Senior Sophister European Studies student Alice Moran is one of four candidates running for the Sabbatical position of Communications and Marketing officer. On a bleary Tuesday morning, Moran discussed her passion for and personal connection to the communications role, her experience within and out of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT), and her vision of transparency, ethics, and Irish culture if she was to be elected.
The key component of Moran’s manifesto is a deeper integration of Irish into the Union’s communications. Being half Australian, Moran spoke of wanting to be more closely connected to her Irish culture because “language is such an important part of cultural identity”. Speaking on the difference between simply having two emails a week or translating underneath posts, Moran wants to continue to uphold the bilingual mandate while also “including cúpla focail (a few words) as Gaeilge in [the Union’s] regular communications”. Moran believes even if there is an individual “dedicated to bringing the spirit of the language into everyday life”, it can make a difference overall. Moran also noted the number of international students and highlighted that a focus on Irish was “in no way meant to alienate them”. Moran hopes to bring back the cultural connection to the language lost due to the pressures of rote learning making it feel like “a box to tick”.
Another key focus of Moran’s campaign pays close attention to making events and Union communiques more accessible not only to disabled students but commuters, mature students, and postgraduates. “Increased engagement”, she believes is the “key to the role of the Communications officer” in the future given the “growing sense of dissatisfaction with the Union”. One of the ways in which the Union’s external communications have been lacking according to Moran is their “multi-platform digital presence”. Moran had high praise for the Instagram which she considered a “success story” with “16,000 followers, consistent posting, and high levels of engagement”. However, Moran wants to improve by appealing to the demographic of postgraduate students and international students, many of whom “don’t use Instagram but use Facebook”. Drawing from her conversations with postgraduate and mature students, Moran realised that the Facebook page with around 21,000 followers would be a better avenue of reaching the demographic of “not only postgrads but also alumni”. Furthermore, growing on Facebook has the benefit of “negotiating brand deals in the future”.
For students who don’t want to use social media in the digital age and print not being a viable option of communications due to “sustainability issues”, Moran’s solution is “the utilisation of the SU website”. Having spoken to the IT team of the Union, Moran “wants to work as Communications officer in tandem with the relaunch of the website”. Currently, the website is “so lacking: there’s a jobs listing page with one job. On the bookshop listing page with no books. There’s a calendar with no events”. Moran wants to keep up with updates throughout her tenure and with the calendar: “the system is there to very easily upload things about events but the Union hasn’t managed to do that.” By focusing on this Moran believes it is a “small extra step that makes a world of difference” for commuters, students with disabilities, and international students by “making the Union more accessible and increasing [the Union’s] engagement with students”. Moran related this to the growing dissatisfaction with the Union in recent years and hoped that the ability for students to participate more by making news and notices more accessible and timely would allow them to engage more deeply with the Union and realise the critical work they do for the student body: “there’s so many great opportunities to get involved with the Student Union if we give people the chance to.”
When asked about internal Union communications, Moran’s main concern was ensuring that the communications between sabbatical officers and part-time officers was smooth and that PTOs had their concerns and feedback reach the right people and be fulfilled. Apart from that, Moran wanted to continually receive feedback from not only PTOs but everyone involved in the running and functioning of the Union. She also identified that Comhairle and Union Forum were ways in which “PTOs and class reps can submit issues and good news they want to share”. As Comms and Marketing officer, Moran’s main focus would be “facilitating consistent channels of communication amongst the many members who make up our Union”. Some of the ways this would be carried out would be through “sending a monthly check-in, maybe a google form. Having a monthly meeting one-on-one even if it can only be a fifteen minute phone call”. The main aim of this is to make sure “everyone is getting heard because the Union is so complex” and to “hear everyone and amplify what they’re saying”. Moran also promised to keep other sabbatical officers timely in their plans, linking back to timely notices for accessibility: “As a sabbatical officer, I would have the ability to chase up and say ‘I need a date’ two weeks before because it’s not fair to commuters”. An example she gave of this was the last-minute notices on the timing and location of Hustings during elections which were only published on Instagram stories at the last minute, alienating commuters, students who don’t use Instagram, and other disabled students. Moran recognised that she had the privilege of being able to attend such events on last-minute notices but “that’s not the reality for many students”.
Another key feature of Moran’s manifesto was following ethical guidelines while obtaining sponsorships. With regards to standards of ethics, Moran doesn’t believe that the Union in the foreseeable future is going to “take a step back” from the BDS guidelines put in place via Comhairle. Additionally, Moran will continue to follow these guidelines given that they are a part of all sabbatical officers’ mandates. In addition, Moran’s vision for ethical sponsorships hopes to support students “especially since there’s a cost of living crisis”. Another potential sponsorship Moran hopes to pursue is with the Irish owned Earlytable.ie in order to help “maintain student life while also going out to eat”.
Delving deeper, Moran spoke of the current pizza sponsor of the Union: Four Star Pizza. Currently being on the Communications and Marketing subcommittee of the Union, Moran wants to correct certain issues with the current sponsorship since it was instated as a replacement for Dominos following calls for their boycott by the global BDS movement. Moran, after speaking to students on the current sponsorship said many students “don’t feel that it’s the same as Dominos”, with Four Star being a franchise-owned chain makes communication across franchises difficult, resulting in slow delivery times and delays. In order to build on the current work of the Union with regards to their sponsorship, Moran wants “open up individual channels of dialogue with branches based in or near” campus and “working individually with each branch” to cater to Halls alongside Trinity’s main campus. Finally, speaking on Coca-Cola and other products on the boycott list present in Trinity vending machines, Moran recognised that their sponsorship with Trinity would potentially be coming to a close in the summer and if elected to the Communications and Marketing role, she would with a potential BDS campaign to “communicate to students about the BDS campaign”. While looking for sponsorships, Moran would focus on “looking for brands that fit the BDS sanctions and are Irish owned” such that students have “the other option” and aren’t forced to grapple with the question of “do I drink this or do I focus on my own ethical guidelines”.
Running for this position is a deeply personal decision for Moran. As “a student struggling to find my way and get on top of coursework”, the weekly emails and instagram helped her acclimatise to the college and even during her exchange, the weekly emails were a source of contact back to Trinity. Moran says, “I have intrinsically understood the importance of the Comms officer and the engagement between the student body and the Union”. Moran’s approach to the role is based on her past experience working in a pharmacy and in childcare: “it’s about respecting where they’re coming from and crafting an open channel of dialogue where they feel respected, heard, and listened to.”
