Benn Ó hÓgáin has been re-elected President of the Central Societies Committee (CSC) at the body’s AGM this evening.
Ó hÓgáin, who was the Chair this year, won the vote on the first count, defeating the Chair of DU Players, Molly McAvoy, Naoise Whearity, Secretary of DU Music, and Conn McCarthy, Auditor of Maths Soc. The CSC is the body responsible for supporting and regulating student societies, and is one of the five capitated bodies in College.
Ó hÓgáin emphasised his experience sitting on strand five of the Trinity Education Project and relationships with Trinity administration: “I’ve had a fantastic year as chair…I’ve built a lot of of relationships here in Trinity.” The Trinity Education project, a radical reimagining of Trinity’s undergraduate curriculum, is concluding next year, and the CSC have been involved in consulting on the project, an element of which is considering how best to recognise the work student societies play in developing students’ skills.
In his officer report, earlier in the evening, Ó hÓgáin encouraged students and societies several times to get out and vote for a student centre in the referendum. Campaigning began on Monday for the referendum, and Ó hÓgáin emphasised how a new student centre would provide extra spaces for societies. Voting in the referendum begins tomorrow and will continue until Thursday.
Dahnan Spurling, a member of Trinitones and current member of the CSC Executive, was elected Treasurer. Spurling emphasised his institutional knowledge of the “exhaustive and essential bureaucracy of the CSC”, speaking ahead of voting this evening.
The election for Secretary of the CSC was uncontested, and the sole candidate Fiona May, who has previous experience in the Chapel Choir and the Student to Student Society (S2S), was elected on a show of hands. She told the AGM her previous experience, including setting up a new society, has given her an insight into how the CSC works.
Jimmy Kavanagh, the Publicity and Communications Officer of DU Players, was elected for the position of Amenities Officer. Ronan Hodson was re-elected to the position of Honorary Treasurer, which has a three-year term.
Those elected to the eight positions on the CSC Executive were Laetitia Close, Gemma Mortell, Fiona Cunningham, Conor Rossi, Logan Arnold, Amina Moustafa, Greta Warren and Naoise Whearity.
Three societies also received official recognition at the AGM this evening: Architecture Society, Clinical Therapies Society and the General Science Society.
