Stokes: Let some not eat cake, p4 I R I S H S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
Bureaucratic Board proposal challenged
Issue 3, Volume 54
Going swimmingly: Players’ fundraising
Board member Dr J Vij to take case to stop the creation of a corporation-like Trinity to the College Visitors DAVID MOLLOY DEPUTY EDITOR
Board member Dr. Jagdish Vij upon other officers in college whose positions are defined within the statutes. At the board meeting in which the decision to create the position was made, Dr Vij objected firmly to the proposals as they stood and made clear his strong feelings against them. He alleged that the position of the Bursar would be undermined by the creation of the Chief Operating Officer and would become “untenable in the proposed new structures”. He also claimed that the academic overview of College buildings and finance would be lost due to “the reporting arrangements to the proposed Chief Operating Officer”. Dr Vij also stated that that the proposal was “overly bureaucratic” and would adversely affect the “checks and balances” currently in place. It was further
Plan to increase space, costing millions CAOIMHE HANLEY
suggested that the college was “misguided” in following a UK approach to education, as the UK’s “contribution to the generation of knowledge is declining.” Furthermore, Dr Vij emphatically stated that the “Chief Operating Officer was inappropriate for an academic institution” and requested that his dissent be noted by the Board and also that the proposed changes to the structure of the college as a whole were proceeding too fast. Dr Vij declined to comment, saying he had received legal advice to say nothing more than what is already recorded in the official documents. However, he did clarify that, while he sits on Board as a representative of the Fellows, his challenge is being made in a personal capacity, rather than on behalf of the Fellows as a group. He also confirmed that there was, as of yet, no specified date for the conclusion of the case, although he had originally been told a September date would apply. This may create problems for the Board, who cannot finalize proceedings on restructuring without a judgment from the visitors. The recruitment of the Chief Operating Officer is already underway, with a closing date for applications set for 12 November. The implementation of • Continued on page 4
COLLEGE NEWS EDITOR
Finnish Erasmus student “Liffey Larry” prepares for his fundraising guerilla-style swim in the river LIffey last Friday. Photo: Martin McKenna
GSU treasurer resigns at controversial AGM DEIRDRE LENNON STAFF WRITER Ruth Pe Palileo resigned as Treasurer of the Graduate Student Union during a controversial AGM, held on 24th October. The GSU Executive was accused of unduly influencing Pe Palileo’s decision. It transpired that Pe Palileo had to leave the country for a time to go to the US, and was unsure of her return date, leading to questions whether she would be able to uphold her position. A meeting of the Executive Committee was held, in which
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the members voted on whether they believed Pe Palileo should serve as Treasurer for 2007/8. It was decided that she should not serve, although she had intimated to the meeting that she might be able to uphold her position in the US, as the company she was working for had agreed to allow her to use FedEx to send cheques. A proposed motion, which did not pass at the AGM, stated that Pe Palileo had been unduly influenced by the Executive’s decision and therefore, the Executive had exerted unnecessary influence. Article IV of the proposed motion states that “as Ms. Pe Palileo was duly elected to the post of
Treasurer, it was highly inappropriate for the Executive to assert its preference that she not serve in the role, thus creating inappropriate political pressure on her to resign.” The issue was raised for clarification by Joshua Edleman, a member of the electoral commission, who felt that graduates who were new to the GSU had the right to know what had taken place, and why the GSU needed to replace the Treasurer. Edelman emphasized the importance of committing to a post on the Executive, saying “it is crucial that the people chosen follow the rules and respect
the will of the people who elected them.” However, the issue was further complicated as Pe Palileo sent her resignation by email a day late. She was required to decide whether or not to take up her position by midnight on 11 July 2007, but did not resign until 12th July. This effectively meant that Pe Palileo had in fact taken office as treasurer, although she held this position for less than 24 hours. As the GSU constitution was also changed at midnight on 11 July, Pe Palileo’s decision not to resign until the following day has led to confusion within the Executive as to which constitution her
resignation should be subject to. Under Article V of the pre-12 July constitution, the Executive has “exceeded its authority” in co-opting another candidate, Paul Laird, into the role of Treasurer. According to this constitution, the Executive may only co-opt if the position is not filled in Trinity Term, and hence, it was not valid, as Pe Palileo had taken office. Speaking to TN, Ruth Pe Palileo has said that “I do regret that the postgraduates were not immediately informed that the Treasurer they had elected in good faith had resigned and been replaced by cooption.”
DUCAC has sent plans for a proposed extension and redevelopment of the Pavilion bar to the Director of Buildings office for approval. If ratified, DUCAC estimates the redevelopment will take two years to complete. The new plans are the second attempt by DUCAC to redevelop the Pav. The first set of plans failed to impress the Director of Buildings, as it was felt there was “insufficient space within the existing Pavilion structure to accommodate a (wheelchair accessible) lift, access route and accessible toilets.” While DUCAC did present a plan for a disabled access lift to Dublin City Council Planners at the same time, the proposed location was rejected. Three different plans have been drawn up by DUCAC, in conjunction with Dublin architectural firm Messers Arthur Gibney and Partners. While one version included i-pod docks, and would have cost several million to implement, a simpler version of the plan, known as Option B, has been sent in for approval. If passed, the new-look Pav will finally be wheelchair accessible, with a lift planned for the back left hand side. Indoor space will be increased, with a club function room to be built on the left hand balcony, which will be connected to the rest of the Pav by double doors. Meanwhile, the flat roof on the right hand side will be transformed into universally accessible toilet facilities, with 4 new ladies toilets, 3 mens and 1 staff toilet due to be built, vastly increasing the available toilet space in the Pav. However, the new toilet facilities and clubroom, if implemented, will severely reduce outdoor sitting space, with both sides of the ‘balcony’ surrounding the bar to be built upon, with only a small part of the terrace on each side to remain. According to the Sites and Facilities Committee minutes of 10 Oct. 2006, the proposed redevelopment will be funded largely by DUCAC. However, €75,000 has been allocated from the college’s accessibility budget, to allow for increased disability access to the building. The total estimated cost of the project was unknown at time of going to press.
tn2 Exclusive interviews with Chinese author Jung Chang and reformed drug addict Howard Marks; throwing the perfect dinner party and a Resident Evil: Apocalypse competition 10
Ciaran Dur Block fash kin puts Arts ion in focu s
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Catriona Gray inte Mao surv rviews ivor Jung Chang
Cover Ilustration of www.shirley courtesy moon.com
The College Board has had their authority challenged following their attempts to create a powerful new corporation-like college. The proposed Chief Operating Officer will be responsible for the nonacademic running of the University, and will likely take over a number of duties from other members of the college staff. The Board, which is ordinarily the highest authority in college, approved the creation of the new position on 26 June last. However, Dr J Vij, a Professor in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering department and member of the Board, has taken a challenge to the College Visitors on the grounds that such a decision is beyond the Board’s authority. The Visitors are the highest authority in college and can order certain actions by any member or organization in college. The Visitors consist of the Chancellor of the University, Ms Mary Robinson, or in her absence the Pro-Chancellor, and a judicial visitor, Mr. Justice Brian McCracken, a former Supreme Court judge. Reportedly, Dr Vij’s challenge rests upon the fact that the new Officer will have power which directly limits or infringes
DUCAC expand the Pav
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
CollegeNews The Numbers Game
45% the number of election promises kept by Fianna Fail in 2007 according to a new study by Trinity researchers
€111
Microsoft gives prospective employees poison pens
the cost of Commencements per student
CAOIMHE HANLEY
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COLLEGE NEWS EDITOR
the number of Students’ Union Class Reps this year
5 – 50% the death rate from Weil's disease which can be contracted from swimming in rivers such as the Liffey.
7% the amount Trinity’s state funding is to be cut by over four years
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He said, she said
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“Go out onto the streets of Dublin on a Friday night, even tonight probably, and see the fruits of Western society...” “Either you will live under Islam with dignity or you will have the humiliation of living under Islam because you rejected it.” A native of London who told Trinity News in an interview after the Islamic Fundamentalism debate that he wished to be identified only as Abu Hafs. “Paedophilia is the scourge of the West.” Anjem Choudary also speaking at the debate “Meetings consist of responses to a starving Jew rather than debate on a motion, with the responses ranging from pelting with rancid cauliflowers to dismemberment of the Jew glands.” Re-edit of Phil wikipedia page. “Make no mistake about it, Microsoft are coming for you like an Egyptian plague sweeping through the desert, and the chances are that at the top of it all somebody’s stroking a fluffy white cat.” Mark Wright, Trinity student affected by infected Microsoft USB key
Clarifications and corrections College Treasurer, Grace Dempsey, wouId like to make the followng clarification in relation to the story titled “Treasurer Casualty of College Restructuring” (Michaelmas term, Week 6): “I have indicated to the College that I will be resigning my position as Treasurer to the College with effect from 30 November 2007.The Board was informed of this decision at its meeting of 26 September 2007. My decision to resign has been taken for personal reasons.” In Issues 1 & 2 (Michaelmas term, Weeks 4 & 6) we misspelled the name of Tim Smyth, Auditor of the College Historical Society. We would like to clarify that the correct spelling is Smyth, not Smythe.
