Trinity News Volume 62, Issue 1

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Volume 62, Issue 1

trinitynews.ie

Freshers Week 2015 begins in earnest

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 2015 Photo: Kevin O’Rourke

The Hist to invite Identity Ireland speaker to immigration debate

Party’s policies are against “multiculturalism and ghettoization” The College Historical Society has invited Peter O’Loughlin, leader of the new political party Identity Ireland, to speak at their weekly Wednesday night debate on September 30. The motion will be This House Would Open All Borders. Identity Ireland describe themselves as “a political organisation which stands up for the Irish Republic and the Irish citizen.” They go on to say: “We are against policies which encourage multiculturalism and ghettoization...as such we oppose mass immigration and believe in natural controlled immigration as practiced by most nations worldwide.”

Oisin Vince Coulter Deputy news editor

In a statement to Trinity News the Hist said: “The Hist tries to create interesting events for its members that deal with issues of importance on both a national and international scale. We approach a variety of guests to ensure we have a high level of discussion at our debates. We believe that the best arguments are those that still stand when tackled from all angles.” Peter O’Loughlin has not confirmed his attendance, but is “interested” and “in discussion”.

Also attending are Colm O’Gorman of Amnesty Inter-

national, who will chair the debate, and solicitor Conor Houston. Other guests have yet to be confirmed. Identity Ireland have proven controversial due to their explicitly anti-immigration policies which have drawn accusations of racism and xenophobia.

Identity Ireland’s first meeting to launch the party was held in Buswells Hotel on July 22, and ended with the Gardai being called after reports of violence between protesters and and those attending. According to the Irish Times “a sizeable portion of the 50 to 60 people in attendance began heckling Mr O’Loughlin during his opening address.”

When speaking to the Journal, O’Loughlin clarified his party’s position on a number of issues.

When asked about the current refugee crisis, he remarked “[i] f people are picked up in the Mediterranean they should be returned to point of departure.

It may also be a good idea to set up vetting centres in North Africa to distinguish between genuine refugees and economic migrants.”

He went to say that claims of racism against his party were “nonsense”, before respond-

ing to the allegation that some members of the party were Islamophobic with “I have no idea what members do in their own time. Also what constitutes anti-Islam in the eyes of the extreme left? These are people who believe calling for proper border controls as practised by most nations of the world is somehow “racist”.

“

We believe that the best arguments are those that still stand when tackled from all angles.” Peter O’Loughlin has not confirmed his attendance, but is “interested” and “in discussion”.

The GMB has attracted controversy over guests in the past.

In 2011 the Phil withdrew an invitation to Nick Griffin of British National Party to speak at a debate on immigration after a campaign against his attendance culminated with up to 30 protestors disrupting one of the Phil’s weekly debates. At the time it was explained that the decision was made with careful consideration after having taken “all safety considerations into account”.

Immigration has become an issue of global concern in the wake of the ongoing European refugee crisis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees claimed in August that 250,000 refugees have arrived in Europe by sea alone in 2015, with 124,000 arriving in Greece and 98,000 in Italy.

This compares to 283,532 arrivals for the entirety of 2014.

Ireland will welcome 4,000 refugees in response to this ongoing crisis.

Inside Political street artist Joe Caslin, learning some of the finer points of food photography from Gary Jordan, exploring fashion’s continuing blurring of gender boundaries with model Ivan Fahy.

>> >> >> Trinity Lady’s Basketball outgoing coach Rebecca O’Keefe reminisces

Una Harty and Gretta Warren explore the cold hard science behind your Fresher’s Week crush Lecturers’ big sexism problem

Features p.8

Comment p.14

Can psychology research be trusted?

SciTech p.20

Sport p. 24

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

News

2

What They Said

“ “ “ “ #serendipity

- Lynn Ruane, @LynnToWin

BREAKING: Final year student walks long way to college to avoid Fresher’s Week, realises is past it

-Aine O’Connell @himynameisaine

“This is so boring... no one’s going to read this article”

ppl always thinking my office is the ut office

#latenightediting

- Matthew Mulligan @_mattuna

- jack O’Kennedy @Jack_Oh_Kennedy

Large campus societies reveal their speakers lineup for this year Events not strictly within the remit of host societies will not receive funding for this week’s Fourth Week events.

Bronach Rafferty Contributor College will welcome a wide variety of guests this coming academic year.

LawSoc, The Phil, and the Hist revealed their respective programmes to Trinity News.

The Phil will welcome three guests in the coming

week. The comedian and writer Steve Coogan will be welcomed on September 21, followed by the deaf, virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie on the 23rd, and director Baz Luhrmann on the 24. Also visiting the Phil this year are Dame Judi Dench, and Fall Out Boy guitarist Pete Wentz.

The latter two, along with Steve Coogan, were touted as guests for last year but subsequently failed to show.

The Phil will also host Iranian human rights activist Maryam Namazie. Last year Ms Namazie cancelled a planned visit to the Society for International Affairs (SOFIA), accusing College of imposing conditions on her presentation. Other guests include Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic, Northern Irish band Snow Patrol, broadway performer

Kristen Chenowth, Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage and the chief campaign strategist for Barack Obama, David Axelrod.

Dates remain unconfirmed for all these guests.

Irish comedian Katherine Lynch will be the first guest for the Hist, on September 23. The executive director of Amnesty International, Colm O’Gorman, and Senator David Norris will visit

soon after, on September 30, and October 1 respectively.

Moral philosopher and professor at Princeton University, Peter Singer will appear on October 13, in a joint event with Trinity’s new Altruism Society. President Michael D. Higgins will visit to Trinity on December 7. Marita Conlon-Mckenna, author of the Under the Hawthorn

Tree Series, and actors Simon Pegg, Sean Bean and Robert Sheehan have been mentioned as guests for the Hist.

LawSoc will present a series of renowned guests from various disciplines of law and beyond, with guests such as Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United

Nations Under-SecretaryGeneral and Executive Director of UN Women.

There will also be discussions on transgender rights and equality in Ireland featuring activists Mara Keisling and Lydia. Other anticipated guests include Alastair Campbell, former director of communications and strategy to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Suits actress, Sarah Rafferty, British journalist

Students Union gears up for March for Choice 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.

Oisin VinceCoulter Deputy news editor SU president Lynn Ruane has spoken to Trinity News about plans for stepping up the Repeal the 8th Campaign this year. The SU adopted a pro-choice position two years ago focused on repealing the 8th Amendment to the Constitution in the aftermath of both a preferendum and referendum.

Ms Ruane stressed that “this campaign is mainly about education and understanding Repeal the 8th.”

“I ignored it for years,” she said. She now hopes that an educational approach would engage with “hundreds of people like me.” During the summer a committee was set up to co-ordinate and organise events, which saw 55 people attend over the course of multiple meetings.

Ruane spoke of the “diverse” makeup of this committee, bringing together interested people beyond the SU. Ruane cited past inaction on the issue as being a factor in the renewed focus, placing it in the context of

her aim to assist student activism across College.

TCDSU will be attending the March for Choice on the September 26, with Ruane hopeful that 50 or more students will take part. She is very enthusiastic about the possibility of broad student involvement, welcoming attendance alongside TCDSU of students from other universities who may or may not have endorsed a prochoice position.

There will a panel discussion on October 8 with Colm O’Gorman of Amnesty International, along with Roisin Ingle and representatives of Doctors for Choice and Lawyers for Choice. Such events suit a campaign for “people who want to understand more about the law.”

Ruane summed the campaign up by saying the aim was “engaging with people coming in, not being out to convert anyone.”

and former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, and American founders of the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, will also make an appearance.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

News

3

Precarious thirdlevel workers express dismay at business investment The construction of the new business school and the hiring of David McWilliams has drawn ire

Alice MacPhearson Contributor Third Level Workplace Watch, a group of third-level workers who campaign for fair pay and job security, have criticised College’s planned investment of 70 million in the development of the Trinity Business School.

Accommodation crisis deepening as college year starts Welfare Officer Conor Clancy says government needs to “start taking action” Lia Flattery News editor Welfare Officer, Conor Clancy, in an interview with Trinity News, said that College has a responsibility to provide more accommodation for its students. Clancy also called for the government to recognise student accommodation as a social housing issue and for an end to housing discrimination against students.

Students across the country have struggled to secure accommodation for the academic year, as rent prices have risen and many landlords refuse to accept student tenants. The current crisis is the latest in what has become an annual trend.

According to Clancy, the Students’ Union’s Accommodation Advisory Service has witnessed a huge increase in the volume of calls, emails and in-person visits this year compared to last. As of September 12, there were a total of 2,922 users of the service. In contrast, 2,005 users were recorded by 6 October 2014.

Clancy argued that the government needs to “start taking action” to address the problems in student accommodation. Currently, he said, “the majority of the legwork is being done by student unions around the country.”

Clancy contended that student accommodation must be treated as a social housing matter, claiming that “it is important that people realize we are not just talking about students when we

talk about student housing,” but also their families who support them and who must struggle with rising rent costs. “There is a perception out there that Trinity students can and should be able to afford housing,” he explained, adding that the reality is that within Trinity there are students of many backgrounds struggling to cope financially.

Traditionally most students have been confined to the more affordable levels of the housing market, resulting in overlaps between social and student housing. With a shortfall of 20,000 homes in social housing in Dublin outside of Trinity this year and student numbers and migration into Dublin growing, Clancy sees student specific accommodation as the best solution if the

overlap in affordable housing is to be reduced.

In Clancy’s view, the onus lies largely with College to invest more in providing accommodation for its students. However, he expressed some skepticism as to the impact that College’s proposed conversion of Oisin House on Pearse Street into 300 new student rooms could have. Considering College’s aim to increase its international student numbers to 18% by 2019 and the fact that “it is a basic requirement of this strategy that these students have a place to stay,” he argued that Oisin House will be limited in its ability to alleviate the current problems. Despite this, he claimed that it is “encouraging that college are looking into projects like Oisin House,” which

“

As of September 12, there were a total of 2,922 users of the service. In contrast, 2,005 users were recorded by 6 October 2014.

Trinity drops again in latest QS world university rankings Dean of Research John Boland attributes fall to the “continued reduction in government investment” Lia Flattery News editor The release of the latest QS World University Rankings has seen Trinity drop seven places since last year, from 71st to 78th.

However, it maintains its position as the highest ranked Irish third-level institution and the only one to feature in the top 100.

The rankings are based on six indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), faculty student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international student numbers (5%) and international academic staff numbers (5%).

The new figures mark a continuance of the decline in rankings experienced by the college since placing 53rd in 2010. Trinity reached its highest point in the 2009 rankings, coming in joint 43rd, having broken into the top fifty for the first time with 49th place in 2008.

While Trinity’s overall ranking has fallen this year, its reputation among international academics has risen and it has been ranked number one university in Ireland by employers English language and literature, Trinity’s highest ranked subject, has dropped, from 25th to 32nd place, while its highest ranked faculty, arts and humanities, has risen from 63rd to 61st

position. The natural sciences and engineering and technology are other areas of improvement for Trinity, reflecting targeted government funding in recent times.

In a statement released by the college, Professor John Boland, dean of research, attributed the fall to “the continued reduction in government investment in Irish universities” compared to increased funding in higher education made by our global competition, particularly among Asian universities and some European countries.

However, Boland maintained that: “Trinity’s top 100 position globally and top 30 in Europe is remarkable in the context of its reduced income. Trinity’s annual budget per academic is 45% lower than that of the average university in the world top 200.”

Writing in the Irish Times, Boland later spoke less positively of the results. “To have our top university ranked 78th in the world is simply not good enough for Ireland, our students or our ambition to become a leading-edge knowledge-driven economy,” he explained. In particular, he emphasised the negative effect

that this ranking would have on attracting both international students and companies to the country.

Eight Irish third-level institutions are included in the rankings. University College Dublin is Ireland’s second highest university at 154th, a fall of fifteen of places on last year, and is the only other Irish university in the top 200.

The other Irish institutions listed are University College Cork (233), NUI Galway (271), Dublin City University (353), University of Limerick (located in the 471480 range), Maynooth University (551-600) and Dublin Institute of Technology (601-650).

Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, commented that: “considering the strong representation of Irish universities per-capita, one ranked university per 130,000 people, Irish universities are akin to the Irish Rugby Team; remarkably competitive given their population, funding and resources; and consistently so.”

The list of institutions claiming the top twenty spots contains some notable changes, with Sowter remarking that this year’s

rankings “reveal more diversity than ever in the distribution of world-class universities at the highest levels.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scored first place for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Harvard in second place, while the University of Cambridge and Stanford University hold joint third.

However, ETH Zurich has broken into the top ten and two Singaporean universities, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, have risen sharply in ranking to make it into the top 15 for the first time. Australian National University has returned to the top 20. Chinese universities also performed extremely well.

This year has witnessed changes in the decision process for the rankings, with data from the past five years now being used in conjunction with the most recent data. A further change applies to the measure of citations per academic faculty member, as a new system has been introduced to compensate for the large number of citations generated by researchers in life sciences compared to those in arts and humanities.

78th Trinity College Dublin

154th University College Dublin

233rd University College Cork

271th

NUI Galway

353th

Dublin City University

Speaking to Trinity News about the construction, a representative for the group said that it “makes no sense to cut jobs but invest in buildings.” They also highlighted the fact that while student fees have increased in recent years, there has been no comparable rise in staff pay.

Writing on their Facebook page recently, the group further condemned the business school plans, commenting: “TCD building a new business school for 70 million as part of a 295 million capital investment plan. David McWilliams hired as a star economist. That’s what wage theft is for!”

The group’s representative also claimed that one of the main barriers to improving working conditions in the third-level sector is the perception that academia is a well-paid and comfortable profession. “Our struggle is not the struggle of privileged, overeducated people,” they said.

A postdoctoral researcher at Trinity, who did not wish to be named, spoke to Trinity News about precarious working conditions in the college. “After eight years studying in the university, and graduating with a PhD, I have been left feeling that I have no future and that my contribu-

“

Speaking to Trinity News about the construction a representative for the group said that it “makes no sense to cut jobs but invest in buildings” tion to research and teaching is not valued,” they said. The same academic noted that their research was not progressing as it should, due to a lack of funding.

Mike Jennings of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) told Trinity News that the majority of the federation’s casework is taken up with fighting for the statutory rights of workers employed on temporary contracts and, while many expect this to be a problem mainly affecting newly qualified staff and postgraduate tutors, academic workers can be on successive temporary contracts for more than a decade.

Both IFUT and Third Level Workplace Watch said that they are currently seeking action from the government and thirdlevel institutions in order to improve working conditions. Jennings said that IFUT has called on the Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan, to make a public statement on precarious employment in higher education before the end of the year.

TCDSU President Lynn Ruane to bring refugee motion to USI

Move comes after successful donation drive for Calais refugees Lia Flattery News editor Student Union president, Lynn Ruane, is planning to bring a motion to the council of the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) for the union to declare its support for refugees, Trinity News has learned.

Earlier this month, the SU joined forces with the main refugee drive for Dublin, acting as a drop-off point for donations to refugees at Calais.

According to Ruane, the SU currently has no definite strategic plan for supporting refugees, but there is “room for discussion” in this regard. She is organising an activist fair to be held some time this term and said that she wants organisations that help refugees to feature in it.

Ruane said that she is also interested in running English classes for new migrants studying in Trinity. She also spoke about the possibility of liaising with the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland for future support efforts.

A representative from the Irish Refugee Council told Trinity News that there are a number of practical things that students and others can do to help the refugees due to arrive in Ireland. They encouraged people to support “any community or grassroots initiatives, such as the drive for Calais.” However, they also expressed concern that those already in direct provision in Ireland could be sidelined with the new influx of refugees.

“We cannot forget about their plight,” they said, and asked that people lend their support to the campaign to end direct provision.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

News

4

News In Brief

Katie Cogan outlines plans for Ents, ecstasy awareness campaign Sarah Conway Staff writer Ents Officer Katie Cogan has outlined her plans for the year, specifically a new ‘statement’ monthly hip-hop night on the second Thursday of each month.

This is a departure from the traditional weekly night out of previous Ents Officers. A number of other themed events are planned; a ‘futuristic rave’ to be held in the Powerscourt shopping centre at the end of September, a “girls night” to celebrate International Women’s Week, a “trad and techno” session near Christmas and the staple Ents charity strip auction.

Another addition to the Ents calendar is a series of Harry

Potter themed events in October, ranging from the sorting of students into school houses to an inter-house sports day, concluding with a “Hogwarts Express” train ride for up to 1000 students. Players and Trinity TV are set to collaborate on these events, with Coogan explaining that the smaller events are to “get people to know each other and build a bit of craic” before the night out.

Cogan hopes that this variety of events will appeal to “many different strata of Trinity students”. She also plans to address issues around consent and drug usage, highlighting the importance of making “a noise” or “a fuss...if someone touches you in a way that you don’t like.” In particular she hopes to commu-

nicate this to first years who may be overwhelmed.

Cogan acknowledged the use of drugs within the student body, and was reluctant to condemn this: “people are experimenting, they’re curious.” She explained that her focus was to “ensure their safety” and summed her policy up by saying “I just want people to be responsible about what they’re doing… It doesn’t matter if it’s drugs or alcohol, excess is not good."

This comes in the aftermath of the National Student Drug Survey, in which over 80 per cent of respondents said they had little concern about the impact of drugs in their lives. Cogan will lead an ecstasy awareness campaign this year alongside Drugs. ie and USI.

Illustration: Julia Helmes

College set to unvail WWI alumni memorial Patrick Higgins Staff writer College is set to unveil a memorial stone in honour of the staff, students and alumni who fought and died in the British army during the First World War on September 26th. The memorial stone will be located outside of the Hall of Honour, the entrance to the 1937 postgraduate reading room. It was designed by sculptor Stephen Burke, who has been commissioned for work on such historic buildings as Russborough house in Co. Wicklow and Suffolk Cathedral in Bury, St. Edmunds. An estimated 49,000 Irish volunteers died fighting on the side of the British army during World War one, which includes 471 Trinity College staff, students and

alumni.

The College website notes that the Hall of Honour, as well as the 1937 reading room, was designed

by Sir Thomas Manley Deane, whose son Thomas was killed in action during the battle of Gallipoli. Each November the lives lost are honoured by a ceremony in the college chapel which is followed by a procession to the hall. Commemoration of Trinity war dead has been a source of some contention in recent years with the launch of the Trinity College War Memorial Project in 2013. The project seeks recognition for the 111 Trinity College volunteers who fought and died in the British Army during the Second World War. Speaking on behalf of the campaign, Professor Gerald Morgan stated that: “[The] 26 September 2015 will be an historic day for

the College, and a source of pride to us all. I think that the Provost, Dr Prendergast, is to be greatly commended for the central part he has played in this... I am sure that the Provost will lead the campaign for a Memorial for the Trinity Dead of World War II. But first things must come first, and we have to do justice to our heroic dead, fighting I believe, in many if not most cases, for Irish Home Rule, in 1914-1918.”

The Hall of Honour memorial stone will be unveiled in a ceremony in Front Square at 11am on September 26 and will be followed by a reception in the Dining Hall.

as to what plagiarism is and how it can be avoided. A working committee was set up in order to tackle the issue, consisting of various bodies and individuals including the senior tutor, the dean of students, the Students’ Union education officer and representatives from the Library and the Centre for Academic Practice and eLearning.

The committee also reviewed the manner in which College deals with the issue of plagiarism as a whole and the measures taken to combat it. As a result of their findings, numerous changes have taken place.

Speaking to Trinity News, Long and Martin explained that the entry on plagiarism in the University Calendar has now been updated to make it clearer and more accessible. Furthermore, they said that all of College’s online information and resources regarding plagiarism have been consolidated in one place, having previously been scattered

across a number of different sites and difficult to locate as a result.

A central repository hosted by the Library will now contain the relevant information, including a matrix explaining the different levels of plagiarism and their consequences, how to avoid accidental plagiarism and details on software packages such as Turnitin, which can be used to detect plagiarism.

The goal, according to Long and Martin, is that “these various measures will contribute positively to support and foster academic integrity.”

Strong showing from Trinity at first SUAS Ideas Collective Incoming regulations will see students sign plagiarism Lia Flattery workshop declarations News editor

Trinity students and graduates were among 18 participants who displayed their work at the recent showcase of the first Suas Ideas Collective.

The Ideas Collective is a programme that provides individuals and groups with a platform to launch their plans for social or environmental change. According to Deirdre Kelly of Suas, the programme was launched earlier this year in response to a growing demand among young people for a means of transforming their ideas for change into action.

Having worked with mentors over the summer to develop their projects, the contributors last week presented their work to supporters of Suas and representatives of various NGOs. Rachael Fitzsimons, a fourth year history and political science student in Trinity, was among the exhibitors. She

described her initiative as a “project in public engagement through the art of letter writing.” It will provide people with the opportunity to engage in discussion, on a variety of topics from literature to current affairs, through a letter writing network. Her project is particularly aimed at elderly people who may not have wide access to technology or social media, where much public debate now takes place, she said.

Ali Kelly and Aisling Byrne, recent Trinity graduates in law and French and music respectively, outlined the thinking behind their venture ‘SwapSwap,’ a website where users can upload photographs of their ethically sourced clothes and “share, swap and steal” each other’s items. Through this, Byrne explained, they hope to alleviate some of the problems caused by the “fast fashion industry” and the current culture of disposable clothes.

Eoghan Martin and Alan Donoghue, both working towards their masters in comput-

er engineering in Trinity, also took part in the collective. According to Martin, their project, ‘Dev, meet Tech,’ is premised on the belief that technology has the power to bring about “positive social change.” They intend to hold a series of events at which students from a range of disciplines and backgrounds will work together to devise innovative solutions to social problems using technology.

Among the other initiatives presented on the evening were a documentary investigating the environmental impact of agriculture in Ireland, a project seeking to bring local communities together through storytelling, and a website that will provide young people with accessible information regarding government policy-making as well as an online discussion forum.

New group aims to raise awareness around issues of consent Orla Macintyre Contributor A new initiative aimed at raising awareness of the importance of sexual consent has been launched by the Students’ Union (SU).

Dee Courtney, one of the founders of the initiative, spoke to Trinity News about their plans.

According to Courtney, an SU working group concluded that College’s Dignity and Respect Policy does not “sufficiently acknowledge sexual assault as a systematic problem on campus.” In an effort to right this, the group is developing a new framework to replace the exist-

ing policy, which they intend to present to College in October.

Courtney also criticised College’s approach to dealing with interpersonal issues, including sexual harassment, whereby they begin with mediation between those involved. This, she claimed, is highly inappropriate treatment for those who have experienced sexual assault.

The group hopes that an extensive publicity campaign will help to build awareness of the need for students to fully understand the meaning of the word ‘consent.’ Particular attention will be paid to incoming first year students. Each student will receive a specially focused information leaflet on consent and a campus wide poster campaign

will take place. They also plan to set up a support group for survivors of sexual assault on campus.

In January, an SU survey on sexual assault revealed that one in four female students and one in 20 male students in Trinity have had a non-consensual sexual experience. Courtney explained that while the survey certainly acted as a “catalyst” for the formation of the working group, inspiration was also drawn from similar movements in universities across the world, including Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Montana, which have all introduced mandatory consent workshops for first year students.

>>

We need to stop treating sexual assault survivors like liars Comment p.20

Bethany Queripel Contributor An online plagiarism workshop is to be introduced for all students as part of a new initiative co-chaired by Dean of Graduate Studies Professor Aideen Long and Senior Lecturer Dr Gillian Martin.

