society, and it's just something I really enjoy to do, creating events and coming up with ideas.”
When asked about the challenges and successes she experienced as an events manager, Norton referred to the difficulty of leading a large team within a student society and the skills she learnt from it. Her achievements include initiating the French Societies first club night which was a collaboration of a total of nine societies and increasing the amount of events the society held from less than one per week to up to three events per week.
Feeling positive about where Ents in Trinity currently stands, Norton praised the frequency and wide variety of events that are held in Trinity, as well as the increase in society involvement that has been seen over the last few years but nevertheless felt there is always room for improvement.
“I think that a wider variety is always a good thing, just to make sure that there is something for everybody and that there is more input from different societies, from different people with different interests,different hobbies. Also having things
at different times of the day. Some people who commute can't really make it to things that happen in the evening. So having events that are, you know, in the morning and throughout the day.”
For Norton, crowd control and implementing spiking prevention measures are issues of priority. Although positive about the impact that the use of the second bar at the Pav for more crowded Pav Fridays has had, Norton feels that there are times when crowd control is still an issue.
“I went to a couple of Fridays this year that were so busy and getting up and down the stairs felt a little bit dangerous even, and that's why I talked about that in my manifesto, because I think that it is important to be able to have that [second Pav bar] as frequently as possible, to ensure that there's no safety issues.”
Conscious of the difficulty of attempting to combat the issue of spiking, Norton is advocating for the use of anti-spiking lids at events as well as having Ents committee members stationed at accessible points throughout the night. ‘It’s really difficult to enjoy a night out without it being in the back of your mind things like spiking and other safety issues,’ Norton highlighted. When discussing the upcoming Trinity Ball crowd control again emerged as an issue along with accessibility. Norton argued that “there is a need for more fencing, more control over the amount of people in one area, like a lot of people are all at the main stage, and they're all trying to get as close as possible.”
Norton is eager to see Trin-
ity collaborate with other Dublin universities and potentially further afield. She highlights the benefits of “being able to collaborate with other universities, being able to meet more people and have more people at the events.”
Norton is also proposing the creation of a Sustainability Officer as part of the Ents Committee, which already contains an Accessibility Officer and a Welfare Officer. Norton puts forward that “it would be good if there was an officer that was specifically there to be able to think about that [sustainability], to think about every small detail of the event, see if there's anything that we can make more sustainable, or to help on the side of planning events and to do other things like try to help us pressure the Pav to stop using plastic cups and stuff like that…. even if it is a small change to an event that makes it a bit more sustainable. I think really publicizing that and showing that it is an effort that we're trying to do is also really important.”
Accessibility is another issue that features on Norton’s agenda, both the physical accessibility of venues and the visual accessibility of promotional material. Her proposals include providing students with a venue description on Instagram posts and other promotional material as well utilising accessibility forms to receive details of how accessible different parts of a venue are.
"Another thing is that I would want to announce events earlier, because that way, if there is any sort of need to be accommodated for, people can get in touch. I
think with the graphics, just making sure that they're accessible and the colour contrast is high enough and it's legible, that’s important.”
“It's definitely undergraduate dominated. I mean, there are a lot more events for them,” Norton stated when questioned on the amount of events currently held for postgraduate students. This along with holding events specifically for Erasmus students is something Norton says she wants to tackle.
‘Especially the beginning of the year, because if you're in your first year of your postgrad, or you're just an exchange student, in the beginning of the year you're the same as a fresher, you come and you usually don't know anyone and so focusing on those in freshers week, I think would be really important.’
With campaigns launching last week and voting to take place over the next week, all candidates only have a short amount of time to convince students that they are the most qualified person for the job.
When asked why students should vote for her Norton argues "I would definitely bring skills of leadership and event management. It's something that I've done a lot, and I've already done within the context of Trinity especially. And I know how to lead a team within a team, and I have experience. I know who to contact in terms of booking venues and things like that, because I've already done it. I know the society side of things, which I think is really important as well in Ents."
Nicole Saluck
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
Trinity Ball, Accessibility and High Levels of Craic: How John O’Hara Plans to Improve Ents
This year's Ents officer election has proven to be one of the most hotly contested sabbatical roles in Trinity with four different candidates vying for the position. The close competition is in sharp contrast to last year's election, where current Ents officer Peadar Walsh successfully ran an uncontested campaign. I sat down with third year film student John O’Hara, who is in the running, to discuss how his campaign, based on reforming the college’s biggest event, Trinity ball, while attending to the day-to-day responsibilities of running trinity’s weekly events, sets him apart.
