Trinity News, volume 61, issue 2

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

1

TCDSU President, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, at the USI Rally for Education on 8th October. Photo: Matthew Mulligan

Student maintenance grant to be protected in Budget

Photo: Samuel Verbi

The student maintenance grant and back-to-education allowance will be ring-fenced in Budget 2015, Trinity News can exclusively reveal.

James Wilson News Editor

The student maintenance grant is set to be protected from further cutbacks in today’s Budget, Trinity News has learned. It is understood that the back-to-education allowance, designed to help single parents, the disabled and unemployed back into education, will also be ring-fenced.

Overall, spending on education is set to increase for the first time since 2010, with the departments of health and social protection also set to see their budgets increase.

Previously, the minister for education and skills, Jan O’Sullivan, had been non-committal about maintaining student supports at their current levels, telling the Dáil only last Tuesday that “changes to any public service, including the student grant scheme, cannot be ruled out.”

76,000 students, or approximately 38% of all full-time students are currently supported by the student maintenance grant. Budget 2014 was the first in four years not to cut their payment. The average grant recipient is entitled to ¤3,025 per academic year, or ¤84 a week, while a recent Bank of Ireland study estimated that the cost of attending third-level education in Ireland amounts to an annual rant ¤13,000.

While the student maintenance grant will be protected later today, it is likely that the

student contribution charge will still be increased by ¤250 in Budget 2015, despite strong opposition from a number of backbench Labour TDs. While both Fine Gael and Labour pledged at the last election not to increase the registration fee from its then annual rate of ¤2,000 – Labour even pledged to return it to the ¤1,500 level last paid in 2010 – Minister O’Sullivan has been evasive about the charges’ future.

When asked a question in the Dáil about whether the fees would increase in 2015 as planned, and whether she acknowledged the hardship caused to families, she merely commented that the fee would increase in accordance with the plan laid out by her predecessor, and pointed out that some 50% of students who qualify for free fees have their contribution paid by the state under the student grant scheme.

This year’s likely increase in the student contribution charge is the last in a series of pre-scheduled rises announced by former minister for education Ruairi Quinn in November 2011. Less than 100 days before, he had committed to opposing and campaigning against “any new form of third-level fees” but he reneged on this agreement shortly after going into coalition when he set out a fouryear plan that would see yearly

increases of ¤250 in the student contribution charge until 2015.

This year’s increase will mean that student fees will have risen by ¤1,000 over the course of a four-year period.

A face-to-face poll of 130 students carried out by Trinity News last week revealed largescale opposition to any further increases in the charge. 35% of respondents judged the charge’s likely rise to ¤3,000 to be the “correct amount” but 55% thought the figure already “too high”.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has been campaigning to protect student supports in recent months, calling for the restoration of the ¤25 million cut from the budget in 2013 and 2014, and for the minister to establish a “timeline” for the restoration of the contribution fee to “pre-crisis levels”.

In its pre-budget submission, the USI pointed out that the cost of going to college has risen significantly, while financial assistance has been cut. According to the submission, 64% of families struggle financially to put their children through college - a problem that will be exasperated by contribution fee hikes and the increase in rents (by 10% across the country and by 17% in Dublin).

Speaking to this paper on Sunday night, USI president, Laura Harmon, said that the union is

“cautiously optimistic about the protection of students’ supports in Tuesday’s Budget. Students’ unions across the country have been campaigning on this issue since the summer and we hope that work will pay off.”

This year’s maintenance of the grant at current levels, as well as the proposed increases to certain departments’ budgets, comes in the wake of a more optimistic economic forecast in recent months. Unemployment has dropped steadily since last October’s Budget, falling from 12.3% to 11.1%. This is its lowest level since February 2009, slightly below the Eurozone average of 11.4%, although youth unemployment remains stubbornly high at 25.2%, a drop of a mere 0.6% in a year.

Growth in the economy has also picked up with Irish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanding 7.7% in the second quarter of 2014, the largest single increase since 2007. As a consequence, the budget deficit has fallen to 3.7% of GDP and is set to fall to 2.4% next year. The extra spending is likely to push the deficit back up to 2.7% but this remains crucially below the 3% maximum allowed under European Union law.

Inside

PERMAID TALKS ABOUT LIVING LIFE AMPHIBIOUSLY AND TO THE FULLEST; WE EXPLORE THE FIFA PHONEMENON; PLUS YOUR VERY OWN CUT OUT AND KEEP MOSCHINO BARBIE.

>> >> >>

William Foley’s verdict on last week’s USI rally? Must try harder.

Adina Sulemane meets international students queuing for visas outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

DUFC returns to College Park in style with a 26-17 win over Malone RFC.

How to avoid the freshers’ flu

Features p.8

Comment p.13

SciTech p.20

Sport p. 24

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

2

News

What They Said

“ “ “ “ #BooksThatStayedWithMe Busy at Maths 3, Alive-O 5 - Matthew Mulligan, @_mattuna

Nearly half of TCD students have no confidence in government While there is little support for coalition policies on campus, Fine Gael is still the most popular political party among TCD students, according to a new Trinity News poll.

Trinity News’ student opinion poll ahead of today’s announcement of Budget 2015 has revealed little support for government policies.

Only 27% of students polled had confidence in the current coalition’s policies, while 48% did not and 25% were unsure.

Decided voters

James Wilson News Editor

“

Enda Kenny is Trinity’s preferred taoiseach with 24% of the overall vote.

Despite this, both coalition parties can salvage some comfort from our survey. If an election were held tomorrow, excluding undecideds, Fine Gael would take 28% of Trinity students’ vote, slightly above the 24% they took in the nationwide Ipsos MRBI poll in Thursday’s Irish Times. In joint second place, again excluding undecideds, Labour enjoyed the support of 13% of students, also scoring 4 points above their Irish Times total. Tying with them for second place was the Green Party which polled 13% amongst decided respondents, significantly more than the 5% of the vote they polled nationally in the last general election.

Our poll brought little joy for Fianna Fáil supporters. Dáil Éireann’s largest opposition party emerged with the support of just 12% of decided respondents, well below the 19% it has averaged in national polls since the local and European elections. Despite taking second place in May’s European elections and vying with Fine Gael for first place in many national polls, there was little evidence of strong support for Sinn Féin among students with the party taking only 8% of support on campus, well below the 24% it recorded in the Irish Times’ survey and the 30% it polled in last week’s Dublin South-West by-election.

cated they would not vote and a significant portion of students - 29% of respondents - said they were undecided on the issue. 15% indicated that they would vote for a different a party.

Leaders

Fine Gael can take further comfort that, Enda Kenny is Trinity’s preferred taoiseach with 24% of the overall vote, comfortably out polling his party in the popularity stakes and his coalition rival, Joan Burton, who 15% of respondents would like to see leading the government. Third choice was opposition leader, Micheál Martin who was 7% of students’ first choice for taoiseach. Trailing behind him, with 2% of the vote, was Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams. 22% favoured someone other than the leaders of the Dáil’s four main parties to become taoiseach, while 30% were undecided.

Students were less indecisive on the issue of third level fees, with 55% considering the registration charge’s projected rise to ¤3,000 a year in Budget 2015 “too high”, 35% considering it the “correct amount” and only 2% believing it “too low” a figure.

Trinity News interviewed 130 students face-to-face in three separate locations - the Hamilton building, Front Square and the arts block - between 8th and 10th October and 10th.

If any artists are looking for a muse, just to throw it out there that I’m v good at lounging on couches & doing nothing while looking moody

I think I may be in my first tumblr fight this has been a very confrontational day.

- Naoise Dolan, @naoisedolan

- Eva Short, @evadiminutive

Imagine being a middle aged man in a three piece pinstriped suit? You must think you run the world.

And you actually do!

- Neasa Connolly, @neasaconneally

If there were a general election in the morning, what party would you give your first preference to?

Fine Gael 16

Don't Know 29

Fianna Fáil 7

% Would Not Vote 13 Other 15

Labour 8 Sinn Féin 5 Greens 7

Which party leader would be your preferred taoiseach?

Kenny 24

Don't Know 30

%

Martin 7

Burton 15 Adams 2

Other 22

Do you have confidence in the current government?

Don't Know 25

Yes 27

%

Core voting figures

The so-called core voting figures - which include undecideds - have Fine Gael ahead with 16% support, Labour and the Greens on 8% and 7% respectively, Fianna Fáil on 7%, Sinn Féin on 5% with other smaller parties and independents on 15%. 13% indi-

No 48

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Catherine Healy D. Joyce-Ahearne Naoise Dolan Matthew Mulligan James Bennett Daire Collins Natalie Duda Kevin O'Rourke Mariam Ahmad James Wilson Fionn McGorry Clare Droney James Prendergast Eva Short Michael Stone Michael Lanigan William Foley Conor McGlynn Fionn Rogan Dylan Lynch Aidan Murray Luke McGuinness Alicia Lloyd Gavin Cooney Louis Strange William Earle A'Hern, Charles Croome Carroll

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Trinity News is partially funded by a grant from DUPublications Committee. This publication claims no special rights or privileges. Serious complaints should be addressed to: The Editor, Trinity News, 6 Trinity College, Dublin 2. Appeals may be directed to the Press Council of Ireland.

Postgraduate go-slow to end Postgraduate students in the school of physics have resumed teaching responsibilities this week after a proposed cut to their teaching pay was shelved last week.

Catherine Healy Editor A go-slow protest by PhD students in the school of chemistry has been brought to an end this week after the proposed cut in their hourly demonstrating rate was shelved on Friday. Students resumed full teaching responsibilies yesterday after an executive meeting of the school concluded that further discussions with postgraduate students are needed on the matter.

Postgraduate students had undertaken to only correct lab reports for the hours they got paid, with any unmarked reports being left until the following week, after being told in early September that their demonstrating pay was to be reduced from ¤17.50 to ¤15.00 an hour. The decision was communicated to John Carey, the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) school representative, at a meeting with the head of school and director of postgraduate teaching and learning.

Postgraduate students refused to accept the cut, feeling that they could not keep up the standard of correcting expected by the school on a reduced rate, Carey told Trinity News. “The demonstrating pay was reduced from ¤22.50 to ¤17.50 two years ago and a further reduction

made the postgraduates feel that they were taking the burden of the cuts, and dissatisfied with further cuts to the demonstrating rate,” he said in a statement.

“The number of undergraduate students was also significantly increasing from previous years, resulting in a large number of lab reports to correct.”

Carey told Trinity News that the proposed cut had “added to the frustration of the postgraduates, as the demonstrators only get paid one hour per week for correcting, regardless of the number of lab sessions they look after.” On average per week, he said, “a demonstrator could have two lab session (6 hrs) consisting of around 20 students to look after, and around 40 reports to correct on a weekly basis.” This can “easily take around 5 hrs of correcting per week (perhaps more depending on the lab difficulty), which greatly impacts their research commitments and personal lives,” he told Trinity News.

The cut was proposed after a school executive meeting in June confirmed that the school of chemistry’s non-budget pay from the faculty of engineering, mathematics and science (FEMS) would be reduced by 42%. While the level of demonstrating pay will be protected for this semester, the proposed cut may still be implemented next

term, Carey told Trinity News.

Trinity News understands that a similar action is now being considered by postgraduate students in the school of physics, which stopped paying teaching assis tants in 2010.

In a statement to Trinity News, Prof. Louise Bradley, the school’s director of postgraduate postgraduate teaching and learning, acknowledged that PhD students are not directly compensated for teaching responsibilities, but said that they receive a minimum stipend of ¤16,000 per annum for four years. “Where possible this is paid from the research grants of the individual staff members but if that funding ended or did not cover the full fees or stipend the School of Physics has been filling the gap,” she said. “We have over 100 postgraduate students in the school and the school has been providing significant direct funding to students in this way.”

If the school were to pay students for teaching hours, “it would create enormous financial difficulties for a significant number of students who would have to pay their own fees and may lose their full stipend,” she added.

“

A further reduction made the postgraduates feel that they were taking the burden of the cuts.

Illustration: Nadia Bertaud

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

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News

13 society accounts deemed ‘unsatisfactory’ Societies with non-satisfactory accounts for two consecutive years may be forced to disband.

James Prendergast Investigative Correspondent

Photo: Atalanta Copeman-Papas

CSC cuts Fourth Week grants Events not strictly within the remit of host societies will not receive funding for this week’s Fourth Week events.

Fionn McGorry Deputy News Editor

Fourth Week, the only dedicated student society week in the College calendar, has seen substantial funding restrictions this year, as a result of overall cuts to the Central Societies Committee (CSC). In a statement to Trinity News, CSC secretary, Caitríona Sheil, confirmed that only events that tallied with societies’ constitutional aims would be funded with grants, with events that do not clearly fall within this description not being able to receiving funding. Priority has also been given to events which take place on campus.

Societies have traditionally been eligible to apply for specific grants for events taking place in the fourth week of Michaelmas Term, providing that the events are free and open to all members of the College community.

But cuts to funding have now re-

sulted in restrictions on the type of grants awarded to societies. In previous years, Fourth Week was used by many societies to have events that strayed from their constitutional aims.

The aim of Fourth Week is to promote society activity in College and to allow societies the opportunity to attract new members as a result of having opened their events to the College at large. The week also serves as an opportunity for those who may have entered College late as a result of later CAO offers, or lack of accommodation in Dublin during Freshers’ Week, to join societies in a convenient manner, having tried their events.

However, the focus this year may see a shift as the ‘re-freshers’ society fair that has been used to provide students with the opportunity to get involved

with societies will not be taking place this year.

CSC has stressed that cuts to the Fourth Week budget are a direct result of overall funding reduction. All of College’s capitated bodies have seen funding cuts in recent months, with CSC funding expected to be cut by ¤17,916 over the next two years.

However, Sheil said she was confident that funding cuts would not affect the success of the week, telling Trinity News that “the enthusiasm and innovation evident among our societies will not be affected by the cuts imposed by College.”

“

The ‘re-freshers’ society fair will not be taking place this year.

Debating community fights old stereotypes

Online Editor The GMB’s debating societies, the Hist and the Phil, have been upping the ante to deal with female underrepresentation this term.

Women have been persistently marginalised in both societies.

The Hist last year instituted measures including female gender quotas in response to institutional sexism. For its part, the Phil has had trouble securing sufficient female representation in debates. To tackle these issues, the societies are adopting a range of approaches.

Phil secretary, Clare Ni Cheallaigh, the officer charged with running weekly debates, told Trinity News: “Despite the fact that there are so many intelligent and confident women in the Phil and in college in general, signups for chamber debates are still incredibly male dominated. Out of an average of fifteen or sixteen people that sign-up for a debate, it’s not unusual for only one of two of those to be female.”

The Phil last week held a “Women in Debating” workshop described as an opportunity to “discuss the best ways to overcome challenges which sometimes present themselves when competing on the Irish and international debating circuit”. Sally Rooney, a former best speaker at the European Debat-

ing Championships and one of the women facilitating the workshop, commented: “I think workshops that focus on sharing experiences and offering support to women can help to overcome some of the factors that prevent female participation”.

Meanwhile, the Hist has struggled to fill its female gender quotas for chamber debates. The society is addressing this through measures designed to attract new debaters. These will include creating a network of experienced female debaters to support fledgling speakers; workshops on chamber-speaking for women; and expanding outreach to different societies and other areas of college life outside the GMB. Michael Coleman, auditor of the Hist, said of these changes: “Sexism in debating, as everywhere, is such an insidious problem that it’s very hard to solve over night. It involves a need to constantly check our assumptions and understandings and that can be very difficult. That said, I do feel that in the last year or so the Hist has been making some incredibly positive moves toward making the GMB a more welcoming place for women, and that those moves are beginning to show.”

One measure will have a special impact for the inclusion of trans* women: a pronoun introduction policy. This was rolled out on the Irish circuit at the Trinity Open

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

competition last August. It involves all participants stating their preferred pronouns (‘he’, ‘she’, ‘they’, etc.) so that other speakers can avoid referring to them by the wrong gender during the debate. This term, the policy has continued for events like the Hist’s Maidens competition.

The GMB societies plan to join forces to host Ireland’s first women-only debating competitions in late January. They follow

similar measures taken in English universities: the University of Cambridge will host their first women’s competition in Novem ber, while Oxford has held an annual women’s competition since 2010.

Despite “a lot of positive progress recently”, Ni Cheallaigh stated that “we still have a long way to go to before female speakers are simply the norm and before we can be proud of gender

representation in the chamber”.

Rooney commented that “there’s only so much women can do to solve these problems - we can learn to look out for ourselves and one another, but sexism doesn’t persist because women let it.”

“

Auditor of the Hist, Michael Coleman, told Trinity News that the society’s poor financial records were “entirely an accounting issue relating to last year’s Treasurer.” need for all societies to be fiscally responsible,” given the 5% cut in funding societies to College’s capitated bodies, including the CSC. “Ensuring the financial security of DUPSA for the future is a top priority for this year’s committee,” he said. “To this end, we have adopted a number of measures such as ensuring that all payments are fully recorded and easily traceable for everyone concerned.”

In his report to the TGM, CSC treasurer, Andrew Burrows, explained that accounts “which have not been submitted at this stage are late, and have automatically been deemed non-satisfactory. Other reasons for accounts having been deemed non-satisfactory include unexplained cheques and the over-use of cash transactions.”

“Of course, there are situations in which using cash is the only option,” he added. “If this happens, it is essential that you keep the receipt for the transaction. In general though, I urge you to use cheques instead.”

Burrows warned that any society with non-satisfactory accounts for two consecutive years may face possible termination.

College to build 2,000 student residences Windmill Lane and Sir John Rogerson’s Quay have been named as possible sites for new accommodation.

Clare Droney Online News Editor

GMB societies are determined to find female speakers.

Naoise Dolan

The accounts of the College Historical Society and Dublin University Pharmaceutical Students Association (DUPSA) were among those deemed unsatisfactory by the Central Societies Committee (CSC) last year.

In reports presented to the CSC term general meeting (TGM) held on 30th September, seen by Trinity News, Enactus, Fashion, Botany, Sign Language, Scandinavian, Visual Arts, Archaeological, Amnesty, Russian, Microbiological and Arabesque are listed as societies whose accounts were deemed non-satisfactory for the 2013/14 financial year. It was also revealed at the meeting that the accounts of DUPSA and the Hist were deemed unsatisfactory.

Auditor of the Hist, Michael Coleman, told Trinity News that the society’s poor financial records were “entirely an accounting issue relating to last year’s Treasurer.” He said the Hist committee is “currently working closely with CSC to ensure that our accounts this year will be absolutely perfect” and claimed that “there have been no issues so far.”

“This was entirely an accounting issue, and does not affect us financially; we certainly have enough money to run day to day, send teams to debating competitions and run events, budget cuts notwithstanding,” he added.

Unusually for the Hist in recent years, the society has no headline sponsor. However, Coleman told Trinity News that the society is “still searching for one,” and is “quite confident” of securing one in the near future. “We have enough money to run things normally even without sponsorship,” he insisted.

Chair of DUPSA, Dominic Redmond, told Trinity News that, although the accounts of the society were deemed unsatisfactory, “there was no accusation of any wrongdoing and it was just an honest mistake where people didn’t keep receipts for all expenditure.” Redmond said that DUPSA “fully appreciate the

College intends to build 2,000 student residences over the next five years as part of the Strategic Plan 2014-19, due to be launched on October 22nd. Provost Patrick Prendergast named Windmill Lane and Sir John Rogerson’s Quay as possible sites for the accommodation at a question and answer session in the GMB last Monday. But he added that “it will still be some time until we find the right developer to work with.”

Trinity College Students’ Union (TCDSU) president, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, who chaired session, was sceptical about the fulfilment of the accommodation plans. Only the development of Oisin House on Pearse Street has so far been confirmed as part of the student accommodation plan, he commented after the event.

A large section of Oisin House, which is currently used by the Department of Social Protection, will be converted into 300 student residences. “I’d love to see where the other 1,700 residences are going to come from,” McGlacken-Byrne told Trinity News last week. SU welfare officer, Ian Mooney, also expressed his frustration in an interview with this reporter last week, saying that, while it was positive to see the issue of accommodation being addressed, College had provided “few concrete answers”.

Mooney was involved in the organisation of College’s accommodation advisory service over the summer period, which provides information and advice to students looking for accommodation. 2,000 students have

so far availed of the service this year, twice as many as in 2013.

Mooney said that “based on that, next year will be just as bad, if not worse.” He also called for greater transparency regarding the current allocation of campus accommodation.

While Mooney welcomed the plans for Oisín House, he noted that the development is not due for completion until 201819 and therefore this will have little impact in the short term.

McGlacken-Byrne was similarly sceptical regarding the immediate impact of the plans in alleviating the accommodation crisis.

“What’s going to be different next summer?” he asked. “I don’t see anything immediate on the horizon,” he added.

McGlacken-Byrne was keen to emphasise that student accommodation should be viewed in line with other student services and its primary aim should be to benefit students and enable them to fulfil their potential.

McGlacken-Byrne stated that “the fundamental question” for College with regard to the provision of student residences is whether the purpose is “to benefit students or to raise revenue.”

College currently has approximately 700 student residences at the city centre campus and just over 1,000 places at Trinity Halls, Rathmines. At present, the student population of Trinity College is approximately 17,000.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

News

5

News In Brief

Bernard Mallee threatens University Times with legal action Lia Flattery Senior Reporter

The University Times has been threatened with legal action by Bernard Mallee, Trinity’s communications and marketing director, following the publication of an article on his planned departure, Trinity News has learned. It is understood that Mallee accused the paper of editorialising after the article

in question claimed that he had “been under pressure in his position”. The article, published on 7th October, cited criticism of the new College title and logotype overseen by Mallee. It is understood that he contacted the paper on the day of publication to make the threat.

Mallee assumed the position of communications and marketing director in June 2013 and has since led efforts to rebrand the Trinity image. It is under-

stood that he is leaving the role at the end of October to work as an education advisor in the Middle East. Mallee did not respond to several request for comment over the weekend.

Anne Lo to students: NI is experiencing its worst crisis since devolution James Prendergast Investigative Correspondent

Illustration: Natalie Duda

Students taken aback by late Christmas exams James Bennett Contributing Editor The School of Pharmacy caused an upset last week when they scheduled two exams for closer to Christmas than usual. Students were informed that the

exams, which usually take place during the second week of January, would take place on 15 December and 5 January.

College's Christmas break this year is from 12 December to 12 January. Trinity News has learned that many students were unhappy with the new exam

dates, as they had already made plans for the Christmas period.

It is understood that there may have been a lack of communication within the School of Pharmacy, and that the matter is being looked into.

College to increase number of international students by over 10% Lia Flattery Senior Reporter College plans to significantly increase the number of non-European students studying in Trinity over the next five years as part of the new strategic plan, Trinity News has learned. Speaking to this newspaper, SU president, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, revealed that College has committed itself to raising the number of students from outside the EU from the current 7.8% to 18% by

2019, a growth that he described as “a huge demographic change.”

He went on to say that it was difficult to determine whether this change would have a positive or negative impact on the overall student population.

The communications office declined to comment when asked by Trinity News about the motive behind this increase and its potential implications. The new strategic plan will be officially announced on 22th October and will be launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

College identified an increased intake of international students as a means of boosting revenue in their Strategic Plan 2009-2014. Their mid-term review of the last strategic plan, carried out in 2012, stated that “Trinity has come to appreciate the educational and other benefits that accrue from a greater international orientation. The quality of our education will be enhanced by attracting the best students and staff in the world and by having a more culturally diverse student body.”

Northern Ireland is undergoing its worst crisis since devolution and political deadlock threatens its government with bankruptcy, Alliance Party politician Anno Lo has claimed. Speaking to students about “ContemporarProblems in Northern Ireland” at an event held by the Society for International Affairs (SoFIA) on Thursday, Ms Lo said that the “institutionalised sectarianism” of Northern Ireland’s political system means the Alliance Party effectively does not count.

Ms Lo, who was born in Hong Kong, became the first politician from an ethnic-minority to be elected at a regional level in Northern Ireland when she was elected in Belfast South in the 2007 Assembly elections.

She told students about the racist threats she has received, including bullets in the post.

To protect her the police are on rapid response, arriving in three minutes if she calls them, while a police car continuously circles the area around her house.

In May she announced that she would not stand for re-election to the Assembly in 2016 owing to racist abuse from loyalists.

She described Peter Robinson as “not friendly to many people” and criticised his “U-turn” on the agreement to build a peace and reconciliation centre on the site of the former Maze Prison.

She recalled her recent encounter with DUP health minister Jim Wells who on seeing her approaching said “here comes Anna Lo my staunch political enemy”, to which Ms Lo responded “hear hear”.

Ms. Lo held Sinn Fein respon-

sible for a “big crisis in welfare reform”. She said the plan to “help people off benefits”, which has been implemented in the rest of the UK has been vetoed

by Sinn Féin so that party policy is consistent with the opposition of party leader Gerry Adams to austerity in the Republic.

Ms Lo reiterated her recent comments in support of a united Ireland. She said it would be “good for Ireland economically and socially” although she emphasised that it would have to be brought about by “persuasion”.

Afterwards Ms Lo was presented with the Maguire Coin of Peace in honour of Mairead Corrigan Maguire, a Northern Irish peace activist and graduate of Trinity College Dublin. In 1999 she was awarded an MBE for services to ethnic minorities.

Human cyborg visits TCD Fionn McGorry Deputy News Editor The first human cyborg visited College last Tuesday to address the University Philosophical Society and receive the Bram Stoker Gold Medal. Catalan cyborg artist Neil Harbisson, who has an antenna implanted into the occipital bone of his skull, was born greyscale colourblind. His antenna interprets colour, transposes the sounds down thirtynine octaves to an audible level, and, after a period of learning which frequencies are associated with which colours, Harbisson has resultantly reached the point where his senses have become so integrated that he now associates all sounds with colours, a

process which took five months to feel natural.

Harbisson discussed various hurdles that he faced, beginning with difficulties with bioethical committees. Once he found a doctor who was willing to perform the surgery anonymously, Harbisson faced problems with governmental bodies. The British passport office initially refused to renew his passport in 2004, saying that pictures could not include technological equipment. After appeals and explanations that the eyeborg would travel with him and was surgically attached to him, Harbisson was granted his passport, with his state-sanctioned body part in pride of place on the ID page.

In an interview with Bram Stoker Club chair, Liam Hunt,

Harbisson described the sound he heard when looking around the room. He declared that the Phil conversation room produced sounds at G and C sharp, while the Phil's bell, rung at debates, apparently sounds "turquoise". He said that people's faces are not in fact particularly pleasant to listen to. When asked his favourite colour, Harbisson said “infrared.”

In closing, he was asked who was the most beautiful person he had ever heard. In response, he laughed and said it was true that some people sounded as perfect tonic triads, which was a surreal experience. Harbisson was wellreceived by the audience, who were incredibly interested in his sensory experience.

Provost denies knowledge of zero-hour contracts Dee Courtney Staff Writer At a question and answer session with students last Monday afternoon, Provost Patrick Prendergast claimed not to be aware of the use of zero-hour contracts asked about the use of zero-hour contracts for TAs and other teaching staff in College.

This issue particularly affects postgraduate students, who are, according to the provost, offered a stipend in exchange for their services as TAs. Third Level Workplace Watch, an online organisation that shares information on workplace

struggles in third level institutions, say their use is “likely to increase as the university seeks to cut costs.”

They went on to criticise the provost’s lack of attention to the issue: “These [contracts] have a direct and negative effect on the experience of teaching and studying in the university, which the provost should care about.

Zero-hour contracts mean difficult and stressful conditions for lecturers and teaching assistants, which undermines their ability to provide quality teaching and to provide the time and space for interaction with students.”

Mike Jennings of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) stated: “Zero-hour

contracts are a big issue even, surprisingly, in universities. A recent UK survey found that such contracts were twice as prevalent in as any other sector of employment. We welcome the provost's statement. I hope we can interpret it as a promise not to use such exploitative forms of employment.”

However, no such promise has actually been made in College as of yet, as individual departments are allowed to make their own arrangements with postgraduates, something the provost suggested most considered a “welcome opportunity”.

TCD students most likely to graduate with first or 2.1 Matthew Mulligan Editor-at-Large New figures obtained by the Irish Times show that between 2004 and 2013 71.7% of Trinity students graduated with either a first or a 2.1, making it the Irish university with the highest combined rate of such degrees being awarded. DCU and UCC were the next highest, with 64.3% and 64.2% respectively of their students graduating with firsts or 2.1s, followed by UCD on 55.8%, NUI Galway on 54.7%, Maynooth University on 53.7% and University of Limerick with

50.2%.

