D U B L I N
U N I V E R S I T Y
The Provost on Trinity’s future
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S T U D E N T
N E W S P A P E R
He’s watching
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Tuesday, October 31st, 2006
www.trinitynews.ie
“Totalitarian management style” lost College €15m
News Dublin Pastor condems gay marriage p2
Christine Bohan
News Over 700 Trinity graduates lose vote in Seanad elections p2
Trinity College has lost €15m in one year, turning a €5m surplus into a €9.4m deficit, despite major cost-cutting measures implemented by Provost John Hegarty. The budget deficit is a blow to TCD, which three weeks ago became the only Irish university to take a spot in the Times Higher Education Supplement’s Top 100 universities in the world. One of most vocal critics of the current Provost, Dr Seán Barrett of the
Economics Department, lashed out at the “totalitarian management style” that has overseen the massive deficit. The Treasurer’s Office, which has overall responsibility for the college’s financial situation, has blamed the deficit on a change in accounting practice brought in by the college this year. The College’s most recent financial statements show that although income rose by 7.5%, most notably from research grants, expenditure rose by 14%. Further, the amount of money in the ‘cash at bank’ account fell from €19.3m to €7.3m.
In a statement to Trinity News, the Treasurer’s Office remarked that “No additional public funding has been received to meet this deficit.” They also said that "the College’s ability to plan financially for increased levels of activity in both teaching and research is being undermined by the lack of financial flexibility that arises when the majority of costs are driven largely by state-approved pay awards, which are then not always fully matched by increases in the Department of Education and Science tuition fee and grant.”
The College received €84.9m from the state this year, up 3% from the previous year but still less than the current rate of inflation. The Treasurer’s Office is also concerned about a shortfall in funding for capital investment projects. Although many major projects have been successfully completed, the statement notes that the College could face further difficulties: “College is concerned that the level of funding available is insufficient to address back-log and ongoing maintenance along with health and safety
College forced to restructure, again
Opinion John McGuirk on Sinn Féin p8
Features
John Lavelle
Chloe Sanderson on religion in schools p11
Books Kerrie Forde on Paris Hilton’s new autobiography p13
Science Nasa satellite to benefit Trinity researchers p14 The Phil’s annual Islamic Fundamentalism Debate saw the media descend on the GMB. The event sparked controversy around main guest Anjem Choudary. Full story on page three. Photo: Martin McKenna
Sport Rugby firsts loose to Barnhall p20
TrinityNewsTwo
• David Kitt • Simple Kid
requirements.” The lack of major increases in government funding has meant that Trinity, along with other Irish universities, has been forced to turn to the private sector for funding in order to compete at an international level. Ethical concerns were raised over this trend however, when it emerged that Diageo was funding an alcohol study in UCD earlier in the year. Similar questions were raised over CocaCola funding a Chair in Globalisation in the TCD Economics Department. • Continued p2
Lincoln’s Inn to re-open under new management
Societies spark feminist fury and moves to tougher rules
Niall Hughes
Anna Stein
The Lincoln’s Inn pub is set to re-open in February 2007 after planning permission for renovations was granted by Dublin City Council. Work has already begun on the pub, situated at 18/19 Lincoln Place, which is hoping to compete with the Pav for the student market. The property is being leased from the College by the Thomas Read group trading as Sharmane Ltd. Other pubs operated by Thomas Read group include The Harbourmaster, Pravda, The Bailey and Ron Blacks, however the new Lincoln Inn is not set to become an über-trendy bar, but instead is staying true to tradition as a “pint drinker’s pub” as Eamon Fleming, Purchasing Manager for the Thomas Read group put it. According to Mr. Fleming the pub will be very similar to the way it was before its closure. “The closest example to its style within the group would be The Oak. • Continued p2
A complaint has been lodged with the CSC regarding society posters which allegedly “objectified women for the illegitimate advertising of society activities.” The complaint was made about two posters, one for the annual Club Philth night, and the other for the Law Society’s Welcome Back Party, which were put up around campus. A request was also made to the Junior Dean for the formulation of an overall policy regarding the contents of posters. When asked to comment on the complaint made about the Club Philth poster, Phil President Daire Hickey pointed out that the poster had actually been made by the Student’s Union, not the Phil. He did however describe it as “a pathetic complaint”. “There was”, he said, “no intention to depict women negatively, nor do I believe there was any such depiction.” Ents Officer Barry Murphy defended the Club Philth poster, saying that “it wasn’t that bad, just three attractive women in a
