The JCR Committee

The JCR Committee acts as the College Student Union. They are responsible for helping students with every aspect of their lives in Downing - from work to bops, from the computer room to the bar. The JCR Committee are elected midway through each Lent Term. Feel free to contact them with your queries.

President: Ali McWhirter
Ali is head of the JCR and the DCAC and is responsible for taking your views to college. He sits on the Governing Body, alongside the fellowship, as well as small subcommittees such as the General Purposes Committee, Buildings and Environment Committee, Health and Safety on the Domus Committee, Education Committee and Development Committee. Ali also acts with the Vice-President attending CUSU Council, voting for issues that benefit the college, and attends fortnightly CUSU Presidential Meetings, to resolve inter-collegiate questions and issues.
Ali acts as an advocate for your opinions and a liaison between the JCR and college, putting your concerns forward and chairing JCR Committee and Senior Officer meetings. If you ever have any problems or questions, no matter how small they may seem, please get in touch and he will do his utmost to help.

Vice-President: Erin Young
Erin organises Open Meetings, as well as the Agendas for JCR Committee and Senior Officers Meetings. The Vice-President also oversees issues to do with rooms like rent banding and the allocation ballot in Lent Term. She also acts, alongside the President, as the liaison between Freshers' Reps, Event Director and Bar President and the JCR Senior Officers; and sits on CUSU Council to represent the views of Downing students to the University-wide Students Union, and relay their ideas back to you. Erin also joins Ali on the College's General Purposes Committee and Governing Body, to represent your views to college.

Treasurer: Karim Javeri
Karim oversees the JCR budget, and is responsible for allocating money to sports teams and societies. He also keeps a check on JCR spending in other areas such as Ents and general Officers expenses. The budget is produced annually and presented to a DCAC (MCR and JCR) Open Meeting, and Karim also presents a mid-year financial report to the college.

Academic: Louwai Muhammed
Louwai is your point of contact for any academic problems, issues or queries. Whether it's a problem with the work you've been set, your supervisions, or even if you don't get on with your tutor or DoS, you want to change course, you've been ill, the exams seem too great a hurdle, or you've forgotten how to revise, Louwai can offer advice, or direct you to someone who is better equipped to deal with the problem. Louwai sits on the Education Committee, giving the student body a say in the decisions regarding the provisions for education in the college, and he is also responsible for representing the JCR's views on the College Library.

Womens Welfare and Equal Opportunities: Samantha Osborne
Samantha will be responsible for the care of women's welfare in college, being a listening ear as well as providing services such as pregnancy testing, and liaising with CUSU on various welfare issues and campaigns. Samantha will also be looking after the equal opportunities issues in College and working with the Equal Opportunities Committee. Together with the Men's Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer, she will be promoting welfare awareness in College and organizing events, especially during exam term. So feel free to come and have a chat at the drop-in session (Sunday 3pm-4pm) or send her an email!

Mens Welfare and Equal Opportunities: Jon Evans
Jon will be available for all members of college as a listening ear and a route to take complaints or problems (particularly if they are Welfare or Equal Opportunities related!). With the Women's Welfare and Equal Opps officer, and the Equal Opps committee, Jon will also be putting on events to raise awareness and to help with welfare in college: look out for de-stress events through exam term. Any member of college is welcome to get in touch with Jon with absolutely any problem at all: he can be contacted completely confidentially at any time by email.

Communications: Gary Horlock
Gary oversees all JCR Communications, from maintaining our top-notch website to more general propaganda around college. He produces posters for the Committee and is responsible for the general design, architecture and upkeep of the website (alongside James).

Services: Samantha Hawley
Samantha is the first port of call for any questions, complaints or suggestions you have regarding any aspect of the services provided by the college or JCR. She looks after the gym, laundries and TV room as well as overseeing areas such as catering and maintenance. To get in touch there are feedback forms available on this site, or you can email Samantha directly. Alternatively, if you see her walking around you can just coller her for a chat.

