Tuesday 13-06-2023 - 13:33

In Conversation With: Joe McGarry, President of Durham Students’ Union 

A maths graduate from St. Aidan’s College, this is Joe McGarry the outgoing President of the Durham Students’ Union. After spending six memorable years at the University, Joe recounts his last year here spent working as a Sabbatical Officer. 

Having previously served as the JCR President of St. Aidans, he gained much exposure to the working of the University while cherishing the opportunity to contribute to his fellow students’ betterment. During his tenure, he attended insightful conferences and met many inspiring people at the Union that encouraged his greater involvement with it. Joe admits that while he knew the SU was pivotal to the student experience, he was vaguely aware of its reach and potential. It is only after working so closely with the SU that he learnt of the various ways in which it adds to student life and how he too could partake in its change-making processes. Having had such a rewarding experience as a college sabbatical officer, he knew he ought to run for the President’s role to broaden the impact of his work. Since then, he has been key in initiating change and unifying students and staff regarding student concerns at a cross-campus level. 

Recalling his experience of campaigning, Joe recollects having undergone stressful times owing to his responsibilities as a JCR sabbatical officer. While campaigning, he served as the JCR President and had to meticulously plan his duties to do justice to both ventures. He finds himself appreciative of his dedicated campaigns team and the other JCR Presidents that provided unrelenting support and motivation. Though it was indeed a busy time, he could achieve all that he had planned to thanks to the ever-helpful friends that surrounded him. Following the tense campaigning period, his win in the elections came as a huge relief. All his nervous anticipation was put to rest as the campaigns team announced his win as the President and he rejoiced in celebration with his team. 

Reflecting on his term, he credits an internal project on campaigning within the context of the Theory of Change as an interesting project that he undertook this year. This project dealt with evaluating the ways in which organisations like the Students’ Union led campaigns with and for students and brought about material change. Especially while working on housing concerns and issues around disability support, he learnt much about the regulatory side of campaigning and the various innovative ways that they could be carried out. He learnt how campaigns could also function in the form of authoritative reports and effective complaints in tandem with protests, demonstrations and boycotts. 

One of his proudest works during his tenure is based on the Durham Grant Scheme. As the President of the SU, he was invited to provide his input on deliberations surrounding student hardship funds. Through his constructive discussions with the panel, they were able to propose a change to raise the minimum threshold of eligibility based on household incomes. This valuable policy change would allow many more students to avail greater financial aid than before. You can find more information on this endeavour here. 

With his term coming to a close, Joe is grateful for the innumerable unique opportunities for learning and progress that this role brought him. Wishing good luck to the incoming sabbatical officers, his key advice to them remains to ensure strong communication with the students to truly fulfil their duties at best.