Editorial Staff Editor: Gearoid O’Rourke editor@trinitynews.ie Deputy Editor: David Molloy deped@trinitynews.ie Business Manager: Conor Sullivan buisness.manager@trinitynews.ie Copy Editor: Nick Beard copyeditor@trinitynews.ie Photographs: Martin McKenna photos@trinitynews.ie College News: Caoimhe Hanley collegenews@trinitynews.ie National News: Lauren Norton nationalnews@trinitynews.ie International News: Kasia Mychajlowycz internationalnews@trinitynews.ie News Features: Eimear Crowe newsfeatures@trinitynews.ie Society News: Sophie Davies socities@trinitynews.ie Features: Sam Hannaford features@trinitynews.ie Opinion: John Lavelle & Kevin Lynch opinionanddebate@trinitynews.ie World Review: Peter Doherty worldreview@trinitynews.ie Travel: Andrea Mulligan travel@trinitynews.ie Business: Danielle Ryan businessandcareers@trinitynews.ie Science: Sebastian Wiesmair science@trinitynews.ie College Sport: Jonathan Drennan collegesport@trinitynews.ie National Sport: Felix McElhone nationalsport@trinitynews.ie Sport Features: Connel McKenna sportfeatures@trinitynews.ie Graphics: Mary Lohan graphics@trinitynews.ie TN2 Editor: Catriona Gray Film: Conor O’Kelly Music: Carolyn Power Fashion: Ciaran Durkin Books: Paul Earlie Theatre: Polly Graham Art: Caroline O’Leary Edibles: Beth Armstrong Endnotes: Ailbhe Ni Mhaoileoin Website: Brian Henry
tn2@trinitynews.ie film@trinitynews.ie music@trinitynews.ie fashion@trinitynews.ie books@trinitynews.ie theatre@trinitynews.ie art@trinitynews.ie edibles@trinitynews.ie endnotes@trinitynews.ie webdesign@trinitynews.ie
Thanks to: Joey Facer; Pat Morey and College Security for all their help; Caoimhe and Sally-Ann in the Communications Office; Peter Henry; Fionn McLaughlin; Ed O’Riordan; Daithí Ó Malley; Nicholas Moustache; Daire Hickey; everyone in Midland Web Printing. This publication is funded by a grant from DU Publications Committee. Serious complaints about the content of this publication should be addressed to: The Editor, Trinity News, 6 Trinity College, Dublin 2. This publication claims no special rights or privileges.
The offending Microsoft swag. Photo: Martin McKenna
Microsoft distributed virus-laden USB keys to prospective employees at the Graduate Ireland Careers Fair, held in the RDS on 16 October. The free USB key, distributed to students and recent university graduates, caused students’ computers to show a screen-message stating the presence of the virus. The virus proved to be undeletable, and the file containing the
virus could not be closed nor moved. Frustrated students, attempting to contact Microsoft to remedy the problem, were then confronted with yet another dilemma. For, when accessing the Microsoft website, it proved impossible to contact the company. Students were invited to fill in a comment form, but were unable to contact the company by phone or email. Trinity News’ own reporter, Mark Wright, who writes the article below, is still awaiting response after filling in said comment form.
One student affected by the infected USB pen talks about his experience with the “faceless” Microsoft corporation. MARK WRIGHT CONTRIBUTING WRITER A heavy, sinister presence hanging over technology for the last 20 years, more than any other brand, Microsoft has come to represent faceless corporate money-churning monopoly. For the duration of our childhoods, their boss was the richest man in the world and, until the arrival of Google at the start of the new millennium, they bestrode IT like a colossus. There’s always been something a little dark and sinister about them, they seem almost like the front company for a Bond villain’s ruthless quest for world domination with their total annexation of the software market, but it was always hard to put your finger on exactly what their game was… At the Grad Ireland Careers Fair in the Royal Dublin Society last week, I passed the Microsoft stand, a plain, clean cut white fronting with a small and oh,
so familiar red, yellow, green and blue square pattern behind it. “Start expressing yourself”, said the poster. Join a company with “Passion for People”. Take the opportunity to have a “direct creative involvement with the most successful technologies in the world”. The man on the stand was equally gushing. He gurgled and enthused about what a great place Microsoft would be to work. “It doesn’t matter what your degree’s in,” he said, “you should definitely apply! Here let me give you a bag with some of our information in it. There’s a free USB pen in there too.” I slung the bag over my arm, along with the Bloomberg, RBS and Grad fairs Ireland ones. If careers fairs were good for one thing, it was glossy brochures and pens…and key rings and mouse mats and drinks bottles and now, apparently, USB pens. Not that I was complaining: of all the crap that the companies were handing out throughout the RDS at last
week’s Graduate Career Fair, a free USB pen was definitely one of the best and, for all my cynicism, maybe Microsoft would be an interesting place to work. A couple of days later, I needed to save a picture onto a USB. Thinking that I might as well use the free one from Grad fair I dug it out and I plugged it into my laptop. Seconds later I was informed that my antiquated and rumbling virus scanner had detected a Virus. A Trojan horse, to be exact. That can’t be right I thought, it’s from Microsoft, it’s brand new! So I unplugged it and started again. To be greeted with exactly the same message. My computer wouldn’t let me delete the virus or close or move the file, so I unplugged it and called Microsoft in a fit of rage. Or at least that’s what I would have done, except that according to their website, Microsoft doesn’t do phone numbers. Nor it would seem does it do emails. In fact all that Microsoft actually does do is a “comments” form to which,
if you’re lucky, they may deign to respond. I did: politely, bluntly and to the point. I demanded a response within 24 hours and I wanted to know what they were going to do about it. Four days later and still awaiting a response, I have come to the horrifying realization that this is it. Microsoft are about to make their play. Hastened no doubt by the fact that Google are rapidly overtaking them (in both the sinister and technological stakes), they’ve realized that their desperate lunge for worldwide domination and tyrannical must come now or never. Step 1, no doubt, is to introduce a string of viruses around the world through student fairs and, no doubt, chain emails. Step 2 probably involves a rocket launching from an island mountain somewhere. Make no mistake about it, Microsoft are coming for you like an Egyptian plague sweeping through the desert, and the chances are that at the top of it all somebody’s stroking a fluffy white cat.
Labour calls for Commencements fee to be removed ADAM LARRAGY STAFF WRITER Labour Senator Brendan Ryan, Senate spokesperson on Consumer Affairs and Education and Science, has urged Trinity to scrap the ‘commencement fee’ levied on Trinity students receiving their degrees. The senator stated that “Students should be able to graduate after so many years of studying. Placing the burden of a commencement fee as a financial lever to formally finish your course is too much.” The commencement fee of €111, an increase of €7 on the 2006/07 charge of €104, following the College’s annual review of charges, is levied on all Trinity students receiving their degrees and applies even if a student cannot or does not wish to attend the conferral ceremony. The Proctor’s Office could give Trinity News no specific breakdown of the €111 commencement fee, though claimed it included ‘the production of the degree parchments, the upkeep of the Proctor’s Office’s register of graduates and the organization and running of the ceremony itself. This involves, amongst other things, the preparation and decoration of the Public Theatre for the event, security and parking arrangements, and the reception for the graduates and their guests.’ Speaking to Trinity News Senator Ryan criticized the fact that even if a student does not attend the ceremony they are charged for a conferral. In this case, a student is paying for only the parchment, and its postage, an expense that is unlikely to cost €111. Meanwhile, Senator Ivana Bacik says she remembers the charge being an issue when she was commencing and believes ‘the principle of the commencement fee is questionable’ and that she ‘would like to see it abolished or at least some rationale
given for it’ and noted that ‘even in the days students paid fees it was charged’. However, she notes that any campaign against a commencement fee was ‘difficult to organize for’ given the nature of the fee, being paid upon a student leaving college. TCDSU President Andrew Byrne, speaking to Trinity News about the issue, has said that the SU, ‘despite repeated attempts to find out… still hasn’t gotten a clear answer on why students are paying this charge at this level… Any levy on students needs to be justified and explained and we haven’t had a full explanation on this.’ In the statutes of the college, section VII. 12 stipulates that a student may not graduate unless he has paid ‘all Fees or other moneys due to the College’. The commencement fee could potentially put students in a financially difficult position, given students must pay to receive their degree and additionally rent academic gowns and caps for the Commencement ceremony. However, the Proctor’s Office has claimed that ‘candidates for degree(s) with College debts / charges outstanding, including the commencement fee, are considered by the Junior Dean’ and ‘in considering outstanding debts, consideration is given to those in financial difficulties.’ The University of Dublin confers Trinity students’ degrees, of which TCD is the only constituent college, and so the commencement fee is not included in TCD’s registration fee. In colleges operating within the National University of Ireland, degrees are conferred by the NUI but the commencement fee is included in the student services charge of UCD, UCC, NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth so those who do not graduate pay for their conferral regardless.