As of this academic year, students of all levels will be required to sign a declaration alongside every piece of work submitted to College. This declaration will confirm that the student has completed the new ‘Ready, Steady, Write’ plagiarism module on Blackboard and that they are aware of what constitutes plagiarism.

The introduction of the ‘Ready, Steady, Write’ online workshop is part of a wider attempt by College authorities to boost understanding among both undergraduate and graduate students

2014 Trinity Access 21 programme sees success for the project, benefits for those involved Lia Flattery News Editor The results from the first year of the Trinity Access 21 programme were announced at a conference in Trinity last week and indicated significant successes for the project.

Trinity Access 21 is an initiative that works in secondary schools to encourage greater use of technology and team-based education in the classroom and to address educational disadvantage.

It aims to improve students’ abilities in computer science and STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) within schools in disadvantaged communities. The project challenges educational disadvantage through its ‘Mentoring, Leadership and Pathways to College’ programme, which focuses on cultivating aspirations to continue on to higher education among participants.

In its first year, the project held workshops with over 8,000 students and 300 teachers across 15 secondary schools.

Teachers who took part in the first year of the programme re-

ported greater confidence in the use of technology in teaching as well as wider use of team-based and technology-mediated learning in the classroom.

Student participants reported increases in college-going ambitions and more confidence in their ability to negotiate higher education. Students also reported that they were communicating more with their parents and wider community about their future At the conference, Trinity Access 21 revealed plans to expand the existing project to a greater number of schools, third-level institutions and communities through the development of its ‘21st Century Schools of Distinction Programme.’

Addressing the conference, Cliona Hannon, Trinity Access Programmes Director, said: “The Trinity Access 21 projects have yielded exciting results in only one year… The research evidence shows the potential for educational change within this model and we are very keen

to scale it to a wider range of schools.”

Tom Boland, Chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, also spoke at the conference.

He praised “Ireland’s success in broadening access to higher education” in recent years, but acknowledged that obstacles remain for “communities where there are still low levels of participation.” He called for “fresh solutions” to encourage increased participation in both further and higher education and welcome the Trinity Access 21 initiative as an “innovative approach by the third-level sector to deepening engagement with schools and local communities.”

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

UPLOAD YOUR THESIS ONLINE

Setanta Centre Nassau St, Dublin 2

Same day service Hardback binding now available only €25

Phone: 01 679 9117 Email: info@reads.ie

Main Entrance, Setanta Centre

Back Entrance, Setanta Place

STRESSED ABOUT PRINTING?

That’s Life Store on Nassau Street

STATIONERY YOU COULD PAY MORE ELSEWHERE!

Upload your thesis online @

reads.ie

BUT WHY SHOULD YOU?

www.reads.ie

YOU COULD PAY MORE ELSEWHERE!

BUT WHY SHOULD YOU?

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

Rediscovering the voices of the famine

p9

Who must fall?

With an extremely long history, it's only natural that Trinity would have a large number of statues and monuments dedicated to alumni. Tadgh Healy explores these mostly male monuments in order to judge which one most deserves to be torn down

Tadgh Healy Features editor

In April, student protesters at the University of Cape Town (UCT) successfully brought down a statue of the colonialist Cecil Rhodes. The statue used to stand in prime position at the entrance to the campus with the imposing Devil’s Peak mountain in the background. Rhodes, the founder of the De Beers mining company, originally bequeathed the land on which UCT now sits. His history will forever be tied to the university.

However, earlier this year a

OLIVER GOLDSMITH Standing adjacent to Edmund Burke is his less wellknown neighbour, the poet, playwright and Trinity alumnus Oliver Goldsmith. With his left hand holding up an open book, and his gaze fixed on a page of no doubt exquisite verse, Goldsmith looks the picture of studious respectability next to Burke who stands tall and arrogant, hand on hip, looking into the distance and surveying College Green.

Goldsmith gave us one of the 18th century’s most popular comedy plays, She Stoops to Conquer, which last Christmas enjoyed a successful run at the Abbey. He came up with such politically astute lines as: “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey / Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.” And also the humblebrag: “Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.” His epitaph, written

by Samuel Johnson, only bolsters the case for his continued position guarding Front Gate: “The love of companions, / The fidelity of friends, / and the veneration of readers, / Have by this monument honoured the memory.”

However, the deeper you look into the details of Goldsmith’s biography, his goldenboy literary reputation begins to tarnish. Goldsmith was born in Longford in 1928, and enjoyed an unremarkable academic career, failing to achieve the grades required to access a career in the Church or the legal profession. During Goldsmith’s undergraduate years he took part in what is known as the Black Dog riot. (The Black Dog was another name for Newgate Prison, primarily home to debtors.) When a fellow student was arrested, a number of his classmates,

including Goldsmith, kidnapped the bailiff (who had arrested their friend) and dunked him in the college trough. Then they took it upon themselves to storm the prison. Their group quickly grew into a mob as they marched though Dublin’s streets. Unfortunately, the guards fired on the mob as they arrived and two people were killed. In the aftermath, four of the instigators were expelled from Trinity.

Goldsmith was very lucky to escape this fate and eventually be permitted to graduate.

As incoming first years stride through Front Arch as Trinity students for the first time, do we really want to send the message that Oliver Goldsmith is a figure they should emulate?

If we were to bring down Goldsmith’s statue, it would not be the first time that its sculptor, JH Foley, would have had one of his works desecrated. A popular artist in Victorian England, a statue of Foley himself now stands at the front of the V&A Museum in London.

Yet, unsurprisingly his works were less popular in Ireland following the creation of the Free State. If #GoldsmithMustFall were to become a viral Internet sensation, in a way it wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented for JH Foley, but merely the most recent in a history of dissatisfaction with his chosen subjects.

And if Goldsmith were to be spared and Burke’s statue torn down instead, JH Foley would nonetheless suffer the same humiliation; indeed, Trinity’s two most prominent statues were chiseled by the same hand.

focused and uncompromising protest campaign sought to reevaluate that relationship.

The statue had long been a much derided symbol of colonial oppression, but more pressingly served as a reminder that a university of majority black students, was led across all levels of teaching, research and management, by whites. Cecil Rhodes’ statue embodied a racial hierarchy that still lives on. So, when UCT student

Chumani Maxwele threw human excrement over the statue in March, it engaged much of the student body and inspired the #RhodesMustFall campaign. Incidentally, excrement was a particularly apt choice of material. In the late 19th century, the illicit trade of diamonds was a significant drain on mining companies, with an estimated one-third of all diamonds being stolen and traded illegally. For this reason, Rhodes introduced what was called the closed

GEORGE SALMON Anyone who has ever taken the time to piggyback onto a walking tour around College may know that the Provost George Salmon, who held his post from 1888 until his death in 1904, was not the paragon of gender equality Trinity strives to reach today.

Any tour guide worth his salt will tell you that Salmon was quite the sexist, even for his own time. In 1895, the Board of Trinity College wrote: “If a female had once passed the gate… it would be practically impossible to watch what buildings she might enter, or how long she might remain there.” Salmon was a both a mathematician and theologian of great repute, however politically he was deeply conservative. As pressure to admit women into Trinity –atleast on a token basis to begin with – mounted, Salmon regularly enacted his veto to overturn the will of the Board that was gradually coming round to the opinion that women should be allowed to study as equals.

It is rather fitting then that the first female students were admitted not long after Salmon died in January 1904.

Perhaps you think that this is justice enough- retribution has been served and to take down the statue now would be excessive. Perhaps a student body, which today is nearly 60% female, is the best answer we have to the legacy of a sexist Provost so honoured in Front Square.

That said, sexism is not the only objection to the statue.

In 1961, the college authorities awoke to find that the statue had been vandalised overnight. If the college community did decide that Salmon deserves to fall, it almost wouldn’t be the first time it was attempted: taking

inspiration from previous pranks on the statue of Lecky nearby, students threw paint and black ink all over Salmon during the night.

It is not entirely clear what the students’ motivation was. It might well have been that the upheaval of social norms the 1960s brought inspired the young students to desecrate this symbol of female subordination. Another plausible explanation is that the vandals were actually militant aesthetes. An Irish Times report from the scene noted: “it is considered by many to be rather ugly.”

Writing in 1964, Owen Sheehy Skeffington too wrote that the statue “is not a work of outstanding artistic distinction.”

However, not all students were of this opinion. The sculpture is by John Hughes and was hewn from Galway marble. Noting this fact on the occasion when the statue was first to be moved from the Museum Building to its present site, a Trinity News article from 1955 bemoaned: “The statue is made of marble and it is not expected that it will survive open-air conditions for more than ten years.” This sentence was typed in bold, such was the concern of the writer. Happily though, the prediction has proved incorrect and Salmon has remained intact in his current location for a number of decades in all his magnificent ugliness.

compound system into his Kimberley diamond mine so that stones could not be smuggled out. Workers could not leave the mine compound until their contract expired, and when it did they were forced to remain in the compound for a further two weeks whilst their excrement was examined.

Confederate symbols, which are ubiquitous and celebrated in certain southern States. Flags were lowered and statues were defaced.

These movements are part of a growing feeling that our monuments to history - what they signify and if they can be aligned with our values today - must be examined.

Rhodes Must Fall is not an isolated case. In the US this summer a number of protests were staged against

Of course, Trinity too can submit to that examination.

For most students the fact that the full name of the

JAMES WATSON At the Lincoln Place entrance to campus there stands a sculpture commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. There is nothing objectionable about the sculpture itself.

Visually, it’s best described as a cross between a tractor wheel and a turkey twizzler (of Jamie Oliver fame). It could even reasonably be described as attractive, and of course a suitable commemoration of an event of endless significance in the history of science. And it seems the scientists were wise to make it a sculpture rather than a statue. They have learned the mistakes of their cousins at the older end of campus; history is kind to ideas, but not people.

Unfortunately, however, people are always involved somewhere. A quick glance at the plaque at the base of the sculpture will tell you that it was unveiled in 2003

by James Watson, one of the scientists originally awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA’s structure.

So far, so good. Except, sadly Watson has a tendency to make the headlines for less cerebral reasons.

Aside from the fact that in his original work on DNA Watson famously failed to acknowledge the great contribution of two fellow researchers, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, Watson has voiced some really quite horrendous opinions in his time. The first concerns homosexuality: “If you could find the gene which determines sexuality and a woman decides she doesn’t want a homosexual child, well, let her.” He has also suggested that it would be “great” if we “made all girls pretty” through genetic engineering.

Then there is the racism: “[I am] inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa [because] all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same of ours – whereas all the testing says not really.”

The eminent biologist E.O. Wilson has described Watson as the most unpleasant person as he’s ever met. You might agree with this sentiment, but argue that the sculpture of DNA is not about Watson; it’s about a discovery which should be celebrated regardless of the individual who made it. Watson has no connection to the sculpture other than unveiling it, right? Well, not quite. Watson’s comments concerning race and intelligence were deemed particularly shocking, even for him, and so in 2007 when the quotes were made public he was forced to step down from his role as Chancellor of Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory. Then in 2014, Watson decided to put his Nobel medal up for sale, citing his lack of income since 2007 as the reason. The medal sold for $4.1million at auction.

With the money, Watson, who has ancestors hailing from Tipperary, decided to donate a six-figure sum to Trinity’s Smurfit Institute of Genetics, outside of which the sculpture stands. The double helix sculpture, then, is attached to James Watson by more than name and ceremony; it is an uncomfortable reminder that genetics research funding comes from an individual with a set of values that cannot be entertained by a progressive university.

university is The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin doesn’t have any particular purchase on the everyday imagination.

Nonetheless, the university does command certain connotations within Dublin and throughout Ireland, and the statues around campus play a role in what those connotations are. Queen Elizabeth is memorialised in name only, however there are many monuments here which symbolise a number

of things in addition to Ireland’s colonial past. Perhaps none of our statues deserve to fall just yet, but it is only right that we should first check to be sure.

EDMUND BURKE If there were to be single physical representation of Empire in the campus architecture, it would probably be Edmund Burke in statue form. He is remembered for his attempt to establish a moral underpinning of the British Empire, as well as the pioneer of the political philosophy of conservatism.

He also famously objected to the French revolution. It would be easy to characterise Burke’s statue as the manifestation of the very chains Ireland fought so hard to throw off. Yet a mob with ropes in hand ready to pull down the looming statue from Front Gate would do well to remember Burke had a sort of integrity too.

The MP for Bristol was a son of Dublin, and voted in the British Parliament for great emancipation rights for Catholics in Ireland. He also attempted to impeach the corrupt Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings. It is still an insult, but he believed in a just British Empire.

He even founded Trinity’s Historical Society. For any mob with ropes in hand and looking for blood, we would do well to realise there are more reprehensible statues to come.

“

These movements are part of a growing feeling that our monuments to history - what they signify and if they can be aligned with our values today - must be examined.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

7

Things I wish I had known before I started my PhD In that large crowd in Front Square, there will always be someone who will catch your attention and make your hands sweat. Then comes the feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Ever wonder what goes on in your body when you find someone you fancy? What attributes make people attractive? Is love just a chemical reaction?

This weird limbo can leave you feeling behind your contemporaries

I came to Trinity to have a look around and see what I thought about coming here and accidentally left having accepted a PhD position. I wanted to be in research and had given some thought to the matter but probably not quite enough. Still, I left excited about my new adventure and all the wonderful medical problems I was going to solve through my cutting edge research.

I’m now in my final year and in the stage people often refer to as panic mode. Some days I know I’m going to get it all done and others it looks like an impossible task but it’s getting there. However, there are some things I wish people had warned me about before I started.

People who got a job straight after university or even school have now been acting the responsible adult for several years now and are starting to buy houses and get engaged.

Your most expensive possession is your laptop and sometime the last week before pay day will still involve a lot of pasta based dishes.

It does not help you avoid the graduate struggle to find a job.

It might give you longer to decide exactly what you want to do but you’re just delaying the misery for three or four years.

You are more qualified but you are still going to have to fill in endless application forms except this time you’ll have a 60,000 word (or more) thesis hanging over you while you do.

You’re often applying for jobs you could have done before the PhD too, while trying to reassure yourself it means you’ll climb the ladder more quickly further down the line.

Your supervisor does not have all the answers.

At the start of the project they have the great plans and ideas but as it progresses you are going to become the expert in what you are doing. They are there to help and guide you and ask the questions to make you think about what you are doing but they can’t wave a magic wand and make it all better. You have to learn to try new things yourself, read extensively and enlist the help of other experts if you need it.

It is a weird limbo between being a student and having a real job.

You’re still at college but you’re paid to be there 9-5 and behave like a responsible adult, most of the time. However, as long as you’re getting work done, there’s still much greater flexibility with your hours and room for the occasional afternoon off or missed hungover morning. The longer you stay on though, the more you realise how young the freshers seem and how you should probably hurry up and leave soon. Your parents are probably also anxious for this to happen.

You may think you are working super hard in first or second year but a small percentage of what you do then will end up in your thesis.

This is slightly depressing but true and part of the learning process. So try and enjoy the early stuff because your last 6-12 months are going to be pretty brutal.

Failure is part of research

Illustration: Natalie Duda

Your topic may sound fascinating but what you do on a daily basis will not be.

Some days you will get to do some really cool stuff that the inner nerd in you loves but mainly you will be repeating the same techniques over and over.

In my case, everything I do involves a final step with cell testing. I grow cells, I put them on top of my materials and I see how they behave. The first few times this was fun, but now any time they die (as they love to do) and I know I'm going to have to do it all again - a little tiny piece of me dies too.

On days when you just don't want to do it again, try and remind yourself of the bigger picture and what a beautiful story your thesis is going to tell.

You are trying to do something no one has ever done before.

At least you should be - otherwise it doesn't count as original research and will cause you problems when trying to defend your thesis during your viva. That means it is going to be difficult and your results might surprise you but they will always tell you something we didn't know before.

There will be days when you want to quit. Or cry. Or maybe both.

It happens to everybody.

Go back to the drawing board and adjust your plans depending on what’s happened – flowcharts that make your project plan look incredible are reassuring but also taking a few days off totally can be helpful and give you some needed perspective.

Being "clever" doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be excellent at research.

The way we test intelligence in school and college mainly involves an endless series of written examinations. You may have an excellent memory and find it easy to understand and apply concepts but this doesn't necessarily translate into being a ground-breaking researcher. You need to be creative - to be able to think of new and simple ways to test what you are looking for and you need to be careful and methodical in your ways. There needs to be a good dose of common sense mixed in with the intelligence which doesn't always come naturally to everyone. You may have to learn these things the hard way, but while being excellent isn't always possible, practice and patience will allow you to develop into a good researcher and you will end up with results you are proud of.

Your final project will not look the same as your initial wonderful plan.

It might look reasonably similar if your experiments went as predicted but often they do not and you will have to rewrite your aims and hypotheses later as if it was your plan all along. You might also find something interesting and somewhat unrelated and end up on a tangent or a completely different research track. This is the nature of research, how discoveries are made and the reason we all do it in the first place - to satisfy our curiosity about the world we live in.

Planning and keeping good notes is key.

Again, this seems obvious but you need to keep on track. Four years seems like forever but it flies in and suddenly you don’t understand how you still have so much to do in such a short period. Start with a good literature review and it will form the backbone of your final thesis and use software to keep track of your references.

Always record what you are doing in detail, so if someone asks you a year later what exactly happened you can flick to the correct page and give them a concrete answer.

. This one may sound obvious but with most PhD students having a strong academic background, it often takes some time to get used to (mainly science) things not working over and over again.

Or worse, something working once and then never being able replicate it – is an n of 1 enough to publish a paper?

Probably not. It’s slightly reassuring that most negative or non-significant results can still be reported and be interesting but when you spend three days taking microscope images of cells and can see literally nothing this is not the case and it can be very hard to take.

I’m still not quite there yet but I’m optimistic about it all being worth it in the end. I’ve had opportunities to travel to conferences across the globe, I spent 9 months in a lab in the US and I’ve made some great friends. As long as you choose a topic you are interested in, you will get through the hard bits and accomplish something to be proud of. You may not change the world with it but any small advances are helpful so that someone at some point can make a big breakthrough so never think that your research isn’t useful. Sometimes the main thing you have improved is yourself and your way of thinking. Don’t compare yourself to other people you know with “real” jobs, you will have one eventually and once you start it’s more difficult to take time out so enjoy your journey and good luck!

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

8

The science behind your Freshers Week crush In that large crowd in Front Square, there will always be someone who will catch your attention and make your hands sweat. Then comes the feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Ever wonder what goes on in your body when you find someone you fancy? What attributes make people attractive? Is love just a chemical reaction?

Una Harty Staff writer

Greta Warren Contributing Writer Love is a complex process. Anthropologists have found the existence of romantic love in 170 societies; there is not a single society that exists without romantic love. Love holds no boundaries, as the saying goes. It can encapsulate a person in a short space of time and transform their life into something so very bright and positive. But what is love? Love is a concoction of chemicals all trying to play their solo tune in this orchestra of emotions and feelings. Society has us trained to see love as something born within the heart. The symbol of the heart is used across all cultures to denote love, however we could not be more wrong with such an association. Love has nothing to do with the heart. Love is created and developed within the depths of one of the most complex structures known to man: the human brain.

Illustration: Nadia Bertaud

Attraction begins with perceiving another person through one of the five senses. Humans are typically drawn to signs of health in a potential mate, such as shiny, silky hair or smooth, clear skin, and when we see a face that we deem attractive, we receive a rush of dopamine to the brain, giving us a high. While you may have heard that we find symmetrical faces more attractive, many other factors influence our aesthetic preferences, such as familiarity and averageness. Research shows that we find the computer-generated average face of 200 people more attractive than any of the individual faces. When it comes to audition, studies have suggested that heterosexual men are more attracted to high pitched female voices, while heterosexual women are drawn to low male voices.

Our olfactory system, or sense of smell, also seems to play a role in attraction. It selects potential mates who are more genetically dissimilar to ourselves in order to build a stronger disease immunity for offspring. A study from Bern, Switzerland indicated that after wearing the same T-shirt for two nights without using any perfume or deodorant, women found the scent of men who had dissimilar MHC (a segment of human DNA) profiles more attractive than those with similar MHC. Chemical factors also play a significant role in the process of love. But which chemicals are responsible for the progression of attraction into love? Oxytocin is most typically associated with the feeling of love and is sometimes even referred to as ‘the cuddle hormone’. It is generally affiliated with the close relationship of a mother and child. It is also released during orgasm and suggests why couples feel closer to each other after sex. Over a long period, oxytocin encourages attachment, hence one grows more intimate and comfortable with their partner.

There is another chemical responsible when it comes to keeping couples together in the long-run. Vasopressin is an antidiuretic and its general role is to control thirst. However, it is also secreted after sex from the pituitary gland in the brain. It promotes long lasting relationships by improving interpersonal relationships, social networking skills, spousal support and reducing negative communication.

Each of these chemicals serves a role in the development of the seemingly abstract love we feel.

Serotonin explains why we become attached or infatuated with our new partner. Helen Fisher, a psychologist from Rutgers University, has stated that “serotonin-enhancing antidepressants also suppress obsessive thinking, which is a very central compo-

nent of love”. Dopamine or ‘the happy drug’ is also released by our brain when we feel love. It can be associated with the ‘lust’ stage of the theory which is driven by androgens and estrogens responsible for sexual gratification. Dopamine gives us an overwhelming sense of joy and fulfilment. Norepinephrine explains why we want to talk about our new lover to just about everyone we encounter. Doing so gives us a feeling of euphoria. It is also responsible for the turbulent mood swings during lover's spats.

Psychological factors also affect how and whom we love. From a very early age we build up an ideal partner in our minds. Unconsciously, we may scan for traits of those who have played major roles in our lifetime such as our parents. Without realising, when we meet a person potential suitor, we are analysing them under these conditions. Research indicates that we determine whether we are attracted to a person in the space of the initial 90 seconds to four minutes.

Fisher has developed ‘The Three Stages of Love’ (lust, attraction and attachment) which models how love evolves. This model demonstrates how psychological, chemical and even societal factors all contribute to the feeling we perceive to be love. Fisher also states in her chemical love theory that each person has chemical families and we are more attracted to those whose chemicals match ours. These chemicals include dopamine, serotonin, oestrogen and testosterone.

Stage two of Fisher’s love-step triad, attraction, is the most euphoric of all the stages. If you are unfamiliar with that light-headed feeling we get we are first falling in love, it is not dissimilar to donning a pair of glasses that turns up the brightness and beauty of the world. All of our senses are on high-alert, particularly around our new lover. We can blame the dry mouth, racing pulse and cold

sweaty palms on adrenaline. On the positive side, however, you’re likely to experience some stress relief and overall a better outlook on life.

When fMRI scans were taken of men and women who were experiencing the second stage of love they discovered something remarkable. The levels of dopamine in their brain were similar to those of someone who had recently consumed cocaine. Over the following days, the subjects reported surges in energy, their appetites had declined, they had better attention spans and their bodies required less sleep.

The study also measured the subjects’ serotonin levels during this period. The findings suggested that women thought about their new lover throughout the course of the day more frequently than men – 65% of the day on average – and that females typically had higher serotonin levels than males overall.

if you want to spice up your current relationship, aim to heighten your dopamine levels which will boost the romantic side of things.

If you want a pick-me-up of oxytocin, simple things like holding hands and gentle touching will do so. And for the brave, if you want to have more sex – it is as simple as having sex. The brain is programmed to react to sex by craving it.

So you see, love is not the abstract feeling we perceive it to be. In fact, composed of chemicals and psychological factors, it is quite the opposite. In short, if you want to feel like you have just ran a marathon yet you experience no exhaustion nor hunger, simply fall in love.