In our interview, O’Hara proposed that his wide range of experience in Trinity events makes him best suited for the position. As club captain for DU men’s hockey, O’Hara has spent much of his third year at Trinity liaising with students, coaches, external staff and insurance to organise events for his team while being on the executive committee for Ents as public relations officer (PRO), having had a hand in some of campus’ biggest events. As club captain, O’Hara has taken a strong stance in favour of events run by students, for students, stating he has been “pushing back against a movement to reduce the amount of student led events” who are often replaced by external bodies.
“Since My First Day, This is What I Wanted to Do”: Charlie Hastings on Accessibility, Visibility, and Community.
At the forefront of O’Hara’s campaign are his plans for Trinity ball. As part of his manifesto, O’Hara is dedicated to maintaining the events €100 ticket cap, in spite of rising insurance costs. He plans to look for alternative funding to combat these costs, such as creating sponsorship opportunities on the events many stages, which have remained plain of any advertisement.
O’Hara sees Trinity ball’s blank stages as an untapped market that could not only maintain current price caps, but could also be a “huge opportunity” that could “boost the funding thats going towards musical acts”.
In consistency with his previous advocacy for student led events, O’Hara is dedicated to increasing the Ents committee’s influence on the organisation of the event. As it stands, Trinity ball is run in collaboration with an external production company. This collaboration is mediated solely by the current Ents officer, meaning that contact between the student body and production company is often slow and limited. O’Hara understands this proxy system as responsible for the lack of student input in the ball’s main musical artists. O’Hara hopes that through increasing the responsibility held by the ents committee over the event, seeking more contact with the production company and leveraging sponsorships to increase funding, he can increase the quality of headlining musical acts, as well as the event overall.
O’Hara has fought for student led mixed varsity events alongside the DU hockey Ladies club captain to ensure that all Trinity sports club can hold on to their student organised events. He believes that this experience, along with his time as Public relations officer, will translate well into his role as Ents officer, if elected.
A large part of the Ents officer responsibilities is over-
seeing weekly events held in the pavilion bar, particularly the popular Pavfest, a large scale version of pav Friday with a special musical guest, introduced in 2023. This event has been evidently successful, although concerns over the events safety have been raised after a pavfest in 2024 was shutdown an hour early over crowd control issues. The ents committee has responded to these issues by increasing the venue size and providing a foundation on which future committee’s can base the event off.
O’Hara plans to use this foundation created by former officers and promises a total of 4 pavfest’s a year, two for each term. He also plans to address any safety concerns or ideas for future events by opening an anonymous student forum, where students can submit “their ideas for events, but more importantly, the facilities which they see as essential in order for events to be accessible for them”. He plans to use information gathered from these forums in collaboration with the incoming welfare and equality officer to “push external venues to have these facilities in place” or to encourage use of accessible on-campus space which are underutilized. This outreach for student feedback on Trinity events will be in tandem with O’Hara’s plans for a quarterly town hall where students can address any of their concerns in person.
O’Hara also plans to improve the safety of all Trinity events by facilitating bystander and first responder training for all Ents committee members through
the student conselling service on campus. He hopes to achieve this through submitting a motion in the student union. O’Hara believes it is important that this is passed as a motion in student council and not just a feature of his tenure “so that it is not just an idea for Ents officers but it is an obligation”.
Finally, O’Hara plans to improve the inclusivity of Fresher’s events by integrating students from different student accommodations..
As O’Hara understands it, there are “certain demographics within college, which aren’t getting as many events as others”. This can be seen in the difference in events held in Trinity Halls who have their own JCR committee and Kavanagh court who do not. In our interview, O’Hara proposed the idea of running “Ents X JCR” events on campus that could include students from both buildings, as residents-only events in Halls are potentially shutting out
many students eager to get to know each other.
However, beyond the technicalities and issues addressed by O’Hara in our interview and his manifesto, it seems that continuing quality events, accessible to all, is at the heart of his campaign. The core of this campaign was adequately summarized in O’Hara’s recent Hustings appearance last Monday where he proclaimed “For incredibly high-craic levels, vote John”.
With Student Union (SU) elections around the corner, I recently sat down with one hopeful candidate running for the position of University Times (UT) editor, Charlie Hastings, to talk about his campaign and plans for UT if he was elected.
Hastings was the music editor of UT in first year and assistant editor in second year, followed by a position as Chair of the Editorial Board.
Hastings sees his time spent working at UT as key to why he would be suited for the role of editor.
His time as assistant editor was “tumultuous …I remember my second year, I almost quit, because I would spend like 36 hours straight every weekend just in House Six in the editor's office, editing on InDesign…it was hard”. Given this past experience, a priority he continuously flags is the welfare of the students at the paper.