Trinity College academics lead out a group of students during the annual commencement ceremonies. The cost to each student is €111. Photo: Martin Mckenna
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TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
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Extreme Islam “defeated” High number at heated Phil debate of Class Reps Phil debate proves controvisial as regulars forced to stay away by British Gov’t KASIA MYCHAJLOWCZ INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITOR Catcalls, football chants and recitals of the Qu’uran interrupted speakers at last Thursday’s Philosophical Society debate, which centered on the resolution “That this House believes that Islam is incompatible with Western liberal society.” Members of the Proposition included two well known British Islamists, Omar Bakri Mohammed, who gave his speech via video message because of his banishment from the UK for life, and Anjem Choudary, who has also been banned from Britain. Choudary has become an annual fixture at this debate, to the dismay of the Trinity College Muslim Students Association, whose spokesperson read a statement from the Association as part of the Opposition protesting Choudary’s repeated presence at the debates. Members of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) Ireland Chapter were also present with a press release concerning the event; “ […] we object to the lack of representation of the majority Muslim students’ opinion in the debate,’ the statement read, adding that “FOSIS Ireland Chapter calls upon the Phil Society and TCD to be more mindful of Muslim student’s sensitivities and to
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promote diversity and unity in the community.” Abdul Haseeb, member of FOSIS and host of the radio show “Islam in Focus” on Near FM 90.3, disagreed with having all British speakers on the Opposition side. “The Muslim community in Ireland is unique from others in the world” he said, and that Irish Muslims were not represented by the proposition. The proposition’s argument revolved around the primacy of the Qu’uran (the main Islamic religious text) and its literal interpretation. One speaker, a native of London who told this reporter in an interview after the debate that he wished to be identified as Abu Hafs, said that unlike secular laws, the Qu’uran “gives us all the answers that we need,” and did not ever need to be changed, because “that’s how perfect it is.” A Western liberal society, he said, was entirely incompatible with Islam. “Go out onto the streets of Dublin on a Friday night, even tonight probably, and see the fruits of Western society,” alluding to the lively party scene fuelled by alcohol in Dublin and Western society at large. He ended his speech with an ultimatum; “Either you will live under Islam with dignity or you will have the humiliation of living under Islam because you rejected it.” When pressed to explain this statement after the event, Hafs would not
clarify when or how Sha’ria Law (Muslim religious law) would be implemented in Ireland, but did state that while being Muslim cannot be forced on people, the laws of Islam can and should be. He also defended the validity of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, but said he would not use violence to spread Islam. “You take Islam from the internet,” was opposition speaker Sheikh Shaheed Satardien response to the proposition. An imam and scholar of Islamic studies, Saleh lambasted the proposition, saying that they knew nothing of Islam, which “recognizes the pluralism in society”. He pointed to Choudary and said “all of them must take the blame for the warped minds of these youths” referring to the crowd of traditionally dressed and bearded young men behind the speakers, who chanted Qu’uranic verses and heckled the opposition. “Ask people with at least some respect, and some academic qualifications,” he told the Philosophical Society secretariat, pointing to the difference between the opposition, made up of imams and leaders in the Muslim communities, and the proposition, headed by disbanded Islamist and suspected terrorist organization leader Mohammed. “I will not participate in any Philosophical Society debate again,” said the Sheikh. “This is not supposed to be the standard of
debate.” The first half of the debate passed with only small interruptions from the crowd, but the speakers became more controversial as the night wore on. John McGuirk spoke as the only non-Muslim for the opposition. Proposition speaker Anjem Choudary began his speech with a slew of statistics, stating that “paedophilia is the scourge of the West”, that the rape of men by women was a huge problem in the United States, as was bestiality and marriage to animals. “When you push the boundaries on liberalism, this is what happens,” he said, going on to yell over the boos of the audience “We can see your freedom and democracy in Abu Ghraib [...] in prisons in Britain and Ireland!” The proposition then left en masse before the resolution had been voted on by the members of the Philosophical Society. “Nothing could have prepared me for Choudary,” said Gavin Bushe, a fourth year BESS student who converted to Islam two years ago. Although he stood up on points of order several times when members of the opposition spoke, Bushe was visibly enraged by the spectacle. “Islam lost today,” he said. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more to prevent that from happening.”
returned WILLIAM AHERNE STAFF WRITER According to the Student Union (SU), over 180 class representatives (reps) where elected this October compared to 160 reps last year. This year’s results were well over double the historical average of 80 class reps elected. This year there is an average of one class rep on the SU Council for every eighty-three students at Trinity. The SU Education Officer Bartley Rock described it as one of the largest turnouts but refused to provide vote figures or names of elected class reps due to SU policy. However Rock did note that a high turn out was seen across the academic spectrum. Second year History saw seventeen students out of a class of twenty-five voting. First year Medicine also had a high turn out with over half the class voting, with five candidates competing for three positions. In an interview with Trinity News, Bartley Rock commented that the entire class rep election campaign is strictly independent and controlled by the Electoral Committee at Trinity
consisting of seven students. In addition to this an independent observer who is not associated with the University checks the ballot boxes and then signs a wax sealed page at the bottom of each ballot box in order to confirm that the ballot boxes have not been tampered with. Bartley also said that the campaign was run effectively this year and that there where no major problems encountered. He attributed part of the successful election to a vigorous communication campaign to the student body via class address in lecture theatres and election poster at the eight primly located SU notice boards around Trinity. In summing up the SU Education Officer strongly encouraged those who where not elected to stay involved and get in touch with the SU office in House 6, as there are still many opportunities available to participate. The SU refused to provide financing figures to Trinity News for the overall cost of the election due to SU policy. However it is estimated to have cost less then a fifth of a similar 2007 class rep elections held at University College Dublin.
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Inconsistent decisions see some lunches axed but cake sales allowed AOIFE MARIE GRIFFIN STAFF WRITER The Dublin University Food and Drink Society were forced to abandon their 16 October Arts Building brunch after being told that the event did not adhere to College Health and Safety Regulations. The confusion regarding the prohibition was compounded when the Dublin University Players successfully held a bake-sale the following day. The Food and Drink Society were left bemused as to why, after hosting the event for several years, they suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of College Catering policy. What has come to light is an apparent inconsistency by college administration with regards to implementing, or even specifying, these
regulations. Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Food and Drink Society, when trying to ascertain the cause of the embargo, claims he was informed by the Junior Dean Emma Stokes that new restrictions had been put in place regarding food-related events. Sanctioned events now not only have to be preapproved by college catering, but also have to be certified by all four of the Dublin Health Boards. Beyond this, those hosting the event have to be qualified to serve the food and that any “home-cooking” is banned. However, Graham Daniels, the Director of the Accommodation and Catering Services was asked what new measures had been put in place regarding the selling and/or provision of food his answer was an unequivocal “none.” Food and Drink Society, as for the
past three years, gained clearance from Security to set up the stand and were not informed that they required clearance from either the Junior Dean or College Catering. Security also raised no objections on being told that toast, tea and coffee would be served among other food items. However, Taja Naidoo, Chairperson of the Food and Drink Society was quick to point out they “were very fair with us, after being told that we had to abandon the free brunch they were very understanding in giving us time to make arrangements for the removal of all the free food…“ The society must now either cancel or relocate two other events of this term, one of which has been organized in conjunction with the Chilean Embassy. Despite the Food and Drink Society’s forced abandonment of their brunch, DU Players, after hearing about the incident,
immediately sought and gained permission to hold their bake-sale the following day. While the sale had been booked in advance, this permission was granted only a day before the event and allowed for the provision of the allegedly banned homecooking. When questioned about this, Daniels stated “Where food is pre-prepared and offered at ambient temperature with no re-heating or refrigeration required and sold/distributed in a short period of time, I have the authority to approve such a distribution, once I am satisfied that there is no risk of food hygiene regulations contravention, provided the overall event has been booked and approved in the normal manner.” One of the central bones of contention has proved to be the online application form needed for any event on campus to be approved. Food and Drink
Society were referred to this form only after their brunch had been cancelled. Among other rules, it states that a list of requirements for external caterers, with caterers required to have a Health Service Executive Food Hygiene Certification, which is to be approved by the College Catering Manager two weeks in advance of any event. The food must be prepared and cooked off site, and no naked flames (oil/candle food warmers) may be used to keep food hot: an electrically powered unit is acceptable. When asked why the DU Players were approved only a day in advance, Graham stated his authority to approve the event and made a marked distinction between a catering function and a bakesale, a difference not accounted for under the term “external caterers.” Though these rules also appear to
allow for the provision of home cooked goods and electrical units, it quickly transpires that “electrical unit” is ambivalent shorthand for a hot plate. From this, there is no clear indication that the use of a microwave and a toaster, as electrical units, would have proved a problem. Tom Merriman, College Safety Officer, explains why these appliances were deemed unacceptable “the use of toasters/microwave cookers is likely to trigger the fire detection system resulting in an evacuation of the building.’ While this is a viable health and safety argument, the entire incident highlights the need for better regulation and communication among both the societies and the authorial powers on campus. Graham states that Security has no authorization to approve events and does not know why the annual brunch was not stopped in previous years.
“Liffey Larry” makes a splash for DU Players’ fundraiser MARTIN MCKENNA STAFF WRITER A Finnish Erasmus student undertook a guerrilla-style swim in the river Liffey on Friday as part of Dublin University’s Players’ Freshers’ Co-op fundraising drive. He told Trinity News,“I just wanted to swim in the Liffey. When I see the water, I see the possibilities”. “Liffey Larry”, who does not want to be named lest he has broken any potential administrative regulations regarding swimming in the Liffey, came to Ireland on 16 September and joined many societies, but especially wanted to get involved with Players since he has done some theatre in Finland “The Co-op is a big production,” explained Larry, “that students direct, produce and perform themselves. Everything on stage costs money — the set, costumes and so on”. Fundraisers pledged to complete an activity for which they received sponsorship from fellow students. Two girls were handcuffed together all day.
“One of my friends suggested I wear a swimming hat all day, but I thought that was a bit lame, so I decided to swim.” Larry’s flatmate is involved in the official annual Liffey swim. He gave Larry some practical advice including “how I might feel afterwards and that I probably wouldn’t die. I didn’t have the time to organise a big event, so it was done guerilla style.” On the day, Larry was accompanied by a fellow Erasmus student wielding a towel and encouragement and a photographer. A calm spot down the road from the Sports Hall was chosen for its proximity to the showers there. After checking the life rings, Larry was in. Passers-by seemed unperturbed by the spectacle. Larry said afterwards, “I would warmly recommend it to everyone. It was really refreshing.” Asked about Dublin’s level of pollution, Larry said “In Finland, you would swim almost anywhere. In many cases, I find Dublin clean enough. Actually, I just came in on the bus and I have it say it’s awful.”