If we further analyse the third and final step of Fisher’s stages of love, attachment, there are innumerable reasons as to why we grow attached to an individual.

Both social and chemical factors contribute to this. Social addiction acts upon the same principles as behavioural addiction – through conditioning. We get addicted to something that rewards us. Therefore if we begin to share personal thoughts and experiences with someone who shares theirs in return, then it is a natural response to become closer to that person. This can be said for not only romantic and sexual relationships, but also those of a platonic nature.

We can also programme our brains to feel love or rather the emotions we would feel if we were in love. If you are keen to meet someone new and want to approach the task with a fresh attitude, it is recommended to do so with this sort of mind-set. Or even

The Great Famine Voices Eva O’Brien takes a look at a Trinity-led project aiming to bring the history of The Great Famine into the digital world Eva O’Brien Contributing Writer We have always known that we are who we are because of our past, but this truism might be even truer than previously thought.

Leading geneticists now claim that the experiences and traumas of people who go through extreme hunger, warfare or pain, can leave genetic impacts that persist through a number of generations. The newborn babies of African-American parents – those whose ancestors lived through and survived the torture of slavery – have significantly lower birth weights than babies born to white couples, or African couples – regardless of income, class and education. A lower birth weight puts a child at a higher risk of several diseases and significantly lowers their life expectancy. The legacy of slavery lives on in the very cells of African-Americans alive today, even two hundred years after slavery was abolished.

(It’s one of several extraordinary scientific phenomena described in the book “The Edge of Uncertainty” by Michael Brooks.)

If this is true, then The Great Famine is a period in Irish history that has arguably shaped the lives of those of us now growing up and living in Ireland in profound ways that we cannot imagine. Many of us are descended not too distantly from people who found ways to survive the famine, by whatever means. We carry their suffering and their shame within us. It’s in our blood, in our genes, like it or not.

It seems doubly strange, therefore, that the famine is a period of our history which attracts relatively little discussion. We know surprisingly little about the lives of people who experienced the tribulations of living in a country stricken with hunger. Dr. Owen Conlan is one of two Trinity Professors at the head of a new initiative called The Great Famine Voices, attempting to bring to light the world of the famine’s lost sufferers by creating an interactive, online digital archive of the documents that remain to us. The bulk of these are held at the National Famine Museum at Stokestown House, whose history is in itself quite remarkable.

Conlan explains that the surprising dearth of information on

the famine is partly due to the very strength of its impact on Irish people – it may still leave a sting in our subconscious. “In our society,” he ponders, “the Great Famine is something that has received very little discussion as there is still a lot of guilt associated with it. People who survived the famine were the lucky (or opportunistic) ones. For example, the merchant class in Ireland profited greatly in many areas from the famine. This has led to a culture, that persists to this day, of the Famine being something that isn’t really discussed.”

There’s another reason that we lack records of life during the famine, also having to do with a not entirely unrelated part of our history. “The second main reason for the lack of sources stems from the destruction of documents in the Four Courts, in June 1922,” explains Conlan. This makes the collection of over 50,000 documents at Stokestown an invaluable resource, providing insight into an otherwise murky period of history.

Conlan speaks so enthusiastically about the history with which he is involved that you would be forgiven for assuming he makes his home among the maps and piles of papers filling the history department. In fact, he is a computer scientist – but one who is no stranger to the task of bringing history into the future using digital means. Through Dr. Danielle O’Donovan of the Heritage Trust (and also a research fellow in College), Trinity’s computer programmers have been instrumental in creating similar archives relating to the 1641 rising and also the earliest surveys of Irish land.

These are extraordinary rich in raw material about the lived experience of the past, and the plan for “greatfaminevoices.ie” is equally ambitious: “We’re going to be adding documents from the archive on a monthly basis, starting with as many petitions and rent records as possible. “These documents contain a lot of names and are very helpful in identifying where people came from. We are also hoping to source letters sent by emigrants and family records that people may have in their homes. There are details of how to submit these on the website.”

The website, designed by two Trinity Computer Science and Business students, was launched last month on August 28th. So far

there are only three documents from the Stokestown record available to view – including one that, according to Stokestown’s current owner, Jim Callary, is the reason that there is a museum at Stokestown at all.

In an interview with the Irish Independent he describes how he was about to buy the estate and quickly sell most of it off again, just so he could get some extra space for his filling station business – when one day he came across the Cloonahee Petition, and this changed his mind, ultimately determining the future of the house and estate.

Looking at the transcription of this extraordinary and “highly emotive document,” in Conlan’s words, you can see why it might have caused Jim Callary to stop in his tracks. The tenants of Stokestown are calling on the “Gentlemen of the Committee” to help them in a desperate situation, literally pleading “most humbly and respectfully” for relief. It makes for sobering reading. “Our families are really truly suffering in our present and we cannot much longer withstand their cries for food…Our potatoes are rotten and we have no grain...When we go to Mr Barton he would tell us to apply to Mr Warnock, and when we go to Mr Warnock he sends us back to Mr Barton,” grumble the petition’s authors, whose frustration can be well understood by many a victim of mazes of bureaucracy even today.

This is the only document on the website so far that has been fully transcribed, and taking a look at the Rent Book and Relief List also available to view, it’s not surprising. Creating an account allowing me to pitch in with transcription was very straightforward, to my relief – much trickier was trying to make out the quite beautiful, but barely-legible 19th century handwriting. Transcribing these is a very important task, but tedious in the extreme. After half an hour of squinting at columns of scribbled names of people who, according to my own amateur efforts at deciphering, seem to have lived at curious addresses like “Dlimmin” and “Gothlusta,” I declared my own brief foray into archival work at an end. I have a new respect for historians, but it got me wondering about the need for some long-suffering humans to wade through each and every historical document. With all of

Illustration: Daniel Tatlow Devally computer science at our disposal, can we still not find a way to make computers read handwriting and do the work for us?

“It’s a really interesting question,” said Conlan, when asked, conceding that “handwriting recognition is a technology that has come on in leaps and bounds in the past ten years.” However, there are a lot of problems with computers and handwritten words, he says. “It can often struggle with cursive handwriting. Modern writing interfaces on mobile phones rely on seeing how the letters are formed, for example the straight down line of a t and then the crossbar, to accurately detect what is being written. They also heavily rely

on context, for example if you write a t there is a good chance the next letter will be an e.” This is one area, he explains, where humans have a lot of advantages over computers. “Another issue that exists with manuscripts is that they are noisy. Sometimes the quality of the paper has degraded making them difficult to read. Sometimes the ink from the other side of the page has leaked through, again obscuring the text.

Human beings are good at quickly filtering out that noise.”

“So, humans do perform better.

We are natural pattern matchers and we can accurately transcribe the hand of others, even though we’ve never seen it before. More importantly, the words on the

pages are meaningful to human transcribers. They are both evocative and exciting - stimulating an exploration process.”

It’s this exploration process that has been underway for years at Stokestown House, and that is now being opened up to the general public. The project is only in its very early stages now, but it is sure to become only more exciting as it progresses. “Once transcribed, we can unleash powerful computing tools on the text to identify the people, places and events held within,” says Owen, describing how eventually this could help to provide a map of the social networks of the period. And there are many plans to develop and improve the website into the

future, not only to expand the quantity of content but to provide fresh ways of looking at it. The ADEPT centre which Conlan represents plans to use “personalisation and visualisation techniques” to “help guide people across the complex issues in the content, empower them to explore and give them tools to reflect upon their evolving understanding of it.” With each new document made available, each new word unravelled, each new discussion begun, we can begin to gain more of an insight into a dark, tragic, but ultimately fascinating part of our national heritage.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

10

A Reluctant Response Eva O’Brien asks whether any academic discipline answer why the response to the European refugee crisis has been so inadequate Eva O'Brien Contributing Writer What is it that makes us human?

It’s a question that scientists, psychologists and philosophers are constantly exploring, and one possible answer often prominent in their discussion is that of altruism – we humans regularly reach out and help other people, and sometimes other animals, even when we have no emotional connection to those in need. An even more interesting question is what lies behind this need to spend our energy, time and valuable resources giving assistant to other people, with there being no obvious personal or evolutionary benefit to ourselves.

This is a question that is usually asked only in academic circles, but has become unexpectedly relevant in recent weeks, as Europe’s leaders scramble to try and come up with viable solutions for the refugees who are still arriving in not unprecedented, but apparently overwhelming numbers. This sense of urgency is evident only now, after months spent ignoring, not only a swiftly escalating crisis, but the suffering of countless human beings and the loss of thousands of lives. Why has it taken so long to take action, and what is driving the actions of those now in power? Perhaps getting a better understanding of our own motivations, ethical and psychological, might help us to deal more effectively with the challenges we face.

Professor Peter Simons is the 1837 Chair of Moral Philosophy. In the course of the refugee crisis some people have argued that Ireland’s government should have a duty to their own people first – that there is a moral conflict between protecting our own interests and reaching out to help refugees from elsewhere. However this argument, Professor Simons says, is essentially a non-starter in moral terms. “The moral case for helping refugees is not difficult. All the world’s major religions and ethical systems consider charity, the rendering of help to those much more unfortunate than oneself, as not just a virtue but a duty. Refugees, as those fleeing war, famine, and natural disasters, are by definition in extreme need: they have lost or been displaced from their

homes and livelihoods. They lack basic necessities and the means to provide for themselves, so those who are not in such need have a duty to help them.”

Ireland’s geographical distance from the conflict makes it easier for us to detach ourselves psychologically and to pretend that it’s none of our business, but this, says Simons, is a false sense of distance. It’s easier for us as a nation to send naval vessels to the Mediterranean, and dispatch our charity organisations to the site, saving lives without any direct sacrifice to the Irish people - but harder to actually get involved ourselves, in order to fulfill what Professor Simons maintains is our duty as part of the EU. “The government and state have a duty too, which comes both from the general duty of charity but also from being part of the European Union, and the history of deriving benefit from this association. The high standard of living enjoyed in Ireland is due in no small part to the redirection of resources from richer countries in the interest of solidarity. Clearly, as a small country, Ireland should provide help commensurate with its size, but also commensurate with its wealth.”

So far, so obvious, you might say.

But if our duty is so clear, why does our government – and Europe as a whole – seem to have such a difficulty in performing it? A clue might come from the related area of psychology. Ewan Douglas, a research assistant with the TCD’s School of Psychology, is studying culture in organisations.

He looks for the small changes that can make people comply with regulations, and the factors that stop firms from operating well. I asked him if you could take those findings and apply them to a much bigger structure, such as Europe. “Yes, you could say Europe is like a really big, really complex organisation,” he said.

“The problem in Europe is that it’s a top down scenario where basically Angela Merkel and a few other people are deciding things, or trying to decide them, and nobody else is really participating.”

“

Why has it taken so long to take action, and what is driving the actions of those now in power? Perhaps getting a better understanding of our own motivations, ethical and psychological, might help us to deal more effectively with the challenges we face.

it’s very hard to take action on any issue when you’re all trying to go in several different directions at once. “In terms of refugees, every country has its own laws and then the EU is trying to follow a lot of different laws all at the same time.

They’ve got conflicting interests.”

Hence a lot of talking and very little action.

This might suggest that improving how well we respond comes down to all agreeing on widerreaching policies. It might not be as simple as that though, Douglas warns. The big problem with refugees, he thinks, is that there appears to be no direct benefit to those who help them. “I think people are kind of inherently selfish in the end. They only support things when they get some benefit from it. In the studies we did we saw that people were definitely more engaged when they saw benefits for themselves.”

An example from his research is that when people are incentivised to comply with safety regulations, compliance generally improves significantly. In a humanitarian crisis, there can be social benefits to being seen to donate money – we feel good, and other people think well of us too. Is accepting refugees seen as a more risky proposition in terms of cost and benefit? For those who are wary of the idea of taking in lots of people from elsewhere, Douglas notes, “I think for some people there’s definitely an element of the unknown involved. People in the UK for example are seeing reports in the media of terrorists and they assume refugees from places like Syria are dangerous – they have a skewed perception of risk.”

This view from the world of psychology would seem to suggest that there’s little we can do about a role we feel is inadequate– we are essentially selfish animals whose first instinct is to protect ourselves above all else. Yet that is only one school of thought, and Anne Holohan, Assistant Professor and director of the MPhil in the Sociology of Race, Ethnicity and Conflict, has a somewhat more optimistic perspective on human nature. Asked what makes

On top of that, he points out that

us want to reach out and help other people, her answer was that it does not involve self-interest, but another aspect of our basic instinct as humans. “People are social animals. We've always depended on others, on the collective, to survive and thrive. That requires empathy and all the evidence shows that women in particular are wired for empathy and communication, contributing to group cohesion and looking after the vulnerable.” This helps to explain why a single photograph of a child’s body washed up on the beach caused such a dramatic increase in media interest in the past weeks, which in turn may have had a significant influence on governmental policy.

“People also respond to story and visuals much more than to statistics,” continues Anne Holohan. “So the picture of that toddler washed up on the beach, obviously loved and cared for, triggered the empathy of people everywhere. Because of the needless tragedy of that young life lost, many people responded to the callousness of a political system that effectively kills an innocent child. I think institutions - states, governments, police - can make people feel powerless, forgetting that we, the people, are the institutions. We are the ones who give them power and we can take it away. So that picture was the catalyst that woke us up to remember that, and the politicians know that too. That's why there have been many U-turns in the last few days.”

She disagrees with Ewan Douglas about the level of difficulty with assimilating refugees amongst Irish citizens, however, she admits that “populist politicians can use rhetoric and capitalise on insecurity to blame refugees for pre-existing social problems.” This might exacerbate any “skewed perception of risk” for an ordinary citizen.

There can also be problems, however, when the response to a humanitarian crisis depends on its ability to generate automatic impulses of sympathy and thus enough media coverage to get things moving. Sorcha Nic

Mhathúna is head of Communications at Oxfam, and she pointed out that often in certain kinds of humanitarian emergency, the situation has to reach critical levels before people will notice.

“Media coverage is vital in raising public awareness of an emergency, and this can differ depending on the type of situation. A largescale natural disaster can dominate the headlines in the immediate aftermath, while high profile media coverage of a slow-onset food crisis may come very late on, when it has reached famine level.”

Sorcha, however, is complimentary about Ireland’s record of giving: “Ireland has a proud history of helping those in need.”

She agrees with Anne Holohan that empathy and personal experience has a lot to do with the level of support people show. She cites examples in the recent past when people were particularly generous: “The 2004 tsunami affected areas familiar to Irish holiday-makers, and resulted in a very generous response in Ireland. Similarly, many Irish people will know Filipinos living here and this may have had some influence on the strong level of donations to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.”

Indeed, we do still have many of our own people living with homelessness and deprivation – but this should not stop us from acting with compassion towards others in desperate need, Holohan insists. Hardship should remind us of our common humanity, rather than pushing us apart: “If anything, accepting refugees could be the catalyst to recognise that housing, shelter, a home, is a human right, not a function of your ability to pay. We have internal refugees in this country and they have common cause with the Syrian refugees.”

Whether it is history, personal experience, or some sort of positive mental feedback that pushes us towards altruism, most sources agree that Irish people in general are rather good at it. Professor Simons adds his voice to Sorcha Nic Mhathúna’s, as he optimistically concludes, “our reputation for sympathy and generosity is well deserved. Let us live up to it.

History may also have something to do with a nation’s response: “Our history of famine here is sometimes cited as a reason why Irish people were so moved by events such as the 2011 famine in Somalia and donated in high numbers to food appeals.”

If this is true, then this might help to explain why Germany has committed to taking in 800,000 refugees this year – it has frequently been stated in the media that this is the biggest migration of people since the Second World War, and for Germans, the comparison must strike a particularly strong chord. Professor Simons points out that this should have implications for how Ireland must respond, and he is not the first to do so. “More than any other nation,” he states emphatically, “the Irish know what it is like to be forced to move abroad to escape deprivation, and to find a welcome and make a new life overseas.”

Ireland in the refugee crisis

Jedidja Stael speaks to Jody Clarke from The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about Ireland and Europe’s response to the ongoing refugee crisis.

Jedidja Stae Contributing Writer

Jody Clarke is an External Relations Associate from the UNHCR’s Dublin office. He notes that under a recent resettlement scheme, the EU allocated 40,000 refugees to certain European countries. How many each should take is calculated using measures such population size and employment rates.

However, because Ireland (as well as the UK and Denmark) does not fully participate in Home and Justice affairs in the EU, it did not have to opt into the resettlement scheme. “But Ireland did,” Clarke confirms.

The total number of refugees Ireland has agreed to take now stands at 4,000. Responding to this announcement, Clarke said: “We welcome the decision of the Irish government to admit 4,000 people under the resettlement and relocation programmes.

However, clearly there is a need for all countries to do more. First of all, we need to show solidarity with fellow EU member states who are receiving the vast majority of refugees and migrants by relocating those people to other parts of the EU. Secondly, we need to increase support for the countries where the vast majority of refugees have sought asylum. The UN’s total appeal in 2015 for Syrian refugees is $4.5 billion. However, just $1.6 billion (37%) has been received to date. Less than 10% of Syrian refugees have come to Europe, underlining how manageable the situation should be.”

Germany's heroism gets mentioned frequently in the press, especially in comparison with other countries. It is true they are willingly taking more refugees than any other EU country, yet Clarke believes Germany is in a different position to Ireland. “Ireland does not have refugees on their door-

step as Germany has. Therefore, the government does not have to take immediate measures with refugees like Germany has to.”

However, he is keen to stress this does not mean Ireland and other countries shouldn't take part in addressing the crisis. “What is happening now is unsustainable.

In Greece only this week 24,000 people arrived, which is the size of Kilkenny city. It is quite clear that they are in need of protection that we should give them.”

Accepting refugees is not the only action a country might take to display its commitment to a coordinated and international response.

Another is naval rescue missions, though some criticise Ireland for focusing too much on this approach, at the neglect of the long term needs of refugees. Clarke, however, sees the rescue missions as vital. “It is the biggest overseas naval operation that Ireland has ever taken part in.” He goes on to say that taking in more refugees is the next step for both Ireland and the EU: “After a rescue mission, one shouldn't hide from the responsibilities. To prevent the deaths of refugees, there is a need for rescue operations, yet it is not the only solution. You need to find safe resettlement.”

With this in mind, The UNHCR and the Irish government also focus on how to give refugees a good quality of life. Clarke explains that after arriving, refugees stay in camps for the first months in order to get them settled. After that they will be provided with housing, and allowed to apply for student and work visas. A number of people have expressed a worry that incoming refugees will exacerbate a controversial direct provision system. However, responding to this point, Clarke stated: “Refugees have the same entitlements to work and access to healthcare as Irish citizens.”

In the long run, just as with pre-

“

The problem though is that the UNHCR is at the moment only 41% funded vious refugees and immigrants there is the difficult process of integration. Clarke explains that while local authorities do a lot with helping with the process of integration, there seemed to have been a general lack of strategy in Ireland, not just for refugees but with immigrants too. It is promised, however, that the Irish government will present a strategy plan this year. “Yet, it is not just up to the government, it is up to the people as well,” Clarke says. “Integration is a two way street. There is need for both refugees and the Irish people to help the integration process.”

Clarke further mentions that besides donations of money and goods, welcome and support for the refugees coming into Ireland is also important.

The UNHCR has huge operations on the ground and coordi-

nates with various governments and the EU to limit the severity of the situation. “The problem, though, is that the UNHCR is at the moment only 41% funded.

It means that there have been many cuts, such in food aid.

More and more refugees, in particular Syrian refugees, in Lebanon and similar countries, are living below the poverty line. There are not enough resources to take

care of them. This partly leads to the movement of refugees to Europe,” Clarke says. The Irish government does help with some of the funding and there are also private fundraising campaigns, however there is still a need for more money if the UNHCR and its partners can fulfill the task required of them.

“The recent escalation of wars and internal conflicts have

caused the biggest displacement since the 1940s: 16 million people. The humanitarian system cannot cope anymore and so we are now at a point that we cannot find solutions for all these people. There is therefore a need for worldwide action,” Clarke says.

He continues by saying that in the past the world could rely on world powers such as the USA and the USSR to help solve global

problems. Now that has changed.

There is a need for a rethink on the direction of the wider humanitarian mission, but also for protecting humanitarian workers who are now becoming targets in war zones. It becomes clear that people, the EU, and other countries have to work together.

Clarke concludes: “While UNHCR's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-be-

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

11

Moving to Trinity: first impressions from a UCD graduate The road to Trinity is paved with notions.

Sarah TaaffeMaguire Contributor I had heard tell of a place of sustenance. Word in the post-graduation wasteland was that one could be shielded and find safety from the outside world behind high, thick, respectable city centre masonry. Its location could not be called the “inner city”, as to do so would convey impoverishment.

As I am nearing the quartercentury mark, a well-meaning, far-flung relative asked did I have a husband and children of my own. I needed shelter. Maybe I was ok with – no, was in need of – an identity change. Principles seemed of little importance when I needed nourishing. When I craved something more.

I say this as if I can identify what my “UCD principles” are.

Though as I’m third-generation UCD, raised on tales of Earlsfort Terrace in the 40s, Not Going to Trinity is definitely one.

The myth trotted out at Colours Debates, in Freshers’ Week publications, Open Days and University promotional material is that entrance into Trinity is something special, that Trinity is a point of unification for cultural and intellectual nobility.

Yet with a UCD 2.1 and a rake of money I was let in and welcomed.

Myth disposed of? Well, you still see “Trinity College, Dublin” as someone’s sole descriptor in a Tinder profile (while lone references to UCD are a rarity).

Orientation day arrived. There were no vats of soup. A hearty and enthusiastic welcome was doled out instead. I had conned myself into not anticipating significant differences from my UCD home/ hinterland. This was run of the mill. You go to lectures, go to the library, do your job. I thought it would be the same. I denied the differences that would come into contact with me and I could go about my own business. But Trinity demands conversion. And herein we find the essence of the College – notions.

Things can’t be straightforward or called what they actually are. Everyone is in on this. We’ve got to pretend that buildings are houses.

Houses with numbers. Numbers not visible from the outside. Theatres are named in remembrance

of people you oughtn’t to admit to not knowing, certainly not out loud or in a college publication.

Numbers seemingly are too common or accessible. Either way Trinity has something against them. Each year has a title, which becomes an acronym, which becomes the norm, which needs decoding because quite frankly I don’t know when it stopped being dodgy to have a large group called the “SS”. If this were UCD I could share a knowing glance, roll eyes and say “Notions” to anyone in the vicinity. The same goes for semesters, or rather, terms. You try your best, you learn the nomenclature off.

This results in the creation of a Christmas-sounding celebration of all the world’s Michaels and your peers mentally filing you in the “Dope” category of their social interaction filofax. Like I was saying, at Trinity things can’t be straightforward.

Trinity love their tradition and want students to join in with the veneration. My email came complete with an inbox invitation for a World War I “Hall of Honour Memorial Stone Unveiling”.

Emails are a key component of the indoctrination apparatus. Estates & Facilities emails serve as a reminder that the beauty and history of campus is not enough.

We have to hear about tree pruning and building cleaning. Trinity is precious; needs care. It doesn’t have grounds or fields. It has estates, in the plural.

We are nobility, graced by conjured surrounds. We get email invitations from the Embassy of Mexico. Evidently there’s less greenery than UCD, but nobody cares when you have estates.

Grass is greener, nay, more verdant, in estates.

The students love it. A classmate set up a Facebook group in preparation for the year ahead. This served as another opportunity for self-growth and realisations.

