Julie Smirnova has been elected Communications and Marketing Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) on the first count.
Smirnova, who ran uncontested, received 1,196 votes out of a total valid poll of 1,337.
Speaking after the result was announced Smirnova said that “it’s an honour and a privilege” to be elected.
Throughout the campaign, Smirnova stressed the importance of making the union a community that all students feel a part of. Frequently citing her experience in organising and promoting events as Public Relations Officer for Trinity Vincent de Paul (VDP), she proposed that the union take inspiration from societies to increase engagement.
In her far-reaching vision of the role, she pledged to organise free soup lunches, classes where students could teach each other skills such as cooking and graphic design, and events in collaboration with societies and the union’s Ents Officer. She said she believes that this engagement with these events could be translated into “to large-scale political activism” within the union.
In terms of more conventional communication with students, Smirnova pledged to post infographics and summaries of minutes and agendas for TCDSU’s councils on social media to inform students of the union’s work in a digestible manner. Declaring Facebook “dead”, she proposed shifting the union’s social media focus to Twitter and Instagram. She also pledged to promote the voices of minority students by providing them with a platform to “talk about whatever they like” on the union’s social media channels.
Smirnova also proposed reforming the union’s weekly email by making it shorter and including only the most relevant information for students, with students more interested in knowing more about what the union has been doing given the option of opting in to a more detailed newsletter.
While Smirnova had a multitude of new ideas for the communications side of the role, she promised to continue the work of previous communications and marketing officers when it came to securing sponsorship for the union. She said that she hopes to “protect partnerships established by past officers and build new relationships” with local businesses “that align with SU’s values and goals”, although she never specified what these values and goals were.