“Liffey Larry” enters the river Liffey to begin his fundraising swim for DU Players’ Freshers’ Co-op. Photo: Martin McKenna
Trinity scholar re-examines massacre of Protestants
Challenge taken to Visitors
DEIRDRE ROBERTSON
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STAFF WRITER One of the most controversial events in Irish history is due to be re-examined with the publication of evidence that has rested in the Trinity Archives for over 200 years. The research project will digitize 19000 pages of evidence on an alleged massacre of Protestants four centuries ago. The €1 million research project is a collaboration between Trinity College, Aberdeen University and Cambridge University. It will publish evidence and depositions that have been in the Trinity Archives since 1741. Accounts of the rising from Protestants, Catholics, English and Irish speaking citizens will be available for public viewing within three years. This interdisciplinary task will engage historians of all nationalities as well as literary scholars, linguists, historical geographers,
gender studies and computer scientists. The 1641 rebellion was the first act of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Up until today, it has been used as one of the excuses to fuel further violence between Protestants and Catholics. Ian Paisley and his followers mark its anniversary every year, the Orange Order use depictions of Protestants being drowned by Catholics in many of their march banners and the 1916 Proclamation of Independence referred to the 1641 rebellion as the first assertion of the Irish people’s right to freedom. The research project, “Massacres, Myths and Memory – the 1641 Depositions project”, will use thousands of eyewitness accounts from all social groups across Ireland including both Protestants and Catholics. According to Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, head of the School of Histories and Humanities, the Trinity project will “transform what we know” and challenge
much of the existing written work about this period. The alleged massacres occurred on 22 October 1641 and the weeks following, when Catholic gentry attacked Protestant settlers. The Catholics thought that the English Parliament was going to implement anti-Catholic laws in Ireland and they wanted to prevent this. They appealed to the King of England, Charles I for help, but his influence had little effect with the Protestant-ruled Parliament, as Charles was felt to be too Catholic. The rebellion spread throughout Ireland with hundreds of Protestants displaced from their homes. The violence carried on until Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland in 1649. Although it is undeniable that many Protestants were killed, the actual numbers were have been exaggerated and debated throughout history. Edmund Spenser, an English poet contemporary to the massacres, alleged that 37000 Protestants
had been massacred. The BBC recently published an article saying that 12000 English Protestants were killed. In comparison, Professor Ohlmeyer says that evidence now shows the actual figures to be around 4000. Historian Adrian Clarke says that the rising changed the place of Catholics within Ireland. By December 1641, the possibility of peaceful cooperation between the Catholics and Protestants was lost. After 1660, new laws meant that Protestants enjoyed many more privileges that any other religion. According to Professor Ohlmeyer, by laying out all of the available evidence, we can finally rediscover the actual events of 1641. This, she hopes, “will help us to come to terms with sectarianism, our identity, Ireland’s own encounters with massacre, atrocity and mass killing and highlight the importance of history and memory.”
college restructuring has been provisionally set for January 2008. The college has clarified this, saying “legal advice on the matter has indicated that the Board could progress with the implementation of the Board decisions on restructuring including the appointment of the Chief Operating Officer, but not conclude matters, pending the outcome of the appeal.” However, the Visitors could reverse the decisions of the Board, a power clearly defined in the Statutes, which states: “If any member or members of staff or student or students of the College or University…shall claim that any decision of the Board is inconsistent with the Statutes, such member or members of staff, student
or students may …appeal to the Visitors…The Visitors may confirm the decision of the Board in whole or in part, or amend it, or declare it null and void, and their decision shall be binding on all parties.” The recruitment notice for the position of Chief Operating Officer states that the post will “be responsible for overseeing all the College’s administrative and support functions”, some of which are already overseen by the Bursar, Secretary, and Registrar, among others. The Officer will also be “accountable for a large budget and a significant number of staff”, which may infringe upon the role of the Treasurer’s office. The case is still ongoing.
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College in financial crisis? News CONOR SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER Trinity’s state funding grant is to be cut by 7% over the next four years. The Higher Education Authority is going to cut the grant, as the college has been judged to have been over-funded in comparison with other universities. Due to this, Trinity College will receive a three percent rise in funding, rather than the five percent which it otherwise would have received. However, College denies this apparent over-funding. Speaking to the Finance Committee, Ms. Grace Dempsey, the then-College treasurer, stated that
projected estimates for 2007 show a deficit of €7m in the college’s accounts. Meanwhile the Finance Committee has “expressed its serious concern in relation to grave financial uncertainties facing the College for the next number of years and has noted the significant strategic decisions that were likely to have to be taken in relation to maintaining or adjusting levels of activity, generating funding or the possible letting/sale of assets.” Speaking to the College Board on 20 June 2007, the Provost said that the College would be trying to win funds from the Strategic Innovation Fund to deal with the shortfall in funding and that all sources of
funding will be examined to try and deal with the deficit. He warned that there would be a need for strong management and control over costs in the future. Meanwhile, the Board has agreed to take action to increase funding from within College. This action will include the doubling of PhD numbers, an increase in international students and philanthropic funding. Undergraduate numbers will be increased “strategically”, with costs reduced where possible. Meanwhile, the Board will “find ways to secure funding over the interim period.” However, concerns have been raised about this plan. It has been noted that there is a limited capacity to double the number
of postgraduate students, since some supervisors in college are already at full capacity. Also presented as an option was a proposal to increase student numbers across college and to cut spending, but this was rejected because it would risk a serious reduction in teaching and research in College. Concerns were also raised in the Finance Committee about the additional costs of restructuring, which cost €2m more than planned. The College is going to apply for funding from the Strategic Innovation Fund, but if it does not succeed, the College may run a deficit for 18 months on the basis that the new Chief Academic Officer and Chief Operating Officer would
be given savings targets. The HEA Recurrent Grant Allocation Model was introduced by the HEA in 2006 and changes the state funding that universities receive. Funding for core teaching and research will be decided on using a mathematical model similar to one that was recently introduced in Trinity. The model uses data on the numbers of undergraduates to calculate funding. The HEA found that Trinity was overfunded by 7%, according to the model, and so will redistribute that funding to other universities, at the rate of 2% per annum until there is no more over-funding.
Do Gov’ts keep their promises? Trinity five-year study breaks down election promises kept by major Irish political parties BRENDAN MORAN STAFF WRITER A new study conducted by Trinity College researchers has revealed a poor performance by the Irish government in keeping election promises. The study, which is contained in the soon-to-be-released study How Ireland Voted 2007, analysed the pledges contained in the manifestoes of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in the 2002 General Election. The aim of this report is to investigate the “key questions about the quality of democracy in general and in contemporary Ireland.” The research found that of 49 election pledges made by Fianna Fáil, only 22 or, 45%, were fully fulfilled by 2007. While the PDs made more pledges with 68, they also managed to keep more of them, having fully fulfilled 32 of them (47%) in the same time period. The study also examined the level of pledges which could be considered to have been partially fulfilled by the parties in Government. When the promises partially kept are included, the figure for Fianna Fail’s
compliance with election pledges reaches a more respectable 76%, while the PDs kept or partially kept only 66% of election promises. Despite the somewhat low figures, Irish political parties are shown to perform well in comparison with governmental parties around the world. While the report gives a figure of 70% for promises kept or partially kept by Irish political parties, the corresponding figure for the United States is 60%, with the Dutch governmental parties being even worse at only 57%. Only the UK performed significantly better than Ireland in the report, its governing parties following through on 84% of pledges made. In addition to ascertaining the rate of election promises kept, the report also examined the level of agreement between the government and the opposition parties in the 2002 election. The report showed that the government fulfilled 25% of the promises contained in Fine Gael, Green Party, Labour and Sinn Féin manifestoes. The full report by Trinity academics R.Costello & R.Thomson will be published in the forthcoming book How Ireland Voted 2007, edited by M. Gallagher and M. Marsh.
Fallout from Jewish joke continues, Wiki page edited PÁDRAIG O’MEARA STAFF WRITER The Wikipedia entry of the University Philosophical Society was vandalized recently to incorporate anti-Semitic material. An unknown vandal attacked the web page on 21 October changing the majority of the entry into anti-Jewish slurs. The webpage, which provides information about the workings of the society, was edited almost entirely into a racist rant. The Phil was renamed the society “The With My Mighty Wang I Shall Lay the Jew Low Society’ and described the Phil as an ‘Irish Crazy-JewSex-Killing-Blaaaagh” society. According to this re-edit, the society holds “annual trial and execution of prominent members of the Dublin University Jewish Society”, and meetings consisted of “responses to a starving Jew rather than debate on a motion, with the responses ranging from pelting with rancid cauliflowers to dismemberment of the Jew glands.” The re-edit also claims that the
society organises “club-the-Jew nights, sporting events (such as the now infamous Jew Hunt, done in association with the Dublin University Rifle Club)“, and the “Jew-into-the-sea drives”. It described the organising committee as “the biggest group of arrogant, smug, self-aggrandizing morons in the known universe.” While the majority of the re-edit consists of various racial slurs, references are also made to actual controversies in which the Phil has been involved. These include inviting Oswald Mosley to speak during his residence in Ireland, and in 1988, inviting then-Holocaust denier David Irving to speak, which resulted in a large protest by students, staff, Jewish groups, socialists, and anti-Nazi activists, forcing the meeting to be relocated to a hotel conference room and held in the small hours of the morning. When questioned about this vandalism, Ruth Faller, President of the Phil, described the re-edit as ”a sick joke”. She stated tha she didn’t know who was responsible, but that it was “obviously someone who had too much time on their
hands”, describing the vandal as “sad” and “pathetic”. She also stated that it wasn’t much of a problem, as the re-edit was corrected back to its original form very soon afterwards. This attack on the Phil’s’ Wikipedia entry was provoked by a Jewish slur which was printed in its annual publication, The Philander. The magazine, which was sent to the homes of most incoming Junior Freshman, quoted Joerg Haider, leader of Austria’s xenophobic Freedom Party, stating that “Jews are always welcome in the chamber”. The distasteful joke created offence among readers, resulting in College censorship of the quote. However, that wasn’t the end of the matter, with Faller appearing on the Gerry Ryan Show on 8 October in defense of her society. During her appearance, she stated that the comment had appeared in The Philander by mistake, and that the “inexperienced writer” responsible for comment had been “disciplined severely”, and “fined in accordance with the college disciplinary procedures.”