Enthusiasm is not for me. Classmates want to do social media introductions, proclaim their excitement, let us know their special interest areas, feed the deer in the Phoenix Park and describe themselves as "dynamic". In UCD we turn to each other in a lecture, say “Well", and a fast friendship is born.

The tourists love it too. Deep into September and the walkways are still clogged by visitors gifted with the vision of endless photographic opportunities. And I honestly thought the move was just back one letter in the alphabet; trading U for a T, holding on tight to the CD. There is a newspaper that thinks readers may care to look at my opinions. There is a yoga society with cut-price, on-site classes and some sort of involvement with Lush. There is a person somewhere in the administrative maelstrom of officialdom who thought postgrads ought to “find a comfortable on-campus napping spot” as part of their orientation duties, to such an extent that it has a place on the official TCD postgraduate orientation checklist, next to the emergency campus numbers. Trinity, I think we’re going to be inseparable.

That is until I track down that nap-approving-official/soulmate and we launch our crusade to make public midday napping acceptable. Watch this space.

Tradition has its catches. You cannot get proof of attendance online. You must queue up for an unattractive student card photo rather than uploading a coiffured, thinly veiled night out photo. It’s best to not know if you’re really registered to modules or when they will appear in Blackboard according to the registration system. Trinity breaths new air into playing it cool and hard to get where UCD laid it all online. You can’t navigate without realising this is the Trinity way. Embrace it, or spend the year frustrated and fighting. This is the system; join it to get by. Anyway, you have no choice.

Photo: Kevin O'Rourke

College has changed a lot in a relatively short space of time Looking back at past issues of Trinity News reveals a smaller Trinity College, much more segreated and fuelled by society gossip

William Foley Deputy editor College has changed significantly in the past few decades, as evidenced by taking a look through some past editions of Trinity News.

Many freshers and returning students will have had trouble finding accommodation in Dublin’s oversaturated renting market. In the 1960s though, there would have been an additional barrier for students of colour. An October 1966 issue of TN reported that “only 10 of the 600 landladies on Trinity’s list will take coloured students.” Furthermore “even less would take “Africans”.” In general students were living further and further out from college, with the average cost of room and partial board being 5 guineas. The correspondent noted that “male students, as well as being more demanding, also flap if they are not immediately fixed up with rooms.”

People of colour weren’t the only groups facing discrimination in the Trinity of the 1960s.

Women were not allowed to join either The Phil or the Hist until this decade, and only then despite the great rancour of many contemporary and past members of these societies. Sexism of the softer sort abounded too. This paper ran a dubious “Miss Fresher” award throughout this period.

The competition was a popular Freshers’ Week event, attracting national news attention. The 1966 winner, Chloe Sayer (who triumphed despite her risqué none

of whose “were less than 4 inches above the knee”), “spent the afternoon on top of Liberty Hall being photographed for the Daily Mirror.” Bouncing the victor on the shoulders of male freshers was a tradition. Prizes varied from a bouquet of flowers, to a bottle of “champers”, to nothing at all. The event was usually held at the now defunct Freshers’ Ball, where “sharp-eyed porters” were on hand to prevent Senior Freshman crashers. Hoever they could not prevent the entry of “a rather merry David Naisby-Smith... in morning dress complete with topper and carnation” into the 1968 ball.

Besides admitting more women, the composition of the student body was changing in other ways too. A November 1967 issue of TN reported that while the “number of English students is down again… Catholic Freshers are 150 per cent.” Reassuringly “ the Catholic Chaplain is still not allowed through the gates.”

There was also conflict of a political kind. Already in 1955, a writer for the paper was warning that “A choice must be made! God or Karl Marx?” By the following decade, a panoply of leftwing groups were making a vibrant contribution to college life. The Internationalists, a Maoist group active on campus during this period, were reported on frequently in these pages (often with sneering editorial comment).

To be fair, their behaviour often invited disparagement. A news piece from 1967 reported that “Two of the most active members of Trinity’s Maoist-Communist group have been censured for the conduct of their private lives” as it was “seemingly against ’party policy’ to establish emotional ties with anyone outside their ideology.” In order to avoid such political errors, the new chair Carol Reakes cut short her long blonde hair. “Marilyn Caesares, a leading Internationalist, refused to comment on the rumours that Carol had done this in order to reduce her sex appeal.” Nevertheless, “Nick Miller, also an important member, was heard to assure an attractive girl that he was ’no Puritan’.”

More seriously, the following year two Internationalists, Peter Semper and the abovementioned Miller, were summoned before the board to sign a document certifying that they would obey all future orders of the dean, following a “poster scuffle”. Miller refused to sign and was thus not allowed sit his finals, while Semper, who did sign, later recanted his signature in a statement published in “Revolutionary Alternative.”

In contrast to the current state of affairs, editorial and other comment in Trinity News often took a conservative angle. One short piece decried the new “writing on the wall,” attacking the “utterly depraved” who had “taken it upon them to foul College toilet arrangements with rhyming obscenities.” Indeed “to practise their art in practically new lavatories is an offence of the first order against society,” especially a society whose “existence depends upon truth and decency.”

As evidenced by features such as our sister magazine’s sex column, most Trinity students have a liberal attitude towards sex. It was not always the way, as evidenced by this short piece from a 1967 issue which is worth quoting in full: “Because of the shocked reaction of convent educated Freshers, Jim Hickey and Mick Durac removed a portrait of a reclining nude from the “Awake” stand at the Freshers’ exhibition, much to the chagrin of the head porter Paddy Keogh who arrived five minutes too late to have the privilege of taking away the offending picture. Paddy said that, unlike himself, Freshers were "not yet prepared for the liberal attitudes of university life.”

To finish up, here’s some advice from the 1968 column, “A Woman’s Point of View”: It is youth’s prerogative and privilege to play the " eejit " to try everything and commit itself to nothing, to put forward opinions that years later it will consider almost imbecile.”

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Get career minded this term!

The Careers Advisory Service, with the support of the Students' Union and Graduate Students’ Union, are offering a great selection of events on campus for you to attend this term.

Finding Work in…talks are sectorspecific and will offer you advice on how to tailor your strategy to find work in a variety of areas such the creative arts and IT. Our Voices from… series offers infor-

mation and advice from graduates and employers in areas such as aid & development, international careers, marketing, IT and science. This year there will also be an informal networking session with speakers after the event.

Michaelmas Term is also an ideal time to meet with employers. Pop along to our Careers Fairs to meet with national and international companies in sectors such as Law, Engineering & Computing as well as the

Gradireland Graduate Careers Fair in the RDS. Get the inside track from graduate recruiters on topics such as utilising LinkedIn and advice on internship applications in addition to a huge variety of company presentations, details of which are available now on our website.

For students interested in postgraduate study in Ireland and abroad, a selection of talks on graduate entry into medicine, the teaching profession and a skills session on how to

submit winning personal statements for applications are on offer. A variety of workshops from the Planning and Managing Your Research and Your Career module for research PhD students in all disciplines will also be delivered by the Careers Advisory Service and Student Learning Development this year.

These events are aimed mainly at Sophister and postgraduate students but career-minded students from all years are welcome. Don’t miss out on

a fantastic opportunity to find out about potential careers, postgraduate study, upcoming closing dates, job searching skills and meet with employers! Keep an eye out for our tweets, posts and updates throughout the term!

Full details of all events, presentations workshops are available on our website.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Features

13

Illustration: Natalie Duda

Is digs still the fallback?

What once was seen as a last resort is now growing in popularity among students. Caoimhe Gordon speaks to two students and founder of CollegeCribs.ie about this emerging trend.

Caoimhe Gordon

The student

Deputy features editor

Patrick is a second year student who spent last year living in digs.

This year, the accommodation crisis reached an undeniable peak for students. “The race for student accommodation began earlier than ever this year, with reports from our landlords that accommodation was already booked out before the end of April”, explains Edward Thurman, co-founder of the popular accommodation website, CollegeCribs.ie. The price of accommodation also rose during this period: “The cost of student accommodation found on CollegeCribs.ie has increased from last year, with Dublin recording the largest average hike of 5.1%.”

However, digs - a situation which offers advantages for both homeowners and students - has become a viable option for many.

Following requests from student unions across the country, including the USI, many homeowners have made the choice to rent out spare rooms to students in need.

Thurman notes: “The number of digs offered on CollegeCribs.ie has accounted for 53% of adverts over July and August this year.” As the idea of residing in digs slowly loses its formerly negative reputation, we spoke to two students who had experienced each side of the arrangement.

What led you to making the decision to stay in digs?

At first I intended to stay in Trinity Halls but when I wasn't accepted for that I turned to the accommodation office for advice and they informed me of a list of names of people advertising digs.

I decided this to be the best option because I felt that by living with Dublin natives I could get to know the city, and I could guarantee that I'd be going home to a tidy, heated and well equipped house every evening.

Where were your digs located?

They were located in the Glasnevin / Drumcondra area, just 3.5 km from town. It’s a 40 minute walk and very accessible by bus and cycle lanes.

Was the house you resided in a family home? Did the homeowners have any pets?

Yes they have 4 children in their mid 20s to early 30s. Three of them are married or engaged. I got to know them all very well and the family were always very inclusive when people came to visit, as they would always introduce me to guests. One of their sons has a dog which comes to visit now and again and I even minded the dog on a few occasions!

Were meals provided daily? Did you eat with the family?

Not exactly, in general I had to make my own meals but I could use whatever resources were available in the house. In a way

The host this was a good thing but I got used to cooking for myself. From time to time when visitors were over they would invite me to sit and eat with them and they would introduce me to their friends or family. Also, they would always ask me if there was anything I needed when they were going shopping.

Did you enjoy your stay in digs?

I enjoyed it very much. I met loads of new people and they were very kind to me. They trusted me and I felt I could trust them too. The facilities were excellent as I had TV, internet, washing, cooking, en suite and everything I could ever need. The family were more generous than I could ever have expected.

“

Our cat was not at all phased by the newcomers, however it did take a while for our dog to warm to the student who stayed with us for a year!

Charlotte is a third year student whose family have welcomed students into their home during her time in college.

How long have you been welcoming students into your home?

As a family we have been welcoming students into our home since the beginning of my first year at university, so just over two years now. We have had two students staying with us all together.

Our first was a family friend and lived with us for the duration of the academic year. The second student to live with us came from France and stayed with us for a shorter period of six weeks.

Were there ever any issues with music or late comings and goings?

Luckily we never experienced any issues with our students as they were both very reliable people and kept in good communication with us both when staying in Dublin and when back at home.

Loud music was never an issue either as they both tended to wear headphones thankfully!

Do you have siblings or pets? If so, how did they react to a stranger in the house?

I have an older and a younger sister and in terms of pets we have a dog and a cat. My sisters did not seem to have any issues with the students other than acting slightly reserved in the early weeks while getting to know them. Other than that they both got on really well with each student, especially the student who stayed with us for a year. Our cat was not at all phased by the newcomers, however it did

take a while for our dog to warm to the student who stayed with us for a year!

Did the students eat meals with your family?

Yes, the students did eat meals with our family as this was part of what was agreed would be included in their monthly rent.

Both students were welcome to help themselves to whatever they wanted and were welcome to join us at every meal. However, given their busy student lives they mainly joined us for the occasional evening meal.

Have you and your family had a good experience hosting students so far?

We have definitely had a good experience of hosting students in our home. Personally, on reflection, I realise that having them staying with us encouraged us all to behave better as a family! Another positive for us was learning more about another culture when we had the French student staying with us. The student who stayed with us for a year really did feel like another member of the family by the end of his stay.

“

The number of digs offered on CollegeCribs.ie has accounted for 53% of adverts over July and August this year.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Comment Getting to Trinity on two wheels Cycling in Dublin is grim, but less grim than the alternatives

Naoise Dolan Comment editor

I’ve spent my degree tiptoeing around sexist lecturers Teaching staff aren’t held accountable for their behaviour; female students pay the price.

Claire Ni Cheallaigh Contributing writer I had two ideas for a dissertation.

I weighed up pros and cons. One probably had more sources, the other was more straightforward, one was more controversial, the other was more unique etc. My decision however came down to a single factor, that there was a particular supervisor that I would probably be allocated for one of the topics, and I felt that that supervisor might treat me differently because of my gender.

I did not view this realisation as a tragedy. It was simply a con that outweighed all the other cons.

When friends and classmates asked which topic I had chosen, I told them and I told them why.

No one was surprised by my logic. Reactions consisted of ‘yeah that makes sense’, ‘probably clever’, ‘yeah I find that about him as well’ or ‘I’ve heard that about him before’. End of discussion.

They were unsurprised because this was just part of a dance that we’d all been dancing for a while now. It’s a dance which swerves around particular modules, daintily tip-toes to avoid certain essay titles, sweeps over this or that author or critic on the library shelves.

Signals

It’s a dance of signals and reactions. Signals: the hasty dismissal of feminist readings in a lecture, a subtle eye-roll at that person who always brings up the female characters in tutorials, a conspicuous lack of female authors on a syllabus, having your argument dismissed for the third time that class, an unjust or gendered comment on an essay.

Often the signals are much less subtle. I have heard stories of female students being chided for writing about feminism or conversely being told to abandon their current essay topic because “something on feminism would suit you better”. Another friend has a story about realising to-

wards the end of a term that the reason she was never called on was because the lecturer could not distinguish her from the other blonde girl in the class.

You gradually learn your lesson. You do not take certain modules, and if you must take them you do not write certain essays, do not answer certain exam questions and avoid certain ideas, authors and critics, you abandon certain dissertation topics.

Because why risk it?

A known problem

What is most startling about this phenomenon is just how uncontroversial these reactions are. Almost everyone I know has at some point mentioned a member of teaching staff within their department that “seems kind of sexist” or “isn’t very nice to women” but the conversation ends there.

The problem is that the signals that allow students to identify this trait are anecdotal and insubstantial. It might just be the way you are spoken to or the way you are treated, or to further complicate the problem, the way a friend was spoken to or treated.

So you avoid rather than confront. The dance becomes natural and instinctive.

Obviously there are many ways in which this is problematic. First there’s the issue that this information is often only available to those “in the know”. The students who were either sharp enough to pick up on a dismissive comment in a lecture, those with older friends in the same course or those who have already had negative experiences and thus the knowledge of how to avoid them in the future.

More than once I’ve had what felt like tenuous suspicions about a lecturer, only to ask around and discover that in fact they had a reputation. A reputation that remains hidden unless you have cause to go looking. Your grade should not be a reflection of your stealth at uncovering a lecturer’s tendency to treat women differently.

Then there’s the reality that what female students are doing is limiting their options, cross-

“

I have heard stories of female students being chided for writing about feminism or conversely being told to abandon their current essay topic because “something on feminism would suit you better”.

Another friend has a story about realising towards the end of a term that the reason she was never called on was because the lecturer could not distinguish her from the other blonde girl in the class.

ing out modules they would have otherwise taken. This is significant when you consider that an individual’s entire academic career can be shaped by one module that they took and loved or an essay they wrote that then lead to a dissertation and then to a masters and so on.

When that individual is excluded from engaging with their interest, or has a negative experience of that engagement, then certain paths are blocked to them that are not blocked to their male counterparts.

Departmental control

The situation is even worse when you consider that certain departments offer very little choice. For students within these departments the process of dodging and side-stepping is simply impossible and many are forced to just accept with a sigh that they might be marked lower than they deserve or have to deal with patronising attitudes towards them.

Perhaps most importantly however is the fact that whenever student makes a decision about their education based on the prejudices of a lecturer, they are hushing up a problem, maintaining a smooth exterior for something which is anything but.

‘Sexist’ is a big word. It’s an especially big word for an undergraduate to level at a tenured professor. So they don’t. I don’t.

I was hesitant to even write it in this article. How do you report someone for rolling their eyes at you or questioning the relevance of your feminist reading? The accusation of sexist is always going to seem dramatic as a response to these incidents.

After all what I am describing is small in the scheme of things. It’s a mark or two here and there, an uncomfortable moment, an insensitive comment, a scrapped dissertation topic. But that shouldn’t matter. It’s still a force which negatively shapes the lives of female students and indeed many other students, because it is logical to assume that some variant of this dance is danced by all those dealing with

staff members who hold prejudices against their race, sexuality, class or anything else.

Overhaul needed

There are ways to combat this.

After my decision about my dissertation I wondered why I was not given the option to veto certain supervisors. Perhaps I could have emailed and asked for them not to be allocated to me but I do not know if that request would have been taken seriously and realistically I wouldn’t have anyway, for fear of seeming petty or difficult. I also began to wonder why there is no means of accessing student feedback on a module.

I realise that it may not be pleasant for a lecturer or TA to discover that female students felt ignored in their class but it is more important that students do actually have access to that information, which is currently only available to certain sly investigators. Also lecturers who were surprised or upset by their feedback or reputation could alter their behaviour and that alteration would presumably be reflected in future feedback.

These actions however require a drastic overhaul of the attitude that universities and society in general take to senior academics. For it is rarely acknowledged that it is possible to be both a genius and a sexist.

The reality is that academic staff have become (or perhaps always were) virtually untouchable. No department or university wants to admit that a member of their staff is acting unjustly or inappropriately, especially when those injustices can be written off as minor. They don’t even want to entertain the possibility of such a thing. So they don’t and we keep quiet because what else can we do except maybe twirl and sway in silence and hope our heels don’t trip us up.

The first problem you’ll face in Trinity: getting there. This being Dublin, your options are terrible.

You can remortgage your left kidney to pay for accommodation within walking distance of College. You can grow old festering in the endless sinkhole of a queue to sign up for a Student Leap Card in House 6, then spend every queasy rush-hour morning rocking back and forth to the soundtrack of Dublin Bus trundling along, wheeling over and over what seems to be your humanity, flattening it down like roadkill. You can hone your acting skills trying to convince Luas inspectors that you are an American exchange student and have never heard of quaint Celtic customs like “tickets”, “fares” or “fines”.

But there’s a simpler route.

The first thing you need to know about cycling in Dublin is that it’s not worth having a nice bike, or even a bike that looks like it could be a nice bike with a fresh lick of paint. The first reason for this is that your bike will get stolen (I refer you to the fact that this is Dublin). The second reason is that your bike will be rained on and sprout rust (again, Dublin), plunge into many of our charming potholes (Dublin), and mostly be stuck wheeling along at a torpid pace to avoid collisions with bellicose commuters (Dublin). It simply does not make sense to invest in something that has dozens of gears or that you’d want to protect from damage.

Taxi-drivers are your natural adversary and are to be loathed and feared. A lot of them have a charming habit of beeping the horn at you for being a cyclist.

“What do you mean, ‘for being a cyclist’?” – I literally mean for being a cyclist. You can be ten metres away and they’ll do it.

You can be cycling as quickly as a non-moron would expect a cyclist to be able to go and they’ll do it. The beep isn’t a signal to get out of their way: they do it when you have nowhere to go.

It’s not a signal to speed up: they do it when you’re going as fast as you can and aren’t obstructing them anyway. I’ve even had one roll down the window and swear at me..

Another thing: all sorts of randos and randomers and creepers and creeps will try to rope you into conversation. The middleaged man in the suit as you lock your bike to a lamp post: “You’d want to be locking it up alright!” (Thanks, Mr Pro Bono Life Coach.) The guy unlocking his while you’re unlocking yours and you’re both drowning in the rain: “Miserable, isn’t it?”

(Yes, but I don’t like people.) And once, memorably, while cycling uphill in a skirt, some man of indeterminate identity from the footpath: “I can see your knickers!” (I know, babe. I am trying to get home.)

I suspect the creeps and randos are not a universal phenomenon, but they’ve been quite a noticeable element of my own cycling career. When you’re a small, unthreatening woman, men tend to think you want their input, that you’re begging for them to use up all your spare emotional labour. Why does cycling seem to exacerbate their behaviour? I’m not sure, but I suspect it makes me seem approachable and funloving. Quirky Girl with Fringe and Large Glasses on Bike.

Doesn’t Need to Be Anywhere In a Hurry Because She’s So Flakey and Whimsical. Probably Very Left-Wing and Concerned about the Environment. Likes Talking to Strangers.

Nocturnal cat-calling, for some bizarre reason, happens more often when I’m cycling than when I’m walking. Maybe a bike out on the road at midnight is a bit more of a novelty to the passing wolf-whistler than my usual pedestrian drunk-shuffle, or maybe there’s something about squatting on a saddle that screams, “Hey, The Patriarchy, please reassert your ownership of this public space I’m daring to occupy.” Street harassment: condign punishment for being a woman.

Let us return to something I’m certain every Dublin cyclist experiences: becoming a leaky human rain-sponge. You have not been wet until you have tried to get into town in the throes of a Dublin rainshower. The best bit is that every second bike I see in public has a waterproof saddle cover that was clearly handed out to the owner for free by some company with their brand emblazoned across it – yet I can’t even find a shop that will sell me one. I sometimes remember to stick a plastic bag on my saddle in case it rains. More often, though, I forget to do this and end up vainly attempting to soak up the rainwater by patting the surface with my lecture notes. I have already alluded to the reality that your bike will one day be stolen. You can postpone this event by getting a proper lock – not one of those flimsy cable ones – and by using it to secure the firmest, hardest-to-prise-off part of your bike – the frame, not the back wheel – to some reasonably sturdy piece of public property. Better yet, make sure your bike is the swine among pearls: lock it up next to nicer, clearly more expensive vehicles.

When the thieves descend, your bike will be as overlooked as you were at the céilí in your first year at the Gaeltacht. (Some experiences can be, shall we say, formative.)

“

A good wicker basket makes you look as if you’re en route to a picnic for elves, craft beer aficionados and Zooey Deschanel This account is perhaps making Dublin cycling sound a bit grim. That’s because it is a bit grim. There are no cycle lanes on many roads. When they do exist you have to share them with buses; lumping you in with large vehicles is a slightly counterintuitive way of solving the safety problem (viz. that you are lumped in with large vehicles) and creates the added annoyance of having to stop whenever the bus stops, or else get around the bus and hope it doesn’t suddenly get going again and nearly level you in the process. Oh, and a taxi will probably beep at you to let you know that you’re still a cyclist and they still hate you.

Often, the space between the parked cars on your left and the traffic on your right is so minuscule and the noise so overwhelming that someone could easily open a door without your noticing and turn you into a cyclist paté. Hapless tourists stand on the pavement and look slowly left and slowly right like sloths, then step out right in front of you with a sudden vigour that endangers both your lives. Your fellow cyclists are often reckless (though not nearly so often as motorists will tell you cyclists are whenever you complain to them about cars).

So why do I bother cycling?

The biggest reason is money.

Not only is Dublin Bus howlingly expensive in absolute terms, it’s also such an unpleasant way to travel during rush hour that the life-happiness-per-cent ratio is even more unfavourable. The walk is long and boring – on mature reflection, I find it strange that I prefer the constant risk of falling off my bike and cracking my skull to the tedium of slowchanging scenery, but there you have it. I can’t drive, wouldn’t have the money to get insurance and am anxious about fossil fuels, so that’s out.

Besides, I have my social media profile to think of. A charmingly dilapidated city cruiser bike is your best friend for a quick Instagram pose. Even during your most mundane excursions, a good wicker basket makes you look as if you’re en route to a picnic for elves, craft beer aficionados and Zooey Deschanel. If you get bruised or injured, or if someone purloins your bike, you’re guaranteed 70+ likes if you craft a good Facebook status about it. Like the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad self-publicity.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Comment

15

Make the most of your first year in College and you won’t regret it Trinity is famous for its vibrant student life and has something to offer everyone.

