Una Harty has been elected Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Communications Officer, while Alice MacPherson will serve as the next Education Officer.
Harty, a third year Nanoscience student, ran unopposed and received 85.3% of the vote to become the union’s next Communications and Marketing Officer. Out of 3,040 valid votes, Harty received 2,592 first preference votes, while the option to Re-Open Nominations (RON) received 320 votes. Speaking to Trinity News before the announcement, Harty said: “I’m very excited, really looking forward to seeing who the new sabbat team is. Even though it’s been a shorter (campaign) period it’s feels like it’s been going on a long time.” She added that she was “itching to find out the result. I’m looking forward to having a good time tonight, hopefully celebrating.”
Alice MacPherson, a fourth year History and English student, also ran uncontested and received 2,526 first preferences out of a total of 3,054 valid votes, which amounts to 83% of the vote. 430 votes went to RON, with 101 invalid votes.
In advance of the result, MacPherson told Trinity News that she was “nervous and excited,” before going on to say: “I think a lot of people are like ‘why, you’re uncontested’ but I’m really excited to see how all of it goes because I think it’s really important that you’ve got a good strong team next to you. It’ll be interesting to see who we’re all going to be working with.”
Both races were uncontested this year. In a poll conducted by Trinity News prior to the results, MacPherson looked set to gain 87.6% of the vote, with Harty receiving 92.4% of first preference votes.
Harty emphasised engagement as the focus of her campaign. In an interview with Trinity News, she spoke of plans to improve the SU website, Instagram and Snapchat accounts saying that “modernisation and engagement go hand in hand”. She also plans to expand the rebranding effort to the TCDSU cafés and shops, and to put infographics around campus to keep students informed.
Meanwhile, MacPherson focused on access and study spaces throughout her campaign. Highlighting that not every student learns the same way she spoke about alternative study areas and the creation of “individual study pods” in the library “where the noise is blocked”. She also wants to hold Skype office hours for off-campus students and create study abroad reps to ensure students in different countries still have access to the SU.
Additional reporting by Cathal Kavanagh, Oisín Vince Coulter, Johnny Byrne, Oisin Daly, Dáire O’Driscoll, Aisling Grace and Niamh Moriarty.
