Republican victory in Queen's University election

Caolan Campbell

At the end of last month, the students of Queen's University in Belfast elected five members of the Sheena Campbell Sinn Féin Cumann, which is based in the Belfast university, onto the executive of Queen's Students Union.

Among those elected were Patrick Hughes as Vice-President, tipped for the presidency next year, and Caolan Campbell who was elected to the position of Post Graduate Officer.

The election of 22-year-old Campbell, in particular, was tinged with both poignancy, as Caolan is the son of Sinn Féin activist Sheena Campbell who as a law student at Queen's was shot dead by loyalists in 1992.

It was in Sheena's memory that the Queen's cumann was named 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 therefore 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, Caolan dedicated his victory to his mother's memory and pledged to continue her work.

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Caolan explained that the election of five Sinn Féin members to the Students Union executive indicated that "a groundswell of republicanism" exists in Queen's University, the highest seat of learning in the Six Counties and once the preserve of the unionist ruling class.

"My generation is confident about their republicanism," said Caolan, who is studying a post graduate degree in Archeology, having already gained a degree at Jordanstown in History and Philosophy.

"There is a good feeling about the campus when you see so many people wearing GAA tops, it gives you a good sense of the vibrancy of nationalism as people are confident of their background," said Campbell.

Despite the confidence of nationalist and republican students at Queen's, unionism still casts its shadow. The Queen's Students Council, which is dominated by unionist students, is seen as the last bastion unionist domination in Queen's, said Campbell.

The Lurgan student described how the Students Union agreed to honour Bernadette McAliskey, who studied at Queen's in the 60s, with an honourary lifetime membership of the union but that the move was opposed by the Council.

Sinn Féin members who went along to the council meeting to challenge the unionists were greeted by a motion banning them from speaking, enabling the unionist dominated council to block the union from bestowing honorary membership on McAliskey.

"So much for unionist calls for democracy and free speech," said Caolan, who scoffed at the fact that the unionists who campaigned for election to the Students Union used the slogan 'End Republican Misrule'.

Caolan vowed that the coming year would see a more active and vibrant Sinn Féin cumann in Queen's.

"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."