Before we get into his plans for UT however, Hastings fills me in on a bit of the paper’s background. The paper was started in 2009 by Robert Donohoe, the Comms officer at the time. It was originally founded “as a form of checks and balances for the rest of the Union”. The paper, though a part of the SU, “operates relatively outside [of it]” and there is a clause in the SU constitution that prohibits a UT editor from being impeached by other Union members. Hastings would like to remove this clause. “Full disclosure…just like with any [kind of] constitution….it's really, really hard to change it.…so I just hope that people understand that if I was elected, it would be my number one priority to just be a good editor,” Hast-
ings said.
Hastings was also the editor of his high school newspaper and has been published in local newspapers, particularly enjoying magazine writing. He adds though that “news is great. I really appreciate the ability that news has to reveal what's going on and tell people the truth and hold people accountable. That's really exciting”.
Hastings also founded Get a Grip magazine with a number of other students in his second year. The paper ended when members left on exchanges abroad in third year but the Get a Grip website is still up online for anyone interested in reading past articles. “We had a good six to eight month run…it taught me a lot”.
Hastings ran for the position of editor last year and lost to Brídín Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce by 148 votes. What made him decide to run again?
"It mainly comes down to the fact that I know I can improve the paper…I've been there long enough to where I completely trust my judgment when it comes to what's right for it…I really, really care about it…since my first day, this is what I wanted to do”.
“Did you know in 2017 the University Times won an award, the Society of Professional Journalists….for the best student newspaper in the world? … [UT] also won two awards for the best designed student newspaper on the planet in 2015 and 2016”.
Hastings praises the work of Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce and previous editor Clara Roche and states that his goal is to “just continue the momentum, because I know we can be the paper that was winning
those world class journalism and design awards again”.
“I've really admired what Brí has done…she has done a lot for the Irish section of the newspaper”. On this point, Hastings tells me he would try to “expand off of that” by trying to encourage Irish speakers of all levels to engage with the paper. “There's a lot of room to have a spectrum, where you have…translated Irish articles, where you have articles originally written in Irish, and maybe where you have, like, a sentence of the week in Irish, where you could learn how to say: ‘the seagulls ate my sandwich”. A phrase we both agree would be useful.
Welfare is one of Hastings’ top priorities. If appointed, he would hold “Journalism 101” classes and welfare meetings with all UT editors “at least once a month”.
He would also have 9-5 office hours for people to meet with him on their own time.
His other main point is visibility. Hastings plans to dedicate a “space to where [underrepresented] people can share their stories”. When asked about the role of the Visibility Editor mentioned in his manifesto, Hastings explains that this person would be appointed not to speak on behalf of minority groups but to act as “more of a recruitment agent” by running pitch call outs and building “a community to where all these people can come together and share what's being underrepresented currently”.
Hastings also intends to put more emphasis on improving Radius, the magazine component of UT. “I think more attention needs to be
paid to the auxiliary sections of the newspaper; radius magazine, culture, supplements, commentary, sports”. He would also really like to see women’s sports covered more in the newspaper.
Another key part of Hastings’ manifesto is community. He emphasises the importance of office hours. He also thinks that pitch callouts are “a really easy, really underutilized way to foster community,” and he would ask the editor of each different news section to send out not only pre-written pitches for people to claim but also do pitch callouts for specific topics, “nudging people in the right direction…because if you just say ‘give me anything’ people don't know… and so most of the time people just go with what's being listed.”
In his manifesto, Hastings also stated that he would begin a Letters to the Editor section. “I hope that there would be enough interest in writing a letter to the editor to where I could print a reliable section on that every month… when I first thought of that idea, it was mainly for checks and balances reasons, like if I obligated myself to print letters to The Editor every month and someone was like, hey this needs to be improved, and that was put in the paper for people to see, it could give people an opportunity to follow up… to share their own ideas”. Hastings is full of praise for the work of this year’s Student Union. “I have nothing but good things to say about this year's Students Union. That being said, like I said before, my job is to always keep an open eye on the Students Union. That's what the University Times was created to do”. What is the most important point of his manifesto? Hastings does not hesitate. “Welfare, easy. Just considering the personal experiences that I've had with the University Times, and knowing full well that, because I've been in those situations on the staff side of it, I can know what to do on the editor side of it…. trusting myself in that regard, I think, is giving me the confidence to go after that particular point in my manifesto with the most vigour”.
Charlie Swann
Eve McGann
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
PHOTO BY CEÍLÍ NÍ RAITHILIDH
“It’s Time that The University Times Becomes Diverse, Innovative and Fearless” - Sajal Singh on her Bid for UT Editor
Emma Rouine
Sajal Singh is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in economics.
In her first year, she began writing as a contributor writer for The University Times before subsequently writing for Trinity News and Misc.
In her second year, she was appointed as Deputy Magazine Editor for The University Times. Currently, she serves as Features Editor for the paper along with Trinity News’ Deputy Arts and Culture Editor.
