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Jessica Klein is running uncontested to be your Education Officer.
Jessica Klein is a Stage 3 English and Creative Writing student who is currently the Treasurer of the English and Literary Society. As well as this, Klein is also the Arts and Humanities College Officer, prior to which she held the position of Class Representative for two years. Having first hand experience working within the SU, interacting with and representing a variety of students on campus, Klein feels that her background and knowledge around the processes of the UCDSU have granted her the opportunity to best understand what it takes to become the Education Officer.
As a student who sits on several UCDSU committees and has worked with the SU for the past three years, Klein states, “I really got to know the ins and outs of both the SU and, this year especially, the wider university [...] So I learned how UCD governance works, how decisions are made, and I feel like these are especially applicable to the Education Officer role”.
When it comes to the relationship between students and the SU, Klein says the answer to maintaining momentum and tackling the disconnect between UCD students and their union is presence. “Being on the ground when doing any kind of campaigning or advertising is just so important. We have this overreliance on both the emails and the SU Instagram.” Klein points out the reform that is needed in the SU in their approach to promoting events or services and says, “You’re not just asking students to come to you, you have to come to them too.”
The prospective Education Officer is advocating for a stronger and more robust stance from the SU on the current student mandates that warrant UCDSU to support BDS and Palestine, to provide gender affirming products to trans students in UCD and to address any racist, anti-migrant or anti-refugee views on campus. Asked if she would like the Union to be mandated to address any other issues, Klein’s response is that, “We need to have more safeguarding policies in place. That’s something that I would personally focus on too. But we just have to double down harder on the mandates that are already in place.”
“You’re not just asking students to come to you, you have to come to them too.”
Klein’s manifesto highlights the high cost of tuition, which acts therefore as a barrier for many people accessing higher education. EU students have experienced fees increase by €500 this year, following the government’s decision to retire the temporary €1,000 cut to the €3,000 student contribution, and replace it with a €500 permanent decrease in fees. Finding a resolution to this complicated issue Klein is pushing for a united student body that works with UCD and their higher management to reach a fair deal. As well as this approach, Klein says “It’s also stuff like lobbying TDs [...] We could also possibly engage the wider media more.”
As a SUSI recipient, Klein also critiques the authority responsible for awarding student grants as not providing adequate enough assistance to students seeking financial support. “Even getting SUSI is such a hassle. I think the postal system is a huge barrier because I’m not Irish, so I often had to deal with inter-European postage”.
If elected to the role as Education Officer, Klein would like to collaborate more with the UCD library services and writing centre on campus to enhance the educational experiences for everyone. In addition to this, Klein hopes to work with students more directly and in person. “I want to do more information sessions and exam information sessions just because, like I mentioned before, there is this overreliance on social media and the digital aspect. So I think, just having students see actual, real people instead of just emails or pictures would definitely be one of my goals”.
The Irish language and support for its use and development in UCD is mentioned a number of times by Klein in her manifesto. While she is not a Gaeilgeoir herself, Klein is passionate about languages and has listened to the frustrations of the Irish Language Officer in the SU and Irish speakers on campus who “don’t feel like they’re heard”. She feels that her advocacy for Irish is “coming from a place of, not personal experience, but from just the reflection based on other peoples’ experiences”.
Klein notes that an important aspect of the Education Officer role is coming at it “from just a very humane kind of perspective,” and when students come looking for guidance, the Education Officer should “speak with them in a way that they understand and explain things.” Klein articulates that “the best result that you can have in an initial meeting with the student is just them feeling like they know what’s going to happen even if there aren’t any results yet”.
Questioned about what are the most underrated and overrated aspects to UCD, Klein expresses that support services in UCD are the most underrated, with people often forgetting about or not realising what is available to them, such as the counselling service. She attributes the lack of advertising around such resources to a lack of staff available. An overrated aspect to the university, Klein concludes, is that the new food stalls outside of the Restaurant building are but a meagre replacement for the vibrant food markets that once sprung up every Thursday in front of the James Joyce Library.