Editorial
Student politics is a strange beast. The terms are short, the stakes are relatively low and it’s often quite hard to get people enthused about it. Candidates are sometimes (often) seen as careerist CV-padders who are simply using it as a platform from which to launch their political career.
Cónán O’Broin’s resignation from the office of Deputy President of USI to work on the general election campaign of Councillor Robert Dowds has, for some, proven that much of the above is correct. No one doubts that Mr O’Broin has done a good job in his time with USI. Nor would many people accuse him of being a cynical careerist. Indeed, Mr O’Broin is a politician who wears his heart on his sleeve and has worked tirelessly and honestly for the student cause since he was elected President of TCDSU. Credited with fighting back the fees tide, Mr O’Broin changed the way the SU operated, transforming it into a lobbying group with significant sway over certain politicians. His tenacity and perseverance, as well as his considerable charm, helped him educate politicians who had previously been ignorant of the financial pressures facing so many students.
Nonetheless, his departure is indicative of a general trend in student politics. Mr O’Broin leaves to work on the national stage as he’s always wanted to. The truth of the matter is that he left because he was offered a more consequential job than the one he had. Consequential because, if Councillor Dowds is elected, O’Broin might find himself working as a parliamentary aide. From there he would surely cement his credentials as a political operative and, no doubt, contemplate a run for office of his own. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. However, it does devalue the job he held and the institution he served. If working on the campaign of a Councillor is more important to Mr O’Broin than acting as Deputy President of the representative body for more than 250,000 students then how important, in the grand scheme of things, is student politics to him and his colleagues?
Mr O’Broin isn’t the only person in USI to be labelled a career politician. Indeed, his former colleague, USI President Gary Redmond, was featured in Phoenix magazine and painted as a “centre right” conformist who hadn’t rocked the boat during his tenure as UCDSU President. While no one begrudges Mr O’Broin or Mr Redmond their ambition, their actions make it all to easy for the cynical student to view student politics as a shallow vanity pageant for those who aspire to make it to the grandest vanity pageant of all.