Singh can be seen as part of a new cohort of writers for the University Times joining the paper after recent confidentiality breaches the paper has faced. In reflection of this, she says she has made herself aware of prior incidents and says “one of my major manifesto points is responsible reporting, because it's really important that when an article is written, it should be edited, copy edited, discussed, if it's involving other people's names, and that we can hold town halls, where we can hold meetings with the team, with people who want to get on board and, you know, give their input on how we should be more aware and more careful about reporting news.”
She acknowledges the work that the current editor of The University Times, Brídín Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce and former editor, Clara Roche had done during their tenure to restore the integrity of the paper and adds, “I just hope that I'm able to continue that reputation and legacy.” She adds that she agrees with Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce’s view on impeachment. “It's not something that should be talked about so lightly, be-
cause it's really an important issue, and if need be, there is obviously the provision of impeachment that should be put into place, but in extreme cases, right?”
She reflects on her experience within student journalism at Trinity as a positive one. Singh described how supportive everyone has been and has described it being “a part of this big community.”
However, she does acknowledge that it is mainly English students in these roles and wishes to bring change to this through the implementation of new roles. In creating the role of an outreach director, Singh says, “That person has a specific task, to just do sponsorships, to just reach out to anybody who's not in the team and connect with the industry so that we can bring in more people for interviews or for sponsorships, and also like societies, because oftentimes we don't have connections all the way.”
Singh also adds that it is important to mention her work within the Trinity-inclusive curriculum. She describes “we used to hold meetings around the table, meetings where from the faculty, people used to come sit there, and we used to formulate policies around how Trinity can be more inclusive to people with disabilities or ethnic minorities and stuff like that. So on that table, I got really good perspectives about what Trinity is doing in terms of support to the students. And surprisingly, there are a lot of issues.”
She says in her roles as Features Editor she has strived to highlight topics that do not have enough coverage in student media. Singh reflects
on talking to students who are parents and how Trinity is supporting them and support that international students have. She says, “ I think there's a lot of issues that need to be talked about and that don't reach us necessarily, so we need to go out there talking people and engage with them.”
Within Singh’s first month as editor, her goal would be to expand the team. She says, “I feel like we're not that big of a team to ensure that, you know, the entire college community is represented, especially I remember Brí and her manifesto last year also had mentioned that she would be creating new editorial roles regarding the international editors or the LGBTQ+ editors. But that still hasn't happened yet. So during my first month, at least, I'll make sure that we have a solid team that represents all sections of the student community, LGBTQ affairs, international, Erasmus editors, and ethnic minorities.”
She hopes to give one-onone time to everybody but does acknowledge that this may not be a possibility all the time. Her priority is “to form that connection with everybody, let them know what the expectation of the role is, and if they need any help, they should not feel hesitant in ever approaching me.”
In terms of social media and video journalism, Singh says, “seriously some work that needs to be done.” In her manifesto, Singh writes that she hopes to expand reach through “One Minute News Reports and More Video
Comórtas
Dúshlánach: Beirt san
iomaíocht do ról Oifigeach na Gaeilge
2025/26
Saoirse Ní Bhreathnach
Content.” I question how she plans on making this content unique from Trinity News’ social media content and says, “I'm not saying that we need to, you know, copy and do, like a weekly review kind of thing, because, although if one group is doing that, you don't need to. But just if we're reporting something, let's say, if we're reporting a protest happening around the camp, I wanted to be on video as well. We can't just be doing a photo, because that's not the attention span that we're looking at now?”
Other features she hopes to implement include growing the Irish language team with regular workshops and creating “A Professional Edge Section” which Singh describes will include advertising job opportunities and previous alumni sharing their job experiences. She emphasises “if we can get alumni on board, that would be amazing.”
In her last words, I asked Singh to summarise why people should vote for her, “I think it’s time that the University Times becomes diverse, innovative and fearless … we need to report news that's important, and we need to tell stories that matter… I hope I can be an editor who people just can come up to and have a conversation.”
She adds, “I think my experience is good enough. I have been part of all college publications, and getting engaged with the college community is something I feel passionately about, and I would be very happy to do it as the editor."
