As Lorenzo Cheasty and I search in vain for a quiet space in the Arts Block to conduct the interview, he animatedly discusses the use of student spaces on campus. He is appalled by the inefficiency of the system that governs these, mentioning how other universities have managed the problem through surveys, online booking, and other implementations. This need “to further the status of welfare provision in Trinity” is something Cheasty “want[s] to pioneer”.
Cheasty is a Senior Sophister Law and History student and Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Housing Rights Officer, running for the position of Welfare and Equality Officer in this year’s TCDSU elections.
Cheasty believes his personal experience is a crucial element of his passion, saying: “I came in originally through the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), through the HEAR application, and I struggled with food insecurity during first year, especially.” He states, “TAP has a huge role, especially in shaping my passion and shaping my dedication to really changing things. It’s also shaped my vision towards tangible change . . . There are a lot of things that push me towards Welfare Officer, aside from my background, my personal experience with volunteering [S2S, TAP, secondary schools], showing [the students] a future where they can follow their dreams and passions.”
He cites his experience as the Housing Rights Officer, which involves an extensive amount of “casework”: “I spend a lot of time, every week, helping students directly, advising them on their housing rights resources … to get accommodation that they otherwise wouldn’t.” Cheasty also mentions his unsuccessful presidential bye-election campaign, which “emboldened” him: “I became quite invigorated … I was talking to so many students … I had a lot of enthusiasm for my ideas during the presidency.” He proudly states, “I built my [presidential] campaign of welfare provision.”
One of his primary manifesto points in the Welfare and Equality race is to start a Social Supermarket at Trinity. He brought the motion to establish this initiative to the January Comhairle, where it passed. Cheasty refers to the motion as an “amazing first step” which however, “need[s] lasting momentum behind it” – he “believe[s] that [his] passion and his personal experience would be quite helpful to getting this going”. He mentions the extensive groundwork, research, and meetings he has conducted “to make sure [the supermarket] is viable … implemented well and … sustainable and that … there’s some longevity to it”. He excitedly shows me photos of one of the locations that have been provisionally offered by the College, saying, “This tangible initiative could be set up, and it’s looking very feasible.” Cheasty also talks about how the supermarket would be “a huge opportunity to reduce food wastage”.
As Welfare and Equality Officer, Cheasty plans to “advocate for the introduction of cooperative housing and subsidised accommodation for Trinity students” – his motion on the subject also recently passed at Comhairle. He admits that this “is a long-term plan that may not be achieved in the next year” (in Belfast, it took six years). He mentions his work with the Dublin Student Housing Cooperative: “They’ve done so much research and work on creating a proposal, but that needs SU involvement.” Cheasty mentions the meetings and research he has undertaken, stating he is “passionate about … increasing the resources that help students with day-to-day living, by addressing the cost of living crisis, and addressing affordability, and making things better for students in a way that they can really feel”.
When asked about the funding for his initiatives, he answers, “I think that a lot of my proposals are … tangible in impact … they’re also clearly funded.” He mentions that for the Social Supermarket, the “cost will be quite small compared to the massive impact it would make. So I don’t think these things would be that difficult to fund with the right management structure”. Talking of housing, he plans “a fleshed out proposal, multiple options for funding, where, if the university isn’t willing to sponsor it, we can get funding from outside sources”. He says, “There’s a lot of power we have as students, and as a Student Union to directly provide for students … These issues are multifaceted, and they need to be reflected in our strategy towards making things better.” He adds, “Our job as a Students’ Union is … fundamentally to provide for students, to assist in their ability to access education.”
Referencing other parts of his manifesto, he says, “I think we should set up a contraception and abortion welfare fund to ensure that students … are allowed to access these services. And I think that goes for everything: … accommodation, food insecurity, accessibility … contraception and abortion services, and HRT and blood tests.” He talks about work on amending the motion on establishing the fund: “We need to ensure that … this stays as a stable fund that’s accessible to all … provided for in a heartfelt and empathetic manner.” He sums up by saying “the fund may not be set up within this Welfare Officer’s term, but either way we need to ensure that [it] is managed well and that it completely takes into account student welfare.”
Mentioning last April’s effigy campaign, he states, “There were large amounts of mistakes made, especially with anonymity.” He reminisces, “I was one of the people who fought to ensure student welfare was taken into account during the effigy campaign … to make sure … that the effigies weren’t used in the process, because they would be harmful to students”. Cheasty believes that “campaigns must be democratic, they must have proper accountability and transparency, they must always be in line with student welfare.” He suggests that “this is how we rebuilt trust in the Union – we show students that we are there, fighting for them day-to-day at every single level.”
Asked about the long wait times for College Health services, Cheasty says, “There’s a serious need to improve mental health services here. […] That needs to be more easily accessible and cohesive for students.” He plans on “lobbying the college to increase the amount of funding,” which he sees as “the bedrock”. He believes that “At the same time, our SU also needs to get involved … both by publicising resources that students in need can access … publicise external organisations that can help students, partnering with therapy providers and counselling providers for cheaper therapy for students.” “We need to publicise welfare and housing rights and resources, on physical notice boards around campus”, he adds, “so students know, if they have an issue, where to go to handle it”.
When asked about student workers and students working to support themselves in Dublin, he says, “I have a little bit of experience with this too, especially because I’ve worked most of my time in College.” He thinks “the most pressing issue . . . is the availability of resources” and talks about a campaign he spearheaded last year “to make sure lecture recordings were kept in, as a policy [in the School of Law].” He states he “would be very passionate about working with the next Education Officer to ensure [this is the case in other departments as well]”.
We return to the topic of student spaces on campus. Cheasty refers to the Trinity Business School: “They did an audit of rooms, they merged rooms … they made more spaces available for people, and they implemented an online booking system, which helps.” He notes, “as much as I’m very passionate about changing those student space issues, it’s more for the Education Officer, so I’d work with them … but what I was looking at is doing an audit for accessibility means, seeing what facilities need to be put in place”. Cheasty also mentions the Sexual Assault Working Group as one of his priorities, as well as prayer rooms, the access to which “needs to be improved.”
He ends the interview by saying, “There’s just so many things that need to be improved, and at least a lot of the ones that I identify … are tangible, and they’re things that can be provided, and there’s plans that we could follow, that we will follow to provide them … Their cost is manageable, or more than justified.”
