College Tribune: Issue 3

ucd.ie/tribune

Volume 21 / Issue 3

17th October 2007

Siren Communist Dirty China Sanchez the

THIS WEEK IN

Exclusive interview: The Siren - Page 6

An in depth analysis featuring Jung Chang - Page 14

Damning report slates UCD ■ Staff and students demoralised ■ UCD's strong reputation may be eroded A new survey has raised massive concerns with regard to the morale of both students and academics in UCD, and has asked serious questions of the direction that President Hugh Brady has taken the college.

Conducted at the half-way-point of Brady’s term in office, the survey has revealed masses of demoralised staff and dissatisfied students in the wake of radical restructuring within the college since the former Harvard professor’s takeover.

Consultants Mercator Marketing Research carried out the study, which was commissioned by UCD’s governing authority.

It declares, “The intense focus on research matters can be seen to devalue the contribution of teaching and administrative staff. A significant number of respondents spoke of the intense focus on developing UCD as a centre for research and were concerned that this compromised the quality of the university’s teaching offer.

“They believed that undergraduates could ultimately suffer if the imbalance was not redressed. In turn, a number of people believed that UCD’s currently strong reputation as a centre of third-level education might be eroded if the current developments continue.”

Among the most damning conclusions, in the independent assessment of the change process is that academic staff believe,

■ Colin Gleeson “More effort is being put into presenting UCD as a centre of excellence than actually making this a reality.”

The negative findings are contained in a confidential document, ‘Review of UCD’s Strategic Plan: Perspective of Key Stakeholder Groups’.

The researchers are also concerned that “employers will come to hold UCD degrees in less high regard.” In another serious comment regarding Hugh Brady’s UCD, Mercator consultants state, “The poor morale among many staff is filtering down to students and in doing so is affecting the overall mood in UCD.” Most respondents agreed that changes were needed at UCD. The researchers state, however, that there is “widespread dissatisfaction with the implementation of most initiatives brought into UCD in the past number of years.”

The researchers note, “There is a sense of discouragement and frustration among the staff who responded.” A lack of consultation, ignoring differing views and diminished recognition and rewards are identified as contributing to what the researchers label “a general mood of disappointment.”

Continued on page four

■ Evolution: But questions have been raised over President Hugh Brady’s regime (left)

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NEWS

College Tribune

17th October 2007

UCD faces recruitment inquiry ■ Caitrina Cody

Editor Caitrina Cody Features Editor Colin Gleeson Designers Simon Ward, Catherine Pearson, Fiona McAndrew Sports Editor Jordan Daly Health & Fashion Editor Cathy Buckmaster Arts Editor Cian Taaffe Music Editors Ronan Dempsey, Lorcan Archer Contributors: Aoife Ryan, Orla Kenny, James Geoghegan, Philip Connolly, Sylvia Stoll, Jennifer Bray, David Reynolds, Karen Doyle, Liam Cody, Bryan Devlin, Eoghan Glynn, Barra O'Fianail, Sophie O'Higgins, Jason Timmons, Fiona McArthur, Pete Mahon, Sarah O'Hegarty, George Hook, Hannah Kousbroek, Frank Clune, Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain, Adam Watts, Susanne O'Reilly, Emer Brady, Stephen Caffrey, Eoin Boyle, Karen O'Connell, Stephen West, Ben Blake, Colin Scally.

UCD will face an inquiry into its recruitment of external consultants, following the discovery that one of the directors of a company hired to oversee the transfer of researcher Desmond Fitzgerald to UCD, did in fact work with the researcher in his office in the Royal College of Surgeons before the move.

The director in question, Aoibheann Gibbons now works as the Director of Research Strategy and Planning in Vice-President for Research Desmond Fitzgerald’s UCD office.

These discoveries highlight the need for a thorough investigation into the private recruitment of consultancy firms by the university.

Blueview Ltd. consultancy firm was hired by UCD during the transfer of Fitzgerald and his subsequent appointment as Vice-President for Research.

In answer to the inquiry about the private nature of the contract, the college produced an undated contract written by Gibbons, who is listed as one of the company’s directors.

In correspondence exposed under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, UCD said that Blueview “provided an individual (Gibbons) with significant expertise and prior knowledge of the multi-million euro activities in which Professor Fitzgerald was engaged and, as such, was in a unique posi-

■ Desmond Fitzgerald tion, having the particular expertise necessary to ensure the efficient and most economical implementation of the transition process for his teams, contracts and assets.”

With the college’s consultancy expenditure increasing from under 1m in 2003 to 4.4m in 2007, the Comptroller and Auditor General have been asked to specifically examine a contract with Blueview Ltd that was drawn up in 2005.

Under the FOI Act, documents were exposed that showed that UCD arranged a consultancy contract with Blueview Ltd for €274,582 without proceeding through the public tender process. This process states that contracts involving sums over the €60,000 limit specified by the Department of Finance require a national tender competition.

According to a UCD spokesperson the increase

Registration difficulties remain

Special Thanks To: Gary Stephen & Billy @ Spectator Newspapers, Eilis O'Brien, Dominic Martella, A&B.

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in consultancy expenditure arose from the university’s ongoing strategic review. “The use of consultancy services increased over this period largely due to the reform programme at the university.

“During a period of change organisations normally engage consultants to undertake work which is o en temporary in nature. These consultants bring skills that are not available within the organisation.”

In response to an original FOI request for details on consultancy contracts, UCD at first refused to release the names of individual consultancy firms.

However, details were provided a er an appeal decision by the Information Commissioner. The Academic Staff Association at UCD, which has been monitoring consultancy expenditure at the university, said that “good management practice surely demands transparency in the expenditure of public funds.”

In explaining why the Blueview contract did not go out to tender, UCD cited public sector regulations for the recruitment of consultants which were drawn up by former Revenue boss Dermot Quigley a er the Monica Leech controversy, when Martin Cullen was environment minister. Quigley stipulates that established tendering rules can be set aside only when the factors that give rise to ‘urgency’ are “serious, unforeseeable. . . and should be very rare”, or when it is “demonstrably clear that another service provider could not perform a contract more economically.”

■ Leo Galvin

No boys allowed A scholarship offered by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to Engineering students is open only to female students.

Upon meeting certain criteria applicants have the chance to avail of an annual award of €2,000, a DELL laptop and the assistance and support of an active researcher as a mentor throughout their undergraduate career with the provision of at least one summer researchinternship in an academic research laboratory.

The programme, Science Foundation Ireland Scholarship 2007: Young Women in Engineering, is intended to ‘increase the participation of women in science’ according to its website. The scholarship is not available to male students.

From 2002 to 2005 only 16.4 per cent of people who accepted four year degree courses in engineering were women and SFI sees this as a problem. SFI seeks to increase the number of qualified scientists and researchers in Ireland for the future and believe the gender-specific scholarship is not just a ‘matter of equality’ but of retaining our ‘global competitiveness.’

UCD First Year Engineering student Shay Gillen believes the scholarship is unfair and discriminatory. “I’m angry at the fact that this wonderful opportunity that could open so many doors to me is off limits, simply because of my gender.”

Sarah Greene, a First Year Engineering student in UCD, believes that the scholarship is a positive development in the science world if it encourages female students to consider engineer-

■ Leo Galvin

ing courses, increasing the number of women in the profession.

“The scholarship is not unfair if you think about all the sports scholarships that are only open to men. Nobody ever complains about those.” First Year Engineering student Carla McDermott on the other hand believes that the programme would simply entice girls to enter engineering on the basis of getting a good scholarship and that they would not have a real interest in the subject. “Every scholarship should be directed at every potential student whose grades are good enough and not just girls, not matter how few women there are in the field.”

Dean of Engineering in UCD David Timony defended the programme. “The scholarship aims to attract and encourage women into engineering. It’s a scheme specifically designed to try to encourage the participation of females in engineering. Anytime you have a positive incentive for one thing you could argue that you’re slightly adversely affecting another thing.

“There are obviously other scholarship schemes available to both male and female Engineering students, with the same opportunities open to all.”

Full details of the scholarship are available at www.sfi.ie.

UCD students who are unable to provide a valid reason for failing to complete their registration process within the next two weeks will face an €150 late fee.

Students have two weeks le to pay before their accounts are frozen and they have to pay a release fee.

By the 11th of October, 98 per cent of Undergraduate students across the programme areas had completed their registration. According to the UCD Registry “This is a significant increase

and improvement on last year and shows that most students are already engaged with their programmes very early in the academic year.”

A college spokesperson explained that certain students had valid reason for failing to register. “With graduate registration, it’s not as straightforward as the undergraduate side. This is because there are different categories of student and in some cases, like for example in the case of Phd students; they may not need to register until they are actually ready to submit their theses. Also, many graduate programmes have rolling admissions so there isn’t a date by which a marker is placed down.”

The spokesperson added that there will be a formal review of the entire registration process and that students and staff will be fully involved in this review process.

NEWS

College Tribune

17th October 2007

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Shop stewards 'under pressure' Representatives of the grounds and maintenance staff have told the College Tribune that they have been put under pressure for speaking out about the pay dispute.

The SIPTU shop stewards asked to remain anonymous. “We’re already getting hassle about the issue,” one of the men stated. “We’re refusing to back down and we’re getting pressure from the authorities because of it.”

According to these representatives, UCD has repeatedly backed away from agreements made over the years to resolve the discrepancy in their salaries.

The shop stewards state that they have entered into repeated talks with the college over the last decade in the hope of resolving the dispute, but that although they were initially promised the shortfall, the college has consistently reneged on that agreement.

The grounds staff and maintenance staff union members have balloted to take industrial action over the refusal of UCD to pay them what they deserve.

The men accused UCD of dragging its feet over the pay issue. “We wanted to take action over the summer when the students were away, so that way we’d only be disturbing the staff.

“We’re here for the students,” the men

■ Caitrina Cody added. “They’re our bread and butter after all and we recognise that. But the college keeps dragging its feet and pushing us closer and closer to exam time when they know we’ll have to disrupt the students even more. They want us to look like the bad guys.

“This time we’re not giving up,” one of the men declared. “It’s just a matter of getting what we deserve. We’ve given the college over forty years of service and we have been dedicated to students the whole time. Nobody really notices us but we work away behind the scenes to make life easier for everyone. All we want is recognition that we deserve the correct salary.”

Senior Lecturer in Sociology and SIPTU President for UCD Dr Kieran Allen has criticised the college’s “greedy mentality” in light of the deficit in salaries paid to grounds and maintenance workers in UCD. UCD grounds and maintenance staff form part of a group of employees that are part of the wider economy that are linked to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) sector in the local authority and the health boards.

■ Protest: SIPTU President for UCD Dr Kieran Allen Cra workers in these areas receive pay rises that derive from the increases in the private sector with non-cra workers entitled to 80 per cent of the cra workers wage.

“These employees are invisible to most people but in fact play a vital role and should be given what they deserve.”

He criticised the college for prioritising certain sections of staff. “UCD has a very strange system of payments because normally there’s a salary scale for every grade of employee, but for the last number of years there has been this ethos in UCD that you should be able to pay certain super-star academics way

over the scale, in some instances over €150,000 a year.

“There’s something obscene about people that have worked in this college for twenty years, who have been dedicated to the college now being treated like this when people are being almost bought into UCD on extraordinary salaries. It seems to me that the college should pull out of this culture of greed mentality and look a er the people who serve it properly.”

The SIPTU President declared that the trend of paying high wages was misguided. “As an academic I don’t think academia is about making vast sums of money, it’s about being dedicated to your

science or discipline. I don’t think paying people astronomical salaries necessarily ensures that we have better academics.”

The grounds and maintenance staff are hopeful that a proper resolution can be arrived and that a sensible compromise on this issue.

“They have reached a limit,” Allen explains. “When you’ve been waiting patiently for so long through all the various procedures and you’re still €13 less in your salary every week, you have to decide to do something.”

The parties involved have as yet received no direct response to the ballot taken.

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NEWS

College Tribune

17th October 2007

NEWS IN BRIEF COMPILED BY CAITRINA CODY

Damning report slates UCD ■ Staff and students demoralised

■ UCD's strong reputation may be eroded

■ Continued from page one

Student football promotions UCD Vice-President for Students Martin Butler has initiated a publicity campaign to draw attention to the many sporting events taking place on the UCD campus this semester.

Butler has advertised football matches and encouraged students to attend by providing them with free entry and vouchers for free drinks in the Student Club.

The low attendance at sporting events this semester has prompted the Vice-President to encourage students to turn out in support of their home team.

Butler would urge UCD students to show their support for the UCD football team during the FAI Cup Semi-Final match against Longford on the 28th of October in Belfield Park, UCD.

STI screening service in high demand The STI screening service provided by the UCD Students’ Union (SU) in a local Donnybrook clinic has seen a high number of students applying to avail of the facility.

The service allows ten people to be tested for STIs, at a discounted price of €40, during an exclusive time-slot for UCD students every Thursday morning.

The service is booked out for the next few weeks, demonstrating that students are in need of on campus facilities to accommodate a higher number of students.

SU President Barry Colfer is hopeful that the college will acknowledge that the demand is there and that UCD Health Centre should be extended to provide the service.

Swimming pool UCD Students’ Union President Barry Colfer has contacted the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism Seamus Brennan in order to discuss financial assistance for a swimming pool in the planned renovation of the Student Centre.

Colfer plans to meet with Brennan in his Constituency Office in Churchtown to discuss the proposed swimming pool that is being financed by the Student Levy included in the registration fees and to discuss general student issues, as many students live in his constituency.

The minister was unable to attend the first meeting scheduled but Colfer hopes to make contact with him in the near future.

Poster space campaign A campaign will be launched in the coming weeks to highlight the need for additional poster space on campus.

The UCD Students’ Union (SU) is initiating the campaign in response to complaints made by societies that the space allocated is insufficient. New restrictions have prevented societies from placing posters outside of specifically reserved spaces around campus, leaving smaller societies with no room to promote their events.

Smaller societies do not have Two of the windows of the staff office in the SU corridor have been made available for small societies to poster for events.

A damning report has revealed that UCD is in serious trouble with regard to the morale of students and academics alike.

The report reveals, “‘Perceptions of excellence among the conclusions from the university’s academic staff is that UCD is following, rather than leading, and that initiatives ‘borrowed’ from American and Asian universities have been introduced, regardless of their suitability.

“The confidential report from Mercator notes that, “There is a sense that too much focus is being put on improving external perceptions of excellence first rather than concentrating on improving the basic university offering and allowing external perceptions to develop as a natural follow-up.”

It has long been a vision of Hugh Brady’s to enhance UCD’s international profile, but this, according to staff across the university, has actually had a negative impact on the quality of service provided to its 22,000 students.

