Terence Rooney is one of three candidates for President of DCU Students’ Union (DCUSU) 2021/22.
Rooney, a final year Global Business student, promises if elected to reignite the DCU community and ensure students are aware of the supports that are available to them.
He has been involved in DCU societies, including Enactus and the Raising and Giving Society, throughout his studies.
This involvement has taught him coordination, leadership, and communication skills Rooney told The College View, which he believes will be of benefit to him if he is elected as President.
In his manifesto Rooney promises to establish a Double Freshers Week, opening the week up to second year students who missed out on this experience in their first year.
“Students are really missing the kind of face to face interaction, meeting new people and especially first years. First years have not had the experience that they deserved,” said Rooney.
If elected, he wants to make up for the last year as he believes the community in DCU is what makes it special.
He will also improve the SU presence on the St Patrick’s College (St Pats) and All Hallows campuses. Rooney will commit to being on St Pat’s campus at least two days each week so that the SU is represented and students can have the opportunity to ask questions.
“There’s not enough representation on those other campuses and there is great resources. Like the hall in Pats, like Java in Pats, there is great resources there to run events, we just need to increase the amount,” he said.
As well as increasing representation Rooney promises to improve the Clubs and Socs fair in St pats look at St Pat’s students and All Hallows students being able to start their own societies and branches of societies.
He hopes this will allow students in St Pat’s and All Hallows to get more involved with clubs and societies as they won’t have to travel to Glasnevin all the time.
Rooney also proposes more training for class representatives so that they can better guide their peers to the supports that DCU has to offer.
“It’s been a really tough year for all of us and one thing is that students are looking for supports and these supports are available in DCU but they don’t know how to access them,” Rooney said.
“We can do this at class-rep level,” he explained. “Even just a quick one hour, two hour session to empower the class reps to show the supports that are available in DCU and then check up on their class.”
He believes that by doing this it will prevent information being lost in emails.
Rooney’s manifesto also promises to work with DCU lecturers and encourage them to continue to record lectures and put them online even when in person classes resume.
He believes that this would be beneficial for students who are commuting or balancing work and college.
The return of student life is prevalent across Rooney’s manifesto. He is a self-described “optimist” and hopes that events will be able to return to normal in the next academic year.
If elected Rooney says he will bring back the All Hallows Summer Festival as well as introducing a DCU Homecoming Celebration.
However if this is not possible Rooney says he will still work to give students the best experience possible.
“We have great resources and great experience so far over the last year of running virtual events and running physical events that we’ll be able to, I suppose, engage students as well as possible through those mediums,” he said.
Voting for DCUSU elections takes place on March 24th and 25th, information on all candidates can be found at https://www.lead.dcusu.ie/
Aoibhín Meghen
Image Credit: Terence Rooney