Tá Aoife Ní Bhriain agus Niamh Leddy san iomaíocht chun ról Phádraig Mhic Bhrádaigh a thógáil mar Oifigeach na Gaeilge. I gcroílár a gcuid feachtas tá plé ar stádas na Gaeilge sa Choláiste, eagrú imeachtaí chun an teanga a chur chun cinn agus an tábhacht a bhaineann le cruinneas teanga. Faoi láthair, tá Aoife ag staidéar na matamaitice agus tá an Ghaeilge fite fuaite ina saol laethúil. Tá sí mar chuid den scéim cónaithe agus ina ball gníomhach den Choiste Gaeilge san Aontas. Tá sé mar aidhm aici an Ghaeilge a dhéanamh níos inrochtana do gach duine agus cairdeas a chothú trína húsáid. Creideann sí gur cheart do dhaoine a bheith muiníneach sa teanga gan eagla nó imní a bheith orthu is í á úsáid.Tá mianta Niamh Leddy cosúil leis seo. Tá sí ag déanamh staidéir na hEorpa agus tá taithí luachmhar aici mar OCP leis an gCumann Gaelach, chomh maith leis seo is cónaitheoir ar an scéim í. Tá fonn uirthi
an Ghaeilge a chur ar fáil do chách agus í a choinneáil beo bríomhar i saol an Choláiste. Inniu, cuireadh an beirt faoi agallamh áit a raibh ceisteanna deacra orthu le freagairt. An chéad ceist a cuireadh ná conas a chuirfeadh siad imeachtaí ar fáil a mheallfadh daoine chun freastal orthu agus an Ghaeilge a úsáid. Labhair Niamh anseo faoi dhíriú ar an Gaeilge ach go háirithe sa Scéim. Chuir sí in iúl go bhfuil easpa fógraíochta faoi eagraíochtaí faoi láthair agus go mbeadh úsáid na meán cumarsáide ríthábhachtach chun daoine a mhealladh an Ghaeilge a úsáid ag eagraíochtaí an Scéim Cónaithe. D’aontaigh Aoife leis seo agus dúirt sí go raibh suim aici imeachtaí a nascadh le Cumainn eile ionas go mbeadh níos mó daoine in ann teacht i dteagmháil leis an Gaeilge. Cuireadh ceist eile faoi conas a bheadh siad sásta mar Oifigeach dul i ngleic leis an Aontas agus an Choláiste nuair a nach gcuir-
tear aistriúchán Gaeilge ar fáil. Labhair Aoife anseo faoi dheis a thabhairt dóibh an botún a cheartú ach go mbeadh sí dian faoi má leanann sáruithe ar aghaidh. Léirigh sí gur slí beatha í an Ghaeilge agus nach bhfuil sé ceart ná cóir nach mbeadh aistriúchán déanta ar théacs, comharthaí agus ríphoist sa Choláiste nó san Aontas. Beidh Aoife dian ar leithsciúlacht i léith na Gaeilge agus chur sí in iúl go gcaithfear meas a léiriú ar an Gaeilge. D’aontaigh Niamh leis an meon seo chomh maith.
Chur sí béim ar Bhunreacht an Aontais agus go gcaithfear cloí
leis agus chomhstádas iomlán a thabhairt don Ghaeilge.
Chur sí in iúl go mbeadh sí lán sásta dul i ngleic le haon sárú le rialacha an Bhunreachta maidir leis an Gaeilge.
Cuireadh ceist eile faoi conas a bheadh siad sásta mar Oifigeach dul i ngleic le aon fuath atá ann don Ghaeilge. Chuir Mac Brádaigh an cheist seo agus labhair sé faoin taithí a bhí aige le seo mar Oifigeach. Labhair sé faoi dhá litir a fuair sé ó eagraíochtaí Protastúnacha. Rinne na litreacha seo chur síos ar an mbealach a raibh an Ghaeilge ag loitiú cultúr Protustúnach an Choláiste agus rinneadh cur síos ar an teanga mar theanga bhréige a cumadh. Labhair Niamh anseo faoin ngráin a bhí aici don mheon seo. Dúirt sí go n-úsáidfeadh sí a hardán chun an fuath a thaispeánt agus chun troid ina gcoinne ionas go mbeadh borradh faoin nGaeilge sa Choláiste. I gcompráid leis seo, dúirt Ao-
ife nach dtabharfadh sí ard ar an bhfuath seo agus nach mbeadh sí ag iarradh aon aird a thabhairt ar dhaoine atá maslach faoin Ghaeilge. Labhair sí faoin láidreacht atá ag an Ghaeilge agus go dtaispeánfadh sí go bhfuil an Ghaeilge in ann an fód a sheasamh i gcoinne an mheoin ghránna seo. Léirigh an t-agallamh seo na buanna agus na mianta atá ag Aoife agus Niamh. Is léir go bhfuil siad ag iarraidh go mbeadh meon dearfach faoin Ghaeilge. Tá siad ag iarraidh go mbeadh cairdeas á chruthú is go mbeadh an Ghaeilge á húsáid agus go mbeadh achan duine in ann leas a bhaint aisti. Tá an bheirt acu paiseanta faoin Ghaeilge agus tá siad tiomanata ról Oifigeach na Gaeilge a chomhlíonadh go rathúil mar a rinne Mac Brádaigh.
