A union hack, a student journalist, a society enthusiast – all are terms which could correctly apply to Nina Crofts, one of the candidates running to be the Welfare and Equality Officer for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU). A third year politics and sociology student, Crofts is the current Citizenship Officer for TCDSU, having held the role of LGBT+ Officer last year. Elsewhere in college life, they have held editorial positions at Trinity News, and welfare responsibilities at the Hist.
Crofts admits that their “whole experience from society life, from journalism, from SU life, I think they will put forward a picture of someone who’s really passionate, and I am really passionate.”
“I care, and I want college to work for every single person on campus.”
The goal of reaching out to students beyond the traditional reach of the union is a common trend amongst union hopefuls from year to year, but Crofts was eager to share how they planned on “listening to students who don’t engage with the union”.
“You can’t expect them to come to us,” Crofts said, “ because if someone’s struggling, they might not necessarily know that the union is there as a support for them.”
This was mixed in with a reference to the Lens reports direct action that took place earlier this month, which Crofts cited as the sort of thing that can really engage students.
“When students see, actions like this, it can inspire them to go, oh my god, I’m also having this massive issue with college health. Could you maybe help with that?”
Indeed, on this question of engagement, Crofts said that “it’s hard to engage someone once they’re in third or fourth year,” before endorsing a renewed effort at engaging younger years with the union.
“You’re setting a foundation then of people who feel they have trust in the union”, Crofts explained.
When asked about their own union experience, Crofts was quick to commend those who had gone before them, saying “my predecessors would be a huge inspiration”.
“Seeing what they could do within the role has particularly inspired me”, Crofts said, before adding “I have my own ideas, and I’d love to see them enacted”.
Perhaps one of the most striking of these ideas is Crofts’ campaign proposal to set up a fund for students with long commutes to college each day. “I would love to introduce [a fund] for local commuters, especially people who pay more than a 90 minute leap card tap on”.
“We do have so many people commuting over 90 minutes to get into college every day,” Crofts said, “and I think easing that financial load could really help people actually want to come into college on a day you only have a non-recorded lecture”.
When asked about the logistics of determining which students would be eligible for this, Crofts said they do “like to assume best intent”, but also suggested that students could “write a note and two sentences about the burden that the commute has on them.”
Another big point for Crofts in this campaign is mental health, a topic that percolates into many of their other plans.
“Mental health has probably taken such a prominent place on the manifesto,” Crofts admitted, “because something it has been quite, personal for me.”They went on to bring up the issues with accessing mental health counselling services while in college.
“If you sign up anytime after October, when people are feeling academic pressure, it’s basically impossible, but they are a fantastic, yet really under-resourced service.”
In order to tackle this, Crofts strongly pushed for practicing “emotional appeal” to the college.
“One of the best ways that I think the SU has reached out and achieved success from college is when we actually show them a different reality of why it’s important.”
However, Crofts is as realistic as they are passionate when it comes to tackling college mental services, acknowledging the need for a “two-pronged approach” to student welfare.“While we’re working towards more funding and more resources towards student counseling service”, Crofts said, “it would be really nice to make people aware of the resources that are available.”
Another area where Crofts was equally as passionate was that of consent, and particularly the need to “move beyond the black and white approaches” to consent.“I’m personally not the biggest fan of FRIES (an acronym commonly used in student consent workshops at Trinity)”, Crofts said, “because I think acronyms really over simplify something.”
They went on to highlight how she felt current approaches being taken by College weren’t entirely adequate with regard to tackling issues of sexual misconduct.
“It’s not because someone didn’t secure the right yes, or didn’t go through a checklist in their mind. It’s because someone feels they have a right to someone else’s body”.
Discussing how they’d improve upon this, Crofts initially made a bold call for “mandatory consent education for every first year”. However, they later pedalled back on this, admitting that mandatory was the wrong word to use.
“Maybe not mandatory, but push towards it being more widespread”.
When asked what the biggest issue facing student welfare today was, Crofts didn’t hesitate in bringing up housing issues. “[Housing issues] affect how much you can give, and you can feel like a part of the community in college.”Drawing a close link between student welfare and government housing policy, Crofts said they want to “demonstrate how much students are struggling”.
“I want to do it to the point where they can’t not listen to us.”
Another point that came up was the increasing prevalence of the role of welfare on campus, with this year’s welfare race having more candidates than in recent years.
“It’s really empowering in a weird way, ” Crofts said, commenting on the highly-contested race.
“The candidate side of me was going, oh god, four people. The person who loves the SU and has been involved with it was going, oh my god, four people!”
“I think that just speaks to some of the amazing direct work and visibility that we’ve seen from last year’s team”.
“It’s not just a revolving door of people who are hacks going for the exact same thing”, Crofts said smiling, followed up with a joke about why they think themself, as “the person who is probably the hackiest” should be the next Welfare and Equality Officer.
“In terms of being able to get started from day one”, Crofts explained, “It’s definitely an advantage, because I do know a lot of the structures of the union and how they work and how you can get things done”.
However, Crofts also went on to share more personal reasons for wanting to take the role.
“I’m a student who’s been part of the SU because I have seen the impact it has, and have cared about it […]“I think what I really want people to know about me on campus is that I’m here to listen. I’d be here to listen to every single person on campus.”
Heading into election season, Crofts is a well-rounded candidate prepared to draw on all aspects of campus life for their campaign. Most notably, Crofts is ready to prioritise mental health, visibility on campus and specific student supports in their campaign, such as a student commuter fund and increased first-year mixing opportunities.
