Irish Student Newspaper of the Year 2009
THE YEAR IN PHOTOS
The
Power List
Our photographers’ view of the year that was
2009
PULL-OUT SUPPLEMENT 32-PAGE MAGAZINE INSIDE
6 pages of the best ideas for this summer
TRINITY NEWS IN NEW DELHI In a national first for student media in Ireland, Trinity News travelled to India to report firsthand on education and development there Tuesday 21 April 2009
TRAVEL SPECIAL
www.trinitynews.ie
PAGE 18 Issue 10, Volume 55
Ents back away Students vote Yes and Yes from MCD lawsuit By Brian Barry
22%
43%
70%
57%
Constitution Yes: 870 No: 275 Spoils: 96
Coke Yes: 709 No: 534 Spoils: 11
COCA-COLA PRODUCTS are back on the shelves of Students’ Union shops again following a majority ‘Yes’ vote in last week’s referendum. The referendum asked the student body to decide whether the SU should
end a ban on selling the company’s products. A motion to amend the SU Constitution also passed. The biggest change in the new constitution is the change to the role of the Deputy President, which will now be known as the Communications Officer. The job of deputising will fall to the Education Officer. Approximately 8% of the student body voted but despite the low turnout SU Education Officer Hugh Sullivan claimed that the student body were properly informed. He did accept, however, that the timing of the referendums was not ideal. He told Trinity News “The constitutional referendum did have a short amount of time in which it had to be run and given the fact that people were on holiday etc, as much information as possible was given out.” Rob Kearns, head of the ‘Yes’ campaign in favour of lifting the ban on Coca-Cola products, also said that the short time frame affected the profile of
the referendum. Information for voters on the CocaCola referndum was provided by both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaign groups around campus, partly funded by the SU. Kearns explained that the motivation for the ‘yes’ campaign was to allow students the freedom to make their own decision, rather than have the SU dictate their choice on the matter. Information on the new constitution was limited to email attachments of full length copies of the existing and proposed constitutions sent out in the SU’s weekly email. A short-hand synopsis of the proposed amendments to the Constitution was available at polling stations. Class representatives were also kept updated on the matter at SU Council meetings. 96 ballot papers were spoiled in the Constitution referendum, perhaps suggesting that some voters were dissatisfied with the level of information provided to them on the new constitution. 11 votes were spoiled
in the Coca-Cola policy referendum. The role of TSM convenor has been abolished as, according to Sullivan, TSM students have adequate representation from their class representatives, faculty convenors and the SU Education Officer. Sullivan described the position as “a relic from the old college structure”. The new constitution also upgrades the role of Technical Officer to a paid staff position. Sullivan explained the need to finance this role: “It’s no secret that the SU has difficulties keeping the website, Ents website and Record websites working. A clerical staff member will be appointed as tech officer”. Mr. Sullivan said payment will be limited to five hours per week at the union rate. The new constitution was drafted by a committee of SU officers and ordinary members. Sullivan said the it “will make the Union a more professionally organised body and will hopefully make things a bit better for everyone”.
New look for New Square
SU ENTS Officer Nick Longworth has admitted that he contemplated taking legal action against MCD following the release of the headline Trinity Ball act, The Script. Longworth has hit back at critics saying he had no choice but to accept the act that the company chose. Many students expressed anger at Longworth after the headliner was released. One student summed up the widespread frustration, asking if the line-up was Longworth’s idea of an April Fool’s joke on the morning after the final line up was announced on March 30th. Longworth has admitted that he too is disappointed with this year’s headliner and says that MCD coming up with The Script “wasn’t really on after building so
much hype”. Speaking to Trinity News, Longworth explained that he had met with MCD in February to discuss the possible acts to play at the annual Ball. Having been presented with a number of proposed headliners, Longworth said there had been an oral agreement reached as to who would play. Following a number of rumours that circulated College, Longworth confirmed that MGMT had been a possibility but were “unavailable”, as were The Prodigy and Lady Gaga, due to touring conflicts. Trinity News has learnt that “Groove Armada” were the act originally scheduled to headline the Ball but Longworth would only confirm that continued on page 2
STUDENT PAPER OF THE YEAR AS AWARDS for Irish student media go, these are the big ones. They also happen to be the only ones. The National Student Media Awards 2009 were held in the Mansion House on April 2nd. The whole event, from free alcohol to shiny victory paperweights, was organised by the generous souls at oxygen.ie, which we may or may not be obliged to say is the best website since Pirate Bay, while being considerably less exposed to the Swedish justice system. Speaking of which, not all our readers may be aware that Sweden requires compulsory military service of its citizens. The penalty for dodging this duty is unknown, but when our half-Swedish editor, Martin McKenna, picked up the gongs for Editor of the Year and Newspaper of the Year, he was notably keen to draw attention away from himself. His strategy of heaping praise on his wonderful staff, without whom all this would have been impossible and all the rest of it, was lost on some of that uncharacteristically presentable rabble by that stage of proceedings. TN2 editor Hugh McCafferty, for one, could certainly have benefited from a hearty pint of water (and a shave, but that’s a different story), although at least Caroline O’Leary managed not to fall off the stage this year. We await 2010 with interest. Conor James McKinney