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Our Students’ Union is Lacking in Relevance - But That Might Not Be Entirely its Fault
Maybe we need to start recognising that statistics like the 3.6% turnout in the recent constitutional referendum don’t exist in isolation, but instead as a tiny fraction of a much broader trend of youth disengagement with politics in Ireland
Even the most hackish of student union hacks would find it difficult to dispute that engagement with the SU is, well, patchy. This academic year, a record number of students ran for class rep positions, yet Council is still peppered with vacancies – one of which I myself was co-opted to fill. The hustings on the 1.5 constitutional amendment had maybe 30 people in attendance, the referendum had no organised campaign against the proposal, and only approximately 3.6% of the student population even cast their ballots. There is a mismatched level of engagement across faculties, too, with AHSS students being far more likely to vote or run for higher office in the Union than their STEM and health-science counterparts. Unfortunately, herein lies the depressing, open secret that underpins the SU – that despite its best, often tenacious efforts, it still holds little to no relevance to the vast majority of students. I say this as someone who, up until the end of last year, had no idea what the Comms Officer did until I was ambushed by a prospective candidate during election season in the Arts Block. The visibility of the SU’s elections are no bad thing – it would be hard to miss the flurry of leaflets and Instagram posts that make up campaign week –but I found myself wondering, as a student not highly engaged in Union affairs: where are they during the rest of the year? Emails ping
in my inbox and posters go up around campus, but I’ve never felt like the Union has struck a particular chord of relevance with me.
I can’t help but feel, however, that these thoughts are somewhat unfair. Behind the scenes of these attempted connections are a group of hardworking sabbatical and part-time officers who seem to genuinely care about the welfare of the students they represent. Their campaigns to counter College’s brutally inefficient and inadequate systems, especially with regards to LENS report compliance and the overnight guests policy, are, in fact, both effective and admirable. So why does the Union still feel so distant to us?
Maybe we need to start recognising that statistics like the 3.6% turnout in the recent constitutional referendum don’t exist in isolation, but instead as a tiny fraction of a much broader trend of youth disengagement with politics in Ireland. Trinity students aren’t uniquely apathetic, and our students’ union isn’t uniquely lacking in relevance to us. Half of all young people in Ireland aren’t voting in national elections, let alone SU ones, and Ireland has the single biggest age-based turnout gap in Europe – meaning older people are far more likely to vote than their younger counterparts. If young people aren’t voting for the people who make decisions on their rent, rights, and wages, it shouldn’t be a surprise to
us when they don’t turn out for SU elections and referendums. In short, our students’ union’s efforts to engage us is a symptom of broader political apathy.
This disillusionment isn’t entirely unjustified. Successive Irish governments have failed to meaningfully address the core concerns of young people – the housing crisis foremost among them – leading many to believe that politics simply will not work for them. I am politically active, and I viscerally understand this exhaustion. It feels like we are constantly throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks, and I get why many feel that it is just not worth their time.
The danger is that the SU can, in the minds of students, also become boxed into this category of “distant institutions that don’t work for me”. Students are exhausted by College’s lack of action on accommodation shortages, by their systems failing to function as they should, by the bureaucratic nightmare that is the understaffed Academic Registry. Yet, as limited as the SU is by its one year term limits, these problems have persisted year after year, campaign after campaign. The lack of continuity means that on these large-scale issues, officers can be left with little to show for their hard work.
This is probably why the SU’s focus on broader political issues that don’t directly affect the majority of students hasn’t driven up student engagement with
the Union. With the passing of the 1.5 amendment fully politicising the SU, future administrations are now free to do more of this than ever before, if they so choose. The jury is out on what, if any, impact that will have on the SU’s perceived relevance. While I believe that our Union should always focus on student welfare first and wider issues second, I also don’t think a laser-focused pivot to this approach would radically change engagement levels.
The far larger and more concerning issue is that much of our generation no longer believes in the power of institutions—whether they be student unions, national governments, or political parties – to improve their lives.
Ultimately, the question is not whether the SU is relevant, but whether it feels relevant to the people it’s supposed to represent. From the Union’s side, achieving this means continuing to prove, through visible and practical action, that they are more than a platform for those already engaged. It needs to acknowledge the low level of interest from the student body, and consistently meet students where they’re at. At the same time, it would be both unfair and naïve to place the burden of change on the SU alone. This has a lot to do with the national political environment, and a lot to do with our own unwillingness to engage. The decisions of our Union are relevant to us, even if we
Trinity's Student Union Has Always Been Political - And
it
Should Stay That Way
Bohuslav Vrba
don’t care about what goes on at Comhairle (Council). As the old saying goes, you may not care about politics –but politics cares about you. One inescapable truth in all this is that the everyday issues facing students are not going away. We will still have to grapple with accommodation shortages, broken systems, and College valuing its prestige over its students. Yet an overwhelming majority of us are neither turning to our Union for help, nor electing people to do so, and that is, sadly, a damning indictment of its overall relevance to the student body. At the same time, the SU is operating in a climate of growing political disengagement, which no one in national politics has successfully countered. The SU can and should ensure it keeps a laser-focus on student welfare, but it can only do so much in what looks to be a perpetually uphill battle to secure the engagement of young voters. In the words of one Junior Fresh student: “Are they the ones who give me their discounts? In their email? Well, that’s their relevance to me.” And maybe it’s that simple. Relevance is a two way street. We will only ever get as much out of the SU as we give to it.