The findings from UCD staff appear to strongly undermine Hugh Brady’s strategic vision of raising the university’s standing in the European research league table, “A number of people expressed scepticism as to the value of an international university ranking, believing the criteria for judgment were not always relevant to UCD. “People are concerned at focusing overly much on how UCD is perceived in the international arena, fearing that this may compromise the national standing of the university.” the researchers observe.

When asked what priorities would

Marketing: UCD advertising the Horizons programme improve UCD, the academic staff identified more communication, more consultation, less bureaucracy, striving for excellence rather than providing an impression of excellence, and allowing more time to ‘bed down’ major changes before proceeding with other initiatives.

The UCD governing authority is chaired by former IDA boss Kieran McGowan and its members include academics Moore McDowell and Gerard Casey, as well as INTO boss John Carr.

Some 21 percent of UCD’s staff (686 people) from across the university responded to the survey. The percentage for students was lower at 3.75 percent (824 people) but the numbers are still statistically adequate.

The views of UCD students will be as worrying to the governing authority as those of the university’s academic staff.

The response from students suggests a positive view of UCD, but like staff, students “feel that the last two years have been extremely difficult” and complain

about a lack of communication about the restructuring process.

“Just like the staff, students believe that a university’s reputation is earned over time, rather than being created through public relations, “ the researchers note.

Students feel they are being marginalised, according to the study and the researchers warn, “If students feel they can no longer speak highly of their university, this is a cause for real concern.”

UCD academics speak about Carney lecture ■ Caitrina Cody Three UCD lecturers have spoken out about remarks made by Justice Paul Carney about the Victim Impact Statement made by Majella Holohan, mother of Robert Holohan, the County Cork schoolboy who was killed in 2005.

At a lecture given in University College Cork, Carney called into question the merit of such Victim Impact Statements and included a veiled criticism aimed at Holohan, who had deviated from her prepared statement in order to include details that had not been admitted during the trial of Wayne O’Donoghue for the murder of her son.

UCD English Department Lecturer Eoghan Harris, Tom Cooney, lecturer in Law, and Professor Ian O’Donnell, Director of UCD’s Institute of Criminology all commented on the controversial lecture and its implications for the future of Victim Impact Statements.

Harris explained that such honesty was commendable in the High Court judge. “Far too o en, judges keep their minds opaque to themselves and just talk to their peers over the port. I hope

Magellan Holohan: Criticised by Carney that the House will commend him for his approach in speaking out and letting us know the way his mind works on such an important subject.”

Cooney agreed with Carney when he stated that the purpose of the concept of punishment is not revenge.

The judge said during the lecture that the Victim Impact Statement given in court by Holohan had frustrated his intention of providing for the ‘reconstruction of the accused’s young life.’

According to the judge, O’Donoghue had been branded a paedophile when the tabloid press enthusiastically adopted Holohan’s comments.

However, Cooney added that the judge “has no right in a constitutional democracy to require the media to advance his sentencing aims”, emphasising that the media must in fact be free to question his aims.

O’Donnell noted that Carney had raised some important and interesting points in relation to the role of victims and their families in the judicial process.

He stated that it was important to acknowledge the ‘cathartic’ role of such victim statements, emphasising however that their place was at the

end of the prosecution only.

“Guidelines for judges on the content of victim impact statements would be useful” the professor explained, but he made it clear that he favoured the use of an individual judge’s discretion in the interpretation of all statements.

Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has indicated that steps may be taken to limit the publication of Victim Impact Statements. The minister stated that legislation may be considered that will give a judge the power to curtail the publication of matters that were not officially established in court.

NEWS

College Tribune

17th October 2007

Gagged

■ ‘My microphone was switched off' claims Chinese academic ■ Organiser cites ‘simple microphone malfunction'

■ Author Jung Chang (left), Chair Dr. Fran O’Rourke and Dr Liming Wang (right)

■ Caitrina Cody A Chinese academic has complained that his microphone was switched off and that he was denied the right to respond to attacks on his integrity made by worldfamous author Jung Chang during a lecture in UCD last week.

Dr Liming Wang, Director of the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies at the UCD Confucius Centre was accused by Chang of speaking for the Chinese government when he challenged the reliability of her research.

Chang’s book, ‘Mao: The Unknown Story’, gives a detailed account of the history of Chinese dictator Mao Tse Tung, but Wang has criticised her book and declared it “misleading” and “one-dimensional”.

He proclaimed, “If this is a free country, you can express your views freely, but when I tried to respond to her questions, my microphone was turned off by the organiser. I would doubt that this would happen in today’s China. We talk about how China has no freedom of speech, but what happened last week? I was blocked.”

The lecture was attended by over a thousand people and was organised by the UCD Law Society and chaired by UCD Philosophy lecturer Dr Fran O’Rourke.

O’Rourke dismissed accusations that Wang’s microphone was switched off in

mid-speech, stating that it was a simple microphone malfunction. He went on to address the arguments put forward

by Wang and his colleague, “Dr Wang’s visiting colleague said that Jung Chang’s research was unreliable because she did not have access to official archives.

“How could she, since there is no freedom of information in China? But Jung did have photocopies. The visiting professor was unable to cite historical facts in support of another objection.”

A er the lecture on the subject of Mao Tse Tung, communist dictator of China, the floor was opened to questions from the audience.

At this point, Wang interpreted a question from a Chinese colleague about the reliability of the sources used in Chang’s research. Chang replied, “You are from the Confucius Institute, you are paid by the Chinese government”, indicating

that Wang was not an impartial observer and that he was biased against her.

Wang replied, “I am not paid by the Chinese government and I am not speaking for the Chinese government. I am a free man and I will speak freely.”

At this stage, Wang claims that his microphone was switched off and he was prevented from further dialogue with Chang.

He declared, “The speaker accused me and doubted my integrity in front of 1000 people, and then my microphone was turned off. The chairman then approached me from the stage with his own microphone but I wasn’t even allowed to finish my response.

“He was afraid of losing control, which was understandable, but I can’t understand that kind of attitude in a so-called free country.

“It’s not fair to accuse me of being the

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voice of the Chinese government. I am the Director of the Confucius Institute in UCD, but Chang was trying to tell the audience that my integrity would be compromised. That wasn’t a professional thing to do, it wasn’t fair to anybody. I was there in my capacity as interpreter.”

O’Rourke responded to the accusations by stating that the purpose of the evening was to hear a lecture from Chang. “It wasn’t a debate with Liming Wang. I wanted to allow as many people as possible to ask questions. He more time than anyone else.

“When Dr Wang’s microphone momentarily failed, it was not sabotage. If I wanted to silence him, would I have let him use my microphone?”

O’Rourke agrees that free speech is of vital importance in a university forum.

“I am delighted that Liming Wang feels so strongly about freedom of speech but I

find it ironic that the director of the Confucius Institute, established under sponsorship from the Chinese government, complains about freedom of speech at UCD, when Jung Chang is barred from speaking at universities in China.

“Her home college was forced to cancel an invitation sent to her to deliver an address at a class reunion, and was reprimanded by the authorities.”

Wang made it clear that he felt that his rights had been compromised. “I wasn’t given the time to respond. I wasn’t allowed to argue. If my microphone was indeed turned off, I officially request an apology from the society and the organiser.”

Wang is disappointed that a university event would “discourage the audience from speaking their mind.” He continued, “The whole idea is to generate debate among students and staff, and universities should provide that platform, rather than simply provide a platform for a famed figure, known for what she has done in the past. I don’t think the college should provide a platform for only one voice.

“Chang claims that the current regime has brainwashed the younger generation. I say let’s worry about the younger generation being too westernised, and losing too much of our own traditions, culture and values, rather than the opposite.”

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NEWS

College Tribune

17th October 2007

Socialists slam ‘terrorists' in UCD The Socialist Party in UCD branded a group of visiting American delegates as “terrorists” before they arrived to speak at a forum in Belfield on Monday.

The far-le -wing party hung posters around campus, declaring, “Pro-war members of congress not welcome”. They also organised what they described as “a militant protest” that was aimed at “creating some sort of hostile environment” for the congressmen.

College authorities are reported to have been alarmed by the presence of the group, and attempted to pull the plug on the event, but extra security measures were instead implemented.

The talk involved debate between students and the congressmen on five key topics; student issues, foreign policies, environmental policies, civil liberties and immigration.

Member of the Socialist Party in UCD, and organiser of the protest Darren Cogavin, declared beforehand, “We’re not interested in Question and Answer style dialogue, forums or debates; I think that these people are terrorists, there’s no other word for them.

“These people have supported a political pro-war consensus in the US and they’re the people who have bombed Iraq and Afghanistan to the Stone Age. There’s no other word for them, they’re terror-

■ Colin Glesson ists, and these are the kind of people we’re welcoming in here and presenting them with a forum. No, I’m totally against that.”

The party has come in for criticism from the Students’ Union for what has been perceived as unwillingness to allow the congressmen the right to speak at the event.

Students’ Union President Barry Colfer declared, “A demonstration expressing dissatisfaction at the war is fine. A demonstration expressing dissatisfaction at the dialogue and the opportunity to have a discussion with the Americans is just wrong; it’s a shame and it’s a waste.”

Cogavin disagreed however, “Myself and others within the Socialist Party are very critical of the Students’ Union’s decision to facilitate these people. We see it as a welcome for these very despicable figures.

“These people have been senators, congressmen and governors over the past twenty years. During that time, we’ve had the first Gulf War, the bombings in Serbia and now we have the current occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, so we think that these are very repulsive, abhorrent individuals and we oppose their visit here.

“It’s not a freedom of speech issue; it’s just that with our anti-war mandate in the Students’ Union, we should not be

facilitating these people. We should be issuing a ‘no welcome’ to these individuals on campus, so that’s why we’ve taken up a protest.

Colfer argues, “The fact is, that in Ireland, we are given the opportunity to express ourselves in such a way that we are able to have important dialogue and discussion. I think that to deny the students the right to attend and be counted, to discuss, ask the hard questions, to try and find the truth is shameful.”

Cogavin proclaims, “Instead of supplying them with a debating forum, the Socialist Party, and others on the le , want to create some kind of hostile environment, to show that there is not just opposition, but real anger to the occupation in

Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think that to go in there and engage with them is only an exercise in self-indulgence. People talk about going in there and exposing them in front of the student body, but the student body isn’t even really aware that this is taking place. They only became open a er we had protested that there was only going to be a student panel allowed to go in there and ask questions.”

Colfer refutes accusations from the Socialist Party member that the event was kept under wraps, declaring, “I would completely disagree with that. I put the names of those attending online immedi-

ately; it’s been completely open.

“I even went so far as to text Darren (Cogavin) and a few of the people who I knew to have issue with the congressmen visiting, just to let them know that the list was now available. So, any suggestion that this was kept under wraps is completely wrong, it’s bogus, and it’s just looking for argument.”

A Resounding Success

Merville back online ■ Sean Cunningham Internet routers have been reinstalled in the Merville apartments, restoring internet access to the students that live there.

Following the the of the building’s routers, the College Tribune found that students were still paying a supplementary fee in their rent payments, despite being unable to access the service.

Students had not been notified about the the of the building’s internet routers by the College and had not been made aware of any plans to replace them.

UCD Students’ Union Accommodation Officer and Merville resident, Gavan Reilly, said: “The relevant authorities have been contacted and all of the routers have been reinstalled. Everything’s up and running again, thankfully.”

The routers were stolen in a robbery that occurred on the premises in late August.

The college is contractually allowed to increase residency fees by five percent every year but in order to cover the cost of the internet access, a, extra charge was added with the permission of the governing authority.

■ Galway grants protest attended by SU ■ Launch of national grants campaign A protest was held on Friday of last week to highlight the need for drastic improvements to be made to the existing grants system.

UCD students and UCD Students’ Union (SU) representatives attended the protest that was organised in Eyre Square, Galway by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

UCD Students’ Union President Barry Colfer declared the demonstration a resounding success. “It was brilliant, there was a good number of Sabbatical officers there. The whole thing really highlighted the beginning of our national campaign that’s kicking off on Tuesday week in front of the Dail, with another demonstration.”

Colfer explained that the USI is adamant that the existing grants system must be reformed. “The way it is now is that people are given something with one hand and its taken away with the other.

We’re told to go into third level and were given a grant to help us afford it yet the catch is that we might have to wait for November to receive it, by which time students might be already in debt.”

The Student Support Bill, which will make the existing system more effective, is six months overdue, according the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

“The campaign is trying to speed

■ Caitrina Cody up the whole grants processing. On Friday, myself, the UCD Education Officer and the USI Education Officer went up to the county offices in Galway to explain the situation to explain what we were looking for. They were very receptive and they took some of our leaflets to read.”

A postcard petition campaign has also begun, with thousands of postcards being distributed to college students around the country, to encourage them to put pressure on the Department of Education to reform the system.

“We have 2000 flyers on the way, on the back of which is a postcard which will be addressed to Mary Hanafin with a request that she does all in her power to make sure that the grant system is better administrated in the future and that people won’t be waiting nine or ten weeks for their grants.”

Colfer has high hopes for the demonstration planned in for 12pm Tuesday the 23rd of October outside Dail Eireann. “There’s going to be students from all around the country standing together in solidarity, to try to urge the people of the government to make sure that this is something they take seriously.”

In attendance will be elected officers from around the country. “Many students have had problems with grants,” adds Colfer, “in terms of either not qualifying because the threshold is too low or having to wait too long to receive their payments. I’m hoping for a big turnout from UCD.”

NEWS FOCUS

College Tribune

2nd October 2007

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Vote of no confidence ■ USI President resigns his post President of the Union of Students ■ Caitrina Cody in Ireland (USI), Richard Morrisroe has resigned from his position as leader of the council. ure to support the events caused the He resigned following an emerUSI negative publicity. “He didn’t apgency council meeting that was called pear at a Tara demonstration over the last weekend to discuss a leaked docusummer which led to a whole day of ment which criticised his ‘dictatorial’ bad press because that whole week he leadership style and called for his imhad been talking about how impormediate resignation. tant the whole thing was. There’s a The letter which was circulated USI mandate that supports any campaign to try to save the Hill of Tara but among USI officers highlighted the several failings of the president and the president wasn’t even there.” calls attention to several incidents in According to Colfer, the national student movement has suffered in rehis term so far that have been disapcent years and that having Morrisroe pointing.

Morrisroe officially resigned his at the helm made their position even weaker. “He failed to make adequate presidency on Monday by submitting an official letter of resignation to links with the education spokespeople in the different parties of Leinster the council.

House, and failed to make links with USI Equality Officer and part-time the education correspondents in the UCD student Stephen Conlon was responsible for leaking the document national newspapers. “He showed to the internet and has also resigned contempt for national council, and from his position following the meetfor indeed our own officers in the ing.