The course with the highest rate of success in Trinity is the Bachelor’s in Psychology, with only eight out of 301 students between 2004 and 2013 failing to achieve a 2.1 or a first Last year, 13 of the 32 students — or over 40% — taking final exams received a first. Conversely, the hardest course to get a first in is medicine. In the last decade only 38 of 1,263 Trinity graduates in medicine got a first, which translates to just 3% of commencing students.

In recent years grading has come under fire from some commentators and academics. Some

have suggested that grade inflation has come into Irish universities and that strict stringent measures are needed to make sure standards are reached across all third level institutions, while others feel the numbers reflect the changing nature of education. In Trinity’s case, when asked to explain the figures for the psychology course by the Irish Times, College said that it “attracts exceptionally bright cohorts of students who achieve a very high standard which is vetted by a wide range of external examiners”.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

Features

Daire Collins reflects on the contrast between Irish and Iranian youth culture.

p9

Plan of action?

With just over a week until the announcement of College’s next five-year strategic plan, Fionn McGorry dissects the last one, and its hits and misses.

Fionn McGorry Deputy News Editor

Photo: Vitalia Bikmametova

State of the union

One month into the college year, we sat down with SU president, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, to talk student politics and higher education. new strategic plan?

Eva Short Features Editor Q. What was your opinion of the Provost’s Q&A? A. By virtue of the fact that it happened, it went well. Insofar as it hadn’t happened in a long time.

It hadn’t happened [since] very immediately after the provost’s election. Simply by happening, it addressed the need for lines of communication to be opened, to be reopened. Certainly it was progress.

[There was] a balance to strike between diplomacy towards someone we’re hoping to keep on side - someone to whom we’re hoping to make the case that we’re worth engaging with, that it’s productive to engage with us and also saying what needed to be said and airing grievances and not holding too much restraint.

I think that balance was struck reasonably well. The provost has committed to attending our first SU Council Meeting on 21st October, and that was a commitment he made ages ago. I’m looking forward to following him up on that because definitely there are a few questions that I’d like to shoehorn in.

Q. People note that the provost is extremely distant. Was that successfully quashed?

A. No. As a former academic, and now as something more resembling a statesperson or politician, he’s certainly improved his ability to deflect if you like, to maintain a sense of distance, to say something both noncommittal and satisfactory at the same time.

Q. What do you think of the

A. I think it looks great. It actually does in fairness. It looks better than the last one. It has much smarter goals: specific, measurable and tangible. This forthcoming strategic plan is, I would say, much more tangible and therefore much more measurable than the last.

For example, the last one was full of phrases such as “We will be world leaders in…” and “We will continue a strong tradition of…”

With the forthcoming plan if all of the goals are achieved, we’re all happy days. But if only some are achieved, my immediate concern is which goals will be discarded.

As with most to-do lists, this may well prove to be us biting off more than we can chew. I wonder what will be discarded.

For example, there is a commitment to achieve a surplus of at least 2% financially for the whole institution by the end of the plan.

I would be quite confident that Trinity will achieve that goal. It’s by what means that goal will be achieved that one would be concerned about.

As a [plan], it’s actually quite refreshing. It’s quite measurable, and I think the last one fell by the wayside a little bit. There wasn’t a midterm review of “How are we getting on?” A lot of goals didn’t happen. It’s funny that the cycle of provosts doesn’t match up with the cycle of strategic planning.

But overall I think it looks good.

Q.Is there the same emphasis on globalisation in this plan?

A.Oh yeah. Student numbers from outside the EU are currently 7.8% and that’s committed to increase to 18%, which is a huge demographic change.

Q. Are these demographic shifts going to help students?

A. You don’t [know whether it’ll help the student population] as yet. For example, a massive demographic shift with a whole new cohort of students with a whole new set of needs, need not only to be attracted here, enticed by our prospectus for example, but retained here and allowed to flourish here.

If students have to undertake a 15 minute walk to find the person to give them their timetable, or if

they have to live in hostels, that’s not something they’re going to tell their mates about or brag to their mates about.

Q. Do you see eye-to-eye with the provost in terms of globalisation?

A. It’s simplistic to say that we are opposed to commercialisation.

It’s more relevant to say that we are opposed to those aspects of commercialisation that negatively affect our educational experience. I see no inherent issue with having more students here from outside the EU, particularly if it means that the financial vacuum that we currently find ourselves in will be filled, and not filled by, for example, cutting student services.

But it’s more the offshoots of that goal that I’d be concerned about. For example, very simplistically, currently a very finite pie contains a very large slice named ‘Global Relations’. There’s a lot of money and emphasis going into the act of encouraging students to come here. I would worry that this emphasis has taken away from the focus on the students who are currently here.

It’s as I said, I wouldn’t see eye to eye on the goal itself. The goal itself is actually not that relevant.

If it affects the student experience, then it’s relevant. Commercialisation is a means to an end, and certainly not an end in itself.

The end is always the student.

Q. You, yourself, in your manifesto, specified that you wanted to release a strategic plan. How’s it coming along?

A. It’s getting going. I said, not on the manifesto but I did say in conversations with people, that I hoped to get the plan done and ratified by Christmas. That was probably motivated more by a sense of impatience and decisiveness than anything else because that won’t happen. It probably almost certainly will be launched at the end of the academic year, because realistically - I was literally hoping to arrive in my office in July and write it and then just bang it out - realistically that was hugely short sighted, because it’ll take a year of problems and flaws to accumulate before as I say they can be collectively and comprehensively addressed.

Q. Do you think that students are engaged?

A. No, they’re probably not that engaged. They probably don’t care about it as much as I do, but then again that’s why I ran because I actually think this stuff is cool. Whether they’re engaged or interested is one thing, but - to boast - I was voted in. And I spoke about this stuff a lot, so anyone who voted for me and had an iota of homework done would know that this is something I planned to do and something they reacted very positively.

Whether it’s something they’re interested in, well no they certainly won’t be, whether it’s something that I think the average student approves of and thinks could benefit us in a long term, meaningful way, well I think that’s been proven.

very successful. It had a history of being anything from futile to uncool and as such it was certainly not something that sold itself.

Q. Why was it successful?

A. We didn't do anything particularly special but perhaps we did a lot of spadework basically. That probably wasn't done at other institutions. We did class addresses, we spammed 400 individual class reps we did an extraordinary meeting with part time officers.

We got all hands on deck on the actual morning.

I think [protests] effect change in that they engage students and get people actually caring about it and actually thinking about it.

If that trickles down into people caring enough to contact local TDs, etc, well great. But step one is getting this on the radar.

Q. What do you think about student apathy?

A. Yesterday, I quoted George Carlin in saying “a cynic is but a disappointed idealist” and I think that people get apathetic with the SU because they think it’s crap because they think it’s not doing something it should be doing.

And I suppose the way to address disengagement is to give people something to engage with.

I said a line - maybe it was in my manifesto, but if not, certainly in addresses - that I don’t just think the SU could do what it does better, I think it could do more. I think if we actually grew as a organisation rather than doing the same things again and again, that'd give students something to engage with. But at the same time you have to give people something to engage with.

Q. What did you think of the USI’s Rally for Education?

A. I think it went very well. Great buzz, great atmosphere. I think it went well because with the same sex march for marriage a couple weeks ago, you just had to tell people when and where and they were there. There was no sales pitch needed.

Whereas with this, this is something that hadn't happened robustly in some time, in most people's college lifetimes. This was something that when it had been previously attempted was not

“

It’s simplistic to say that we are opposed to commercialisation. It’s more relevant to say that we are opposed to those aspects that negatively affect our educational experience.

10 years. A lot can change in 10 years. A provost’s term is longer than that of the president of Ireland, and arguably comes with a nicer house with a better address.

10 years is a long time for a coherent vision to be implemented.

For this reason, the strategic plan makes sense as a method of achieving relatively short-term aims, and articulating a view of College within society. The previous plan emphasised that College is uniquely placed within Ireland as a “university of global consequence”, and reputation and perceived quality of education are expressly stated as objectives.

If this is measured merely in terms of university league tables, or in research outputs, then the aims may not have been reached.

But if this is measured in other metrics, then the achievements of students and of the College community suggest that the College’s reputation is in fine health.

The previous plan was undertaken under the premiership of the last Provost, Dr John Hegarty, with the plan co-ordinated by Dr Patrick Prendergast in his role as the then vice-provost. The plan is notably self-conscious, acknowledging the economic circumstances in which it was written, as well as acknowledging the increasing demands on, and expectations of, universities.

Government funding of College today is down 48% on five years ago, and in 2009 it was foreseen that these cuts were coming. Semesterisation was looming, as a result of the Bologna Process, and Trinity was looking outwards, emphasising internationalisation and globalisation, a theme which continues today. The student community now numbers 18,000 and that is likely to increase with the upcoming plan.

Some of the initiatives listed in the plan were achieved comfortably. The plan stated a desire to become a green campus, and to raise awareness of low carbon living. The green flag hoisted from the flagstaff in College Park, and the proliferation of recycling facilities and programmes shows a clear shift in attitude.

In the creative arts, the plan emphasised the role for Trinity to become a creative hub within Dublin. In the past five years, the formation of the Lir, the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, at Trinity’s Enterprise Campus on Pearse Street, is a concrete example of this ambition’s achievement.

The partnership established with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, whereby the Academy is now an associate college, is indicative of the quality of a Trinity degree and its relevance to the creative and performing arts.

Education

The plan set clear aims for innovation in undergraduate education. Initiatives which are now well-established, such as the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment, the modularisation of courses, and semesterisation, are all products of the previous plan.

Other aspects of the plan’s aims for Trinity education are harder to measure.

The goal to increase the reputation of the Trinity PhD is an incredibly intangible goal, with many nuances and differences between departments, but it is still a laudable aim. The plan reemphasised Trinity's role as a research-led university, and successes in research mark Trinity apart from the other Irish universities. While rankings may have slipped, a top 100 university is still a comparatively impressive achievement, with a vibrant academic community being a positive result.

The plan's goals to achieve greater flexibility within undergraduate programmes are yet to be manifested in any concrete initiatives, but the discourse surrounding this over the last five years clearly suggests that this is

a long-term goal. The desire expressed in the plan for a much more accessible Trinity is something that the College can directly point to as having progressed significantly.

With the Trinity Access Programme’s graduates now numbering in the many hundreds, and with the successful pilot for a new admissions system having taken place this year, spearheaded by the last senior lecturer, Dr Patrick Geoghegan, Trinity is a much more diverse College than it has been historically, and while there are many groups still incredibly underrepresented, progress is clearly being made.

Student services

As far as student services are concerned, the plan emphasised the importance of society and club life, through the express ambition of the construction of a student centre. This ambition was to be partially funded by a levy voted down by students in a referendum in 2011, and the project saw a variety of setbacks with external funding. The original site, Luce Hall, is now earmarked for development of the new business school.

In terms of capital expenditure, the significant achievements of the Long Room Hub and the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute are physical examples of the development of the College, while refurbishment of many student residences shows a concern for stewardship.

The plan’s long-term aims of a social sciences institute, an institute for preventative medicine and new student accommodation, may see a reassessment of priorities. The new business school is already well in the planning stages, for example, while the Provost’s recent announcement at the question and answer session last Monday of 2,000 new rooms in the city centre is a belated step in the right direction.

The role of College in Dublin city centre is one that all students and staff consider at one point or another. Notions of “town and gown”, which exist in other university cities, are actively combated in the strategic plan, and it USI is clearly one of the Credit: more achievable, and by extension, successful, aims.

Institutes like the Science Gallery, the Long Room Hub and the Douglas Hyde Gallery are permanent fixtures bringing Dubliners in to College, while events such as the European Space Expo, the Discover Research Dublin night, and society events like the Dublin Shakespeare Festival and MythFest have seen College take on a different life.

Accountability

The notion of a strategy is something we can embrace, because even if we disagree with it, there is at least a direction. The previous report emphasised the consultative process which took place in drafting it. Indeed, when looking at the consultation process for the upcoming plan, it’s hard to deny that the process is relatively transparent, particularly when compared to the planned process for the College rebrand. The plan buys into notions of accountability as a metric by which to judge the College’s performance and is the result of a lengthy and considered process.

It is for this reason that the last report can broadly be considered a success, as its measures have required tacit or real support. The new plan, however, naturally has students worried. As fees increase and prospects are still unclear, and as a student housing crisis continues, we need some reassurance, and this is a chance for it to be offered.

“

The last report can broadly be considered a success.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

Features

7

Waiting in line: 6:30am on Burgh Quay We meet international students queuing for visas outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

Adina Sulemane Contributor Burgh Quay at 6:30am: the sun has yet to rise, coffee shops have yet to open, and already a line forms around the block. This is not an uncommon sight at this time of year as the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) receives a high volume of visa renewal and registration applications. The queues are largely made up of international students trying to follow the regulations set out for them by the Irish government, only to experience setbacks from a system not prepared to receive them.

Queues begin to form as early as 4am on busy days, by people hoping to get into the building.

Much like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, only a set number (400) of tickets are handed out on any given day. Visitors will not be attended to without the coveted scrap of paper. So their hopes of getting their paperwork sorted rely on arriving as early as possible.

Students

João Paulo, an English student at Durst College, looks at the process with a sense of humour. Suffering from a cold and bundled up against the weather he said, “It’s a nice day to stand in lines.” Having arrived at 8:00am at the GNIB building, João exuded the optimism of one enduring the procedure for the first time. Much like Rachel who arrived just an hour earlier.

Rachel, an exchange student at Dublin City University, arrived at 6:50am to register at immigration for the first time since arriving in Ireland. The business major found the queue enveloping the block, ending close to the start.

She laughed saying “This is the first and last time I plan to do this.” Located near the entrance, she may be right. However, many students have not been so lucky.

Take Sofia, a postgraduate medical device design student at the National College of Art and Design. She arrived at 7:30am for her second attempt to register at the GNIB. She recalled waiting for three hours on her first try before they had run out of tickets.

Sofia asks for more support for students, suggesting separate

lines to prevent such messy queues. “If only there were an option to register online,” she commented, “it would make it quicker.” In comparison, any meeting at immigration in the United States must be set by appointment beforehand. In the interests of security and efficiency, these appointments with an official are allocated after an online registration.

Sofia is particularly desperate to register immediately as she came over from Mexico on a scholarship and can only access the funds once registration has been completed. “Applying for a visa was already a problem,” she lamented. “I kept calling the embassy and getting confusing answers, and now I won’t get paid until this is sorted.”

Documentation

Registration at the GNIB office requires a particular set of documentation, including: proof of finances in an Irish bank account, proof of medical insurance, and a letter from the student’s college.

While these are not unrealistic demands, for some they can be inconvenient.

“As a postgraduate student, I plan to be here for less than a year in total,” said a TCD student who wishes to remain unnamed, “but they want me to demonstrate my finances in an Irish bank account, which I didn’t plan on opening since I won’t be here that long.”

The financial aspect to registration also elicits groans from students. Completion of the process requires a fee of ¤300; but that is just for registration. Another ¤100 must be paid in order to acquire a re-entry visa, since single entry visas are assigned after the initial application to enter the country.

The TCD student continued, “The documents ask that I get the university to justify any time I spend out of Ireland, how long I’ll be gone and when I will resume my studies, which is a bit invasive if you ask me. I was just thinking of catching up with some friends in England for the weekend.”

Having arrived six months ago, Matheus has already endured the process, but found himself in line again, this time, to keep his friend company. The English student at the National College of Business Administration admitted to hav-

From left to right:

Matheus, Sofia Iniguez, and João Paulo with a friend.

Photos: Huda Awan

ing returned several times in order to register. Matheus shook his head at the queue, “It did not used to be this bad before,” he noted, “the day I finally managed to get in I got here at 10am.” He said, “The day I registered, I only waited two hours outside, but another five inside.” If making it into the building is a sprint, then waiting inside is a test of endurance.

The end of September brings a large batch of new students to the area, as well as a considerable drop in temperature. “It is too

cold to spend this long outside,” comments Matheus, “it is kind of a lack of respect to make us stay like this.” His companion joked, “Europe is too bureaucratic, we might as well be back in Brazil.”

Increased numbers

On the other hand, it is understandable that the government has these measures in place to monitor the increasing number of international students. According to data from the Irish Council for International Students,

DCU, TCD and UCD saw 43,117 full-time international students in the 2012/2013 academic year.

This does not include figures from the regional colleges and part-time students.

Such large volumes of people allow for some to slip through the cracks and take advantage of the arrangement. However, the ratio of genuine students to system abusers is so disproportional, it it seems unfair that they ruin the system for the remainder.

The number of enrolled

international students is expected to increase in the results of the data from the 2013/2014 academic year. With this in mind, the GNIB should really consider updating their system as not only would they, and the students, benefit from a faster, more efficient registration procedure, but the business owners around the block would no longer have to worry about the masses of people blocking traffic into their stores.

Culture shock in Washington DC Condom envelopes, paperwork and social media assessments are all part of the learning curve for one Trinity exchange student in Georgetown University.

Alex Trant Contributor The one thing that no one ever tells you about a non-EU exchange is that getting here is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world. There will be paperwork, and then more paperwork.

And probably some more paperwork on top of that. These steps are also laced with fees at every corner, as well as abbreviations that are designed to confuse you.

(I still don’t know what a SEVIS is or why I had to pay for it).

But there’s a reason why people never focus on this aspect, and that’s because six weeks into my exchange at Georgetown University, I have already had some of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate degree thus far. Stereotypical? Yes. Cringey?

Most definitely.

But it’s also true. While I love Trinity and I love the many amazing friends I have made there the past two years, it does become a bubble. You become fine-tuned to a certain type of rhythm to the point where your imagination suffers and you can’t think beyond the walls of Trinity. Taking the leap to study abroad is as nerve-wrecking as it is exciting.

While I am fortunate to have another student from Trinity with me, it’s easy to forget that you have to start from scratch and to anticipate the feeling of being a fresher again. On the first day it was odd being thrown out like shark bait into a sea of unknown faces and expected to gel immediately with the other exchange students.

That being said, the orientation

we received was an excellent base for all new students to find their feet. I was also lucky to be paired with an amazing American roommate who has introduced me to as many people and brought me to as many parties as possible.

Culture shock

But no matter how smooth the socialisation process is, you will always find some culture shocks.

Finding out in our health insurance overview that a broken arm could cost you $20,000 (without insurance) in the American health system was undoubtedly one. Certain ‘Americanisms’ were also surprising. Part of our orientation had second year international students act out scenarios they found confusing when they first arrived in the U.S. A recurring issue was the favourite phrase of ‘Let’s get lunch sometime!’ and its translation.

To the rest of the world it means: ‘Let’s get lunch sometime!’ In America it means: “I really just meant hello, might see you at some point in the future, possibly when we both are eating.’’

Furthermore, as any Irish on a J1 can tell you, the under 21 drinking law is a lot to get used to. The alcohol-laced events from Trinity’s glorious Freshers’ Week were instead replaced with ‘ice cream socials’, to the laughs of my friends at home. Not even being able to attend bars at night, even without consuming alcohol, is another shock. But the main difference is simply getting accustomed to a new system. Most university parties are house parties, and when the hosts typically supply the alcohol for their guests there’s little to complain about.

The academic side to a US ex-

“

For one of my classes I am examined partially through Twitter. 20% of my grade is based on how frequently I tweet about guest lectures and events related to the subject.

change is also vastly different, but it’s been an entirely positive experience so far. Georgetown is internationally renowned for politics, and having the opportunity to study my chosen subject here has given my original interest in the subject a new depth. On a whole, the dedication to academics here is astounding. Professors emphasise their open door policy, and in the past five weeks I’ve spoken to some of my professors here more often than I had with some of my professors over two years in Trinity.

Teaching

In addition to this, there’s more of a hands-on approach to teaching. Lecture sizes are quite small and classes are continuous assessment. After spending most of my academic life with a focus on one large exam, it’s difficult to imagine how we did not see that cramming for one test is a bad idea.

The grading system in general is more imaginative. For one of my classes, I am examined partially through Twitter. 20% of my grade is based on how frequently I tweet about guest lectures and events related to the subject. We are also encouraged to explore outside events related to the subject for extra credit, which broadens not only the learning experience but also develops your interest in the subject.

A lot of these teaching practices can be adopted in any university setting without many resources.

However it must be recognised that a lot of these advantages are dependent on the fact that, as a private university in the US, Georgetown students pay roughly $40,000 for tuition annually. The prices of tuition here mean that

listening to conversations about strategies of how to best pay off student loans in the short term has become common for me. It’s also at these points that I try to refrain from mentioning that I receive a comparably excellent education for less than a tenth of their tuition price.

On the social side of Georgetown’s activities, I have felt welcomed almost immediately to various clubs and societies.

Georgetown is a very international campus, and for the most part students are excited to see things from a different point of view. As a whole I’ve found Georgetown clubs to be much more professionally focused than those in Trinity.

Fraternities and sororities

Georgetown’s fraternities and sororities are also like this, with many of them describing themselves as ‘professional’ organizations. Intrigued, one of my first weeks here I attended a sorority mixer, hoping to come away with some ridiculous story to share with my friends at home.

Instead, I mainly felt bored and was freaked out about how they referred to each other as ‘sisters’.

In addition, clubs and societies aren’t afraid to venture outside of the university’s walls to get their voices heard. While there are some fantastic Trinity societies, such as VDP that do great work in Dublin communities, almost all campus clubs here have some sort of community service mantra in their description, whether through tutoring or fundraising for charity.

Similarly, they aren’t afraid to see themselves as organizations that can go a step beyond or even

compete with their usual university services by offering career networking events or CV clinics. In some cases the clubs even clash directly with the university’s ethos to provide for a student need.

The most obvious example of this is Georgetown’s pro-choice society, H*yas for Choice (so called ‘H*yas’ as they are not officially recognised by the university, meaning they can neither receive university funding nor use the official name ‘Hoyas’, the nickname for Georgetown students).

H*yas provide students with ‘condom envelopes’, a plain brown envelope that you stick on the outside of your dorm room door and fill with condoms that you can get for free at their student-manned table. This way, if anyone on your dorm floor has a midnight emergency (or midday emergency, depending on what you are in to) they can discreetly run to someone’s door and pick a condom from the envelope.

This service arose because Georgetown, as a Catholic Jesuit university, does not permit the selling of contraception on its campus. Think of it as the campus community coming together to carry the burden of distributing the Trinity SU Welfare Officer’s condom supply. While this was never a way I thought I’d get involved in college life in Georgetown, it’s certainly been one of the more interesting aspects of my time here.

Before I left for my year abroad, a lot of people brought up the topic of homesickness with me, wondering if I was worried about it. I had a tendency to laugh it off, saying that after my

relatively quiet summer I was looking forward to the adventure.

In a skype conversation with my parents a few days after I arrived, they asked if I was feeling homesick. After a slightly-too-cheerful “Nope, I’m doing great!” my mum replied, “Well you could have at least been polite and said you were feeling slightly homesick!”

But I’ve since realised homesickness can be easily be triggered.

It’s understandable to feel like you have been left out of certain events if you’re not within a twohour radius. With Ireland’s pattern and history of emigration, it’s a theme not uncommon to our youth. But for those worried about this before taking the jump to study abroad, don’t let this influence you in making your decision to apply. It’s common among the exchange and international students here to talk about things they miss from home. You are never alone in the way you feel and there’s always people to talk to if you need some extra help.

Four years is a long time to stay at the same institution. Trinity has some fantastic exchange opportunities, with many more destinations in the pipeline. By taking a year (or even a semester) to sample what else is on offer truly enriches both the social and academic aspect of the college experience.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

8

Features

What is intersex?

Sex is a spectrum, not a binary of male and female. D. JoyceAhearne broaches intersexuality: the spectrum of sex ignored by state, society and language.

Reality

D. Joyce-Ahearne Deputy Editor Biological sex is not binary. There are not just male men and female women. Male, as a biological category, means carrying XY chromosomes and having male gonads and genitalia. Female means XX chromosomes and female gonads and genitalia.

Intersex is a very general term for anyone whose genitals or gonads (the organs that produce sex cells: ovaries in women and testes in men) are neither typically male nor female, or for someone who is neither XX nor XY chromosomally. The two are not mutually exclusive, that is to say that an intersex person could have XY chromosomes (typically male), appear typically male in their genitalia, and have ovaries.

Intersex can range from true hermaphrodites (a person born with both ovarian and testicular tissue) to having an extra X chromosome (Klinefelter syndrome).

There are a myriad of intersex sexes, and not all are agreed upon as being intersex.

Essentially, intersex is a category for every biological sex that cannot be defined as either XX female with typical female genitalia and gonads (vagina and ovaries) or XY male with typical male genitalia and gonads (penis and testes). Intersex is everything that falls between those two sexes.

This in itself is a derogatory and unsatisfactory definition, defining intersex in terms of the “established” sexes. Language broadly ignores the reality of a biological sexual spectrum.

It’s a linguistic minefield. We don’t have the words to contend with the sexual reality around us because it’s been hidden away.

Making the reality of intersex manifest is so incredibly hard because language doesn’t facilitate it. There’s a lot of tripping over words. The mistake is that we have ignored reality because we don’t have the language and instead accept the reality language has given us.

Sex is presented to us a fixed binary: the original binary, the first us and them, the first oppressor and oppressed. Adam and Eve.“And then the snake maybe, the snake is us. The human mind if you’re really unevolved, and I don’t want to call [people] stupid, but the simple-minded person maybe goes ‘Adam: man’, ‘Eve: woman’, ‘Snake: all those weirdo queers’. I think the only queer thing in the world is this misinformation of fucking reality.” So says Gavan Coleman, an intersex rights campaigner based in Dublin. Coleman was born with XXY chromosomes, meaning that he possesses an extra X chromosome. He identifies as intersex but intersex is not a recognised reality in Ireland.

If you are intersex, you don’t exist on your own passport. You don’t exist on your census return. You must identify as something you’re not. If I (a typical XY male) apply for a passport with a sex that is not my own they won’t give me one. But intersex people are forced to put down a sex they are not. “We’re not recognised.” says Coleman, “That’s the reality. Talk about human rights? I’m better off saying I’m a male.”

Coleman has contended with society’s unawareness of intersexuality his entire life. “The confusion of when you mention gender and sex. When I say that I’m intersex, or when I say I’m XXY, or when I say I don’t produce testosterone and that I have to take injections, immediately people go ‘What? Are you gay?’”

If our views on the spectrum of orientation have become more accepting in the last 50 years, our views on the spectrum of sex are, by and large, nonexistent.

Solidarity, even from those who might be able to empathise with discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, has not been forthcoming.

“The LGBTQI community [the I is for intersex] is what it is, most people just hear LGBT. They stop there because they don’t even want the inclusion of queer people, even though they were queer years ago. It’s unbelievable how it happens. The ‘I’ is not really mentioned at all because they’re like ‘What the hell is that?’ And it’s so ignorant.”

Intersexuality is ignored for a number of reasons. It’s quite possibly the last, and most important, hurdle in the sexual revolution.

We might be accepting of orientation, we might begin to question gender, but are we willing to bring sex back to the drawing board? If the original binary is questioned, if such an established “fact” is shown to be scientifically

and empirically incorrect, then what else could come tumbling down?

Medicine

It is very difficult, in fact next to impossible, to live as intersex in Ireland today. You simply have to conform to male or female, you have to accept one of the two sexes on offer, on offer from society, but ultimately, from the state.

Historically, newborn intersex babies were “assigned” a gender with “corrective” surgery to their “atypical” genitalia. The decision, that of the parents, was often taken with little information from the medical community. Though parents make the decision with their child’s welfare at heart, and the doctors themselves obviously want healthy babies, “corrective” surgery has been the medical community’s only offered “solution”, and often one that has often been pressed upon people.

Surgery, as a response to intersexuality, tries to avoid the difficulties an intersex person will face in life as the situation stands.

Though the medical community has tried to offer a “solution” that avoids these difficulties, in recognising the status quo, they actually reinforce it. “Corrective” surgery still occurs, and is the state-sponsored surgical policing of sex. It is sex reassignment surgery on babies without their consent.

Coleman says that the medical community is failing people today. “Intersex today is considered by doctors and the medical community as a Disorders of Sexual Development (DSD). Another disorder.” Follow up care for intersex children, he says, is non-existent, though this is true of many medical issues as children move out of the bracket of paediatrics.

The information needed to offer real help to intersex people is not there as far as the medical community is concerned. But then it never will be unless follow up is provided. Coleman says that there is such a strong community of intersex people who have already gone through “corrective” surgery, the system and the total absence of follow up care, that intersex children would have a system of support to rely on without having to identify as male or female. Coleman believes that “it’s not to change the body but to change the mind. Imagine if we could all just change our minds and allow everybody to be?”

