THE
The official publication of Maynooth Students’ Union
Tuesday 8th May 2012 - Volume 3, Issue 12
Editor@ThePrint.ie
USI To Run Third Level Funding “Preferendum” Via USIVote.com CONOR O’BRIEN News Co-Editor @ConorWOBrien
This week sees the USI launch its new “Preferendum” campaign, which seeks to establish once and for all the route which students wish to follow to fund Irish third level education. Commencing Monday 30th April, materials for the information campaign have been distributed throughout campuses nationwide. This phase of the campaign (including extensive promotion via social media and a website listing the pros and cons of each option on the ballot) will persist until the 20th of May, with members of the USI upper echelons available to attend town hall meetings and debates across the country if need be over this period. Voting will take place online from the 13th – 20th May at usivote.com, with usi.ie also redirecting to this site for the duration of the campaign. The conclusion of this will see colleges across the country delegate one of six options as their choice for the funding mechanism for the third level system. The possibilities are a graduate tax, one hundred percent exchequer funding (frequently referred to as “fee fees”), upfront fees, student contribution fees, a student loan scheme or none of the aforementioned options. Once voting has been completed and tallied, a special session of USI Congress will transpire in Dublin on May 23rd. The issue of funding remains one of the fundamental question in Irish third level sector and has been under scrutiny now for a number of years given the unsustainable nature of the current model. Despite this, a Preferendum like this has never occurred due to their being no provision for one within the constitution of the USI.
That would change with the creation of a new constitution allowing for a question to be put to the union’s membership with multiple answers as opposed to the simple yes/no dichotomy provisioned for under its predecessor. A few months prior to the latest USI Congress, the tender subject of funding was discussed at the union’s council, with high-ranking members subsequently attending town hall meetings nationwide to discuss the topic at grassroots level. Colleges complained about not having enough time to consult with their membership about funding prior to the latest congress. As such, the union agreed to conduct another congress in May after the results of the vote have been registered at which funding will be the key topic of discussion. The campaign has not been without its detractors. NUIGSU – alone in the country – is opting to abstain from taking part in the Preferendum, citing the timing and means of the vote as its core contentions. “We think it is pointless” NUIGSU President Emmet Connolly told the Print. “It is ridiculous to ask students to vote on the most fundamental issue in Irish third level education at a time when most of them will be working, travelling or going on their J1’s.” NUIGSU raised these concerns previously with the USI, putting a motion to council that any vote on the issue should be delayed until September or October. It argues that any conclusion reached from the election results will be illegitimate due to a predicted low rate of participation in May’s online vote. The USI – while refusing to advocate a particular preferred outcome of the vote – was dismissive of such criticisms.
“We have facilitated [the student unions] in every way we possibly could” USI vice-president Colm Murphy told the Print. “The SU’s will have two full weeks [from Monday] to give out the materials we send them.” Maynooth Students’ Union’s council sanctioned the HETnet system as a valid method of gauging
its members’ opinions on the issue of third level funding, with the MSU delegation receiving a mandate from the Maynooth-specific results once they’ve been measured.
Judge Rules Against Students In Grants Case SHANE McNALLY @thobiasinkblot
On April 25th Mr Justice Hedigan ruled against USI in the case they took on behalf of three students who were affected by the grant cuts of September 2011. These cuts affected 25,000 families, with the average student losing €1700. In some cases this figure was as high as €4000. These cuts were as a direct result of the distance required to qualify for the non-adjacent rate being changed from more than 24Kms from their college to qualify. As part of Budget 2011, this distanced was increased to 45km. These students have had their grants reduced from €6,355 to €2,545 a reduction of €3,810 or 60%. Traditionally, mature students automatically received the non-adjacent rate of the grant to reflect the fact they often have additional costs such as childcare, mortgages etc. Following Budget 2011 mature students no longer automatically qualified
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for the non-adjacent rate. The three students who took the case all lost between €2440 and €3900 and were in either their second or third year of study. The students argued that they were already committed and had invested a lot of both time and money on a college education that would now be impossible for them to complete as a result of these cuts. The court, however, rejected the student’s case and it will be up to the students and the USI to decide whether or not to appeal the decision. USI President Gary Redmond was immediately onto Twitter when the story broke stating that Mr Justice Hedigan had stated, “there’s no guarantee of grant payments and students must have been aware of the worsening economy”, suggesting that the worsening economy is justification of any cuts to education grants and effectively marginalising those most in need of financial assistance to access higher education. Following this Redmond released a more detailed statement to USI members;
“USI and students across the country are disappointed with today’s verdict and what it will mean for thousands of hard pressed families across the country, who are struggling to keep people in college. It was a disgrace that the previous Government would target the most vulnerable students for cutbacks on this scale, and a further indictment of the current Minister for Education & Skills, Ruairi Quinn T.D. that he reneged on the Labour Party’s promise to reverse the cut once in Government. USI again calls on the Minister to do the decent thing follow through on the pledge he made as Labour Party Education Spokesperson prior to the last election and reverse these cuts for students who were already in courses and allow them a fighting chance to complete their education and gain a qualification.” Indications are that USI is set to appeal the decision and is discussing this with their legal team.
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