The Students’ Union in Durham represents the wider student body by listening to your voice and making improvements. With the collegiate system in Durham, students can often forget about how much of a difference the Students’ Union makes, but nevertheless it does make decisions which effect everyone at Durham University. The Union acts as a unified voice on campus and leads on issues such as academic representation and the provision of facilities. It runs one of the most successful RAG operations (DUCK) and supports almost 200 societies and other activities, which complement those run by JCRs. University-level sport is run by Team Durham, our Athletic Union. It runs campaigns which look at accommodation fees, and supports student housing and welfare.
Each college has a student representative which sits on a board. When the colleges come together and work like this, students can be sure that all opinions are heard and the university as a whole moves forward.
St Johns, as an independent college, is slightly different to the other colleges, as it has the authority to govern itself on certain things like finance and maintenance. This means that sometimes the Students’ Union makes decisions which don’t necessarily directly affect the college. However, a lot of the issues debated and put forward do often affect our students and so it is still important to get involved.
Either way, your voice at university matters and will always be listened to whether that’s through our own SJCR meetings or wider Students’ Union Assembly meetings. If you want to have a say in your University life, it is important to get involved.
Any questions, queries or suggestions about the Students’ Union can be emailed to Alice at johns.DSU@durham.ac.uk
To learn more about the Durham Students’ Union you can visit their website:
Some useful links:
DSU Student Associations (International, LGBT, Mature, and Students with Disabilities)