Briefing Halloween fancy dress waltzing This Halloween, the Dublin University Dance Society are running a fancy-dress ball in Cafferty’s @ the Ierne (opposite the Garden of Remembrence) with Latin band Mangéira. All levels of dance experience are welcome! The event is in aid of various groups: Vincent de Paul, Cancer Society, Voluntary Tuition Program as well as SUAS. Tickets are €15 and can be purchased in the Hamilton and Arts Buildings. Doors open at 8pm. Dance Society holds classes in Latin and Ballroom dancing every Friday, from 7.30 –9.30pm, in Regent House (above Front Arch). People don’t have to know how to dance to attend, and they don’t have to come with a dance partner either. If you are looking for a fun, social and colourful way to get involved in college life come along to Dance on Friday nights. Try a new pastime, make some new friends, and find out if Dance Society is for you. John Prendergast
Students against climate change Students Against Climate Change held a meeting in Goldsmith Hall on Saturday 20 October. Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources opened the event. He stated that “This level of consumption [of oil] cannot continue, and the government needs to address that.” The Minister believes that further investment is needed to encourage the public to switch to more environmentally friendly practices, such as an increased commitment to recycling, the use of public transport and the rapid introduction of alternative energy sources. Dave Curran, USI Environmental Awareness Officer, believes that as Students Against Climate Change grows, increasing pressure will be put on the government. “We can make changes in our own lives, but we can only really start to make a difference if we come together. We need our colleges, institutions, businesses and government to start taking action.” Christina McSorley
Your View What would you like to see in the extended Pav being mooted by DUCAC? Compiled by Conor Sullivan
collegenews@trinitynews.ie
Brendan Lawton
Daire Hickey
Donagh Horgan
Eva Shaughnessy
Nick Daly
UCC Engineering
JS BESS
UCC Enigeering
SS Bess
SF Enigeering
From what I see here at the pav and from my experiences in Cork, I think there should be a total overhaul. There should be strippers and a brothel. The strippers should be on ice skates and mix your drinks on their way across the room to you.
I think that prices at the Pav should be lowered. Opening hours should be extended beyond what they are and the building should be used as venue, as in other colleges. In the summertime there should be people outside selling cans.
There should be some chandeliers and a butler. Everyone should be required to wear a smoking jacket and a top hat upon entry. I would like to see all-female bartenders and they should wear nothing but smoking jackets and top hats.
Well I think there should be more sheltered areas, the building is far too small at the moment for the only bar on campus. Perhaps somewhere that could be used as a venue. Oh, and cheaper vodka.
I think the present system of steps should be abolished, and a slide installed as this would be better in the case of a fire and if the Pav needed to be evacuated. Also, some more outdoor heaters would be useful as it can get a bit cold when you pop
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Union cites resignations as “necessary for the long term development” of the organisation.
Alcohol policy protest at UL The Quadrangle in University College Cork Photo: Mark Sardella Hundreds of students at the University of Limerick walked out of lectures on Wednesday to demonstrate against perceived delays in implementing the University’s 2002 Alcohol Policy Action Plan. The Students’ Union agreed to ban all alcohol promotions on campus in an effort to “ensure the social and academic life on campus is conducive to the health and well being of students and staff.” The ban was approved in exchange for increased funding to the sum of €60,000 a year for clubs and societies to replace lost alcohol-related sponsorship. Alongside the additional funding, additional measures were promised, including the opening of a late-night non-alcoholic venue on campus and a pledge to keep Wednesday afternoons free in order to foster participation in extracurricular activities. Protesters said UL had failed to meet the terms of the Action Plan, with lectures still scheduled in various departments on Wednesday afternoons. The Students’ Union has vowed to “withdraw from the policy with effect from Wednesday 28 November 2007.” Lauren Norton
New power privileges for Cork’s class reps ALAN GOOD EDITOR, UCC EXPRESS Class representatives have been empowered with mandating privileges for the first time in the history of the University College Cork Students’ Union. In a progressive move, the Students’ Union Executive Committee has agreed to be mandated by the Union Council and the newly established Postgraduate Council. Under the new terms which were passed at the end of last month, mandates must be passed by both councils, subject to certain criteria. The move is in line with procedures implemented in other universities and hierarchically places the Council above the Exec, which is made up of seven elected officers. While altering the power structure permanently would require a referendum, the move means the Exec have accepted that they may be overruled under circumstances where there is a consensus
among the student population. Ahead of the first Union Council meeting of the academic year Students’ Union President Kris McElhinney expressed his approval of the move. “In many universities, particularly in Ireland, one of the things which has empowered students is mandating the Exec”, he said. “One of the big things is you can have a middle ground where you can have Exec-mandating which leads to informed decision-making. “In UCC it was always something which was put on the back-burner. People wanted to empower class reps, but didn't want to empower them too much, because there had been problems in University College Dublin and Trinity where councils became politically active, which stunts the growth of their feedback processes.” The move comes amid news that nearly three times as many students voted in last week's class rep elections than did last year, electing 140 reps in the process. The turnout is believed to be in the region
of 1000, a mere 6% of the student population. However, this is in line with turnout in most universities and easily trumps last year's figure of 300 votes. Meanwhile, the establishment of a Postgraduate Council for the first time reflects not only the increasing numbers taking fourth-level courses, but also the importance of the issues facing these students. Nominations have been received and elections will take place in the coming weeks, but Mr. McElhinney said there had been delays in contacting postgraduate students. “Post grads don't use their student email accounts at all, we had a 90% bounce-back so we had to find another way to contact them”, he explained. Nonetheless, he added that the new system should result in a stronger student voice on major issues. “It adds a weight to our decisions”, he said. “If you can say all postgrads and undergrads agree with something, then you can go to the college and say ‘This is a genuine problem.’”
LAUREN NORTON NATIONAL NEWS EDITOR Following the resignation of Richard Morrisroe as Union of Students in Ireland President,USI has called the upcoming election “a springboard to the next phase of vital work for the student movement”. In the wake of the Morrisroe/Conlon scandal in which Conlon posted an unsigned document on politics.ie attacking the leadership and integrity of the USI President, the Union reasserted the successes of current and previous cabinets. “This year has already seen the Union increase pressure on the Government to fulfill the pledges USI extracted from Fianna Fáil and its present coalition partners during the general election campaign.” The Government is “utterly bound and entirely pledged”, continues the Union’s latest press release on the issue, “to keep Free Fees sacrosanct, establish a Student Accommodation Taskforce to end the housing crisis and reform the Student Grants system.” “While USI Officer Board regrets the resignations tendered during the weekend, it accepts that these actions were necessary for the long-term growth and development of
the organisation. Students’ Unions across Ireland convey thanks to the officers stepping down for representing third-level students during this vital year.” The election for USI president will be held on 3 November. A separate election will be held in the coming weeks to fill Steven Conlon’s position of Equality Officer.
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InternationalNews The Global Campus OXFORD UNIVERSITY The Oxford Union under Fire
The Dalai Lama accepts his first American professorship in Atlanta, Georgia Photo: Gavin Werbeloff/The Emory Wheel
Dalai Lama installed as faculty member SUSAN MCMILLAN STAFF WRITER, THE EMORY WHEEL With the presentation of a letter, an EmoryCard and a binder full of science lessons, the Dalai Lama officially became a member of the Emory University faculty Monday morning. More than 2000 people filled the Woodruff Public Education Center Arena for an elaborate installation ceremony that fused Emory and Tibet traditions, beginning with a performance of the alma mater. After each line sung by No Strings Attached, Tibetan Buddhist monks responded with sonorous chanting, with tones like a didgeridoo’s. A procession of deans, monks and students filed through the crowd and to the stage set up in the Woodruff P.E. Center. The Dalai Lama, on University President James W. Wagner’s arm, held up the tail end of the procession greeting audience members. “It is the culmination of more than 15 years of consultation and planning as courageous leaders of Emory and Drepung Loseling monastery sought to find a way to
Making US colleges green EMILY LYONS
bring these two great intellectual traditions together”, Wagner said. Administrators and students thanked the Dalai Lama for joining the Emory community and for his work on peace and religious harmony. Along the way, the Dalai Lama received tokens of his affiliation with Emory, including a faculty identification card, a white binder with science lessons for monks in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative and a framed copy of Wagner’s letter inviting the Dalai Lama to join the Emory faculty. The installation, for all its ceremony, had some unscripted moments. At one point the Dalai Lama, noted for his sense of humor, played tug-of war with Wagner over a microphone. “This man is a geniune human being”, Wagner said, laughing. “I have enjoyed so much being around you to learn what it is to be such an open and caring human being.” When the time came for the Dalai Lama to give his inaugural lecture as an Emory professor, Wagner escorted him to the podium. “Your Holiness — professor — these
are your students, faculty and colleagues”, Wagner said. “Students and faculty, I present your newest professor.” The Dalai Lama began by making the audience laugh yet again. “Having been installed professor, I don’t know how to start my lecture”, he said. After dismissing titles and saying he prefers to refer to his students and colleagues as “human brothers and sisters”, the Dalai Lama gave a lecture on “Reality as Interdependence.” In Buddhist tradition, he explained, all events are interconnected causally, regardless of their temporal sequence, and phenomena can be analyzed only in context with other events or experiences. “When all causes and conditions fully come together, this result inevitable”, he said. The Dalai Lama said the concept of interdependence has important ethical implications for caring for other human beings and the environment. The ideas of “we” and “they” invoked in war are incorrect, he added. “Destruction of your so-called enemy is your victory”, he said. “But if you look
from a wider perspective, no longer reality. Your neighbor is part of yourself, so destruction of your neighbor is destruction of yourself.” As the crowd filed out, Leslie Saunders, a guest at Emory, said she has seen the Dalai Lama on TV several times and decided to attend the installation ceremony rather than go to a job interview in Kentucky — with the company president’s blessing. “This is a life wish to be in this man’s presence”, Saunders said. “Every time I listen, there is this aura that he transmits, even electronically, that leaves me so serene.” Wencong Chen said having the Dalai Lama at Emory will boost the school’s visibility, especially internationally. Chen, who is from China, said he attended in part to hear a perspective that would be excluded from his country’s state media. Chen said he came away impressed with what the Dalai Lama said about living with nature. “All those technological things blind us to what is really us, what it means to be human”, he said.
