 It's SU Election Week here in DCU and I'm on the Glastonham campus where I'll be sitting down with two of the candidates running for Society's Officer, Kat Kane and Sarah Moore. So Kat, can you just tell me a little bit about why you want to run for this position as Hock's Officer? Societies are a huge part of my life in DCU, probably more so than my actual college life. So I've been so lucky in my first year to have been involved in multiple societies only a little bit. So I got a really good feel for what I loved and what I liked about each society. And the main thing I liked was the community feel. So I never felt alone in DCU. I'm from Waterford so coming up to Dublin was like this huge thing for me and straight away that was all gone. You know, no nerves, no nothing. So what I want is I want each society to benefit as much as possible. And it's been amazing over the last two years to see people wanting societies that they feel passionate about to come to life. So things like the Roper Society has now been set up. Oversoft has been set up in my first year. Things like that, that people were like these are really good ideas and that's what we want to do. And I want to encourage more of that. I want each person in DCU to feel that they have a place that they can go to outside of college as in work and be like this is my safe space now. This is where I feel at home in DCU. Yeah, probably that couldn't bring me to my next question because I just want to say what do you think you could personally bring to the position? I think I'm very outgoing, I'm very social and would do anything for anyone. And that's, that sounds really cocky, but a really good trade that I feel I have. And if any questions about societies, I feel I can answer them to the best of my ability or would send you in a direction that needs to be. So what I really want to do is help each society and make sure that they benefit, whether it's Africa Soc, whether it's a society with four people in it or whether it's MPS with a thousand people in it. And they're all, you know, and they're all so passionate about it. Each of those societies are at least gaining something from the year. Yeah, whether that be for my manifesto, whether that be something extra that they want that I can help them with. That's my main aim. That's what I feel I can bring to it, that I can be that person that will be there for anyone day or night about any questions that they have. Absolutely. And, you know, unfortunately last year or this year, we were without our socks officer for like a little bit of the year. So just for what he was there, what would you do differently just from comparison to the start of the year? Well, one main thing I want is inter-society events. And that's something I'm very, very passionate about. So I want to have complete transparency between the clubs and socks and the chairpeople. And what I want is for each society to get to know each other. Because there's so much you could do with each society. You know, things that you would never think of, you know, rag and every other society would go hand in hand because it's all charity. Do you know what I mean? There's nothing that would stop them. NPS and drama and music and sober sock. All of these events that have a huge impact. And you look at Scoliosis Society, which is newly set up, which is a fantastic cause and is now going with rag and NPS and music and all these things that are actually really making this event bigger and better and cheaper for societies to hold. So that's something that's huge. And I want committees to know where they stand and to have them getting to bond and have team workshops and things like that, which I think is a huge improvement to help each society to help inter-society events and to help clubs and socks in the SU make their job a little bit easier as well. Yeah. So just with the SU, there has been, you could say, a decline in interest in it. This is the first year since I think it was 2006 that there's actually been only one person running for president. What would you what do you think could be done to kind of encourage people to, you know, participate in events and just have more of an interest in the SU? Well, I've always had an interest in the SU. So I've been really lucky that last year we got to be a class rep. This year I didn't take on anything because I was part of the drama committee and wanted to make that my main focus. And I think the people running for SU are very passionate. And I think you shouldn't run for something that you're not passionate about. Which I think is a very important thing. I would hate to see someone go for something that they kind of are doing for the fun of it. And that's not going to benefit anyone in the long run. I think the SU events this year have been fantastic. And I think the SU have done a fantastic job on gaining interest in these events. I want to encourage more people to understand that it's not all politics. Whether it be clubs and socks, whether it be the SU or ZEF, it's something that people love. And they're doing things behind the scenes that people don't really see. And I really saw that as a class rep last year. And, you know, I'd be doing something that no one would see about placement or engagement or. And then at the end of the year, they go, what did you do? And I'm like, well, I