“The JCR is the difference between a Durham college and halls of residence.”

JCR stands for ‘Junior Common Room’, and is made up of all the undergraduate students at Trevelyan. The Middle Common Room (for postgraduates) and Senior Common Room (open to all other college associates).

The JCR is where all the fun happens, and the aim of the JCR is to give all Trevelyan students the best possible time at university. From Freshers’ week to Summer Ball, all societies, events, welfare support and much more are organised within the JCR. As a result, there are tonnes of committees and meetings which constantly work to push the limits of student experience. We don’t care if you want to fly the college flag on the football pitch or strive to become the next JCR President – come and voice your ideas in our twice termly JCR meetings which give everybody the chance to change Trevs for the better. Here are some FAQs answered so you can find out more.

What is the JCR? JCR stands for Junior Common Room, and it is a body that is run completely by students at Trevs, for students at Trevs. As an undergraduate, you are an automatically a member of the JCR

What does the JCR do? Quite a lot! All of the events throughout your fresher’s week (formals, events and so forth) are organised by the JCR with help from the college officers. Throughout the year, the JCR is responsible for organising the formals, the big college events such as Informal Ball, Trevs Night, Trevs Day, Summer Ball and Trevstock, making sure your pantries are all in order, binding dissertations, running The Buttery as well as all the background paperwork required for these things.

Who is the JCR? Every undergraduate at Trevs is a member of the JCR. However, all of the above activities are run by a member of the executive committee that consists of the President,Vice President, Treasurer, Welfare Officer, Publicity Officer, Student’s Union Representative, Buttery Chair, Bar Sabbatical Officer, International Representative, Social Chair, Outreach Officer and Chair. These are also called Tier Ones. To help the running of more specific things, the JCR also has Tier Twos. These are Art representative, Music representative, Sport representative, Assistant Treasurer, Buttery Treasurer, Computing Officer, Technical Manager, Gym representative, DUCK representatives, Assistant Social Chair, Environment officer, Assistant Welfare Officers, LGBTQ+ representative, Disabilities representative, Computing Officer and Senior Freshers’ representative. On top of all this, there are committees within the JCR that help communicate ideas to the exec and help to organise events. These are JCR committee, Steering committee, DUCK committee, Finance committee, Social committee, Welfare Awareness committee, Buttery committee, Summer Ball committee, Technical committee, Fine Art committee, Environment committee and International events committee.

What do the exec do? Each member of the exec has a very specific job:

President – is the head of the exec and represents the JCR externally. They also meet with the principal regularly during term times

Vice President – aids the president in their duties, chairs JCR committee and organises college stash

Treasurer – keeps the accounts for the entire JCR, writes the budget for the JCR, chair finance committee

Welfare Officer – run welfare awareness campaigns, runs welfare drop in sessions, provides sexual health supplies for college and chairs welfare awareness committee

Outreach Officer – runs the outreach project, represent livers out on the exec and helps run the housing campaign

Social Chair – plans and runs all JCR events, chair social committee

Durham Student’s Union Representative – liase between the JCR and the union, chair SU committee

Services Officer – organise formals, make sure all the pantries are in working order

Publicity Officer – minute JCR meetings, run Post-Offer Visit Days, publish the weekly email and run the JCR social media accounts

International Students Representative – represent international students on the exec, organise international events, run international fresher’s week, chair international events committee

Sabbatical Bar Steward – run the bar

Buttery Chair – run the Buttery

The Chair – chair JCR meetings, run elections, chair steering committee.

This is only an at a glance look at what the exec does – for a more detailed description have a look at the job descriptions and standing orders on the website.

I’m not happy with something in the JCR, who should I talk to? Despite the exec’s best efforts, some things are bound to go wrong. In that case, it might be worth talking to the officer involved and let them know what went wrong so that they can resolve it for next time. Alternatively, if you don’t feel like your complaint was dealt with fairly, or you feel like you can’t approach the person in question then the chair is fully impartial and will be able to help.

How do I get involved? There are loads of ways for you to get involved! JCR meetings happen twice a term, and anyone can write a motion to change something about the JCR, submit a discussion point. These are a great forum for everyone to speak freely and openly. Alternatively, all of the positions mentioned above are elected from the JCR, and elections open throughout the year so make sure to vote in these and even run yourself!

What’s a JCR meeting? A JCR meeting is a big open meeting, chaired by the chair and held twice a term. Anyone who is a member of the JCR has the right to attend and speak at a JCR meeting, and to submit a motion or discussion point. It’s a great opportunity for you to change almost anything about how the JCR runs. Some examples of motions we’ve had in the past range from reducing the price of a pool game to 20p to encouraging the JCR to be more mindful of the environment when organising an event.