Claire O Nuallain

Contributing writer

If I could sum up my first few weeks of college in one word, it would be anti-climactic. As such, the difference between now and this time last year is palpable: last year’s feelings of apprehension, disappointment and eventual indifference have ben replaced by excitement, interest and other warm, fuzzy feelings.

My first few weeks in college were like a really long intro to a film where the opening shot is the main character looking glum as rain pours around them. Firstly, I wasn’t particularly enamored with my course choice. I had (have) absolutely no idea what I want to be when I grow up but really liked the idea of going to Trinity, mostly for aesthetic reasons. After very little thought I filled out four places on my CAO and hoped for the best. As luck would have it, I got my first choice, History and Political Science. It being a small course was an advantage at first as it meant that I knew almost all of my classmates straight away, but this was also a hindrance as it made it difficult to get to know lots of people.

The course itself was also somewhat disappointing at first, as I realised somewhere between learning about the Capetian kings in the 11th century and the pros and cons of the EU as a dual executive that neither History nor Political Science were my “calling” in life.

While I languished in History and Political Science, I also found it difficult to make friends and, being from Waterford, knew very few people other than a handful from my school who all studied Science courses so I rarely bumped into them in the Arts Building. I was also far too shy to go to society events on my own so initially missed out on that part of college life. Staying in Trinity Hall was something of an advantage as there were more familiar faces but I never really got involved with the Halls community either. Halls also had its drawbacks: living

away from home for the first time meant that I answered the siren call of pre-drinks far too often, which although resulted in some good nights, actually left me at a disadvantage in terms of making friends as I was often too wrecked to be in any way pleasant or sociable in college the following day, if I made it in at all. Coupled with this was a complete inability to cook anything other than microwave-in-thebag rice, which meant that I lost over a stone in weight between the beginning of college and Christmas through sheer incompetence.

By Christmas, I returned to Waterford somewhat defeated.

Chatting to the majority of my friends who had gone to UCC and were loving their college experience, as they were all in college together, made me feel even more disappointed in my own. However, just before the Christmas break two things had happened that made me feel slightly more excited about college than I had been before: firstly, I ran into a friend from Waterford who was studying a similar course in the year above who gave me a few pointers on how to navigate the eccentricities of Trinity, and secondly I went for coffee with a girl on my course, both of which resulted in me returning to college with a completely different and far more positive attitude.

As the following term progressed, I got involved with the Phil and Trinity Arts Festival, both of which resulted in me making more friends than I could have imagined just a few months before. As I became more disciplined in my studies, I realised that History and Political Science were interesting after all. I also learned how to make potato and leek soup and how to make pasta without burning the bottom out of the saucepan. All of these little things culminated in making my experience of Hilary term the polar opposite of Michaelmas. By the time exam season came around, it was unrecognisable.

Claire’s tips for incoming Freshers so that this article serves a purpose other than total selfindulgence:

Go to society events. Even on your own. Nobody will laugh at you. You will have fun. You will make friends.

Illustration: Sarah Morel

How I’m Trumping Social Anxiety This Freshers’ Week

Before you make any judgements about Tip: use innate impatience, encouraged resolve, forced haste and feigned confidence to navigate Front Square your course, give it a fair chance. Go to this week. lectures. Do at least some of the readings. Courtney Byrne we assume to be extroverts with want to join the Gaelic society, 3. Forced Haste Contributing writer

Talk to people in Halls, at events, in lectures, in tutorials. The only remedy for being shy is to get to know more people, which sounds paradoxical but pays off.

Don’t compare your experience at college to that of your friends who are studying elsewhere. Don’t assume that everyone else is having a great time because they were tagged in 17 photos from Thursday night and you’re in bed watching Reeling in the Years.

Everyone’s experience is different and everyone settles in at a different pace.

And most importantly, if you leave pasta boiling in the pot for longer than 20 minutes, you will ruin your saucepan.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally arrived. The country mice are turning town mice, trying to cope with the overwhelming throngs of people that make up Dublin’s Fair City. We are all trying to get to grips with recognising our stops on public transport, whilst scrambling around trying to sell our souls and organs to embellish our somewhat lacking society membership fund.

As in most alien situations, I’m sure everyone has noticed the familiar surge of social anxiety rise up to the surface as we embark on our friend-making journey.

While it is obvious that these throngs of people are simply masses of individuals, and that within these masses lie our future friends and acquaintances, usually it looks a little more like a pack of ever-hungry hyenas that are waiting to laugh at our every word, and whisper about us as soon as we turn away. Apart from the fear of becoming dumb as soon as we approach someone or the fear of harsh judgement, how do you even start talking to a stranger these days anyway? In a world so dominated by technology, is there any need for this backwards, daunting approach of “introducing yourself”?

The answer: yes. While Tinder may have its perks (namely not having to put trousers on to find your soulmate), let’s face it, it is the easy option, and how much can we really expect to gain from something we risked nothing to attain? So how do those people

a history in public speaking do it? Perhaps it is perspective. If we look at it in the sense that it is “just a hello” and they are “just another person”, and realise that it is nothing to fret over, maybe that will help. Perhaps it is optimism. The greener we see the grass, the more likely we will reach out for it. Or maybe it is enthusiasm? Convince yourself that you cannot wait, and maybe you won’t.

Perspective, optimism and enthusiasm always get all the credit, though if it were that simple we would all be doing it.

I think the ideal combination is something more like: innate impatience, encouraged resolve, forced haste and feigned confidence.

1. Innate Impatience

Let’s face it, we are all impatient. Some of us are just better at combating it for others’ sake. However, when it comes to the choice between waiting for someone to approach you, and actually approaching them yourself, patience is not a virtue; it is a curse. If you throw away that mentality and pride and let your impatience run wild, you will do things for yourself. You won’t just take advantage of opportunities, you will make them.

2. Encouraged Resolve

An infinite amount of “I got this. I’m doing it. I just am. It’s happening. We got this.” on a loop in your head is helpful.

Once you have convinced yourself that you actually will do it, then you need . . .

“

When it comes to the choice between waiting for someone to approach you, and actually approaching them yourself, patience is not a virtue; it is a curse

Before you have time to overthink, just start doing it. Throw yourself in so deep that you simply cannot sidle back out unnoticed and you have to just start talking, even if it is about which Harry Potter death made you cry the hardest. Make it up as you go along, just don’t over-think it.

How badly can it possibly go?

4. Feigned Confidence

Remember the “I got this” monologue from earlier? Well, it’s back. With a load of “I’m well able to talk to this person”, and standing up straight, not mention smiling brightly. You only need to be this confident self for a few minutes and then you can come back to being helplessly insecure, I promise.

Lately I have become a lot more ballsy in my attitude to life and risk-taking and it has benefited me to the nth degree. I have made a decision to let my impulses drive me, with impatience as my fuel-source, haste as my ally and confidence as my facade.

The best thing? The more you do it, the more you want to; the thrill grows on you. Risk-taking becomes your comfort zone. It’s like a muscle: the more you use it, the bigger it gets. Aim for serious hypertrophy. So just go up to them. Perhaps you will have them from “hello”. You never know; it could be the difference between a stranger and a soulmate.

The same can be said for joining clubs and societies. We all spend far too long over-thinking how everything will unfold.

Chances are, most social scenarios will not play out like you planned it in the shower. If you

go for it. If you can’t kick a ball, even the more reason to start.

Don’t let not being good at something hold you back, because then you will never have the opportunity to excel.

One more suggestion. Surround yourself as much as possible with positive people who want to try new things, meet new people, and embrace new experiences. While most of it is a personal feat, having someone who will go with you to that ballet class you have always wanted to join (even if you are 18 and apparently “too old”) to support you is always a plus.

So to all fellow squirmers whose fear of social scenarios is so palpable, remember: in the end it is not the things you said that you will regret the most, but what you feared too much to say.

Clichéd, perhaps, but there you go. How much newer of a leaf can one possibly turn over?

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Comment

16

Help, my brothers are successful and I’m doing a drama degree!

Following your dreams in college can be a daunting, but fulfilling experience.

Aoife Meagher Contributing Writer When I was finishing secondary school, my otherwise offhand eldest brother sat me down and told me in no uncertain terms that I should by no means study a degree in English Literature and Drama Studies (at the time, the dream – now the almost unfathomable reality). No, he insisted, this would be quite incorrect. The only true course for me would be, get this, computer programming. Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that I know that I have ten fingers and toes is more down to a memory of repetition than any real numeracy skills. I sweat at the notion of electronics. Even an overly-long loading screen is enough to make my tongue fuzzy with horror at the notion of needing to investigate.

I’m not about to proclaim that I was born to tread the boards, but I was definitely not born to program computers. That much is a certainty.

Casual ableist terms aren’t just words Everyday language we take for granted does more damage to the lives of disabled people than we think Sarah Upton Contributing writer The other week, my thirteenyear-old brother came home from school and told us that another boy in his year had called him stupid. It was the first incident that had so unsettled him that he reported it to each individual member of our family.

One might read this and wonder what the big deal is. Teenage boys use insults far worse than this. The thing is, however, that my brother has Down Syndrome, so words like “stupid” carry a whole other layer of offence where he is concerned. Angry, but not too surprised, I realised that this wasn’t the first time that a word like “stupid” had made me feel this way and it wouldn’t be the last time my brother would encounter someone who would use ableist language.

The ubiquity of ableist terms is impossible for me to ignore, though I feel very alone in this awareness in most social situations. Words like “stupid” and “moron” are tossed out as casually as “how are you?”, but I feel as though someone has scraped their nails on a blackboard every time they are. I have never heard the word “retarded” used more than during my last two years spent in college. There is something terribly wrong when someone can articulate feminist theory perfectly or destroy a homophobic argument but in the same breath describe something as “retarded”.

Changing language

The R-word, defined most simply, means slowed down, or kept back. The word was first used to describe people with intellectual disabilities in the late nineteenth century and replaced words like “imbecile”

“

In the 1960s the R-word joined the ranks of language used to insult someone and was deemed offensive.

Its connection with people who have disabilities has remained, despite the demurring of people who are called out when they use it. We do not know better than people with special needs when it comes to the significance of the historic language of their own oppression.

and “moron” which were clinical terms that had grown pejorative in meaning. In the 1960s the R-word joined the ranks of language used to insult someone and was deemed offensive Its connection with people who have disabilities has remained, despite the demurring of people who are called out when they use it. The fact is, even if you don’t think of it as a description of a person with special needs, it still resonates that way with a significant number of people. Words you take for granted, like “idiot” were invented as clinical terms in institutions where people with disabilities were hidden away, neglected and abused. There are people alive who remember that trauma. We do not know better than people with special needs when it comes to the significance of the historic language of their own oppression. To claim otherwise is to gloss over centuries of abuse.

The simple fact is that people, whether or not they admit it, use these words as insults because of their connection with people who have disabilities. In a Google Consumer Survey in April 2015, 40% of people surveyed said that they associated the R-word with someone who has an intellectual disability. There is no version of reality in which the use of the R-word to insult someone or express annoyance at a situation or object doesn’t perpetuate the stigmatisation of disability.

A neutral state

That people who have an intellectual disability are inadequate or in some way divorced from reality is a grave misconception.

People who have intellectual disabilities are as varied a group in terms of intellect and ability as any other. They are not lacking in the ways society has decided so any adjective that means “slowed down” or “inadequate” is

wholly inappropriate.

Disability is neither positive nor negative. It is simply another state of existence. If this is the case (and it is), why does the R-word maintain impact as an insult? The sad truth is that most people will not take the time to learn that disability is not the curse they think it is.

A lot of people obviously believe that the R-word is an accurate way to describe someone who has an intellectual disability, and more people still, at the same time, use it as an insult or to describe something that is broken. If the perceived experience of someone with an intellectual disability can be used as an insult, that person is rendered an object of ridicule and burden.

It allows people to go on thinking that disability is something terrible from which they must distance themselves.

Objectification makes it easier for an individual to justify violence against another. Throughout history, words have been used to achieve this effect in the cases of every marginalised group. Stigmatisation causes isolation and bullying, as it permits people to go on thinking that a person with an intellectual disability is unable to understand their surroundings or communicate effectively. These are real harms that are brought about by the language we use.

A neutral state

Even if someone doesn’t understand the remaining connection between ableist language and people with intellectual disabilities, and uses it to describe foolish behaviour or something that isn’t working properly, they still keep these words in circulation. Just because they don’t get it doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t been deeply offended or hurt.

Settings in which ableist lan-

guage is used casually or in jest are unwelcoming for people who have disabilities. They can feel unaccommodating or even unsafe. Spaces in which men used word like “whore”, are unwelcoming to me as a woman. When we insist upon the tolerance of this language, we exclude too many people from the conversation. Spaces that ought to be safe for everyone just aren’t.

Language is the framework of everything we do. It constructs every social interaction and influences what is and isn’t acceptable. A society that uses ableist language is ableist, end of story.

Workplaces, schools and universities are not places in which everyone is made feel equally welcome. Freedom of speech is definitely important, but when its vindication involves the exclusion and therefore silencing of other people, I fail to see why that counts as a response when I ask someone not to use the Rword.

People who have intellectual disabilities have spoken up about the offensive nature of the R-word. Actress and advocate Lauren Potter, who appeared on Glee for many seasons and has Down Syndrome, has been particularly vocal about this. At the end of the day, when people in possession of experience we lack speak about the nature of their oppression, we need to just sit down, be quiet and listen.

We have a responsibility to reflect upon the insults we take for granted, because when we do use them, no matter the intention or subject, we’re no better than the teenager who called my brother stupid.

“

When you tell someone that you study drama in college, you tend to get a mixed bag of reactions. A lot of people are wildly interested, asking about the logistics of such a degree, often telling you that they would have loved to pursue something similar.

However, just as often, you can get pitying, indulgent smiles, and sometimes you can feel like they have a point.

It didn’t stop there. Even my brother’s wife was quick to assure me (despite her degree in English) that I should steer clear and apply myself to the sciences.

I was rightly confused by this seemingly contradictory stream of advice, but let’s be real, this

wasn’t the first time I had heard it. When you tell someone that you study drama in college, you tend to get a mixed bag of reactions. A lot of people are wildly interested, asking about the logistics of such a degree, often telling you that they would have loved to pursue something similar. However, just as often, you can get pitying, indulgent smiles, and sometimes you can feel like they have a point.

So, Aoife aged 18 is faced with the advice to chuck it in and do a sensible degree. Not even an uncommon idea. Plenty of my contemporaries were laying aside childish things and preparing themselves to study accountancy and become quantity surveyors.

Damp and sweaty with fear, I cast wildly from friend to friend and eventually turned to my best counsellors: my long-suffering parents. With an air of enviable zen, mater and pater intoned that I should study the thing that I like best and enjoy my life and field of study, with no concern for prospective joblessness. I was intelligent, they told me. I would find a way.

And so, with a deep breath, I checked the option and put down my dream course, with no real expectation of getting it. However, when August rolled around, no one was more surprised than me when I got my little acceptance. Life was good.

Life was sweet. Life was suddenly gloriously unemployable.

And so, here I am, three years later, feeling very educated and confident and lucky to be so deliriously happy in the course that I am in. But here I am. It is three years later. I am entering the final year of my four year degree.

And then what?

I look around at the brothers who are both working diligently.

One is married with a child. A real human child. And a job in finance. The mind boggles. We were raised in the same nest.

And the other has a doctorate and works as a data scientist for a fancy start-up company that has a dog and its own barista. Both of these boys followed different dreams than I did, and good luck to them in that. I am happy that I followed my own dreams and have the opportunity to create as often as I do. Of course no doubt, when I am eventually released into the real world I will struggle into a real job, have myself an income, pay taxes and have adventures of this kind. But it will always be just a touch different for me than it was for my sensible brothers.

At the moment, the future beckons – but from a little way off. I have one year’s grace period. I’d better make it count.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Comment

17

Magazines like Gay Times and Attitude have no place in the queer community Gay lifestyle magazines teach queer men new ways to hate their bodies.

Matthew Collins Deputy comment editor When someone realises they are queer, self-loathing is a common initial reaction. Often, this manifests itself as hatred of one’s body due to a failure to experience exclusively heterosexual desire. The coming-out process is often imagined as the antithesis to this, whereby queerness is eventually celebrated and a once deviant sexuality is reclaimed as natural and empowering. This journey is frequently aided by the discovery of queer media (such as magazines, vlogs and films) which reveal an exciting counterculture and cause one’s self-loathing to ebb. The problem is that gay lifestyle magazines, such as Gay Times, Out and Attitude, which can be crucial in affirming a positive queer identity, simultaneously perpetuate new forms of oppression which teach queer men new ways to hate their bodies.

It starts with the covers. Each of these magazines emblazon their glossy fronts and website homepages with half-naked (often straight) male celebrities, displaying their chiselled physiques. In June, Harry Potter star, Matthew Lewis appeared on the front cover of Attitude.

EastEnders’ Jonny Labey featured for Gay Times in August.

It continues with the content.

Out invites its online readers

to “Watch Nicholas Hoult in various stages of undress”. Attitude contributes to the world of journalism by encouraging its readers to relive the “sexiest moments” of celebrities such as Jamie Dornan, Michael Fassbender and David Gandy. These are just a few examples, but it’s easy to spot a trend: the glorification of white, muscular, conventionally attractive and generally straight men.

It’s tempting to disregard this content and imagery as cheap, harmless eroticism. We should be wary of doing so for three reasons. Firstly, this content is being produced during an epidemic of eating disorders in the queer community. 42% of men who struggle with eating disorders identify as gay or bisexual. Queer men are three times more likely to develop anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa than straight men. By solely glorifying muscular, hyper-masculine bodies, these publications embellish a story which says that small, thin and plus-sized men are unattractive, because the corollary of worshipping one body-shape is the shaming of all others.

Researchers have previously disregarded the notion that queer culture is to blame for the elevated rates of eating disorders within the community. In a study carried out by Columbia University in 2007, queer men who did not self-describe as being “affiliated” with the queer community (and thus presumably with queer media) displayed equal rates of eating-disorders as queer men who did. However, this ignores that one doesn’t have to view oneself as being heavily involved with the queer community to be exposed to the content of these magazines, given that they are easily accessible online, and market themselves as being mainstream, apolitical and casual magazines for the average Joe, gay man. It seems glaringly obvious that when many queer men consume this media, they learn to be uncom-

fortable with their apparently imperfect bodies. Undoubtedly, gay lifestyle magazines are not the sole cause of the high rates of eating disorders among queer men. However, it’s hard to imagine that promoting such rigid beauty standards does not impact negatively on maintaining a healthy body image. Claiming to empower queer men, while furthering harmful narratives around body image in a community where this is already a lethal problem is grotesque, yet it is an action of which these magazines are guilty.

Secondly, the content of these magazines further racism and transphobia in a community already embroiled in a storm of white supremacy and trans* erasure. There were no men of colour in the top ten of Attitude’s “Hot 100 Men of 2015”. White men are consistently sexually idolised in these magazines, while it’s difficult to find any appraisal of the physical beauty of men of colour. These magazines shouldn’t claim to represent the queer community when they systematically erase queer men of colour. In doing so, they prop up racist beliefs that white queer men are superior to men of colour, while telling queer men of colour that they are undesirable because they aren’t featured in these magazines. In a similar vein, trans* men are ciswashed.

They are rarely discussed in the same terms as cis men; it is never acknowledged that trans* men are attractive. These magazines don’t feature trans* men on their front covers and rarely discuss their issues, lives or stories.

Thirdly, when straight men are applauded for being attractive by a queer publication (as happened when over half of the top ten of Attitude’s ‘Hot 100 Men of 2015’ were straight), it tells queer men that heterosexuality is valuable and to be admired.

This heightens the difficulty queer men can have in accepting and being proud of their sexuality in a world which already stig-

matises queerness. Sure, these magazines also depict queer men as being attractive, but when society is programmed to believe heterosexuality is correct and superior, any communication by a queer organisation that heterosexuality is desirable is extremely damaging for queer men because they lose a space in which they could previously affirm their sexuality. This is particularly true for effeminate queer men. On one level, they are otherised by a heterosexist society for being queer. On another, they are told by the queer community that they are lesser because they don’t fit the attractive, “straight acting” mould. These magazines contribute to many queer men resenting their manners of speech, movement and dress.

Gay Times, Out and Attitude need to stop displaying half-naked, white men on their covers.

They need to stop objectifying the male form and glorifying masculinity. If they genuinely want to work for the queer community, they should use their platform to talk about real issues, such as the extreme violence faced by trans* people and to give a voice to queer and trans* women. I’m sceptical that these magazines have any interest in doing that. We therefore need to stop purchasing these publications, to stop clicking on their articles and to stop following their social media presence. A decline in their popularity would at the very least create more space for queer media that represents the most people possible, and that doesn’t perpetuate harrowing mental illnesses. Coming out as queer should be about forging a new and empowering identity.

These magazines stunt that liberation, and therefore have no place in our community.

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

Would you rather have students ignorant of drugs, or informed?

Dee Courtney argues that the continued criminalisation of drugs remains an ineffective and dangerous response to their use, and calls for a more wellrounded approach

Dee Courtney Online Editor If you ask someone in Ireland what they think about drugs, the answer you’re least likely to get is “I have no opinion”. It seems that the vast majority of people have either tried drugs and loved them or haven’t tried them and swear they never will. They’re either a fun way to spend a weekend, or a death trap we should all avoid under any circumstances.

Of course there are those in between: the liberals who think drugs are uncool but that so are laws, the hippies who used to be fanatical pill-heads until they “found their calm”, replaced the drugs with yoga and started eating kale for breakfast. But at almost every point on that spectrum, the thing that’s lacking is knowledge. Some of us know drugs are fun; some of us know they’re dangerous; hardly any of us know what’s even in them.

You may believe that drugs are a pointless exercise in escaping reality, but you must admit that other people may feel the same way about your degree.

There are many dangers associated with drug use, but cars kill as many Irish people as drugs do per year. And yet every adult in my life is offering me driving lessons on a regular basis and encouraging me toward clean living. Whether the convenience you get from driving outweighs the enjoyment you get from drugs is a matter of personal preference. So why are drugs still illegal?

Holding on to your self

One of the most compelling arguments in favour of legalisation is ego death; the loss of one’s sense of individual self that occurs with high doses of hallucinogenic drugs. DMT, LSD and several other mind-altering drugs have provoked feelings of detachment from the self and oneness with the world more generally; it can feel like a transcendence of time and space.

People’s reaction once they

come out of the haze is generally that they are far less afraid of death than they were before.

Imagine the benefit that overcoming your fear of death could have, and all it takes is a few shrooms. Research on ego death is overwhelmingly positive when it comes to terminally ill patients and could be the same for those with depression and anxiety.

So perhaps we should make an exception for sick people.

But that kind of exceptionalism in the drugs debate is incredibly harmful. The idea that drugs are harmful, that taking them is irresponsible, that they put you in danger, but that ill people should be allowed to take them only furthers the idea that people with illnesses’ lives are worth less than other lives. Why should it matter that someone’s life is in danger if their life is already marred by depression or cancer?

This is the worst way to look at the benefits of drugs for someone with an illness. We should be trying to enrich someone’s life, not to paint over suffering. That distinction matters. Of course, the research on hallucinogenic drugs is very new and not nearly widespread enough. This won’t be corrected until we acknowledge that these drugs could have a useful purpose.

Still, several of the arguments against drug use still stand: some drugs are extremely addictive, and the ones that aren’t can be socially addictive and become a crutch, adversely affecting the mental and social health of frequent users. Some drug dealers deliberately push inferior, tainted substances on young and inexperienced teenagers to exploit them for money. But none of these problems are solved by criminalisation. In fact, they’re made much worse.

The fact that you can’t buy drugs from a legitimate entrepreneur means that there can never be proper regulation.