did all these things. But because it wasn't a class night out, they're not already seen. You know, and I think people need to kind of understand that a little bit more. I think the people running for the SU are very passionate. And I think that's a very good thing. And as sad as it is about presidents, I think Vito has proven that he wants this more than anything. You know, and that and the fact is everyone really that's running has been planning this for some some amount of time. You know, I know what I want to do in four years time. And that's, you know, that's and I've wanted this for two years. And I've done my research for that amount of time. Yeah. So what I think is to get the SU on board is to have them and societies venture together. So I want societies to feel they can go to exec as long as they can go to me as well. And they can go to the people that work in clubs and socks. But they can feel they can go to Podge and go, this is an event that I want. Can you help me out here or whoever is running for you? Great. And just lastly, I know last year, the whole amalgamation was kind of an issue with clubs and socks. Some events to be on the last seven campus that be on the same parts campus as well. And it's trying to like balance them out. What would what do you think could be done in relation to clubs and societies that would maybe encourage more of an open campus and more of what would you do to kind of improve the matters in that? Because I know it is still an issue. I'm actually a past student, you know, I'm on past campus. But I was lucky last year, I actually won the amalgamation award for DCU path and all hallows. OK. So I got to see that amalgamation happened and loved every minute of it. I think DCU taking over paths, I'm going to be killed with the best thing that ever happened. And people don't realise that that allows societies to grow and that allows things like drama to sock to encourage more memories and put on bigger shows and NPS to do a bigger broadcast and style sock to have a bigger show, you know, and dance to encourage all these people. And that's a huge thing. But I think we need to start taking down the barrier that it's paths and DCU and it's amalgamation. The amalgamation has happened today. What I want is that amalgamation to be confirmed and for people to feel that they can go up to DCU or come down to paths and it's not. They don't have the facilities. Yeah, that's one thing I'm a manifesto. I'm very concerned. How would you do that? What do you think? So I want facilities down in paths. I want space being brought in. I want the idea of room booking to be made much easier down in paths because it's not up to date as it is in DCU. And I want people to feel that they can go to paths and it's not a bad thing. Yeah, you're not invading on other paths. I think people need to learn that paths now in DCU and DCU is now paths and all hallows is included in that. And there's so many things you could do in all hallows. I don't know why it's the last city of campuses right now because there's rooms there. You can have a ball in there. There's so much you could do in all hallows that people wouldn't even think of. And I think the Halloween ball really proved that this could be an amazing event. But one thing I really want to do is break down that. I want to have, you know, if it's in DCU, well, then it's on DCU campus. It just so happens that it's on campus. If it's in paths, it's on paths campus. This, you know, safe paths where paths and where DCU needs to be broken down. And I think I can really make that through with societies, especially with interest society events that you can feel that you can go down to paths like Media in the Classroom with NPS. An amazing event because as teachers, as I'm a teacher, needs to have that. You know what I mean? And those kind of events that you're kind of going, yeah, that really helps. And it would help with the teaching society, which is helping a lot of other people doing other things that they need. So like for nurses and interns and stuff, the placement that they have all this information. So I think there's a lot we could actually do for the imagination. Okay, brilliant. Well, I think that's everything we need for the moment. Thanks so much. And best of luck in the election. Thank you. So Sir, what made you want to be, what made you want to run for this position? Well, basically I'm really, really involved with societies on campus that I'm clubs as well. I think they're a huge factor about like social life in DCU. Like when I came to DCU, I literally didn't know anyone because I went to school on the site and they all just went to UCD. So I thought this is my opportunity to get involved with societies and make loads of new friends. And that's what I did. I got really involved with NPS last year. The Media Production Society because it kind of tied in with my course as well. So I really wanted communications. The year I went for communications points went up so I got English and media. But I was still really happy to be on campus. So I was like, okay, how do I get involved with more practical angles of kind of media industry like technology and film and editing. So I'm because I'm kind of doing just media theory and English. So I joined NPS and I was doing radio, TV. I got involved with their 24 hour broadcast, which