“Babies tomorrow, I would love if they were just born and looked after. Simply. And the parents be given various types of information and possibilities of facts to research themselves and a good healthy relationship with their

doctor instead of ‘Don’t talk about this because you’re probably one in a million.’ That’s the reality. I’d love a real understanding of the human diversity.”

Progress

Unfortunately, for intersex people to be able to enjoy the quality of life that males and females currently have, a complete overhaul of how we think has to occur, one that would have repercussions for all of society.

In terms of providing for intersex children, teachers from playschool up would have to be retrained to engage with an incredibly varied amount of issues that would arise if children in class could openly be intersex, issues they currently have to come to terms with in isolation. “Have to be,” says Coleman, “and will be because it has to happen, because it’s happening. It’s an upheaval because we’ve been lied to for too long.”

“We need on the next census form many more options. Including for transsexuals, and including people who are neither transsexual nor intersex but simply can’t put male or female, for whatever reason. Respect the individual.”

From November 2013, Germany now recognises “indeterminate” as a sex option on birth certificates. Indeterminate is, again, a problematic term. By definition, it doesn’t clarify anything. Currently, intersex is used as a catch all but just as we have terms for male and females, so too are their names for the sexes that compose the spectrum that is today just lumped together under intersex.

Why shouldn’t birth certs have options for every sex?

Last year, Sweden introduced hen, a gender-neutral pronoun to be used instead of “he” or “she”, which Coleman reckons, is progress of sorts. “Sex in language, biggest disaster ever and that’s how they keep it concrete in the

language. This is male, this is female. Very rare is something neutral.” Though the pronoun is proving a success, just like the category of “indeterminate”, it raises the issue of what direction intersex activism should go.

erbate the loneliness and guilt th-

lege students last year found that

Direction

Intersex people are not sexually “neutral”, why then should they use a neutral pronoun? If gender neutral language is just adopted by intersex people then it is useless. The question is should every sex get their own pronoun or should we abolish he and she in favour of one all-encompassing hen? Should the full spectrum of sex be recognised or should we do away with sex as a category worth

talking about? A wealth of diverse mini-narratives or universalism?

If the battle for equal rights for all orientations is a hard one, a world in which all the sexes are equal seems incomprehensible, and it is incomprehensible in the discourse and language of today. Females, a sex who have always been known about, still don’t have equality. Intersex people are fighting for recognition, before rights even come into it.

Orientation, gender, sex are going to be battlegrounds for the foreseeable future and Coleman spots a recurring cause.“A lot of it is to do with the masculinity of the world," he says. "It’s been led by masculine males. A lot of men would be emancipated if they were just allowed be themselves and stopped being called gay for wearing a stripy jacket.”

The first step, as always, is creating a discourse. But we need a language suitable to do it. We need to remap sexuality in language. Coleman summed up the current situation with his expectations for the article. “I will be disappointed, regardless of what you write even if it’s amazing. Because whatever you write won’t be the reality.”

Victims of denial The accusations currently disturbing the YouTube community are a warning that the world of sexual abuse is much closer than we would like to imagine.

Ruth Atkins Contributor It is easy to picture the sex offenders’ register as another, darker world, far away from the place we live in. We try not to think of these people and their actions, and when we do it is to regard them as monsters or controversial comedic vehicles. This is an understandable and natural response, considering the nature of their crimes. However, it masks a truth - that sex offenders are people, with family, friends and sometimes even fans, for whom the discovery of their crimes will cause great confusion and hurt.

Close to home

The sexual abuse accusations currently disturbing the YouTube community are a warning to us that the world of sexual abuse is much closer than we would like to imagine. The celebrities accused have not been the seedy, reclusive individuals of popular imagination, rather they have been wellliked, with large followings of people who admired and trusted them.

Last week, Irish YouTuber BriBry released a video discussing the allegations concerning a number of popular vlogging personalities on the site. “It’s been one of the worst weeks on YouTube, seeing all these people you thought you knew getting outed as sexual abusers,” he said..

Fans and friends of the people accused have struggled to recognise the new image under which they must now forever view the offenders.

The dehumanisation of sexual predators has made this much more difficult. Friends and family of someone accused of sexual offences can find themselves in an impossible predicament, attempting to reconcile the figure of vilification with the person they have loved and trusted.

Vlogger Evan Edinger released

a video on September 28, following allegations made against three YouTubers with whom he was acquainted - Alex Day, Sam Pepper and Veeoneeye. Edinger explained the pain of discovering the truth about close friends, stating, “this hit bad, because every time I’ve ever seen Sam Pepper he has complimented me, he has been nice to me, he invites me to his parties, so it’s mind-blowing that someone I could have been friends with, someone I have been nice to could have the potential to do this vile act to another breathing human being. …

It hurts to know that I was friends with someone that did all these things … and it’s just upsetting that I didn’t do anything. Because I didn’t know. Because I trusted [them].’”

Disgrace by reputation

In addition to the trauma of such discoveries, familiars of sex offenders can find their own reputations and livelihoods at risk when the offences come to light.

The disgrace associated with sex crimes is great enough to tarnish public status simply due to proximity. Attempts to maintain the friendship, or to seek aid for the accused, are made at great personal risk.

David Norris’s withdrawal from the presidential race in 2011 stemmed at least in part from such a situation, following the publicisation of his efforts to help his former partner Ezra Nawi, who was imprisoned for statutory rape. “Yes, his actions were terrible, but my motivation to write the letter was out of love and concern,” Norris stated. “I was eager to support someone who had been very important in my life.”

The widespread condemnation of Norris’s efforts cost him his candidacy, and served as a clear reminder of the perils of reaching out.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that many acquaintances of those who have committed sex crimes

are quick to distance themselves from the situation. YouTuber BriBry’s video dissociated himself from exposed offenders with whom he has collaborated in the past, stating “He is not one of my close friends and never has been - This very common thing that YouTubers like to do is they like to exaggerate their friendships online and pretend they’re much closer than they actually are.”

“

Friends and family of someone accused of sexual offences can find themselves in an impossible predicament, attempting to reconcile the figure of vilification with the person they have loved and trusted.

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

Denial

The sudden recantation of past affection shown to sex offenders can cause us to forget their previous image in the world, instead burying them in the midst of monstrosities. It is uncomfortable to consider that we could ever have any empathy for one whose actions have been so terrible, so we decide it never existed in the first place, that there was always something we didn’t trust, always something dividing us and them.

But for those closest, who cannot renounce their affection and respect for the offender, the denial of all around them will only exac-

ey feel.

The abuse of celebrity and power for sexual purposes is certainly not a new scandal, neither is the exposure of previously highly regarded public figures.

However, for young people the YouTube abuse allegations come as a reminder that sexual offences are not confined to cases of coverups in the past, or to people of a certain age or occupation. In their 2013 annual report, the organisation One in Four stated that of the 36 offenders seeking treatment in their Phoenix Programme, 23% are aged between 18 and 29, while Illustration: Reed Patrick Hook the Say Something surveyVan of col-

31% of victims of unwanted sexual encounters knew the perpetrators, providing further indication of the likelihood of knowing a sex offender, regardless of lifestyle. The chances that someone you know, someone you like, will abuse and thus abuse your trust is unfortunately higher than we would like to imagine.

A hopeful prospect emerging from the current accusations is the openness with which people have discussed the abuse, and the speed and certainty with which it has been condemned by all major figures in the YouTube community. However, the scandal has shed

light on an issue ignored. The struggles faced by those close to sex offenders should not be dismissed or underestimated. We have seen what silence has contributed in the past, and know all too well that cloaking the issue won’t make it disappear. We have already opened the discussion of sexual abuse. It’s time to widen our conversation.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

Features

9

Sex, drugs and street parties in Tehran The police never showed up, but, if they had, the party could have faced time in prison, a fine or a number of lashes.

Daire Collins Multimedia Editor It’s 2:30am when the shrieks and car horns fill the air. Completely awake, I lie on the floor waiting for the noise to die down, unsure of whether or not I should get up and look out the window. The longer I listen, the more apparent it becomes that this is not the sound of a crisis unfolding below, but rather the thumping music and hollers of the moving street party.

For at least 15 minutes, I stood there, quite creepily staring out the fourth floor window in a generally sleepy suburb of Tehran at a slow moving procession of cars pumping dance music with hijabless women and drunk men dancing openly in the street. For 15 minutes, I waited for the police to show up and arrest everyone involved, my mind racing with thoughts of what would happen to those people below, why they would be so reckless.

This is Iran, where contradictions lie in every conclusion you reach; a place where the more information you have about life the more confused you get. It turns out that the midnight bloc party was in fact the aftermath of a wedding party that spilled out onto the streets. This is a fairly common occurrence that was laughed off the following morning by my local friends.

The police never showed up, but, if they had, the party could have faced time in prison, a fine or a number of lashes, determined by the presiding judge.

These are the harsh punishments that people can and do face all for the relatively mundane acts of drinking alcohol or dancing with the opposite sex. These laws can even be enforced inside your own home, the invasiveness of the Islamic Revolution that pervades every facet of your life.

Alcohol

Despite this, parties happen a lot.

Much like here, alcohol is intrinsically linked with many Persian celebrations, most of which date back thousands of years. Prior to

the revolution, Shiraz wine was some of the best in the world and the centre of Tehran was well-known for its teeming nightlife. Even today, family gatherings, such a child’s birthday, are stocked with homemade alcohol for the adults. I was lucky enough to be invited to one such party, where I was shocked to arrive to a professional DJ blasting Iranian dance music, both modern and traditional, to a packed garden with barely a child in sight. Beer was flowing, brewed at home from the store bought non-alcoholic variety, and was liberally handed out to us western guests who were immediately welcomed as if long lost family members.

The famous hospitality continued overnight and into the next day as we were invited to stay for a family BBQ, a BBQ with liberal amounts of homemade grappa and many shisha pipes.

Still, initially, the relative ease and nonchalance with which people discuss illegal parties and drinking alcohol came as a complete surprise. Talking to liberal Iranians (which seemed to be every Iranian who wanted to speak to us), for the most part put you at ease. They saw drinking as no big deal, everyone does it.

Then the conversation turned to drugs, of which opium is the major player at the moment.

In a country where opium is non-existent, my open-mouthed stare gave away my ignorance of the drug and its effects. According to my Iranian sources, it’s very far removed from heroin and doesn’t always involve old Chinese men sporting Fu Manchu beards. Even though they claim it is far from heroin, there is a growing problem of addictions. The government has even conceded as such, despite the fact that they’ve a total ban on alcohol there is now a government sanctioned rehabilitation centre.

Equally intriguing is the increasingly liberal sexual encounters between the young, which have been so strangely impacted by the oppressive laws designed to enforce the “morality” of the nation. With unmarried relationships illegal for everyone, young couples have the constant hassle of being harassed by the police.

While the punishments are very harsh, they’re rarely given out.

A situation has arisen wherethe police have the state’s backing to enforce laws which are almost impossible to fully enforce, thus a situation develops where the mood of the policemen and hundreds of other variables come into play as to the probability of being charged. While it certainly can go as far as flogging, imprisonment or, even worse, for the worse, for the most case it amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist

“

For him, a young, entrepreneurial male in his mid20s, it makes little sense to try and have a girlfriend, who he would have to keep secret from the police from a righteous policeman.

Liberalism

The fear and hassle from the police obviously has a strong impact on the lives of young Iranians, of whom the liberal ones possess most of the same values, views and desires as the youth in Ireland.

One friend told me that these laws, like many others, have created a social cleavage in the country, creating a liberal promiscuous youth who have more sexual partners on average than the majority in Ireland. He said that it was not uncommon, for a youth who goes to (illegal) parties to have as many as 30 partners a year. This is obviously the opposite of the desired reaction from the moral laws, yet how he describes it makes sense. For him, a young, entrepreneurial male in his mid-20s, it makes little sense to try and have a girlfriend, who he would have to keep secret from the police and sometimes even his family. Unable to live together unless married, a move he does not yet wish to make, casual sexual encounters make complete sense.

Of course, this one anecdote can in no way reflect the whole Iranian youth, but it does highlight the very real contrasts between an increasingly liberal youth, in both ideological and numerical terms, and the hardened state apparatus, whose only response is a reduction in enforcement rather than alteration of any laws.

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

Going underground for ISIS We talk to ISIS supporter Khalid Kelly, a former leading member of the Irish branch of the outlawed Al Majaroun organisation, about going underground in Dublin. ought to have joined “the right side” in this fight between “good and evil, belief and disbelief, Christianity and Islam.”

Police interest

Michael Lanigan Online Features Editor In early September, Newstalk aired an interview in which Dr Ali al-Saleh, the Imam of Milltown’s Ahlul Bayt Islamic Centre, noted his concerns regarding the presence of ISIS sympathisers in Ireland. Speaking on the show, al-Saleh said his son had increasingly heard of people expressing their enthusiasm for those attempting to go to jihad in Iraq and the Levant.

This warning coincided with the brief media storm surrounding Muthenna Ibn Abu, an Irish Nigerian ISIS fighter, who took to Twitter and Ask.fm to defend the actions of his fellow jihadi brothers in their continued fight against what he labelled the hypocrisy of western governments.

After commending the execution of the British aid worker, David Haines, it was not long before his two accounts were suspended.

Then, on the FM104 Phoneshow with Chris Barry, Khalid Kelly, an Irish-born Sunni Muslim took the opportunity to speak out in praise of the formation of the caliphate. Adding to this, he suggested that those Irish peacekeeping troops stationed in Golan Heights up until October 7th

Kelly is a former leading member for the Irish branch of Al Majaroun, the British-based SalafistWahhabi organisation outlawed in 2010 due to alleged links with global terrorism. Following his sending of death threats to Barack Obama in 2011, he became a person of significant interest to Irish authorities.

Hence, with his brief appearance on Barry’s show, Gardaí requested a recording of the broadcast. This in turn led to Kelly’s dropping off the radar, which I learned from one of the FM104 producers, who told me that he had “gone underground”. Kelly did, however, still have an active Twitter account and I managed to get in touch with him through this.

I began by asking about how he viewed any right he may have to air his opinion on the current climate in Iraq and Syria. Getting back to me quickly, he responded by saying “the difficulty is that now, the UN has made it compulsory in European countries to arrest anyone intending, or maybe even voicing intent, to travel, or help Muslims in Syria, or Iraq. So I am trying to exercise freedom of speech.”

Following this up, he continued, “the situation right now is not easy for anyone wishing to speak the truth, as they have basically made it illegal to an extent depending on where you live. It seems that freedom of speech is relative to whether you are a Muslim, or not. A friend said to me a while ago,’you’re innocent until proven Muslim.’”

“But it has always been my way to educate and pass the message of Islam by trying to explain what

“

Saudi, Qatar and the UAE will collaborate with anyone. They know if we, the Islamic State, get control there, they are finished, and the USA know the same thing.

to educate and pass the message of Islam by trying to explain what is happening in our Muslim land.” he went on to say. “However, it seems now that every time I talk, I have the special branch following me around, trying to get tapes of what I said.If you are a Muslim and support the mujahedeen’s right to fight in defence of their life’s wealth, you are a terrorist.”

Citing some examples, he pointed to the United Kingdom, where authorities arrested a number of his friends “for nothing other than their support of Muslims who will fight for their right to live under our prescribed way of life, which is Islam.”

This, he stated, was hardly a recent state of affairs for either himself or his friends. Here, he referred to an incident that occurred back in 2010, upon his return to Ireland after two years of evading arrest by relocating to Pakistan. ”I was only back a few months when my flat got raided by anti-terrorist police. I was beaten badly and a friend of mine had a bag placed over his head.

They beat him so badly that they burst his eardrum. It took him ages to recover from that ordeal.”

Responding then to my question over the explanation given for said act, he came back to me by emphasising it as a shining example in “the global war against Islam waged by the USA.” ”Their media propaganda is so powerful that they don’t need to justify it nymore,” he said, before drawing comparisons between his personal experience and the controversies that surrounded the abuse of Iraqi detainees in the US prison Abu Ghraib in 2003.

“They do as they like, murder, rape, torture, everything. It is now justifiable as we are all terrorists.”

This, he insists, “is getting a lot worse with the whole world coming together to fight us on all levels, militarily and ideologically,

which is most important.”

Support of the Gulf states

This led to my asking about the involvement of the Gulf states in tackling ISIS with support from Shi’ite neighbouring states. I had been curious about such a move, since the Independent’s Middle Eastern correspondent, Patrick Cockburn, quoted the former Saudi director general of intelligence, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, as stating, albeit in vague terms, that Shia and Sunni Muslims were incompatible, vehement enemies.

However, Kelly quickly denied the loyalty of these Sunni states to either Wahhabism, or Salafist jihadism, saying that “Saudi, Qatar and the UAE will collaborate with anyone. They know if we, the Islamic State, get control there, they are finished and the USA know the same thing.”

Continuing, he was even more dismissive of any Shi’ite co-operation: “They are not real Muslims.

They are not willing to sacrifice their lives, or wealth to establish the law of God. Shia always hate ahl Sunnah, as us ahl Sunnah will never compromise, whereas they don’t care about Islam. They confuse everyone.” He then added that “the US and UK know Shia are no real danger and indeed you can see all of them showing their true colours by coming together against ISIS.” He concluded this point by telling me that “the true Muslim believers will always make themselves known, whether they are the Taliban, al-Qaeda, or indeed, ISIS.” However, taking into account the fact that ISIS were an expelled splinter cell of al-Qaeda, due to their extremely radical nature, I asked whether he subscribed specifically to one of the aforementioned groups’ ideologies in particular.

This, he essentially labelled as being pure semantics, noting “all

groups have the same goal with different ways of achieving that goal; Sharia law, Khalifa et cetera. They are all mujahedeen. We support all of them alhamdulilah.

Shia hate true Islam, most are not Muslims.”

Here, I returned to the matter of Shi’ism in order to ask him about Dr al-Saleh’s call for Muslims to aid Gardaí in their efforts to prevent any further growth in Islamic extremism in Ireland. To this, he answered simply that alSaleh “is Shia. Most of them hate real practicing Muslims. He likes it in the West. You may find it strange that he agrees with most western government views.”

Our discussion ended soon thereafter, but not until I asked him to clarify the ambitions of groups such as ISIS. Was this, in his view, the establishment of a caliphate in the east and an act of liberation from Shi’ism in Iraq and the Alawi in Syria, or was this going to be global? “Yes, of course,” he said in reference to the latter part. “Control firstly all Muslim land and then, from there liberate the whole world from control of Jews and the USA who are oppressing the masses.”

“

Control firstly all Muslim land and then, from there, liberate the whole world.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

Features

10

Prints among men Black Church Award winner, Aaron Smyth, discusses his art, masculinity and digital identities.

D. Joyce-Ahearne Deputy Editor

Illustration: Mubashir Sultan

Getting a job with an arts degree

If you are going to be creative, or even work with creative types, you must meet the scrutiny of many fresh eyes.

Conor O'Donovan Staff writer "Fresh eyes, fresh eyes, fresh eyes," the speaker encouraged us to chant. This surreal mantra was the one piece of advice that we were to take from the CV clinic, which had been sponsored by Deloitte. The clinic was being administered by Deloitte's head of HR, and was the first CV-related event I had attended since transition year. I was hoping to improve on the already winning formula I had hit upon in Ms Kerrin's career guidance office, sometime in early 2009.

As the speaker conceded, however, there are no universal dos and don'ts in a field where the key factor is to differentiate oneself. Instead, she asked us to fill up the front two rows and dissect some sample CVs. While the "fresh eyes" mantra may initially seem vague, it was only with fresh eyes, through putting the CVs through the scrutiny of several different readers that is, that we discovered that Candidate A had laid out their personal details in much the same way George Lucas did the opening credits of the Star Wars films.

Careers Week

It was the second morning of Careers Week and it was time to go to some potentially degreedefining talks. The timetable was pretty comprehensive with talks for the medical students, the engineers and those graduating with a language. That a few staff members had not been corralled for a talk on working in academia was the only notable oversight.

What interested me most of all was the talk entitled "Voices from the Creative Arts", as these were the arts I had studied during my degree and now I was eager to convert them into cash. Little did I know my eyes were about to be freshened.

The diverse panel included author and writer in residence, Chris Binchy; composer and record label owner, Benedict Shlepper-Connolly; freelance theatre director, Maeve Stone; and veteran film producer, Nodlag Hollaghan. Shlepper-Connolly spoke first and his remarks on the hand to mouth nature of his existence, which drew mirthful grins from the other panellists, set the tone for the talk. The stories of how the panellists had forged careers by carving out niches for themselves were at once inspiring and sobering.

Perhaps one of the least inspiring realities revealed was the necessity of networking, a process

Binchy characterised as essential for new authors who are hoping to find representation. He pointed out that there are several book launches a week in Dublin, which allow you to get face to face with those involved in what is a relatively small scene.

Stone also emphasised the importance of networking, coupled with a strong sense of self-confidence when presenting oneself as a creative artist. Additionally, when new on the scene, a reputation as a reliable collaborator (working hard and keeping your word, and being seen to be doing so) is the surest way to establishing a career.

In order to better understand this process, I spoke to senior sophister student, Alicia Byrnes Keane, about her own attempts to get her writing out there. It was through attending The Monday Echo, a Dublin slam poetry event, and performing in the open mic section that she began to put herself out there.

Following the open mic, she was asked to give a full performance at a subsequent event and it was through talking to people at The Monday Echo and The Sunday Slam, that Alicia got offers to perform at other poetry events such as Underground Beat and The Circle Sessions.

These performances have led to further opportunities: Alicia will soon be performing at the spoken word festival, Lingo. She also stresses that, while the atmosphere at these events is often informal, they have given her practice as a performer and shifted her writing from the realm of hobby towards more serious territory. Interacting with other poets and people like the organiser of The Monday Echo, Aidan Murphy, has advanced Alicia's work in terms of exposure but it has also given her the confidence to take her creative output more seriously.

Alicia's story injects some inspiration back into the networking process, but it must be remembered that networking is a means to an end, particularly for those whose product is the written word. While Alicia's writing does have a distinct performance aspect, she has also made submissions to college publications.

Her description of her first rejection from Icarus reminded me of my own first submission (and rejection): an atmospheric reflection on the fresher's experience in which the ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald made a sudden and somewhat inexplicable apparition, mid stanza. Unlike myself, however, Alicia went on to make many other submissions to both

Icarus and The Attic.

Beyond the parameter of Trinity's sheltering walls are independent publications such as Belleville Park Pages, "focused on connecting contemporary writers from around the world." The Pages offers new writers a chance to have their work published beside those already published in The New Yorker and Tin House, in "a publication printed on paper."

“

Networking is a means to an end, particularly for those whose product is the written word.

Publishing industry

This emphasis on the printed word springs from a conviction the founders, James and Will, have that the publishing world needs "a shake-up." The basis of this belief seems to be that new writers needed a physical platform In describing his own route ininto print, Binchy was quick to emphasise that the industry has since changed. The days when newer authors were offered twobook deals based on previously published work (in Binchy's case a series of well received short stories) are gone.

He pointed to self-publishing, online or otherwise, as a way in which new writers have a chance to discover their own readership.

He noted that self-publishing does place the burden of promotion and marketing on the author, but this can also be a way of getting noticed.

Among the guidelines for submissions listed on their website, Blackstaff Publishers express an interest in self-published work of prospective authors (accompanied by sales figures and information about media coverage), as well as authors who are "world leaders in the way they use Pinterest to promote their work."

However, being a world leader in anything is time consuming and seems at odds with the exacting process of creating original work in the first place. Both Binchy and Stone emphasised

how constant engagement with art was necessary to be creative and should be one of the budding artist's primary concerns.

By contrast, Tramp Press treats all submissions equally, be they from an established author or a "12 year-old first timer". This kind of egalitarian assessment presents new authors with an opportunity not dissimilar to self-publishing, but with the key distinction of the prospect of a "lasting editorial relationship" with both Tramp Press ounders Sarah Davis-Goff, who discovered Man Booker Prize winner, Donal Ryan, and Lisa Coen, a veteran of Hot Press and The Lilliput Press.

However, Tramp Press also warns prospective authors to manage their expectations, stating that they, "like most publishers, will want to publish one manuscript in every hundred." Tramp Press hold very high standards; what sets them apart is their willingness to publish outstanding new authors.

As Goff puts it, "We simply don't trust anyone else's tastes...

There are some brilliant, ballsy publishers out there like Galley Beggar's Press, The Lilliput Press and The Stinging Fly, but they are islands in a sea of publishers that refuse to take risks and allow their marketing departments to make editorial decisions." Tramp Press "are looking for brilliant writing, everything else (social media presence included) is just noise."

Unfortunately making it into print or onto vinyl, film or the stage is not a precursor of financial success, or even security.

Binchy opened his portion of the talk by quoting a recent ACLS study which found that the median income for writers in the UK to be £11,000 (over £5,000 below minimum wage). The other three speakers made similar references to their work being pursued with passion that sustained them beyond the comforts of sustainable income.

It seems these days that a day job is almost a necessity, at least as far as authors are concerned.

Sadly, living the dream as a publisher by day and night is less than realistic as breaking into publishing itself, a traditionally competitive industry which isn't getting any less competitive, often means "running a gauntlet of unpaid internships before acquiring a job," as Davis-Goff puts it.

The one piece of advice to be taken from the talk as this: if you must be equal to the scrutiny of many pairs of fresh eyes. And so I wandered home, repeating the mantra and quietly ruing all those times I had brazenly told my par-

ents I would never become an academic.

In her correspondence with me, she attributed this competition to the volume of book lovers who perceive working in publishing, "amongst the authors," as glamorous. "Spoiler Alert!" she says, “it isn't.”

As far as a day job goes, Alicia has a few things up her sleeve.

Early on, she recognised herwriting as a side-project, but one that she undertook with a view to one day having a creative profession. Since her first submissions to Icarus and The Attic, she has had reviews published in Trinity News and The University Times.

She is currently serving as Deputy Editor for the Rant and Rave, as well as editing poetry for a publication in Wales (by email, she hastens to add). The next step for Alicia seems to be graduate study, possibly abroad, even though the thought of leaving the Dublin poetry scene behind is saddening.

Connolly-Shlepper put the fact that he has been able to forge a career in composition down to the opportunities he made through activity undertaken during his college years. It is likely that any further opportunities that come Alicia's way will have been similarly self-made, in the way that she seized the opportunity presented by events like The Monday Echo.

Taking advice

Upon leaving the GMB, I began to wonder whether the advice I had received from Deloitte's head of HR was perhaps the most valuable to those other, now somewhat chastened, creative types who had attended. The "Voices from the Creative Arts" had spoken and apparently there are no hard and fast dos and don'ts to be found in their field, where the objective is to differentiate yourself.

The one piece of advice to be taken from the talk as this: if you must be equal to the scrutiny of many pairs of fresh eyes. And so I wandered home, repeating the mantra and quietly ruing all those times I had brazenly told my parents I would never become an academic.

“A lot of what you’ll do in the art world is all on your own back. If you want to be in exhibitions you have to keep trying. How far you go is all up to yourself. It’s what you put into it.”

Aaron Smyth has put a lot into it. The 21-year-old Dubliner, who joined a portfolio class at the Meridian Art Group at the end of fifth year, is now entering his final year at the National College of Art and Design.

Smyth won the Black Church Prize at the end of his second year at NCAD for his large scale three piece lithograph Ecce Homo.

His work was then displayed in the Black Church Print Studio in Temple Bar. Further success, however, has meant that today you have to go farther afield to view his work in a gallery.

Smyth’s work is currently on display in London’s Bankside Gallery and his artist’s book was accepted for the European Artist Book Biennale in Moscow. He has also been selected for Kuntspodium-T, a European initiative to get young emerging artists and contemporary artists together.

Students from different colleges are matched with a contemporary artist and allocated a gallery in a specific country. Through this initiative, Smyth will be doing a series of exhibitions throughout Europe.

Method

Over the last year. Smyth has been working a lot with lithographs. Lithography sees the artist draw their image with a greasy substance on a limestone plate.

The stone is then treated with a mixture of acid and gum Arabic that cuts into (etches) the parts of the stone unprotected by the paint, leaving the artist’s image slightly raised. The stone is then moistened with water with the etched part retaining the water while the painted part sheds it.

An ink can then be applied that sticks only to the drawing, allowing prints to be made.

The lithography machine itself looks like something from the Spanish Inquisition, a contraption you would imagine wholly unsuitable for producing work as subtle and melancholic as Smyth’s. There’s an eye-opening contrast between the softness and sense of vulnerability in the lithographs he produces and the grain of the stone that was used to make them that can still be seen in the prints.

