FREE STUDENT NEWSPAPER
VOL 13, ISSUE 6
21 NOV 2011
Students March in Protest Against Planned Fee Increases and Grant Cuts By Mark Kelly “No ifs, no buts, no education cuts” was the message delivered by between 15,000 and 20,000 students to the Labour party and Government on Wednesday 16 November. They marched from Parnell Square, right outside the Rotunda Hospital, all the way down O’Connell Street, by Trinity College Dublin and down towards the office of the Taoiseach. Dublin came to a near stand still as angry students, who felt lied to and cheated by a junior partner in Government who broke their promise, made their voices heard. 1,000 NUI Galway Students made the long trip to the capital to ensure that their voices, which screamed “no” to fees and grant cuts, were heard by a government who are seen to be letting students down. Eighteen buses picked up approximately 1,000 NUIG students from outside the cathedral on a cold, wet Wednesday morning to join their fellow students in a protest against a number of different factors; rumoured increases in the Student Con-
How Accessible is Our Campus?
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Forced Emigration of Graduate Teachers
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Sir Terry Pratchett at TCD
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Colm Tóibín Receives Lit 15 & Deb President’s Medal BizSoc’s Apprentice Final Students protesting at the USI National Student Demonstration in Dublin on 16 November. Photo by Ian Colgan. tribution, a decrease in the grant, threats to the mature student grant and the planned axing of postgraduate grants. A high security presence outside the buses, and one security person and steward on each bus showed the SU’s commitment to ensuring that nobody would detract from the main messages of the day. USI, for their part, ensured the same. They had hired a security group to, in association with the Gardaí, mark the
route the protesters would take and also to ensure that no students tried to deviate away from the route or cause trouble. The students, while loud and angry, were extremely respectful and peaceful, some even engaging with the Gardaí in light banter. There was a real feeling of solidarity amongst the students, who cheered and chanted together. Some students had even brought drums, making it a
comfortable environment for the students as they marched. Some of the placards showed off their intelligence and critical satire: one read “Liz Quinn: not the only one getting screwed by Ruairi.” However, some placards highlighted the desperation of the situation: “I can’t afford to go to college as it is, any increase or cuts will end my education” while another, written on a cereal box, read “My disposable income made
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Review: John B. Keane’s 24 Big Maggie Page this sign.” One protestor told Sin, “I live 35km from college, and my grant has already been cut by more than half. I can barely survive in college, any cut to my grant and I won’t
be able to come back” while another said “My parents are already spread thin paying for my fees. Any increase and I wouldn’t be able to come back.” Continued on Page 2
Students’ Union Council Adopts No Platform Policy By Eistear de Burca The NUI Galway Student Council was presented with three important motions on 7 November. These included a motion to provide a statement of solidarity with Occupy Galway, a motion supporting a No Platform Policy by the SU, and a motion regarding how SU officers present at SU council. After discussion, all three motions were passed by vote. The No Platform motion proposed that the Students’ Union will be mandated to automatically oppose any
invitation to members of listed organisations to speak at this university. SU officers shall be prohibited from sharing a public platform with members of the listed organisations. Organisations are to be added and removed by ballot at class reps council. The listed organisations included the BNP, The National Front, Combat 18, Column 88, MPAC Ireland and Hizb ut – Tahir. After a short discussion on the motion, it was passed with an overwhelming majority of 55 – 2. The idea of a No Platform policy originated in
the United Kingdom, where it has been adopted into the Constitution of the National Union of Students; it was instituted in the 1990s to prevent members of the BNP to stand for SU elections. Some universities have decided not to endorse this policy, including the University of East Anglia and the University of Bath; the University of Durham disaffiliated from the NUS in 2010 after a cancelled multiculturalism event involving two BNP speakers led to thousands of students joining an internet campaign dubbed ‘Durham University
Students for Freedom of Speech’. Essentially the policy proposes to ban members of fascist and/or racist organisations from speaking on the NUI Galway campus. Will O’Brien, Equality Officer, who proposed the motion, says that such a policy is essential in Ireland because “we don’t have a far-right extremist wing, and we need to do everything we can to maintain this.” He commented, “Nothing good comes from it, it destroys countries and takes decades to get rid of.” Continued on Page 2
Olivier Caignart performing at the Juggling Society’s Super Awesome Amazing Juggling Show in the Baily Allen Hall. Photo by Matt Burke.