Dealers can lace pills with whatever they want and encourage users to take too many so that they make more money. Most drug deaths happen because the substances are contaminated.

PMMA, a toxic substitute to the MDMA usually found in pills, is the biggest killer of ecstasy users. We should be testing for it, but no-one will consent to testing if it means being arrested.

The people who face convictions for possession or even supply are hardly ever the ones who profit the most from the drug trade.

They’re usually small-time dealers selling within their own social circle or, depending on the drug, working for a gang because they need to make money somehow.

Examples from abroad

Decriminalisation and, hopefully, legalisation could go a long way to solving these problems.

Even without full decriminalisation, there are a number of perfectly sensible policies that can make using drugs safer. Shockingly, none of them involved police intervention or the threat of conviction. In the Netherlands, testing for harmful substances can be done legally and there are now several European countries in which testing kits are available in clubs and at festivals. Even with criminalisation in place, safety is a lot more readily available, despite the government’s best efforts to make it not so. You can buy a MDMA testing kit online for five euro, and pillsreport. net will give you a good idea of which pills are safe and which aren’t.

Of course the information is out there, for those who choose to Google before they drop. But the reality is that the people who are most in danger of being killed by recreational drugs (besides addicts) are first-time users who haven’t done their research.

They’ve been told that drugs are dangerous, they’ve been told not to take them, with the “Just Say No” campaign, for example. But some of their friends have done them and say it’s fine; they’ve seen people at festivals and clubs and they know that not everyone has a bad experience. And so they assume it’s safe because that’s what you do when you’re young and think you’re invincible. Without knowing any better they might take too many, or buy pills that are laced with something dangerous, and they have no idea how to make sure they’re

not in danger.

Hidden advice

This information isn’t nearly easy enough to find because it’s hidden behind a wall of shame and abstinence-based warnings.

We aren’t interested in telling people how to take drugs safely because, as far as the authorities are concerned, there is no safe way to take drugs. You can’t take drugs and be responsible, so why bother trying?

We have to make sure this information is easily accessible, that people are as safe as they possibly can be. It’s cruel and unnecessary to suggest that because someone takes drugs, they lose their right to live. We treat smokers with lung cancer because we acknowledge the truth that no-one really believes they’ll be part of the fifty per

cent that ends up dying because of tobacco. That part of the human condition applies to drugs too, and it doesn’t make users stupid. It makes them human.

Yes, making drug use more obviously and easily safe might encourage a few more students to try them out. But even if you believe that this is always a bad thing, then consider this: which is worse? A few more students trying drugs, or a few more students dying because they didn’t know what precautions to take?

In some ways, urging young students away from drugs is a noble action. But when you take into account the sheer number of people they’re likely to meet, the places they’ll go, and the curiosity that naturally comes with being young and in a new environment, it is becoming more and more likely that young

people will use drugs. And when they try it, we should want them to be safe. We should want them to know when to say no, and – if they want to – when it’s okay to say yes.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Comment

18

Illustration: Naoise Dolan

We need to stop treating sexual assault survivors like liars One in four is a horrifying statistic. We must all do our part to change it.

Hannah Beresford Contributing Writer Last year, the students’ union published the results of a survey conducted on student experiences of non-consensual sex. It makes for depressing reading.

One in four women on campus have had a non-consensual sexual experience. Think about that for second. Think about the average number of women in any one of your lectures, split them into quarters and appreciate the sheer volume of people in that lecture theatre who have survived sexual abuse. Think of your group of friends and do the same. The results from the SU survey are not extreme.

The 2002 SAVI report found that 20.4% women experience sexual abuse during childhood and 20.4% experience sexual assault as adults. Statistically speaking, whether you are aware of it or not, you know many women who have been victims of sexual abuse.

My story

I write this article because I am part of that 25%. When I was still in primary school, a man from my town sexually abused me. My parents chose not to press charges against my abuser.

There were several factors in

their decision. Firstly, they were worried about the effect having to relive my experiences in the courtroom would have on me.

Secondly, they did not want me to go through that and then lose, which seemed likely. Thirdly, they were concerned that living in a small, rural Irish town, despite the best efforts of an in camera court, I would always be whispered about as the girl who claimed that a nice, respectable family man sexually abused her.

The foundation of the second two of these concerns is ultimately the same – my parents were afraid that I would be deemed a liar. My parents’ fear was completely rational. As a society, we do not just cast doubt on the claims of women who have been abused; often, we actively vilify them.

The vitriol directed against the woman raped by footballer Ched Evans is but one example of the way we treat those who are brave enough to speak out about their experiences. This woman has had her identity repeatedly revealed on social media, been subjected to horrific abuse online and generally treated as a pariah, to the point that her father has said she effectively has to live “on the run.”

Ched Evans is protected by the privilege he enjoys as a public figure in a position of relative

“

The solutions to this problem are not solely the job of the SU Welfare Officer to provide. We must all become more conscious of the hundred small things we do that perpetuate this culture of fear.

power. His victim has been further victimised as she broke a societal rule – don’t call out the people we think are more important than you for their wrongdoing.

Speaking out

However, this problem is wider than those who actively attack victims of abuse for speaking out. In our culture, women and men who speak out about assault are automatically suspect.

We are all guilty for perpetuating the stereotypes that make it harder for victims of abuse to speak out. Incidents of sexual abuse and assault are very rarely the classic “man drags sober, modestly-dressed woman down an alleyway and violently rapes her,” or “strange man with creepy moustache lures child away from safety in a public park.” They can occur in any environment, at any time, to any person. A woman who goes out dressed “provocatively” does not “deserve” to be raped any more than I, in my blue pyjamas with a rabbit on them, “deserved” to be abused.

A woman after several tequila shots is not “asking for it”, or “up for it,” or any of the other horrible, seemingly-innocuous little phrases we employ to undermine her credibility. Every single one of us has at some point or another disparaged a woman for

My sexuality is not yours for debating When you refuse to label your sexuality, monosexism is a common reaction.

Sinead Harrington Contributing Writer Coming out is a terrifying and daunting prospect for almost anyone that finds themselves faced with doing so. This is particularly true when the explanation of your sexual orientation is nowhere near as simple as that one line in your SPHE book that explained “Oh by the way, some women like women instead of men and vice versa, maybe that’s a thing you should know about”.

Not being monosexual (not being solely attracted to one gender) has a tendency to evoke a seemingly endless array of questions, opinions and criticisms from people in both the straight and queer community who think that they know you better than you do. Fundamentally, this commentary revolves around the idea that polysexuality is an urban legend. It is an attempt to undermine someone’s sexuality in the misguided belief that, under enough pressure, everyone will fit neatly into a box labelled “straight” or one labelled “gay”.

Spoiler alert: we don’t.

Not everyone fits into a box in the way that we would like them to. When I began exploring my sexuality and came to the realisation that I’m not straight, I quickly decided that putting a label on my sexuality that was more specific than ‘queer’ or ‘not monosexual’ was not something I was comfortable with. Generally, this is something that I try to tell people when I come out

to them in an attempt to minimise the number of people who attempt to make a judgement about me and assign me a label that I never subscribed to. However, something I’ve begun to notice a lot recently, is that even when I explicitly tell someone that I’m not comfortable with labelling my sexuality, they try to do it anyway. This is always a disgusting thing to do to someone.

Here’s a fun life tip: if someone tells you they don’t fit in a box in which you want to put them, or even in any box at all, do not try to force them into a box. That’s something to bear in mind when dealing with both metaphorical and literal boxes. Either way, it hurts.

People’s attempts to undermine someone’s sexuality come in a wide variety of forms, but it most commonly tends to be invasive questions that try to mathematically assess how you should be identifying. Take, for example, the last time I came out to someone. In fact, I hadn’t been planning on undergoing the whole rigmarole of coming out. My plan was basically to just say I thought a girl was attractive in the company of new friends so that they’d get the picture and move on. Sadly, this was followed by a barrage of unsolicited questions, including “So how many girlfriends have you had?”.

It was passed off as an innocent enough question, but it was very obviously more than that. It was an incredibly invasive attempt to determine whether I was really queer or not. The implication

that I was lying about my sexuality, or that I had to justify it to someone else in order for it to be valid, not only hurt me, but made me incredibly self-conscious, and continues to affect the way I think and feel about prospective romantic and sexual encounters.

In order to make the world a bit less crap for polysexual people, here is some helpful advice for what to do when you discover that someone doesn’t fit into either the ‘straight’ or ‘gay’ box. Just believe them. That’s all you have to do. Just accept the fact that someone knows themselves better than you do.

Don’t buy into the stereotypes, that polysexual people are lying, that the women are just straight sluts looking for attention or that the guys are all closet cases. Don’t ask invasive questions about people’s romance or sex lives in an attempt to disprove their identity. Some polysexual people have only gone out with people of one gender. Some of them have only hooked up with people of one gender. Maybe they’re polysexual and heteroromantic, maybe they’re questioning and aren’t comfortable with experimenting just yet, or maybe they’re just not that into love or sex but know who they’re attracted to.

At the end of the day, none of that matters. Sexuality isn’t a competition where you get assigned to a team based on how many points you have. It’s an identity that one person and one person alone has the right to determine, and at no point should

anyone be pressured to justify that identity. If you’re worried that someone might have picked the wrong label, don’t be. It will have no effect on your life whatsoever. What does have an effect on someone’s life, however, is feeling like every romantic and sexual encounter that they have is constantly being scrutinised, or having people undermine their identity so many times that they begin to internalise that monosexism. You don’t need to give them another reason to feel guilty or wrong about who they are. Just be a decent human being. Be the kind of person who believes them and accept them for who they say they are. Then just get on with your life and let them do the same.

what she was wearing, or scoffed at her because of the number of lads she shifted on a night out.

We are all part of this problem.

Every person’s experience of abuse is deeply personal. Since coming to college, I have begun to tell people outside of my immediate family circle about what happened to me when I was little. I have been incredibly fortunate in that I have not experienced a single incident of someone doubting my story, and very few unsupportive reactions.

This has massively bolstered my confidence, which has in turn allowed me to confront aspects of the long-term effects of being abused which I found difficult to process before. Unlike so many people who have had experiences like mine, I have never personally experienced active disbelief. It is the subtle, everyday narrative of suspicion which affects me constantly. I am no longer frightened of the man who abused me, but I am afraid of the reaction people will have when I tell them about what happened to me. After all these years, I am still afraid I will be treated as a liar.

No wonder so many of us experience sexual violence, and no wonder so few of us come forward. Who would want to add the trauma of being called a liar to the trauma of non-consensual

sex? By creating an environment where people are frightened to speak out, we add to their trauma and fear. We also make it increasingly difficult to have meaningful dialogue about how to tackle this issue, as without people speaking out, it is easier to downplay the extent to which this occurs.

One in four women in Trinity have had a non-consensual sexual experience. I want to applaud every one of the members of that unlucky quarter who filled out that survey and got the ball rolling on improving life for all of us, men and women. However, the solutions to this problem are not solely the job of the SU Welfare Officer to provide. We must all become more conscious of the hundred small things we do that perpetuate this culture of fear.

No woman should feel that she won’t be believed because she had the temerity to wear a short dress that night, or because the man who attacked her “doesn’t seem the type, and sure, wasn’t she flirting with him anyway.” If those affected by sexual violence cannot speak, no change can occur. One in four is not a statistic we should be happy to live with, and we must all do our part to change it.

SU SURVEY RESULTS

1,038 Number of polled students

1 in 20 Respondents have been physically mistreated by a partner

1 in 13 Respondents have been stalked or subject to obsessive behaviour

42% Of women have experienced verbal harassment

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Op-ed

19

Conor McGregor and Irishness

William Foley Deputy editor More than one in six Irishborn people over the age of fifteen people now live abroad, the highest proportion of any country in the OECD. This metric is a testament to generations of economic stagnancy. Despite De Valera’s famous promise that “No longer shall our children, like our cattle, be brought up for export,” no policymaker has managed to sustainably contain the exodus. Of course mass emigration preceded the founding of the state and a century and a half of outflow has led to large pools of diaspora across the English speaking world.

None of these groups is more unified in shared tradition or more insistent on their ethnic continuity than Irish-Americans.

It is a result of the particular social and political forces that shaped America that most US citizens self-identify on two different planes of nationality. Due to the extermination of the native population, and the explicit foundation of the country on certain Enlightenment ideals, American citizenship is not so

much a question of belonging to a particular ethno-nationalist group than it is of subscribing to certain ideas. This leaves a gap as far as ethnic identity is concerned, and this space is filled by assuming tribal allegiance to the Old Country.

Traditions are thus developed, including idealised perspectives on what it is to be Irish/Italian/ Polish etc. Irish-Americans suppose themselves to be plucky, hard-working, and intelligent in a smart but not flashy way. Of course they possess these qualities no more nor less than any other ethnic group in America, but that’s beside the point. There are other more specific historical associations as well: red hair, potatoes, drinking, and, of course, centuries of struggle against British rule. Figures who are seen to manifest these qualities and resonate with these associations can quickly rise to popularity.

So it has been with UFC fighter Conor McGregor, who has developed a huge fanbase amongst the diaspora on the other side of the Atlantic. McGregor (literally) wraps himself in the flag.

His Irishness is the core component of his brand and his other attributes - his incessant trash talking, his dogged resolution to see fights through to the end etc - are represented as springing from, or at least being coloured by his nationality. He received a euphoric reception in his first fight in Boston, in August 2013. At the post-fight press conference, McGregor eulogised his supporters. “The support out there was unbelievable. It was green walking out there. The place was green. Green flags, fucking leprechauns jumping around. It was unbelievable” he said, according

to vice.com. “It was crazy going out there the first time, it really was a crazy experience for me because you always hear about the Irish Americans, even when I’m in America it’s like everyone is Irish.”

McGregor rose to new heights when he defeated Chad Mendes to win the interim UFC lightweight championship in July.

McGregor entered the ring holding an Irish flag aloft behind himself while Sinead O’Connor, rising above the crowd on an elevating platform, wreathed in dry ice, sang the Foggy Dew. Hundreds of supporters waved tricolours and cheered ecstatically while O’Connor bawled out the song - a rebel tune about the Easter rising containing lyrics such as “Right p r o u d ly high over Dublin Town/ They hung out the flag of war/’Twas better to die ‘neath an Irish sky/Than at Sulva or Sud El Bar” and “Britannia’s Huns, with their long range guns/Sailed in through the foggy dew”.

The narrative of the fight itself further reinforced the mythology. McGregor holds to a kickboxing style, while Mendes adheres to a wrestling tackleand-grapple style. For most of the match, Mendes was in control, keeping his opponent locked in a submission grapple.

At the end of the second round McGregor - who had kept up his relentless taunting throughout

the match, even when lying halfstupefied on the blood smattered floor - rallied and, after cornering Mendes with a flurry of kicks and punches, knocked him out with a devastating onetwo. Another trope plays itself out here: the Irishman as an unsophisticated but wily and resilient fighter who hangs on to the end. The comparisons to physical force republicanism an association McGregor is obviously keen to promote - are easily drawn. Terence McSwiney, an IRA volunteer who died on hunger strike during the War of Independence, said that “It is not those who can inflict the most, but those that can suffer the most who will prevail.”

For the American diaspora in particular, for whom Irish nationalism has not been as tarnished by the troubles, it is easy to fit him into the narrative of the underdog which persevered through centuries of oppression and failed rebellions.

The cultural agreement goes both ways as McGregor, to some degree, owes his success to American can-do thinking.

According to a Bleacher Report article, McGregor was set on the path to greatness by a self-help book/film called The Secret which preaches that “the power of positive thinking can change [your] life and bring about anything [you] desire: money, wealth, happiness.” By following The Secret’s advice, McGregor was transformed from a shy

boy into the loudmouth fighting champ that he is today.

Irish-Americans like to think that they worked their way up from the bottom - that they built the skyscrapers, and later occupied them, that they climbed to the highest political office, that they made their fortunes and earned their spots on the golf courses and country clubs. It is true that many families, at least intergenerationally, climbed up from the highest to the lowest ranks. Nevertheless, the general ascension of the diaspora occurred through a variety of factors: their cultural assimilation, their size and concentration, their displacement at the bottom by non-white ethnic groups, and, crucially, their being in a position to have a stake in the richest country in the world. Regardless, most Irish-Americans are still working class, even if they are in the upper stratum of that group.

And McGregor is the latest vehicle for the lie that binds the deep fissures within American society: that anyone can make it, if they are smart enough.

McGregor’s popularity in Ireland is easily explained. He’s meteorically successful in a glamourous if barbaric sport, and his in-your-face rudeness is entertaining. For Americans of Irish descent his popularity is revealing by the way in which it derives from his position at the locus of tribal symbols and native ideological tropes. Because the Irish-American culture is, at least ideologically, one of success, whereas our own is one of failure. And when McGregor finally tastes bitter defeat he can return home where, if he is lucky, he will become that most admired of Irish failures: a glorious one.

Only limit on student activism is interest Jason Leonard Contributor It’s no secret that coming to college is a major adjustment for students. One of the first and most positive aspects of college life that students encounter is society life, with 119 societies vying for students’ attention and involvement in Front Square during Freshers’ Week. As with all aspects of Trinity, societies come with their own structural and administrative quirks that can prove fascinating or frustrating to explore and understand.

One policy that has continued to cause confusion for new and old students involved in societies is that a society may not espouse political opinions. I intend to examine the meaning and history of this policy, discuss the role of politics in student activity, and give clarity to an unnecessarily complex issue.

The first instance of this policy being enforced in recent years was in 2012, when the Gender Equality Society (DUGES) was barred from adopting a prochoice stance. To summarize the scenario so succinctly makes it an understandable source of contention. However, the Central Societies Committee stated at the time that DUGES may advertise marches to its members and that it may advertise such marches to its members.

In fact, it stated that “the only constraint on Duges in this case is that they are not allowed to explicitly say that all members collectively have a given opinion on the issue.” Considering the nearcertainty that DUGES had, or would have in future, members with differing opinions on the is-

sue, this seems a reasonable constraint. The Chair of DUGES was reported to be happy all-in-all with the outcome of the society’s meeting with the CSC and that the permitted scope of activity was at “a good level”.

Despite this, the situation gave rise to editorials and opinion pieces from both Trinity News and the University Times which criticised the policy. A motion was brought before the Students’ Union Council, proposing that the Union lobby against this policy, though it should be noted that the SU and CSC are entirely separate capitated bodies.

In the end, a new topic du jour was found for student media to discuss, and the policy remained untouched. More recently, several societies changed their logos on social media to incorporate rainbow colours in May, in support of the Marriage Equality referendum. The CSC reminded societies of the policy, asking them to change their logos back, noting that “it is not healthy to allow exceptions, however worthy, to this policy”. This was covered by the student media at the time, and just weeks ago an editorial from the University Times argued that the CSC should reconsider this rule.

While the gesture was undoubtedly heartwarming, amidst the hundreds of likes on profile pictures, some students chose to voice their displeasure with their societies making representative gestures that, frankly, had nothing to do with the society’s aims or purpose. One can assume that many more students chose not to speak out against the popular trend. Though I was heavily involved in campaigning for

my own equality at the time, I had to ask myself “what purpose does this gesture serve?”. Many students in these societies made meaningful contributions to the campaign in other ways, but this served only to breach a policy that in other contexts could prove much more controversial and divisive. For societies at large to adopt a policy on the issue of the 8th amendment would surely cause significant alienation of some members.

Societies with external parent organisations, such as Amnesty and the youth branches of political parties, are exempt from this policy and may follow their parents’ leads. Another society often cited as an example of the inconsistency of the policy is the LGBT society, more commonly known as Q Soc. However, Q Soc is actually the perfect example of a society allowing its members to engage with political activity without making representative statements. Q Soc has a long history of attending both Pride and the March for Marriage, and contributed greatly to the Students Union’s efforts to register students to vote as well as informing its members of ways to support the campaign. At no point did Q Soc state that the society supported the Marriage Equality referendum, and as such acted entirely within its remit. This is not simply a workaround to the policy, but an example of how societies can allow their members to engage in activism without attempting to represent them as a whole.

In discussing the political activity of societies, the Students Union always comes into play. Most recently, a Univer-

sity Times editorial argued that “TCDSU’s policy books are overloaded with mandates on many political issues”, and that while the Union has its uses, it has limited resources. This is interestingly contrasted by a Trinity News editorial in 2012, which claimed that the Union had been depoliticised in recent years. In any case, while the Union does have limited resources, as does any organisation, its capacity for campaigning is not static. The Marriage Equality referendum proved that the Union is capable of engaging with the student body at large when it attempts to do so. A “Marriage Equality Campaign Crew” group, set up by the SU President with the intention of including members of the entire student body, reached over 1,000 members. The Union’s campaigning activity far exceeded previous years, contributing greatly to the referendum while addressing college-level issues such as increased student charges, Sports Centre levies, and the formation of the Union’s own strategic plan.

the Union’s potential to reach the entire student body, its history and institutional experience with campaigning on political issues, and its standing as the only representative body for students within Trinity, it acts as the perfect platform for students to engage with political issues. While the Union has mandates that are not fully pursued, they await only a student with the desire to see them pursued.

The function of the Students Union, societies, and other bodies in college can be complex.

After four years of involvement in both the Union and multiple societies, I appreciate both sides of student life immensely. I also view and appreciate the Union as a forum for student representation, and societies as a diverse set of organisations dedicated to the pursuit of student interests.

Hopefully, should this policy ever be discussed again, we can spend less time rehashing yearsold arguments and more time making positive impacts inside and outside of Trinity.

The true limitation for political activity and activism within Trinity is student interest, regardless of the organisation behind it. Current SU President Lynn Ruane has made clear her plans to run an activist festival for students, to host party leaders prior to the upcoming General Election, and to incorporate members of the college community who do not normally engage with the SU. Given that Ruane’s Repeal the 8th Committee had over 50 members in August, well before the start of the academic year, there’s no doubt that students have an appetite for political activity. By utilizing

Eva Short Editor-at-large I appreciate this place more than I used to.

Before this, I struggled to drum up any sort of enthusiasm for Fresher’s Week, which is objectively insane when you think of it, for it seems borderline offensive to turn one’s nose up at such an event. It is, in essence, a week-long festival of pizza and parties and free things, all things on which there is a general consensus are good. Yet I had the audacity to be unmoved, practically bored by the idea, instead dwelling on the best strategies to avoid the busy foot-traffic of Front Square or the most polite way to say “ I know we’re friends and you’re on the committee but I am completely uninterested in

feelings towards the whole affair are less adversarial than that. If I can draw any lesson from leaving college, I guess it’s that it would be unwise to take what we have for granted.

At the risk of allowing this to devolve into “best years of your life” rhetoric, I think the college existence is uniquely wonderful and completely anomalous relative to the outside world. It’s by-and-large the easiest place to make friends of them all, with the perfect fusion of proximity, the likelihood of encountering like-minded individuals and potential for impromptu.

All of these, it turns out, are pretty difficult to find in the outside world. We’re only actively engaged with college- e.g attending classes - for six months of the year (except you Med students, sorry guys) and midway through each term are giving a week off so we can catch up on our work, which flat out never happens in most working environments. There are wall-to-wall social engagements year round to attend if you’re so inclined.

The condoms are free (as are, for the most part, doctor’s visits and therapy). It’s a pretty sweet deal, really.

Personally, I’m going to make more of a concerted effort to occasionally meditate on how grateful I should be for where I am right now, and I guess my

hope would be that anyone reading who has found themselves desensitized to college-induced excitement would consider doing the same.