Ecce Homo, Smyth’s most recognisable piece so far, is the culmination of an earlier body of work heavily involved in contemporary ideas of masculinity, something that is still a concern for him today.

“It started with the artist’s book that’s now in Russia and then continued with The Politics of Emotion and The Myth of Manhood, finishing with Ecce Homo. They were surrounding the notions of teenage depression, suicide, these big things that we see coming up in the media and in the news.”

Gender

“It’s only recently that male depression has really come to the fore. There’s something in that that’s a keystone to what I do.

How men express, or don’t express their emotions, how they hide them.”

More recently it’s becoming more focused on gender and roles rather than specifically on masculinity. “I needed to do the work on masculinity and now it’s become more open. It’s about how masculinity and femininity coexist. It’s a big thing in my work, the place of roles in our society, I think often it’s glazed over. There was such a shift with feminism and queer theory and Ireland is still that little bit behind in accepting certain parts of these. We’re slowly getting to a point where other countries have already been.”

In terms of the art scene in Ireland, Smyth believes that there’s plenty happening. “There’s a lot going on in Dublin in the smaller galleries. In some respects it’s tough to get yourself a pedestal when you’re trying to come up in Ireland but we’re lucky with the

collective that we’ve been able to secure group shows.”

The collective is the GUM Collective, a group of NCAD studenwho display together. Their next exhibition, called Traces, will be in the Library Project in Temple Bar, November 3rd to 9th and will be a great gateway for anyone who wants to explore what’s happening in Irish art today.

“At Kuntspodium-T, we had eight different colleges from all over Europe coming together and we presented our work to each other. Judging from that, the big things happening in Europe at the minute are divided between very minimal and heavy conceptual work and then somewhere between minimal and traditional works that have a more art historical basis.”

“A lot of what seems to be occurring in the art world at the minute, you could put a very broad word to it, and call it existential. After the turn of the century a lot of the work focused on dealing with where we are, trying to understand ourselves as humans within this space.”

“A lot of digital work represents interactions between the digital and humanity, there’s a lot of that going on but I guess art has always dealt with, no matter how far you go back, trying to grapple with terms of understanding life.”

“

It’s only recently that male depression has really come to the fore. There’s something in that that’s a keystone to what I do. How men express, or don’t express their emotions; how they hide them.

Digital lives

The digital age, like in every other sphere, has changed the art world. Ideas spread faster and influences are on tap on tumblr.

From a practical sense, submissions can be viewed online, saving the artist the effort and expense of shipping their work to and back to be assessed.

“It changes the notion of ownership in certain respects. I make a print and I’m of the opinion that the one you see up there has a different feeling from the one you’ll see online. There’s something physical about it. It’s been described as an aura, there’s something about having a physical piece as opposed to the digital.

There are very strange boundaries now as technically anyone can have your work [once it’s online]. Or indeed anyone can copy your work.”

Though the digital age is a shift in production and reproduction the likes of which we’ve never contended with, Smyth believes that there are elements of art and the artist’s process that remain the same.

“I never see myself stopping making art. It’s a curiosity about understanding certain things. Using objects to describe feelings, emotions, interactions, I think that’s something that’s gonna keep me going for a long time.

Human existence always has something new occurring.”

“Curiosities change, influences change, how your work manifests changes. How my work is made is something that’s gonna change.

I drive myself. I’m doing ceramics now, to try different mediums and what they can give to my art work. There’s always a curiosity for medium and understanding.”

Aaron Smyth will be exhibiting as part of the GUM Collective at the Library Project in Temple Bar, from the 3rd to 9th November. For more information, see aaronsmythartist.com or facebook.com/aaronsmythartist.

Tuesday 14th October 2014

TRINITY NEWS

Features

11

Interview with Julie O’Callaghan Poet Julie O’Callaghan talks about her accidental career in writing and the death of her husband, Denis O’Driscoll.

James Bennett Contributing Editor Julie O’ Callaghan was never meant to live in Ireland. She was supposed to spend her third year of college studying abroad in Trinity, and then go back to the United States. She was never meant to be a published poet. She just scribbled down little poems on scraps of paper. At least, that’s how it comes across when she is telling her own life story: a series of accidents, of beautiful coincidences.

O’ Callaghan was born in 1954 in Chicago. Her great-grandparents emigrated from Ballyjamesduff in County Cavan. When she was in high school she wrote a poem in the shape of a tree, which earned her high praise from her English teacher. After this she continued to write poems. She says the poems she wrote during this period were “about nothing, just shooting the breeze.” It was not until she came to Ireland that poetry became such an important part of her life. She arrived in July 1974, two days after her twentieth birthday. Two poetry readings that she attended in Dublin that autumn were to change her life forever:

Beginnings

“In September I saw a little ad on the back of the Irish Times for an open mic night. It was an invitation for anybody who had some poems to come and read them. It was over in this place called the Lantern Theatre, which was in a basement in Merrion Square. So I went there, and I brought my little scraps of paper with my handwritten poems on them, and I read my poems, and I went home.

Three weeks later, I saw another ad on the back of the Irish Times, and it was for a reading by Seamus Heaney in the Lantern Theatre. At that time I didn’t really know where I was. I was literally on Mars. But I knew where the Lantern Theatre was. So I went along to this reading, and when I went down the stairs to the basement they said it was all full, and that they couldn’t let me in."

"To tell you the truth I had never heard of Seamus Heaney. I didn’t know who he was. He was very famous already, but I had never heard of him. Anyway they came back a few minutes later and said that they had managed to fit a few more chairs in by putting them on the stage beside Seamus Heaney. So I sat on one of those.

And then he read, and then there was an interval. During the interval I heard somebody calling my name out. I was confused because I didn’t know anybody there. And the person who was calling my name was Denis O’ Driscoll, who I would eventually marry.”

“

You never call yourself a poet. If somebody asked me what I do I would say I work in a library.

Anybody who calls themselves a poet is not a poet.

Only other people can call you that. them.

Dennis O’ Driscoll, who died in 2012, was considered a giant of Irish and European poetry. He was one of the most respected poets and critics of his generation.

Although he had a full-time job in the Revenue Commissioners, he produced numerous volumes of poetry, essays and criticism.

At the Seamus Heaney reading where he and O’ Callaghan met, he approached her during the interval because he remembered her from the open mic night.

“Dennis said: ‘I heard you reading your poems here a few weeks ago and I thought they were really good. I was wondering if you ever published them?’ And I said: ‘Are you kidding me? No, never.’

Dennis really liked my poems.

I’ll tell you what he said, which I thought was a complete chat up line. All my poems were handwritten and he asked if I ever typed them up. I said I didn’t, and he said: ‘Oh, I have a typewriter in my house.’ And it turned out that he only lived two minutes down the road from me. I was on Leeson Street and he was on Appian Way. So I went over and typed up my poems. And he picked two of them and said: ‘You should send these to New Irish Writing in the Irish Press.’ I wasn’t sure because the poems were so American, but I sent them anyway. And they were published.”

This was the beginning of a new period in Julie O’ Callaghan’s life. She never went back to live in the United States: “I went back and told my parents that I was moving to Ireland. And I never finished my degree, which was a bit of a thing.”

She took a job in the library in Trinity, and continued to write poetry. After being published in the Irish Press, she was published in the Times Literary Supplement. In the eighties she had her first book of poetry published,

by Dolmen Press. They read her work on O’ Driscoll’s recommendation: “Dolmen Press published Dennis’ first book. It was called Kist. That’s a Scottish word. It means coffin, actually. He put in a word for me with Dolmen. They had a look at my stuff, and they took it. I didn’t even struggle. It was way easier in those times.

This was 1983. It wasn’t such a rat race. Poetry just got real big here.

It’s a hard thing to get going in.

The thing is that Irish poetry has become so famous internationally. That made it harder.”

American voice

Since then O’ Callaghan has published numerous volumes of poetry, including some for children and young adults. She received the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award in 2001, and is now a member of the Aosdána. Her poetry is popular largely because of its humour, which often casts an off-beat light on the most banal of situations. Almost all of her poems are written in an American speaking voice. She is obsessed with tones and rhythms of the Chicago vernacular, which she finds hilarious.

However, she claims she only began to find it funny after moving away from her home city: “When you go away to a different country, you understand how hilariously funny your own people are when they talk. I could only hear myself after coming to Ireland. After being away from America, I could hear how utterly hilarious a lot of the speech is there. But if I hadn’t left I wouldn’t have heard that. Americans have this wacky way of looking at things which I did not notice until I came here. It’s just so funny. Every time I go back I’m just listening. Because they say the funniest things. If I walk past the queue for the Book of Kells, I can hear the people from Chicago. They talk through their nose.

When I was in high school in Chicago, a woman was hired to come and teach us elocution.”

When she says “the way people talk”, it seems that O’ Callaghan is not only referring to the sounds, the slang and the rhythms, but also to the shared outlook on life that can be contained within the shared speech of a group of people. The characters in her earlier, more light-hearted poems always seem very small, and even confused by life. They insert meaning into their lives by small defiances in language. And it is always in the informal speaking voice that these defiances manifest themselves: “Me an my buddies / have an ok time down at da garage. / We ain’t soft in da middle like c

Illustration: Naoise Dolan come people / I don’t care ta mention.” The heart-breaking poems about her father’s death that were published in 2000 still use a speaking voice, but it is her own. It is one of pure grief, but it remains honest and unworked. O’ Callaghan is up front about her lack of technical poetic knowledge: “I have no notions whatsoever. I don’t know anything about poetry. Rhymes, metres and all that. It’s just not happening up there.” The patterns of human speech are what give structure to her verse. However, one suspects that she might know a bit more than she lets on.

Her modesty is such that she will not even call herself a poet: “You never call yourself a poet. If somebody asked me what I do I would say I work in a library. Anybody who calls themselves a poet is not a poet. Only other people can call you that. It’s such a high up thing that you can never say that about yourself without sounding kind of smarmy. I would never presume to call myself such a thing, especially in Ireland. Even Seamus Heaney never called himself a poet. He was filling in a form once to register his kids for school in Wicklow. He had to write down his occupation and the school told him to write

‘file’, the Irish word for poet, but kids for school in Wicklow. He had to write down his occupation and the school told him to write ‘file’, the Irish word for poet, but he didn’t really want to.”

Personal life

It is hard to separate Julie O’ Callaghan’s personal life from her literary life. The omnipresence of her late husband Dennis O’ Driscoll blurs everything into one. When she entered into a relationship with him, poetry was part of the deal: “He was a genius.

He was an absolute poetry nerd.

He loved poetry. His whole life was poetry. Everything to do with him was poetry. It was a miracle that I met him. And if I hadn’t met him I wouldn’t have kept writing.

It’s such an un-fun thing to be doing.”

She did write before she met him, but it is as if his mere presence inspired her to keep going with it, at least in the early days: “Dennis used to put my poetry into three piles: adults, children and garbage. The garbage pile was always the biggest. Since I was twenty years old, he’s been telling me what the flipping hell to do with my poems. He used to call himself my coach. He said poetry was like sports, and the

coach has to cheer you on and get you going.”

It is clear from speaking to her that she is still struggling to come to terms with O’ Driscoll’s death.

She is on her second career break from the library in Trinity, and is currently living in Naas with her horse and dog. She has been writing poetry about Dennis. It seems to be her way of coming to terms with death. She did the same thing when her father died.

She says that this coping strategy sometimes worries people, but that it works for her: “The newest poems are going to be a bummer.

I mean that’s all they can actually be. Because everything’s gone to hell. I spent all last year writing poems aboutDennis and his death. I have like a hundred poems. It’s very hard. And then I think maybe I should stop thinking about it. But I’m just working through it really. Some people say I should go to a counsellor and get help. But for me, it’s much better to write a poem. Because you’re trying to work through what the hell is happening in this world.

After he died I was asking myself: ‘What now? All my family is in America. What do I do now?’ And then I thought: ‘What would Dennis do?’ And I know he would just say: ‘Poems, poems, poems.’ It’s

the only thing I know how to do.

You’ve got to deal with what you have. This is the only way that I can figure it out. You can go for a couple of days if you don’t stop, you don’t think about it. I guess a lot of people do that. Clean the garden, scrub the house, get a new kitchen, go on a vacation, run around like a lunatic. I suppose that works in a certain sense.

But I can’t do that. I have to stop and think about it. And it’s really hard. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, this situation that I’m in.”

If the poems on the death of her father are anything to go by, the forthcoming ones about O’ Driscoll will be intensely personal and difficult to read. They will also be marked by the fact that he himself is not there to edit them.

The long poem Sketches for an Elegy, the most personal account of O’Callaghan’s father’s death, was assembled by O’ Driscoll from a series of hastily written anecdotes, thoughts and images: “Dennis put Sketches for an Elegy together. When my father died I was freaked out. You can tell from reading that poem. I just got a notebook and just started scribbling little pieces. My brain was having a nervous breakdown.

Dennis took the pieces and asse-

mbled them. That’s why the new ones about Dennis are so hard.

Because there isn’t another person on earth who can do the job of Dennis O’ Driscoll. I’m trying to second guess what he would think, which is not good. But it’s all I’ve got.”

Although she feels like the current poems are part of her personal grieving process, she is sure that they will be published. Her publisher, Bloodaxe Books, will want them, and as a member of the Aosdána she has an obligation to produce. That said, she makes it very clear that she is “not in a rush”. She is not sure whether there will be one long poem, or a book of shorter ones. Similarly she is not sure where her life in general is going to go from here.

For the moment, she is content to stay in Naas and try to write her way through to some kind of understanding, or acceptance: “I don’t know what’s happening.

That’s the truth. People are asking what I’m going to do, where I’m going to go. And I have no idea. Everybody is so freaked out that Dennis is gone. Everybody’s waiting for me to say something.”

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Editorial

12

Return of student The importance of the right to water rally

solidarity with staff is to be welcomed

land are now at the forefront of the drive to casualised labour, as research carried out by Third Level Workplace Watch last year has indicated. The rise of shortterm and hourly-paid contracts has created a new precariat of university workers, with little job security or funding. Between August 2011 and April 2014, 70 JobBridge interns worked for periods of up to nine months in College, with only 15 obtaining employment within College directly after the end of their internship, as Trinity News reported last year.

Catherine Healy Editor The Irish student movement has come a long way since December 2010, when the leadership of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) first called for the renegotiation of the Croke Park deal.

The union’s signing of a new agreement with SIPTU, the largest trade union in Irish higher education, in March of this year marked the renewal of a solidarity that had long been amiss in the third-level sector.

That alliance was clear for all to see at last Wednesday’s prebudget rally for education, as representatives of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), as well as SIPTU, marched alongside thousands of students to call for the protection of the maintenance grant and back-to-education allowance in Budget 2015.

Student solidarity with thirdlevel staff will be an important line of defence as Irish universities become ideological battlegrounds in the coming years.

The growing reliance of thirdlevel institutions on private funding through commercial revenue, business contracts and potential student fees poses a significant threat to staff and students alike. College has clearly already begun its own process of commercialisation with the opening of a new office for “corporate partnership and knowledge exchange” during the last academic year. If certain university heads had their way, the process would be accompanied by the steady increase in student fees.

But recent trends in Irish higher education have also presented significant challenges to staff.

Third-level institutions in Ire

“

Student solidaritywill be an important line of defence as Irish universities become ideological battlegrounds in the coming years.

The deployment of a marketdriven logic in third-level institutions also threatens the working conditions of those staff members with job security. As Provost Patrick Prendergast acknowledged at last year’s Global Graduate Forum, College’s current public nature has limited its independence in relation to “decisions on hiring, promotion [and] remuneration”. The ability to enforce compulsory redundancy would be a possible benefit of future privatisation, he suggested, as “staff are now public servants, and redundancy can only be voluntarily.”

But what has also united staff and students in recent months is a common vision of third-level education; a vision of education as a public good, and not a corporate resource. We have shared challenges and goals. That was what was most striking about the speeches at Wednesday’s USI rally. We welcome students’ return to the wider trade union movement.

Matthew Mulligan Editor-at-Large The problems the Irish public have with the introduction of Irish Water are varied. From questions about the awarding of contracts to the government’s own report which suggests future privatisation and “competition in water” and the direction from the body to hand over PPS numbers to be stored for undetailed amounts of time, the objection to Irish Water doesn’t simply come down to ‘can’t pay, won’t pay’ politics. The organisers of Saturday’s right to water rally hoped to combat the government’s plans and combine the smaller, localised demonstrations at water meter installations around the country into one large protest in Dublin. Coming

at the end of a week that saw another inane comment from Joan Burton about the legitimacy of water meter protests and the insinuation that these people were professional protesters and a mass burning of Irish Water application packs in Clondalkin, I hadn’t a clue what the turnout would be.

On Twitter and other social media platforms, many were predicting tens of thousands, but I held on to my doubt, not least after another less than satisfactory USI protest the previous Wednesday. Over time however I saw organisers go from somewhat crude posters and promotional materials to sleekly designed uniform graphics. As it happens, my mother had planned on going into the march, and I was heading into town to work on this very newspaper so we both walked to the bus stop and hopped on the 25A from Lucan. My mam was disappointed that the bus wasn’t full to the rafters, but was confident that she’d be joining a large contingent. “I’d reckon about 5,000 will come out,” she said.

Upon reaching the quays, I knew she was right and both of us had underestimated the draw of the march. The last stop on the bus that normally terminates at Merrion Square was on Ormond Quay, and no cars were allowed past there either.

The Garda helicopter screeched

overhead as I left my mam and headed into College.

When the crowds started moving off and marching past College, they kept going for hours; there was a buzz in the city, one that I haven’t ever felt no matter what rally or assembly I’ve ever been on. From our office in Mandela House, we looked out every so often at the endless river of banners, flags, placards, bicycles, men, women, children, musical instruments and crucially, communities. You could see where a group from the country or outside the city had bussed up together, assembled together and held their own section in the procession. College Green became an epicentre, as the trail went past Trinity and up around the Dáil, around St. Stephen’s Green and into Aungier Street before spilling back down George’s Street, onto Dame Street and back to the GPO. The sun shone down as chanting, singing and the sound of drums filled the air.

After some documenting of the day’s events from the lofty perch of House Six’s second floor, I felt that I had to go down onto the ground and get some photos.

The tranquillity of Front Square was breached by the whirring of the helicopter above and the crowd all around, making the decision to leave my colleagues and hop amongst the crowd all the more irresistible. I saw Gardaí

– hopelessly outnumbered but also realising that there was no risk of danger – smile and resign themselves to facilitating the march as best they could.

The AAA branded banners along with those of PBP and homemade posters were carried high and the atmosphere was one of harmony. Though these people were fed-up and angry, their temperament was friendly and relaxed, and their infectious mood was hard to resist. I wandered around like I have at festivals when I first arrive – mouth slightly open, trying to take in everything at once and feeling both an immense sense of hope and peacefulness.

This protest was important.

The subject of the water charges is important for many, and this march proved that beyond all doubt. But it was also the point where a large proportion of the public decided to follow the endless jeering remarks about the placid, downtrodden Irish and their aversion to protest. Both on the streets and at the byelection count centres around the country, the government had a bad day. The combined efforts of both coalition parties in Dublin South-West and Roscommon South-Leitrim was not enough to come close to stopping the election of two opposition TDs – the AAA’s Paul Murphy and independent Michael Fitzmaurice respectively - with first prefer-

ence votes for the Fine Gael and Labour candidates in DSW combined falling well below those of other candidates.

That the mainstream Irish media reacted in a predictable way to both these events isn’t surprising however, with the Independent describing the election victories as an “upset” – to whom it is unknown but since the democratic process took its course one can only guess. The Irish Times also left something to be desired during the run up to the march, with political reporter Mary Minihan musing that the “Troika thing is a bit of a red herring” when talking about why the government is introducing Irish Water, even though all available documents show that even the initial Troika Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2010 had clear provisions for the transfer of water services from local authorities to a water utility.

This is not the media of those who were protesting on Saturday, as evidenced from the cheers on Twitter when the march drew out so many numbers through organic means.

Saturday’s show of solidarity on the streets is something that will stay with me for a long time.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for another of its size.

Witnessing the demise of Irish party politics

James Bennett Contributing Editor The two byelections that took place this week delivered a shock to the Irish political scene. In the Dublin South-West constituency, Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party won the seat vacated by Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes, who was elected to the European parliament earlier this year. Cathal King of Sinn Féin was the favourite to take the seat, but Murphy

narrowly beat him after focusing his campaign heavily on water charges. The favourite also lost out in the Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency. Fianna Fáil’s Ivan Connaughton was defeated by Michael Fitzmaurice, an independent candidate endorsed by Luke Ming Flanagan, who like Brian Hayes vacated his seat because he was elected an MEP. Fitzmaurice’s campaign focused on local issues such as turf, farming and tourism.

These two victories, along with the fact that over 50,000 people marched against water charges last week, mark a shift in Irish politics. Although it is hard to know if this is a momentary outburst of anger, or a lasting shift in attitude, there is a distinctly different atmosphere. People are moving away from the party system and engaging with politics on a micro level. They are abandoning old loyalties in order to bring other issues to the fore, the ones that affect their daily lives, and their pockets. In the UK a similar change is occurring. Last week Douglas Carswell became UKIP’s first MP, when he won

back the seat that he resigned after his defection from the Conservative party.

Closer to home, the poll conducted last week by Trinity News shows that students are also moving away from traditional party politics. Only 31% of students polled said they would vote for either Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour. 27% of students identified with Sinn Féin, the Green party and others. Perhaps more interesting is the amount of students who said they did not know who they would vote for (29%), and who claimed that they would not vote at all (13%). Only 27% of those polled had confidence in the current government.

Students, like the rest of the population, are turning away from organisations that have dominated the political landscape for years. They look to the major political parties, and do not see their own concerns reflect there. They have even become disengaged with the organisation that is supposed to look after the specific interests of students, the USI. Only a small minority of Irish undergraduates

attended the USI’s pre-budget rally last week.

The large groups that once brought people together now fill them with distrust. Parties and unions are seen to be concerned only with money and power.

People still care about things, but they are choosing to express this in different ways. They will march for abortion or against water charges, but they are reluctant to become card-carrying members of any organisation.

However, this is not to say that the political party as a vehicle for power is dead. Groups like Sinn Féin and UKIP are capitalising on the disillusionment with larger parties by launching populist campaigns that often focus on local issues. The shift to a more personal, local politics is encouraging. It should be welcomed.

But at the same time we must be wary of those who seek to jump on the bandwagon, but are only doing so superficially. We need a new politics, not a new set of parties.

“

The poll conducted last week by Trinity News shows that students are also moving away from traditional party politics.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

13

Comment

Reconfiguration of Irish politics has already happened Polls indicate that a left-right divide has finally emerged in Ireland. With right-wing parties at historically low levels, the time is right for a broad alliance of progressive forces.

Students gather on Front Square for the USI Rally for Education on 8th October. Photo: Michael Foley

Must try harder What do you call a protest without demands? A walk? A meet-and-greet?

William Foley Comment Editor Another year, another pre-budget student protest. And it would be all too easy to write yet another article criticising the USI and TCDSU. So… I will still do that.

But before I get all negative, it should be pointed out that there were some elements of the rally that the unions deserve credit for. TCDSU were well organised and prepared. In anticipation of rain, they ordered boxes of rainproof ponchos for students to wear on the march, keeping protestors (relatively) dry and preventing mass desertion. Finn Murphy conducted the chanting well, and was helped by an onthe-ball mobile rhythm section, and he also deserves kudos for letting a taxi run over his foot.

Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, despite having described himself last year as “not a megaphonetype person”, seemed very comfortable on the loudhailer and spoke well. As for the USI, well, they at least deserve credit for holding a protest in the first place. And such faint praise is not really as damning as it might appear when you consider that, despite escalating student fees and grant cuts, the USI leadership for the previous two years failed to organise a united protest at all.

So there. I have fished some nuggets of praise out of the cereal box, but they don’t amount to much more than a toddler’s breakfast. Because this protest was crucially lacking in an element which you might think was unconditionally necessary: actual political demands. Yes, de-

spite going to the effort of bringing students up from every part of the country, of hiring a main stage and arranging for two musical acts to play, and of coordinating a marching route with the gardaí and SU executives form over ten different colleges, there was no actual point to the protest. It was literally pointless.

Yes, individual SUs and students might have raised demands on the march, but there was no unified message from the overall march organisers – the USI. The result was an incoherent and self-hobbling scattershot of opinions from the speakers on the stage. Craig McHugh, president of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (and member of Young Fine Gael) said that students needed education so that they could become “middle and senior-managers”. Laura Harmon, president of the USI, bemoaned high student fees and grant cuts – but she didn’t call for reversing grant cuts or fee increases. Instead, she studded her speech with some clichés about how “education matters” and – a point she repeated – how education is “key to our recovery.”

Wait – threadbare clichés and an emphasis on a vague notion of “economic recovery” as a magical solution to all complaints – doesn’t that sound familiar? Yes Laura Harmon is a former member of the Labour Party (it is customary for USI officers to renounce official party membership when elected) and she remains a close sympathiser.

It shouldn’t be hard to spot the conflict of interest here.

No fight

So what do you call a protest without demands? A walk? A meet-and-greet? Oh yeah – a “rally”, which, for the USI, seems to mean a crap concert and some toothless speeches. The reality is that telling students that the education they and their parents are struggling to pay for is central to economic recovery counts for little, and it’s hard to imagine that the government would feel too threatened by this claim either – in fact, minister for education Jan O’Sullivan says the exact same thing herself on her department website. If this is the message coming from the USI, I don’t see why any students should bother to show up to the USI protest next year at all, if the

leadership is even arsed organising one.

The USI have pointed out in their pre-budget proposal that the cost of getting an education is still rising: rents are up by 10% nationally, and 17% in Dublin (where there are four major universities / ITs as well as a smattering of other mid-range Its, art and design schools, and colleges of further education); the cost of attending college is thirteen thousand euro, ten grand more than the average maintenance grant; 64% of parents struggle to cover college costs; and the average student maintenance grant is ¤84, less than the lowest rate of jobseekers allowance. In light of these facts, which they have made such a ( justifiably) big deal about in their pre-budget submission, one might imagine that the USI – the body which is supposed to look out for the welfare of students in Irish third-level institutions – would advocate some measures for raising financial support for students to cover the escalating costs of further education. Not so.

Priorities

In the face of an extra ¤250 being put on the contribution fee and the inflation of accommodation costs (already one of the most expensive components of the college-goers budget), the USI are merely calling for maintaining the grant at the current level. Talk about a non sequitur.

This is the equivalent of blowing up a big red balloon and then promptly bursting it in your own face. And what about the rising fees? Here’s what they say about the submission: “Now, as we plan for national recovery and a less-constrained funding environment, the minister must set out a timeline for the reduction of the charge to pre-crisis levels.” This demand is so vague and non-committal that it barely counts as a demand at all. Again, one can quite easily imagine Jan O’Sullivan saying the same very thing herself. There are no actual figures offered by which the fee might be reduced, nor is there any suggestion either as to what a “timeline” might consist of.

As it happens, the USI will get their wish in Budget 2015.

There will be no further cuts to the maintenance grant, as Trinity News reports in this issue. At

the time of writing, it is unclear whether or not the minister will set out a “timeline” for restoring the fee to “pre-crisis levels” (whatever that means) – but it doesn’t make a material difference whether this placeholder demand is met anyway. A cynical person might thus draw any of several separate yet not necessarily incompatible conclusions: 1) Laura Harmon is using her Labour links to receive information on the education budget and tailoring the USI’s demands to make them seem successful/influential; 2) The USI leadership have at least half an eye on their careers and don’t want to rock the boat too much lest they turn off their future employers. Past presidents of the USI include Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore, Colm Keaveny, and Frank Flannery; 3) The USI leadership are afraid of appearing too radical or of taking on the establishment. 4) The USI leadership are simply politically wrong: they genuinely think that these demands are the best they can do.

It’s impossible to actually prove any of these statements, and, in a sense, it doesn’t really matter what the USI leadership’s motivation or decision-making process is. What is important is that the USI are taking the wrong approach to address what is a cost of living crisis for students in Ireland. Radical action is needed. If you are going to mobilise students from all constituent institutions then you need to have demands worth fighting for.

What the USI demanded in its pre-budget submission is weak and insufficient, and these faults were exacerbated on the march when they were muddled up with a bunch of empty clichés.

Trying to effect change without clear and sufficient demands is pointless, like fighting with a blunt sword.

