The 2024 SJCR Presidential Husts

Helena Farthing offers a comprehensive review of the 2024 SJCR Presidential husts where the three candidates presented their qualifications and their priorities if they are elected.

It is that time of year again, the SJCR Epiphany I meeting, where the Husts take place. Now if you are wondering what this concept is then welcome to the club, I also had no idea what husts were until a week ago. I have now found out that husts are an opportunity to hear the candidates for the next SJCR President speak about why they want to become president, and what their plans are if they do get voted into that role. 

The main role of the SJCR President is to lead the society, and this position is usually held by a member of the John’s community that has just graduated.

The husts consisted of a three minute speech by each candidate’s proposer, an eight minute speech by the candidate themselves, and then a period where member from the audience and online, through the livestream, could ask questions.

There are three candidates for the 23/24 SJCR President: Ben Dickinson, Dilly Leak, and Emily Martin, listed in alphabetical order.

Ben Dickinson

The first candidate was Ben Dickinson who is a fourth year maths student and is the current SJCR Treasurer. He has also held various other roles during his time on the SJCR including Services manager, acting Vice-President and Year Book Committee. 

Ben’s proposer, Matthew “Matty” Cook, who is a 3^rd year History and Politics student, spent his three minutes telling us why Ben is “a great guy” and why he would be a great president. Ben is Matty’s college dad, so the first time he met him was “at the end of a very hazy freshers week”. His first impressions of Ben were that he was very welcoming and across the year he was very easy to get hold of and was amazing at offering advice. Ben also puts a lot of effort and care into Freshers’ Week and the SJCR and has been helpful at offering advice when it comes to balancing the Bailey theatre Company’s budget. Matty was the first and only speaker who did not have his own countdown timer, and this was very apparent when he ran out of time, tried to speak over it and then the audience had to listen to a very aggressive banging of the gavel from Senior Returning Officer and SJCR Vice-Chair Ted Poel to tell him that his time was indeed over.

When Ben took to the Lectern, he presented his experience for why he was qualified for the role and then he set out what his main priorities are. These are:

1. Improve accessibility and inclusivity to all SJCR activities no matter their financial status or disabilities.

• Ben wants to work with student Reps and the Welfare Committee to continue his previous work to increase access to events (e.g., he helped to write the Ball Fund introduced by SJCR President Anna Robinson, which provides discounted College Ball tickets to those from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, and Ben wishes to increase the number of students who could take advantage at Bailey Ball).
• Ben also wants to increase knowledge about access to SJCR funding opportunities that currently go underused.

2. To keep sports and societies within John’s free due to the rising costs of Maiden Castle’s prices.

• Maiden Castle was considering a £3000 increase in pitch fees during the summer of 2023. Ben wants to continue the pushback with other Common Rooms against this to make sure that sports stay free for as long as possible.

3. Reopening the Toastie Bar

• Ben wants to make sure that there will be no food hygiene problems if it is reopened as he will make sure that everyone is properly trained as this is the reason that it was shut down before.
• When asked about the feasibility of being able to open the Toastie Bar, Ben replied that he would work closely with college staff and the bar to sort out the logistics, and that they were actually close to opening it a few years ago, but due to a breakdown in communication between the SJCR and John’s staff, they weren’t able to proceed. Ben said that he would work hard to make sure that this would not happen again, this response was well received by the audience.

4. Increasing financial transparency within the SJCR

• Ben wants to publish summaries of event budgets as well as the SJCR budgets that are already being published so that Johnians will know where their money is going.

Ben finished his presentation with emphasising why he was the best candidate as he is very experienced due to his previous roles in the SJCR and that he is well-versed on presenting things to the Trustee Board as he has provided papers and reports to them in the past.

Dilly Leak

The second person to enter the so called ‘ringer’ was Dilly Leak. Dilly is a music finalist and is currently the JMS (John’s Music Society) president. She is also the president for Durham Dynamics which is a large A Capella choir. She has also held other roles within the SJCR such as being part of the welfare events team and an SEC (Social Events Committee) entertainment officer. 

Dilly’s proposer, Luke Townshend, led his speech with a joke that was well received about dallying (in reference to Dilly’s campaign slogan, “Don’t dally, vote Dilly”. He then described why Dilly would be a wonderful candidate for the SJCR presidency as she has had a lot of experience with all the ins and outs of college life being part of and running lots of societies. She was also preciously part of the SEC where she helped to organise the 2021 Bailey Ball which demonstrates her willingness to work within a team. He also emphasised how Dilly is a friendly face around college and that she is a really enthusiastic and caring person who would make a great SJCR President.

Dilly then took to the Lectern to set out her main priorities if she was elected as SJCR President. These are:

1. To improve inclusivity to make sure that all Johnians’ are able to “shine”.

2. Reduce event costs and increase the number of free events.

• Dilly wants to use her fresh perspective to look at where there could be cost cutting measures during events in order to decrease ticket prices.