For the record, I am painfully aware of how treacy, saccharine, maudlin and all other synonyms for sentimental the thesis of this piece is going to sound, and even as I compose this I bristle at the idea that a small dose of the icy reality of adult life has reduced me into a dewy-eyed pile of goo.

However this place - though it is not without fault - is somewhere for which I’ve developed a renewed appreciation. The start of a new year is a good point at which to acknowledge the transience of it all, and how it would be unwise to try and rush through this experience.

Given that this issue is primarily centred around Fresher’s Week, I feel the need to address some of the young-’uns who - I hope - are reading right now. So Dear Freshers; welcome to Trinity. Congratulations on surviving the unduly stressful and pressurised shitstorm that is the Leaving Cert. I feel as if this is the interval at which I’m supposed to impart some higher truths and invaluable nuggets of wisdom about college, wisdom I have gained during my time here. I don’t really know what to tell you - if anything, I feel like all college has really done is awaken

On Saturday the March for Choice will take place in Dublin, and Trinity’s delegation looks set to be the biggest in recent times if not ever. After largely focusing effort on securing a yes vote in May, the mandate TCDSU received in the February 2014 preferendum seems to finally be taking centre ground. The students voted that the SU campaign for a woman’s right to choose, and in Ireland the first step of that fight is the repeal of the contentious 8th Amendment to the constitution.

The work and determination shown by SU president Lynne Ruane in this regard has been a breath of fresh air, and a genuinely exciting development after her decisive victory in last year’s elections. All to often when a progressive voice receives a mandate they find themselves entrapped by the bureaucracy which surrounds them, but so far Ruane has defied the cynics.

Let’s hope then that in the face of such a massive shortage of housing, one in six young Irish born living abroad and the uncertainty of what the budget will bring next month that the swathes of people who were on their feet for same sex marriage and will be on their feet for women’s reproductive rights will be similarly agitated by the continuing disregard for the well-being of students and young people in and out of College. Oisin House is being redeveloped into student housing as part of an effort to end the culture of digs and hostels so many find themselves in, but how far will 300 places really go when the College Strategic Plan aims to increase non-EU students to 18% by 2019?

Front Square is covered with stands, banners and hardworking students this week who pump hundreds of hours into their societies and clubs. College sells that work when attempting to attract students from abroad, because they recognise that society life is an important part of the student experience. But we should not assume that College is not dependent upon us in anyway. College’s new weighted system for determining funds available to capitated bodies is a welcome development after last year’s imposed cuts.

With a general election on the horizon during this college year, this renewed engagement with the SU can only be a good thing.

In the last budget of the current government, attempts to further encroach on resources and services available to students should be strongly resisted. Labour should try and recoup any sense of decency they had before their now infamous betrayal over their 2011 election pledge on fees, and resist any cuts in services to students.

They’re already at risk of loosing the support of that once solid base, but with the intention of the new Social Democrats to establish a branch on campus, and their clear targetting of students, we are best placed to negotiate and set out a students’ charter for election promises.

Editorial Staff

Grab a slice of pizza and savour your time here paying three quid to join your society.”

Pin it on classic jadedness, perhaps. The college experience does tend to pall, in spite of everything. I’ve observed that many people in the latter halves of their undergrads (myself included) will end up bemoaning the beginning of a new year and be quietly willing it all to be over as soon as possible so that they may proceed onto whatever they’re hoping is waiting for them outside. This time one year ago, I was hoping I could just autopilot through my academic requirements, snatch the degree, frame it (maybe) and then dive head first into adult life.

Then, I dropped out.

Or more, my circumstances came together in such a way that I had no real choice but to leave college for the year. In an abstract sense, I got my wish, finding myself suddenly ejected from Trinity and landing with an ungraceful thump into the “Real World”. Though it didn’t occur to me until I was on the outside looking in, I had never really experienced life beyond the heavily structured environments of educational institutions. The year out was, well, different. I will admit that I found myself feeling at a loose end, adrift even. I’m tempted to use the word “formative”, but formative is the classic euphemism for “shitty” and my

Already it feels like change is in the air surrounding College.

After a summer of victories for LGBT equality the minds of many are drifting towards upcoming campaigns and what the new year will bring. Students are more involved in activism and organising than they have been in recent memory along with establishing new initatives with the support of the SU.

me to the reality of my own cluelessness. However, if there’s anything I could tell my 18-year-old self if would be the following: 1.) It is possible to be hungover and drunk at the same time. It’s just as hellish as it sounds and I really hope you just take my word for it as opposed to endeavouring to find out yourself; 2.) Don’t try to Wiki any of your assignments. Your lecturers have been doing this for a while, so they’ll know; and 3.) Learn how to cook. Purchasing food meal-by-meal will do unspeakable horrors unto your bank balance.

Whether you’re returning or new, enjoy the week. Grab a slice of pizza and savour all this while you can.

Editor: Deputy Editor: Online Editor: Editor-at-Large: Contributing Editor:

Matthew Mulligan William Foley Dee Courtney Eva Short D. Joyce-Ahearne

News: Deputy News: Features: Deputy Features: Comment: Deputy Comment: SciTech: Deputy SciTech: Sport:

Lia Flattery Oisin Vince Coulter Tadgh Healy Caoimhe Gordon Naoise Dolan Matthew Collins Katarzyna Siewieska Conor O’Mara Michael Foley

Creative Director: Art:

Video Editor: Digital Illustration:

Aisling Crabbe Natalie Duda Sarah Morel Mike Dolan Huda Awan Kevin O’Rourke Jack O’Kennedy John Tierney

Business Manager:

Liam Mulligan

Graphics: Photography:

Printed at The Irish Times print facility, City West Business Campus, 4000 Kingswood Rd, Dublin 24.

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 Publications, 6 Trinity College, Dublin 2. Appeals may be directed to the Press Council of Ireland.

/TrinityNewsDublin trinitynews.ie /Trinity_News editor@trinitynews.ie /TrinityNews

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

SciTech

Science in Brief Katarzyna Siewieska SciTech Editor

Study says we find other peoples skin softer than our own Hand shakes, holding hands, hugging, etc. are important parts of our lives, social interaction and building relationships. A group of scientists from University College London wanted to explore why this is the case. In September, Current biology published their article entitled ‘Active Interpersonal Touch Gives Rise to the Social Softness Illusion’. They hypothesized that active stroking induces more sensory pleasure when touching others’ skin

than when touching one’s own skin. The subjects were asked to rank the softness and smoothness of their hands, others’ hands, fabrics and other surfaces. The results showed that the subjects constantly ranked the hands of others as softer and smoother than their own. The researchers believe that this “social softness illusion” underlies how we bond with other people by activating pleasure and reward networks in the brain.

New discovery of unknown human ancestor in South Africa Illustration: Natalie Duda

Can psychology research be trusted?

Can we rely on results published by researchers in the field of psychology? How reproducible are the results?

Turlough Heffernan described the Reproducibility Project and its findings.

Turlough Heffernan Staff writer Can psychology research be trusted? That was the question that Brian Nosek and his team at the University of Virginia set out to answer when they established their Reproducibility Project. As the name suggests, this was an attempt to determine the extent to which major findings in the field of psychology could be replicated by independent researchers.

In total, the participants in the project looked at 100 findings drawn from three of the most prominent psychology journals.

They discovered that only 39% of the replication attempts were successful. In other words, in over 60% of cases the results of the independent researchers did not match the results obtained by the original authors.

It might seem strange that over 270 researchers from five continents would devote their time and money to repeating studies that had already been done before. After all, there are no prizes for doing something second.

However, this focus on reproducibility is critical to the scientific method. It is not enough to trust a researcher’s claims based on their past successes.

Instead, their results must be shown to hold true when the experiment is conducted by someone else. Indeed, a scientifically true effect was defined by the philosopher Karl Popper as that “which can be regularly reproduced by anyone who carries out the appropriate experiment in the way prescribed”.

Before the Reproduciblity Project even began, there were plenty of reasons to be sceptical

about the reliability of many findings in the field of psychology. For instance, a psychologist named Daryl Bem decided on a whim to conduct a scientific study of parapsychology i.e. whether or not people have psychic powers.

To the surprise of everyone, including himself, the results were positive! As one would hope, numerous other scientists were dubious about these findings and decided to try to replicate Bem’s experiments. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that their replication attempts failed. Unfortunately however, these researchers found it much more difficult to get their papers into a prestigious journal than Bem had.

This is a common problem in science known as publication bias. Journals want to publish sexy, counter-intuitive discoveries but are nowhere near as interested in studies with negative findings, particularly if they are replications. In fact, only 14% of published papers actually report negative findings.

We should note that publication bias and irreproducibility are issues in every discipline. In fact, when the drug company Amgen tried to replicate 53 cancer research studies, a mere six of their attempts were successful.

Researchers in all areas are faced with perverse incentives that reward them for findings that are novel and eye-catching, not necessarily those that are true.

A good publication record is an absolute necessity for moving up the job ladder in academia so it is easy to see why scientists find themselves under pressure to get positive results. These people aren’t frauds, they’re just human.

Having said that, there is some evidence that suggests that the

problem is worse in psychology (or perhaps that psychologists are more honest about their field). A previous study of over 2,000 psychologists found that more than half were willing to admit that they had checked how statistically significant their results were before deciding whether to collect more data or not.

“

While most people know not to take tabloids seriously on these issues broadsheets can perhaps do even more damage because of the trust that exists for them.

In other words, if they had already obtained the desired result then they would have ended the study early rather than risk ruining their chance of getting published.

This might seem like a trivial issue but when everybody does

it then the scientific literature becomes inundated with papers reporting findings that aren’t legitimate! This is what inspired John Ioannidis, a professor at Stanford University, to write his now classic 2005 paper “Why Most Published Research Findings are False”.

While some commentators have seized on this study as evidence of science being broken, others point out that we may have simply underestimated how difficult it is to replicate all of the features of the original papers.

Furthermore, the failure of a given study to replicate doesn’t necessarily imply that the original study was flawed. The participants in the Reproducibility Project did their utmost to use the same methodologies as the original authors but even miniscule differences such as location and time can sometimes skew results in an out-sized manner. The difference in results could also be attributable simply to chance, especially if the effect size was small to begin with.

Thankfully, most researchers accept that a problem exists and are participating in efforts to solve it. One solution that has been mooted is for papers to be preregistered with journals meaning that scientists would publish the hypothesis they mean to test and the methodology they intend to use before the experiment even begins. This should prevent them from fiddling around with their data until they get the results that they want, a practice that is known as p-hacking.

Researchers are also being encouraged to conduct studies with larger sample sizes, in order to reduce the risk of getting a positive result purely by chance.

We have already seen how scientific journals fall victim to publication bias but the mainstream media must also share a portion of the blame.

Newspapers are only too happy to publish dubious claims (such as those recently made by Rosanna Davison about gluten being responsible for autism) but are far less likely to ever issue a retraction.

While most people know not to take tabloids seriously on these issues (the list of things that the Daily Mail claims can cause cancer is a running joke at this stage), broadsheets can perhaps do even more damage because of the trust that exists for them.

For instance, a poorly conducted study about trauma being inherited by descendants of Holocaust survivors was reported uncritically last month by The Guardian and subsequently taken as fact by large swathes of their readership. Of course, it is probably unrealistic to expect a critical appraisal of a paper from journalists forced to work according to the rules of the 21st century news cycle.

In conclusion, it might seem like psychologists would be in despair after learning of the results of the Reproducibility Project but for many, this is a triumph. They point out that the entire process has been one of self-reflection, of science holding up a mirror to itself and understanding that changes must be made.

For them, Nosek’s study is a welcome return to what science is supposed to be all about; remaining sceptical, asking for evidence and accepting that the search for truth is a cumulative process. As Nosek said himself, “The goal is to get less wrong over time.”

In the Rising Star caves in South Africa an all-female team of scientists discovered the skeleton fragments of Homo Naledi – a new human ancestor. An all-female team was necessary as the passageways in the cave were very narrow. The six brave women were Hannah Morris, Marina Elliott, Becca Peixotto, Alia Gurtov, Lindsay Eaves and Elen Feuerriegel. National geographic funded the expedition, but none of the women got paid. Feuer-

riegel did not mind not getting paid and said that the expedition was the one of the most exciting experiences of her life and that she had no words to describe how thrilling it was to be involved.

The discovery also sparked some controversy. Some see the discovery as a racist theory designed to cast Africans as ‘subhuman’. This is a painful consequence of the horrors of the apartheid that was abolished in 1994.

Are researchers close to a universal flu vaccine?

It’s autumn and we are in Ireland so there is a good chance that many of us will catch the flu sooner or later. The current flu vaccines reduce the risk of infection by only 23%. We need a new dose every year because of the flu virus changes very rapidly and our immune system simply cannot keep up. Researchers have been working on finding a vaccine that would protect us from broad

range of influenza strains. Recent candidates for universal flu vaccines are those that targets parts of viruses that were found to be relatively stable year on year and are very similar in the different strains of flu. These new vaccines are going through clinical trials and have the potential to further lower the risk of catching the flu, but we are still far from the universal flu vaccine.

The Trinity Walton Club

Katarzyna Siewieska looks at how a group of professors and PhD students came together to help secondry school students develop their STEM skills.

Katarzyna Siewieska SciTech editor The Trinity Walton Club, named after E.T.S. Walton, is a non-profit initiative aimed at post-primary school students in Ireland. It began in 2014 with 60 students participating in the program. The students met every Saturday for over 30 weeks and worked with PhD students on various activities and projects.

The Walton Club has many important aims. The first is to give bright young people an opportunity to do science outside of school. This creates a platform for students to meet people with similar interests from across the country. In the Walton Club, students can develop their scientific knowledge and skills, and learn how to be innovative. This is achieved through various workshops and group projects.

Another important goal of the Walton Club is to give students a chance to fail. This prepares them for real world problems that they

may come across in the future, teaching them how to turn a failure into success. Patience, courage, determination and teamwork are essential in a scientific career.

Problems that scientists have to face every day are often very complicated and finding a mathematical formula or getting an experiment to work is very difficult and time consuming. The journey towards discovery and success is marked by hard work and can take years. Only people with character who can work well in a research team become successful in science. Without this, even the highest grades and most impressive of exam records become useless in real scientific research.

The main project for the students began after Christmas. They were asked to use the knowledge had they gained throughout the program to provide a solution to a real life problem of their choice.

This required teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving and innovation. The students worked in small groups and came up with some fantastic ideas. Their projects were presented at the official launch of the Walton Club in

June 2015.

Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton is the only Irish scientist who has been awarded a Nobel Prize in a scientific field. More precisely, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 with John Cockcroft for their work on splitting the atom. Their work was a verification of Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2, i.e. energy is equivalent to the mass and the speed of light squared. In 2014 the sculpture entitled ‘Apples and Atoms’ was unveiled beside the FitzGerald Building on the grounds of Trinity, to celebrate his life and work. Ernest Walton loved teaching and passing on his practical skills to students. This initiative to develop the knowledge and skills of young students in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) could not have been named after anyone else but this brilliant and inspirational man.

The projects were judged by a panel that chose the best one.

Although all projects were very interesting and well presented, the judges chose iSight as the best one. This is a pair of glasses with ultrasonic sensors that can be worn by blind people to make them less reliant on dogs. When someone comes close to say a wall or a lamp post, an alarm Ernest Walton, would sound and the person can then safely avoid after whom the obstacle. the club is The award, a fifteen euro coin commemonamed rating Walton, was presented by Marion Woods, Ernest Walton’s daughter. She said about her father: “He would The pro- have loved that this is happenjects were their ing. He loved teaching and pracown inventions to tical skills”. She remembered the make everyday life easier. The garage he built with lots of tools. projects included an automated Once you learned how to use the fish feeder, a pet proof alarm, tools in a safe way, you could make a page turning music stand, a anything your heart desired. InUSB port powered by sunlight, deed this is the whole point of an alarm clock with a toaster, a Walton Club. It’s not about how to gadget that reminds people to make a specific thing in a specific take their medicine and an object way. It’s about learning how to use tracker to help find misplaced ob- equipment, experimental techniques and mathematics to perjects.

Last June the Walton club was officially launched at the end of its first pilot year.

The students presented the projects they worked on in the engineering workshops.

form any experiment and solve any problem that you face. Ms Woods was personally inspired by her father and was a physics post primary school teacher. She congratulated all students on their amazing work and wished them success in the future.

At the launch, the founding scientist of the Walton Club Prof.

Igor Shvets, the director Prof.

Arlene O’Neill, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies Prof. Clive Williams and Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English gave short speeches on the beginnings of the Walton Club, the activities and topics the students covered over the 30 weeks and the importance of encouraging young people to study science, engineering and mathematics at third level. One of the students was asked to come up and speak about her personal experience of the Walton Club.

She spoke about meeting new and interesting people and enjoying working in groups on experiments and projects. The students had to devote a few hours out of their Saturday, but they didn’t mind because they liked coming

and had a really fun time. The students particularly enjoyed working on the big projects they started after Christmas, which were presented at the launch.

The Trinity Walton Club has turned out to be a very successful project. This is mainly because of the enthusiasm and hard work of the people involved in running it as well as the students themselves. The Walton Club will be running again this year and hopefully for many years after that. It is a special opportunity that all science students dream of.

It takes the students into the world of science and technology, and allows them to use their knowledge, skills and creativity to make a difference in their life. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what school you go to. All that matters is the common goal to learn and to enjoy working together with people of similar interests. In years to come this initiative will strongly contribute to the quality of undergraduates in STEM courses in Ireland and will have a very positive influence on Irish industry and academia.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

SciTech

21

Illustration: Sarah Larragy

Review: SECRET at the Science Gallery The latest exhibition at the Science Gallery asks what needs to be revealed and what should stay hidden.

Conor O’Mara Deputy SciTech Editor Illustration: Mubashir Sultan

The discovery of conical diffraction The story of two of Trinity’s greatest minds, a provost, a rivalry ending in death and one of the most important discoveries in Irish physics.

Katarzyna Siewieska SciTech editor The 19th century was a very exciting time for Irish physics. The grounds of Trinity College Dublin were walked by some of the greatest Irish physicists in history.This story involves two of them, William Rowan Hamilton and Humphrey Lloyd.

In the early 19th century, Hamilton mathematically predicted a curious phenomenon called conical refraction and Lloyd was the first person to demonstrate the effect experimentally. This achievement was a strong argument for the wave theory of light and highlighted the importance of mathematics in understanding physical phenomena.

Hamilton’s discovery

Conical refraction is a phenomenon that occurs in a special type of crystal called biaxial crystal.

One common example of such crystal is calcium carbonate. If you were to take one such crystal, place it on top of this article and look through it, you would see a double image of the text. This is due to the structure of the crystal that bends light in a different way depending on which direction the light travels through it.

This bending of light is called refraction. Now, if you set up an

experiment where a beam of red laser light is passed through this crystal and the image of outgoing light is observed on a sheet of paper, two red dots are observed.

This effect is called double refraction.

In 1832 Hamilton published a third supplement to his Theory of Systems of Rays. In this supplement, he predicted that if a biaxial crystal is positioned, such that the light beam passes through it along a line called the optical axis, instead of the two red dots, one would observe a bright ring.

Hamilton explained that the light travelling along the optical axis inside the crystal is not refracted into two points, but into a hollow cone that then emerges as a hollow cylinder. Hence the name conical refraction.

William Rowan Hamilton was one of the greatest Irish mathematical physicists. He entered Trinity College at the age of 18 and published his first paper at the end of his first year of his undergraduate degree. In 1827 the Board of Trinity College appointed him Professor of Astronomy while he was still an undergraduate student aged 21.

He took up the position, but quickly lost interest in astronomy and focused on mathematical physics. He is famous for many things including the quaternions, Hamiltonian mechanics and coining the word “tensor”.

Lloyd’s experiment

Hamilton’s work attracted the attention of many physicists.

Some even spoke of his prediction as “perhaps the most remarkable prediction that has ever been made”. His colleague, Humphrey Lloyd described the predictions as “in the highest degree novel and remarkable”. Lloyd was the provost of Trinity College between 1867-1881. In 1831 he succeeded his father as Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.

Lloyd obtained a crystal of arragonite, a mineral form of calcium carbonate, and in December of 1832 demonstrated the effect.

The experiment was not easy and the angle of the cone was very small and several regions of the crystal had to be explored to detect the effect.

“

MacCullagh’s mental health was very unstable.

Some suggest that he felt overshadowed

by Hamilton In 1947 at the age of 38, James MacCullagh was found in his College apartment with his throat cut.

Triumph of the Wave Theory of Light

The prediction and the subsequent experimental demonstration of conical diffraction brought great fame to Hamilton.

It was also a triumph of the wave theory of light over the particle theory of light, because the latter could not explain the effect. The wave theory was first proposed by a brilliant Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens.

This theory treats light as a transverse wave. The particle theory was formulated by one of the greatest British physicist Isaac Newton. Newton saw light as made up of particles called corpuscles. In the 1820s and 1830s the wave theory gained the upper hand. Physicist for years had very vigorous debates for and against the wave theory.

In the dawn of quantum mechanics, Louis de Broglie settled the debate with his wave-particle duality which means that light, along with everything else, can be treated as both a particle called photon and as a transverse wave.

Controversy

Hamilton’s great success led to a controversy with his colleague in Trinity College, James MacCullagh. In 1830 MacCullagh published some theorems on double refraction. In 1833 he published a note in the Philosophical Magazine showing how conical diffraction can be deduced from his theorems and wanted to claim credit for the discovery.

Hamilton never saw MacCullagh’s paper and was very annoyed by his claims, but following Lloyd’s intervention MacCullagh published another note admitting that his deduction was subsequent to Hamilton’s discovery and hence failed to gain any credit.

MacCullagh’s mental health was very unstable and he was a very sensitive individual. Some suggest that he felt overshadowed

by Hamilton and that this lead to him wanting to commit suicide.

In 1947 at the age of 38, James MacCullagh was found in his College apartment with his throat cut. The verdict was suicide and no one who knew him questioned it, however later some doubt did arise, because his collection of manuscript papers had disappeared.

One of the most sincere tributes was paid by Hamilton, who wrote a short but very emotional poem on the occasion of MacCullagh’s death.

Further work

In 1839 Poggendorf published a paper explaining that Hamilton’s ring is not just a single ring but it is actually two rings separated by a thin dark ring, now known as the Poggendorf’s dark ring. Lloyd could not detect it and it took over 65 years before the dark ring was first observed by Voigt.

Hamilton did not predict the dark ring because he assumed the laser beam was perfectly collimated and infinitely narrow, which is incompatible with the nature of light. In 1941 Raman also investigated further and saw that by moving the crystal such that the laser beam hits it at a point slightly away from the optical axis, a bright spot forms in the middle of the two rings, now known as the Raman spot.

The discovery of conical refraction had been a surprise to the physicists of the early 19th century and an important achievement for Hamilton and Lloyd.

It is amazing how mathematical models, geometry and algebra were powerful tools in the hands of Hamilton.

Along with his genius, he managed to predict a physical effect that escaped physicists for a long time. Although for many years the effect seemed to be purely theoretical, in recent times it has gained some novel applications in laser beam shaping devices.

“SECRET – Nothing to see here?” - The exhibition running in the Science Gallery cracks cryptography, spills secrets and examines enigmas. Why do humans like to keep and reveal secrets, who do we share them with and why are we attracted to finding out other peoples’ secrets?

Secrecy can be active, empowering and enjoyable. Secrets are things we reveal to trusted friends, keep from foes, protect from prying governments or destroy through whistleblowing.

From encryption to PIN codes there are many ways to hide your classified information from prying eyes. Whether you’re a scientist or a spy, you approach the world with an outlook to uncover the secrets hidden in the world.

