Candidates at tonight’s Trinity Hall JCR election hustings attempted to distinguish themselves in front of a packed canteen largely with assorted anecdotes about how Trinity Hall had helped them, and how they wanted to improve the lives of next year’s batch of residents.
Presidential candidate Felix Gather spoke about how he was challenging perceptions that only arts students, and not medical students like him, could run for president, suggesting that there is a “glass ceiling” that prevents non-arts students from running for the position. He also spoke at length about expanding the reach of the JCR to include non-Trinity Hall residents, who he said “feel so left out”. Gather suggested that guest memberships of the JCR, or guest tickets to events, could be created to involve these students, after the current JCR President, Shane Rice, queried how he could justify involving students who had not contributed to the JCR budget.
Sara Ní Lochlainn spoke of her experience on the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union welfare committee, as a class rep, Northern Ireland ambassador and on working on a voter registration drive in Trinity Hall. She also detailed her plans to introduce house reps, one for each of the 13 Trinity Hall houses, who would provide feedback to the JCR on how it was doing, and encourage greater representation and inclusivity by sitting in on committee meetings once a month. Speaking about plans for a digital yearbook, Ní Lochlainn said that the past year in Trinity Hall has been the best year of her life. “I want to have something to keep forever”, she said.
The three candidates for Vice President/Treasurer each took different approaches to describing what they would do with the role. Alec Bickerstaff emphasised potential for a “direct distribution deal” with drinks company Diageo – something that he said would save the JCR around 25 per cent of its alcohol budget. “If we can spend less money on alcohol, we can spend more money on other things, like non-alcoholic events”, he said. Emphasising his passion for the JCR and his own experiences in Trinity Hall, Bickerstaff was clear about why he was not running: “I’m not running for my CV. I’m not running because I have ambitions to be the SU president.”
Joe Mangan said that he had “the most experience for the role”, with “loads of experience with budgets”. He said he wanted to bring mock budgeting and finance classes at the start of the year, to help people realise that “they shouldn’t spend €50 on a night in Dtwo”. He also suggested that introducing text alerts as a way of disseminating information from the JCR and Trinity Hall Accommodation Office would be a good idea, and spoke about the need to keep the JCR discount card at the same standard and discussions he already had with a café in relation to a 15 per cent discount.
Suzannah O’Neill emphasised her experience as a bank branch manager in her secondary school, and how she had raised money and organised budgets, something which she said would maker her good with talking with businesses for discounts in relation to the JCR card. To strengthen the Halls community, she said, the JCR could make better use of the canteen and Oldham House, and that an online suggestions form could be introduced to ensure “everyone’s voice gets heard”.
Both candidates for Secretary detailed their experience on committees, something which they considered vital to the role. Laura Grant also detailed the use of an online suggestions box, while Stefan Tonge spoke about the potential for adding a Leap Card top-up machine to the Trinity Hall shop.
With six candidates for International Officer, there was considerable overlap in the platforms of candidates, who largely discussed improving the experience of international students on “lonely” weekends in which most Irish students go home. Many discussed integrating the international culture present in Halls with the rest of the community, and how international students could best integrate themselves.
There are also six candidates for Sports Officer, with most emphasising the role that sports has played for them in their lives, and how sports can help with integration in the Halls community.
Both candidates for Ents Officer emphasised greater involvement of residents in the decision-making process, offering up ways that they could hold events that were more inclusive. Trisha Cusack suggested that “suggestion nights” could be held, while Chris Doyle said it could be done through Facebook polling.
With seven candidates, the race for Welfare Officer was the largest of the night. As is to be expected, consent and sexual health formed a large part of the speeches of candidates, with some candidates detailing their own personal mental health difficulties.
The three candidates for Music Officer each stressed different aspects of their experience. Muireann O’Mahoney would introduce events like lip-sync battles and would work on making the annual musical cost effective. Alana O’Sullivan would start a Trinity FM radio show, and would encourage inclusion of varying music tastes. Sam White spoke about being nominated for Best Fresher at this year’s CSC Society of the Year Awards for TCD Singers and winning Halls Got Talent, and said he would create a stronger music community in Trinity Hall.
Candidates for the position of Tech Officer, Publications Officer and Communications Officer will be decided based on interviews held over the next two days.
Voting will be held for the elected positions from 8pm until 9pm on Wednesday in the Trinity Hall canteen.
Róisín Power also contributed reporting to this piece.
