November 23rd 2010
| The difference is we’re independent
Vol. 24. No 6
The College Tribune Semester One ››
Politics ››
The Siren ››
News Review of Semester One
Economy & Political Review
Dick Valentine of Electric Six
page 7
page 8-9
pages 6-7
You’re Token the Piss! Mysterious student reveals purchase of over 200 duplicate drinks tokens Potential loss of €1,000 worth of drink sales to UCD Student Bars Donie O’ Sullivan A UCD student has claimed they have been receiving “eight drinks for a euro” in both of the student bars on the Belfield campus for the past year. The student, who contacted The College Tribune anonymously, claims to have found a business in the vicinity of the campus where they can buy tokens identical to those exchanged for free drinks in UCD’s student bars, at a cost of €1 for eight tokens. These generic metal coin tokens, normally purchased at a cost of €3 each from the bar
by UCD Students’ Union, are regularly distributed to class reps, clubs and societies for various parties held throughout the year. The student in question claims they have brought at least two hundred tokens into the bar over the past year – meaning that the bar may have lost a potential value of €1,000 in sales due to these duplicate tokens. The student says they decided to source the tokens themselves due to their annoyance at the “current corrupt system of token distribution”. The student also claims that in most instances, class reps only distribute tokens
to their personal friends, and do not share them evenly amongst their respective classes. The student in question is comparable to a Robin Hoodtype figure, and calls themselves a “Concerned Citizen in UCD”, who allegedly turns up to class parties and “give tokens to people who actually deserve them, rather than just the class rep’s friends and buddies.” The student however stressed that they never sold on the duplicate tokens to make a profit. When asked whether students were generally
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= Redmond Encourages Students to Not Vote Fianna Fáil in General Election Green Party’s call for General election welcomed by Students’ Unions Massive student campaign “the likes of which this country has never seen” to be launched in run up to general election Donie O’ Sullivan The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and UCD Students’ Union have welcomed calls from the Green Party to hold a General Election in the second half of January next year. Speaking to The College Tribune on Monday, Gary
Redmond, President of USI, announced that in conjunction with students’ unions across the country they would be launching “a massive campaign the likes of which this country has never seen” in the lead up to the general election.
According to Redmond, USI plans to focus on student voter registration. “I think there is a genuine will and a genuine want among students to go out and vote this time. You will see a huge number of people under the
age of 25 getting out to vote.” USI will also be campaigning for ensure the election to be called for a Saturday to ensure as many students and young people as possible will be able to cast their vote. If the election is held mid-week, both USI and UCDSU have confirmed they would petition universities to close on polling day to allow students to go home to vote. USI will be benchmarking political parties and candidates
on education policy, however Redmond said USI will certainly not be encouraging students to vote for Fianna Fail “after the threat of tuition fees, the cuts in the grants over the last number of years and the fact they have had to call in the IMF to bail the country out.”
When asked would he be voting Fianna Fáil he replied, “absolutely not.”
Paul Lynam, President of the UCDSU, also welcomed the Green Party’s call for a general election. “This election cannot come quickly enough as far as students are concerned,” and continued, “with each passing day this Government remains in charge without a mandate the situation gets gradually worse for students.”
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