TCDSU

And all this criticism can be pretty much directed at TCDSU as well. As evidenced by its Call for Action on Education, put together by McGlacken-Byrne , the TCDSU, like the USI, are well capable of identifying the cost of living problems faced by students but incapable of actually putting forward any political demands. The best that could be managed was a bizzare and utterly useless metaphor about –

again – the value of education: “There is a saying that, in times of famine, the one thing we must not eat is our seeds. In years to come Irish society will depend on our higher education sector to deliver not only tax-payers, but the innovators, thinkers and researchers who will drive the recovery we need. We urge Trinity and governmental leaders to recognise that it is now that these seeds must be sown.”

This is politically meaningless.

And, incidentally, the focus on education as a means of “driving recovery” actually devalues education, reducing it to a means to an end – the key to the overall performance of the economy rather than something which is valuable in itself and available to all by right.

TCDSU and the USI have shown that they are organisationally capable. But that is meaningless without proper political demands. If they are really serious about ensuring that education is not an opportunity in the abstract but a materially supported right then they have to be willing to challenge the government, to go to fight and to win

“

The best that could be managed was a bizzare and utterly useless metaphor about the value of education.

Oisin Vince Coulter

possible now and in the future, leading to unstable coalitions like those seen in 1980s Italy.

Staff Writer

Shift away from mainstream parties

You know student politics has reached new lows when the youth wings of the two largest political parties in the country base their recruitment posters on ripped-off pop culture, with equally insightful messages encoded in both. Ógra Fianna Fáil drop all pretence of having actual political positions, instead proclaiming, “Love a good party? Join Ógra.” on a 22 Jump Street inspired background, including a vest saying “Sun’s out, guns out”. Either Fianna Fáil have decided to stop pretending they offer any real alternative to the governing coalition, or they are subtly hinting at a return to their physical force roots.

Fine Gael are no better, with a recruitment poster that is either a work of profound self satire, or a very unfortunate combination of motifs: it has Michael Collins sitting on a House of Cards style stone chair, his bloodied hands upon two fasces, the symbol that gave fascism its name. Either the ‘Blueshirts’ have embraced their nickname and past, or they don’t look too closely at the posters they steal from. With such efforts, it’s hardly surprising that membership numbers for both main parties have been in steady decline for years.

But it’s not just membership numbers that are in decline: voter apathy has become an accepted feature of the politics of western democracies, and Ireland is no exception. If anything, the situation is much worse here, a country where elections seem to always result in more of the same, a product of a political system in which the two dominant parties are indistinguishable in all but personnel. There is a pervasive sense of meaninglessness attached to elections. I’ve always found the complaints of Young Fine Gael and Ográ Fianna Fáil that students ‘don’t care about politics’ hard to stomach when the root of cause of that apathy is the inability of either of those parties to offer any real possibility of change.

Left-right divide developing

However, recent developments might point to a political future in Ireland that some would have expected a few years ago. The recent local elections saw the long predicted electoral breakthrough of Sinn Féin, along with good results more generally for independents and antiestablishment parties, such as the Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party.

This voting shift is starting to seem like a permanent political adjustment: on Thursday an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll had Sinn Féin tied with Fine Gael at 24% and on Friday, both by-elections were won by antiestablishment candidates. It would be easy to dismiss these results as protest votes and anger at a failed economy. But when read against broader political trends, a different picture emerges. A former editor of this paper, Ronan Burtenshaw, has analysed the combined vote share of right wing political parties (the two large parties of F.F and F.G and micro parties) since independence, and found that together they had over 75% of the vote from 1927 to 1992, with one exception in 1948. Their combined vote has now dropped to 40%.

But it’s not just left wing journalists pointing this out: a recent piece in the Irish Independent

by Dan O’Brien warned that the “Decline of two Civil War parties may see us become ungovernable”. He uses the same figures as Burtenshaw, stating that the vote share of the two main parties has been in decline for three decades. He also references surveys from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, which show that 49% of people in Ireland express hostility to political parties in general. His conclusion is that single party government is essentially im-

I draw different conclusions from these figures: it’s possible that, almost 100 years since independence, Irish politics may be starting to restructure down ideological right-left lines. Even the Irish Times poll points towards this, with Sinn Féin and Labour both seeing increased vote share, together holding 33%. One in three people in country committed to voting for one of the two mainstream left parties is a dramatic shift, and should not be underestimated, especially considering the large amount of support for other left individuals and parties. If this restructuring continues, future elections may finally offer the chance for voters to actually control what direction the country goes in, especially if the leftist dream of a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition comes to pass.

Alongside electoral gains for those that can be broadly grouped under the heading of ‘the left’, the past year has seen the emergence and strengthening of a wide variety of nonparty political movements. In the past six months alone we saw huge protest marches of tens and thousands for a diverse range of progressive causes, from solidarity with Palestine, abortion rights, marriage equality, drug legalisation, to the huge anti-water charges march on Saturday that some reports said saw 50,000 to 100,000 people marching in the capital.

Being someone of a progressive mindset can often be a depressing prospect, especially in a country like Ireland. Every victory is hard won, and reversals always seem to be around the corner. But Ireland, like Greece and Spain, was laid waste to by the Great Recession, and like those countries is seeing a political awakening. We don’t yet have a dynamic and new political movement like Syriza or Podemos to exemplify the political changes that are happening, but the possibility of one emerging has never been greater.

New opportunity

We cannot allow this opportunity to pass us by. It has been decades since the last real opportunity for major political change in this country, and it could well be decades until the next chance unless this one is seized upon.

What is needed is not just the traditional slogan of ‘unity’, but a real shared vision of the kind of Republic we want, a vision that can be bought into regardless of party affiliation or the political movement one primarily engages with - a Republic where women aren’t brutalized by the state and denied autonomy over their own bodies, where Travellers and other ethnic minorities don’t face endemic racism and profiling, where everyone has equal opportunities regardless of how much their parents earn, where the resources of the Republic are used for the entire population of the Republic, and not just to enrich the few.

This vision doesn’t need to be a policy document, just a set of principles to act as the founding document for a political alliance across party lines. This alliance doesn’t need to follow the United Left Alliance’s mistakes and collapse. Instead, it should aim to be the most popular front possible, bringing together parties and movements that want a better Ireland, and agree that coalition and cooperation with right wing parties and organizations isn’t the way to achieve it.

There is an easy starting point: every party or individual in the country that wishes to call themselves ‘left wing’, should pledge to never go into coalition with or support either of the right wing parties. That basic pledge would do more to help progressive movements in Ireland than a dozen regressive governments like the current one, and could act as a base from which to build the kind of future we all want to live in.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

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The problem with the ‘Please Talk’ campaign For people with depression, the point isn’t that they can’t talk, it is that they feel there is no-one there to listen.

Gavin Tucker Contributor Last week, the mental health charity Aware shared a leaflet they created about “resilience”.

The leaflet advocates higher levels of “resilience” as a buffer to cope with or prevent depression. How can one build up their “resilience”? Apparently, through regular exercise, yoga, eating well and seeing the good in a situation. If only the ill could stop being ill; if only they could take control of what’s happening their body and just try a little harder to not be ill. It’s totally within their capability to be a bit more “resilient”. Right?

and terrifyingly relatable post

by Allie Brosh, author of the web comic Hyperbole and a Half. If there’s one piece of writing I would force everyone to read, it’s this. Bear in mind that this is only a starting point. The characteristics and signs of mental illness have often been compared to a Venn diagram of overlapping but unique components.

I think this is a well-meaning but misguided comparison. In its place, imagine a circle composed of overlapping circles.

There are overlaps (often very large ones), but there is never a definitional central component common to all lived experiences of mental illness.

Awareness

Is anybody listening?

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

Five students from different universities speak about their experiences seeking help with mental illness.

Matthew Mulligan Editor-at-Large The narrative around mental health is changing. We are living in a society now which strives to overcome taboos around depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder through a campaign of openness and acceptance.

We are constantly reminded of the high suicide rates among males, where once the narrative surrounding men was one of a masculinity that had no room for emotions. Schools and universities encourage students to “Please Talk”; the promise that if young people need to seek help for any problems they may be having, someone will be there to listen and support them.

With these thoughts in mind and with Mental Health Week taking place last week I wanted to see how students feel with the services provided to them — both in college and the outside world — and measure their experiences against those of the current campaigns around mental health. The important thing to keep in mind the responsibilities of the health service professional: when someone who is in need of help puts up their money and builds up the confidence to go to a doctor, we should expect that professional to behave in a professional way and to do everything in their power to fully diagnose and treat the symptoms presented. After all, if we’re told that depression is a disease like any other, than it should be treated with the same seriousness and dedication that others are.

Training

One student, Abby, found that her experience led her to question how well doctors are trained to deal with mental health issues.

When she was a DCU student seven years ago, she sought help from the college doctor after a period of self-harming, going into the doctor’s office shaking and crying. “I showed her my cuts and told her how I’d been feeling shit all the time and that I was crying on a nightly basis” Abby told me. Going into the appointment, she knew that she wanted

to either get some medication or get referred to a specialist who could assist her further. The doctor was non-responsive. “She looked at me like I’d asked her to sell me some heroin and told me that someone would contact me soon about services that were available.” The doctor never got back to her with any details, nor did she mark anything on Abby’s file.

Her experiences seeking help led her to avoid seeing a medical professional again until three years later. She feels positively about campaigns to promote talking, something which during her youth was considered ‘emo’: “I’m 27 now, I think people who are five or six years younger than me who grew up with social media are a lot more aware of mental health issues and have a better understanding of them”.

David is a UCD student who went to a GP because the wait to see the university’s counselling service was eight weeks.

“The first time I went, the doctor very kindly explained that everyone’s mood goes up and down sometimes and that she thought I seemed okay as I was making eye contact.” Like with Abby, David was not referred on to any specialist nor was any note made on his file about his condition.

“I was so annoyed, I felt that she didn’t take me or my concerns seriously and effectively reduced [the depression] to being a moody teen” he says. “I felt that while I wasn’t doing awfully at the time, others could’ve been and that it would be very bad way to deal with them”.

A few years later he went back to a GP after a bad experience with the UCD counselling service. “They sent around an email to everyone on the waiting list saying they would reimburse receipts if people went to private places instead. Private places wouldn’t be as familiar with students. But this only meant that people who could afford to pay upfront would be able to go — even though you’d be reimbursed you still needed spare cash.”

To try and alleviate the numbers on the waiting list, UCD sent out an email about a “mindfulness course” that was being organised by some of the counsellors. The email was sent to everyone on the counselling waiting list, however it wasn’t bcc’d and all the recipients of the email were visible to all the other recipients. “Everyone has an email but there is a number version and a name version for the same account. They used the number version so you couldn’t see names, but you could see the student numbers of everyone [on the list]. It was surprising to see and was a stressful fucking mess for someone who was already a stressful mess” David said. This

lack of oversight and care in dealing with students in a precarious situation was something that contributed to David abandoning the college health services and having to pay money to see not always helpful GPs.

College counselling

Trinity student Emma has had experiences both outside and inside the college counselling system and also with the college disability service. She told me that while having a psychiatric evaluation in a clinic the doctor decided that all her issues had an explanation and that unless she displayed “damaging” bipolar symptoms they wouldn’t give her any further appointments. “I was told I should get my act together or drop out of university, because everyone else was able to deal with academic pressure” she says. “I had a panic attack about a minute after leaving, and it ended quite badly because it screwed with my already messed psyche at the time”.

On trying to change her medication because of the side effects she was suffering, she says “the doctor told me they weren’t going to change my dosage or medication, and if I was that unhappy why hadn’t I just stopped taking them?” Within a week of taking that advice, she had had a breakdown — not surprising since suddenly going on or off anxiety medication or anti-depressants can be detrimental to your health.

Emma also presents a strange series of events that portray the doctors’ mentality as being reminiscent of those in Catch-22.

“I’ve also been told that if I’m able to seek help, it shows that I’m not in that bad a way, because if I was really depressed I would be too isolated to do so.”

The disability services have also issued ultimatum like questions of her life outside college; during her one conversation with her assigned disability officer, “he asked me why I had a job and an internship if I couldn’t even deal with college work. There is very little understanding of how mental illness will not always be the depressive or manic episodes and that a lot of the time you can function as a human being.” The lack of any empathy and understanding shown by these medical professionals towards a young vulnerable person is extremely shocking.

Andrew, a student in UL, began treatment for depression and paranoid anxiety towards the end of the second year of his arts undergraduate degree and continued the treatment on through the completion of his degree and into his postgraduate studies. Echoing comments Emma made about doctors and administration being obsessed with medication, Andrew was

unnerved by his first visit with a doctor in a Limerick hospital.

Seeking medication wasn’t what he had in mind but found the perceived relationship between drug companies and medical professionals off-putting. “My anxiety was exacerbated by the proliferation of drug company merchandise in the doctor’s office. A patient is not made feel at ease when his doctor writes with a Lexapro pen and drinks from a Lexapro mug. The first thing you notice is how quickly after admittance to a hospital they begin to medicate you”.

Challenges

As with other people who spoke to me, Andrew feels that he has been passed around from doctor to doctor and, because of this, his file has been ignored by doctors who don’t have the time or desire to get to know him and his history. “There is no guarantee that it is the same doctor you saw the previous appointment. In my seven years of treatment I have only on one occasion had the same doctor on two successive visits, in fact, 80% of the time the doctor I encounter I have never met before. As each doctor is meeting you for the first time, and has neither the time nor the desire to read your file, he/she asks you to recount the full story of your diagnosis. This turns each visit into an arduous event, which you may have entered in good health, but left reminded of all your issues”.

Touching on an issue that I have experienced along with some of my peers, he says that some doctors are not equipped to deal with issues of sexuality.

Indeed, when you are a patient and entering into a doctor’s office, regardless of how related to your depression you sexuality might be (through bullying, physical/verbal abuse), it takes a lot of courage to trust a stranger to be as accepting towards your sexuality as you need them to be. “The issue of sexuality is one that makes Irish doctors particularly nervous. Despite the fact that the apparent incompatibility between my homosexuality and the deep faith in which I was raised was one of the chief causes of my unhappiness, my doctors have been unwilling to discuss it”. In my own life, once a doctor refused to link harassment received on the street with my sexuality, believing the reason I received such abuse to things like my appearance and dress sense. “Not that that makes it excusable” he told me.

Another Trinity student, Rebecca, organised a visit to the GP just after she turned 18. “I had been feeling terrible for at least six month, was self-harming and suicidal and did not know what to do. I had been encouraged to make an appointment with my

GP by friends, and finally by the SU welfare officer. I never wanted to talk to the GP and was convinced that it wasn’t going to help or make any difference to how I was feeling, so had never even considered the idea before”.

Nerves were yet again a factor in delaying her visit to the doctor. They flared up on the morning of the appointment, making it more difficult for her to discuss her condition. “I was by myself and considered running out of the clinic half a dozen times before they called me in. When I finally got to sit down I was so worked up that I didn’t think I’d be able to say anything at all. I had a middle aged male doctor.

He asked how he could help and all I managed to say was ‘I’m not happy’ before I choked and couldn’t get any more words out.

He asked some more questions, seemed disinterested and almost bored and finished up by saying that he’s sorry but he couldn’t do anything straight away, but I should come back in two weeks if I still felt depressed”. She later visited a different GP and found that her manner was much more open and accepting.

The issues raised by these students — all different ages, at different stages in their lives and from different institutions — show that there are still a lot of problems with the way the Irish medical establishment deals with mental health problems. If you are a young person who has completed third level education, free mental health services are probably not available to you.

Finances are a huge source of problems, and worrying about the money needed to get your mental health checked out is a double trigger for someone who is already in a distressed state of mind. Even if you seek help from the college counselling services, the long waiting lists take their toll.

Talking does help in and of itself, but going to a doctor with the expectation that they will be able to understand all the complications that may be contributing to your mental illness can leave you feeling shaken; if you are able to talk but they are not able to listen. We need to switch the focus away from simply telling people to seek help. Encouraging those who require assistance to speak about their experiences is an imperative, but it is not something that happens in a vacuum. Someone needs to listen, and we need to ensure that there are enough resources and properly trained professionals to give the help that people need while following best practice and protocol.

There is no room for error.

All names in this artice have been changed.

Last week marked World Mental Health Awareness Week, a time for us all to clap ourselves on the back about how “aware” we are that mental illness exists. But here’s the problem; everyone is aware that mental illness exists, but most of us stop there. The exact problem is symbolised by the mantra “Please, talk to someone”. This sentence is addressed at the depressed person, but is completely contingent on someone being there to listen.

By addressing these mantras to people with depression, we absolve ourselves of our collective responsibility to our friends, family and acquaintances. We make the burden of improving our society’s attitude to mental health contingent on them speaking to us, rather than us listening to them.

Let’s deconstruct this sentence a bit. “Talk”. It is a very easy thing to do; all it takes is moving the muscles in your mouth a certain way and aiming in the right direction. It is easy for lots of us, but for many people with depression, the point isn’t that they can’t talk, it is that they feel there is no-one there to listen. I believe that people are intrinsically good; I don’t believe that many people purposely shirk themselves of the responsibility of helping a friend in need. Indeed, a person with depression may be surrounded by a circle of incredibly kind and loving people, but that circle is no help whatsoever if they can’t recognise when a friend is in need.

Depression makes you feel isolated from the world around you, like everything is physically and emotionally behind a layer of bubblewrap you can’t break through. The point is that your ability to communicate meaningfully with the world around you, despite it being right in front of you, is considerably diminished. So when part of the definition of a person’s illness involves a highly-diminished ability to communicate, why does it follow that the best piece of advice we can give to people is “Be better at communicating, please”?

We are all “aware” depression exists, but assume that it can only exist for the people who deserve it. By this, I mean that society thinks that depression only happens to people who suffer traumatic life events or great loss; when, in fact, many cases of depression occur sporadically and are unrelated to any particular event. In a relevant analogy, compare this to cancer. Some people might get cancer after being exposed to radiation early in life, but many people just have cancer for no cause. This leads to people feeling despondent about the state they’re in, that it is somehow a choice of theirs to be ill. “I didn’t suffer abuse as a child. I haven’t lost a loved one.

I live a perfectly normal life; I don’t deserve the label of being ill. I’m not really depressed. I just need to try harder to be happier. It’s up to me to get better.”

Fear

These are the people for whom it is most difficult to speak to anyone. This is because society places a fear in their head that they’re just over-reacting. It is exceptionally difficult to say to someone. “I am depressed, but I have no reason to be.” This is a leading problem when dealing with youth mental health; a culture of stress and pressure tells people that their anxiety is just down to them working too hard, or that they’re having “an off-day, and everyone needs an off-day”.

What should we be doing?

Firstly, spreading the stories of people who have written about their journey through illness. I am not going to try to explain what depression feels like. I am immensely under-qualified to talk about the lived experience of depression or any other mental illness. The healthy lecturing the healthy is not very useful. A close friend of mine who is ill sent me an incredibly powerful

“

Depression makes you feel isolated from the world around you, like everything is physically and emotionally behind a layer of bubblewrap you can’t break through.

Listening

Second, our campaigns need to move away from “talk”, and switch to “listen”. This is a message that needs to impact everyone. Current campaigns only attempt to impact mentally ill people, to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. It should be about teaching people to take responsibility for those in plain sight around them. It’s about not being afraid to ask the question, “What’s worrying you?” It’s about not dismissing your friend’s changed habits or behaviour as “having a bad day”.

It’s about not absolving yourself of duty from the person you’ve noticed is sad by saying “Oh, I don’t know them well enough, it’s not my problem.”

I have a friend who I only get to see a couple of times a year due to distance, and despite not knowing each other particularly long or especially deeply, we talk a lot about their illness and their progress; sometimes, venting to a person you don’t have to see and engage with every single day can be an incredibly valuable tool in progressing through illness. Friends of mine going through their journey have found it very helpful to give the advice, “Before you do or say anything to me, think about whether you would do that to someone with another chronic disease like cancer or cystic fibrosis.” You probably wouldn’t tell a person with cystic fibrosis to go for a run because it’ll expand their lung capacity, you definitely wouldn’t tell a person with cancer with no determined cause that, deep down beneath all the mystery and what people have told them, their cancer was actually their own doing.

It is time to end our double standards and hypocrisy towards mental health. For too long, we have fostered the idea that we are all kind, loving and aware people who couldn’t possibly miss the fact someone is suffering in front of us. I believe we all have the best of intentions, but we suffer from a collective blindness when it comes to stepping up to responsibility. We wait passively for someone to come forward to us, and even in those moments when we do listen, we don’t act, because we are never told we have to. I am going to be accused of pathologising sadness and implying it can’t be an emotion we allow people to feel.

To this, my response is that it is infinitely more harmful for your depressed friend to never feel that anyone truly cares about them, than the slight awkwardness you might feel from being perceived as over-worried about your friends.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Comment

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Illustration: John Tierney

What would Socrates have thought of the internet?

Like the ancient god Theuth, the inventors of the internet proudly trumpet the benefits of their creation while neglecting its possible harmful effects.

Conor McGlynn Deputy Comment Editor Today, we have unparalleled access to the entire corpus of human knowledge. The internet has transformed how we appreciate and consume information and content. The recent advent of smart devices allows us to tap into this font of information no matter where we are. There is almost no factual question or query that may arise during the day to which we are unable to find an answer within seconds.

The internet allows every person with access to it to expand their

horizons and their knowledge to an extent that would have been unimaginable 50 years ago. Indeed, it is fair to assume that we ourselves have not fully realised the true possibilities afforded by this new technology, and that new and astounding innovations are still to come.

It would also seem fair to assume that this explosion of information will lead to a democratisation of knowledge, and to a more learned, wise, and educated population. The internet acts as a sort of extended mind, an infinitely more powerful memory bank which we can draw on and use to expand our capabilities in everyday life. I would like to ask, however, whether this truly is a correct assumption to make. Will increasingly widespread internet access lead to a more informed, literate and intelligent population, or could it, in fact, have the opposite effect?

the invention of writing. Plato’s mouthpiece, Socrates, recounts a story about how writing came into existence in ancient Egypt.

Theuth, the Egyptian god of invention, came to the Theban king Thamus to present his latest invention: the written word.

“Here is an accomplishment, my lord the king, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom”.

The king, however, demurs. Far from being a cure for the problems of memory, he says, those who use writing will instead cease to exercise their memories and will become forgetful. Writing will give people the appearance of wisdom but not the reality; people will be believed to be knowledgeable while remaining ignorant. Writing, Thamus says, will be a remedy for reminding, not remembering.

Parable

Translation

One reason why we may question this assumption can be drawn from a parable told in one of Plato’s dialogues, written over 2000 years ago. This parable appears in the Phaedrus, and concerns

Does Socrates’s criticism of writing translate to the case of the internet? In Plato’s parable, writing is called a pharmakon for memory. This is a Greek word with no direct translation into

English, which can mean either a cure or a poison. Socrates shows that while writing may appear to be a cure for memory (pharmakon), it is in fact a sort of poison (pharmakon) that will prove detrimental to true remembering.

Pharmakon may also be the best way to describe the internet as it exists today: it could be either a cure or a poison. In favour of the former, we can point to some of the great innovations we see towards making knowledge accessible to more people worldwide. Many universities are using the internet to start offering MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses. Trinity itself launched its first MOOC this year. These open courses give anybody with an internet connection the chance to see lectures in Yale or Harvard, opportunities which in the past have only been open to a privileged few. Spreading Western culture and teachings in such a way can only be a good thing.

The other side of this, however, is the potential of the internet to propagate negative beliefs, attitudes and outlooks, and that it will in fact increase the level of ignorance amongst vast swathes

Premium seats could save our cinemas Conor Neville Contributor I recently noticed that Cineworld have been trialling an upgraded, more expensive luxury seat in selected cinemas the UK. Since Cineworld is only a stone’s throw away from Trinity College and possesses the largest IMAX 3D screen in Dublin I thought it was only a matter of time before we too were given the option of placing our bums on sticky leather seats. The new premium seats are referred to as “Star Seating”, a brand name which chimes with their logo and suggests a VIP experience which some people find too much to resist.

This type of business model encourages customers to pay for an extra add on so that they can have a (supposedly) better cinema experience.

Going to the cinema is already an expensive way to spend a few hours and many might be enraged by this latest money grabbing ploy. However, the “Star Seating” offer might be said to give good bang for your buck: it offers access to unlimited 2D movies for only ¤21.40 a month, so basically if you go at least three times a month you’re doing alright.

Alternatives

When I first saw this I wondered why Cineworld would introduce such a service, but then I did a bit of research. We live in a day and age where people can buy a reclining leather sofa (¤700) , surround sound system (¤429) , blu-ray player (¤100), a year’s Netflix subscription (¤96) and 50” 3D HD TV (¤1,025) for less than the combined price of an Iphone 6 Plus (¤799), a MacBook Pro (¤1,349) and some of course some wireless Beats Headphones (¤380) to complete the look.

These three products have been or “must-have” products for

Memory

These uses for the internet, however, for the most part don’t affect the majority of the population. Could widespread internet access have negative effects of the sort Plato had in mind for writing? Does this ease of access not, like writing, change our very attitudes to this information and this knowledge? With ease of access comes the attitude that knowledge is something transitory, something that we don’t need to hold onto in our minds

because it is so readily available externally. Information is to be consulted for some definite purpose and then forgotten. Is the internet not, like writing, a false remedy for remembering; really only an outward aid for reminding?

The demise of memory did not, as Plato feared, come so much with the invention of writing but instead came much later, with the invention of the printing press. The art of memory, which was seen as a fundamental part of the intellectual toolkit in the ancient and medieval worlds, lost its importance once texts began to be mass-produced. Near constant access to the internet seems likely to diminish its importance even more, although only time will tell.

Some signs of this happening can be seen in new school curriculums, which are starting to emphasise the move away from “fact-based” or “rote” learning, to new teaching methods based around “critical thinking”. In the so-called knowledge economy, actually having the knowledge in your head is not as important as being able to access it at will.

While this is no doubt good for

worker productivity, we must not mistake the outward signs of knowledge for true understanding.

Like the ancient god Theuth, the inventors of the internet proudly trumpet the benefits of their creation while neglecting its possible harmful effects. They claim it will help to disabuse people of misguided notions and decrease ignorance in the world. This could potentially be true. However, we must also be cognisant of its dangers, and be careful how we incorporate its benefits into our lives. Encouraging an over reliance on outward signs for reminding in children, instead of fostering true knowledge and memory, is most certainly a mistake. Perhaps by always treating the internet as a pharmakon, as both a poison and a cure, we can best manage its inevitable continued expansion.

Why I hate schols Dee Courtney Staff Writer It seems like a fantastic idea: test students’ originality, critical thinking and application of knowledge in a rigorous set of exams, and reward the best candidates. For me, the problem arises when the reward is worth thousands. Free fees, dinner and an apartment for five years; with so many students struggling to make ends meet it’s ridiculous to give a free apartment to someone who can afford one anyway.

Of course, not all scholars could do without the money, some of them genuinely appreciate it.

But more than half of the scholars I know went to south Dublin private schools. They’d be perfectly fine living at home, and even if they wanted to move out, many could pay for it anyway.

We shouldn’t be throwing money at people who are comfortable while the grant is being cut. Never mind the fact that schols is easier in certain courses than it is in others, meaning some people are already disadvantaged before they start.

some while now and so, when they can arguably recreate the cinema experience in the comfort and convenience of one’s own home, it is not really surprising that the cinemas are getting anxious. I know there are cheaper alternatives available but there are also cheaper TVs and sound systems available too.

Cinemas need to up their game before technology, home cinemas, and the emergence of “man caves” cuts off not only a slice of their market, but, for some, their entire business. And if you think that’s an exaggeration then just ask Chartbusters.

Add it on

So, in light of these developments in the world of consumer economics, can we say if the introduction of premium seats is a good business idea? Or have they simply opted to go with that old tried and tested model, long ago perfected by Ryanair, of gouging the consumer right up to the threshold of human irritability? I think that, in the specific case of the “Star Seating” offer, Cine world might have set off on the wrong track. The premium seats are located right in the centre of the cinema and thus encourage (or force) customers to spend that bit extra for a good viewing spot, thus discriminating against poorer cinema-goers. Class distinctions, hitherto unknown in the democratic haven of the cinema theatre, rear their ugly head.

Of course with additional costs for 3D, IMAX, and pricey popcorn coming in on top of the already inflating cinema ticket price, is there a sustainable market for extra comfortable seats in the best screen locations? If a student goes to see the latest 3D IMAX movie with all the cinema essentials it would cost ¤14.10 for the ticket and popcorn, and a soft drink would come in at anything between five and nine euro extra, depending on the size.

of the population. How might this happen? The first, most obvious way is that people will use it to disseminate distinctly antidemocratic propaganda. We see organisations such as ISIS using social media to recruit members both in the Middle East and in the West, and to stoke antiAmerican and anti-democratic feelings amongst the populations of these countries. The internet also allows fringe groups, such as holocaust deniers, to meet one another in ways and in numbers that would not otherwise be possible. This contributes to the propagation of these harmful views.