was brilliant. It was for the Peter McFerry Trust and they raised about 15 grand per year, which was insane. And what do you think you can personally bring to the role? Well, one thing that I've been talking about a lot is from talking to different committee members of different societies, they're kind of asking for a permanent space on campus like to store equipment or somewhere they can meet 24 seven because usually they go to like a lecture hall and you know, it might be busy or it might be difficult to get a space. I know for a DCU dance, they sometimes struggle with getting a space. And I'm like, they need quite a big space if they're, you know, practicing. I went for an audition for one of the squads a few months back and literally the room changed three times just because there was booking issues and things like that. And of course, you know, a lecture is gonna come before society. So that was kind of a problem this year. And I know this year we were actually, unfortunately without our socks officer for half the year. But just next year, if you were to get the role, what would you do differently so that that kind of thing wouldn't happen or what do you think could be improved? Well, basically, we have a new SU building being, it's nearly finished. So I'd hope to ensure that we have that permanent space for societies and an area for clubs and societies. So people can come approach me as well. And you know, they know exactly, okay, Sarah is the society's officer and such and such is the club's officer. So they know where we are and they know where to come to basically. And I think that way being approachable, it'll be more like there'll be more engagement with new students coming in next year. And just another thing this year, there hasn't been, it's fair to say there hasn't been as much interest in the SU just in terms of candidates actually running for positions for socks. There's still a few, but for some positions, like for a president, there's only one person running. What do you think you could do to encourage students to actually participate in SU activities and just encourage them to kind of be excited about the SU or do you think there could be anything, could be done better? Yeah, you're dead, right? Like I was kind of upset when I heard only one candidate is going for president and no female candidate for president either. So I was kind of upset by that. And I think, you know, I was so impressed by the SU last year and one kind, like one person I was, well, I was Cody Brown, the welfare officer last year, who did so much each week to ensure people were getting involved and there was something happening on campus every day. And I think that way, they kind of need to have things happening all the time, showing that the SU have a strong presence here on campus. And that way, people will say, oh, well, that actually looks like a lot of fun. I'd love to go for that next year. And like there are full-time positions where people get paid to be on campus, run events, and make sure all the students are okay if they need anything. Like it's not a boring job. It needs to be advertised like that. And so what do you think will be done to encourage people, just to encourage people to actually participate in it? They need to like show that it is an interesting position. And like they can contribute a lot to society by, you know, having the position and doing it well. Yeah. So if it's seen that it's kind of something that actually contributes to the campus and to the college overall, I think people will go for it way more. Great. And just the last thing. So the amalgamation of the campuses was a big issue last year. And I know this year, a lot of societies are trying to kind of have events that run both on last November and the all-halos and past campuses. What do you think as a society's officer, you could do to kind of encourage societies to have, you know, events throughout all the campuses and kind of have more of an amalgamation and more of a kind of open society? Yeah. It's like a huge problem like that needs to be addressed. Like it's something I talk about a lot in my manifesto. There needs to be more interaction with the different campuses. Like I know MPS are doing workshops. They're trying to do them more on different campuses. But they need, other societies need to follow in that where they do workshops and meetings and events on different campuses. Last year, one event that was really well done by the Indian Society was the Holly Festival. And it's like a color run and it was on all-halos and it was brilliant. It was really, really good to include more students. Like it's important because there's so many students down in paths and all-halos. Like I think another thing that like an opportunity for this is the Clubs and Societies Fair. If you look at the Clubs and Socks Fair on Glasham, it's huge. It's the entire hall. Whereas it's the auditorium in paths where I feel it's a lot smaller and not as many people attend it. So that's definitely an opportunity. They should do it on all-halos as well for students to get involved with societies. OK, great. Well, I think that's all we need. So best of luck in the election. Thank you very much. Well, there you have it. That's what this year's candidates have to say. So don't forget to vote this week. Rachel Martin, DCU TV News.