House of Commons gives animal testing the go-ahead
CORNELL UNIVERSITY With the meeting of the Student Action on Climate Change Campaign and the talk by last year’s member of the Ben & Jerry’s Climate Change College, the past weeks have marked impressive environmental activism at Trinity. At the same time, students on the other side of the Atlantic are also taking steps to protect the environment. Fall 2007 marks the first term that Cornell University (New York) has signed on to the American College and University’s Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Our college’s President signed on to this commitment after being urged to do so by a petition signed by 4700 students. The commitment requires that the college progress towards complete carbon neutrality, eventually reducing the campus’ net carbon emissions to zero.
KERENSA SLADE STAFF WRITER Oxford University has retained its animal experimentation license after calls for its revocation were rejected by the House of Commons earlier last week. Portsmouth MP Mike Hancock had called for the license to be withdrawn whilst an investigation into the treatment of a macaque monkey called Felix occurred. In a written statement to the House Meg Hillier, the Junior Home Secretary wrote “I am satisfied that the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have been fully met and I do not consider there is a need to vary or suspend the licence.” Felix has become the focus of an ongoing campaign by animal rights protest group Speak to stop the building of a new university animal testing laboratory. In April, an 88 year-old woman made headlines by holding a public two-day fast in a cage to campaign for the release of the monkey. The University has now confirmed that Felix was humanely killed
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in June after completion of the research in which he was involved. The three year battle between Oxford University and animal rights protesters has seen a number of court injunctions against the protestors including a ban on the use of Megaphones. There is also a 100 yard exclusion zone around all colleges and residential buildings of the university within which protests must not take place. Complaints that this infringes on the right to freedom of speech have been met with insistence from the University that it has a duty to protect its staff and students. A student who does not wish to be named commented: “As well as shouts and jeers as we pass the protestors, we have to put up with them chanting ‘Stop the Oxford Animal Lab’ or ‘Oxford university; Felix murderers’ outside our window all afternoon on a Thursday. It is annoying and can be scary if you are alone. That is not the way to win student support.” Speak is a non-violent organisation, but interest in their campaign has not exclusively come from peace-seeking citizens. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for an arson attack
on an Oxford college boathouse during the Easter Vacation of 2005, warning that “From here on nothing you own, rent or have dealings with is off limits until the project is scrapped.” It is not only members of the University who feel threatened; building work was suspended for a number of months in 2004 when the contractors pulled out following intimidation and threats to its employees. Angered by the one sided debate on the issue of animal testing for medical research, a sixteen year-old school student from Swindon founded the Pro-test’ movement. The group, whose aims include “to promote science, medical research and human welfare”, organised a well attended demonstration in support of the building of the animal lab in Oxford city centre and has since received public personal support from Tony Blair. A spokesman for the organisation explained: “[...] While diseases such as cancer and AIDS continue to kill millions, we are not just justified in continuing with animal research, we have a moral responsibility to do so.”
The Oxford Union is regarded as the world’s most prestigious debating society and calls itself “a forum for discussion of controversial issues that believes first and foremost in freedom of speech”. But now that the society’s president suggested inviting Holocaust denier David Irving, criticism from student groups and anti-fascist campaigners has arisen. Luke Tryl, Oxford Union president, defends his decision by saying: “The Oxford Union is famous for its commitment to free speech and although I do think these people have awful and abhorrent views I do think Oxford students are intelligent enough to challenge and ridicule them”. In addition, the recent debate “This house believes that one state is the only solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict” was criticised by Professor Alan Dershowitz, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph. The American criminal lawyer observed that both sides were anti-Israel and according to him the Union has “become a propaganda platform for extremist views, principally of the hard Left”. Damian Thompson, editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald describes the whole conflict as such: “I think you can just about make a case that loonies and extremists should be allowed to speak at Oxford in order to face their critics. But what you cannot do is organise a discussion about Israel and Palestine in which both sides are anti-Zionists”. Monika Urbanski
L’INSTITUT D’ETUDES POLITIQUES DE PARIS
Trinity Student Abroad: Anna Stein An excerpt of the first of Anna Stein’s blog about her year at l’Institut d’etudes politiques de Paris available at http://www.trinitynews.ie/blogs/erasmus/ It is fitting that I am writing the first of my blogs on my first night in my new apartment. Until now, I have been flotsam, tossed by the uncaring and seemingly incomprehensible waves of Parisian society and bureaucracy; and what right has flotsam to comment on anything? But now, fully installed, with my new Ikea mattress under me and my Ikea curtains floating on the currents of conversation wafting up from the streets below, I am starting to feel, not that I belong, or even that I understand how to go about belonging, but that I am grounded enough to begin to make sense of what’s going on around me. Paris provides no shortage of opportunity for pithy, off-hand anecdotes about the traffic, the irritating little rat-dogs and their even more irritating owners. Everything in this city seems designed to try the patience of a saint and the logical capacity of even the best Sodoku player. There are banks that charge extortionate amounts in order for you to keep your money with them, university offices that close arbitrarily and are all but guaranteed to be closed when you most need them and shops where you just feel grateful to be allowed to buy anything at all. However, despite all of these irritations, I feel that to begin my account of my year in Paris with a catalogue of the city’s failings and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that I encounter on an almost daily basis would be to miss the point of a year abroad in general, and of this city, in particular. Besides, there is time enough for that. I cannot promise that all future blogs will not be frustrated, ranting, hate-filled invectives against everything Gallic, but for this, the first of my blogs, I am more than content to dwell on the positive points of this most wonderful of cities. This a country where the tasks that we treat as chores or as non-events form such an integral part of the daily fabric of life that almost every commuter rushing home after a day at work is likely to have a briefcase in one hand and a freshly baked baguette in the other. Eating one from the previous day would not only be undesirable, it would be a culinary crime of catastrophic proportions. It is my proposition that this is one of the world’s most civilised countries, even with the paperwork and general bureaucratic misery. Here, wine is cheaper than water. It is true that you are not likely to find a grand vin for the same prices as a bottle of Evian, but if you are prepared to compromise, and as students we do little else, then you may find it is more economical to pick wine over water, and eminently more enjoyable. Here, the government will subsidise your rent. It’s not means tested, it’s not for some people and but not others. All you have to do to receive your subsidy is be prepared to spend an eternity, and no small amount of energy, wading through the mountains of paperwork. You also have to be prepared to wait, for months, for the money to come through. But no matter, the subsidy is backdated. Eventually the pain will be worth it. In Paris even the smallest of corner shops has at least two types of mushrooms and approximately nine types of cheese. One small gripe is that cheddar is almost impossible to come by. Anyone of a charitable inclination is welcome to send me some. My address can be got from the Trinity News office. Now I must admit, there is still much I don’t know, but I am learning fast. I am learning that rules are only for foreigners. If the office says it is closed, bang on the door until someone opens it and then refuse to leave. I am learning that humans evolved elbows for a reason, namely getting on and off the metro at peak times. And I am also learning that despite the petty annoyances of a day in Paris, a stroll along the left bank in the evening, or a day in the gardens of the Rodin Museum can lighten the soul and leave you feeling capable of tackling the metro again. I still have questions for which I can’t find answers. Why is it that for Parisian motorists stopping at zebra crossings appears to be purely advisory? How can three bakeries on the same short street all survive? And why do the French insist on using square pillows? However, as any good flotsam should, I am content to wait and be buffeted along, learning as I go. It could be that one day I’ll discover the answers, but I have a suspicion that after my year here, I’ll forget I was even asking.