Ents: Emily Wakeford and Anna Herlihy
Emily and Anna are in charge of all the Ents put on by the JCR, and work closely with the Ents sub-committee. From Karaoke, to party-room madness, stand-up comedy to live music, Downing Ents will try anything. Visit DowningEnts.com for more information on current plans. If you need to book the party room or ents. equipment, Emily or Anna are the people to contact. If you have any suggestions, or want to get involved, please email Emily and Anna.

LBGT: Dean Ryan
Dean's main role is to represent LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender) viewpoints within college, and offer confidential support for the LBGT community, or anyone dealing with LBGT issues, in Downing. He also aims to organise social events, provides a link to university-wide LBGT events, and if the situation arises maintains Downing's image as an LBGT-friendly college.

Access: Sam Turner
Access is about dispelling myths about applying to and coming to Cambridge, encouraging those who might not consider Cambridge to apply, and generally telling everyone what a lovely place Downing is! Sam works with the full time college Access Officer and the JCR to develop college schemes. He aims to develop new access-related initiatives and widen undergraduate participation. He also works with on University wide schemes (such as the Target Schools programme), to encourage those who wouldn't normally consider applying to Downing to have a go! If you have any Access (i.e. admissions to the college) related questions, just email Sam.

Green: Helen Picot
Helen is responsible for promoting green issues in college. She works with the JCR and college people to advise on things like recycling, and other environmental issues, and liases with CUSU Green to promote their campaigns in Downing. She also promotes ethical and social justice campaigns, and checks that JCR policies are Green and Friendly!

Griffin Editors: Emma Genders and Moya Stirrup
Emma and Moya edit the college magazine, the Griffin. They enjoy all contributions: erudite prose, incisive political commentary and cogent polemic, but perhaps most of all the silly; revolutionary sheep, arabs in wellies and dwarves in custard. They hope you can help them. Send them your doodles and scribbles and they'll make you a star (within the grounds of Downing College).

International (& Ethnic Minorities): Timur Kary-Niyazov
Timur is always willing to lend a listening ear to the problems faced by the International students in Downing. He promotes the concerns of the International community to the JCR Committee, CUSU International, and the College in general. His main role is arranging vacation storage, but he also provides support to International students throughout their time at Downing. As well as this, Timur is a member of the Welfare and Equal Opportunities Sub-Committee.

Sports: Rob Legg
Rob looks after all things sporty in college. He keeps the store in the Porter's Lodge in good shape, acts as a point of reference for any sporting queries, and can liaise with college. He also looks after gym-issues with the Services Officer.

Freshers' Reps.: Georgie Erangey and Sandy Shanklin
Georgie and Sandy head the Freshers' Committee that organises one of Cambridge's most popular and successful Freshers' Weeks. They liaise with college to plan and coordinate the week, and also help in dealing with any academic or welfare concerns arising from Downing's new arrivals.

Internet Officer: James McGinnigle
James is responsible for the JCR website. He works to keep the content up-to-date and relevant, as well as introducing new features. He works closely with the communications officer to ensure that the site is an invaluable resource to all undergraduate members and prospective students. He has a keen interest in web design and poker. If there is anything you would like added to the site, or you have a comment to make - get in touch!

Bar President: James Parker
James is in charge of the JCR Bar, which is located in the Buttefield Building. He's head of the Bar Committee, made up of the President, Secretary, Senior Treasurer and Junior Treasurer. James and his team make sure that the Bar is always fully stocked with cheap drinks and yummy snacks, and they're constantly working hard to improve the Bar and make it a great place for Downing students and their friends to come and relax, socialise and drink! Get in touch with James with any good ideas you have for themed nights, drinks you'd like to see in the Bar or ways that you think the Bar could be improved!.

Other JCR Committee members

Griffin Sub-Editors: N/A

Ents Sub-Committee: N/A

Bar Committee

Bar Senior Treasurer: Simon Bourne

Bar Junior Treasurer: Timur Kary-Niyazov

Bar Secretary: N/A

Page last updated on 25 Mar 10 (jrm90)