UCD SU.” UCD Students’ Union PresThe USI has been left ident Barry Colfer told without a president the College Tribune but Colfer is adathat he supportmant that the ed the former situation was President’s i n e v i t ab l e . resignation.

“We have “A huge to accept number of that any one officer mistakes can be were made replaced

by Richard as president and that since the the year start of term. can still It had become function. clear to me If this issue that I no longer had been let had confidence to drag on we in his abilities, would have the executive Contender? Hamid Khodabakhshi found ourcouncil agreed selves coming is favourite for the job (inset) and with me and into ChristRichard Morrisroe (right) the whole mas with a crisis on our hands.” thing went beyond the point of no return.”

An emergency council meeting will A vote of no confidence was retake place in Dublin over the next few weeks, possibly on the same day as a turned by the Executive Council of the USI, with Morrisroe agreeing to national grants demonstration organhand in his resignation at the beginised by the USI, to utilise the presence of large numbers of Sabbatical officers ning of this week.

Colfer explained that the crisis present in the capital. situation could have been avoided. “If “It would be easy to get bogged Richard had resigned sooner, if he had down now in mud-slinging because gone quietly, the whole organisation USI has hobbled from one lazy decision to the next for the past couple of wouldn’t have been dragged through months,” Colfer notes. “It would be the mud and he could have le with easy for it to deteriorate into in-fighthis reputation intact.” ing and into a further lack of progress.

Colfer explained that a number of problems during Morrisroe’s term But we won’t be taking our eye off the in office had led to a growing lack of ball, we have a number of campaigns faith among the council members in we are working on and a demonstrahis abilities. The first was Morrisroe’s tion planned and that’s our first prioracceptance of a sponsorship deal from ity. On a national level I don’t know the Student Travel Card company. how much we can salvage for the rest “My first congress two years ago of the year.”

USI Education Officer Hamid Khodmandated across the board against the company because it is simply unabakhshi is rumoured to be stepping fair that students should have to pay up as a candidate for the post. Colfer for something that should be theirs is emphatic in his endorsement of the by right. It was a mistake made by officer. “Hamid is a strong officer and Richard which led on to many more a decent guy, very hardworking. He mistakes.” Morrisroe’s failure to make has strong feelings about the imporan appearance at various events and tance of the provision of third level education and how important it is to demonstrations organised by the USI further detracted from his credibiltake care of students. I have faith in ity. him more than anybody to salvage The former President’s absence was the year.” noticeable at a demonstration organised to highlight the accommodation crisis in Dublin with last Friday’s USI ■ Richard Morrisroe and Hamid grant demonstration in Galway also Khodabakhshi were unavailable for lacking its president. comment Colfer added that Morrisroe’s fail-

■ Emergency council meeting planned

MEMO

Wednesday October 10th, 2007

TO: RICHARD MORRISROE, PRESIDE NT, USI CC: ALL CO PRESIDENTS Mr. President,

It is with regret that we, the unde Over the past several months, failinrsigned, feel compelled to call for your immediate resignation as positions, outlined in greater detai gs of your leadership have directly led to USI being placed in a serie President of l belo s of untenable In addition to these failings, your w. of the Union, and you have, by your style of leadership has led directly to a breakdown in trust at the highest levels actions, contributed severely to an organisations. alienation of the Union from its cons tituent We believe you are guilty of the follo 1. Failing to communicate effectively wing: with members of the Officerboard by decree, subject to your own whim s. This has led to an inconsistency , and instead attempting to rule Officerboard on a weekly basis. of goals, with USI’s aims for the year shi ing 2. Failure to communicate effectively with Con stitu ent Organisations, and failing to build USI and said organisations, which a culture of trust between has led to a breakdown in the trus t that CO’s have in USI. - By referring, for example, to the Orga 3. Failure to effectively put USI’s case nisation’s National Council as “stupid” in a minuted meeting. to the Government: - By failing to put the case for an incre ased grant to the Minister for Educ - By denying the existence, of the very real problem of Student Prostitut ation.

Minister for Education herself. ion in National Media outlets and to the 4. Bringing the Union into disrepute in the follo wing ways : - Failure to attend the Tara Protest march, having committed the Unio negative media coverage. n to doing so, which led directly to a day of - Referring to a major local radio stati on as “xxx x” in an offi cer report to National Council, - com potential damage to USI’s relations pletely igno hip - Telling the national media that with that Radio Station if that officer report were to fall into the wron ring the which led directly to media ridicule.“lots of students drive their own cars because public transport is too g hands. expensive”, - Publicly criticising a member of USI Officer Board in the presence of a CO, morale. which was devastating to Officerb oard In short, we believe that you lack the You have procrastinated all year on necessary skills to lead a national union. the major decisions, and bungled the yet to be seen, because you failed to minor ones. USI’s national directory writ has You have failed to keep the team toge e your section. ther. What started as a year filled with instead of campaigning, USI lurches prom ise has turn ed into a year where from one crisis to another. You had and bungled the process entirely thro 6 months notice of USI’s need to chan ugh a lack of consultation, - to the ge offices, period of the year for COs, USI offi exte nt that for two week s, during the busiest cers You have failed repeatedly to cons have to work from home. ult with CO’s when requested to by quested by CO’s themselves. members of the Officerboard, and when reYou have repeatedly failed to care for, and liste n to the concerns of members of your Officerb Mr. President, it gives none of us who oard. sign this document any pleasure to this year can only be salvaged with do so. We do it out of a deep convictio a change of leadership. n that Therefore, we, the undersigned, form We believe that the time has come ally express to you that we no longer have confidence in your leade fidence in you proposed to National for others to consider their position. We intend to support any moti rship. on of no conCouncil.

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College Tribune

17th October 2007

OPINION Undeniable romance of Amsterdam AOIBHINN NI SHÚILLEABHÁIN WRITES FOR THE COLLEGE TRIBUNE

A er almost three weeks of living in Amsterdam, I have to say I have fallen in love with this city. The Dutch capital has a distinctly unique appeal with its vibrant streets, picturesque canals and 900 years of history visible in the architecture and infrastructure. Don’t get me wrong, the tourist industry here can be pretty tacky and I now understand why the local folk can become so irate with careless foreigners crossing in front of bicycles (which seem to come at you from every direction), but there is an undeniable romance to the city – even including the infamous red light districts.

Holland is the world’s flattest country with half of the land having been reclaimed from the sea with the aid of huge tidal barriers, dykes and canals. These canals, particularly around Amsterdam, are great fun to explore and are especially pretty at night when the bridges are lit and give the streets a colourful bohemian feel.

It is surprising that these waterways are not cordoned off to prevent the odd tourist or Smart car being thrown in but I guess that’s what makes mainland Europe a little different to home.

There is obviously plenty to see and do in the city, whether you’re here for a weekend break or staying for a few weeks. There is a vast range of museums and galleries, the most well-known being

Aoibhinn

Ni Shúilleabháin the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum housing an unrivalled collection of 17th-century Dutch art and artefacts.

The Anne Frank house where she and her family hid before they were discovered and sent to concentration camps is well worth a visit and the city

There are some gems of cosy pubs where you can sit comfortably with a hot glass of wine or local beer. A Dutch friend recently brought me to one such bar called Gollem which boasts a menu of hundreds of beers as well as a friendly black cat who casually curled up on my coat as we enjoyed a drink.

Unforgivably that night, we did end up in Mulligan’s Irish pub but in our defence it is one of the most genuinely Irish of all the Irish pubs I’ve visited abroad and the Guinness wasn’t half bad either.

Of course there is a more seedy side to Amsterdam with the sexshows, sex shops and sex for sale behind a red light door but it does make for a good entertaining walk, especially if you take a stroll down what we have christened ‘ugly street’ where the girls may be a little larger than usual but seem to be doing a hell of a lot more business.

There are a variety of cafés and coffee-shops about the city and despite the name, coffee isn’t the biggest seller on

“We discovered that it’s true what they said about mayonnaise in Pulp Fiction; they really do smother their French fries in sauce” also hosts a number of flea-markets and stalls where you can unearth some real bargains. I would definitely recommend taking a boat tour along the canals as it is the easiest way to get your bearings of the city, view the houses and learn about the place.

the menu in the coffee shops. The Dampkring off the main shopping street is a delightfully atmospheric spot with a detailed menu and there are a number of other shops full of character and characters around the red-light district.

A er countless visits to the ‘Chipsey King’ off Dam Square, we discovered that it’s true what they said about mayonnaise in Pulp Fiction; they really do smother their French fries in sauce, but there are also some excellent restaurants about the centre and it’s worth a walk down the side streets to find them.

As Ragús are coming to the end of our tour of Holland and Belgium, we’re hoping to continue with our continuous

streak of standing ovations. The audiences over here seem to enjoy the show and I have to say I’m thoroughly enjoying singing with this troop.

The seasoned musicians and dancers come well equipped with books and gadgets to while away the long distances on the tour bus. I’m intrigued as to how bands in the past may have whiled away the journeys without ipods, laptops, Nintendos and DVDs. I’m looking forward to the next tour and hopefully another trip to Amsterdam in the future. Some words of advice before you visit though, beware the chocolate muffins.

Fighting the good fight Derek Connolly explores the issue of free-speech and looks at some of the philosophical arguments for and against ‘hate-speeches’ As the ever-topical issue of freespeech reared its head again over the past week in UCD, the question must be asked as to how far the right to free-speech should extend.

Speeches that are hateful cause profound and personal offense.

The discomfort that is caused to those who are the object of such attacks cannot easily be shrugged off. Most European liberal democracies have limitations on hate speeches, but it is debatable whether these can be justified by what is known as ‘the harm principle’.

One would have to show that such speeches violated rights, directly and in the first instance. A famous example of hate speech is the Nazi march through Skokie, Illinois.

In fact, the intention was not to engage in political speech at all, but simply to march through a predominantly Jewish community dressed in storm

trooper uniforms and wearing swastikas (although the Illinois Supreme Court interpreted the wearing of swastikas as “symbolic political speech”).

It is clear that most people, especially those who lived in Skokie, were outraged and offended by the march, but were they harmed? There was no plan to cause physical injury and the marchers did not intend to damage property.

The main argument against allowing the march, based on ‘the harm principle’, was that it would cause harm by inciting opponents of the march to riot. It is possible to suggest that persons on the wrong end of hate speech are psychologically harmed, but this is more difficult to demonstrate than harm to a person’s legal rights.

It seems, therefore, that if we are to base our defense of speech on the harm principle, we are going to have very few sanctions imposed on the spoken and written word. It is only when we can show direct harm to rights, which will almost always mean when an attack is made against a specific individual or a small group of persons, that it is legiti-

mate to impose a sanction.

The other response to the harm principle is that it does not stretch far enough.

One of the most impressive arguments for this position comes from Joel Feinberg, who suggests that the harm principle cannot shoulder all of the work necessary for a principle that has to deal with free speech.

In some instances, we also need an offense principle that can act as a guide to public censure. The basic idea is that the harm principle sets the bar too high and that we should prohibit some forms of expression because they are very offensive.

Causing offense is less serious than harming someone, so the penalties imposed should not be as heavy as those for actions that cause harm. As Feinberg notes, however, this has not always been the case and he cites a number of instances in the US where penalties for consensual incest have ranged from twenty years imprisonment to the death penalty.

This is a victimless crime and hence the punishment has to have a basis in the

supposed offensiveness of the behavior rather than the harm that is caused.

Such a principle is difficult to apply because many people take offense as the result of an overly sensitive disposition, or worse, because of bigotry and unjustified prejudice. Despite the difficulty of applying a standard of this kind, something like the offense principle operates widely in liberal democracies where citizens are penalised for a variety of activities, including speech, which would escape prosecution under the harm principle.

Feinberg suggests that a variety of factors need to be taken into account when deciding whether speech can be limited by the offense principle and these include the extent, duration and social value of the speech, the ease with which it can be avoided, the motives of the speaker, the number of people offended, the intensity of the offense, and the general interest of the community at large. The issue remains a debatable one.

Derek Connolly holds an MA in Philosophy

EDITORIAL

College Tribune

2nd October 2007

9

The changing face of UCD

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When students think of UCD staff they picture lecturers, academics, librarians and administrative staff, the public face of UCD. The remote yard behind Belfield House seems a million miles away from the cold and contemporary Quinn Building and the angular architecture of the Arts Block.

Here tractors rumble across the stony ground and the glossy surface of the biggest campus in Ireland disappears, leaving what looks more like a farmyard in its wake.

Men salute each other, congregating in the basic canteen for tea and sandwiches, UCD logos emblazoned on their dusty work shirts.

The grounds and maintenance staff of UCD fulfil a vital but largely invisible role, the grounds staff caring for the landscaped gardens dotted around the campus, while the maintenance staff replace light bulbs, paint walls, and carry out repairs all over college.

These valuable staff members have been locked in a bitter struggle with UCD for what is rightly theirs that has lasted over a decade.

The question of a €13 deficit in a weekly wage may seem like a trivial matter but for these men it is a matter of principle. They are determined to make their case heard and to Their contribution behind the scenes has gone unrecognised by the college, perhaps a sad indication of the new ethos that was highlighted in the survey, the result of which showed a disturbing sense of dissatisfaction among students and staff.

The focus on research throughout the departments may serve to increase the amount of publications produced in UCD and help to bolster its international academic reputation, but will this be to the detriment of the level of education offered to students?

A university should not forget its students in the search for acclaim and neither should they forget the people that work hard to make the lives of others easier.

The survey cites a sense of disappointment prevalent in the respondents. The glossy new-look UCD that is portrayed in advertisements and publicity may have le many feeling that the improvements have just been superficial.

The changes have perhaps come at a cost. The increasingly bureaucratic atmosphere has led to a disintegration in morale in many areas of the college and a lack of human warmth.

Academic staff questioned responded that communication and consultation needed to be prioritised while students felt that UCD’s reputation should be earned through dedication to standards of excellence in education, and not created with new architecture and rebranding.

Grounds and maintenance staff feel angry and out of the loop, as do many students, both groups feeling that their welfare has been ignored in the race to climb the international college ranking tables.

To a student trying to get the best degree possible in order to gain access to a profession that he or she loves, and to a maintenance worker who works late to rearrange all the tables in the restaurant to accommodate the exams, international rankings are meaningless.

What does mean something is the assurance that one’s presence in UCD is valued, be you illustrious professor, anxious student, or diligent gardener.

Many denizens of UCD lack this assurance and the industrial action planned in the near future by grounds and maintenance staff is just one symptom of this failure.

