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Durham Students' Union, operating as Durham SU, is the
students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...
of
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
in
Durham, England Durham ( , locally ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the county of County Durham, Durham, England. It is the county town and contains the headquarters of Durham County Council, the unitary authority which governs the district of Count ...
. It is an organisation, originally set up as the Durham Colleges Students’ Representative Council in 1899 and renamed in 1969, with the intention of representing and providing welfare and services for the students of the University of Durham.


Location

The Students' Union occupies and manages
Dunelm House Dunelm House is a Grade II listed building in Durham, England, built in 1966 in the brutalist style. It belongs to Durham University and houses Durham Students' Union. Its listing entry cites, among other factors, that it is "a significant Bruta ...
, a university-owned building in the centre of Durham where a wide variety of student activities take place. Designed by the Architects' Co-Partnership, the
Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...
, angular concrete building was completed in 1966 under the supervision of architect Sir Ove Arup, whose
Kingsgate Bridge Kingsgate Bridge is a reinforced concrete construction footbridge across the River Wear, in Durham, England, Durham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. It was personally designed in 1963 by Ove Arup, the last structure he ever designed. K ...
, adjacent, opened two years earlier. Built into the steeply sloping bank of the River Wear, Dunelm House is notable internally for the fact that the main staircase linking all five levels of the building runs in an entirely straight line. This was intended by the building's architects to create the feeling of an interior street. Pevsner, Nikolaus, ''The Buildings of England: County Durham'' (2nd ed. 1983, revised by Elizabeth Williamson), Harmondsworth,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
: Penguin Books Ltd, pp.233-234
In 1968 Dunelm House won a Civic Trust award, and a RIBA award in 1987, though it has been described by students as "The ugliest building in Durham". On the other hand, Sir
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...
, the noted architecture historian, considered the building, "Brutalist by tradition but not brutal to the landscape ... the elements, though bold, resensitively composed." Durham City Council's Local Plan notes that the "powerful" building, together with Kingsgate Bridge, "provides an exhilarating pedestrian route ... out into open space over the river gorge". Following a four-year campaign by the Twentieth Century Society, the building was listed at Grade II in 2021 as "the foremost students’ union building of the post-war era in England".


Structure and decision making

Durham SU is a registered charity. The Student's Union is run by full-time sabbatical student officers, part-time officers, a board of trustee's and a student assembly. The full-time sabbatical student officers are elected by Durham Student's Union membership and they lead the political direction of the Union. For the 2024/25 Academic year, the sabbatical student officers are: * President, Dan Lonsdale * Education Officer, Catherine Howells * Communities Officer, Moitreyo Ganguli Starting in the 2024 academic year, the 3 full-time sabbatical officers will be supported by 12 part-time student officers, the part-time officers are: * One Faculty President for each Faculty of Durham University, Madeleine Grogan (Arts and Humanities), Oliver Cunnell (Business), Cassia Pearce (Science), Ella Thomas (Social Sciences and Health)    * The International Students Officer, Shing Wei Ng * The Postgraduate Research Students Officer, Qiandong Zhou * The Societies Officer, * The Welfare Officer, Joe Henley * The Liberation Officer, Elisha Wharton * The Sustainability Officer, Liumeng Hong * One member of JCR Presidents Committee, Dan Mercer  * One member of MCR Presidents Committee,    The students' union president and a postgraduate student nominated by the students' union sit on the Council of Durham University, the governing body of the university. The full-time and part-time officers are organised into the officer committee and the following sub-committees: * Education Committee - chaired by the Education Officer and focusing on the academic experience. * Communities Committee - chaired by the Communities Officer, focusing on improving the aspects of the non-academic experience. The board of trustees is the governing body of the Union, it ensures it continues to meet its aims and operates within to boundaries of charity law. The board of trustees consists of 4 lay trustees, the 3 sabbatical student officers, and an additional 4 elected student trustees. Assembly holds the sabbatical student officers to account, and also helps to shape the policy of the Union. Assembly consists of student officers, representatives of Junior Common Rooms from each Durham College, and representatives from Durham SU associations. Durham SU is also supported by a team of paid staff.


Services

The Durham SU acts an umbrella organisation for approximately 200 student clubs and organisations, which span academic, arts, culture and faith, hobbies and games, outdoors, politics, law and music interests. It also acts as am umbrella organisation for eight 'associations', which exist to allow for those who self-define into any of the associations to campaign on issues that effect their student experience, as well as to provide them with a safe space to discuss their problems. It also runs the Kingsgate Bar and Café within the Dunelm House building. DurhamSU also provides room booking services at Dunelm House, used by both student groups, external groups, and the wider university. It also organises the Fresher's Fair at the start of the academic year and runs campaigns and lobbies for student interests with the university and wider community. Kingsgate Bar and Café was closed for the 2024 academic year due to monetary issues. DUCK (Durham University Charities Committee) is the fundraising arm of the DSU charitable organisation. DUCK runs events on a university and college level, including expeditions (fundraising to travel abroad), challenges (extreme events), endurance challenges, RAG raids (mass fundraising on city streets) and general events.


Relation to colleges

Durham University is a
collegiate university A collegiate university is a university where functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the Coll ...
and therefore the role of the central students' union is different from most other universities. Each of Durham's colleges has its own student representative body, known in most colleges as the Junior Common Room, which provides services and organises events within the college; while many decisions within the central Students' Union are made with the involvement of JCR SU Representatives. However, some of the JCRs have opted to disaffiliate from the students' union - including
University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...
and Hild Bede - following the controversial 2020 officer and trustee elections.