Schols’ logic

So why don’t we means test schols and give a smaller reward to those who don’t need a free apartment? Because schols, as

Illustration: Emer O’Cearbe This is expensive.

However “Star Seating” could actually be something which customers have been asking for and provide that luxury element which now seems to be missing from the cinema experience. On the other hand it could simply a niche which will allow cinema owners to financially compensate for the people who now simply watch films at home with Netflix. In essence, as much as we see cinemas as an enjoyable way to relax and spend an even

ing, they are also businesses which need to make money to survive. If selling premium seats is a viable option which will greatly improve their financial basis over the coming years, then they will at least trial it and I suppose we cannot complain about that.

Ultimately, if we still value the cinema experience then we may find ourselves paying more and more for it in the coming years, but maybe it won’t be so bad if we get to put our bums on the comfy seats.

“

More than half of the scholars I know went to south Dublin private schools.

They’d be perfectly fine living at home.

a whole, with some exceptions, privileges people who need less.

Consider the way in which schols is structured. You have to take a huge amount of extra time out to study material not necessarily relevant to your current course, and the exams are just after Christmas.

This specifically disadvantages people who don’t live in Dublin and need to go home over holiday periods, but it also removes the chance of getting schols from people who have to work a part time job to pay their bills. It forces people to spend a disproportionate amount of time on college work when they could be getting more involved in societies or sport and keeps out people who, for work or family reasons, just don’t have the time. The sad thing is that some of these people get firsts in their regular college work because they can budget that time, but with the extra pressure of schols, this can’t happen.

Even if schols wasn’t an extra set of exams though, and even if the scholarship was only based on final exams, I have an objection to merit-based scholarships generally. First, there still remains the problem that some people who get them will not need the money. And more generally, all merit-based scholarships privilege those with more advantages instead of providing support to those who most need them most. Think about the entrance exhibition; an expensive book voucher given to students who do well in state exams.

Wouldn’t those books be better in the hands of people who can’t afford textbooks? People who didn’t do as well in state exams, but got to Trinity on the Trinity Access Program?

Compounding underprivilege

Financial support should always go to the ones who need it the most, which can’t happen if you give it based on merit. It would be fine to give prizes and titles for academic achievement, but when you bring money in you take it away from Trinity Access Program and from money that could be shared out among more

students. Aside from the obvious financial privileges, it’s problematic to give extra advantages in college to people who already have so many. Scholars have more sway in college. They have their own committee to fight for their interests. They get to vote in college elections. To give privileges that could be important to every student specifically to people who get a first in a set of exams seems counter-intuitive.

Why not just give them to everyone? Presumably because the reason is to keep scholars happy and to make people want schols; if people are kept in the thrall of scholarships by extra privileges and financial rewards, the system will keep going because it stays popular. Most of the discussion of schols this year has revolved around their rewards being taken away, but no-one seems to be questioning whether they should have them in the first place. We don’t want to resist the system, because wouldn’t it be great if you got it?

As to the grand tradition of schols, it seems intuitively untrue to me that we should continue to do something just because we have always done it. The grand idea of dining on commons with the other scholars is so much less important than making sure every student has equal opportunities. That means giving more, not less, to people who don’t have enough money and aren’t as academically talented as others.

Ask yourself: how many scholars do you know from outside of Dublin? How many scholars do you know who gave up a parttime job after getting schols, relieved that they didn’t need to work anymore? How many mature students and people from the Trinity Access Program are scholars? If a scholarship is really merit based, it should be equally difficult for everyone to get. And a scholarship based on exam results shouldn’t exist when the money could be going where it’s needed. The problem will continue to be that people want the benefits, and the ones that can get them have no incentive to have them go somewhere they’re really needed.

Comment

17

Illustration: Mariam Ahmad

We asked students to tell us what they’re really thinking. The result is honest, often sad, accounts of their inner lives.

The woman who can’t get let go Anonymous

When we’re having sex, I’m often thinking about how not lost in the moment I am. It’s not all that I’m thinking; there are other things, like that it feels pretty good, or that I want you nearer or that your skin is soft or that you look pretty or that I want you to go on top or...

But sometimes I’m so preoccupied with trying to achieve that sense of being in the moment that I end up getting stuck outside of it. Partaking in a physical union, with you, can be easy, but my mind can get a bit left out, standing to one side and wondering what it’s supposed to be doing. Feeling a bit of a creep, noticing details it feels like I’m not supposed to be noticing, and questioning every aspect of our actions, even as we are performing them. What are you really thinking? Why do you want me to put your fingers in my mouth?

Doesn’t it look really silly and embarrassing and also kind of gross? Are you really enjoying this as much as you look like you are, or are you kind of tired and thinking your penis is a bit sore and this is a lot of effort? Even as I’m licking your penis or putting your hand around my throat for you to choke me, I’m conscious of wondering why am I doing this? Am I really comfortable with it, really enjoying it?

For the most part, I think I am. I love having sex with you, at least my desire to do so would seem to indicate that. And we’re comfortable together – sex feels safe and caring much like the rest of our relationship. So it’s not a serious doubt about the activity that leaves me feeling uncomfortable lately – it’s an unacknowledged doubleness of sexual experience, the awareness of taking a leap from questioning what’s going on to enthusiastically partaking in it, without ever indicating that gap.

It feels like sex hangs on a balance between passion and performance that must be maintained – and I’ve never been comfortable with performance.

It makes me feel shy, and fraudulent. I don’t want to parade myself for you, a lot of the time I’d rather hide behind a pillow.

Sometimes when I’m on top and you’re looking at me I notice myself biting my lip so that my face won’t break into a more awkward expression. And then there’s the whole issue of talking dirty - I just don’t get it. I mean, I might want you to come on my face from time to time, let’s say.

But I can’t imagine ever wanting to beg you for it, or express it verbally at all, as if I’m imploring someone to give me some of

their sweets. One could try being really honest, I suppose; when you gasped something like “are you a good little girl?” as you were about to come I could respond with “well, maybe. I’m not sure really, what exactly do you mean?”, but that would seem to defeat the point of the exercise.

“

barrier to that sort of union.

When I look into your wide blue eyes and see you looking into mine I sometimes close them or look away because I don’t know what’s behind yours, and I don’t want you to see me trying to find the answer – it feels like it would break the spell.

Maybe the feeling is caused by self-consciousness, or simply a difficulty in communicating about physical aspects of experience. But what I’m really thinking, when we’re having sex, is how neither of us knows what the other is really thinking.

It feels like sex

hangs on a The student who balance between transferred course Anonymous passion and not sure when it first hit performance that I’m me. Hearing some of my closest friends groan about their heavier must be second year workload? Hearing a first year in my tutorial state maintained – and something about college so completely off the mark I have to bite my tongue in order to conI’ve never been trol the urge to correct them in of their new comrades? In comfortable with front these situations, I feel like the odd one out, the sore thumb, the performance. metaphorical fish out of water.

There is nothing particularly objectionable to a bit of performance – I don’t dislike answering you with you want to hear.

It seems to be an element of sex that people really enjoy, as illustrated in a more extreme way by various fetishes where playing a role is the explicit aim of the game. Much like smiling to make yourself feel happier, entering into the performance of sex can no doubt make you feel sexier, or more aroused. It’s just that it makes me feel detached from the experience, and then I start to wonder of you feel that way, too.

Positive expressions of sex in culture are variously portrayed as passionate animal activities, divine expressions of love, and fun games, but one thing is usually present in the myriad characterisations – its all-consuming nature. If sex is going well, you’re not supposed to be thinking about whether you should put broccoli or courgette in your quiche later, like you might be when cleaning the kitchen, or writing an assignment. You’re supposed to be Having Sex. When you’re having sex with someone who you know and love, there is the added notion that it should be, and certainly a desire for it to be, on my part, an emotional as well as a physical coming-together. The aspect of performance that sex often entails is not bad in itself, but when it feels like a necessary and unavoidable part of (my subjective) sexual experience, it presents a

Yes, I’m in a new course now and yes it’s great to finally look forward to going to lectures and yes, it’s absolutely fabulous that I’ll have twice as many pals now, thank you all very much.

But then, suddenly, I’m planted squarely in no man’s land – population: me. Where do I really fit in? There I am, meeting up with the people I spent all of last year with except now I can’t throw in my two cents about the lecture we just had at two. Mainly because I’m no longer in it. And moments later, I journey into the middle of a lecture hall full of friendly classmates I barely know. I’m like a balloon, let slip from the hand of an absentminded child, so that it floats up high into the air and out of sight. I am that colourful helium-filled bulb, torn between an urge to drag myself back down to earth and a feeling that I’d be more comfortable hovering haughtily above it all.

I must realise that these new classmates of mine are really going to be with me for the next four years, so perhaps I should make more of an effort to connect with them instead of thinking of my new course as a brief hiatus from the mundane world I have hitherto experienced.

I’ve often been called a greengrasser. I am always wishing for the next big thing to happen.

Maybe it’s time for me to live in the here-and-now and realise that, once upon a time, all of us thought that sitting by ourselves in a lecture was a mark of social

failure and that making friends was much harder than offering a sincere and warm “hello!”

Until I can follow my own advice, I’ll look forward to next term. Maybe then, my life will be in the perfect order I’ve always imagined.

The junior freshman

Anonymous It’s crazy how lonely one can feel in a city full of people. Even though I haven’t travelled as far as, say, the international students, I still feel a real sense of isolation every morning. Being the first in my family to go to college, I was completely unprepared for everything that was about to be thrust upon me: shopping for myself, cooking alone in the kitchen without the noise and chaos caused by my siblings, having to reconsider whether or not I have enough money for that bar of chocolate.

All these new choices and ways of living serve to highlight how alone I am here.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have met some wonderful, and crazy fun people. My housemates are incredibly sweet and thoughtful, the Trinity Halls team and residents are incredible fun, and I’ve recently started dating this guy who is everything I could ask for.

I should be happy. But I’m not. I miss waking up to the sound of my mother getting ready for

The sexual harassment target Ciara O’Brien To all the ass-grabbers, the boob-grazers, the ones who undress me with their eyes: I hate you.I hate you for what you have forced me to become. I am now the woman who wears flat shoes on a night out, in case she has to run. I am now the woman who carries an umbrella in case she has to defend herself. I am now the woman who puts her keys around her knuckles in case she has to punch someone as she jogs home at night.

I hate you for touching my boobs in Centra as I was reaching for the ginger nut biscuits. I hate you for jokingly telling me your friend would rape me. I hate you for following me into a toilet and trying to force yourself on me and making me hope that other would hear my screams over the music.

“

I hate you for touching my boobs in Centra as I was reaching for the ginger nut biscuits.

I hate you for following me into a toilet and trying Everything and to force yourself everyone is so on me and making anonymous and me hope that other impersonal. would hear my work. I miss the way my dog screams over the would greet me every time we let him out of his kennel every music. morning. I miss the sense of

“

safety and community I would feel walking down the streets of my home town. You don’t get that kind of feeling in Dublin.

Everything and everyone is so anonymous and impersonal. I feel like just a ghost watching everything pass by without anyone seeing me.

I’m not writing this for you to pity me. I’m writing for anyone else who feels the way I do, and there has to be someone. I hope that by writing this, I make someone feel a little less alone. I know how you feel. And somehow, we are going to be okay.

I hate you for leering at me in my sundress and making me want to cover up. I hate you for trying to lure me into your office in the empty foyer of my student residence. I hate you for all the sexual innuendos you said to our science class that we were all too young to understand. But most of all I hate you for what I have been forced to become. I hate you for stealing my innocence.

I hate that you are the unprosecuted minority. I hate that instead of being asked “what did your attacker look like?” I will be asked “what did you wear?”

I hate you for your misogynistic remarks, for your kitchen jokes, for your anti-feminist comments, and for turning some of my friends into people like you.

Most importantly I pity you. I pity you because it’s pathetic how little you understand. I do not get dressed in the morning hoping to be shouted at about how my arse looks while I’m on the way to college. I do not seek and I do not need your degrading remarks to validate me.

These are not compliments. I do not want you to comment on my appearance. How I look does not concern you. In fact I don’t care what you think. My day would carry on so much better if you kept your mouth shut and your hands to yourself.

So before you act this way next time – think about your mother, your sister, your aunts, nieces, daughters, granddaughters. This happens to them all the time.

They have been victim to this abusive, degrading, terrifying behaviour. And they will continue to, until people like you stop.

So please.; stop.

The wanderer Fionn Rogan Strolling down Johnson’s Court, the lane behind Bewley’s linking Grafton and Clarendon Streets, a little girl around three bounds delightedly past me. Her mother follows a short distance behind, pushing the little girl’s buggy.

The little one whizzes back and forth, shooting through the space between her mother and the buggy, squealing and laughing. I can’t help but smile. I manage to catch the following exchange between them just as we stroll out of one another’s earshot. The little girl squeals happily, “Noodles!” “What?” comes the mother’s reply. “Noodles!” “I can’t understand you.” “Noodles!”

“Stop it! Speak properly.”

I stop. I feel a black anger and sorrow swell in my chest as the mother’s tone gets shorter and angrier. The kid clearly wants noodles. It wasn’t that difficult a message. I nearly run back to sweep the child up in my arms and bring her for noodles myself.

I would have bought her all the noodles in Dublin.I don’t. But that short exchange between mother and daughter plays over in my head for a week. Maybe the woman had been tired, perhaps a long day. Yet I can’t help but feel hurt for the child. I harbour an indignant rage on her behalf. She had been speaking properly. I can attest to that.

She had wanted noodles and when her mother dismissed her happy, innocent pleas as nonsense talk; she stole her voice away from her. Of course I was powerless to intervene. What

could I have done? Shouted at the mother? “Buy that girl some noodles!” Reassured the little girl that she did make sense?

That I knew what she was talking about? Of course I couldn’t.

Work are having a staff night out. We end up on Harcourt Street. I could stop here. What worth in describing a night out? Perhaps none. The journey home though, that offers something.

As I step out into the lashing rain my first thought is “This is a bad night for velvet.” Wrapping my scarf about my face and relishing the feel of the rain crashing down upon my crown, seeping through to my scalp I amble down Harcourt Street. I hunch my shoulders but walk unhurriedly.

I haven’t met anyone. Scored.

Shifted. Feaked. Fucked. Whatever you’re having yourself. I danced. But not as freely as I usually do. I felt constricted. I danced with two girls, one of whom I was interested in and the other to stoke the jealousy of the girl in whom I was interested. I feel like a shit. The sexual politics of the nightclub are a callous and cruel conception.

I left before anything could happen. I doubt anything would have. We’d danced yet never caught one another’s eye. It was a fallacious performance for nobody’s real benefit. I had demonstrated to my workmates that I could dance with a beautiful girl and no more. She had gained just as little as me from the experience save for memory of an awkward grope and half-arsed dancing. It was a hollow win for the two of us.

And yet walking down along the park, soaked to the skin I feel a sneaky contentedness creeping up on me. I can’t explain it. The rain pelts against my face and darks my clothes. I feel fantastic. I practically beam sweeping down past King’s Street. I laugh loudly to myself about just how ridiculous the whole club-scene is. Why do I submit myself to it?

More so, why do I continue to delude myself into looking forward to it? Perhaps it’s the epiphanic state afterwards that delights me.

I sate a perverse thirst for bad coffee in Londis and skip down the rest of Grafton Street.

And landing in the door, delivered home by way of pleasant taxi driver I peel off my sodden clothes, dry my hair with my scarf and slip into bed. Coddled, warm and dry I can’t help but feel content. Even with Monday’s nine o’clock lecture drawing in, only 6 hours away, I don’t care.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

18

Comment

Illustration: Natalie Duda

Has Pav drinking culture gone too far?

Eva Short Features Editor

Yes

What makes alcohol unique, in my mind, is its ubiquity; particularly when everyone is hammered and I’m the one sober, dispassionate observer. I had arrived late to the Pav on this particular evening. Operations were winding down; bar staff stood outside the glass doors and glared at the young patrons, resentment rising off them like steam. Given that I had not had sufficient time to guzzle enough cheap wine to make the experience seem whimsical or fun, I instead had to shuffle awkwardly as a carnival of inebriated oddities unfolded before my eyes.

The outside of the Pav was a littered shit show. It was a sad spectacle of people out of their minds. On my right, one gentlemen spoke pidgin French to his less intoxicated companion, smirking at his efforts as if he were a pastier Vincent Cassal and remaining utterly oblivious to the extent to which he was butchering a gorgeous language. The companion played along and responded, albeit with awkward self-awareness. On my left, I saw another young man make a pathetic attempt at skateboarding in a bid to impress a leggy brunette with fake tan stains edging her white crop top. I am almost positive that this would-be Tony Hawk stole this skateboard from the guy passed out next to a shiny, twisted pile of Druids cans.

Two girls suddenly linked hands and burst forward in a sprint on the cricket pitch, powered by a strong yet fleeting conviction. It only took about 10 paces before they both came to a stumbling halt. They looked about them absently, confused as to their motivations, swiftly followed by one hinging at the waist as she huddled and vomited on her own shoes.

I saw someone with their back on the ground, legs against the yellow walls of our lovable student dive, pushing through their feet with all the power that they could conjure in some vain, irrational attempt to affect the building. “If I just….I just want to push it…I’ll push,” he slurred. A female friend smiled, making it abundantly clear that she (like I) had no idea what was going on.

People yelled at each other,

over each other, and group conversations seemed to splinter into variations of the following: Person A makes a drunken statement; Persons B, C and D fail to understand said statement; B and C make their own independent and equally drunken statements which are, in turn, not understood by anyone else; Person D ignores all statements and heads behind a tree to take a piss.

Alcohol is everywhere, mainly because it is purportedly an extremely potent social lubricant.

Collective enjoyment is, apparently, enhanced by booze. It lowers inhibitions and gets us talking. If anything, what I saw at the Pav had no semblance of camaraderie; it was merely a bunch of people riding out their own individual daze in each other’s company. Humans are inherently self-involved. There is no malice to it; it’s just that most people are occupied with their own lives and only devote a percentage of their attention to the lives of others. Pumping the body with substances that the liver will then work fervently to process, I think, only exacerbates this. If your body has more to deal with than usual, you’re more distracted, and therefore less engaged.

The only time I truly think people on nights out forge genuine social connections is the morning after. Dehydrated hangover sufferers can rub their temples and be united as they soldier through their pain. Perhaps there’s a group element to the way in which people will piece together the patchy memories they have of their night. Their half-formed stories will tessellate into a metaphorical quilt, stitched together with embellishment, misremembered facts and exaggeration. All parties involved will then wrap themselves in this invariably inaccurate account and assume it true.

These observations in fact made me violently unhappy. Before I could be convinced to head on to Twisted Pepper by some acquaintances, I excused myself on account of a chest infection which I had semi-fabricated. In reality I came home, put a Robert Plant album on repeat, and wrote this; it bothered me that much. I couldn’t help but be pretty saddened by the idea that alcohol, the glue we use to bond together, is in fact the thing that fuels our isolation. Drunk people are louder, but they say less. They become caricatures of themselves, inflating friendship into teary and often insincere declarations of love, and turning minor tiffs into equally inflated altercations.

I think I have two options – avoid drunk people at all costs, or hit the wine as early as possible when venturing out into the murky world that is Irish nightlife. Given what I previously described, however, my options fall into a maddening Catch-22 of isolation.

Fionn McGorry Deputy News Editor

No

Eva Short’s picture of the uncomfortable teetotaler in a sea of giddy boozers is one many of us recognise. Many people do silly things under the influence, and for many of us, a few drinks often becomes a few too many.

For anyone to cast aspersions on people for indulging too much in the devil’s nectar presumes that our own autonomy plays second string to that of a responsibility to remain composed. Though we’ve all witnessed what Des Bishop referred to as Stumblesville, where we, our friends and fellow Dubliners hobble somewhat limply through the streets of an evening, under the influence of some amount of alcohol, perhaps this is not the whole picture.

Most of us have indulged well beyond what we are advised to, and many of us have learned the hard way what is an appropriate amount to consume. As long as we can retain our faculties, don’t cause others harm in the process, and are vigilant to the possibility that our habits are taking us in a direction that we don’t like, is it really so terrible to have a few drinks? We can perhaps find a happy middle-ground by offering education and protection from alcohol as a social scourge, while still allowing for it to be enjoyed safely and communally. This, however, would require education that is entirely unbiased, and certainly not funded by the companies who stand to gain from problematic drinking themselves.

Eva’s portrayal of alcohol as the ugliest of all drugs, due to its ubiquity, is difficult for me to agree with. Alcohol may be the most ubiquitous of drugs, it may be responsible for many more deaths than most drugs, and it may change people’s behaviour to an extent not even approached by other substances, but there are clear distinctions between alcohol and other drugs, which make it far more socially acceptable. In the first place, while alcohol does create huge social issues that any article supporting alcohol consumption would be ill-advised to ignore, the positive effects alcohol can bring to those who are consuming it at a safe level makeit difficult to say that other drugs, even cannabis, could be

better than these dumbing intoxicants.

I admire the ability of those connoisseurs who ruminate on the provenance of a particular bottle, or choose wines to go with a particular meal, or the craft brewers who experiment with different concoctions. These activities compare starkly with the role of other drugs within people’s lives.

This aspect of alcohol, which sees it act as a genuine hobby, or as something which acts as a link between people in a positive sense, is far more beautiful than the pills that people drop, or the smoke that people inhale.

While it is possible to have a healthy relationship with alcohol, whether that is the glass of wine each evening or the occasional blow-out, it is utterly impossible to have a healthy, ongoing relationship with opiates or methamphetamines. Never having experienced the highs and lows of any illicit substances, I can only go on hearsay. As a result, that which I understand goes by the nickname of a “K-hole”, and the experience which is apparently known as “skagging”, sounds much more unpleasant than any hangover, and to my mind outweigh any lovely feeling that may arise from a high.

The essential sadness that Eva describes, whereby alcohol brings about a level of isolation, is one that many hardened drinkers may recognise, as may those who are friends or relatives of hardened drinkers. However, Eva suggests that this applies particularly to binge-drinkers, who become united only in their post-binge suffering, experienced the morning after, with feelings of regret and shame pervading all.

While this is a common phenomenon. of course, far more identifiable is the isolation that arises from moderate, but frequent drinkers; drinkers for whom nearly every meal is accompanied by a glass (or two) of wine, or a pint of ale. This may be a “healthier” way of drinking, with the liver able to cope better with this pattern of drinking. However, socially, this results in alcohol being something not of a special or rare nature, but something which is required all the time.

Furthermore, those with this pattern of drinking may well be consuming vast quantities of alcohol in a week, far more than those who drink to excess less frequently. Rather than alcohol being the “social lubricant” that Eva writes of, this self-medication that alcohol allows for, and indeed wickedly encourages, makes us more comfortable with the day we’ve just had, every single day.

While this may be an ostensibly “healthier” way to consume alcohol, perhaps occasional drunkenness is less terrifying than regular mild merriment after all.

There is undeniably an issue with alcohol abuse among students. Students binge rather than sample, and do so much more frequently than we are able to truly recover from. However, essen-

tially people choose to become drunk at their own risk, though they may not be fully reflecting on all possible consequences when making the choice to start drinking.

The Pavilion Bar is something we are incredibly lucky to have. In the summer, we are afforded the opportunity to have a few drinks in lush grass in the warmth of the post-examination glow. If we were to really try to combat problematic drinking in the College grounds, our attentions shouldn’t be directed at the Pav. There is an official limit of two drinks per patron at College society events. It would be irregular for someone to become drunk from this amount.

If students indulge beyond this it is because they have chosen to, either by breaking the official policy, or by buying their own drink.

If anything, the proliferation of more College bars would see students having to fork out their own cash for drinks, which would relegate their drinking to a different tier, at which they would have to make their own choices.

In conclusion, while we may not always like the effect that alcohol has on our friends and classmates, perhaps that is a matter to discuss with them directly. As it is supposed to be a social lubricant, perhaps we should be allowing for the social element to always be scrutinised. If it ceases to be social, then we face a problem, but just being drunk shouldn’t be enough reason to rusticate a friend, classmate, or stranger, for eternity. Asking them to cop on might well be enough.

“

I admire the ability of those connoisseurs who ruminate on the provenance of a particular bottle.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

SciTech

19

Science in Brief Dylan Lynch SciTech Editor

TCD geneticists at solve 40 year old duplication dilemma Genetics researchers working in College have made a major breakthrough in understanding the evolution of genomes in a variety of organisms. The research team has published a study led by Dr Mario A. Fares, assistant professor in genetics, that has demonstrated how ‘sister’ genes - the products of gene duplication - can survive across long evolutionary timescales, and allow certain organisms to tolerate otherwise lethal mutations.

The study has detailed and dem-

onstrated the concept of ‘mutational robustness’ in yeast cells specifically, which explains how they can tolerate stressful situations (lack of nutrients, etc.).

“Discovering the mechanism of innovation through gene duplication marks an exciting beginning for a new era of research in which evolution can be conducted in the laboratory and theories hitherto speculative tested,” Dr Fares said on the importance of the breakthrough.

School of Natural Sciences blog wins award The College-based blog EcoEvo@ TCD, which covers a wide range of topics from ecology and evolution to the latest science news, has been awarded the commendation of ‘best science and technology blog’ at the Irish Blog Awards this Illustration: Natalie Duda

Dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder

past fortnight.

The blog administrators, Sive Finlay and Adam Kane, accepted the award at a ceremony in the Westgrove Hotel in Clane, Co. Kildare.

Excitement as 2014 Nobel prize winners are announced

Trinity College’s OCD support group explains the disorder as OCD Awareness Week kicks off.

Kevin Flynn, Laura Philpott Contributors Picture this: your mind is a record player stuck on track A. Now imagine track A is a specific image or thought that keeps replaying in your mind. You want to fastforward and skip this track, but no matter what you do or how hard you try, the image or thought keeps replaying in your mind over and over again. Together with this thought or image comes anxiety. Anxiety is your body’s warning system, it tells your body to expect fear and to prepare for danger. You might realise these feelings are irrational and make no sense but these intense emotions still feel very real.

This is only a snapshot of what it feels like to have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) - a stark contrast to the phrases ‘being a little bit OCD’ and ‘being OCD about something’. These phrases are thrown around in everyday language but OCD needs to be taken seriously. It is a debilitating and disabling psychological disorder, so much so that the WHO (World Health Organisation) ranked it in the top ten most disabling illnesses. Based on current estimates of TCD’s student population, there are approximately 200 students here currently experiencing OCD. This is enough people to fill the Beckett Theatre.

OCD has been referred to as the “imp of the mind”. For most people, the imp is a fleeting annoyance, but for those with OCD it can lead to disabling degrees of anxiety and distress. Have you ever wondered whether you have left the oven on, door unlocked or immersion on and had to check it? What would it be like if each

time you checked you still doubted yourself? Have you ever had an odd thought like crashing your car? Typically a person might notice that this is an unusual thought and move on. However, what if you took this thought seriously, and then believed that you might actually do this? Think of the guilt and shame you might feel if you believed yourself to be capable of this act. What if the only way you could neutralise these distressing thoughts is through elaborate rituals that interfered with your day-to-day life? This is the experience of those with OCD.

Signs and symptoms

OCD is categorised by the presence of both obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions present themselves in the form of persistent and intrusive thoughts, worries and/or fears. Obsessions come in many guises, including: - Worries about germs or disease; - Fear of acting on impulse of harming others; - Perfectionism; - Fear of being responsible for something terrible happening; - Unwanted sexual thoughts, such as forbidden or perverse sexual thoughts or images; - Religious obsessions, such as an excessive concern with what is right or wrong.

Compulsions are repetitive beheviours or thoughts that people use in response to their obsession.

Common compulsions include: - Checking that you did not or will not harm others; - Repeating activities in multiples; - Excessive washing and cleaning; - Mental compulsions, such as counting while performing a task to end on a “safe” number; - Collecting items that result in significant clutter in the home (hoarding).

In the same way we all experience occasional recurring thoughts, not all repetitive behaviours are compulsions such as religious practices and bedtime routines.

Does it affect students?

OCD can have a significant impact on the lives of students affected by it. The stresses of assignments and exams can be triggers for obsessions. Perfectionism can also be a significant issue, with excessive checking getting in the way of letting go of assignments or too much attention to detail impacting on student’s productivity.

Constantly doubting and ruminating about getting things right and needing everything to be in order before feeling you can get into a study routine is also common. This obsessiveness can lead to procrastination, avoidance and excessively high standards that can fuel anxiety.

