Ógra activist elected to Queen's Student's Union Executive

Last month the students of Queen's University in Belfast elected a member of the Sheena Campbell Ógra Shinn Féin Cumann, which is based in the Belfast University, onto the executive of Queen's Students Union. Michál Harkin was elected to the position of VP Education.

The Cumann was named in Sheena's memory when it was established in the mid-1990s. Sheena had been instrumental in developing Sinn Féin's electoral strategies in the late 1980s and early 1990s and proved, by her work and dedication, to be a thorn in the side of the British establishment. She was ruthlessly targeted for harassment by the British crown forces, particularly the RUC and UDR/RIR.

It was members of these locally recruited crown forces, with links to loyalist death gangs, who set Sheena up for assassination when she was shot dead in the York Hotel, near Queen's on 16 October 1992.In his acceptance speech, Michál dedicated his victory to Sheena’s memory and pledged to continue her work along with his comrades and campaign team in the cumann.

Speaking on the result Cumann Chair Dermot Keenan explained that the election of an Ógra Shinn Féin member to the Students Union executive shows that the Student Body are sick and tired of the sectarian, bigoted politics of the past year which has seen a traditional Irish music society being refused affiliation as a society to the Students Union as well as other acts by an executive which was largely controlled by those with unionist affiliations.

He continued,
“Michál’s success is not just a success for us but for all students in this University. Our slogans during the campaign trail were ‘Building a Student Union of Equals’ and ‘Your Union – Your Voice – Your Vote’, we wanted to put ownership and control of the Union back into the hands of the students and not just a few narrow minded, careerist student politicos. Michál’s election with almost 800 first preference votes has made the hard work worth while and we are sure he will serve all students well when he takes office next September, a month before Sheena Campbell’s 15th anniversary.”

Keenan also remarked on how the Student Union Elections have become more professional.
“This year seen a marked professionalism in the approach taken towards the elections, this may have been as a result of the Assembly elections being the week before. We used PA systems and large A1 posters mounted on last weeks elections boards attached to lampposts to highlight our candidate. We hope to continue on from this success and continue the professional approach to the elections, we will now start to select and profile candidates for the next elections, in the hope that Michál will have a few republican colleagues on the Executive next year.”

"We are determined to ensure that the union represents all the students of Queen's — regardless of class, colour, creed or political persuasion — fairly and equally. This after all is what republicanism is all about."