A referendum to amend the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) constitution by correcting typos and removing conflicting passages, as well as making a number of operational changes – including removing the Graduate Students’ Union president’s vote at Union Forum – has passed by just under 83 per cent.
The referendum was proposed at TCDSU council in April by STEM Convenor Daniel O’Reilly and seconded by then TCDSU President Laura Beston.
The final count of votes was 539 in favour with 100 against. Some 13 students spoiled their vote.
The TCDSU constitution will be updated on their website over the weekend to reflect the results of the referendum.
One of the major proposed amendments removed the voting rights of the GSU President at Union Forum, which consists of a group of the most senior officers and members of TCDSU.
Another amendment increases the size of the Oversight Commission, while a separate change removes the ability of the Education Officer to deem that a part-time officer has resigned from their position should they miss three meetings of a union body without giving apologies.
In an email statement to The University Times O’Reilly said he was “obviously delighted to see it passed”.
“It was great to see people engaging with what was fundamentally a very boring referendum, even if that engagement was with the no campaign”, he added.
“It shows promise that a variety of people, not just SU hacks like myself, might contribute when the Constitutional Review Working Group gets going and there’s a proper consultation with students about implementing large change to how the SU operates, not just cleaning things up a bit.”
Earlier this week, TCDSU apologised for excluding important information about the breadth of this week’s constitutional referendum in the union’s weekly email.
The email said that the referendum “seeks to address typos, misprints and attempts to remove conflicting passages of the constitution”.
Commenting on the error in the TCDSU email, O’Reilly added: “It wasn’t wholly inaccurate, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. At the end of day, it’s just kind of a cleaning up.”
O’Reilly is also involved in the constitution review working group, having written the terms of reference for that group.
However, when asked if he believed that the material changes proposed in this referendum should have been examined by that working group, rather than be included in this referendum, O’Reilly said: “I wouldn’t say so – I really don’t think it’s that big of a thing.”
“The GSU president, as I said, didn’t show up – in the entire time I’ve been in Union Forum, the GSU president has never shown up”, he added.