Walking into the exhibition, the first thing you notice is the queue of people waiting in line to get a picture wearing a relatively ordinary grey hoodie and accompanying grey scarf. But in fact these seemingly mundane objects are actually the ‘Flashback Photobomber Hoodie’ and ‘Flashback Silver Screen Scarf’ which are part of the ‘Flashback Collection’

by Chris Holmes and Betabrand.

“

As you search through the book to see if your password is there, you start to realise how not so ingenious your password is.

The clothing is made of a reflective material (glass nanospheres) that bounces the light from the flash of cameras and obscures and effectively ruins photographs. All that can be seen in the photograph is an ultra-bright hoodie and scarf that dominate the picture and the person wearing it isn’t even a silhouette. A real life ghost creator without the need of any special effects.

It might not seem like an object that most ordinary people would buy but it is definitely something those in the public eye would consider. Celebrities who are constantly hassled by paparazzi will now be able to wear clothing that make little work of the glare of the camera and reduce the photos to worthless blurs. Or at least gain some valuable photographic anonymity.

After chatting for a while to one of the very welcoming and insightful mediators, who are dispersed around the gallery, I made my way over to the source of the jazz. The exhibit ‘AM Audio Desk Light’ by Steven Tevels, a project designed to transmit and receive sound through a modulated beam in a more secure way.

Radio waves can be easily intercepted, but by deciding to use a LED light, Tevels has found a secure way to transmit data over a short distance without being intercepted, because data can be transmitted over a short distance without being intercepted. Initially it seemed odd to see a black desk lamp used in the set-up for playing music, but in the set-up the audio output of the iPod is connected to a flickering LED light which shines onto a photocell.

The photocell generates electricity when the light falls on it, and the audio it receives is amplified by a connecting speaker.

If secret data were contained within, then somebody across the room would not be able to intercept and read it, making it a very secure solution.

Another piece that grabbed my attention was the PIN machine at the top of the stairs that welcomes you as you enter the second half of the exhibit. A screen tells you how many times the PIN you enter has been entered since the opening of the exhibition.

When I entered a PIN, I knew my PIN would not be unique. I typed it into the machine to see ‘[XXXX] – selected 6 times’ and I was not surprised. There are only 10,000 possible combinations for a code of 4 digits length which allows repeats and each character can only be a digit from 0-9.

That slight feeling of vulnerability that the PIN machine created is then exacerbated by the exhibit ‘Forgot Your Password’ by Aram Bartholl. There are 8 alphabetically ordered volumes containing 4.7 million stolen passwords that were decrypted and posted online after Russian cyber criminals hacked into LinkedIn. com.

The sheer number of passwords printed on two adjacent pages is mindboggling. As you search through the book to see if your password is there, you start to realise how not so ingenious your password is.

The “Forgot your password” section of the exhibition will make you feel like it may have well been “bananas123”. I breathed a sigh of relief to see my exact password wasn’t there, but there were too many alarmingly similar entries for comfort.

The next piece that really intrigued me was the “Transparency grenade” by Julian Oliver.

It is certainly the most symbolic piece of this exhibition. Concerned with the lack of corporate and governmental transparency, the grenade is the iconic cure for these problems.

Containing a tiny computer, microphone and powerful wireless antenna, it captures network traffic and audio at the site that the pin is pulled and securely and anonymously streams it to a dedicated external server where it is mined for information.

As a final image of the show, it represents the power and destruction that can be unleashed when private information is disclosed. And like most wars these grenades will damage the civilians caught amidst the chaos. The public will be exposed more in the future as the amount of information on every one of us grows online, making it more susceptible to being revealed by hackers.

The Science Gallery is also running weekly workshops that explore different aspects of the theme of SECRET.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

Writer? Photographer?

Illustrator? Blogger?

Dreamed of being one?

Whatever your skills, you can hone them and prepare yourself for the future by contributing to Trinity's vibrant student media.

Want to get published?

Have your article, photograph or illustration published in Trinity News.

All Entries to chairman@trinitypublications.ie with the subject ‘FreshComp’. Theme: 'Beginning University'.

www.trinitypublications.ie

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

23

Sport

Money pouring into sport put agents in the spotlight One area where an agent can be a valuable asset for an athlete is when it comes to the maximisation of profit.

Michael Foley Deputy Sport Editor

Keeping right on track

Illustration: Nadia Bertaud

For the discerning sporting fan, the past year has been a disheartening one, with revelations about atheles and drug use coming to light, while others had suspicion cast upon them.

Blaithin Sheil Staff writer I joined DUHAC two years ago this freshers week. I actually half joined on the bus on my way into Front Square, I met the Captain who was also on her way in, and told her that I was joining (she didn’t actually have a choice). I knew I should do a sport, I had tried and tested many through the years, but the hand-eye coordination just became too much to master (I really just wasn’t great).

Running seemed like a good choice, no particular skill set necessary, just commitment and the ability to concentrate, or zone out on my ipod. I started running for my physical health alone, to keep fit, active and en pleine forme.

This was my last shot.

Although there are obvious physical benefits, I kept going during those first few months, when fitness was a real struggle, for social reasons. It was something to do, and I knew that if I stuck at it long enough I would eventually make a few friends.

Luckily that plan worked out very, very well for me, as the friends and experiences I gained from DUHAC and my local club certainly define a large proportion of my college experience.

It can be hard, running fast isn’t easy, and there are days when you seriously question your sanity.

Why you push your body so hard, only to be exhausted for the rest of the day? But training isn’t just a thing we do at a certain time each day, it’s a daily social event that we look forward to. Seeing friends, meeting coaches who are wise beyond their years, and seeing those people who you would only ever see when running. A Sunday morning run along the coastline, followed by an absolute

feast - what could be better? Doing a sport means you’re not adverse to early mornings. It is quite an impressive trait, that someone will come to my house at 8am on a cold winter Sunday for a jog in the dark before work.

There is fun in following the elites, the same way soccer and GAA is followed religiously. From supporting Paula Radcliffe on her final marathon as a professional athlete early this year, to watching Bolt beat Gatlin twice at the World’s in Beijing this summer, there is excitement, inspiration and awe.

However, this year, particularly since moving to France on erasmus, it has become clear that running, or sport in general, is not only beneficial to your physical health and your social life, it is also key to good mental health. The saying goes that “a healthy mind is a healthy body”, but I would argue that actually, “a healthy body is a healthy mind”.

Of course, it is not the eternal solution to mental health problems.

I know that even the most accomplished athletes can suffer from mental health issues, meaning that nobody is immune. It affects everybody. But sport certainly contributes largely to a person’s state of happiness, and is a huge source of stability to me.

I have always maintained that running helps maintain sanity, it prevents you from losing it when you’re stressed, and keeps your life on track. It is the solution to 90% of your problems. The practice of sport increases the flow of endorphins and hormones both during and after, and I think that I am at my most alive state of being while running.

Hungover? Get up and run, you will have done something with an otherwise wasted day. Had a fight? Pound your anger out on

“

It can be hard, running fast isn’t easy, and there are days when you seriously question your sanity. Why you push your body so hard, only to be exhausted for the rest of theday?

the pavement. Heavy week of booze and pizza? Get your life back on track and feel good about yourself. Exams looming? Get those endorphins pumping to remember that there is life outside of summer exams. Bored? Nothing to do? Some sport will re-energise you. Be alive!

There is never a run you regret, no such thing as a bad run or a bad workout, only the ones you didn’t do. Be it a marathon, or a 1 mile jog in the park, I guarantee you will feel better about everything once you have gone out. I view the time I spend running alone as specially allocated time for me to spend with myself. Me, Myself and I. Alone to my thoughts, thinking things through without distractions.

Coming on erasmus this year, I was genuinely scared that I would lose all that I have described above. Having spent two years building my college life around DUHAC among many other things, it was scary to imagine moving abroad and starting from scratch all over again.

I didn’t want to lose my weekly structure, because having a training time everyday or knowing that I needed to squeeze in a run, I found, increased efficiency and productivity.

Running alone is enjoyable, but there is only so much solo training you can do. A year? I wouldn’t last. I would lose motivation, it would stop being fun, and I would miss out on other social events.

So, the first thing I did here was to join a club. After a quiet weekend, and not having run with anybody in almost two weeks, I was getting desperate. I started to miss the social interactions, and I could feel myself losing that crucial stability that running gave me.

Fantastic move. I was finally with people again, and outside

of my dorm room. It was tough, I came home a bit sore, I spoke a little bit of french, and did a lot of listening. I struggled with the Alsacienne accent, which is like trying to understand a 70 year old farmer from West Cork who never left the county in his life.

Difficult.

After meeting the group on Sunday morning in the woods, I was reminded why I love the sport so much, and therefore, why I love life so much. That day had a purpose, I had to be somewhere, to meet someone, at a certain time. Upcoming races were discussed, and Cross country season is just around the corner. One of the coaches was a world champion in the 1990s, and she comes to train our humble group six days a week. It’s like saying that Sonia O’Sullivan coaches your local team. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

The sheer scale of money currently circulating in professional sports is startling. With astronomical amounts of cash being thrown around, there are those waiting eagerly to grab their share of the pie. In 2015, Premier league clubs spent over £1bn on transfer fees for the first time ever and this figure will surely rise in years to come. However, with the industry in such a lucrative state, it’s not just athletes and sports clubs who benefit. Agents, particularly those who represent stars who are at the peak of their respective fields, have profited quite handsomely from the commercialisation of professional sports.

The role of an agent is typically described as looking out for the best interests of the athlete. As such, the agent handles contract situations, offers advice related to the commercial value of the athlete and often ensures the athlete has a respectable public image. In fact some agents such as “SuperAgent” Jorge Mendes have their own public profile, such is their influence. Mendes recently made the news when one of his clients, Ronaldo, bought him a small greek island. For many athletes, an agent is an obvious choice and generally regarded as a prudent investment. What the “best interests” of the athlete are is a subjective matter however and it is perhaps unwise for athletes to rely solely on the advice of their agent.

One area where an agent is a valuable asset for an athlete is the maximisation of profit.

The career of an athlete is extremely short relative to the majority of professions. For example, the average career length of a player in the NFL is 3.3 years. For players who are struggling to remain in the league, there is a massive incentive to accumulate as much money as they possibly can to leave them in a sound financial position upon their retirement. They want a wise negotiator to hammer out a fair deal and leave nothing on the table. This situation necessitates an agent. The agent gives athletes an opportunity to receive their fair share of the profits generated and prevents organisations taking advantage of young athletes.

There are many situations where athletes have to make decisions which, although not strictly related to money, have quite an impact on their financial state.

Jack Grealish, an English born football player, qualifies to play for Ireland as his grandfather is a Dubliner. He has the choice of playing for the Irish or English football team. There are a number of factors for players in this particular situation to consider, including his chances of playing regularly, his own sense of nationality and finally, the commercial benefits. Should he opt to play for the English national side, his commercial value would rise exponentially. As the more lucrative option, his agent would see his own income increase. It is not unreasonable to think that this might colour any advice offered to Grealish by his agent.

Grealish’s agent Jonathan

Barnett also represents Gareth Bale, a Welsh football player who qualifies to play for England through his grandmother. Barnett observed that “it has cost him millions and millions of pounds” although he acknowledged Bale loves playing for Wales. The question for Bale was whether the loss of income was worth the benefit of playing for a country he feels a greater attachment to; notably he chose the less financially rewarding option This is where a potential conflict of interest arises. If the athlete trusts the agent to handle all other problems and simply concentrates on competing, do they risk allowing their careers to be governed entirely by pursuit of financial gain? Many will say of course, athletes should follow the money, they are professionals. Yet, it can also be argued that this diminishes the value of non-financial factors. Do athletes compete simply to amass a large fortune, retire and enjoy their pile of cash? Some do, perhaps.

But many don’t. The fact that Bale chose to play for Wales indicates that there are other pleasures to be gained from competing.

There is a danger that the influence of an agent could obscure an athlete’s personal goals and ambitions with the allure of an increased paycheck.

It is in the agent’s best interests to promote the idea that their clients should chase financial rewards as much as possible.

In a world where Real Madrid acquire players predicated upon the fact that they’ll sell lots of jerseys and where plutocrats own Premier League teams to use as playthings, it is nice to believe that money is not the only concern of our sporting elite. However, it is also easy to conclude that sports agents are not terribly concerned with the life goals and existential problems of their clients.

Not that they should, it certainly isn’t in their job description.

The problem is that agents certainly do influence their client’s decisions and as they only personally profit from the commercial side of sport, they are fundamentally concerned with pure financial gain. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are selfish or immoral, but it must be recognised that as a consequence of their professional environment, they aren’t inclined to offer a broader, holistic view of the sport. Agents were heralded as a force who could fairly reward athletes who were being exploited; however there is a danger that they could contribute to the further reduction of professional sport to a money-making exercise.

Trinity News | Tuesday 22 September

24

Sport

Sports agents are fast becoming the main players on the international stage p.23

Trinity Lady’s Basketball team celebrating their victory over DCU in the National College’s League Finals

Interview with Rebecca O’Keefe of Trinity Lady’s Basketball team Caoimhe Gordon Deputy features editor Last year marked a period of unbelievable achievement for DU Woman’s Basketball team.

Not only was the talented team the champion of the Division 1 League as well as the Division ‘A’ Varsity winner, their achievements rendered the team the obvious recipient of Team of the Year award at DUCAC sports awards. Remaining undefeated throughout every match, never before had a Trinity women’s basketball team achieved such success in one season.

At the helm of this era of triumph was Rebecca O’Keefe, who featured as both the captain of the women’s basketball team and club president in her final year of studies in Trinity College. Rebecca, who has been playing basketball since the age of nine, describes her involvement in the game as

inevitable: “My family are heavily involved in basketball; so much so that my mam was my coach and my dad coached my brother’s team when we were younger!”

When Rebecca entered her first year as a TSM student of English Literature and Sociology, she then possessed years of carefully honed skills. Therefore it was no surprise that Rebecca became an active member of DU Basketball from the beginning.

Not only was she an important player on the court, she also occasionally coached and acted as referee for matches. Rebecca was also involved in the committee side of DU Basketball. “I served on the committee as PRO, Club Captain and Club President so I am greatly invested in the club to put it mildly!” Rebecca explains.

Year of triumph

Glancing back on the year that was, a year filled with one success after another, Rebecca firmly believes that her proudest moment

was lifting the Division 1 League trophy. Describing it as a “great feeling”, Rebecca concludes that this victory definitely motivated the team to do the double and to triumph at the Division ‘A’ Varsities. Reflecting back on this time, Rebecca reveals: “I didn’t know if I’d ever get to a final at all, let alone win it. It also showed me how far we had come as a sports club and how we had gained a more serious respect- we would no longer be there to participate for the craic but to win.”

The team’s many accomplishments were even more significant to Rebecca due to her incredible dedication to the club off the court: “When I was at my wit’s end arranging matches, ordering gear, or organising varsities, the accomplishments definitely made all that hard work worthwhile and there was no greater reward.”

As last year was Rebecca’s final year of study in Trinity College, she mourns the fact that she can’t have a “year of grace”. However,

she remains confident that the team will continue to be fierce competitors during the coming year in her absence.

She also notes that DU Basketball is lucky enough to welcome many Erasmus and exchange students into the fold, including many Victory Scholars from a programme called Sport Changes Lives. “Two years ago a programme called Sport Changes Lives organised American student-athletes to pursue Master’s degrees in colleges throughout Ireland in a range of different sports and we are privileged to receive such Victory Scholars for basketball. The Victory Scholars we have gotten have been very talented and this year will be of the same high standard.” clarifies Rebecca.

Regarding gender

When asked about the difference in treatment between men and women’s sports teams in Trinity College, Rebecca remains

positive that “talent in Trinity” is promoted be it male or female.

She draws reference to the Sports Awards and with Pink recipients.

Within DU Basketball, the team is amalgamated therefore the men and women’s teams share a budget and the funds are allocated within the teams. However, Rebecca does admit that Dublin University Central Athletic Club, although a beacon of support for college sport teams, struggles with cutbacks.

Sponsorship and funds

As she comments herself, it is often “hard to fund every club equally.” However, she believes this usually occurs to specific needs of some sporting teams rather than a targeted gendered difference.

Due to this, some teams may get more funding than others and Rebecca admits that this has caused the team to struggle at times. However this year, the team was assistance due to an

outside sponsor.

Rebecca affirms how beneficial it was for the team to possess such aid this year: “[Sponsorship] helped us out massively when it came to things like gear and tournament costs because in the past there have been occasions where we’ve had to borrow a ball from the opposition just so we can warm-up and we’ve had a pic-nmix selection of team gear ever since I came to the club which of course does not reflect positively on the club.”

Scholarships

One issue Rebecca sees with the treatment of DU Basketball within Trinity College’s sporting circles is the lack of scholarships awarded to those who play basketball: “I have felt that basketball has been somewhat overlooked when it comes to scholarships because DU Basketball has seen many successful players nationally and internationally over the years that have not received any scholarships.” Shockingly, this

year was the first year in which a basketball scholarship was awarded. Overall, Rebecca remains enthused about the sport that has dominated her four years in Trinity College. When asked about any helpful advice she would bestow on potential players, Rebecca’s reply is, as expected, warm and earnest: “If you have any interest at all in basketball definitely join and certainly don’t be intimidated.

The club caters to players who just want to play socially and scrimmage as well as those who play a little more intensely. Even if you don’t want to play, we have plenty of socialising and everyone in the club gets on so well with each other, there’s no nicer bunch!”

Looking back at doping season For the discerning sporting fan, the past year has been a disheartening one, with revelations about atheles and drug use coming to light, while others had suspicion cast upon them.

Laura Frey Contributor For athletics and athletes it is doping scandals rather than sporting achievements that have made the headlines this season. Although the season started promisingly, with the reintroduction of four year bans for first time offences (rather than the two years introduced in 1997), this encouraging progress was to be quickly overshadowed.

Mo Farah

Firstly, the BBC Panorama Documentary broadcast in June detailed all of the accusations against Alberto Salazar who is the head coach of the Nike Oregon project, consultant coach for UKAthletics, current coach of Mo Farah and ironically was a pacesetter for Lance Armstrong during his first ever marathon in 2006.

The list of accusations is a long and varied one but key highlights include a legal supplement for 16 year old Galen Rupp that must have been “mistakenly labelled” as testosterone on his medical chart, as well as testing testosterone gels on his son to see how much could be applied before a positive result ensued, supposedly so they could protect themselves against possible saboteurs.

Farah himself has repeatedly he will split from his coach if the

accusations are proven, but in addition to two missed drug tests of his own he has given his critics and accusers a lot to talk about.

Next came the leaked testing data from German broadcaster ARD and the Sunday Times which claimed that a third of medals won between 2001 and 2012 at Olympic and World Championship level were won by athletes who had had suspicious test results in the past. Some athletes were strongly in favour for the release of all data, whereas others were more cautious.

Paula Radcliffe

The athletes erring on the side of caution suggested that the data could be misinterpreted without due context and could allow people who were trying to cheat to understand the best way to avoid being caught. Paula Radcliffe then ended up as the key figure in the firing line as she eventually released her data and a lengthy statement which reiterated her points about helping cheats and outlined how all three test results were after racing, training at altitude or after taking antibiotics.

She stated that all three incidents had been fully investigated at the time and dismissed due to their context – indeed two of three blood samples were taken within two hours of racing – a practice that has now been abolished due to the variations in data this can cause.

As an athlete who herself once held up a sign in protest at the Edmonton World Championships saying “EPO cheats out” one would hope her claims are true.

Finally, the World Championship itself was riddled with scandal. Was it the negative press such as the two athletes from Kenya who were the first to be banned mid-competition or the men’s 100m final with four previously banned athletes rather than Ashton Eaton’s superb decathlon world record or Aries Merritt’s 110mH bronze medal days before his kidney transplant that more people will have read about?

Sadly the answer is probably the former. Gatlin versus Bolt was built up in the media as good versus evil and the world rejoiced when Bolt proved unbeatable and had Gatlin crying in a corner that he had been demonised by the British media and he would never speak to them again.

Tackling the problem

If your best defence is that a masseuse rubbed testosterone into your buttocks as sabotage, you need to accept that people won’t welcome you back to the track with open arms. Though Gatlin can credit himself with giving Salazar a great excuse for why he wasn’t trying to optimise the practice of microdosing – hardly an achievement to be proud of.

Currently suspicion is so rife that it has clouded the sport. Mas-

“

why not let people take whatever they like and see just exactly what the limits of the human body are? sive revelations regarding widespread doping in cycling over recent years have not helped either. Sebastian Coe, newly elected IAAF president has stated that tackling doping is a key part of his mission and he is already petitioning for an international independent system to take the costs and pressures of testing away from individual nations.

In addition to this, he puts forward the argument that athletics is the leading sport in terms of

testing and that many sports do relatively little testing in comparison – hence the more regular stories.

Indeed it is true that the blood passport has been critical in identifying anomalies and catching the culprits but it is also worth noting that athletics is a sport in which doping can provide such a great advantage in terms of speed, power and endurance – the essence of every track and field discipline.

The same can also be said with regards to swimming and cycling – but when considering other high profile sports such as football, rugby or tennis does it give you such a critical advantage?

Unlikely.

Responsibility

The growing argument in favour of life bans is strong – a clamour supported by many high profile athletes such as Michael Johnson, and Ireland’s own European medallist Mark English.

Significant research has indicated that the effects of powerful drugs such as anabolic steroids can be felt decades later. There are those that hold Justin Gatlin up as an example of this – an athlete who appears to be getting faster and faster at the age of 33.

There are though legal issues surrounding this idea as life time bans could be a breach of human rights. Some people are so fed up they are calling for a split in

races – why not let people take whatever they like and see just exactly what the limits of the human body are? Let the truly clean athletes continue as they are, separately.

However, this is a terrible suggestion – not only would it be dangerous and risky for the health of the athletes (one only needs to scratch the surface of the bodybuilding world) but it would also turn the sport into a farce regarding who has the best ‘supplier’.

Whistleblowers

In addition, it would not remotely level the playing field and what would stop the drugged athletes from still trying to infiltrate the clean races?

The above suggestion solves nothing, rather it would just open a whole new can of worms.

It is truly sad when ex-international stars such as Darren Campbell have come out and said “I wouldn’t encourage my kids to do athletics, every time there’s an allegation of systematic doping, it is very difficult to keep believing in the sport.” Put simply – more needs to be done. Life time bans may not be legal – but what about twenty year ones?

Rarely would an athlete’s career last longer than that. The prize money and appearance fees are supposed to be returned but too often get lost in legal battles or are simply not followed up on

- this needs to be more consistently pursued. The multimillion sponsorship deals could be taken away too: if the big brands agreed to boycott banned athletes, a return to training would be much harder for them.

The current system allows reduced bans for co-operative whistleblowers – a positive step to expose more perpetrators but should a quicker return to sport be their reward? Perhaps a reduced fine would be more suitable or a lesser criminal charge, as cheating to win money is a form of fraud and it might act as a better deterrent if treated as such.

Let us hope this disastrous year of press for athletics forces the IAAF to act and implement changes for the better. I firmly believe in a person’s right to innocence until proven guilty and disagree with the assumption that says high performance athletes must be doping. Sportspeople should not be under suspicion for possessing talent.

For those who believed Lance Armstrong until the very moment he answered “yes” to Oprah, it would be difficult to take the prosecution of one’s sporting heroes as a doper well. However, the tighter the controls become, the cleaner the sport becomes and thus more people can return to enjoying, participating in and spectating the greatest sport in the world.