3. Negotiate with college staff to provide low-cost living solutions for those who need them.

• Dilly wants the college to get more involved with the housing crisis by hosting housemate mixers and increasing the knowledge given to freshers about the Durham property market.

4. Increasing the information available about the SJCR to all Johnians by increasing communications and approachability between the Exec and SJCR members.

• Dilly thinks that there is a perception of the SJCR as being cliquey so wants to bring a fresh perspective to the SJCR by reforming the SJCR’s anatomy and framework and maintaining tradition.
• Dilly also wants to create a large document to freshers on what the SJCR can do for you as she believes that many people are not aware of the what the SJCR actually does.
• When Dilly was asked how she can improve the information already within the freshers booklet she talked about reforming the information booklet but also to increase the social media presence in order to reach a larger audience.
• Dilly also wants to signpost the help that is available to Johnians, such as the scholarships and bursaries as she believes that most people aren’t aware of them.

5. Increase society participation and degree-related events to make sure that everyone feels welcome. 

• Dilly would like to increase more beginner friendly activities for non-sport societies to increase participation numbers to above Covid levels.

Dilly finished by acknowledging that she has not held many roles within the SJCR in the past but believes that this will allow her to look at every area of college and every SJCR policy with fresh eyes. This means that she will be able to see weakness in the way that things are currently being run and will be able to improve such things with a fresh perspective. She also said that she was a quick learner and is willing to learn what she doesn’t already know through her experience as a leader of societies.

Emily Martin

The final candidate to argue their case for why they should be SJCR president is Emily Martin. Emily is is a final year engineer who has held a range of SJCR roles (nine) across the years. Her most notable position was the Vice-President (Undergraduate), which she held last year, but she has also been the Deputy Events Officer, the LGBTQ+ rep and the Food and Formals Officer, to name a few. She says her main strengths are her organisation and communication skills, and her experience has grown within these skills throughout her time in the SJCR while working the various roles. 

Emily’s proposer, Olivia “Liv” Hann, who is a 2^nd year Classical Civilisation student, describes Emily as someone who thrives in leadership roles as she has genuine care for others. This was demonstrated during Freshers’ Week 2023 where Emily was the leader of the decorations team where she always supported her team by making sure they were comfortable and encouraging others to share their ideas. Emily is also a member of the SEC committee which demonstrates her organisational skills by always making sure that things run smoothly. Emily remarked that if she is passionate about something, then she will show a lot of dedication, and she is often one of the first to arrive to events to set them up and the last to leave after clear-up. She asserted that this would shine through if she is elected SJCR President. 

Emily’s main priorities are to:

1. Create a central place for all information so that people aren’t hunting through dozens of emails and social media accounts for the relevant information.

• Emily will create a one-stop shop for information in order to decrease the number of emails that people receive.
• Emily would first investigate how SJCR members interact with information so is able to build the best platform that will work best for everyone.
• Emily also stressed that she did not want to remove private instagram and facebook accounts for societies as these would be important at spreading out information just related to themselves.
• Emil will increase accessibility by having the resource used for the one-stop shop having the ability to translate into other languages for students if English is not your first language so they will still be able to receive the information. 

2. Create a dedicated form that is available at all times to encourage student input.

• Emily emphasised that this is vital to ensure that all student voices are heard, and that by it being anonymous would increase participation as people are less likely to be nervous to voice their opinions.

3. Advocate for pressing student issues such as the housing crisis and the cost of loving

At the beginning and end of her speech Emily emphasised that she has the knowledge, the dedication and the organisation to do right by the SJCR and would be the best candidate for President.

At the end of the husts, the three candidates were then asked questions that they all had to answer from the audience and online. The majority of the remaining questions, the candidates used to emphasise their previous points and to reinforce what their priorities were if they became SJCR president. However, there was a question about the role of Cranmer Hall (as represented by the Cranmer Common Room, or CCR) within the SJCR and their answers are below:

Ben – Wants to recognise the difference between the undergraduates and the CCR but stressed that they were still welcome to all events, especially formals. He also mentioned that he was open to helping to plan any events the CCR wanted to run.

Dilly – Wants to include everyone and to make sure that they don’t feel unwelcome as it can seem quite daunting. She also wants to increase the information about the different Common Rooms and what they mean.

Emily – Wants to recognise that while they are invited to all the events, that the members of the CCR would like to remain a bit separate from the undergraduates as they are in very different life stages. But, she would like to break down some of the barriers and create more events for everyone to get involved in and would like to support the CCR in this.

After the question time, the Epiphany I SJCR meeting came to a close and I have to say overall, the husts were a very informative night and all three candidates were received well by the audience. Please do remember to cast a vote in the election!