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
Society Diary diary@trinitynews.ie
EOIN O’BRAOIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER With a complete lack of aplomb David o Doherty arrives back to the Arts Building. Last time he was there, he was in the Edmund Burke for economics lectures. This time, he is sound-checking for his comedy performance due to start in an hour to a packed out theatre. As he promised, he just shows up. No panicked phone calls about times, places and pick up points. He just wanders in past the already assembling queue of people cradling his trademark miniature Casio keyboards under his arm. Then he meets the sound guy. One quick thing to mention, we don’t know where he came from; we don’t know who recommended him but what we do know is that we will never use this sound guy ever again. David spends the half hour before the gig trying to convince this slightly lessevolved cretin of a sound and lighting rigger that “disco-effect, sound activated” lights were not exactly what was called for. Then the mic stand falls over. David sighs and gives up. We send the sound guy
“On a scale of O’Connell Bridge to The Golden Gate, where is this gig? The Haypenny... shove it up your nads.” David O’Doherty delivers one of his trademark lines. Photo courtesy of Mark Kearney/ DU Comedy Soc
home. So with that battle won, he then sets about making the masses laugh and I mean masses. The queuing started shortly after half six and now, just before eight, it stretches up across the concourse. People are streaming in to the theatre and David sits up at the back watching the scene unfold. He describes it later to me as rather surreal to realise that four hundred people have shown up just to listen to him. This is the thing about David: he isn’t actually doing much to make people laugh; his TV shows, his stand-up and his songs are all just him. No act, no characters, the whole David o Doherty phenomenon is just him, his Casio keyboards and a big goofy smile that endears him to everybody. As the gig starts, David just slots right in.
He is at home here in front of a crowd of people who understand what he is on about. David is a true Trinity graduate. Armed with his two subject moderatorship degree in Economics and Philosophy, he just seems to have extended the walls and gates of campus to cover his whole world. His University College Dublin bashing goes down a storm, as is to be expected. Then the mic stand falls over, again. So David now starts to play with the crowd. Nothing on the previous Dublin University Comedy Society endeavour, when Jason Byrne made a naïve little Fresher collapse in front of a packed Dining Hall during Freshers’ Week, but he manages to coax out the weirdest of heckles any comedian is ever likely to hear.
From sex offers to a system of grading based on the bridges of the world, he drags the most insane things from his brain and is visibly delighted when other people understand and laugh with what he is saying. This is just him back in his old stomping ground of Trinity making people laugh. But all too soon time has come for kicking out time; David understands how it works and finishes deftly and just about on time. Applause, applause applause; and once again David grins goofily. time. It feels good to have the old society heads back from time to time; to see them make a whole new generation of Trinity students laugh feels fantastic.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: DU Players Chairman: Ciarán O’Melia, Senior Sophister Drama and Theatre Studies Membership: Nearly 800. Established: 27 October 1932 Aims of the society: Their Constitution states: “The objects of the society are to promote an interest in all aspects of the theatre, to provide an opportunity for acting and for participation in all aspects of stage work … to encourage members to gain a wide experience in these areas and to present productions with special reference to plays of literary merit or of an experimental nature.” Facts and Figures: Huge success at the Central Societies Committee Society of the Year Awards; winning Best Overall a record three times in 1995, 1999 and 2003; Best Large Society in 1997 and 2001; Best Poster in 1996 (for “The House of Blue Leaves”) and 2003 (for “The Samuel Beckett Festival”); Best Website in 2004 and 2006; and finally Best Individual in 2005 in the form of Stephen Dodd, this number of awards is greater than any other society. Regular Events: Following a rehearsal period at the start of each term, Players produce two shows each week, lunchtime and evening, with approximately 40 shows a year. On Monday nights they host a varied line-up of events from music and comedy to play readings and one off performances. They also have many special events such as The Freshers’ Co-op, The 24Hour Musical – a musical cast, rehearsed, designed and performed within 24 hours, New Writer’s
Festival – a week devoted to new student written theatre, and their very own Christmas pantomime – staged for local school children. They supplement their activities in the theatre with their many nights out such as The Players’ Freshers’ Ball and The Players Ball (January), where they prove their ability to throw a good party! Plan for 2007/2008: With this year being their 75th anniversary, plans are afoot to host a major celebration next term, including an exhibition of material from the Players archives, the publishing of a book and a one-off performance bringing together both past and present members of the society which will be directed by Lynne Parker (Artistic Director, Rough Magic Theatre Company) and written by Michael West (noted Irish playwright of A Play on Two Chairs, Foley and Dublin by Lamplight). And who knows what else… Greatest moment in society history: There are so many great moments in the society’s history that not one can be singled out for the honour of “greatest”. The society has held an impressive and influential presence both inside and out of college throughout its history, hosting numerous world and Irish premieres of many important plays at its past and present locations within college (House 5, House 3, and now The Samuel Beckett Centre) while also presenting work further a field (The Peacock and The Gate Theatres in Dublin, London, Paris and an almost annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). A “Golden Age” in the 50’s/60’s saw Players nurture the talents of theatrical giants Max Stafford Clark, Michael Bogdanov and Michael Colgan; the late 70’s/early
80’s saw the formation of prominent Irish theatre companies Rough Magic, Fishamble and Pan Pan through Players and the likes of Pauline McLynn, U2 manager Paul McGuinness and recent Booker Prize winner Anne Enright on the membership books. Awards have included an AIB National Student Society Award in 2003, numerous CSC awards (see above), annual wins at the Irish Student Drama Association Awards and a €10,000 cash prize from government agency Forfás’ Science on Stage programme in 2005. Website: A great site, covering all aspects of the society from the society’s constitution, the committee, how to direct a play and just getting involved. The only problem is that it’s out of date: many of the links are dead and the committee and upcoming events have not been updated from last year, which is a shame, because Players clearly have lots to offer Trinity students. What to look forward to? (This Term) Stars in Their Eyes – The Musical Impersonation Extravaganza will be taking place at The Button Factory (formerly Temple Bar Music Centre) on Monday 5 November, with all proceeds going to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. The Freshers’ Co-op – which is Players’ biggest production of the year; the annual sell-out show where they take 50 Freshers and create a brand-new all singing, all dancing laugh-out loud show in just under 5 weeks. Showing nightly at 8pm, Week 6 in the Players Theatre. Finally, Players Playing the Audience – a new initiative, starting this term, of organised trips to shows around Dublin at discounted prices. See facebook.com for more details.
Tuesday 30th October Yoga: Classes Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm, Room 50, Atrium. Sfsoc: Assassin ending ceremony, 4pm in Sfsoc room Capoeira: Classes on Tuesdays 5-6.30pm in Regent House, €3. Trnity Arts Workshop: Pottery and Ceramics, 6-9pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, €4 for each 90minute session, Goldsmith Hall. Botany: Talk “Adapting to Climate Change”, 6pm Botany Lecture Theatre, with Edmund Barrow. Falun Dafa: Exercise Classes, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7-9pm, Room 50, Atrium. No experience necessary. Juggling: Practice on Tuesdays, 7-10pm for all types of juggling, Goldsmith Hall. An Cumman Gaelach: Ciorcal Comhra, 7-9pm, Seomra a hocht, The Atrium, Tuesdays. Chess: Friendly games and some coaching, Tuesdays, 7-9.45pm in the Maths Seminar Room 2.6, School of Maths. Entrepreneurial: Talk: Senator Feargal Quinn, founder of Superquinn, 7pm Emmet Theatre, Arts Building. Trinity Arts Workshop: Life Drawing Classes on Tuesdays, €4 for 2 hours, materials and instruction supplied, 7-9pm, 191 Pearse Street. DU Photo Association: Composition lecture – learn to take better photos, 7.30-8.30pm Ui Chadhain Theatre, Arts Building. DU EngSoc: Halloween Night in Down Under, doors 10pm, ladies get in free! Wednesday 31st October Netsoc: Web design tutorials 7-9pm in the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Arts Building. The Hist: Debate “This House Believes That Israeli Intransigence is the Root of Crisis in the Middle East”, GMB 7.30pm. Dance: Halloween Ball, 8pm, The Ierne. Food and Drink: Romeo and Juliet Ball, Sexy Times at Lillie’s Bordello, doors 11pm. Pharmaceutical Students Association: Fancy Dress Halloween night out in The Button Factory, doors 10pm. SfSoc: Annual Halloween Ball, €4 at Boomerangs, doors 10pm. Thursday 1st November Yoga: Classes, Thursdays. 5.30-7pm, suitable for beginners and more advanced, Regent House. The Phil: Debate “This House Believes Homosexuals are Welcome in Ireland”, GMB 7.30pm. Trinity Arts Workshop: Life Drawing Classes, Thursdays, €4 for 2 hours, materials and instruction supplied, 7-9pm, 191 Pearse Street. Friday 2nd November Capoeira: Classes, Fridays, 4-5.30pm in Regent House, €3. Afro-Caribbean: Drumming Classes, Fridays, in Regent House. 6-7pm. Dance Society: Classes, Fridays, Regent House, 7.309.30pm. Saturday 3rd November Trinity Arts Workshop: Pottery and Ceramics classes, Saturdays, 10am-11.30am, 12.30-2pm, €4 for each class, Goldsmith Hall. DUISS: Jameson Distillery trip, 1pm, Front Gate Monday 5th November Players: Stars In Their Eyes, musical impersonation extravaganza for charity, The Button Factory, 9pm.
Jazz Soc hosts a night of “bluesless” funky soul SOPHIE DAVIES DEPUTY SOCIETIES EDITOR On Monday 22 October, the Dublin University Jazz Society, in association with Dublin University Visual Arts, hosted their “Freshers’ Reception”. Held in 4 Dame Lane, it was the perfect venue for an evening of light jazz, with cool sofas aimed towards the casual stage where the finest jazz musicians you can find at Trinity could showcase their stuff. Kicking off the evening was an open jam session where Paddy Langley, on guitar, and Michael Carroll, on alto saxophone, started playing; they were joined by a drummer who they’d never met before – this kind of spontaneous music-making is exactly what the Jazz Society want this year. Second on were the much acclaimed Uncle Monty, a jazz and blues band featuring JP Reid on keyboard, David Lydon on guitar, newcomer to the band Oli Welfare on drums and stunning vocalist
Louise Cargin. Uncle Monty are now regulars on the society ball scene, particularly since providing the main entertainment at last year’s Central Societies Committee Award, and this is mainly because they are probably the best jazz, blues, funk and soul band Trinity has to offer since regulars of The Company have moved on to bigger and better things. Uncle Monty blended well-known songs with Cargin’s smoky vocals drifting over the welcoming crowds, with purely instrumental tracks – getting Michael Carroll back in for some superb saxophone solos, many of which grabbed the audience’s attention and received some of the largest whoops and cheers of the night. When Carroll was playing, it seemed the whole stage came alive and the audience simply enthralled when he and the band funked into some Soul Bossanova. Cargin helped finish the all too brief 45 minute set with a slow and dramatic version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and a tremendous and soulful take of Wade in the Water. The band, although late on stage, were worth the wait – clearly well-rehearsed, ever so tight and a pure delight to watch.
