Griffith College Students' Union

Griffith College Students' Union

Institution	Griffith College Dublin
Location	Meagher Building, Students` Union Office
Established	2000
Members	Approximately 9,000
Affiliations	None
Website	[2]

The Griffith College Students' Union is the representative body for all full-time Griffith College Dublin students. As the largest independent College in Ireland, Griffith College Dublin has placed an emphasis on expanding the Students’ Union alongside the expansion of the College. They can directly influence and assist students during their academic year. The Students’ Union provides advice on welfare, health, accommodation, financial and academic matters in an effort to help students adjust to college life. However, its primary role is to represent its members views and defend their interests Griffith College Students' Union is one of the only students' unions across the island of Ireland who are not a member of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), the national representative body for third-level students' unions in Ireland, just like the University of Limerick.

The Students' Union President is elected annually by the college students and is responsible for the union's communications, welfare and acting as editor of Griffiti Magazine. The SU also has a Clubs & Societies Officer who is responsible for helping establish and run the various clubs and societies in the college. There is also an assistant manager who is responsible for the college entertainments. The SU Manager manages the staff and daily running of the SU. The Students' Union organizes a number of different events throughout the year from Freshers Week, Halloween Ball, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Eid, Christmas Ball and the formal Griffith Ball which takes place towards the end of the year.

Sabbatical Officers

The following table outlines Griffith College SU Officers and staff from the Union's beginnings in 2000 to the current day.

Sabbatical Executive Officers (Directly Elected by the Union Membership)
	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
President (Inc Communications as of 2012)	Rory (Surname Unknown)	Elaine Mooney	Paul Walsh	Stephen Stokes	Shane McDonnell	Killian Faughnan	Shane McCrann	Peter Molloy	Seán Reid	Jacquie Ryan	Graham Butler	Rain Ali	Ian Donegan	Aimee Doyle	Robbie Purcell
Vice President (Inc Entertainments as of 2012)	(No such office)				Iain O'Connor	Michael O'Riordan	Tomas Moore	Paddy Bourke	Kieran Hickey	Paddy Daly	Joe Uzah	Ian Donegan	Claire Aston
Clubs and Societies	Mick McCaffrey	Paul Walsh & Paul Hayden	Philip Connor	Stephen Stokes	Iain O'Connor	Michael O'Riordan	Tomas Moore & Aimee Sullivan	Paddy Bourke	Kieran Hickey	Paddy Daly	Joe Uzah	Shane Duggan	Sean Alari		Stephen Donnery
Entertainments	Micheal McGuire	Elaine Mooney	Keith Gavaghan	Shauna Tilley	Shane McDonell	Killian Faughnan	Shane McCrann	Peter Molloy	Seán Reid	Jacquie Ryan	Graham Butler	Rain Ali	Claire Aston
Welfare	Unknown	Sarah Kelly	Rory Mullins	(No such Office)			Ciara White	Ciara Healy	Jacquie Ryan		Graham Butler	Rain Ali	Ian Donegan	Aimee Doyle	Robbie Purcell
Student Union Manager, (Non Sabbatical Position), Full-time	Ray Egan	Michelle Banks	Ray Egan	Barry Stokes				Paul Mullally	John McSweeney		Paul McCormack		Paul Walsh

Sabbatical Executive Officers (Directly Elected by the Union Membership)
	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
President (Welfare & Communications Officer)	Walla Ajjawi	Pierce Connolly	Justin Goldsborough		Alisa Reich	Laura Halton	TBC	TBC
Student Union Manager (Non Sabbatical Position), Full-time	Paul Walsh						TBC	TBC
Clubs & Socs Officer, (Non Sabbatical Position), Full-time	Stephen Donnery			James Collier	Jason Killeen		TBC	TBC
Student Union Assistant Manager, (Non Sabbatical Position), Full-time	Claire Aston						TBC	TBC

Clubs & Societies

There are a variety of clubs and societies in the college including:- Drama, Rugby, Soccer, Volleyball, Debating, Poker, Pool, Paintball, Basketball, table tennis, and Toastmasters.

In 2017 the college basketball team won the division 1 league and varieties title for the first time in the college's history. GCD hosted a charity poker tournament & match against The Hendon Mob in May 2004. The match ended 2-2, with GCD winning the tiebreak. 'The Gaming Club' donated €500 to the Chernobyl Children's Project, as the match prize. (Rag Week 2004 had been in aid of Chernobyl Children's Project). All four Hendon Mobsters (Ross Boatman, Barney Boatman, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers) were in attendance. GCD won the Paintball Intervarsitites in 2005, defeating Trinity 2-1 in the final. Team: Stephen Stokes (capt), Colm O'Connor (vice captain), Killian Faughnan, Dermot McDonald, Richie Kelly, Gavin Ng, Darren McCabe, Eoin Fanning, Nic Ryan, Alex Polyakov, Barry Hyland. GCD won the Chess Intervarities in 2005, defeating University of Limerick 2-1 in the final. Claire Michelle Smyth and Barry Vickers of Griffith College Dublin were team winners of The Thomas Finlay Court Moot Competition in UCD in March 2009.

Griffiti

The Students' Union magazine Griffiti is the most prominent publication in the college. Originally conceived as a newspaper, Griffiti changed to a more informal magazine format in its 2nd year. It was the first Griffith College student publication to be printed entirely in colour, since then full-colour magazines have become the norm in GCD. It is published every month of the academic year, and contains articles and stories which focus on general news, opinion and goings-on around the campus. Students of all disciplines are free to submit articles. The magazine's management dictates that the editor changes every academic year. It was launched in October 2004. As of December 2013 there has been 58 issues. Since its inception it has won several awards at the National Student Media (sMedia) awards including winning 'Small College Publication', 'Colour Writer of the Year', 'Website of the Year'. Originally the position was directly appointed by the SU President and Manager (as well as several others), however as of 2011 the role is now directly elected by the students. The position falls under the title of 'Communications Officer' and has been twinned with the role of SU President.

Roll call of Griffiti Editors and staff
	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Editor / Communications Officer	Nicola Reddy / Cian Hallinan	John McSweeney	Celia Zwahlen	Katie Roche	Noel Burke	Mark Corcoran	Oscar Finn	Ian Donegan		Aimee Doyle	Robbie Purcell
Chief Writer(s)	(No such position)		Katie Roche / Bryan Cahill	Jane Ward	(No such position)