NUACHTÁN SAOR IN AISCE VOL. 21 Issue 08. 04 FEB 2020
Student Independent News
WINNER: BEST NEWSPAPER AT THE NATIONAL STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS 2019
IT’S A NO!
Students vote against Union’s reform proposals By Paddy Henry (deputy.sined@gmail.com) Proposals on the restructuring of roles within the Students’ Union have been rejected by the student body following a referendum on January 23rd. Students were asked whether they agreed with a motion put forward by the SU Council on the 25th of November last year, which was to create a new part-time Equality Office to work on the SU Executive Council, in place of various other part-time positions which would have been abolished. Among the part-time roles that would have fallen under the axe in the proposed merger were the Mature Students Officer, the SU Council Chairperson, the International Students Officer, Gender and LGBT Rights Officer, Disabilities Officer, and the Ethnic Minorities Officer. Also proposed was the renaming of the Club’s Captain to the Clubs Officer. The proposal was rejected by 59% of the valid poll of 887. 525 voted against the motion, with 2 spoiled votes and 362 in favour. Speaking to SIN, Students’ Union President Clare Austick, who was in favour of a yes vote in the referendum, welcomed the high voter turnout on the day, ”We’re pleased with the turnout, having over 800 people vote in the referendum was phenomenal”, she said. “We are, of course, disappointed with the result, but we are more happy with the strong turnout,” she continued. The high turnout in the referendum was unprecedented, with the previous SU vote, the election for the part time position of Gender and LGBT Rights Officer, drawing a valid poll of just 48 votes. Ms Austick highlighted historic low turnouts as the reason behind the positioning of just one ballot box on campus and pledged that on account of the high turnout, more ballot boxes will be positioned around campus for the next vote. Clare commented, “I suppose the reason was that in previous byelections held, we had such a poor turnout and we didn’t expect turnout to be this high, we were trying to merge resources. In future elections, we will go back to having numerous ballot boxes on campus”, she stated.
The SU President also outlined the importance of increased awareness of the role of the part-time officers as crucial to increasing awareness of the work that they do, telling SIN: “Students are happy with the current structure and we need to make students more aware of the roles they do by holding election events, making sure people are interested and aware of the work that they do”. SU Council Chairperson Scott Green campaigned for a no vote in the referendum and echoed the President’s sentiments on voter turnout, “It was good to see people get out to vote, especially considering the turnout in the recent by-elections” he stated. Scott explained he has campaigned for a no vote in the referendum due to the fact that the creation of a part-time equality officer to replace five separate officers had failed previously and would have been “too much” on a part time officer, commenting, “A lot of my reasoning against the equality officer coming back was that it was a case that we have only had the Ethnic Minorities Officer, the Gender and LGBT Rights Officer and other similar roles for only about a year and a half in total. They haven’t been given a chance to develop as officers and establish themselves as representatives in the Union”, he argued. “I didn’t think it worked before, where we found it was too much work for one person”, he added. The SU President dismissed rumours that the proposed merger of the part-time roles was due to funding problems within the Union, stating the referendum was called purely on the advice of Council and the Constitutional reform Working Group and was “by no means a budgetary requirement”. However, sources have suggested to SIN that the multitude of by-elections and referenda held in the college have proven costly, but not to the point where student services are impacted. The Students’ Union have also announced that nominations for full-time Officer roles will open on Wednesday 19th February, while nominations for Part-Time positions and for the position of SU Council Chairperson will open on the 26th of February and the 5th of March respectively.
NUI Galway celebrates 15th year of Teddy Bear Hospital. SEE MORE ON PAGE 8.
NUI Galway PhD Student awarded €13,505 in damages due to delay in final viva exam By Conor Brummell A PhD student in NUI Galway has been awarded €13,505 after he took action against the University due to a delay in the scheduling of his final viva exam. Isaac Burke from Castlebar, County Mayo brought legal action against the University when the delay in scheduling postponed his graduation and damaged his employment prospects as a result. The case was overseen by Judge Raymond Groarke at the Galway Circuit Civil Court, and Burke won the case on the basis that there was a breach of contract between Burke and NUI Galway when his final exam was delayed. According to NUI Galway’s Postgraduate Guidelines and Regulations, a viva exam is an oral exam which must be held within two months after a PhD student submits their thesis. The Court heard evidence of Mr Burke’s ‘hurt’ and ‘confusion’, when Dr Emil Skoldberg failed in his duty as lead supervisor to schedule Mr Burke’s examination with an external examiner, after he submitted his thesis on January 31, 2017. Mr Burke told the Court that he had become increasingly concerned about the lack of communication from Dr Skoldberg, whom he had enjoyed a good relationship with throughout the course of his PhD. Dr Skoldberg gave evidence at the hearing, admitting that he had failed in his duty as supervisor and had not opened emails sent by Mr Burke due to “personal difficulties”. Under cross-examination, Dr Emil Skoldberg
told the court that the fact he hadn’t arranged Mr Burke’s viva exam was “weighing” on him. “I should have been able to do it. I should have gotten over the hump”, he said. He also told the court that when he met Mr Burke in the corridor in June 2017, he was “embarrassed” that he had not organised the exam. Dr Skoldberg recalled that Burke had been understanding and said he would not mind, as long as he could graduate in the Autumn. However, the lecturer took a six-month long sabbatical on July 1st, 2017 without making the necessary prior arrangements with relation to the PhD student’s circumstances. Mr. Burke had not heard from his supervisor in months and was at his “wit’s end”. He told the court that he broke down in front of his mother due to the anxieties relating to his PhD. Martina Burke, Mr Burke’s mother, then told the court that she proceeded to contact the head of the department, Professor Graham Ellis. A difficult conversation between the two ended in an argument where Mr Eilis told Martina that Mr Burke needed a ‘kick in the ass’ for not raising his problems with the department sooner. A ‘viva’ exam was then arranged for November 2017, following efforts made by Professor Ellis. However, Burke did not accept this offer, and to this day has not completed his exam and thus not been conferred with his doctorate. Judge Groarke found in favour of Mr Burke and awarded damages relating to loss of earnings due to breach of contract.