Two weeks ago we saw this year’s undertaking of the annual class representative elections held by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), with almost 400 class reps elected through the process. As always, and as with most universities, some races were hotly contested, others were unopposed. Some representatives will represent classes of over 100 students, some of less than 20. The common factor is that those elected will have many different roles to play over the course of the year, and in some cases, more of a role than they realised when they initially ran.
The union’s constitution is rather specific about what the class representative’s role is and lists all the bodies that they may need to communicate with. The main role of the class representative is to be the link between their course and “College in general”. Much is made of “representing the constituency” in the different forums of the university and “informing constituents of Union activity”. In fact, when the Oversight Commission collected reports from the faculty convenors, this was their nominal criteria: attendance at meetings, completing their training and reporting back to their students what the union was doing.
The main role of the class representative is to be the link between their course and “College in general”
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Obviously, looking at any class representative or at the reports they submit to any meeting of council shows that this isn’t the whole the story or even anything like the reality. Class representatives are, first and foremost, the people students turn to when they have a problem, from small things like lecture notes to bigger issues that only a few students will have to face each year, such as failing exams. What’s more important than the ability to lobby is being friendly and approachable. Class representatives get re-elected for the class nights out, events and pub crawls they organise throughout the year rather than for their attendance at council.
Some of them do lobby college authorities for different reasons – things like changes made by the Trinity Education Project or difficult timetables – but this is usually when something goes wrong or when they’re reacting to something very particular to their course. They act according to the particular problems and opportunities of their students. For example, last year, one of the union’s convenors organised internships, another gave an interview to the Irish Times about nursing and another made petitions for access to counsellors.
However, when representatives are expected to be real people with lives, students with homework, friendly helpers, party organisers, representatives in TCDSU and policy makers all at the same time, it is inevitable that some of their lower priorities are overlooked. When it comes to informing students of what is happening in faculty meetings, council meetings or the union itself, most class representatives do very poorly. Many class representatives fail to even turn up to council reliably and most years, including last year, we see that quorum cannot be reached at a meeting of council, despite free chocolate and beer coupons to entice them to come.
This is understandable and even unsurprising. An online poll of representatives in 2015 found that 70 per cent feel that council is inefficient, with only 53 per cent saying that they attend regularly. Few students are interested in knowing about every vote made by their representative, and some would view a monthly email as spam. Ultimately, most representatives help bring classes together instead of acting as a link between each course and College. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as often the need to interact directly with College only arises when something goes wrong.
It is, however, a frustrating waste of an opportunity in some ways. Many students are unsure what TCDSU does and views it as disconnected or the exclusive domain of “hacks”. In fact, anyone can speak at council, any group of at least 10 students can make proposals in council and anyone can volunteer for the many projects that the union supports. Calls for such volunteers are regularly made there.
When it comes to informing students of what is happening in faculty meetings, council meetings or the union itself, most class representatives do very poorly
An insightful article in this paper last year argued that a top-down approach is to blame for the lack of substantive discussion, but later events show that this isn’t the full story. Efforts were made to make information more easily accessible to class representatives and to encourage participation, such as sabbatical officers digitising information, but they made little difference. Many representatives would come to council without having read the agenda, let alone asking their constituents what they think of the issues that were to be raised at that council meeting. Often representatives are elected by virtue of being supportive friends, not policy makers willing to debate in front of 300 people.
There is, however, a lot of reason to be hopeful for the coming year. This year’s class representatives are to be trained this weekend and the union has increasingly embraced a sense of political activism, with campaign groups set up even before the class representative elections started. Students Against Fees and Fossil Free TCD are groups set up outside of the union, but through motions passed at council, these groups are supported by TCDSU. We can hope for more new agendas to be brought up at council, which will hopefully get more representatives and students involved. If the opportunity is seized, representatives can make council become the beating and inclusive heart of student activism it is too rarely is.