Scientific explanation

OCD is generally considered to be a disorder of the brain and often begins in childhood or adolescence, although it can develop in adulthood. We are unsure what exactly causes OCD, but genetic factors, environmental factors and neurological factors are being investigated. It has been found that family members of people with OCD are more likely to have an OCD spectrum condition. However, identical twins do not necessarily develop OCD, so it appears that genes are not the sole determinant of whether someone may develop OCD. OCD sufferer’s brains have been found to function differently than nonsufferers under the scrutiny of advanced brain scanning technology but the precise mechanism of these differences are unclear.

The neurotransmitter serotonin, which is related to anxiety, sleep

and memory, has been implicated in OCD. Stress has found to be a trigger for individuals with OCD. Stressful events such as relationshipdifficulties, exam pressures or problems at work can exacerbate issues with OCD and contribute to the frequency and severity of a person’s OCD. Engagement of compulsions acts as a maintainer of OCD. People engage in compulsions as they feel it will ease the anxiety their obsession triggers. However, this is only a temporary solution and acts as a short-term escape. OCD sufferers might engage in avoidance of situations that trigger their obsessions. Again, avoidance is only a short-term solution and adds to the maintenance of OCD. OCD is maintained by the vicious cycle of obsessions, anxiety and engaging compulsions in response to the anxiety. Avoiding a situation whereby a trigger may arise leads to short-term relief as you have avoided the distress you think might have happened. This reinforces the presence of OCD and encourages you to continue engaging these compulsions.

Treatment

In terms of treatment, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides guidance on the treatment of OCD. Using current research findings, NICE guidelines outline evidence-based recommendations for treating OCD depending on levels of functional impairment. These levels might vary from moderate to severe impairment on one’s day-to-day functioning. NICE guidelines recommend the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) based on low intensity psychological treatments for the initial treatment of OCD. CBT is a structured programme that involves facing situations you find distressing

(response prevention). This programme uses a hierarchical approach in the levels of exposure, gradually building from easier situations to more difficult situations. NICE guidelines suggest the use of brief individual CBT through structured self-help materials, brief individual CBT by telephone and group CBT. It is advised that ERP (exposure and response prevention) are included in these CBT interventions. For those not responding to CBT or those experiencing severe functional impairment, NICE guidelines suggest drug treatments such as SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). Support groups are an additional help for sufferers of OCD. Support groups are safe environments where sufferers of OCD can share their experiences and provide support for each other in a non-judgemental atmosphere.

Does this sound familiar?

If you feel these symptoms and experiences may be relevant to you, you can speak to your GP about them. Students of TCD can access support through the Student Counselling Service on (01) 896 1407. OCD Ireland runs a support group in TCD on the second Monday of every month, as well as regular talks on OCD in St. Patrick’s hospital. More information is available at www.ocdireland.ie.

Support groups are also hosted in TCD by Aware and Bodywhys.

OCD Awareness Week is taking place from 13th to 19th October.

Beginning tomorrow, until 26th November, the Student Counselling Service is running a Wednesday well-being workshop from 1pm until 2pm on topics such as mindfulness and managing stress.

More information can be found at www.tcd.ie/student_counselling.

Nobel prizes were last week distributed to professionals who have excelled in their field of study and benefited humankind through the course of their research. This year’s awards included the physiology/medicine award for the discovery of a sort of GPS in the brain. John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I.

Moser have been credited for their discovery of “cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”.

In physics, the Nobel prize went to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for their invention of blue LEDs, which have led to the most efficient white light sources every created.

3D printing saves life of newborn baby The life of an infant born with congenital heart disease (CHD) was saved last week, thanks to the record advancements in the field of 3D printing. CHD is a disease that causes anomalies in the heart and greater surrounding blood vessels. Over 500 children born in Ireland every year have this ‘holein-the-heart’ disease. Surgeons were able to perform vital surgery on the two-week old using an intricately designed 3D replica of the child’s heart, which allowed

them to spot irregularities and obstructions before actually beginning the surgery.

“The baby’s heart had holes, which are not uncommon with CHD, but the heart chambers were also in an unusual formation, rather like a maze,” cardiac surgeon Emile Bacha of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital told the Connecticut Post. The surgery was deemed a success and the baby is currently in recovery.

diabetics and the over-weight.

Of course, both of these studies examine extreme cases: the Yale researchers disrupted the glucose utilisation process in their mice, causing them to crave sugar rather than simply indulge their sweet tooth. The Israelis fed their human subjects the maximum daily amount of saccharin permissible - 5mg per kg of body weight, enough to sweeten 40 cans of diet cola on average.

The long-term effects of moderate consumption are much harder to examine: as. partame alone has been linked (very tenuously) to deficiencies in breast milk, cancer, a plethora of neurological and psychiatric conditions, and headaches. That said, artificial sweeteners have been widely consumed since the eighties with no dramatic consequences, so while it might not help your weight-loss, the odd diet cola probably won’t kill you.

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Debunking the ‘sugar-free’ myth Overconsumption of artificial sweeteners has been linked to diabetes, glucose intolerance and obesity.

Dáire O’ Carroll Contributor Ah, the Diet Coke. With its decidedly female-orientated advertising campaigns and silky texture, it provides a guilt-free way for many of us to enjoy mixers or indulge our sweet-tooth.

But is it really as innocent as it would appear? It certainly isn’t the case that the artificial sweeteners in such diet or sugar-free products are inherently healthy by virtue of not being actual sugar. Although they taste familiar, most sweeteners are remarkably complex organic chemicals (this name is somewhat misleading: in chemistry, an organic compound is almost any compound containing carbon, regardless of how it is produced) and as such have been known to behave erratically within the human digestive system.

A particularly noteworthy example is Lycasin, the trade name given to a hydrogenated glucose syrup composed mostly from the alcohol sugar, maltitol. Maltitol has many useful applications be-

cause it is nearly as sweet as sucrose (table sugar) and has similar properties; furthermore, it only has half the calorific content of sugar and does not contribute to tooth decay.

However, it does have a dark side. Our bodies have trouble digesting maltitol, leading it to build up in the gut and ferment.

This causes a pronounced laxative effect when large amounts are consumed in the form of, say, gummy bears. On a recent Amazon review, one consumer describing the sensation as “100% liquid. Flammable liquid. NAPALM.”

Diet Coke

Of course, most artificial sugars have much less dramatic gastrointestinal consequences. Aspartame, the most common artificial sweetener in the world, was originally developed as an intermediate product in the process of creating an experimental anti-ulcer drug in 1965. Its characteristically sweet taste was only discovered after James Schlatter, a chemist involved with the research project, inadvertently licked his fin-

ger to pick up a piece of paper.

Referred to as E951, Aspartame is the majority sweetener in Diet Coke and other low calorie soft drinks. Gram for gram, it is 200 times sweeter than sucrose and currently holds the record for being the most rigorously tested food product in the world.

Although many concerns have been raised - possible carcinogenic side-effects, links to obesity, headaches, homicidal tendencies etc. - nothing serious has been substantially proven.

In fact, the nature of chemical development practically ensures that these products have a minimum of unforeseen consequences. Vast amounts of time and money are spent at hundreds of chemical development plants every year trying to find the next big drug or the perfect flavour of cola, the slightest flaw in which can prove disastrous. Even a minor variation in the orientation of the molecule (enantiomerisation) can completely change the effect: while ‘R’-thalidomide was an effective treatment for morning sickness, ‘S’-thalidomide caused horrible birth defects. As a result

of the thalidomide crisis, new drugs and flavouring are rigorously tested before being allowed anywhere near the market.

a state of hunger or exhaustion may be more likely to ‘relapse’ and choose high-calorie alternatives in the future.”

Tricking the brain

Implications

However, there is more to consider than simply the medical and dietary effects. Over millions of years, humans have developed somewhat of a sweet tooth. Sweet foods are high in energy and don’t require as much digestion as other foods, so your brain rewards you with dopamine for going through the effort to crack open a bee-hive or climb a fruit tree.

However, according to a paper published by a research group at Yale University last July, your brain doesn’t seem to treat artificial sweeteners the same way it treats more calorific sugars. It would seem that if there are no calories to be broken down, your brain begins to moderate the amount of dopamine released, meaning that sugar-less products no longer satisfy the craving for sweetness. According to the lead author of the study, “it implies that humans frequently ingesting low-calorie sweet products in

This has serious implications on the reality of artificial sweeteners as diet products: if you need to consume a significantly larger quantity of the diet product to get the same satisfaction, you’re not really making much of a difference in calorie intake. Worse yet, over-consumption of several common artificial sweeteners has been linked to diabetes, glucose intolerance and obesity. In March 2014, a group of Israeli researchers found a relationship between high levels of glucose in the blood (an early sign of diabetes) and consumption of artificial sweeteners in mice. The study primarily focused on the effect of highsaccharin diets on gut microbes responsible for breaking down carbohydrates.

Although human studies were limited in scope, the research raises serious concerns about marketing diet products as healthier alternatives, particularly to

Research raises serious concerns about marketing diet products as healthier alternatives.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

20

SciTech

Scientists to bring invisibility cloak to life Research into cloaking devices has the potential to revolutionise physics.

Katarzyna Siewierska Contributor Invisibility cloaks have objects of fantasy since ancient times.

Ever since Harry Potter got one for Christmas, every child (and adult) wanted to find one under their own Christmas tree. No one has found one yet; not because it is invisible, but because physicists could not design one. However, in the future, invisibility cloaks may become a reality, due to the development of metamaterials.

What are metamaterials?

Illustration: John Tierney

How to avoid the freshers’ flu Sleep, garlic, ginger, chilli, and alcohol-free nights are all key to avoiding the dreaded freshers’ flu.

Sammi Rose

Derwin Contributor Starting college for the first time can be an incredible experience.

Sometimes exciting, frightening, enlightening and exhausting all in the same day, or the same 10 minutes if your nerves are bad enough. You’ll meet more diverse groups of people than you’ve ever met before; have many a heartfelt, drunk moment of bonding with a stranger; and probably have your mind blown and your heart broken a few times for good measure - all while studying diligently and getting all your recommended reading covered, obviously.

However, all that excitement, hard work and socialising can take its toll on your health at a time when you’re also being exposed to the massive range of previously unencountered bugs and germs that usually accompanies new people and a new place.

The result: the dreaded freshers’ flu, scourge of labs and 9am lectures everywhere. Though there is some good news, with minimum effort and the slightest bit of forethought, this regrettable condition can be entirely avoided, with a little help from science.

What to eat

So, first thing’s first, it may sound trite and a bit clichéd but, seriously, you are what you eat. Now nobody really has time to be getting their five a day when there’s a ¤5 burrito deal and pints in the

Pav to be had, but your immune system’s got your back if you only remember to top it up regularly with these three three things.

Garlic, first of all, that favourite of old wives’ tales, has potent antibiotic properties that support your body in fighting infections as well as sulfhydryl, which can help to clear toxins from your system.

You can add it to pretty much any meal to increase the nutritional value and overall deliciousness.

Ginger, secondly, has powerful anti-inflammatory properties that allows it to ease the symptoms of cold and flu as well as relieve some of the pain of inflammation.

And, finally, chilli; the stronger you can handle the better. It helps to clear congestion, boosts your overall metabolism, and has the added bonus of helping to lower cholesterol; all great excuses for a mid-essay takeaway.

Some other honourable mentions are onions, used in herbal poultices for centuries because of their antibiotic effects, and citrus fruits, which are packed with vitamin C to help minimise the symptoms you feel if you do get sick and help get rid of bacterial infections. It also might be worth remembering that sugar has a tendency to feed infections, so if illness is looming around exam time it might be a good idea to seek solace somewhere other than the vending machine.

What (not) to drink

A couple of other factors can have a much bigger impact on your susceptibility to illness than you

might think. The first one of these is alcohol. A glass of red wine of an evening may have long-term health benefits, but in the short term even a small amount of alcohol can have a powerful suppressive effect on your ability to stay healthy.

Regular consumption of large amounts of alcohol has been linked to an increased risk of pneumonia, as well as some less common diseases like meningitis (inflammation of neural and spinal membranes), and cellulitis (inflammation of the connective tissue). On top of this, it has been observed that in the case of long-term, serious alcohol intake, some more common problems have shown a tendency to develop into septicaemia, a full blown infection of the circulating blood, which is far more life threatening and difficult to treat.

This is not to say that a couple of drinks after class are going to be the death of you, but it’s worth bearing in mind that socialising might be doing more than eating into your time when the workload starts to mount or exam time rolls round. Exams are bad enough without a wicked case of sniffles ruining your essay structure. The main issue is that alcohol has displayed a tendency to downgrade the responsiveness of some of your body’s frontline defenders.

In particular, cultured monocytes (innate immune cells) exposed to a level of alcohol akin to quanities consumed during binge drinking were shown to have a reduced ability to present antigen to T cells, effectively preventing them

from alerting the adaptive immune system to any invading microbes.

From this, it’s fairly easy to see that with lots of late nights, fast food and drinking during the college year, it’s easy to get run down fast and even easier for a bit of exhaustion to turn into a full blown illness right when you need it least.

Sleep, glorious sleep

Another key factor in not falling victim to the college plague is a good night sof leep. They say that college revolves around the three s’s: study, socialising and sleep; but you can only ever get enough of any two at a time. Sadly, it’s true.

Obviously being in bed by 10pm every night is negative craic - and half the fun of being a university-going, decision making, legal adult is the ability to pull ill-advised all-nighters whenever you feel like it - but just a little consideration for your poor, belaboured immune system will go a long way.

Research has shown that lack of sleep can shrink the number of T-cells in your body. These cells wander around getting rid of any infected or misbehaving cells, and are a key component of your ability to fight off bugs you’ve been exposed to before. In addition, sleep deprivation weakens your body’s fever response, an important reaction to infection which helps to increase clearance of the pathogen. Long-term, sleep deprivation can also impair your ability to recover from illness and

could potentially add to the risk of developing diseases like type two diabetes and heart disease.

So how much sleep should you be aiming for? Generally speaking, adults need between seven and eight hours a day, which lessens a little as you get older.

Now staying up too late now and then isn’t going to do too much damage,but it’s important to keep an eye to make sure you’re regularly getting a decent rest. If you’re a bit of a night owl, there are plenty of apps available that monitor your sleep for you and can alert you if the sleep deficit starts to reach chronic levels.

The idea of looking after your health in college can sound like an awful lot of work (not to mention a bit boring) but what it really boils down to is making sure sickness doesn’t get in the way of all the things that really count. Whether your poison is training, debating, studying or Jägermeister , you’ll be glad you kept your game face on when you make it to the end of the year mostly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. A minimal amount of effort with things like diet and sleep can make a world of difference, especially in these first few weeks of term when the social calendar is busy and the workload is light. Do what you can, when you can, and hopefully you’ll be able to glide through flu season without any issues.

2014: the year we woke up to climate change

Metamaterials are specially designed and fabricated materials.

Their composition and structure can be designed so that it has properties that no natural material has. One property that has recently sparked a lot of interest is the negative refraction index.

The refraction index is a dimensionless quantity that describes how the speed of light changes as it spreads through a medium such as air, water or wood. For example, light travels faster in a vacuum than it does in the water so the refractive index of water is the ratio of the speeds of light in measured in vacuum and water respectively. Hence, the refractive indices of all naturally occurring materials are greater than or equal to one. This is not true of the specially engineered negative index metamaterials also known as NIMs. The amazing thing about NIMs is that their constituent parts, such as wires and dielectrics, are all naturally occurring materials but once these are assembled together in a special way, they produce a completely new material!

NIMs can manipulate the paths of light rays so that they bend around the object instead of scattering off it, hence causing it to appear invisible. What a physicist understands by “light” is different to what it means in everyday life.

In physics, the electromagnetic spectrum is referred to as light.

A very narrow band in this spectrum is called visible light and this is the light that we see. However, there are many wavelengths of light in the spectrum that we cannot see. At the moment, the NIMs are not perfect and have limitations and it is very difficult to design NIMs that can manipulate visible light. The best results with NIMs were achieved at the infrared wavelengths.

Progress

In just November of last year, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin devised an invisibility cloak which would be able to cover a broad range of frequencies: everything from microwaves to visible light. Currently, scientists have only managed to engineer metamaterials to cloak a few frequencies from the microwave section part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is a huge accomplishment in its own right, but not much use if you want to keep hidden from Muggle’s and the like.

“Our group was the first to theoretically show that metamaterials could provide a realistic route towards invisibility and cloaking,” University of Texas professor, Andreas Alú, says. “We are now working to experimentally prove broadband cloaks for radio waves and cloaked antennas. These possibilities are in reach within the coming months.”

However, Alu’s team also has plans for a proposed design which will be able to completely cloak the user from a broad spectrum of frequencies (many

of which are visible light) under certain conditions of weather and distance. Alú’s design will involve a metamaterial base, but with CMOS squares placed on top.

CMOS, or complementary metal oxide semiconductors, are also an important part of the recipe for invisibility, and are often sought as transceivers and communication devices. These small electrical devices are use in almost every microprocessor and laptop computers since 1976.

Scientific applications

These invisibility cloaks sound like really good fun, but they might also have very important applications. Silk-based cloaking devices that use split-ring resonators can be used in mammalian surgery. Silk is not rejected by the human body so surgeons can use these materials to coat the internal organs of a patient to see what lies behind them and check for obstructions, tumours and perhaps bleeding. The business of a negative refractive index is also a spark for theoretical physicists to reconsider the interpretation of basic physical laws.

It will take a long time before anyone will be able to find their own invisibility cloak under the Christmas tree. They will remain in the movies, books and imaginations for now. However, the idea is no longer considered a fairy tale, but a worthwhile research topic with the potential to revolutionise physics and our lives.

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Our group was the first to theoretically show that metamaterials could provide a realistic route towards invisibility and cloaking.

As the race against climate change intensifies worldwide, will science’s efforts will be enough?

Linda Smith Contributor Global warming, climate change, ecological deficits - these are the familiar euphemisms thrown around flippantly by our political leaders and the mass media at large. It is now almost universally agreed that our energy expensive lifestyle is the driving force behind this 21st century phenomenon. Call it what you may, but mother earth is very ill and her symptoms pose a serious threat to humanity and the world as we know it.

The year is 2014 and we are finally awaking to the harsh reality of our dwindling resources and non-renewable planet. And we are angry. 400,000 activists showed up on 21st September in New York, in what later became known as the People’s Climate March, to express their frustration and concern for the future of our planet, and march against the annihilation of the human race. With this ever-impending environmental and social crisis

looming, we desperately turn to science for solutions to eradicate our carbon emissions and procure alternative fuel sources. Oil, peat and coal stocks are at an alltime low and unless we begin to make drastic changes, it could be the final curtain for us all.

Solutions

Scientists at Imperial College London (ICL) have recently succeeded in creating a genetically engineered strain of E.Coli - Escherichia coli, most commonly known for its role in food poisoning - which ‘poops out’ propane.

Propane is the bulk constituent of liquefied petroleum gas which globally powers numerous applications ranging from cars, heaters to refrigeration systems. To make the propane, scientists at ICL cleverly manipulated E.Coli’s fatty acid biosynthesis mechanism by the addition of a few key enzymes.E.Coli uses glucose from its environment to build cell membranes, grow and reproduce. But in this case, it is instead directed towards butyrate production, the propane precursor.

Scientists at ICL also believe

they have the potential to manufacture fuel from cyanobacteria, bacteria which create their own energy from sunlight. As their experiments are still in the early stages, with E.Coli producing a mere 1.9ml per minute of propane, they are optimistic about making this method commercially viable in the near future.

In 2013, a biological engineering team in Virginia Tech led by Y.H. Percival Zhang discovered a method of extracting large quantities of hydrogen from any plant.

Hydrogen is marked as one of our best bets as a future fuel to power vehicles and electrical devices.

This breakthrough is significant as it could bypass the dangerous, expensive, and environmentally unfriendly methods previously associated with hydrogen production.

Zhang’s technique involves using xylose, the second most plentiful plant sugar. In a similar fashion to the researchers at ICL, Zhang experimented with the addition of enzymes and a novel polyphosphate xylulokinase (XK), succeeding in converting xylose into hydrogen and CO2.

Hydrogen is one of the safest fuels and has al ready been tested for use in cars and aircraft, but there are just two problems preventing us from a complete switchover: storage and transport. Hydrogen is extremely explosive, and the general public is more than reluctant to drive to and from work with this gas in the fuel tank. One spark can ignite and release the explosive energy in the Hydrogen. For this reason, it also makes it very difficult to transport long distances.

Future

These are just a couple examples of inspiring and innovative ways that scientists have addressed the issue of finding alternative fuel sources for the future generations. If the focus and investment was switched to making these methods of fuel production available at a commercial and industrial level, they have the possibility of making an enormous impact.

If anything, these incredible feats of biotechnology have shown us that there is much we

can learn and model from nature and its energy efficient ways.

More time should be dedicated to understanding the harmonious mechanisms employed by mother earth’s natural organisms, so that we can emulate their mechanisms and maximise our chances of survival by eliminating the pollution caused by CO2 emissions.

Energy exists in usable forms all around us. It is truly a balancing act of finding the cleanest, most harvestable form, which at the same time is energetically stable and financially feasible.

At this point in time, harnessing natural forms of energy from microorganisms, plants or the sun are probably our best bets, considering they are omnipotent and don’t produce the nasty chemical by-products that clog up our ozone. With another Climate March scheduled for September 2015, maybe we can avert the attention of governments and corporations in the wake of the UN climate summit to the work of such scientists and promote investment and development in these sectors.

Illustration: Sarah Morel

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

21

SciTech

Is Ello the new Facebook?

NASA’s #NextGiantLeap: what’s at stake?

If you’re tempted to flee to Ello to avoid the people who pollute all your other timelines with their lack of coolness, rest assured that they will follow you and ruin this one for you too.

Anya Aleshko Contributor

Naoise Dolan

While the Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, are busy working away on the barren surface of the red planet, a new era of Mars exploration began at on the night of 22nd September, when NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft successfully entered the planet’s orbit. This latest of NASA’s missions will provide a new and fresh approach to studying Mars and its potential for harbouring microscopic life forms.

Online Editor If you’re tempted to flee to Ello to avoid the people who pollute all your other timelines with their lack of coolness, rest assured that they will follow you and ruin this one for you too.

A nebulously anti-consumerist version of Facebook, Ello describes itself as an “ad-free social network created by a small group of artists and designers”, emphasises its grassroots origin “as a private social network”, and assures its users that “ads are tacky, that they insult our intelligence and that we’re better without them”.

So far, so renegade. But how will Ello fund itself? “By choosing to buy a feature now and then for a very small amount of money you support our work and help us make Ello better and better”.

Over the coming months, it will be interesting to monitor how faithful Ello will remain to the letter and spirit of its manifesto – and, if it does stick to its guns, what impact that fidelity will have on its growth.

Ello was launched last July, but its popularity has surged this week after LGBT activists spoke out against Facebook’s “real name” policy. There are manifold reasons users might be unable to use their legal name or uncomfortable doing so: some examples include drag artists with profiles listing their stage names, people whose names reflect their position outside the gender binary, and people who adopt pseudonyms to protect themselves from harassment. Facebook’s policy ignores these needs.

In the crossfire, many have flocked to Ello – but not without concern over the website’s security protection policy. Ello’s privacy controls and blocking capabilities are still works-in-progress and its broad philosophy is that users “should assume that anything you post on Ello other than private messages will be accessed by others”. This potentially compromises its ability to offer the LGBT community a safe space.

Upcoming features include multimedia commenting, rollovers on all interactive features, repost with author attribution, video and audio integration and iOS and Android & Windows Phone mobile apps.

psess a level of avant-garde nonchalance to which many of us (particularly in the Arts Block) desperately aspire.

Naturally, the more people admitted, the more diluted the avant-garde nonchalance becomes – so if you’re tempted to flee to Ello to avoid the people who pollute all your other timelines with their lack of coolness, rest assured that they will follow you and ruin this one for you, too.

Ello might also interest you because of its willingness to support the LGBT community. It is worth noting that Facebook has, for instance, been responsive to the re quests of non-binary users in the past to include a custom gender option. However, Facebook’s pattern seems to have been one of over-categorising users and then slightly expanding the franchise of these categories every time a particular group successfully makes its case. The minimalist openness of Ello might hold more appeal for people who want acceptance to be a given, as opposed to something they have to fight for.

Thirdly, though: Facebook’s data-mining is worrying, both because it is used to sell you things and because you might find it notionally unsettling that a company can use your everyday interactions to predict your politics and sex life. To the extent that Ello manages to avoid these privacy pitfalls, it might be better a cyberhome for you.

To infinity and beyond

Ever since Giovanni Schiaparelli’s descriptions of canali in 1887 - a series of straight lines on Mars’ surface which offered so much hope of intelligent Martian life and yet turned out to be nothing more than an optical illusion right through to the space probes of the Viking programme in the 1970s, and the Mars Exploration Rover of more recent times, the main focus of study up to this point has always been the composition and nature of the surface of Mars.

However, the MAVEN spacecraft, which entered the orbit following a journey of 10 months and is the culmination of 11 years of design and development, is unique to all the missions that have come before in that it will solely be dedicated to the study of the steady disappearance of Mars’ atmosphere.

Why go to Mars?

Will it take off?

It’s difficult to predict how it will do on a large scale when its membership is still exclusive (or so this as-yet-uninvited reporter would claim). The ad-free format has been tried before by Diaspora and App.net and flopped then – but an LGBT flight from Facebook could make a difference this time, particularly if allies join in.

However, the compatibility of Ello’s low-revenue model with the sort of resources needed to support a Facebook-sized user base is still very much up in the air. We’ll see how it goes.

Why should Trinity students care?

There’s one immediate reason: judging by Ello’s featured public profiles, its current user base pos-

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

Due to extensive physical evidence, it is believed that Mars was once a water rich planet with a potential for supporting life forms. Together with Earth, it is only one of two planets within the acceptable distance from the sun to be able to have just about the right temperature and atmospheric pressure to allow it to maintain water in its liquid state, an essential component to the development of microbial life. It is hoped that an understanding of Mars’ atmosphere and its disintegration over billions of years will help to explain how Earth’s neighbour came to lose its supply of liquid water and therefore its potential for sustaining life.

Although MAVEN is now safely orbiting Mars, it is currently in its commissioning phase. This is a period of time between the completion of orbit insertion and commencement of its primary mission and the spacecraft is expected to remain in this phase for five weeks from the date of insertion into orbit. During this time, its elliptical orbit will be

adjusted from a length of about 35 hours down to about four and a half hours. Its instruments and science-mapping commands will also be tested to ensure that they are functioning correctly.

What next?

Once MAVEN has completed its commissioning phase, it will begin its primary mission which is to test the hypothesis that solar wind (energised particles released from the sun) has steadily diminished Mars’ atmosphere due to the planet’s lack of a magnetic field. It will do so by measuring the current rates of atmosphere erosion and try to recognise the processes responsible for this.

During the course of its mission, it will first perform a series of ‘deep-dips’ that will bring it approximately 125km from the surface of Mars, the closest point at which it’ll ever be to the surface, before returning to its starting altitude of about 6,300km above surface, the highest point above the surface of the planet that it will be during the course of its mission. At each manoeuvre, the spacecraft will record information about the gas and ion composition of the atmosphere using six instruments that form the Particles and Fields Package (PFP).

Although the MAVEN spacecraft remains in its commissioning phase at the time of writing, it has already returned images of Mars from an altitude of 36,000km eight hours after entering orbit. The images were produced by a piece of equipment called the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectograph (IUVS). This instrument does not actually ‘take pictures’ as we would understand it, but instead uses UV light to ‘map’ the chemical composition of Mars’ atmosphere. The three images that it returned back home to Earth showed Mars in three ultraviolet wavelength bands where red wavelength shows the sunlight being reflected off the planet, the blue shows hydrogen atoms and the green shows the oxygen atoms contained in the atmosphere.

With the human fascination with Mars as strong as ever, the MAVEN spacecraft signifies a new way to approach our ongoing study of possible life on the planet. This advancement in the study of Martian atmosphere and climate will hopefully answer some of the biggest questions that have always hung in the air regarding the red planet: what happened to all the water and how did Mars, with all of its potential, come to be the barren land it is today?

In conversation with a teaching hero Professor Nicola Marples of the Department of Zoology was one of 53 teachers to have been named a ‘teaching hero’ at this year’s awards, run by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in partnership with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). She talks to Trinity News about her experience as a lecturer, and what the award means to her.

Luke McGuinness Online SciTech Editor Q. Firstly, congratulations on receiving this award. Did you expect to be awarded it, and what was your reaction on finding out you had?