Clarification On the 2nd of October George Hook stated in an opinion piece in the College Tribune that there were no university teams in the first divi-

sion of the AIB League. This is in fact inaccurate as both UCD and Limerick have teams playing the first division.

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FEATURES

College Tribune

16th October 2007

Being gay in UCD and the Chatty, outgoing and open-minded; Scott De Buitléir is the kind of student that everybody gets along with.

But it hasn’t always been as easy for Scott to fit in, as he grew up with the trials and tribulations that are part and parcel of being gay.

“I remember playing kiss-chasing at five with a guy from across the road, but at that stage, I had no idea that that was wrong, and it wasn’t until a bit later when I heard other kids slagging gay people that I began to wonder.”

Scott was fortunate in that he grew up in an open environment and his parents were accepting of him; he

Jennifer Bray speaks frankly to second arts student Scott De Buitléir about being gay and how he has struggled to fit in does acknowledges though that some one feels that the general attitude tomy sexuality on religious grounds, I “I knew it was people do have to deal with the strug- wards this is changing in his favor just advise them to stop bible-bashing gle of facing criticism from both fam- with time. and live up to what they call thema man I wanted ily and friends alike.

“When I was younger I remember selves. Are Christians not meant to to be with. I Scott is living evidence that being thinking I’d be married to a woman, love others regardless and use their different, or out of the accepted norm, because it was an image we are all hit fundamental teaching of treating othreally thought is something that is not always readily with from TV and books, of a man and ers as you yourself wish to be treated? accepted in our society today. “Before I a woman being the only combination the world would To those who believe homosexuality even put myself into the category of for a marriage. is a mental illness, I respond that this find it too odd, ‘being gay’, others were teasing me “Yet when it came to what I was view is plainly old-fashioned, outdatfor my posh accent, and in my school, feeling, I knew it was a man I wanted ed and ignorant.” but now I can ‘posh’ meant ‘gay’. to be with. I could never imagine it As is the case with many others, it visualise myself was secondary school that held prob“It was around this time that I final- even two years ago, I really thought ly classified myself as gay, and soon the world would find it too odd, but lems for Scott. “I went to an all-boys marrying” a erwards I became depressed, as now I can visualise myschool, which had Rugby as the main this was just another thing that made me different from everybody else.”

An issue for all gay people is that of their right to marry, and Scott for

self marrying my partner of two years, it is now a possibility.”

O en, some of the strongest criticism for ho-

mosexuality can come from religious sources, and Scott himself changed from a Protestant to Catholic and noticed the difference.

“It was there I was slagged for being gay.

“To anybody who criticises

sport and with this existed a stereotype of what he calls ‘Macho Men.’ I was never a sports-fanatic in any sense, and it was a group I did not fit into.”

It was in his sixth year that Scott came out as being gay. The fear of it was the worst part, and he recalls, “Before this, I felt that if I said I thought I was gay, I would be killed.” To his surprise, he found it was a period of great release, and in which he could finally ‘be himself’ and find his ‘own identity’. His personality changed from shy and introverted to talkative and outgoing.

Scott found most of his friends to be accepting of his sexuality, but he recalls

Crossing the threshold Peter Hanami outlines three steps that will help integrate international students into life at UCD Step One – Respecting their cultures

Step Three – Increasing the opportunities for interaction between the two cultures

Respecting a student’s culture is pivotal. For example: who they are, where they come from and what they value, allows a stronger relationship to be formed. If a student feels comfortable, they are more likely to succeed in their new study environment.

A starting point to understanding culture is to look at some of the major components such as food, language, values, religion and education background that are part and parcel of living life. Respecting a student’s culture creates a positive element that is particularly conducive for building trust and starting the process of integration.

A common theme that arises for Japanese students regarding their experiences of studying abroad is the challenge to make friends with local people.

Most students share their anguish of not being able to speak English well enough and their lack of ability to make friends. O en, it is not the English language ability that impacts their ability to make friends but the lack of opportunities to interact with local students.

Institutions can increase opportunities by actively creating events and encouraging international students to participate.

For Example: Japanese culture is group based and so it is common for Japanese to do many activities with groups of people and not individually.

Therefore, to be faced with the prospect of undertaking an activity alone is a daunting task for a Japanese student.

To overcome this, personal invitation to participate with a group can quickly get a Japanese student involved. Fear of failure, making mistakes and uncertainty are reduced and a common bond can be quickly formed.

An international student co-coordinator explains, “We have found that once a student has local friends, most of their daily worries tend to disappear their confidence grows and they blossom.”

Step Two - Analyse your culture and consider the best way to share it

International student will never be able to integrate 100 percent; no matter how hard they try. An international student cannot stop being who they already are. That is a creation of their culture, no matter how much they want to change, adapt or participate.

Helping international students integrate is about being aware that they cannot be aware of the colloquialisms that may exist in corners of our society. This includes the Irish sense of humour, the use of slang, and many other differing aspects of the life we live.

FEATURES

College Tribune

16th October 2007

11

search for individuality “I found that if you were unattractive or did not talk about the right thing you were generally shunned” a member of his group who he felt had generally looked up to him before he had come out, receiving Irish tutorials from him on a regular basis and having a generally amicable relationship.

But he explains, “When I came out, I found that he drew further and further away from me, and I had the idea that perhaps he held a view against gay people.” Scott was proven right when a friend of his approached the man on a night out and mentioned Scott’s name, only to be met with the words, “What? That faggot?”

The period of revealing yourself as gay has been coined as ‘coming out’, and it is a particular time of which Scott speaks candidly. “ Many feel that in order to keep in with their group, they must deny their sexual-

ity not only to everyone else but o en to themselves, and in reality this is an extremely dangerous thing to do, as in my experience, it can lead to mental instability and depression.”

Scott points out that false notions

and misconceptions do not help those who are trying to find their sexuality.

He uses the example of the idea that being gay is a choice. “It’s ridiculous, it is not a choice. I never chose to be gay, it’s all biological.”

“Another myth is that HIV is a gay disease. Do the people who say this know that there are now more heterosexuals with HIV than homosexuals?” It is clear to Scott that the stigma attached to being gay is still there,

Coping with the unexpected Colin Gleeson speaks to Fionnuala Harrington, a student mother in UCD, about the difficulties entailed with parenthood at such a young Fionnuala Harrington has just celebrated her nineteenth birthday. She has completed her first year of independent life, and is enjoying matters away from the constraints of secondary school existence a er a year in UCD. Life had been relatively good up to this point. But all of that changed in the space of just a week.

“I had just turned nineteen, an adult, and basically I had found out I was pregnant and had failed the first year of college in the same week,” she recalls.

Fionnuala endured nine months of pregnancy while repeating her first year in UCD, and had her baby in April, just a month before her summer exams. “I got through that no problem and I was at home all summer so I was able to bond with my baby and that sort of thing.”

Her son is two and a half now, and she has turned twenty-two. Fionnuala remembers the shock of discovering her pregnancy at such a young age, “It was awful, I was very emotional. I did a lot of crying because I’d failed my first year of college and I was away from home at the time as well.

“I was on holidays and my mom was on the phone planning my going into second year, and I kinda had two things to tell her, one, that I wouldn’t be going through to second year, and two, that I was pregnant. So, it was worrying and tough.”

Fionnuala’s pregnancy was a healthy one and she was glad of support from family and friends during the period, and she is glad that things worked out the way they did.

“You know people go to England (for an abortion). I don’t think I could ever have done that really, I didn’t think about it. I think I would have regretted it long term.

“I basically kept my head down; studied, focused on my repeat exams; it was how I got through. I had a really healthy pregnancy, really healthy life-style, walked a lot and met up wit a lot of friends, went home, it was actually fine.”

She recalls the stigma that society today attaches to young, single mothers, and saw first-hand the effects it can have. “At the time I was pregnant there was a lot of discussion on the radio of single mothers and I remember feeling very conscious of the fact that I was pregnant.”

In spite of all the work and the sleepless nights to ensure the best for her son, Fionnuala concedes that he does suffer from the fact that she attends college during the week.

“When I came back to college, a er I was with him all summer, he was getting a lot older and we had a really good bond, but he’d say, ‘Oh mam, you’re off to college’.

He’s never really upset, he understands really, but going back into third year was really hard. I really loved him.

“I tried to keep an up-beat attitude about the whole thing, that it wouldn’t be forever, but it’s tough going alright. At the moment, because he’s young, it probably won’t affect him. I’ll probably be back in his life full-time before it will scar him. I know that he does kind of play up when I go home and he’ll make it tough for me, but

I understand.

“I head off and I say goodbye, and he knows I’m heading away, but I talk to him on the phone.

I’d say there’s a middle element there that might have an effect, just in the way that he acts when he knows that I’m going away. In his own way, he’s probably used to it as he’s at home with my mom and my brother the whole time and I’m down every second week or when I can.”

Fionnuala split up with her son’s father after three years, but she maintains, “He was great while I was pregnant, but his priorities were different. He was a few years older than me and that’s not what I would have been expecting. So I le . I’m much happier knowing i’ve made that decision, then staying in a relationship that would have been horrible and wouldn’t have been any good for a baby.”

The young woman is this year the auditor of Parentsoc, a society set up as a support group for student mothers in UCD, and she herself is moving forward, as strong as ever.

and he acknowledges it may be a long time before it is ever gone.

Despite this, Scott found University to be an “extremely open environment” in which his sexuality rarely had to enter discussion. It was taken as a part of who he is. Once he joined UCD, he got involved in the LGBT which is the college Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender society. It is on this subject that Scott hesitates, and reveals a truth not o en revealed; even if you are gay, it can be very difficult to fit in with ‘the gay scene’.

“The LGBT are great if you have no gay friends, or want a place to share and hear experiences, but while I was there, I found that if you were unattractive, or did not talk about the right thing, you were generally shunned.”

A er being a part of the gay scene for quite a while, Scott found it to be “shallow”, “bitchy” and a place in which wanting to be a member of the clique involved looking the part and having the same interests of others.

He uses the example of his passion for the Irish language, and how other gay friends viewed it as ‘unfashionable’. What was being discouraged was individuality, the very thing these people have in the first place strived and fought for. The term ‘fitting in’, according to Scott, comes down to nothing more than being yourself, and accepting others for who they are too.

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FEATURES

College Tribune

16th October 2007

Sylvia Stoll speaks to a Ugandan doctor, Patrick Okao, about the AIDS/HIV epidemic and the struggle that lies ahead

Providing emergency aid in Ethiopia and Darfur James Geoghegan speaks to the Noel Wardick of the Irish Red Cross about emergency aid and his experiences in Ethiopia and Darfur

Fundamental human rights such as that of a person’s right to life are what humanitarian aid organisations such as the Red Cross strive to protect.

Noel Wardick of the Irish Red Cross describes his first experience of humanitarian aid in Ethiopia, where he was in charge of the management of the project.

The programme was centred in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. “They had a terrible problem with street children, orphans in poverty and children abandoned there,” he explains.

It is important to note that in Addis Ababa, more than 30 per cent of girls aged ten to fourteen are not living with their parents. Part of his work involved what are known as ‘night watches’.

“We would search the streets of Addis Ababa throughout the night and try to identify particularly vulnerable street children and very o en trying to identify young girls and trying to get them in our programme,” he continues.

Ethiopia holds one of the largest populations of orphans in the world; thirteen percent of children throughout the country are missing one or both parents.

The very simple aim of this programme was something that many of us take for

granted, “It was geared towards giving these children some sort of a normal existence, some stability, and to remove them from the dangers of street life.”

Noel Wardick has spent over seven years working with different humanitarian organisations and almost six years moving between Ethiopia and Uganda, but he says the biggest crisis situation he has ever faced was the seven months he spent in Darfur.

“I thought I’d seen it all. It was the scale of this problem that disturbed me the most. There were masses of people that had been displaced. I worked in refugee camps in Ethiopia and in Uganda but these just completely dwarfed those.”

As well as the scale of the problem that he faced in Darfur, he notes, “It’s made even more depressing due the fact that Darfur is totally man-made and it’s not necessarily a climatic issue, there is no famine it’s largely a man-made catastrophe”.

The fact that Darfur is a man-made catastrophe, and continues to be such, makes the job of an aid worker even more difficult. He highlights the huge concern that humanitarian organisations have when there are areas that are

just too dangerous to gain access too.

“It greatly distresses aid workers when humanitarian organisations don’t have access to the communities that they are trying to serve”, says Wardick.

He illustrated the enormity of the task that he faced, and that other organisations continue to face, when he describes how Darfur, while only a regional area of Sudan, is equal to the land size of France.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated on the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, referring to Darfur, “One of the reasons for our failure in Rwanda was that beforehand we did not face the fact that genocide was a real possibility. And once it started, for too long we could not bring ourselves to recognise it, or call it by that name.”

Humanitarian aid organisations are by their nature apolitical organisations, and so, while they may acknowledge that Darfur is a man-made crisis, they must remain impartial in their work.

Wardick refuses to be drawn into pointing the finger with regard to this issue, explaining, “As an individual it is very difficult, you know what the reasons for it are and would have individual views on the solutions and who the perpetrators are.

“But when you’re working for an apolitical organisation, impartial organisations such as the Red Cross, those individual views must be kept exactly that; impartial. Our mandate on the ground is the provision of life-saving, emergency humanitarian activities, and they’re provided in a neutral impartial way.”

He notes the importance of being able to deal with conflict with the understandhing that by expressing political views, or views of a political nature, it is inevitable that you are going to upset one side or the other. It is then that you become part of the political process or part of the war.

“In order to maintain your credibility as a purely humanitarian organisation, you just have to be professional enough to do your job; whether that’s as a water engineer, a medical doctor or in a manager’s position; and put those personal views to one side.”

The humanitarian aid sector is now comprised of fully professionalised organisations that employ people from all sectors of society. The job of a humanitarian aid worker is not suitable for all, and as the head of the Red Cross international department, he explains, “You need to hire not just academically qualified, but also mentally qualified candidates. They need to have character and be suitable for working in very stressful environments.”

It is impossible not to be struck by the humility in Wardick’s voice when he describes his work. Humanitarian aid organisations across the globe have saved millions of lives while risking their own.

The important work that these organisations undertake cannot be underestimated. While the professionalised nature of humanitarian organisations is heavily underlined, it is the strength of character of the individuals involved that makes it all possible.

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The Great Battle of Our Time Current reports on HIV/AIDS show that the epidemic is far from under control. In light of this, Uganda, even though still threatened with the devastating effects of HIV, has been successful in dramatically decreasing the number of new infections.

Patrick Okao is a medical doctor and a native of Lira, Uganda. Before joining the MSc in Humanitarian Action at UCD, Dr. Okao held the position of Specialist Surgeon at Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital in Kalongo, a sub-district of Pader in Northern Uganda. His insights into the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda are both professional and personal.

