STUDENTS’ UNION ELECTIONS
BRIMFUL OF SASHA Michael Barry interviews Sasha Grey
JON HUNTSMAN & THE OLD GOP
THE ONES
TO WATCH Two Two
CANDIDATE PROFILES REVEALED
COLLEGE NEWS 2
IN SPORT
OPINION 12
A ROUND UP OF THIS YEAR’S PROMISING ATHLETES SPORTS FEATURES 19
TRINITY NEWS Est 1953
The RAG challenges commence
Light projection transforms front façade of Trinity as part of Dublin City’s New Year celebrations
Manus Lenihan
Charity events on €16,000 target TN gets involved
College News Editor
PROVOST Patrick Prendergast has volunteered for a €1,500 pay cut, reducing his salary from €201,492 to €200,000. He is the only high-earner to agree to Education Minister Ruairí Quinns’s suggested pay cut out of eight university employees receiving over €200,000 a year. While two out of the eight have rejected Quinn’s recommendation outright, five have yet to decide. Among these is UCC President Michael Murphy, who at €232,000 is the highest paid academic in Ireland. A Trinity spokesperson commented: “In the case of the Provost, I can confirm that he has taken a voluntary reduction – his salary of €201,492 has been reduced to €200,000.”
Manus Lenihan College News Editor
RAG week 2012 is well underway, featuring the usual programme of challenging and bizarre events. Trinity will host its first ever game of Quidditch, a charity match between Trinity News and The University Times, and a series of body piercings by Ents Officer Chris O’Connor. It is hoped the charity event will top last year’s fundraising figure of €16,000. The cash aims to support a range of Trinity-based charities, including St. Vincent de Paul, Amnesty International, Suas, Cancer Soc and the Student Hardship Fund. The Voluntary Tuition Programme, in which Trinity students and staff teach on a one-to-one basis in local schools, and the Student2Student society, who organize Peer Mentors and Supporters, also stand to benefit. EVENTS Monday: Mute Monday Tuesday: 2pm Polar Bear Dip Wednesday: 1pm Quidditch match Thursday: 7pm Harry Potter Quiz Friday: 1pm TN v UT Football match Events to look out for are the Quidditch match on the Cricket Pitch at 1pm on Wednesday. Organisers hope to form Dublin University Quidditch Society on the back of the event – many societies like this have already cropped up in US universities. The Trinity News vs. University Times “Grudge Match” will kick off on Friday in Botany Bay at 1pm. If it reaches its funding target of €500, the losing team will be obliged to make a humiliating apology in writing and on video. For those who are having trouble thinking of fundraising initiatives, the St. Vincent De Paul society offers five days of challenges ranging from “Hearing and Sight Awareness Wednesday” to “5 Litre Water Bottle Friday”. Individual fundraising bids – which accounted for almost half of last year’s funds – are as varied as ever. Students raising money for DU Amnesty will dress up as prisoners for the week to bring attention to the detention of suspects without trial in Guantanamo Bay. Ents Officer Chris O’Connor, with the help of Snakebite Piercing and Tattoo, will get a range of piercings based on donations he gets – with a belly button ring at €600, and bull ring through his nose at €700. CSC President Rob Farhat is planning a notechnology week, and History student Hannah Cogan will attempt a “Polar Bear Dip” off the forty foot today, to name a few individual charity bids.
Provost accepts pay cut
Students away for the winter holiday missed out on an impressive light projection which lit up the front façade of Dublin University. The display projected an intricate array of moving clock parts forming a musical countdown to 2012
Union attempts to break ties with USI USI occupy protest cited among reasons TCDSU proposed keeping €8 USI levy GSU outraged at not being consulted by SU John Porter Staff Reporter
STUDENTS’ Union President Ryan Bartlett has called a referendum on Trinity’s disaffiliation from the USI, saying he is no longer convinced that the body represents the views of Trinity students. A precedent exists for disafilliation as both Dublin City University and the University of Limerick are not USI members. Bartlett has already ap-
proached both of the Students’ Unions in an effort to ensure that, if Trinity were to disaffiliate, its students would not be left without a voice on a national level. Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) last year held a referendum on disaffiliation which was rejected by students. Each year the Students’ Union pays the €78,000 for USI membership which comes from the €8 levy undergraduates are required to pay on top of the student charge. €5 of this levy goes
directly to the USI with the other €3 being spent on USI-related activities by TCDSU. Bartlett suggests the proposed referendum ask students if the €8 levy should be replaced by a similar charge that could be used by TCDSU for its own campaigns. The GSU has criticised the actions of the Union in proposing the referendum before discussing it with them. GSU President Mary O’Connor said: “It was wrong of Bartlett to call for a referendum without discussing it with the GSU president.” The call for disaffiliation follows recent occupations by USI members of government buildings by high-profile members including its president, Gary Redmond. Bartlett criticised the planning and execution of the campaign.
“It seemed to come about without it being discussed thoroughly and properly decided on. The execution of the occupation undermined the aims of it and thus it failed to achieve any of the proposed aims.” He also criticised the organisational capacity of the USI. “The way in which the 16 November Dublin protest became a part of the national campaign seemed almost accidental. It was not part of any plans that were being talked about early on and seemed to come about without other options being fully explored.” It is estimated only half the number of Trinity students gathered in Front Square compared to last academic year’s national protest in November 2010, which Bartlett said was due to lack of political engagement with USI.
Mock wedding challenges same-sex law Manus Lenihan College News Editor
A MOCK wedding to highlight to highlight the inequality in marriage legislation regarding same-sex couples was held in Front Square by Trinity Q Soc and DU Amnesty. The December “ceremony” was attended by dozens of activists who witnessed four couples being married. Gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples went through the proceedings two by two in what the officiating “priest” termed “a veritable Noah’s Ark of sexual diversity.” The event featured a choir and a standing congregation, attracting passers-by as it continued. The message to legalise same-sex marriage was summed up in the traditional wedding formula: “Is there anyone here pre-
sent who can think of any good reason whatsoever why these people should not be allowed to get married?” “If two people love each other they should be allowed to marry, regardless of gender,” said one spectator. At the ceremony, Junior Sophister English student Matthew Corbally said: “The event was a lot of fun, as well as highlighting current marriage laws which are absolutely despicable.” Max Kryzanowski, an activist from LGBT Noise, spoke at the end of the ceremony, saying that the event was “a wonderful way to illustrate the inequality that exists, by using irony and humour to lance the boil of stigma and discrimination.” Speaking to Trinity News, Kryzanowski addressed the objections that are often put to him regarding marriage law – that the purpose of marriage is
for the raising of children, and that gay marriage is proscribed by certain religions. He dismissed these arguments as “neurotic beliefs followed by posthoc rationalisations for bigotry.” “You can slice and dice society and come up with sectors of it that have worse health outcomes,” Kryzanowski said, “but we should afford LGBT relationships equal dignity and respect.” Last year saw a similar mock wedding organised by Q-Soc, then known as the LGBT Society. “The more we do things like that, the more the message spreads to places where people aren’t surrounded by LGBT people all the time,” said one participant at the postceremony wedding reception. “We’re very lucky in Trinity, it’s a bit of a gay bubble.” Same gender ceremonies were held
Vol 58 Issue 5
24 January, 2012