Controversies


NUS Affiliation

On a number of occasions, some have suggested have that Durham SU might disaffiliate from the NUS, however until 2009 none of those opposed to affiliation had pushed the issue to a full student debate and vote. In 2009 however, a referendum took place proposing that Durham SU should stay affiliated to the NUS. Students voted convincingly in favour of affiliation with 80% (2564) of students who voted voting to stay affiliated and 20% (624) voting to disaffiliate. Shortly after this, controversy arose regarding a planned debate, "Multiculturalism in Britain", at the
Durham Union Society The Durham Union Society (DUS), commonly referred to as the Durham Union, is a debating society, founded in 1842, by the students at Durham University. It is the largest society associated with the university, with over 3,000 members in resid ...
, which was to involve a recently elected BNP MEP, and which was subsequently cancelled over alleged fears for student safety, reopened the issue of NUS affiliation. A petition for a second referendum was put before the Union and on 12 March 2010, the referendum concluded with a majority of voting students voting to disaffiliate from the NUS, meaning that Durham Students' Union disaffiliated from the NUS after the end of the 2009-2010 academic year. A third referendum on NUS affiliation was held in January 2011 with 60% of students voting to reaffiliate with NUS. In 2015, another referendum reaffirmed NUS affiliation (61% supported affiliation), with an 11% voter turnout. The SU currently remains affiliated with the NUS.


2020 sabbatical student officer elections

In 2020, there was a controversy surrounding the results of the 2020 election, with 58% of votes for Re-Open Nominations being cast aside as a result of alleged rule breaches by the Re-Open Nominations campaign. The Re-Open Nominations campaign faced accusations of racism and after the election has been cited as the cause of a spike in racist online abuse. Several college Common Rooms have chosen to 'disaffiliate', 'disassociate' or 'disengage' from the Students Union citing the decision to dismiss Re-Open Nominations. This led to Durham SU to conduct a democracy review, with the aim of reviewing the unions democracy processes and to suggest improvements. Multiple issues were identified, including the need for better communication and a less binary voting system.


Palatinate Independence Debate

In 2022, Durham university's student newspaper Palatinate's editorial board voted 97% in favour of becoming an independent newspaper, and leaving Durham Students Union. The call for independence was supported by multiple former editors at Palatinate, including
Jeremy Vine Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popu ...
.
The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...
also promised to provide palatinate £20,000 to help 'secure their independence' whilst claiming this would not effect their 'editorial independence'. Whilst Palatinate claimed they had not accepted or rejected the money, Jack Ballingham, opportunities officer at the time, called the push for independence 'unprovoked' and claimed Palatinate went to the
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
for 'extra firepower' against Durham SU.


Notable former officers

A number of notable figures have been involved in Durham Students' Union in the past. These include: * Andrew McFarlane (judge), former President * Michael Izza, former President *
Mo Mowlam Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar (UK Parliament constituency), Redcar f ...
, former Deputy President (Education and Welfare) *
Jeremy Vine Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popu ...
, former Editor of Palatinate * George Alagiah, former Editor of Palatinate


Former Presidents

This list includes all presidents of the Durham Students' Union since being re-named in 1969/70. *1970-71 Richard J. Ayre, University *1971-72 Michael Eccles, St Cuthbert's *1972-73 Patrick Wolfe, St Chad's *1973-74 John Spens, Collingwood *1974-75 Adrian Dorber, St John's *1975-76 Andrew McFarlane, Collingwood *1976-77 John McGahan, University *1977-78 David J. Smith, Ushaw *1978-79 A.C. Jenkins, Van Mildert *1979-80 S.P.S. Weatherseed, St Cuthbert's *1980-81 Peter G. Gray, University *1981-82 Robert J. Beckley, University *1982-83 Michael D.M. Izza, St Cuthbert's *1983-84 Jacqui Mellor, Trevelyan *1984-85 Simon Pottinger, University *1985-86 Patrick J. Martin, Collingwood *1986-87 Katherine M. Ross, Van Mildert *1987-88 Nicholas V. Thorne, Grey *1988-89 Graeme N. Rainey, Van Mildert *1989-90 Jonathan S. Rich, Hild Bede *1990-91 Aidan W.G. Poole, St Aidan's *1991-92 Robert W. Groves, St John's *1992-93 Daniel Redford, St Cuthbert's *1993-94 Jon Walsh, Van Mildert *1994-95 Richard Taylor, Van Mildert *1995-96 Emily Baldock, Van Mildert *1996-97 Ewan Jenkins, St Cuthbert's *1997-98 Charlotte Nash-Wanklin, Collingwood *1998-99 Brian Ahearne, Hatfield *1999-00 Dave Park, Trevelyan *2000-01 Eddie Moore, Grey *2001-02 Emily Fieran-Reed, St Mary's *2002-03 Ben Wood *2003-04 Craig Jones *2004-05 Tom Page *2005-06 Nick Pickles *2006-07 Alex Duncan *2007-08 Flo Herbert, Van Mildert *2008-09 Andrew Welch, Van Mildert *2009-10 Natalie Crisp, Grey *2010-11 Samuel Roseveare, Van Mildert *2011-12 Mike King *2012-13 Archie Dallas *2013-15 Dan Slavin, Stephenson *2015-16 Millie Tanner, St Cuthbert's *2016-17 Alice Dee, St Aidan's *2017-18 Megan Croll, St Cuthbert's *2018-19 George Walker, Van Mildert *2019-20 Kate McIntosh, St Cuthbert's *2020-22 Seun Twins, Hild Bede *2022-23 Joe McGarry, St Aidan's *2023-25 Dan Lonsdale, Trevelyan


References


External links


Durham Students' Union
{{University of Durham Students' unions in England
Students' Union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...