Okao explains, “Initially, people didn’t know what HIV and AIDS were.” At first, HIV/AIDS was called slim a er a Swahili word meaning thin. Then, during the eighties, a HIV/AIDS epidemic broke out in the Rakai district of lake Victoria. Due to diagnosis problems, the epidemic started spreading rapidly inwards.

When the rate of infected people had passed ten percent, the Ugandan government became alarmed.

The president himself, Yoweri Museweni, became involved in the fight against AIDS. During this time, the ABC (Abstinence, Faithfulness, Condoms) approach was introduced.

Okao recalls, “The president went public. He went over the radio, he was on the television and he was in international conferences, telling people that we have a problem. AIDS is a problem.”

Okao continues, “This outreach was the reason people assumed that Uganda was the only country struggling with an HIV/AIDS epidemic. In reality, most of Sub-Saharan Africa was also already affected at the time and was hiding to hold on to their public image.”

Problems in the fight against HIV/AIDS are con-

nected to societal structures. Rebel groups in Northern Uganda caused much unrest in the past. As a result, people fled from the rebel groups and were placed into camps.

“The internally displaced were ordered into the camps by the army, because the army was thinking that if people come into camps they can mop the rebels.

But it was not easy. It was very difficult. The rebels were also causing a lot of casualties in the army.

“Then they failed to flash out the rebels and things got out of hand. People were put in concentration camps, and it’s in camps that HIV can spread very fast, because people are in small houses, they are crowded together.

“Young girls no longer have the regulations they could have had when they were in their specific villages. Then you find that people were not growing crops. There is famine. They only survive on food from the World Food Program and the UN. “You find that to get money, they might end up in prostitution. Men who have HIV and have money can take advantage of that kind of situation. And that is how HIV became a burden in the area.”

The First Lady and Christian organisations in Uganda have recently launched HIV/AIDS campaigns focusing on abstinence as the primary preventative method. “They were mobilising the country’s youth; people were putting on t-shirts saying that they were virgins.”

Okao declares, “The supporters of this campaign claim that the use of condoms can not be effective in prevention of AIDS.” This statement received great criticism from various parties.

“Yet, the wider picture is the promotion of the use of condoms, abstinence and being faithful (ABC). And later they have added another C (circumcision), because there was research which showed that circumcision reduces the likelihood of getting HIV by about 50 percent.”

Concerning the treatment of HIV infected Ugandans; Okao says that drugs are mostly accessible to the population. Organisations like Caritas and Chris-

tian Relief Services (CRS) run programs within existing hospitals.

“CRS run a clinic called A-clinic. The staffs are from the hospital. It’s the money and the drugs, which come from the CRS.” The clinic offers services like anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, counseling, and community support.

The government is also involved with the distribution of drugs through health centres. The problem with the government’s distribution of drugs is that they sometimes run out of supplies. “The patients then have to run around looking for drugs, at times even buying them, if they have the money,” remarks Okao.

The Ugandan government’s latest initiative concerning ARVs has been the building of a factory that will manufacture drugs on site in Uganda. This will bring down the Ugandan government’s costs significantly.

Okao reports that when the government started buying drugs from India, “The price for triple therapy (meaning a combination of 3 ARV drugs) dropped to 1000 times cheaper.”

However, the World Trade Organisation’s Treaty concerning the manufacturing of the ARV drug patent brought the import from India to an end, and forced the Ugandan government to look at other alternatives for affordable drugs. The new factory is a result of this re-orientation.

Even though the ARV drugs are now widely accessible in Uganda, some of the HIV-infected population is still excluded from treatment. Okao says that the extensive testing that is necessary creates a problem.

Testing is not offered everywhere, and some struggle with coming up for the necessary money to travel to the respective facilities.

Okao also says that, without a prescription, it is very difficult to gain access to the right drugs. “There are very many tests which have do be done, and they fix you on a combination, which you can’t think about yourself without undergoing the tests.”

If a patient develops resistance to his or her com-

bination of drugs, they can be switched to a different combination of drugs, but it again requires medical services. Okao points out that problems arise when ARV drug and condom supplies are low. He attributes this to logistical negligence on the government’s side.

Uganda’s example shows that HIV/AIDS is not just a health problem. The fight against this epidemic needs to address its causes from a variety of angles.

Even though Uganda has made tremendous improvements, HIV/AIDS is still a crisis that affects the entire community. Okao says that many people have died in Uganda, and that there is not one person who hasn’t lost a friend or relative because of AIDS.

Students working with the locals Aoife Ryan examines UCD Volunteers Overseas and speaks to Eddie Campion about the challenges faced during his trip to India last summer There can be nothing further removed from living in the realms of Celtic Tiger Ireland than volunteering to work in the heart of a poverty-stricken community within a third world country.

UCD Volunteers Overseas is a nonprofit organisation set up to enable UCD students to contribute to voluntary work in the developing world. This organization, over the past five years, has worked in areas such as Delhi, Haiti, and Niger.

UCDVO is a member of Comhlamh, to which all of its volunteers are bound.

Essentially, Comhlamh is an organisation funded by Irish Aid to satisfy the growing interest among the Irish public in helping developing countries by volunteering for short periods of anything up to a year.

The UCDVO mission statement emphasises the need to listen to the wisdom of local knowledge and learn from the expertise of local people in all the community projects where the charity works.

It is also quite clear that the organisation believes in the fact that the students are the beneficiaries of the projects, in just the same way as the community.

Both locals and volunteers must learn to grasp and maintain “a mutual respect for each other’s cultural identities”.

For the last three years, many of the UCD students going abroad have been located in Haiti. In July 2007, 27 students arrived in Gros Morne, in the Northeast of the Republic.

While overwhelmed by the amount of attention they received from locals and UN peacekeeping troops alike, they soon settled into their new beautiful

Caribbean home. It would be here that they would build dry walls and plant elephant grass to help prevent excessive flooding caused by deforestation.

As soon as the ‘blancs’ were back in town, as the volunteers were affectionately nicknamed, an enormous effort was put into reaching the young generation of Haiti, as was the case in all of UCDVO’s projects. A sport’s camp for kids was organised, which focused on educating the children while providing an outlet for fun. Much socialising was done with the elderly who lived in the local ‘poor-house’ also.

Science student Eddie Campion traveled to Delhi in India with the charity last summer. He recalls, “I had wanted to participate in something like these projects for about a year or two before I signed up.”

Delhi is the longest-running project UCDVO has been involved in, with students travelling to the country and partaking in successful projects for the past five years.

Delhi is a city with eighteen million inhabitants in Northern India on the banks of the river Yamuna. Many things that strike the UCD students on arrival are, as is similar in other developing countries, the disregard for human life, the ever-prevalent poverty, and, of course, the insufferable heat. The result is that the students experience a massive culture shock when they arrive.

Eddie continues, “Well, I firstly went for the interview late October/early November last year, having done some voluntary work experience for the Crumlin Children’s hospital beforehand.”

According to Eddie, one of the major requirements for traveling with the charity is the ability to work in a group, which he felt he would be more than able to manage. On hearing the news that he was accepted as a volunteer, Eddie was delighted.

A er a short period, he found himself attending talks in Kimmage House that were based on vaccines, AIDS and how to conduct yourself in another culture.

“During my time in Delhi, I worked in a boys’ orphanage, teaching kids between the ages of four and thirteen.

Many of these kids had suffered from drug, solvent and alcohol abuse from an early age. A vast amount lived on the streets for up to two years. Although initially shocking, you learn to deal with it.”

The new Indian students of the orphanage were not allowed out of school boundaries for a certain period to ensure they would not leave and revert to their old ways. These kids were taught maths and English alongside playing games with the volunteers.

Not only were these kids and their backgrounds so unfamiliar to Eddie, but there were also many other new experiences that he would have to confront every day. This encompassed not only the local food but also occurrences such as two heterosexual men holding hands in public in declaration of their friendship. Such is the difference in cultures.

Despite the overcrowding, shouting traders, occasional robbing and the changing infrastructure per kilometre, Eddie Campion is hoping to return once more to Delhi next year.

“Not to sound righteous, but my experience enabled me to see the bad points in our society, such as materialism. A chocolate bar that costs seventy cent here could feed someone for three days in Delhi. Ten Rupees is the poverty line, that’s twenty cent, that’s just madness.”

UCDVO hopes to continue concentrating on Delhi, Haiti and Nicaragua in future years, so as to build on the good work that has already been done. As expected, many UCD students will sign up to participate. Application forms for this summer will be available soon.

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College Tribune

16th October 2007

The woman who de Caitrina Cody speaks to world-famous author Jung Chang, who visited UCD last week to discuss her latest book, Mao: The Unknown Story Jung Chang is a small woman, immaculately dressed in a pink jacket and brown skirt, with sparkling diamond earrings in her ears. Her jet black hair hangs in a thick curtain down her back and her gentle smile is one recognisable to many from the inside cover of her famous book, Wild Swans.

She looks older now, her smile crinkling the corners of her eyes but there is a sense of strength that radiates from her refined appearance. She is surrounded by people, all of whom want the attention of the world-famous author. They want to tell her how much Wild Swans meant to them personally, they want to look into the eyes of someone who has been through so much.

Chang remains patient, turning her calm, brown-eyed gaze towards everyone she meets, as if they are the only person in the room. Her delicately pronounced English is precise, her vocabulary extensive and her voice low and melodic.

She seems at home here, more at home here than she would be now in the country of her birth. “I love Ireland and the Irish people. I’ve been here many times and I always enjoy myself.

I was in Glendalough yesterday which was a beautiful experience.”

Chang is the author of two books, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China and Mao: The Unknown Story.

They are very different books, the first dealing with the memoirs of Chang’s grandmother, her mother and her own autobiographical account of life in Mao Tse Tung’s Communist China.

Wild Swans was undoubtedly a labour of love for the Chinese woman but her next step was to tackle a very different subject, a biography of the life of Mao Tse Tung, communist dictator of China for over thirty years and a man with absolute power of life and death over a quarter of the world’s population.

“Wild Swans was a personal journey for me, the story of the life of my grandmother, the life of my mother and my life, and so it was a very different writing experience to that of writing Mao, which was more of a historical account. I enjoyed writing them both, but in very different ways.”

Chang was the first person in the Chinese province of Sichuan to leave China to pursue a British education and admits that for many years she tried to banish thoughts of China from her mind.

“I was in England for ten years and for ten years I didn’t

want to think about the past. But in 1988, my mother came to stay with me and for the first time in my life she spent time telling me the stories of her life and of her childhood. I real-

ised that I had a duty to tell our stories and show people the truth.

“Mao seemed to be an obvious subject for a book because he had dominated much of my early life. He had so much

control over the lives of my family and of the lives of a quarter of the world’s population and yet the rest of the world seemed to know astonishingly little about this man, the man that was the

The Young Vo James O’Brien phones China and listens to the views of two Chinese students, one from Hong Kong and the other from mainland China, about the current communist regime China is today recognised as one of the world’s leading economic powers. When it comes to human rights however, it still holds one of the world’s most atrocious records.

Human rights such as the Freedom of Speech and the Freedom of Information have been neglected by the Chinese government.

While the situation is improving, there is still a lot of control over mass media in mainland China.

Chinese student Yui Chi speaks to the College Tribune from Hong Kong and explains, “The mainland Chinese government have very strict censorship laws on the media. I don’t think the foreign description overstates the situation.

“Last time I went to Beijing and spoke to some professors in a top university, they actually said that they think mass media would be nothing but trouble if it was allowed to run independently without the government’s control.”

The Chinese government have continuously received bad press for its internal affairs with re-

gards to human rights. China, being one of the biggest players in world politics, has an important role in the UN, especially in light of the recent Burma crisis.

Yet, it is a country with a horrific record in terms of human rights, and will at some point find itself under the UN spotlight with regard to this very subject.

China itself had a similar situation to Burma in 1989 when students from two of the biggest universities in the country held a protest at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

At the beginning of the protest, there were no signs of violence. The protest got a lot of backing from the people of China, and so the government became afraid of it. The reaction was to send in the military, which resulted in the shooting and killing of many student protestors.

This is the same government that is still in control today and that has been there for 50 years. Another Chinese student, called Dongjion, this time from mainland China, admits, “This event is something the government would like the people of China to forget. And they

make efforts to help people forget, it will not be printed in our history books in China, that’s for certain.”

In China, the level of control depends upon the region you live in and depends if you are political or non-political.

Fan Dongjian lives in a town in the eastern part of China, where about 100,000 people live. “People in my town usually don’t care about political things, what they mostly care about is family, jobs, friends and their homes.

They don’t even care about the most important parliament meeting in Beijing. It’s like our government make people forget about politics, they want to handle all the problems without our input.”

It’s not easy to find negative press against the government in mainland China, as Dongjian explains, “You must get permission to protest and big protests rarely occur.” There are smaller parties in China but they have very little power. Every four years, there is a new chairman and policy does change slightly, but in regard to control, the government still has a firm grip on power.

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nounced a tyrant most important man in modern China.

Unlike Hitler and Stalin, Mao still has a relatively harmless image so I wanted to bring people the true picture.

“I was born in Mao’s China in 1952, two years a er Mao came to power and when I was growing up Mao was like our God. When we were children, if we wanted to swear on something, we would say ‘I swear on Chairman Mao.’ Every child in China was taught to think, Father is close, Mother is close but no one is as close as Chairman Mao.” Chang herself believed in Chairman Mao until the Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and she began to see her own family members persecuted under Mao’s new regime. “My father was one of the few who stood up to Mao and protested against the Cultural Revolution and he was arrested, tortured, driven insane and exiled to a camp where he died tragically, before his time.

“My mother was under tremendous pressure to denounce my father. She refused and as a result she went through over a hundred public denunciations.

She was made to kneel on broken glass, and was paraded through the streets where children spat at her and threw stones at her.

“On my sixteenth birthday, I was lying in bed writing a poem when I heard the doorbell ring. My father’s persecutors had come to raid the flat. I had to quickly rush to the bathroom, tear up my poem and flush it down the toilet, because free expression was considered dangerous. We were told that Mao’s China was paradise on Earth. I thought

if this is paradise, what then is hell?”

When Chang began to research the life of Mao Tse Tung with her husband, historian Jon Halliday, she was shocked by the tyrannical vision that emerged. “It was worse than the worst nightmare. We discovered that Mao’s single mightiest ambition was to turn China into a military superpower so that he could dominate the world. In order to pay for nuclear technology; he exported food from China, food that the Chinese people depended upon for survival.”