By Deirdre Robertson College News Editor TRINITY COLLEGE has outlined plans to modernise and refurbish the New Square residences on campus. New Square residential rooms are located in houses 33-38 and 40. The redevelopment will modernise the rooms, some of which are out of date in comparison to other rooms on campus. The works would be similar to those carried out in Front Square and Botany Bay which were renovated in recent years. The project plans to “provide improvements to the accessibility, lighting, power and IT facilities together with improved kitchen and bathroom accommodation”. Many rooms in New Square currently have limited cooking facilities, no plug sockets in the bedrooms and no wireless internet available. Although the project is in the early stages, it is not clear what will happen if building works coincide with college term time when students would be living in New Sqaure. The Communications Office has said that “a realistic programme will be developed” and “the project will be monitored closely to ensure that it remains on programme.” However, a similar renovation project on the Rubrics residences last summer ran late into Michaelmas Term 2008. The students who were supposed to move into the Rubrics had to be housed elsewhere. Many were paying the rent for a single room in the Rubrics while sharing rooms in other parts of college without compensation. The problem of huge numbers of students being rehoused could be partially avoided by completing the project in stages. A note in the Sites and Facilities Committee minutes on February 10th implies that the rennovations may be done in blocks of houses with houses 33-37 being noted for the first stage.
By Lisa Byrne Deputy College News Editor
Piranha withdraws controversial article By Deirdre Robertson College News Editor FOLLOWING MONTHS of contention over an article published in Piranha! magaine, the Publications Committee has been fined €1,500 for not implementing a suggestion put forward by the Capitations Committee earlier this year. The fine arose over discussion about an article published in Piranha! magazine late last year which caused controversy among college heads. The satirical magazine published an article on how to commit a massacre in Trinity but was asked to withdraw it by College who cited security concerns as the reason. A motion was put to the Students’ Union to withdraw their support of this fine but it was defeated.
Piranha! editor Andrew Booth has decided, this week, to apologise and withdraw the original article. The issue has been ongoing for several months but Publications - who are responsible for granting funding to Piranha!, Trinity News, Miscellany, Trinity Film Review and Icarus - only became involved when the Senior Dean, Mike Jones called a meeting with members of the Publications Committee in January. In a formal complaint to the Committee, Professor Jones described the Piranha! article as “distasteful” and “highly irresponsible”. He asked Publications to “impose sanctions on Piranha! which are sufficiently severe to make it clear that this type of article should not be published in a student magazine.” Professor Jones’s
own opinion was that “any remaining funding for this academic year should be withdrawn.” The Publications Committee agreed to launch an investigation but before this was completed, the Capitations Committee voted to request that Publications cut all of Piranha!’s funding regardless of the outcome of the enquiry. Speaking at the time, Publications’ Treasurer Conor Sullivan said “as far as I am aware the Capitations Committee cannot force Publications to withdraw funding from a particular publication.” However, the Capitations Committee is responsible for assigning Publications’ grant each year and can withdraw funding from the Committee itself. The Publications’ investigation concluded that Piranha!’s funding should be cut by 50% - a total amount
of €750 - which would have rendered the magazine almost incapable of producing another issue. In response, the Capitations Committee voted to fine the Publications committee €1,500 for failing to implement Capitations’ own suggestion of cutting all funding. The Publications Committee commented that Capitations had imposed the fine “despite the fact that Publications had already agreed, at very short notice, to investigate College’s complaint.” They continued, “We agreed with College’s complaint and imposed a sanction which we felt was appropriate and just. It was also quite severe.” The Publications Committee have complained that Capitations “made their decision without giving Pirhana! the opportunity to respond to the charges made against them.”
Reacting to the fine, Gearoid O’Rourke, former editor of Trinity News proposed a motion titled “Motion on Students’ Union Support for Freedom of Speech” at the Students’ Union Council in March. The motion proposed that the Students’ Union “not support the banning or sanctioning of a student publication prior to investigation by the appropriate body.” The SU, who hold three seats on the Capitations Committee, had voted in favour of imposing the fine on the Publications Committee. The motion was voted on and defeated by 5 votes. Andrew Booth has now apologised for publishing the offending article. The €1,500 fine will be taken out of Publications’ budget this year.