Katie Boucher|Staff Writer
The SU is the body that aims to provide a channel of communication between Trinity students and the college authorities. While students have obviously heard of it, little is often known about how it is run aside from a vague understanding that the five Officers elected annually are somehow involved. So here’s a guide to what power are where in the SU, starting at the most local, up to the most powerful.
Regular Students and Class Reps – (Hoodies for Everyone)
Having spoken to a number of those involved, all of whom were more than willing to chat, I came to realize that the SU is not quite the arcane organization I envisioned it to be. Structurally, it can be visualized as a pyramid, with the people on each tier representing a larger number of students from the tier below. The base is composed of the entire student body, as every Trinity student is automatically a member of the Student’s Union. This means that they can attend the Council meetings that occur approximately every six weeks, but are not permitted to vote. Every 50 students are represented by a class rep, who is elected by others in their course. This means that bigger courses such as Science and Bess might have multiple class reps. Technically, class reps have a number of democratic duties to uphold. For example, reps are permitted to vote on a variety of different issues at the monthly Council meetings, and their main role is to relay issues that people in their course are experiencing to others on the Council. However, realistically, the success of a class rep will not be judged based on how active they were in student council, but whether or not they arranged class hoodies and organised class trips. Plus, it’s a nice filler for a CV.
School and Faculty Conveners (Fighting your schools corner)
Above the reps are the school conveners, for example the Languages convener or the Business convener. They are essentially the “head” of all the class reps in their school, and their duties involve going to meetings with the school staff, as well as attending council meetings. Any problems or issues that arise within the school should be relayed to them. These school conveners are in turn represented by the faculty conveners and their respective deputies.
Any problems or issues that arise within the school should be relayed to these
With regards to the actual power these conveners have, the answer is not exactly clear-cut. The conveners that agreed to chat with me had contrasting opinions. Some argued that they can start the year with the best of intentions, going to school and faculty meetings with a notebook full of well-meaning suggestions and comments, only to be ignored by the staff members. Some admitted that administration can be fairly dismissive of their concerns, so over the course of the year, the spirit of the convener tends to be slowly but surely eroded away. However, others argued that while Trinity can be tied down in bureaucracy, the majority of College staff wants to listen to the students, and occasionally will introduce small but effective changes based on recommendations by the Faculty conveners. One example of this is the issue of essays being handed back late; after a number of complaints about this last year, a deadline has been introduced. These small powers, while not exactly groundbreaking, do indeed enable the Faculty conveners to contribute to the implementation of little changes that enhance student life.
Union Forum (Forum of Stuff)
The Union Forum, which was formerly known as the Executive, is comprised of the aforementioned faculty conveners, along with the Chair of Council, the Secretary of Council, and a number of other officers who each represent a different social issue within the Student population. The Chair of Council, Kieran McNulty, has the dual responsibility of being Chair of Council plus Chair of the Electoral Commission. This means he runs Council meetings, and ensures that Election rules are being followed properly. The Secretary of Council, Jason Leonard, is in charge of organizing Council meetings and taking minutes. He is also chair of the Oversight Commission, which ensures that all officers are fulfilling their Constitutional duties. The other officers include the LGBT Rights Officer, the Mature Students Officer, the Gender Equality Officer, the Disabilities Officer, the Student Parent Officer, and the Sports and Exercise Convener. Each of these Officers tries to ensure that their particular social issue is fairly represented and taken into account by the student council and at Union Forum meetings. The Union Forum is overseen by the five Sabbatical Officers, and meets once a week.
Sabbatical Officers (The Faces on the Posters)
The Sabbatical officers are elected by the whole student body each year, in what is usually an intense and competitive leadership race. Acting as a Sabbatical Officer is a full-time paid position, so those who achieve the role are usually either former students or else have to take a year out of their studies. The five positions are SU president, Welfare Officer, Education Officer, Communications Officer, and ENTS officer.
It is necessary to acknowledge that possibly the most important role does not in fact belong to students
Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne is the current SU president. His role as president gives him the title of “Chief Administrator”, which means he is in charge of overseeing the overall running of the Student Union, running Campaigns, and acting as the “Public face” of Trinity students. He also must represent the students on a variety of College committees, the most important of which being the Board and the Finance Committee. The Board, as he puts it, is the “be-all and end-all”, so his presence at the meetings in which any decisions made are “irreversible and unchallengeable”, is crucial. The Welfare Officer, Ian Mooney, deals with all areas of Welfare such as physical and psychological health, accommodation and finance. He is also involved with the Student Loan system, the Student Hardship fund, and the running of a number of different weeks on Campus such as Mental Health week. The Education Officer, Katie Byrne, is involved in managing the academic aspect of student life. Her duties include organizing the running of class rep training and SU council, and liaising with tutors. The Communications Officer, Samuel Riggs, manages the social media feed, the SU website and all publicity for the SU, both in and out of college. As part of his position, he is also editor of The University Times. Finally, the ENTs Officer, Finn Murphy, is in charge of organizing events such as club nights and the annual Trinity Ball. The Sabbatical Officers meet daily, and also sit on many of the College boards.
Simon Evans (The Power Behind the Sabbatical Thrones)
There’s a common idea that governments never bring significant change (for good or bad) because the civil service really run things. The SU is the exact same. Except in this case the constant is Simon Evans, the Administrative Officer. As someone who, according to his Zoom profile, has been Administrative Officer for “longer than anyone cares to remember”, (or since the year after Ivana Bacik was SU president), he delivers a degree of continuity within the Union by providing for the Sabbatical Officers during their crossover and throughout their year. With his vast experience of working with Trinity Student Union throughout the years, he also tends to spend as much time fighting the SU’s corner as accounting. He has more relevance to much of college faculty as he will be there year after year rather than the annual staff change in the rest of the SU.
However, this raises the question of why very few people outside the SU have heard of him. While well respected within the SU, does his presence as someone who uses his years of experience to guide the decisions and actions of the SU somewhat diminish the power of the Students themselves? It cannot be denied that his role is at least partially necessary; we as students have no experience of running a €1m-turnover organisation, an organisation that changes its members annually. However, considering that the SU is an organisation that markets itself as a Union for students, by students, it is perhaps necessary for them to acknowledge that possibly the most important role does not in fact belong to us as students, but to a man who has been working with the College for over 20 years.
For more information on the Student Union, visit www.tcdsu.org.