In her meticulously researched book, Chang states that from 1958 to 1961, forty million Chinese people died from starvation, from overwork and from abuse, in order to pay for nuclear weapons. “Mao knew people were starving. He said ‘So what? We must educate the peasants to eat less. The dead have benefits, they can fertilise the crops.’ So, for a time, corpses were literally buried in the fields and crops planted on top. Mao admitted openly that for all his projects to take off, half of China might well have to die.”

Chang is particularly resentful of the censorship of books that Mao enforced in Communist China, especially as this censorship did not apply to the Chairman himself who was a voracious reader. “He had a huge bed; half covered with books so in the morning he would roll over, and immediately begin to read.

It was his favourite hobby but unfortunately he wouldn’t allow one billion Chinese people to read.

“When I was growing up there simply were no books of general interest

to read and books were burnt across China. To the population, Mao said the more books you read, the more stupid you become, but he did not apply this rule to himself.”

One of the author’s more controversial claims is that Mao Tse Tung was responsible for the deaths of over seventy million Chinese people in his time. “Yet, today his poster still hangs in Tiananmen Square. His image is still on the banknotes and he has been written into the constitution as the guiding light of China.”

She is emphatic that the truth about Mao must be brought to the younger generations of Chinese people, people who have not experienced the hardship of his rule. “The current government

ice of China “There are controls on radio and television; they are always on the side of the government.

It’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not true, if you can believe the rumours or the news; you have no reliable resource to know the truth.”

It must be said that the situation is much better than it was during the time of Mao Tse Tung.

This is a reflection of a strong economic China that is doing very well, and this has a knock-on effect with the standards of living that are improving vastly.

Dongjion explains, “Of course there are a lot of negatives about China and the human rights situation, but there are good points too. There isn’t a major difference in day-to-day life between Ireland and China. Education is very good in china, similar to Ireland, with nine years of compulsory study and huge increases in the amount of people going further with third level studies.

“China is getting better with regard to safety too. There are a lot of things to see and do here, I think this can be seen by the amount of tourists coming over here, people are said to be equal in front of the law even if it is sometimes ignored by our government.

“Another good point is that China can unite in the face of a natural disaster. For example, when there is a flood, there is a national effort to help find a solution. Charity from china is increasing all the time and we wish to help people escape poverty. We know our country is not perfect but it’s improving.”

China puts a lot of effort into economic growth but they o en ignore the basic rights of people.

If the nation is happy, morale improves and people work harder; then China can only benefit.

The Chinese government have a strong hold on power and won’t give it up easily; they have been there for over 50 years and will be there for a long time to come, but the people of China will not to return to the violence of the past.

Dongjian concludes, “The Government is still too strict, but I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of 1989 because people don’t feel the need to protest in China, they are quite happy with their life and they don’t believe that protesting would make much of a difference anyway.”

are still brainwashing China’s young generation into thinking that Mao was a great hero and that he did more good than bad, that the tens of millions of people that died didn’t matter because it was for the sake of success of China.

“Indeed this a ernoon I heard from the mouths of apparently intelligent Chinese woman that those millions of people who perished under Mao died happy for the success of China.”

According to Chang, the parents of young Chinese people o en seek to protect their children from the true horror of Mao’s regime. “The last thing they want their children to do is get involved in politics. I daresay that anyone that lived through Mao doesn’t want to live through his rule again, no matter what

they might say to tow the official line.”

Chang believes that positive change has been taking place in China in recent years but that further steps towards freedom need to be taken. “Let’s have more freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Chinese control of the media is tighter than it was a hundred years ago and that is a very dangerous state of affairs. Un-ban books. If you are happy living in a society that only permits you to read approved books, that’s fine, but I’m not.”

Her books are banned in China but Chang is pleased that illegal copies are being circulated via the internet and has even ordered copies for her friends at home. She has no contact with official representatives of China abroad and there is a twinkle in her eye when she describes her feelings of relief at not being obliged to attend official parties anymore.

“I used to be invited, until the Tiananmen massacre happened and I spoke out against it on British television, so I don’t get invited anymore. But the parties were quite boring so I don’t really mind.”

Her love for her homeland is obvious as she speaks and Chang is hopeful that her book will encourage her people to learn from past mistakes.

“I will watch that space on Tiananmen Square and the day that Mao’s portrait is taken down from the gate will be the day that China becomes a benign force. When Mao’s unknown story becomes a story that is known to all it will be the day that real change can happen in China.”

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College Tribune

16th October 2007

The Price of a Child As 70,000 children disappear in China every year, Jennifer Bray speaks to Jie about the issue, an anonymous Chinese woman with expertise in the field As 70,000 children disappear in China every year, Jennifer Bray speaks to Jie about the issue, an anonymous Chinese woman with expertise in the field Ten years a er a graphic programme The Dying Rooms brought us horrifying images of the cruel neglect in Chinese orphanages, comes China’s Stolen Children, a documentary detailing the events surrounding the kidnapping and disappearance of approximately 70,000 children in China every year.

Jie, an anonymous Chinese woman with expertise in the field, explains, “I am not very surprised by this number considering the size of the population. There are about 300 million children from nought to fi een years old in China,” according to Jie, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this article.

At the heart of many of these problems is the complex one-child policy, which was put in place to try and control over-population.

“The situation could be more complicated than what we understand of the one-child policy. In big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and some populous provinces like Jiangsu and Sichuan, the policy is still one child for each couple.

“In the remote and minority autonomous regions like Xinjiang and Ningxia, the policy is that rural couples can have two children. There are no limits on the amount of children allowed in Tibet. Generally speaking, most rural families in China can have two children, especially when the first child is a girl.

“From 2007, in a town, if the husband and wife are both only-children in their own families, then they can have two children when they get

married. You can see there are complicated policies on the amount of children you can have.”

The stress that this puts on couples is intense, and o en couples are forced to flee their areas in order to keep their children, or resort to further desperate measures.

“I have heard stories that in some rural areas, even in the very strictly controlled provinces, that some couples still find ways to get a son a er they have had a first female child. They bribe the doctors or scan the foetus to determine the sex of the child and then engage in selective abortions.

“They then leave the village to escape the control of the local family planning authorities so they can have more children, paying huge money as a result of ‘social support expenditure’.”

‘Social support expenditure’ is what parents of ex-

The great firewall of China

Danny Lambert examines the mass censorship of the press and the Internet that is occurring in China

At first glance, it is hard to really believe the scale of censorship in china. With further investigation, it becomes even harder to believe.

China’s Ministry of Public Security has official responsibility for the censorship of media in China, or rather for the ‘protection of [the public] from sources of dangerous or unhealthy thought, and the promotion of correct attitudes in the media of the Chinese people’, according to the Minister for public security, Zhou Yongkang.

As with much of China’s bureaucracy, however, matters are considerably more complicated than they appear (or need to be), and so countless provincial and regional agencies take responsibility for various aspects of this monumental task.

One face of China’s censorship efforts that might be most familiar to Westerners is its online censorship.

The MPS has identified Internet users as being among the most educated and affluent of its citizens, and so, in this country that still officially considers itself communist, the most

powerful and dangerous to the government.

In November of 2003, China launched the ‘Golden Shield’ project, or the ‘Great Firewall of China’, as it has become known. Essentially, the project aims to give the Chinese government complete control over what its citizens can see and write on the Internet.

Bearing in mind that Chinese is the second most common language on the Internet a er English, this is obviously no easy task, with billions upon billions of web pages that could conceivably contain ‘unhealthy thought’.

The MPS, enormous though it is, still lacks the manpower to trawl manually through these billions of pages in the search for incorrect sentiment, and so has simplified matters for itself by erring grossly on the side of caution.

It has a network of informants in Internet cafes throughout China, who will report any website that may ever have had incorrect sentiment, and

on a single report from an informant (the Chinese term used means ‘safety watcher’) will blacklist a website permanently, rendering it inaccessible to all but the most determined and techno-savvy.

Among the websites that the MPS has identified as containing ‘dangerous and incorrect informations’ are the BBC world news website, Amnesty international’s website, innumerable chatrooms, and Wikipedia.

Strangely, the MPS does not censor CNN’s international news in English.

To anyone who has used both sites, it seems odd that the MPS should consider Wikipedia a more dangerous source of truth than CNN. But then China’s censorship is nothing if erratic and illogical in its application. Items that have met with the ire of censors in the past have included a production of Hamlet, but not Macbeth, by the Beijing Shakespeare Society, English-language Chinese new year cards, and American anatomy textbooks which were deemed ‘gratuitously explicit’.

tra or second ‘illegal’ children must pay in order to keep them. Jie tells us of how there are many wealthy families or celebrities in China who have extra children despite the fee.

“There is a new policy that ‘social support expenditures’ will vary according to the family economic situation, which means the fees wealthy families pay will be much higher than the average amounts.”

For those who cannot escape the authorities or pay the huge costs, they face the heart-breaking possibility of having their children abducted and sold.

“It is sad. I have read many reports about cases of how police recover the abducted children and how desperate the parents are when they cannot get any information on their children.

“I hope the national anti-abduction plan to be agreed by the state council at the end of 2007 will help more to reduce the tragedies, together with more attention and joint actions by media, local community and government.”

As The Dying Rooms related, an orphanage is hardly a good place for children, especially in light of the fact that the programme itself is banned in China. Jie acknowledges that there are certain orphanages that get less assistance than others.

Another option considered by couples, and perhaps the most harrowing, is abortion. With a figure of 80 abortions for every 1000 live births, the problem is only getting bigger.

What about the children who are not talked about, those happily settled in their families? Does the image of China and its treatment of children have a negative influence? “Generally speaking, children in China are safe and happy,” remarks Jie. “Maybe over-spoiled to some extent, since more children come from one-child families, which means they are the only centre or ‘little sun’ for their parents.”

What is not unfair to say though, is that China has a major problem to deal with, and enforcing onechild policies on couples across the Chinese regions is clearly not the right answer.

THE TURBINE TURBINE THE

ISSUE XXI ■ VOLUME III

IT’S SATIRE, STUPID!

INSIDE SHOCKED AHERN DECLARES, “YOU CAN’T PROVE A THING” AS REGULARITIES DISCOVERED IN FIANNA FAIL ACCOUNTS LAST REMAINING IRISH COW LOCATED AND SLAUGHTERED AS NEW BSE CRISIS IS EXPUNGED DUP RUNS OUT OF THINGS TO CONDEMN CASTRO “NEARLY DEAD” JOB-SEEKER REGRETS NOT LYING ABOUT BEING TEAMPLAYER

STILL JUST 31P!

SANTA SHOT DOWN OVER CHINESE AIRSPACE Leading Western diplomats were yesterday locked in heated debate with the Chinese authorities a er it was revealed that Santa Claus has been captive in a Beijing prison since December last year.

“We are well within our rights as laid out in international law”, said the Chinese ambassador to the U.N. yesterday. “We identified an object violating our airspace on the night of the 24th of December last year. Despite repeated radio warnings, the intruder refused to leave or land, and we were forced to take defensive action”.

Santa’s vehicle, a painted wooden sleigh, was struck by a barrage of 40mm antiaircra flak shells. With the immediate death of seven reindeer (and with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer severely injured, later to be hunted down and bludgeoned with poles), the vessel was crippled and forced to crash-land, whereupon the pilot was apprehended

by Chinese security forces.

Western officials have been assured that St. Nicholas is being treated fairly, but will be held until his trial, scheduled to begin in January 2001. Sources say that “things are not looking good” for the bearded philanthropist. “Once we learned that this man had been violating our sovereignty at least once a year, we set up a task force to work out how he had repeatedly breached our security”.

Chinese internal security Chief Shi Sum Ho told a press conference, “We found that the children of several Western families have been in yearly contact with him, and believe that the documents they sent him contained sensitive military data which allowed him to bypass our defences.”

These children, currently charged with espionage, have been moved to a secure facility where they face interrogation.

BUSH TO WITHDRAW FROM DOMESTIC AFFAIRS Beginning the job of outlining his legislative agenda to the American people, US President George W. Bush today reaffirmed his intention to withdraw American personnel, funding and attention from the country’s domestic affairs.

Republicans have long criticised ex-President Clinton’s policy of pouring billions in federal funds into domestic matters with senate leader Trent Lott described the approach as ‘foolhardy in the extreme’.

“Clinton actually gave funding to hospitals, public schools and social services clinics, rather than slashing work-forces, enforcing privatisation, and auctioning off infrastructure”,

he pointed out. “That’s just unAmerican”.

Secretary of State Condolezza Rice also lent her support to the policy. “We must be involved according to our national interests”, she said, “and not in some haphazard way that seems more dictated by the crisis of the day than by serious, thoughtful domestic policy.”

Bush is likely to push hard to withdraw all government personnel from the country, beginning with those outlying states which lie west, north or south of Washington DC. The United States currently has around 800,000 personnel on the ground in the country, amounting to a wage bill of

around $30bn. This is money that Bush aides are saying could be better spent on malfunctioning strategic missile defence projects, oil exploration schemes in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and recessionary tax-cuts.

“Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity,” Bush told the nation in a recent address, “Which is just as well, as from now on, the government doesn’t really care about any of you, aside from aiming to impoverish the majority in order to maintain business competitiveness.

You’re all on your own now, so be civil to each other.”

18

REGULARS

College Tribune

16th October 2007

the diary of eimear...

B.A.

After an exhausting search for the perfect outfit, Eimear Fabulous goes on the hunt for the perfect male to complete the look So the big Department night out with the gorgeous Dr Will, Department head and dreamboat extraordinaire ended up being a big fat disaster.

First of all I was shopping all last week for the perfect outfit to impress Dr Will with. I spent four days shopping and bought five different outfits. I ended up spending about €700 in total.

My Dad is going to cut me off when he sees the bill. But like I said to Marikka (with two Ks) my new bestie, it’s an investment for my future you know.

So there I was, strolling around Dundrum looking for the perfect lipstick to go with my killer outfit and there they were, five of the snot faced first-years I was tutoring last week, and they were totally laughing at me. Laughing. At me. Thank Gucci I don’t have to look at them again.

The Department was like ‘Oh we don’t need you to tutor any more.’ Fine by me but I get the feeling it had something to do with the class last week. How was I supposed to know that there was supposed to be actual teaching involved?

Anyway, finally I picked the perfect outfit; killer heels, pencil skirt and a gorgeous Prada wrap-around silk blouse. All very sophisticated. To top it all off I got a facial and a massage on Friday morning. I felt good, I looked good, I oozed good. How could Dr Will resist?

Picture the scene, me sitting there with a glass of red wine (which by the way I cannot drink because it gets me really drunk) when Dr Will walked in. Not alone as I’d planned, mine for the taking but with a Yoko Ono type attached to his manly arm. I’d spent seven tonnes on clobber and she wasn’t even wearing a bra. Wtf? Anyhow, I was totally raging. That bitch had

quite clearly been trying to trap him into thinking that she was some type of intellectual.