The Trinity College Dublin Student Union is at its most consequential crossroadswith two dueling views on the role of politics in union action - begetting a clear motion of confidence from the student body after years of heightened activism. The Union’s increasingly expansive presence in student affairs has invited both support and scrutiny, with detractors pointing to an overreach into political matters outside its scope and purview. However, enforcing such limits on student activism could prove detrimental to the principle of collective action and ignores the storied history of Trinity’s active political life, in favor of a docile endorsement of the status quo. As student voices are increasingly shut out of the political process, this motion serves as an opportunity to establish a unified bloc - with students’ interests at its forefront.
The final line of Chapter 1.5 in the TCDSU Constitution, currently states: “The Union shall pursue these objectives independent of any political, racial or religious ideology.”
This wording, crucial to the 1968 Constitution, reflected a clashing Irish society, where unions had to bridge the divide between persisting socially conservative views alongside the nominally progressive aims of labour movements - a lingering issue, though now put to a vote.
Opponents of the referendum stress that through avoidance of ideology and politics, the Union represents the varied opinions present in the College constituency, preventing sectarian infight-
ing among its ranks. The extent to which such a goal can be adhered to is idealistic, given that decisions on student welfare inherently fall on ideological and political lines - where there are parties that support greater education funding and those that do not, the Union’s position on the issue will inherently be political.
Furthermore, such a revisionist understanding of the Union’s history erases the radical foundations upon which it stands. In 1989, TCDSU provided students with information on abortion services - illegal under the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution at the time - prompting a legal battle that would go to the European Court of Justice. The Union President Ivana Bacik, current Labour Party Leader and TD, was threatened with imprisonment as a result of contravening the law, in an effort to provide students with essential medical care.
With Mary Robinson as legal counsel, the case would provide a basis for student activism on the issue and prompt the Government to allow for greater freedom of information.
Such an action, taken a mere six years after Ireland voted in an abortion ban through referendum, certainly represented a “political, racial or religious ideology”, demonstrating the ineffective constraints of Chapter 1.5 in curtailing Union activism, while simultaneously providing an instance of political action reverberating through broader Irish society and laying the groundwork for a paradigm shift on abortion
issues.
In recent years, TCDSU actions have been limited to isolated critiques of specific policies, namely lobbying the Government during the yearly Budget, while straying from more expansive and targeted campaigns. Throughout this period, strands of direct action continued to manifest, with instances of library occupations in 2009 protesting book budget cuts as prominent instances. Union activism would come to a head with the Book of Kells occupation and the BDS Encampment in 2024. Under the tenure of Laszlo Molnarfi, TCDSU escalated tactics by shutting down College’s main revenue stream: to protest Trinity’s economic and academic ties to Israeli institutions, the Book of Kells entrance was blocked and the Union received an invoice for €214k of lost revenue. The row would reach new highs when an encampment was set up on campus.
Following negotiations and widespread media coverage, Trinity became the first college to commit to full divestment, and the encampment was taken down. In this vein, the Student Union was able to receive concessions from College through definitionally political action, inherently going against its own Constitution.
On the heels of this, the changes proposed by the Electoral Commission at the 3rd Council of 2024/25 seek to amend Chapter 1.5 to “The Union shall pursue these objectives independent of any political party or religious organisation”, while adding a new provision that says
“The Union may only adopt a position of no confidence in a government as a matter of long-term policy”. These clauses aim to clear up the inconsistency and legitimize the mandate of TCDSU as a vehicle for student activism.
The new amendments will foster a more vibrant culture of political discourse, where policy decisions are not viewed within a vacuum, and instead considered in the context of broader systemic issues and ideologies. This presents an opportunity to transform the perception of activism from a reactive, crisis-specific tool into a proactive continuous commitment to the welfare of students, prompting community change on both the micro and macro levels. Critics say that this expands the scope of the Union beyond the material interests of students and makes it a launch pad for political careers. Still, it took decades to legalize abortion in Ireland, therefore student unions need to be at the helm of pushing societal change over a longer horizon, prompting change both outside and within Government.
