The Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) sabbatical election for education officer is a race between Buster Whaley and Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh. And the race is proving to be a tight one, according to Trinity News polling. Buster Whaley is pulling ahead of Ó Cathasaigh, but just.
The education race, according to Trinity News polling, has a high number of undecided voters. With just over half of voters remaining unsure of who they will cast their vote for, only 49.05% of polled voters are decided.
Although the race between the two candidates is very close, there are some notable differences in where the candidates’ votes are coming from.
Whaley is dominating with Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS) students, while Ó Cathasaigh has the majority of STEM and health sciences (HS) students votes. Whaley received 54.44% of first preferences from decided voters in the AHSS faculty, while Ó Cathasaigh has 63.64% of the decided health sciences votes.
This trend can possibly be explained by Ó Cathasaigh’s status as a fourth year mathematics and statistics student and as the School of Maths convenor. Whaley, for his part, is a fourth year PPES student.
STEM and HS students did not respond to the poll in the same numbers as AHSS students. AHSS students represent 60.55% of decided voters, while STEM and HS students are 25.72% and 8.88% respectively. However, these numbers are actually representative of how likely these faculties are to vote. According to the data from the 2024 sabbatical elections, over half of the total votes were cast in the Arts Building with 1,605 votes. Only 548 votes were cast in the Hamilton and 47 votes in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Perhaps the most notable difference between the two candidates is their previous student union involvement. Ó Cathasaigh is a well-seasoned student union player, previously serving as chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), chair of council, undergraduate studies committee representative as well as School of Maths convenor. Whaley, on the other hand, has never had direct involvement with the student union. This difference between the two candidates has come up a few times throughout the campaign, with Whaley believing that his lack of experience in the union is representative of the majority of the student body who don’t have involvement with the union and of the union’s broader problem with engagement.
This dynamic is reflected in the polls. Ó Cathasaigh received the majority of first preferences from decided voters who have held a position within TCDSU, with 54.47% of first preferences. Whaley, on the other hand, received 54.75% of first preference votes from decided voters who have never had any position in the union, perhaps proving his assertion that the union needs some fresh faces and shouldn’t have so many barriers to involvement.
Whaley’s campaign stands to gain voters by using his lack of experience in the union as a positive factor in his candidacy. Despite the clear advantage Ó Cathasaigh has in experience in the union, Whaley has emphasized that most students are not actively engaging with the union. When questioned about what the advantages he had compared to Ó Cathasaigh’s practical experience at the media hustings on Wednesday, Whaley responded by saying that while there is something to be said for experience, that it depends on how you frame a lack of experience. And that is precisely what Whaley’s campaign has done; it is clear from the poll results that Whaley’s campaign as a non-union involved student is resonating with students who have also never held a position in the union.
Both candidates are scoring about the same across gender boundaries. Whaley is doing better with female voters, with 53.49% of first preference, while Ó Cathasaigh has 43.72% of first preference voters. Whaley holds 48.39% of male first preference votes and Ó Cathasaigh has 45.81%. As for re-opening nominations (RON), 5.81% of male voters chose that as their first preference, compared to only 1.86% of female voters.
The two candidates have also been focusing on different manifesto points throughout their campaigns. Ó Cathasaigh has been, throughout hustings, touching on many different points of his manifesto. He has discussed LENS report compliance and the creation of a fund to help students pay for mandatory field trips. His manifesto also focuses on college’s policies around generative AI (GenAI), something that current education officer Eoghan Gilroy also touched on in his manifesto last year. Ó Cathasaigh aims to “ensure that each school clearly outlines their GenAI policy in line with College’s Statement on GenAI.”
There is currently no overarching policy on GenAI, and many different programmes have their own policies and rules. In a statement from January of this year, college writes: “The College goal is to enable overall consistency in the regulation of GenAI usage, while also respecting where disciplines or degree programmes require specific restrictions in GenAI usage in assessment preparation and execution. Thus, where disciplines or degree programmes wish to refine specific regulations on student use of GenAI for learning, general as well as programme-specific regulations should be communicated in the relevant discipline/degree programme handbook.”
Whaley has focused primarily on his goal to implement modular billing, a system that would allow students to pay per module as opposed to repeating the entire year or going off books. The feasibility of this plan has been questioned at hustings, to which Whaley responded that implementation of modular billing would require an overhaul of college’s digital structure but that “the changes that modular billing will bring are extremely necessary”. Modular billing has been the focus of Whaley’s campaign, dominating most of his hustings speaking time.
Modular billing is a relatively popular conversation at Trinity, where currently the only option to repeat a failed module is to repeat the whole year or go off-books, which is a temporary interruption of studies without paying fees. The off-books system has been criticised by many because it disrupts students’ plans, and as off books students are not registered students, they cannot avail of student privileges such as library borrowing rights and access to the Student Counselling Service.
In 2018 there was a move to introduce modular billing, but the supplemental fees that were meant that came along with it resulted in mass student protests. To cover the costs of implementing modular billing, which would have cost the college around €1 million, college introduced a €450 fee to sit supplemental exams. The Take Back Trinity movement against these supplemental fees had students occupying the dining hall for 3 days. Ultimately the decision was reversed and modular billing never came into effect, despite being a topic of conversation again in 2019.
Whaley did acknowledge that implementing modular billing is no easy feat and would require him to work with the college at all levels to integrate it into the strategic plan of college.
Both candidates have been performing well at hustings and are seeing positive social media engagement. Ó Cathasaigh currently possesses more instagram followers, with 551 followers to Whaley’s 306. In hustings, Whaley is clearly an experienced and confident public speaker, able to handle the immediate nature of a hustings, although at times he avoids actually answering the question that was asked. Ó Cathasaigh, perhaps possessing slightly less charisma, also performs well in hustings. He is able to articulate his ideas and plans well, and his experience as a position-holder in the union is very apparent.
While the education race remains undecided, there are clear boundaries in the candidates’ supporters, placing them in opposition. Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh: the experienced union member and STEM student, and Buster Whaley- the fresh face from PPES. With so many voters still undecided, the candidates still have the opportunity to convince undecided voters.