In fairness to me, it was a very stressful situation. I had to do something. So, in timehonoured fashion (fashion being my strong point) I got completely boloubas. We’re talking as hammered as a bag of nails here. I was completely locked and eventually plucked up the courage to approach Dr Will but I had to put up with Yoko sitting beside him giving me an icy stare.

It didn’t start too smoothly. He started asking me what my thesis topic was going to be.

So I froze and totally blagged it and said it was going to be some kind of a study comparing The OC to like Irish modern society.

I think I did pretty well considering that I had no time to prepare. Anyway it’s not due for nine months anyhow. Not too sure how Dr Will took it though. He changed the subject.

Bet you he thinks I’m some sort of prodigy or something.

So then they started waffling about some dead guy called Jean Paul Sarge or something and his deluded needy girlfriend and I didn’t know what to say so I pretended to have to go to the bathroom.

I went up to the bar instead and had a few Jaeger Bombs, just to take the edge off, and well it’s all really a blur a er that. I remember someone putting me in a cab and the taxi man going bezerk at me because I got sick in his cab but come on. It’s a Friday night. What did he expect?

I have been having flashbacks of Donnybrook Garda station since. Fucking taxi driver wouldn’t take one of Daddy’s cheques for the soiling charge so he brought me there. Thank Dolce and Gabbana that Marikka of the two Ks was there to help me patch up the night’s events but I get the feeling that she was leaving

out parts. Not to worry I’ll ask her again when we go shopping on Tuesday, there’s a mid season in BT, I can’t wait.

This week in College was so strange. Dr Will is totally checking me out but loads of the class won’t talk to me now. Hope I didn’t say anything to offend anyone on Friday. They’re all complete nerds anyway. Like who in the

name of Oprah Winfrey wants to sit around on date night talking about relativity and phenonomonology, whatever the hell they are. Absolute losers.

The UCD Fashion Show is coming up so I’ll have to get myself on the steering committee or something. Take my mind off this fucking thesis and on to more important things

Five things I hate about…

CYCLING 5. Wearing a helmet Sure, they can save your life but helmets are just so stupid looking. There is no way to avoid looking like a tool in your helmet. No, not even if it has jaunty racing stripes painted on it and is shaped like a rugby ball. It will irritate your chin, make your scalp sweat, flatten your hair and embarrass you, especially when you happen to see people you know.

Cycling is awkward enough without having to wear head-gear that proclaims the poverty-stricken state that prevents you from driving a car to the world. The only thing to do is pass yourself off as a fitness freak and keep talking about how good you are to the environment.

4. Getting too hot There’s a choice here. Either you can refuse to wear enough clothes while cycling and freeze to death at the start of your journey, or you can

wear a nice warm jacket and arrive in UCD a redcheeked, sweaty-backed mess, in dire need of a cold shower. You will never arrive at a normal temperature.

Whatever you do, never be so foolish as to attempt to wear a scarf and gloves during your cycle as this may induce a feverish state that will push you over the edge. Carrying a backpack on your back will create a pool of sweat that will collect between your shoulder blades and slowly spread across the rest of your back, providing you with a glorious sweat patch that will be noticeable by all.

3. People who steal bike lights Why? Bike lights are useless without the holders and they cost about €7 in Argos. Just get your own. It’s one of those irritatingly petty thefts that are committed simply to annoy the victim. There you are with your perfect set of brand new lights, big massive ones that blink and change colour,

with your high moral ground that allows you to frown at all the other cyclists whizzing dangerously by in the dark.

Then bam. All you find when you return to your bike are new, massive, empty holders that won’t do you the slightest bit of good when you’re flying down the narrow, pitch black lane that leads to the main road near your house. Now you’re just like the ordinary reckless folk. Remember to take your lights into your lectures with you next time.

2. Other cyclists Elderly cyclists on ancient bikes that move at about one mile an hour and yet succeed in taking up the whole bike lane. Competitive young gogetters who ring their bells at you in impatience and overtake you with a smug air of satisfaction, as they skim by on their brand new urban street bikes that cost their parents €1000.

The other cyclists are not your friends and you must never trust them. You are in direct competi-

tion with them and must never allow anyone to overtake you without putting up as much of a fight as your ten-year old second-hand Raleigh can possibly muster.

1. Hills The number one enemy of every cyclist is the hill that faces them on the way to college every morning. The very thought of chugging up that hill on your dodgy gears that clank and groan in protest every inch of the way, is enough to make you roll over when that alarm goes off and bury your head back into your warm duvet, sinking into a blissfully oblivious sleep.

Instead you drag your protesting muscles out of bed and harness some much-needed energy for the trip. A large bowl of porridge should provide enough fuel for the trek uphill. Who knows, there’s always a chance you might find out that you have a puncture and be forced to take the bus.

REGULARS

I only got the last of my shopping done three days ago. This happens to me every year. I make my list, and check it twice mind you, but it seems I just have more and more things I need to buy.

I want to stop. And I try, I really do.

My therapist says I’m making some forward motions, but if I want to break free from compulsive shopping, I must look for a new job.

It’s too much some years. I have limits. People think I’m jolly all the time, and I do hate to disappoint them, but even Santa needs a break. I mean, after a hard night - delivering all those presents - what a man doesn’t need is some snotty nosed little brat playing silly buggers with his present sack.

Take last year for example, I gave Jimmy his toy - (a copy of ‘Grand The Auto’) - and le it under the tree like I usually do. But no. Jimmy decided that he’d changed his mind, and he no longer wanted ‘Grand The Auto’.

A er informing me that he was no longer ‘a baby’, Jimmy proceeded to rifle through my sack with childish abandon. Melissa Cuthbert’s doll is no longer in one piece, and I do believe that if the wheel of Tom Kleisner’s truck removes itself one more time - I will be forced to ban automobiles from the present list once and for all.

What can you do with kids these days? I le a note for Jimmy’s parents - just to let them know not to expect him back for a few months. A new little helper on the acreage will be a big help.

Rudolph got into the mince pies again, and there’s an awful lot of mess in the stables.

I’m getting very tired of having to cram a whole year’s worth of work into one night. This is going to be my last year wearing this stupid outfit. No more

College Tribune

16th October 2007

sleigh riding and chimneys for me!

But, to be fair, it has been another successful Christmas. I still didn’t go to North Korea though, because last time they tried to shoot down my sleigh using some anti-aircra weapons.

It was Rudolf’s red nose that gave away our position. That damn nose will be the death of me. I wanted to get the slaves to make me some defense missiles just in case, but that is beyond our budget, ho ho ho!

Hopefully Al Gore received his special present: a death threat saying that

if he continues to research global warming, I will be sending in my Reindeer Alpha Squadron to take care of him.

If the world finds out it was the vast amounts of exhaust I spew into the atmosphere from the slave workshops that caused global warming, well... never mind, who would suspect Santa Claus? Ho ho ho! Most people don’t even think I exist. Ho ho!

THE HUGH BRADY GUIDE TO

LEADERSHIP

This week: The Hood One to look up to. He’s got a remote hide-out, a hypnotic grip over his subjects and a curiously slender waist.

On the down-side The Hood is made out of plastic. Not unlike a few UCD students....

19

UCD Ents in Association With Vodafone Presents.

FUTURE K I N G S OF SPAIN UCD STUD E

THURSDA NT BAR Y 18TH O Doors @ 8p CTOBER m Roar Go v I.D. Esse ntial

Tickets €5 on Sale in Su Shops, Bars & Online @ UCDENTS.com

g Soon es Cominhe Stone Ros T 7 # nce us Experie Ponti k c Ja # 8 arty Boy .P a.k.a ss) and his es.

(Jacka he Big Nasti band Tslan # 9 - ATBA # 10 - Jape # 11 - Alphastates # 12 -

UCD Students’ Union and Action Breast Cancer

Please Support Think Pink Monday 22nd October

College Tribune

16th October 2007

SPORT SUPER LEAGUE

BY EOGHAN BROPHY

Decision time The season is only three games old and it is time for teams to make some big decisions about what they want to get from the Superleague. At the end of the day it is about enjoying yourself. But will it be so enjoyable if your team is losing by five or six goals every week?

Captains need to be asking themselves certain questions at this stage. How will they approach the season? Is the team here for the laugh? Do they want to win or just see if they can manage to survive the 90 minutes of football after the night out before? We take a look at two Saturday Premier Division games this week along with one encounter from Division One. Pen-Islanders versus The Shawshank Fellas In a league where people go looking for a laugh after a piss up the night before and turn up late needing extra players and a set of jerseys that look vaguely similar, a little bit of organisation goes a long way.

Pen-Islanders found that out the hard way. They were 3-0 down at half time; the first goal coming from the penalty spot, coolly slotted away by Shawshank’s goalkeeper, Ronan McDermott. Shawshank went on to score two more goals in the second half to maintain their unbeaten record and left Pen-Islanders decidedly deflated.

Dalhousie OAP versus Shadwell Town Dalhousie captain Brian Doyle was fairly confident going in to their game at the weekend. And why wouldn’t he be?

Already they are two clear at the top and the only team in the Premier Division to have a 100 percent record. They weren’t missing any players and were facing bottom of the table Shadwell town.

When asked what the score line would be, Doyle calmly predicted 7-1. But he wasn’t overconfident as was proved when Dalhousie went on to do better than that, putting Shadwell away comfortably with an 8-1 victory.

Doyle himself got four of the goals with Micheal Cawfield contributing another two. Losing to last year’s Star Cup finalists may not be the end of the world though for Shadwell.

They are conceding an average of nearly eight goals a game but are showing that they are well capable of scoring. If they can sort out their embarrassing defensive record they may still climb up the table.

The Posh versus Clara Woolhead Wanderers Though they missing right back Paul Baragwamath, The Posh’s captain Donnacha Lawler was quietly confident ahead of the their game this weekend. Unfortunately for Lawler they ended up on the wrong end of a 4-2 score line. Lawler described the game as ‘unlucky’ saying, “I felt we underachieved. And it could have been a very different story.” Ciaran Ruane scored two for The Posh but missed a penalty.

Clara Woolhead will feel happy with the victory but will want to tighten up the defence if they want to stay up at the top of the table.

Summary All in all, a decent weekend of action with plenty of goals.

One final question. Are the strikers in the Superleague really that good?

21

DOWN THE LINE

A football renaissance in Scotland As Scotland sit proudly at the top of their table in what has been dubbed ‘the group of death’, Jordan Daly examines the team’s resurgence on the international stage “The best laid schemes of mice and men go o awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy.” The wise words of Scotland’s favourite son, the poet Robert Burns, aptly summarise the sense of nervous excitement experienced by the people of Scotland as they watch their beloved nation play football.

How far can they go in this European Championship? They are in a great position to qualify a er beating France 1-0 at home and amazingly in Paris. They are above both Italy and France at the moment having emphatically beaten Ukraine at the weekend 3-1 in what Alex McLeish described as his best victory at Hampden under his Stewardship.

Scotland lost the away tie to the World Cup Quarter finalists but with a hugely partisan crowd and two strikes in the first ten minutes the nation once again became giant-killers.

As was the case with the win against France, it was forward James McFadden who scored and had a hand in the other two goals.

“The confidence in the squad to win games is incredible”, stated McLeish a er the upli ing result but why wouldn’t the team be confident when they have climbed from 88th in the FIFA rankings in March 2005 to 14th at present?

McLeish took over from Walter Smith, who laid the foundations of this successful campaign and le his successor with plenty to live up to. It comes as high praise then from Smith when he admits that even he is staggered by how much Alex McLeish has achieved as manager of Scotland. Smith knows that success lies in a balance of youth and experience and the importance of developing players in domestic clubs.

Rangers players Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and David Weir are likely to add experience to Scotland’s side while Smith was quick to also point out that they “Are now getting a number of younger players coming through”.

A er two or three years of maturation, the side has developed into a strong international presence that is founded in great clubs like Celtic and Rangers. Smith reflects, “I think what we have done more than anything is to bring back a bit of respectability both at an international and club level.”

The real seed of success has been put in place by the SFA. Former Scotland Manager Craig Brown told the media about their plan which was made a few yeas ago at the lowest

■ Alex Mcleish: Has achieved great things with limited resources

ebb of Scotland’s failure. “There was a very good development programme put in place back then. The SFA decided to instigate a community coaching programme.” He went on to give details of the 36 or so community coaches employed throughout Scotland to develop the game at grass roots level.

Walter Smith and Alex McLeish are both products of an excellent Scottish coaching structure. “It really helped find young players and then develop them.” he affirmed. Foreign imports also helped to raise the game in Scottish clubs, Larsson at Celtic and Laudrup at Rangers for example.

Problems arose however when mediocre

international players were brought in and overpaid for underachieving. Most of them were less talented than Scottish locals and far less enthusiastic.

Young Scottish players began to be unfairly replaced by imports but finally the opportunities have started to return to home-grown talent. Clubs turned to their youth development programmes and results are obvious in examples of Celtic’s Stephen McManus and Shaun Maloney who are now at Aston Villa, with more examples at Rangers and Aberdeen.

The Scottish squad is made up of eleven out of twenty five players playing at home, six at Rangers, four at Celtic and one at Dundee.

This is clearly the way it’s meant to be done, if only Ireland could emulate this system.

Brown lavishes credit on the Scottish coaching system. The school of coaching at Largs has reaped rewards with Smith at Rangers, McLeish before him, Strachan at Celtic and even Jose Mourinho all products.

Scotland has been working really hard to produce young players and coaches and the results can be seen clearly in the Champions League. Rangers are sharing the top of their group with Barcelona a er beating French Champions Lyon and Celtic recently beat last years Champions A.C. Milan.

Scottish soccer pundit Alan Hansen puts the success down to the actions of McLeish.

“He has said and done things at the right time; he is a great guy having played and managed at the top level”.

It must be noted here that Ireland’s own Steve Staunton lacks this experience and is an apprentice in comparison to McLeish who has mastered his trade. “He examines players available to him and plans tactics around that”.

The Scotsman is a creative and flexible leader. A er the win on Saturday McLeish praised his team’s perseverance. “They just keep climbing mountains with every win, every performance, they keep going.”

Scottish sports critic Chick Young seems to capture the voice of the Scottish public when he says: “Scotland cannot fail us now. They just can’t do this to us. Once we were hopeless and hapless; now we are hopeful and happy.

Delirious with joy actually.”

Scotland’s dream of Euro success is almost a realisation. Let’s just hope that the best laid schemes of mice and men can be more than just promised joy.

