By Erica Elliott.
Aisling Boylan: “I put my heart and soul into all the committees that I’m on, and I just think I can really give back to the students”.
A Familiar face around campus, Aisling Boylan has represented DCU in many aspects since she started college; a class representative for the past two years, two-time senior student ambassador, events manager for the German society, St. Pat’s officer for St. Vincent de Paul Society, the outreach officer for Post-Grad society, a peer mentor for incoming students and more.
As for priorities, Aisling says the first one would be focused on the Pat’s campus, creating a much needed commuter hub for Pat’s, and computer lounges.
“I have the Pat’s experience”, she says, which is a key component of her campaign. “I put my heart and soul into all the committees that I’m on, and I just think I can really give back to the students,” she adds.
“It obviously needs a commuter hub. It doesn’t have one, and Glasnevin has one. It needs microwaves for the students. It’s unacceptable for people who are on crutches, people don’t have an awful lot of time between lectures and are waiting over half an hour to use a microwave”.
In regards to volunteering and sustainability, and safety on campus, Aisling is very passionate about bringing new ideas to DCU, such as her ambition for setting up ‘Digs Drive’, as featured in her manifesto.
This project entails an initiative with the hope of relieving stress during an accommodation crisis facing students, where they would reach out to nearby residents and propose a ‘Digs Drive’ to them, asking “Could you rent a room to a student under fair conditions?” This is a plan which Aisling aims to expand over the summer.
She also plans to develop DCU’s app for security, titled the ‘Safezone’ app. During our conversation Aisling mentioned that “you can call security on that”, but “they might not answer you”.
She hopes to improve this app as an important part of DCU safety, with the aim of adding more lighting around DCU at night, specifically in the car parks. She believes with her help, DCU Volunteer could work more closely with The Student’s Union, and that the promotion of volunteering should definitely be improved.
The candidate also has ideas for expanding community gardens, especially on ‘All Hallows’ which was greenlighted for a community garden back in 2020. She said this should be re-visited and would create a space for students who study sustainability related courses, and for mental health purposes.
Robert Byrne : “So many people just feel like they have no hope here, and I want to give them that piece of hope”
As a class representative for the past two years, and the only running candidate who has previously ran for a VP position, Robert Byrne believes that right now “is the best time to make changes”.
The candidate, who has previously been a part of the motion to consider the replacement of Coca-Cola products that was proposed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in DCU, said his priorities have changed, reflecting on his decision to enter student elections last year, as a first year student.
“I was throwing myself into the deep end”, he said.
Elaborating on one of his three points from his nomination list, Robert emphasised his priority to advocate for part-time workers who are studying full-time courses.
This stems from his role as a class representative, where he denotes an encounter with a member of staff who told him, “Your course is full-time, students shouldn’t be working”, after a lecturer had rescheduled a lecture, with no warning.
Robert hopes to continue to provide commuter hubs, with more events set up in times that are accessible to students travelling, as well as improving transport, such as his free bike-care scheme.
This scheme would provide bikes located in all DCU campuses so students could use them to travel to and from lectures. As a joint honours student, Robert feels this initiative, if it’s introduced, could save students a lot of time waiting for buses, and would be more sustainable and time efficient as the cycle infrastructure is already there to build on.
A common thread for this year’s student elections is the housing crisis. Speaking on this, Robert hopes to expand accommodation for students, stating, “We’re not going to be able to completely solve it, but we can try to just bring down costs for students wherever it might end up”.
The third part of his manifesto centers around ‘unity’, which is his idea of collaboratively contributing to change, and providing students with hope during a time of increasing uncertainty.
Robert, has also appeared in the Oireachtas meeting last September on AI, as well as being involved in community projects with Dublin City Council, lobbying on a local and national level, said he has a lot of experience speaking to people, and hopes to provide DCU with a fresh perspective.
Zuzanna Chadzinska : “I’ve decided to run because I genuinely really, really care about all of the issues that I would be addressing”.
An acting member of the Green Committee and Climate Action Society, Zuzanna has decided to run for VP for Community and Citizenship, focusing on issues such as the housing crisis, improving the quality and versatility of community spaces, and bringing an “interesting perspective”, as someone who wasn’t involved in student life during her first two years at DCU.
Her first priority, if elected, “is absolutely the housing co-operative”, which is a project she’s been a founding member and working on for over a year now. This is a democratically run non-profit housing model where, while you live there, “you own a part of the building, so there’s no landlord making a profit. You have full control of it”.
“It’s also a community gathering space”, she says, and this exists all over the world. The candidate deems this as the “perfect solution for the housing crisis that we’re facing right now, that’s just impossible to ignore”.
Zuzanna, along with five other members have been working to improve this concept, approaching Dublin City Council and aiming to get funding. She says they are currently proposing a financial plan to DCU, with the goal of providing sustainable and cheap housing for students.
Elsewhere, she hopes to improve and create more community spaces around campus, which will include aiming to re-open the community gardens.
As far as organised events are concerned, Zuzanna has an idea, which she hopes will create engagement between students and clubs and societies.
“One of my concrete ideas for that is, you know the screens in the U, and in the sports building…I would really love to see them being used as, you know like, what’s on today, the next big events this week”.
The art room is the second big community space which Zuzanna hopes to work on, as well as expanding creative spaces in the Pat’s campus. “There’s art classrooms on Pats, but they’re only for classes, so I also wanted to work on making those accessible for just personal work”.
Improving the quality of communication within the university and the communication channels between management and the Student Union is at the forefront of her campaign. This would involve more collaboration between management and the student body so that more people can get involved.
Voting will take place from Monday, the 16th to Wednesday, the 18th of February.
Image Credit: DCU SU