Having unsuccessfully contested the presidential bye-elections in November, Jacob Barron is once again on the ballot for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) sabbatical officer elections. This time, the Senior Sophister BESS student wants to make TCDSU communications more individualised, efficient, and useful for students. Should he be elected as the Union’s next Communications and Marketing Officer, the Dublin native vows to tackle the job with “the confidence to provide for our students”.
Reflecting on his campaign in the bye-elections, the current President of Trinity’s Chess Society recalled how he realised that the position of Communications and Marketing Officer aligns well with some of his criticisms. During his campaign in November, he criticised the Union for lacking transparency and overemphasising political activism. While the President is an inherently political role, he views Communications and Marketing as more neutral.
The first thing on Barron’s agenda is to make the TCDSU weekly emails optional. In his view, the emails are currently “really long and quite annoying”. When asked if this meant an opt-in or opt-out feature, he took a second to think, before answering that students would be able to opt out of TCDSU emails after receiving an initial email in their first year. This idea aligns with his view in defence of voluntary union membership: “You shouldn’t be forced to engage with something. [Students] don’t owe [TCDSU] their support. [TCDSU] has to earn it.”
Barron takes his vision even further. If he became “chief communicator”, students would be able to decide whether they wanted to receive the full-length email or a shorter version with the most essential information only. They would also be able to choose whether they wish to receive emails in English, Irish, or both. When asked about the additional time commitment required to write multiple emails, Barron said that “it’s not that difficult to write an email”, noting that he would have an entire week to prepare them.
His policies seem to reflect his libertarianism; Barron is a local coordinator of the international organisation Students for Liberty, and member of the Trinity group Freedom for Students. The latter, according to him, is “a group of friends who really didn’t like the Student Union”. When asked about his own thoughts about the Union, he explained that he “didn’t like how it was run when László [Molnárfi] was in charge, or when Jenny [Maguire] was in charge”. While he likes “the idea of the Union”, he is not content with its recent actions, particularly its “toxic ideology”. Barron is currently a Class Representative.
Not only the extent of the emails is under Barron’s scrutiny. If elected, he vows to improve student deals. According to him, the current range of deals is small and doesn’t reflect “what people want”. Instead of providing deals that “only rich Americans in the Arts Block can afford”, Barron wants to offer discounts that relieve financial burden off the average student’s back. This would primarily include food and drinks deals that students would use regularly.
When asked how he would go about choosing sponsorships, Barron said he would decide on a case-by-case basis. For instance, he is not opposed to reestablishing a partnership with Domino’s Pizza, which had been cancelled in 2024 due to support of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Similarly, he defended the Coca-Cola vending machines on campus, saying that “just because 100 people in the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] Committee don’t want it, doesn’t mean that all students should be punished”. Speaking about the process of choosing partnerships, Barron said that he doesn’t think “the ties of a food or drinks company really matter”, emphasising that “[the TCDSU] is not a geopolitical institution so we should be more focused on the needs of the students”.
This reflects a broader theme in Barron’s previous and current campaigning. According to him, TCDSU has failed to prioritise student services over political campaigning. While Barron doesn’t condemn the sabbats’ private activism, he believes that they “misrepresent the interests of the students when they spend their working hours planning campaigns and protests that have nothing to do with our needs”, and ultimately “fail to promote the services of the Union”. The protesting, which he believes is “a bit of a joke”, is at the heart of his contention with the Union’s political actions. Referring to his potential future role, he notes that it “shouldn’t be political in any sense”. Responding to a question about remarks he has made about BDS in a previous interview with the University Times, calling them a “a society of bullies”, he reiterated his stance. According to him, the President’s constitutional duty to support BDS is “ridiculous”.
Another major change Barron plans to implement is a complete overhaul of the TCDSU website. He said that the website is “terrible” and services such as the accommodation service, book shop, or job board are not accessible. Moreover, he noted that the Union’s financial statements were not released last year, stating that he “guarantees they’re not going to do it in March”. This, he argues, is a major mishap, as it is important for the Union to “be transparent about where our fees are going”.
Speaking about controversial remarks he made during his campaign in the bye-elections regarding the Union expanding the College Health Services to include abortion care, Barron clarified that he “is not against abortion”. However, he noted, “people are, and they would be pissed off if their fees would go to abortion access”. Ultimately, Barron believes that “wanting to establish it at Comhairle was virtue signalling”. When asked if he supported the expansion of Trinity Health to include abortion services, he said “sure, if it’s needed and if it can be supported financially”.
Reiterating the main points of his manifesto, he noted implementing an opt-in feature for TCDSU emails, improved student deals, and an overhaul of the Union’s website, including its financial statements. Jacob Barron refuses to back down. Maybe, for him, the second time’s the charm.