22

SPORT

College Tribune

17th October 2007

Scoreless stalemate FAI Ford Cup semi-finalists UCD and newly-crowned Eircom League Cup winners Derry City played out a scoreless draw in Friday night’s Premier Division clash at the Brandywell.

Despite their impressive performances in Cup competitions, there was an end-of-season feel to the game throughout as both sides look consigned to mid-table finishes. Derry experimented with players in new positions and UCD were content to return home with a point.

Given the level of football on display, a draw was the only fair outcome.

Derry suffered a blow in the first half when defender Ken Oman and winger Patrick McCourt, two of their most influential players all year, were forced off through injury.

Pts GD Pld 62 23 ■ Drogheda U 29 52 14 29 ■ Cork City 51 16 29 ■ St. Pat’s A 48 15 ■ Shamrock R 29 48 14 ■ Bohemians 29 40 -8 29 ■ Sligo Rvrs 35 3 28 ■ Derry City 31 -6 29 ■ UCD 28 -18 ■ Bray Wndrs 28 27 -9 ■ Galway Utd 29 23 -25 ■ Waterford U 28 18 -19 ■ Longford Tn 28

■ DERRY CITY

0

■ UCD

0

■ Jordan Daly Patrick McWalter, a constant threat to the City defence, created the first real opening in the eighth minute when he showed great strength to hold off the challenge posed by Kevin Deery, before driving in a dangerous low ball which goalkeeper Pat Jennings smothered.

UCD’s Conan Byrne couldn’t hit the target with his dead ball effort on 28 minutes and, just before half time, Byrne lo ed a fine cross from the right but Conor Sammon’s volley was blocked by the legs of Derry keeper Pat Jennings.

Kevin McHugh, whose scintillating strike proved the match-winner in the League Cup final against Bohemians, missed two second half chances for the Candystripes. McHugh’s le foot shot was forced past the upright for a corner by Quigley six minutes into the second half.

Alan Mahon fired a low 25 yard shot through a crowded penalty area to test a hindered Jennings in the 70th minute but the Keeper reacted just in time.

Derry skipper Peter Hutton made a

fine late challenge to prevent the Irish under-21 forward Conor Sammon from firing home from ten yards.

UCD lost 2-1 to Cork City last Monday night, their first defeat since September fi eenth. Cork City climbed into second place in the Eircom League of Ireland Premier Division table with their fifth straight league victory, courtesy of first half goals from Colin O’Brien and ace marksman Denis Behan.

UCD pulled one back through Patrick McWalter’s second half header, but Cork held out for another win, which li s them above St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers in the table. UCD now have two remaining away league ties to Bohemians and Galway City and one home encounter le with St. Pats.

Derry City: Jennings, Hutton, Oman (Sharkey 35), McCallion,

Deery, Molloy, Martyn, McGlynn, McCourt (McCafferty 25), Higgins (Farren 76) and McHugh.

UCD: Quigley, Mahon, Kenna, McNally, Gallagher, Byrne, King (Bolger 68), Finn (Purcell 84), McDonnell (McMillan 87), McWalter and Sammon.

Referee: Hugo Whoriskey (Dublin).

FOR PETE’S SAKE PETE MAHON WRITES EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE COLLEGE TRIBUNE Six of the Eircom League of Ireland’s Premier Division clubs were in the media last week claiming they were making a stand against some of the proposals on the future of the league made by the FAI. Basically, they are attempting to put a stop to the capping of wages that is due to be introduced to the league next season. It will mean that players’ wages will not exceed 65 per cent of a club’s annual expenditure.

These clubs must have short memories. If my memory serves me right, we all signed up to a participation agreement at the start of the season, and this issue was part of that agreement.

There may be a perception out there that the league is trying to block out investment into clubs with this proposal, but I don’t think they are. They are looking to get a more professionally run league.

If you look at the current situation there are at least three clubs that I could mention to you, at the risk of being libelous, that I know are not paying their players. There is one Premier Division club, and there are two in the First Division. And that is fact.

But this proposal would put a stop to this. It would mean clubs would live within their means like

we do, Bray Wanderers do and several more do.

These clubs need to get a reality check.

There are seven full-time professional clubs out of 12 teams in the Premier Division now. This seven obviously have big budgets, but I’m not in envy of them.

This is not sour grapes on my part.

When I became manager of UCD, I signed into an agreement as well. And it is one that I haven’t broken. If I didn’t like the way the club was being run, I’d be gone. But I think we are a properly run club.

There are two Dublin clubs and a provincial club who have basically got a sugar daddy. There is obviously a situation where the people who are investing this money into the clubs can see the potential for property development, and that’s probably where they will get their pound of flesh back.

Moving to Greenfield sites, selling off the existing ground for development and making the new stadium self-sufficient through the introduction of leisure centres and retail units is the plan for some of these owners.

There is nothing wrong with that.

Good luck to the clubs partaking in this, but I think clubs need to live within their means. However, what many of the players are looking for now in terms of wages and other perks cannot be sustained by our league.

The issue of these six clubs looking for the league to be a

fully professional one is well-known.

The birds in the trees are even singing it.

They want an all-Ireland league with seven or eight clubs from down here and four from up the North, which would be run on a full-time basis. If that comes about, then good luck to them.

I have no problem with progress, but it remains to be seen if that idea can be brought to tuition or not. People have dreams and great fancy ideas, but the first thing they have got to do is get people coming back to the games.

Turnout remain poor and it’s not just confined to UCD. It’s universal. Overall, I don’t feel the league had made a decent improvement on attendance to matches since the restructuring of the league last year.

NEWS SPORT

College Tribune

17th October 2007

23

SPORT IN BRIEF COMPILED BY EOGHAN GLYNN UCD fall at the quarterfinals of the Dublin Senior Football Championship.

After last year’s success in the Dublin Senior Championship, it may have come as a shock to some to learn of UCD’s defeat at the hands of St. Brigids in Parnell Park last weekend.

However, manager Tim Healy isn’t overly downbeat following his side’s one point defeat and was quick to point out that a comparison to last year’s team would be unfair.

“There were only three people in the starting line-up this year that started last year,” stated Healy, “Key players were also involved in club games last weekend. We weren’t really given a great chance this year because of all the changes.”

Inexperience and a lack of confidence could also be judged to be factors in UCD’s defeat, as Healy admits. “Some of the players seemed to be lacking in a bit of confidence on the day. We’re still in a relatively early stage with this team and are building for the O’Byrne Cup and particularly the Sigerson Cup.” The senior men play DCU next week, a tie which Healy stressed the importance of. “This game will give us some indication of the progress we’re making as a team.”

Ladies Hockey makes a promising start to the season

UCD’s Ladies hockey firsts have made what could be regarded as a consistent if not spectacular start to the season. Following two draws against both Old Alex and Pembroke, they find themselves in a mid-table position with two points. However, club captain Muireann O’Keefe remains pleased with the start her team have made.

“The last game was against Pembroke who’ve started very well with two wins. So we were pretty happy with that draw.”

Confidence doesn’t seem to be an issue with this team, as O’Keefe states. “We’re training very well for the start of the season, so the girls are very confident. We played very well in the pre-season matches too.”

This Saturday, the ladies play Three Rock, a team who’ve made a less than impressive start with one draw and two losses. Although their vice-captain has suffered a broken collarbone, O’Keefe still The following two games away to Loreto and Hermes are of critical importance to any title aspirations that this team may have, a fact that O’Keefe is all too aware of. “These are definitely two big games and always have been big games. But we’re happy with the start we’ve made so you never know.”

College quietly confident Ben Blake previews the Semi-Final between UCD and Longford Town and talks to Captain Tony McDonnell about the Students’ prospects UCD are just one game away from an FAI Ford Cup final outing, as the draw for semi-final happened last week.

The home side will be quietly confident about the outcome, which pits them against Premier Division basement club Longford Town, while the other fixture sees six-time winners Bohemians face Cork City.

Currently on a high a er progressing via an emphatic 1-0 win over current holders Derry City at the Brandywell, College is sure to be the favourite to book a place in the December 2nd final, which will be held in the RDS this year.

Club captain Tony McDonnell has been around the block with his side, but while his love-affair with UCD spans over a fourteen-year period, the PFAI Chairman will hope to feature in his first FAI Cup semi-final next week.

While the home advantage is an obvious factor, McDonnell doesn’t see the tie as a foregone conclusion. “Obviously it’s a home draw and that’s as much as we could ask for. It was going to be a difficult tie either way, but we’re glad we’ll be at home. Having said that, I don’t think our home form has been

anything to write home about, so anything can happen.” he said.

The defender-cum-midfielder, who is the second most capped UCD player after Ciaran Kavanagh, knows the feeling of coming close to success but falling at the final hurdle, having been at the club when they went down 2-1 to Derry in the 2005 League Cup final.

He has a steely determination that he feels his team mates need to emulate, by this time going all the way. “It is a great opportunity for us, but that’s all it is, an opportunity. We have to crystallize that. We have the players; it is just about grasping the challenge.” Inconsistencies are bound to occur in a youthful side such as UCD’s current crop, but McDonnell can see an advantage in their lack of years.

“Our players may lack some experience, but they have no fear. That’s what you get when you have a group of

young lads who are pushing each other on to succeed, so we know we can do it.”

Content with the draw, UCD manager Pete Mahon was singing from the same hymn sheet as his skipper. “I was very happy with the home draw. It is the first one we had in the cup this year.

If I’m being perfectly honest, we would have wanted Longford at home and they would have probably wanted us.

“We have played in the last four quarter finals and they have all been away, so I think we are more than due a semi-final at home.

Only one team can be at home and I’m glad it’s us. However, it’s no big advantage and it is still a 50/50 game,” he explained.

Having seen Drogheda make a shock exit to St. John Bosco’s in the first round, Shamrock Rovers bow out to Sligo and Bohemians knock out St. Patrick’s Athletic in the quarters, Mahon is glad to

“It is a great opportunity for us, but that’s all it is, an opportunity”

see some two of the Premier Division’s minnows still in with a shout.

“The great thing about it is that one of us will be in the final. So the so-called big clubs won’t have it all to themselves.” While Longford Town aren’t having the best of times in terms of league position, that is largely down to the matter of a six-point deduction received earlier in the season for administrative errors.

Mahon is well aware of Town’s threat. “The most important thing I need to do is to make sure our players don’t get side-tracked because we are playing Longford. They are in a false position in the league because of the points that were deducted. They are a far better team than the league lets on.” he warned of Alan Matthews’ side.

Picking up just one point from two league encounters against their semifinal opponents this year, the UCD boss knows they will have a battle on their hands on Sunday, the 28th October.

“They have beaten us already this season, so there is a warning there for us.

But if we play to our full potential, we can progress to the final.”

24

College Tribune

17th October 2007

SPORT

■ UCD MARIAN ■ MUSTANG

“WE HAVE THE PLAYERS, ITS JUST ABOUT GRASPING THE CHALLENGE ” TONY MCDONNELL ON UCD’S SEMI-FINAL HOPES: P23

95 109

Mustangs breeze by Belfield UCD-Marian got their Superleague campaign off to a rocky start last week against last year’s title holders DART Killester. Unfortunately, their title chances won’t be helped by this defeat in Belfield at the hands of St. Paul’s from Killarney.

The first periovd opened explosively, with Killarney putting thirteen points on the board in the opening five minutes. UCD quickly retaliated by scoring eight of their own. It was from here that Killarney went to town and stretched their lead to ten points.

The first period was an aggressive affair with UCD being awarded two pairs of free throws within ten seconds of each other, which Marian player David Ryan converted with ease.

This would set the tone for the evening with free throws being awarded le , right and centre. With the conversion of his fourth free throw Irish-American Ryan had scored ten of UCD’s nineteen points.

This was one of the few times UCD

■ Bryan Devlin drew even with St. Paul’s during the night. Despite several clear chances towards the end of the first period, UCD could not increase their tally further. The same could not be said of the Mustangs, whose veritable manmountain Matt Hilleary single handily stretched the lead to 25-19.

UCD certainly could have edged in front had they taken their chances, but this combined with their inability to deal with Hilleary in and around the basket cost them the period.

UCD came straight out of the traps in the second period with a two pointer from Jim Clement to close the lead to 25-21. This hopeful restart was scuppered by Kevin Foley, who missed both his free throws.

However, it was in this period that Jim Clement found his stride for UCD. This strong player was responsible for keeping UCD within shouting distance of the Mustangs, scoring a hat-trick of three pointers one a er another. A er his third three pointer

his tally was at sixteen, from UCD’s 34.

Towards the end of this period we saw exactly what UCD were capable of, as scores from the likes of Kevin Foley, Pat Beilein and of course the incendiary attacking combination of Clement and Ryan, went unanswered

by Killarney.

Again UCD’s inability to halt the giant Hilleary cost the boys from Belfield dearly. Coupled with Hilleary, Nick Covent came to the fore for Killarney clocking up twenty points of his own by the end of the second period. This period saw UCD-Marian coming within two points of Killarney but never showed signs of drawing level, let alone edging in front.

Every time UCD got within two points they missed passes, missed baskets and committed fouls. The teams returned to the dressing for the break with the scores at 53-49 to Killarney.

In any sport in the world, one can always tell which team is getting an earful from their coach. In this case it

was most definitely UCD. Killarney, who returned promptly, were not joined on the court by UCD for several minutes. It can be assumed that Coach Cormac Connor (who looked utterly composed while courtside) gave them some strong words of advice.

The second half started slowly, with Ryan scoring twice a er about two minutes of open play. Killarney were awarded two free throws which were converted with ease by Nick Covent. As Killarney broke the 60 point mark, UCD only trailed by four and the game was still in sight.

This achievement was largely due to the powerful trio of Beilein, Ryan and Clement.

With three minutes to go in the third period UCD tied the scores for only the second time, thanks to a fantastic two pointer by Kevin Foley.

Again with scores even, UCD failed to take advantage of their purple patch.

Even a late three pointer from Gary Edge (what a name and what a player) could not salvage the period and it

ended 80-74 to the Kerrymen.

In the final period UCD began to tire. Covent, Mitchell and Hilleary were rampant in their attack and nearly every time they broke quickly it resulted in at least two points for Killarney. The final period was the dirtiest of the lot with UCD being awarded three sets of free throws in the opening four minutes, which were promptly converted by Kevin Foley(2) and Gary Edge(1).

As Killarney broke the century mark, UCD trailed by eleven and attempted valiantly to claw it back with a flurry of late scores from Foley and Peter Flynn, but they le it too late. It ended 109-95 Unfortunately for the fans, there was an incident in the final minute which nobody wanted to see. There was tension on the court, the situation taking longer than you would usually expect to defuse.

Ultimately it’s apparent that UCD will have to pull up their socks for their next clash in DCU against St. Vincent’s.