Gabi Fullam has been elected Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) president on the first count.
Fullam obtained 1,114 first-preference votes from a total valid poll of 2,148. Her opponent Rebecca Kelly received 880 votes.
Speaking after her victory was announced, Fullam said: “This is kind of surreal … I didn’t think this would happen.”
“I’m really excited to hear this resonated with anyone told they’re too loud or too brown”, she said. “This is going to be such a good year.”
Fullam, whose campaign was centred around her anger at racism on campus and inaccessibility, pitched her activist background and experience in a range of College extracurriculars.
The final-year PPES student had been involved with the union for two years as class representative and ethnic minorities officer. Her campaign reflected her experience in these roles, particularly in relation to her pledge to make campus more welcoming for minority students.
Encapsulating this awareness is her desire to rename the Berkeley library, highlighting how the eponymous philosopher George Berkeley was a slave owner.
Her intended racial reform is not confined to symbolism, however. “It’s really unclear where students of colour can turn for support in any time of racial injustice … I’ve been racially abused on campus, and you don’t even know what to do or where people can get that kind of justice, or where those needs can be met”, she has said.
Fullam’s campaign also emphasised the need to reform the tutor system, since tutors are “ill equipped or under equipped” to “cater to a whole different variety of issues that you face”.
Fullam has also promised flexibility, namely in how she will ensure a hybrid-learning model with technical support for all staff and students.
Accommodation rights and a sexual misconduct specific policy are also promised to be cornerpiences of Fullam’s campaign, as well as her push to abolish the student contribution charge and direct campaigning for free public transport for under-25s.