club.” He also pointed out that in his opinion “the Law Society poster was much more provocative.” When asked if he sympathised with the nature of the complaints he said that he “took their complaints on board, but they weren’t that justified.” Mary Clarke, Auditor of the Law Society admitted that whilst the poster could be “open to scrutiny on grounds of relevance, or perhaps criticised for a lack of imagination”, neither she nor the rest of the committee of eight females and five males had intended to cause upset. These complaints follow one of a similar nature made two years ago. In response to this previous objection the CSC issued broad guidelines regarding poster content. These state that “posters which contain offensive or inappropriate photographs…are not acceptable.” However there is no clear definition of what is considered “offensive or inappropriate” Despite the existence of thesebroad guidlines, Barry Murphy claimed that “didn’t know about any [rules] to do with this [postering].”
When discussing the regulations governing society postering one prominant society head commented that “no one takes any notice of the society rules anyway.” Murphy also admitted that pressure had been put on him by Joe O’Gorman, Honorary Treasurer of the CSC to “err on the side of caution” in regards to postering and change a planned poster for the DUBES school disco party. It is believed this poster would have featured semi naked women dressed as school girls Although in Hickey’s opinion this complaint shows that “the watchdogs clearly have nothing better to do” Mr O’Gorman stated “the request made…for an overall policy coincided with the expression of a similar opinion within the CSC itself.” He told Trinity News that the CSC would be consulting the Advertising Standards Authority and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission in order to generate “an overarching policy which will apply to Student Societies.” It also intends to sponsor a workshop to “better equip society officers to carry out their duties.”
College authorities look set to be forced into an embarrassing u-turn in the coming weeks on the structure of Trinity’s faculties. For the second time in three years, a College Working Group is in intense discussions about reorganising Trinity’s academic units due to growing discontent over widespread “administrative inefficiency”. These discussions come just over a year after a controversial “restructuring” process brought major changes to Trinity. Introduced in mid 2005, the new system created 22 powerful new schools and vice-deaneries. The six existing faculties were reorganised and lost most of their authority over financial matters. However the new system has been widely critcised by academics for its “administrative inefficiency” and for contributing to a growing gulf “between the academic community and the College management”. The most likely outcome of this u-turn would see the College organised into a number of “clusters” with the Schools of Business, Engineering and Science grouped together to create a single controversial “cluster” by the beginning of next year. Each newly created cluster will be headed by a Vice-Provost and will be given extra power over staffing, finances and information systems. According to documents viewed by Trinity News, College authorities have yet to reach agreement on what the newly created groupings will be definitivaley called. Certain influential interested parties have objected to the term “faculty” because it would imply that the College was reversing previous reforms by giving faculties back powers that had been removed in 2005. The terms ‘divisions’ and ‘clusters’ have been put forward with clusters the current favourte. In an interview with Trinity News Provost John Hegarty stated that this second round of restructuring aims to “provide a stronger connection between the schools and the centre” in order to “then think about devolving services from the centre .” Last year the the initial reforms caused chaos in the administration of joint entry courses such as Bess, Science and TSM. The Bess faculty office was forced to shut its doors to students for much of last year due to related funding cuts. Students’ Union President, David Quinn, who is a member of the current working group, said he considered the reforms “a positive move”. He hoped the new changes would have “a limited effect on students” and • Continued p2
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