Divergent political views cannot be exiled in the process, as the Union has a responsibility to all its members irrespective of their individual political positions. This presents problems when TCDSU sabbatical officers have a history in party societies on campus, prompting potential conflicts of interest. The latter motion accounts for this, adopting a no-confidence position only as a result of a referendum, but even in this instance the protections from
party politics are lacking. Further expanding the democratic nature of Union campaigns to reflect the views of the College community as a whole - beyond partisan loyalties and personal ambition - is necessary to address this. Throughout this discourse, respectful dialogue and communication must be emphasized as means to navigate the complex perspectives within the Union, with leaders accountable to all the voices they have to represent during discussions. This referendum provides the clearest temperature check on the activism of the previous years and the direction the Union at Trinity should be headed. Student activism has played key roles in pivotal political debates in this country, it would be a shortsighted mistake to muzzle the voices that speak up for students at a time of youth disenfranchisement. A “yes” vote will likely not dramatically expand the Union’s power, whereas a rejection would signal discontent with activism as a principle, slowing down the already rusted wheels of change. Ultimately, should its results be representative, it will require active participation from the College community in substantial turnout. TCDSU has always been political; whether that remains the case hinges on a greater tradition - a responsiveness to its members.
Imogen Forrest
Every Vote Counts: TCDSU Presidential Race Too Close to Call
Lorcan Brierton
Bridin Ni Fhearraigh-Joyce
The University Times Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) poll has seen a high response rate, with 689 votes cast in the poll. The poll’s margin of error is estimated to be 3.7%.
Last year, there were 2,457 votes cast in the TCDSU Sabbatical Officer race, which if a similar turnout occurs this year, would mean the poll could represent approximately 25% of the total vote. Of the people who responded to the poll 89% plan to vote in the election. 65 students stated they had not decided if they would vote in the TCDSU election, while fourteen students said they would not vote in the election.
The results of the presidential poll show Patrick Keegan and Seán Thim O’Leary with one vote between them, with O’Leary on 209 votes and Keegan on 208 votes. Currently in third place for the Presidential election is the Re-open Nominations vote (RON), amounting to 136 votes. After the RON vote, first-year Giovanni Li holds 114 votes from the poll. Due to the neck-andneck nature of the race, The University Times will not be calling this race.
Education Officer: Former Chair of the Electoral Commission, Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh has a 7.9% point lead in the Education Officer race, with 317 votes in his
favour. Buster Whaley - a newcomer to Students’ Union politicshas captured 265 of the poll’s votes. To sum up the race: Ó Cathasaigh and Whaley have 37 votes between them.
Considering the slim lead that Ó Cathasaigh has over Whaley, the race could go either way.
Channing Kehoe has 525 votes in the poll, which represents 79% of the vote share for the Comms and Marketing race. The RON vote of the poll stands at 139 votes - which at first glance seems high, however the RON vote has a historic trend of being higher in races where the candidate is uncontested. It is the opinion of this paper that Kehoe’s race will be a straight-forward win.
John Garvey is in the lead for the Welfare race with 217 votes. Close behind is Nina Crofts and Deirdre Leahy - with Leahy receiving 162 votes and Crofts receiving 158 votes. RON has 71 votes, and Bhargavi Magadi has 54 votes. The outcome will depend on the candidates ability to capture smaller candidates
supporters and will come down to how votes transfer. Garvey has 32.78% of the vote share, Leahy stands at 24.47%, and Crofts at 23.87%. RON stands at 10.7% and Magadi holds 8.16% of the vote. This race will likely come down to multiple counts before a winner is declared.
French Society Ents Officer Orla Norton has taken the lead at 179 votes, however just four votes behind is former President and Treasurer of Trinity Indian Society Yuv Garg. The two leads in the race are exceptionally close: Norton has taken a 27.9% share of the vote, while Garg makes up 27.3%.
John O’Hara, Captain of the DU Men’s Hockey Club is a close third, with 147 (22.93%) of the poll’s votes. Finn Hallwood, Captain of the DU swim team maintains 85 (13.26%) of votes. RON has 55 votes in total. 23 votes were negated from this race due to a technical error.
With how close the votes are, The University Times cannot call the race for ENTS Officer.
The poll has count-
ed Aoife Ní Bhriain with 374 votes (56.07%) and Niamh Leddy with 231 votes (34.6%). While both candidates are strong contenders and have had a non-controversial and amicable run it seems like Ní Bhriain has won voters over with her strong messaging on the need for Irish language supports for those who come from Gaelscoileanna (Irish Language schools). It is the opinion of The University Times that it is likely that Ní Bhriain will win the race considering that she is leading with 22% points of the poll over Niamh Leddy.
Charles Hastings has captured 352 votes -meaning that he holds a 53.17% share of the total vote. Meanwhile, Sajal Singh holds 218 votes, which leaves her with 32.93% of the vote share. With 20% points of the vote between Hastings and Singh, The University Times believes it likely that Hastings will be elected.
The poll opened at noon on Tuesday, 18th February and closed at 3pm on Friday, 21st February.
