At tonight’s Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Council, 32 students were elected into positions for next year’s council board.
Before the elections took place, Education Officer Megan O’Connor issued an emergency motion to renew the position of Off-Campus Officer.
Emma Rossiter was elected as chair of Council and chair of the electoral commission, a dual role. Rossiter was a member of the commission this year and previously served as the union’s Community Liaison Officer.
There were no other candidates for the role.
Ewan Tushkanov was elected as Secretary of Council after running with no opposition.
Lydia MacBride, Adam Hanlon, Johnathan King, and Jacob Kennedy ran as Ordinary Committee Members (OCM) of the Oversight Commission. As there are four positions open for this role, all four students received the position.
Sean Gordon Dalton, Bláithín He-Adley, Eoin Ussher, and Rose Fitzgerald ran for the four positions on the Electoral Commission, and all four received the position.
Both the roles of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS) Convenor and Health Sciences (HS) Convenor were contested by one candidate each. English studies student Julia Bochenek was appointed to the position of AHSS Convenor, and children’s and general nursing student Shauna Sutton, the current nursing and midwifery convenor, to HS Convenor.
The election for Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Convenor took place between current Biomedical Sciences class representative Hannah Heskin and Physics class representative Zoe Cummins. Cummins was elected to the role.
She promised in her speech that she would run a STEM Ball, introduce an Erasmus information event for STEM students, and introduce gender-neutral bathrooms to the STEM buildings on College’s campus.
“I’m passionate, dedicated, and not afraid to hold people accountable”, she said.
Ruaidhri Saulnier ran unopposed for JC Convenor and was thus elected to the position.
Julie Smirnova, László Molnárfi, and William Reynolds ran for the position of Citizenship Officer. Smirnova was elected to the role, after stating that “decisions that impact students should be made by us, not for us”.
Five students contested for the role of International Students’ Officer. Dylan Krug was elected to the position over Lucas Walshe, Morgan Hildula, Mia Brzakovic, and Zaid Barghouthi.
Krug is the current JS Environmental Sciences class rep. He stated his desire to “hold the provost-elect to her promises” to avoid raising fees for international students. “If elected, I promise to fight for lower fees,” he said.
Running unopposed for the position, Jenny Maguire was elected LGBT Rights Officer. Maguire is a Junior Fresh English studies student and a class rep.
Martin Doolan and Antoin Fletcher ran for the position of Mature Students’ Officer, and Doolan was elected to the role. He is the current JS Social Studies class rep, and promised that he was “well-positioned to take on the role” after having contact with the current Mature Students’ Officer and being involved in several outreach programs in Trinity.
For the role of Officer for Students with a Disability, Chloe Staunton was elected to the position over Rachel Murphy and Annora Callaghan. The current third-year BESS class representative, she stated her desire to instate a “short-term solution to House 6 accessibility” and also to introduce an accessibility handbook to societies.
Aislinn Ní Dhomhnaill ran unopposed for Oifigeach na Gaeilge and was elected to the role.
Rebecca Kelly, Catherine Arnold, Samantha Tancredi, and Martha McKinney Perry ran for the position of Gender Equality Officer.
Kelly was elected to the role. She has been involved in the SU for three years, and stated that she would work to “host women’s events in safe spaces”, form a gender equality committee, host unconscious bias and consent spaces, introduce supports for those experiencing domestic abuse, and allow for more easily changing one’s pronouns on Trinity’s online portals.
Ellie Starr was elected to the role of Off-Campus Officer over opponent William Reynolds. The current SF Nursing class rep, she laid out four main aims of her tenure as Off-Campus Officer, such as wanting “to improve communication for placement sites and College and create student spaces at the placement sites”.
Junior Sophister PPES student Gabrielle Fullam, who ran unopposed for the position of Ethnic Minorities Officer, was elected.
For the position of Environmental Officer, Samantha Foley was elected over Claire McNamee. The current Green Campus Committee Secretary and a SF Law student, she laid out her desire to introduce affordable menstrual cups on campus and host waste management workshops in Trinity.
JF Law and Political Science student Eoghan Gilroy ran unopposed for the position of Access Officer and was thus elected.
Alice Payne and Mia van Rens ran for the position of Volunteer Forum Coordinator, and Payne was elected to the role. She is a current member of the EC and said that she has “volunteered in and out of college” and wishes to “reach out to many current and prospective student volunteers and charities” during her tenure.
Running unopposed for Communities Liaison Officer, Caoimhe Massey was elected.
László Molnárfi ran against current Council Chair Yannick Gloster for the position of Undergraduate Studies Committee (USC) Representative.
As Gloster could not run the meeting while running for the position, a motion to temporarily replace Council chair was passed, and Megan O’Shea was selected to moderate the USC Representative election.
Gloster was elected to the position. He stated that he is “passionate about representing students” and has a “knack for understanding what students need and what they want from their college”.
“I will speak furiously on behalf of students,” he said, referring to the fact that he is “not afraid to say anything”.
Five students from seven nominees were elected to the Campaigns Committee: Jodie Milne, László Molnárfi, William Reynolds, Emily Sweeney, and Tidgh Maguire.
David Caffrey ran unopposed to the position of Student Parent Officer, and was granted the position.
The Student Parent Officer position had been left vacant since a council meeting in December impeached the sitting officer. The same position ended in impeachment in the previous academic year. Since the impeachment this winter, no student parent applied for the role at any subsequent council meeting until today.
Running unopposed for Chair of BDS Campaign, Clara McCormack was elected to the position. Also unopposed, Siobhán Ní Ghuairim received the position of Secretary for the BDS Campaign.
Additional reporting by Shannon Connolly, Kate Glen, Bonnie Gill, Connie Roughan and Lauren Boland.
An earlier version of this article erroneously said that there were eight candidates for the Campaigns Committee instead of seven. Trinity News apologises for the error.
