TCDSU Council removes Off-Campus Officer position, elects RAG Week committee members

Off-campus officer position eliminated in narrow vote

NEWS

The Council of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) opened this evening’s meeting with the elimination of the role of Off-Campus Officer, along with the election of 7 members to the RAG Week committee.

When no nominations were forthcoming for the role of Off-Campus officer, Education Officer Dale Whelehan proposed the elimination of the role, noting the difficulty that had been experienced in finding somebody to take on the role. Whelehan noted both the difficulty in sourcing an officer, and issues that had arisen working with individual officers over the years.

“The first never accessed the email, while the current part time officer did an exceptional job, the pressures… put you under a lot of stress and cover a lot of areas. Therefore I find there is no need for a specific position.”

Students spoke both for and against the motion. Seán O’Carroll stated that there was a “very definite reason” that the role existed, and that it was “important to maintain an officer to maintain that link” to off-campus students.

Whelehan responded that there was “no harm, but no necessity” in the existence of the Officer role, saying that the purported role of the individual was covered already by Faculty Convenors in differing ways. The person in question “is essentially there to fill space”, he later added.

President Kieran McNulty spoke without taking a position, advocating off-campus students to make their voices heard. “We should decide what as a Union we should be doing to help off campus students”, he said.

“If you have an off-campus officer” who is inactive, incomplete work can be offloaded to the individual, said Ents Officer Padraic Rowley, identifying a potential harm to the continued existence of the role.

Immediately before the off-campus discussion, seven people were elected to the RAG Week committee. None of the positions were contested.