Úna Harty has been elected as the Communications & Marketing Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) this evening. Having run uncontested, Harty garnered 2,592 votes, with only 322 students voting to reopen nominations.
Harty, third-year nanoscience student, is the third-ever communications & marketing officer to be elected and succeeds the current officer, Glen Byrne, after the position of communications officer was split into two roles in 2015. This is the first year in which the position has been uncontested, with previous races seeing two candidates contest the role.
Harty ran on the platforms of modernisation, engagement, sponsorship and working with college services, with the hope of expanding the current communications platforms used by the union. Some of Harty’s campaign promises include redesigning the TCDSU website as well as strong focus on graphic-based communication in the emails as well as infographic screens around campus.
In her interview with The University Times , Harty stated that, through her position as Irish Language Officer of TCDSU, she has a strong grasp of “how the SU works with Irish”, and that Irish would feature prominently should she be elected. Harty also plans to use Snapchat to increase engagement and make the union “more personable” by making vlog-style videos.
A consistent online presence throughout the campaign and a solid on the ground presence reverberated well with students. Overall, in a rather lacklustre election period, Harty faced few difficult questions and strayed rarely from her manifesto points.
Last week, a poll conducted over two days by The University Times in which 1,005 students were surveyed, Harty was shown to have a predictably comfortable lead, with less than 10 per cent indicating a vote to reopen nominations.