A. I was astonished, as I had not heard anything about it before being told I was an awardee. I was of course delighted to receive it, as teaching is often little rewarded by the system, even if it is appreciated by the students. I was particularly proud to know that it was the students themselves that had chosen to vote for me. My other main emotion on hearing of the award was embarrassment, as any number of my colleagues in our school could have been picked as the winner. It’s only that I teach an intrinsically nice subject that students remember me – there are a lot of better teachers than me who teach less attractive subjects.

Q. Is there anything in particular you would attribute your evident success as a lecturer to?

A. I teach a very engaging subject

“

A lecture is a performance.

You’re acting like a calm, confident person, even if you don’t feel like one.”

Animal Behaviour and Evolution) , so it’s easy to be enthusiastic about it, and I am told that my enthusiasm for it comes across clearly. Students learn a lot better if they like the subject, so my job is easy. I also try things which might not work, and keep the ones which do work, so the students get a more varied and interesting experience. But mostly I just like communicating interesting things to people who want to know about them – it’s fun!

A. Such awards weren’t around in my day, but yes there were teachers at school and in University who were wonderfully inspiring and helped me think about the subject they were teaching. Also, colleagues in later years both here and in other universities have been a great inspiration and have given me both the ideas and the support to depart from classic teaching methods.

There are more awardees in science subjects than in any other.

Q. Did you have any lecturer in particular that inspired you while in college, maybe one who might have received this award, had they been around?

Q. Why do you think this is the case?

A. I was surprised by this, and wasn’t sure it was really the case,

but it is very interesting if it is. I wonder whether people who get into teaching in science tend to be the very good communicators, as it’s intrinsically difficult to explain some scientific principles.

But I’m surprised it’s not difficult to explain other subjects too… so I really don’t know. Maybe it’s simply exposure, since there tends to be a lot more time spent in contact with every science student, so the students end up more aware of being taught by us, and more grateful for it.

Q. Do you have any advice for those students thinking of going into teaching or lecturing?

A. Loads. Never go unprepared into a lecture. Listen to the student feedback and try to help.

Remember what it was like when you first met the topic and try to help the students be less scared by it than you were. Make it fun if possible but not at the expense of failing to pass on the ideas.

Enjoy it – there’s not many times or places your words or ideas are listened to by 250 people! A lecture is a performance. You’re acting like a calm, confident person, even if you don’t feel like one.

Order your lecture material in a logical way so the students can remember it easily. Never, ever try to appear clever – it only leads you into making the meaning ob

scure and your aim is to make it crystal clear, so use simple words when you can, and explain clearly and completely any terms of jargon the students really need to know. Try to remember that students aren’t a mass of hostile critics, but a set of well-meaning people trying to learn from you, so trust them to help you and they will join in when you need them to.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Sport

23

New LGBT sports group promotes inclusion Last week’s launch of Prism Sports Ireland, a new national representative body for LGBT sports, is a turning point in the growth of LGBT clubs.

Gary Lynch Staff Writer

Fighting a different foe The sporting world joins the fight against suicide with a new prevention technique pioneered in Ireland by national suicide charity Console.

Alicia Lloyd Sport Editor In the Ireland of today, I believe it would be a difficult undertaking to find someone who has been unaffected by suicide. Whether directly or indirectly, the level to which this problem affects us knows no bounds. The numbers of those dying as a result of mental illness, by taking their own lives, are staggering, overwhelming even. Mental illness is incredibly complex. Each case differs and each and every one suffering from what can at times be a crippling and debilitating disease deserves to be afforded the respect of individuality. Not every case may be treated the same. No case, no sufferer, no person may be ignored.

In the bid to tackle this problem, to simply offer help as best we can, we must look to the daily lives, to the environment, to the community, to the world of those who suffer and ask how those who share that world can help, whether they be a friend, a colleague, a classmate, a peer, and perhaps one of the most intriguing relationships- a teammate.

I would imagine that a world where strength is valued above most other qualities, where striving to win is the daily pursuit, where letting people down is never an option, where poor performances, poor results are lambasted, where the individual must be consumed by the collective, can be a difficult one to inhabit when you are at war with your mind, suffering from an inner turmoil.

In the same breath, I will say that a world where comradery creates a bond at once powerful, potent, resilient and irrepressible, is the perfect and most apt world from which to both offer and seek help.

The hidden side

In recent times the issue of mental illness at play in the sporting world has come to the fore as many brave athletes have used more sinew and courage than was ever needed on the field of play to publicly discuss their struggles.

The famous cricketer Andrew

‘Freddie’ Flintoff, much loved for his charismatic and gregarious personality, described his struggle with mental illness as a “crippling psychological injury”- an image full of potency. He openly described the difficulties of coping with a clinical depression in the pressurised environment of professional cricket. Freddie spoke of stigma, and adopted personas as the hidden side of sport. Closer to home, Ireland and Munster rugby star Alan Quinlan has been open about the fact that the ill-judged ‘macho’ perception of rugby players hindered him in seeking help for his condition.

The heart-breaking and tragic death of Gary Speed, in particular, prompted many to contemplate whether the sporting world has a handle on mental illness. How might the stigma be eradicated?

How might attitudes of perceived ‘weaknesses’ be changed? This article does not intend however, to chronicle a history of depression and sport, nor detail how these issues may be solved. Each individual case of anguish caused by a mental illness is too complex and multifarious for one ‘solves all’ solution. Our approach must be broad and multifaceted. Above all, the message at its heart must be that help is always there, even if those in need are not asking for it. The true purpose of this piece is to raise awareness for one particular technique aimed at helping those bearing the unbearablewith the ultimate objective at its centre being the prevention of suicide. Whether or not sport is ‘handling’ mental illness is simply an extraneous digression, rather the QPR training programme is evidence of its trying to help.

QPR at play

The Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) method is intended as an emergency mental health intervention for those at risk of taking their own lives. It was originally founded by American clinical psychologist Paul Quinnett, is run by The QPR Institute and has been initiated as a suicide prevention technique in this country by charity Console. It has since been forging its way into the world of sport. Its focus is training people to recognise the warning signs associated with a suicide crisis and to teach people to help that someone out of the crisis through the use of questioning, persuasion and referral. The technique intends to be likened to CPR. They are seen as kindred in that early recognition is at their core, they both provide a method of response, and in the hope that ultimately, they will both save lives.

While QPR aims to be used effectively in all walks of life and facets of society, it could be of

particular and indeed significant help to the sporting community.

Team mates and other members of a sporting outfit are seen as strategically positioned to recognise and subsequently refer a fellow member out of a suicide crisis, due perhaps to their inimitable interaction and relationship with one another.

To date, Irish rugby players from both Munster and Connacht have received the training, along with numerous GAA clubs around the country. IRUPA, the Irish Rugby Union Players Association. described their taking part in the training as an “unqualified success”, with former player Marcus Horan stating that, “A lot of guys would now be confident in the fact that they may be able to spot the signs of someone in potential crisis.” QPR suicide prevention was also endorsed by English soccer club Queens Park Rangers, while at their pre-season training base in Carton House, Co. Kildare, in August. No doubt the similarity in acronym was not lost on Harry Redknapp, who along with players Rio Ferdinand and Richard Dunne, put their weight behind Console and ‘the other’ QPR. Rather fittingly, the club and charity were originally united by Leslie Haylock Speed, sister of Gary.

Console’s director of services, Ciaran Austin has stated that the charity is responding to a need.

“This programme shows people how to broach the topic with someone they’re worried about.

The programme gives you different approaches and the wording that is most appropriate for a situation. It explains about how to persuade the person to get help. It deals with listening skills and empathy, as well as providing a lot of practical help in dealing with the issue and where to refer people to for help,” he said.

Intriguingly, he has also stated that communities must take responsibility for suicide and affect change. “Strategies, funding and services are very important but we must not lose sight of the fact that family, friends, neighbours, and communities can really affect change and make a difference to people in crisis and hopefully prevent suicide,” he said. Arguably then, the sporting community is doing just that- taking responsibility, affecting change, offering a helping hand and more than that attempting to save lives.

Hope and help

It would be wrong of me however to shirk from the fact that at first I had my doubts about QPR and sport. As someone who has been bereaved by suicide it is difficult to reconcile the individual experience of a loved one with a uniform approach to a suicide crisis.

“

How might attitudes of perceived ‘weaknesses’ be changed?

Through further research, though, I have learned that it is not a uniform approach. It is theexact opposite. What QPR truly aims to do is to provide skills that are adaptable. Not all crises will be the same. Nor is the help provided through QPR. I have certainly never bought into the idea that sport itself is always to blame for an athlete’s’ mental illness.

For some, I believe it is actually a refuge from inner pain.

By adopting the use of QPR however, the sporting world has sent the message that sporting life need not be a place to escape, nor a pressurised world in which you must suffer silently, but a place in which to address your problems, where someone will always have your back, a sporting cliché that takes on a far greater significance in this context. For this I am whole-heartedly proud of the sporting community. QPR is not just about offering hope, but legitimate help. While at first I may have looked at the QPR method with askance, I would now give it my imprimatur, though the admirable people at Console need no such bestowal.

Dreams

In July of this year, I lost my cousin to suicide and it shattered my family’s entire world. Dan was, despite a terrible clinical depression, an exceptionally talented young rugby player. I do not intend to inspire pathos, nor do I wish to solicit or invite sympathy by writing this. I want simply to highlight the harrowing reality that is loss by suicide. Dreams are not simply broken but obliterated.

When former Cork hurler Conor Cusack so inspiringly divulged the details of his illness to the Irish public, I used to dream that Dan would one day be playing for Leinster, and giving hope to others by speaking about what he had gone through and recovered from. That dream is worth nothing now. Those words are left unsaid, those ambitions left unfulfilled, that Senior Cup jersey left unworn. A cause of immeasurable worth however, is the dream of making QPR succeed in its goal. I for one will be rooting for its success and I know Dan will be too. Do your part and get involved.

LGBT sports players and supporters turned out in force last weekend for the launch of Prism Sports Ireland, a recently established national association representing LGBT sports and recreational organisations in Ireland. Including over 500 members from 7 sports clubs, featuring both men’s and women’s sports and covering rugby, squash, football, water sports and hockey, Prism Sports Ireland is by no means a small endeavour, and this could certainly be seen last weekend.

The launch night included a showcase of club representatives, answering questions on their respective clubs and was finished with a powerful speech from Ireland’s most capped female sports player. Nikki Symmons, who at one point was described as “the female Brian O’ Driscoll”, has represented Ireland in both Hockey and Cricket in over 200 matches. Speaking by video link from Lausanne, Switzerland where she is currently based, Symmons pledged herself as a Prism ambassador and described the important role sport plays in community life. Her speech highlighted the role of LGBT sports clubs in promoting participation and encouraging inclusivity in the sporting world.

It is highly apparent that LGBT sports people are underrepresented at the international level. This is both a symptom and a cause of the problems Symmons spoke about. Researchers into the experiences of LGBT people from the University of Victoria found that almost half of the LGBT individuals playing sport that they interviewed had not come out, and would not feel comfortable doing so to their team mates. Studies across the world have found similarly shocking statistics. But what can LGBT sports groups and associations do to tackle this?

Coming out

The issue of coming out in sport has recently garnered much media attention. Gareth Thomas, former Welsh international rugby captain, came out in 2009 and has since discussed his experiences.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Thomas discussed his contemplation of suicide and explained that he’s “not sure if it was because I was gay that I felt such depression, it was just that I was lying to everyone”. In the years following his coming out, Thomas has spoken about the importance of LGBT sporting events, in particular, the Bingham Cup, stating “I think it’s a massive representation of not only the LGBT community but also I think society in general, in the fact that there are straight players playing in the Bingham Cup as well. I think it offers gay men a network that sometimes the fear of playi-

If you would like to learn more about getting involved with QPR, further details can be found on www.console.ie.

Nikki Symmons

ng straight-dominated sports won’t give them”.

Thomas touches on an important aspect of LGBT sports clubs, in that they present an opportunity to engage in sport outside of a traditional “straight-dominated” framework. Free from any need to “come out”, heterosexual and LGBT people are welcomed equally to the clubs. By removing the implicit heterosexual assumption of most sports clubs, it puts LGBT people on an even footing with other players.

Additionally, when LGBT sports teams succeed, it helps to dispel the negative stereotypes surrounding LGBT players and sport, which is an undeniable factor at play in the exclusion of LGBT sports people.

LGBT sports in Ireland

Many LGBT sports clubs across Ireland have experienced recent cess at the international LGBT level. Playing in the Bingham Cup (the Gay Rugby World Cup), the Emerald Warriors reached the final of their division, only to be beaten by the New Zealand Falcon’s. The Pink Ladies returned victorious from the London Pink Hockey Fest, with silver and bronze medal wins, while the Dublin Devils hosted gay community football teams from across Europe in 2013 for the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association ‘Euros’ competition.

Despite these recent successes however, all of these teams and clubs are only as good as their members and expansion is never far from the minds of these teams.

Many of them do not only play in international LGBT events but also compete in local and regional competitions within Ireland, and are looking for players able to commit to league time matches.

As part of the ethos of inclusivity, the clubs generally accept members of all levels and availabilities.

However, PRISM has bigger aspirations in mind.

It was clear on the launch night that Prism have big dreams for the future of Irish LGBT sport.

While Limerick’s 2018 bid for the Gay Games proved unsuccessful, it has resulted in positivity regarding future Irish bids for international LGBT sporting events, supported by Prism. In relation to the association’s aspirations, Richie Whyte, chair of Prism Sports Ireland, said “Many of our member clubs have hosted significant international competitions within their own disciplines.

We feel that the time is right to develop our skills running multisport events on a national basis with a view to eventually running a top tier international LGBT sporting event” If you are interested in finding out more about Prism Sports Ireland, or getting involved in any of the clubs it represents, please go to www.prismsports.ie.

TRINITY NEWS

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Sport

24 Alicia Lloyd looks at the issue of mental health in sports. p.23

Why do we need a sports centre charge?

Increased charge will be used to develop sports scholarship programme, according to Michelle Tanner, College’s head of sports and recreation.

Gavin Cooney Deputy Sport Editor On October 3rd, TCD students voted in preferendum to increase the mandatory annual charge for use of the Sports Centre from 90 to ¤120. The implementation of this increased charge will be formally approved by a referendum to be held alongside the Students’ Union sabbatical officer elections next March. Students were ofDUFC celebrating victory over Malone RFC in January 2014. fered three options: to maintain the current charge of ¤90; to increase the charge to ¤120; or to increase the charge further to ¤160. The ¤160 was eliminated on the first count with just 142 votes.

After the distribution of votes, the ¤120 charge won by just 78 votes; garnering 931 votes to the 853 votes earned by the ¤90 charge.

The charge of ¤120 will now be adopted as the official longterm policy of the Students’ UnDUFC comes home to its iconic ground with a 26-17 win over Malone RFC. ion. Should the ¤120 charge be approved by referendum, it will maintain the recent trend of an boots of injured Richy Halpin at good run of phases, Trinity were was gathered by the Malone left legally hauled down just short of increase in the levy. In 2007, stuhooker and Killian O’Leary re- awarded another penalty, this wing who went in to score under the line which resulted in another dents approved a ¤70 charge with Angus Lloyd turning to the left wing. time further out but again in front the post to bring DUFC’s lead penalty to the students. It was 15 allowances conceded to further Staff Writer of the posts. Jack McDermot duly back to only two points. metres from the touch line, but increases in line with inflation.

Opening exchanges struck it straight through the upTrinity were next to register on instead of taking another lineout, The current ¤90 charge repreWe had to wait a while, 18 months The students looked the most rights to bring the students back the scoreboard after a turnover they opted to take the points sents a 14.4% increase on the ¤77 to be exact, but at long last DUFC dangerous following the open- to within 1 with 10 minutes to on the halfway line from Brian Du which gave the students a 9 point paid by students in 2013. Despite returned to College Park to play ing exchanges. They were taking go to the halftime break. Trinity Toit, who offloaded to the oncom- cushion. this increase, the ¤90 charge is their much anticipated first home Malone through multiple phases looked dangerous again before ing McDermot, who then went 50 The students were not going to deemed unfeasible if the sports game of the 2014/2015 season as they advanced up the pitch. the break but handling errors re- meters to score just right of the allow Malone back into the game centre is to maintain the current against Malone RFC of Belfast on Finally on the 10 minute mark, sulting in no points being added posts, leaving everyone else on and took control of the restart and ratio of student members to out4th October. they were awarded a penalty on to the scoreboard. The half fin- the pitch in his wake. He convert- cleared their lines. With under 10 side, non-student members.

The much loved and iconic the opposition 22 in front of the ished with Malone leading 7 – 6. ed his own try and the students minutes to go, Malone had all the rugby ground, home to the old- posts, for a Malone infringement regained their 9 point advantage. ball but the students defended Membership est continuous rugby club in the at the ruck. Jack McDermot con- Pressure The home crowd grew louder and with plenty of heart and held out According to the head of sports world, has been revamped to al- verted the opportunity to give Again the students began the sec- victory seemed closer. until the final whistle. There was and recreation, Michelle Tanner, low DUFC to continue to improve DUFC a 3 point lead. ond half as the more lively side.

This feeling was short lived, a lot to be proud from this perfor- based on the 2012/13 annual reas a high performance club, and Immediately, Malone began to With the wind now at their back however, as again the students mance. It marks the student’s first port, student members comprise was officially opened on the day get a foothold in the game. After they attacked deep into Malone’s failed to deal with the restart and win in the AIL this season which 72% of the membership, with the

by Provost Patrick Prendergast; receiving a midfield penalty they 22. Tom Collis had a strong carry gifted Malone with possession will give them a new found con- remaining 28% consisting of outhead of sport in TCD, Michelle declined the opportunity to take but was tackled just short. Open- deep inside DUFC territory. They fidence. They showed a lot of re- side, non-student members. This Tanner; and president of the the points and decided to kick side Brian du Toit then picked worked through the phases and silience not to crumble under the figure is likely to rise in favour of IRFU, Louis Magee. into the corner. DUFC somehow from the ruck and scored at the were rewarded with a penalty in pressure from Malone or from students in the 2013/14 report to The students came into this managed to turnover possession base of the posts. The try was front of the poss,t which brought the expectations placed on their 74%, although this report is yet match on the back of three con- and clear their lines. But Malone converted by McDermot to give them back to within a score again. shoulders. If this young but very to be finalised. Should the cursecutive losses in the All-Ireland came with wave after wave of at- DUFC a 13 – 7 lead. The atmos- It was 23 – 17 to the students with talented team want to be consid- rent ¤90 charge remain in place, League (AIL) and were in dire tacking play. The students de- phere was building as the crowd 15 minutes to go. ered a force in this year’s 1B divi- the percentage of students in this need of a win. With past play- fended heroically for 10 minutes could begin to sense confidence sion, College Park must become ratio would decrease and students ers and members flying in from before eventually a dubious tip growing amongst the young Victory a fortress. With the homecoming would face the possibility of payall corners of the globe to cel- tackle from USA international DUFC side. The students then Unlike previous weeks, the stu- being such a success, there will ing an additional charge upon ebrate the reopening of the new right winger, Tim Maupin, which took a nine-point lead through dents showed composure and re- hopefully be many more great visit to the gym at peak times, pitch, there was a lot of hype and resulted in the DUFC number 14 the boot of McDermot follow- mained unfazed. They regained matches to come in this amazing decreed to be between 4pm and expectation surrounding this being sent to the sin bin for 10 ing another infringement at the possession just inside their own rugby ground.

9pm. This is due to the fact that, performance. The pressure was minutes. This proved to be the breakdown by Malone. half and, after a brilliant run from according to Tanner, “running on to deliver. There were a few difference and in the very next But again, like the first half, Tim Maupin down the right wing, costs are increasing and in order changes from the previous week, play Malone’s number 5 crossed Malone had their purple patch. the ball was quickly moved wide to meet these, increase income with Conor Kearns moving back the line just right of the posts. After conceding the restart, the where DUFC received a penalty. generation is required”. Furtherinto outside to replace the in- The conversion was kicked by students were put under immedi- It was outside McDermot’s range more, she believes that “certain jured captain Paddy Lavelle. Jack Malone’s number 13 and so it was ate pressure by the Belfast men. so the option was to kick down areas, such as the Fitness Centre, McDermot returned to outhalf 7 – 3 to Malone.

Eventually, they spun the ball the line. From the resulting lihas reached beyond acceptable after recovering from a groin inThe students hit back five min- wide and a clever grubber in be- neout the DUFC pack mauled and safe capacity levels” and that jury, with Paddy Finlay filling the utes later, however. After another hind the students defensive line Malone 20 meters and were ilmore money is required to “increase capacity, satisfy demand, and provide more opportunities for the benefit of student sport”.

While the ¤120 charge should maintain the current ratio of student to non-student members, and Tanner reiterates that “the Sports Department is committed and wants to encourage the trend of more usage by more students”, she also emphasises the Blame for Arsenal’s recent injury woes does not lie with trainer Shad Forsythe alone. importance of maintaining some outside membership. Tanner in the background (“Who’s the Wenger is to thriftiness what Blame believes that “the availability of Louis Strange man gonna fix all Arsenal’s in- Harry Redknapp is to the dubious Questions may be asked about sports facilities and programmes Online Sport Editor jury woes? Shad!”) – Forsythe art of wheeler-dealerism- in spite the new methods being imple- to College staff is essential for was meant to signal the end of of his assertions to the contrary. mented, yet to see Forsythe as re- healthy living and work/lifestyle Arsenal last week received the the running joke that the Arsenal His ever-present obstinacy when sponsible – or at least, wholly re- balance and it is also beneficial news that Mesut Özil will be unainjury list has become in recent it comes to paying more than sponsible – for the current crisis to offer Trinity Graduates the ble to play for the club until, in all times. Unfortunately for Forsythe what he deems market-value for would be foolish. Arsenal’s injury opportunity to retain a link with likelihood 2015, having suffered and for Arsenal, at this admittedly a player has not diminished - in history over the last few seasons College”. She also makes the point a partial tear of a ligament in his early stage in their relationship, the sense that few would consider would suggest that there is some that the income derived from the left knee. Özil becomes the latest the club seems to be struggling £42m for Mesut Özil (in a sum- other enigma at work. Robin van usage of the gym by those outside in a string of high-profile injuries more than ever to keep players mer which saw Gareth Bale sold Persie was famously injury-prone, the student body is integral to the for the Gunners in the opening out of the treatment room. for over double that figure) or up- Cesc Fabregas once broke his leg financial status of sport in College stages of the season, a situation Arsenal now find themselves wards of £30 for Alexis Sánchez taking a penalty for Arsenal and and to the development of sport which has put the spotlight on without a host of first-team play- as bad deals considering their players such as Walcott and Diaby for student benefit. the medical team, and in particuers who have sustained injuries quality. are returning from long-standing, While maintaining the current lar on Shad Forsythe, the man since the start of the season: beBut how is this relevant to the pre-Shad injuries; even last sea- status quo in the Sports Centre, brought in to prevent this doomssides Özil, Mikel Arteta, the club injury list? The fact that players son, injuries to Walcott, Ramsey, it is also proposed that the ¤120 day scenario from materialising. captain and Aaron Ramsey are of higher value inevitably com- Oxlade-Chamberlain and Özil de- charge will aid the further develWhen Shad Forsythe was anboth out with muscle problems. mand higher weekly wages of railed a potential title assault. opment of facilities offered, the nounced as Arsenal’s new “head Mathieu Debuchy required sur- course has implications for the It is possible that the current implementation of a new fitness of athletic performance developgery after ankle ligament dam- fitness department. Forsythe’s ap- problems are down to Shad For- theatre space chief among them. ment” this summer, many thought age in September. Olivier Giroud pointment can be seen in a finan- sythe. It is possible that there When asked about this new space, he would be the fitness guru to managed to fracture his ankle by cial context as much as a sporting is something in Arsenal’s re- Tanner replied that “definitiveherald in a new age of injury-less being hit by a football (as ridicu- one, given that every week that cruitment policy which favours plans have yet to be collated but good fortune at the Emirates. lous as it sounds) and Laurent a high-profile player is ineligible technically gifted but fragile, a dedicated additional space has Having just nursed the German Koscielny, like Özil, has been sent due to injury is a week that Arse- lightweight players – a familnational team to World Cup vicback from international duty with nal have paid hundreds of thou- iar accusation. It is possible that tory, Forsythe’s appointment was France due to injury. Arsenal are sands of pounds without receiv- there is something in the waseen not just as a sensible decinow down to the bare bones in ing any services from that player ter at London Colney. There is sion, a step taken to address Ardefence and are short-staffed in on the pitch in return. With Özil’s clearly something going on, and senal’s systemic injury problems, central midfield. When Abou Dia- wages estimated at £140,000 per it does need to be analysed and but even as something of a coup, by is being considered as a poten- week, three months out of action addressed, but it is too early to in line with a new Wenger-Gazidtial solution to an injury crisis you equates to roughly £1.7m down decide what role the new “head is policy of bringing in top talent are, to say the least, tempting fate. the drain. of athletic performance developboth on and off the pitch.

Are Forsythe’s methods to ment” has played, if any. Only Equal parts Mannschaft-esque Wages blame? Too hard on a squad unac- time will tell what effect Forsythe efficacy and Shaft-esque strut – Despite Arsenal’s new-found will- customed to a higher level of in- will have on the yearly Arsenal inwe here at Trinity News like to imingness to indulge the demands tensity? The muscle injuries, the jury crisis phenomenon. So, even agine that Wenger spent a good of the fans by, at long last, “spend- sudden, stark brittleness of play- though we do need to talk about portion of his summer sitting in ing some f***ing money”, Wenger ers resulting in serious injuries… Shad, it may be more appropriate his office with a smirk on his face remains at heart a parsimonious Is this all his fault? to do it at the end of the season. and Isaac Hayes on manager. To put it another way,

Trinity Rugby returns to College Park in style

We need to talk about Shad

“

Wenger is to thriftiness what Harry Redknapp is to the dubious art of wheelerdealerism - in spite of his assertions to the contrary.

been identified. It is hoped that most of the free weight training can be moved to the new space so that additional CV [cardiovascular] and resistance equipment can be introduced in to the current fitness theatre. The result will be increased CV and weight training space, i.e. more students will be able to use the facilities”.

Scholarships

It is proposed that the increased charge will also to develop programmes for sports scholarships.

Last year, Trinity College awarded 18 scholarships to high-performing student athletes across a wide range of sports including gaelic football, hockey, air pistol shooting, rowing and badminton. The amount of scholarships awarded, however, is fewer than the 28 offered by UCD. The provisions will not necessarily lead to an increased in the amount of sports scholarships on offer, with the Sports Centre approach based on “quality, not quantity”.

Tanner admits that “whilst the current Sports Scholarship Programme in Trinity is of great benefit to the recipients, our offer does not compete with that of other institutions.” According to Tanner, increased funds will allow the college to increase its appeal to elite competitors. “We want to attract high performing athletes to Trinity to achieve a quality academic degree from Ireland’s top university, as well as compete for Trinity teams in the top leagues at university and national levels,” she said. “To do so, we need to offer a more improved package, for example, access to rooms, medical support services, conditioning, mentoring and academic flexibility. We should all take pride in the performances and results of Trinity teams and the involvement of talented sportspeople in our clubs is part of the ‘performance sport’ objective of the pending Strategy for Sport.”

Demand

When asked to justify the current payment model of a mandatory annual levy in opposition to a pay-per-usage system or optional membership fees, Tanner says that “the current model was proposed and voted by students for students and offers all students an affordable opportunity to take part in sport, at the level of their choosing. Relative to other their level institutions in Ireland and the UK, even the proposed increase charge of ¤120 is typically half the cost of sports memberships elsewhere.”

She says that, in the last two years, “more students have activated their card to use the sports facilities and the frequency of usage has increased. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that the current model is well received, utilised and is of immense benefit to students.” Tanner also points out that students who endure financial hardships are exempt from the charge.

That the Sports Centre is a large-scale operation is without doubt. Over 10,000 students activate their card each year to access sports facilities. The Sports Centre has an annual footfall of over 350,000, with over 100,000 facility bookings each year. It also supports and facilitates 50 fitness classes and courses each week, 50 student clubs, extensive student recreational programme of fitness instruction, classes, personal training, intramural events and children’s sports programmes including camps at Halloween, Easter, summer, and during the mid-term break; as well as a Junior Leader Programme involving 40 young people, and weekly swimming lessons.

By numbers:

¤90 - current student charge ¤120 - proposed new charge 350,000 - annual centre footfall +10,000 - student members