Finishing the evening’s events was High Colloquials who – consisting of drums, guitar, bass and, occasionally, two saxophones – played a mixture of funk, soul and jazz. This was something Auditor David Lydon was keen to display – jazz is open to everyone and is only an umbrella term for so many types of music. The evening displayed many of these aptly and with great appreciation from the large audience. The plan for the future is to hold one of these open jazz nights once a month, which is a great idea! It’s the perfect place to bring a first date – the music is not so dazzling you can’t talk, but it’s not so quiet you feel compelled to talk to your new date. To give the evening a real professional quality, Visual Arts had decorated the place and provided a lighting show above the stage with changing images showing on the wall behind the bands. All in all an excellent night out, described by some as “a night with soul, which never gave me the blues and kept me funky all night”; whatever the verdict, it’s definitely something any student should check out before the end of the year.
Tuesday 6th November Early Irish: Extraordinary General Meeting, Postgraduate Common Room, 7-10pm. Capoeira: Reception for members, 7pm in the Eliz Room, House 6. Wednesday 7th November The Hist: Debate “This House Believes That Free Trade is Needed for a Free World”, 7.30pm, GMB. DU Photo Association: Composition lecture – learn to take better photos, 7.30-8.30pm, Áras an Phiarsaigh. DU Photo Association: Photo Discussion Forum, bring photos for feedback, 8.30-9pm in Áras an Phiarsaigh. Thursday 8th November The Phil: Debate “This House Believes Animal Testing is Immoral”, 7.30pm, GMB. Monday 12th November Players: Freshers’ Co-op, 8pm Players Theatre.
societynews@trinitynews.ie
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
SocialConformity
In a society where to conform is to project a happy exterior, there is simply no room for the freak and our mental health suffers as a result. features@trinitynews.ie
IZABELLA SCOTT
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STAFF WRITER From the Elephant Man, paraded before a hungry audience eager to be terrified and disgusted, to the fictional creature sewn together like a patchwork quilt in Victor Frankenstein’s dirty workshop, our imaginations have always been engaged and excited by the freak and the abnormal. We remain intrigued by the freak, whether we seek it in the Guinness Book of Records or extreme makeover television shows. But what is the freak exactly? Over time, “he” has shifted from beasts, named and caged like animals, such as the lion-faced man, to shock rock punk scene idols of the 1970’s. Why is this? And where is the freak today in our tidy Western society that can hardly tolerate a wart? Essentially the freak may not be defined by certain traits; rather, he defies a mould in having no pattern or consistency in being irregular, deformed and often hidden. Fear often grows from the unknown, from the enigma of death or the veil of darkness. The freak is misunderstood and so becomes shunned. The popular gothic horror novels of the nineteenth century marked the abnormal “other” as immoral, corrupt and irregular whilst offering at the same time the opportunity to identify oneself as the opposite: not abnormal – as pure, white and pious. In the same way the mystery and deformity of the freak evoked the very same relationship; the excited onlooker accepted a deformed freak as a wicked monster. But what changed this notion? At some point, a clear distinction was made between the unfortunate freak and true tyrants which skip through history, within haunting literature, and more soberly through our very own grey newspapers. Really it was our own mindsets which changed; at the turn of the nineteenth century advances in medicine and the publication of works such as Darwin’s Origin of Species meant that freaks became realized as unfortunate mistakes of nature; fear and distain thawed to pity. The freak was no longer evil, no longer Beowulf ’s Grendel – a descendant of Cain, the first murderer – nor was he Edward Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s hidden “other”. As the twentieth century wore on, the freak became less a mistake of nature and more a casualty of war. He became a limbless soldier, scarred by battle both physically and psychologically: the freak was no longer marginalized or misunderstood. Ultimately such soldiers had arrested European tyrants, fought for a cause, whether for God, freedom or family and they had also fought for their country. These soldiers were not the irregular “other” but rather the brave heroes of an age. Yet the freak continued to live on. The 1970’s saw an eruption of “freakish” subcultures. Punk and goth fashions spoke out, outraging propriety: both attempted to subvert mainstream conventions of how one should look as they rejected existing popular culture. The punk theatrically ripped clothes, yet pinned them back together and shaped mundane binbags into dresses, while the Goth drew on romantic tales and styles yet mixed it with a sinister morbidity. At the centre of both subcultures lies a feeling of alienation; they are the irregular “other” yet at the same time they seek an alliance to a community that feels this same alienation. Like fashion, music became a focus from which other subcultures emerged. Shock rock, beginning in the early 70’s with Sceamin’ Jay Hawkins, was made most renowned by Alice Cooper’s violent stage theatrics, from gothic torture modes, electric chairs to boa constrictors. Art spoke in the same vein with Hermann Nitsch’s shocking obsession with blood and gore culminating in nauseating interpretations of animal carnage and crucifixion. Were such gruesome illustrations a means of coming to terms with the lingering horror of industrialised world war, the consequences of which had wrought unprecedented death and destruction twice within just twenty-five years? Or was there something more, a subconscious social belief in the freak, that must somehow be vented? Today, less than 40 years on, we seem far removed from the extinct freak show, from limbless soldiers or freak-subculture, vented through art, music and fashion. Aren’t goth and punk more trendy than marginalized, a mainstream and not a sub-culture? How can music call to us when “parental advisory” dubbing reduces core meaning, when we are increasingly unpolitical, when we have stopped debating? Are we lazy, spoilt or just ignorant? Where is the freak today? Fortune has blessed us with relative peace, economic boom, Tesco superstores in which almost every imaginable food substance is sold. Such spoils! We live in a world soaked by consumer ideology - a fake-tanned, Smeg-fridge, designer-jean filled existence.
Yet this democracy which appears to bestow each citizen with their freedom of rights and with political correctness is not so simple; the misfit is not easily accepted. Those born with hare-lips or squint-eyes are fixed. Nose-jobs, diet-plans and skin foundations for women; artificial biceps created at lunch break gym sessions for men. The “photoshop-ed” weekly celeb trash we read and staged “reality” television shows shape us. Why do we fake tan? Is it because we want to or because fashion trends, idols and television makes us believe we want to? It was not really so long ago that the rich and fashionable Victorians prided white skin. Trend envelops us to the extent that we can no longer see that we are so influenced by it, it is disguised by our own ego. So I ask again: where has the freak gone? How can the freak exist in a society that can hardly tolerate a wart? Perhaps we live within an illusion of normality, a sad faced man who paints his smile. Perhaps the freak which cannot be expressed outwardly on the shell of our skins is thus internalised; it becomes an Edward Hyde who hides within. I believe the rise of psychiatric medication and the slow death of the asylum demonstrate the gradual internalisation of the freak, the irregular which has moved from the body to the mind. The asylum itself began with thirteenth century Bedlam, caging social outcasts and the mentally unstable, famous for its cruel treatments which are claimed to have become a one-penny show. The asylum has been feared, with its terrifying treatments such as Insulin Shock Therapy, and studied most notably by Michael Foucault. Eventually it has virtually died out with the rise of drugs such as anti-depressants. Iproniazid, first discovered in the early 1950’s, was the beginning of a surge of strong, readily prescribed drugs emerging through the century. It seems our psychological states are increasingly hidden below the surface, as we are sedated in a Soma-like state as Huxley imagined, in our very own Brave New World. I believe we live in an increasingly diluted nation, where we tidy up happiness and sadness. We buy beauty because it makes us feel great, we swallow Ecstasy and Prozac, escape through film, internet, food and TV. It’s (almost) all there, lined up in Tesco Extra: mass produced, affordable happiness you can carry away in a plastic bag. Is it an illusion? Does it matter that behind the nose carved so carefully by the plastic surgeon lurks a crooked one? Only because we chose to single out this crooked nose as ugly. It’s crazy – even depression is repressed: recently “a 2007 study purports that 25% of Americans were overdiagnosed with depression,” results based on a national survey of 8098 people. Although it appears both the freak and asylum seem virtually extinct in our tidy western society, we have perhaps simply exchanged physical barriers for psychological ones. The asylum is a consumer ideology, a contemporary mindset, illustrated by our neat, fixed bodies, caging and tranquilizing the freak within; “man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.”
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
SocialInequality
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SAM HANNAFORD FEATURES EDITOR The Government encourages the blind into the mainstream education system, yet there are no curriculum allowances and most schools lack the resources to teach a visually impaired pupil maths, science and languages. As a result, many are forced to take subjects such as art in order to make up their points for entrance to third-level education. A scene where an eighteen yearold girl who lacks even the ability to detect light or darkness is forced to sit a lifedrawing exam belongs in a black comedy sketch show and not in 21st century Ireland. It took eight years and huge legal costs to force the only blind school in the country to accept girls. Between 1998 and 2003, girls who were born without their sight or who lost it during their childhood faced a severe and constant battle to receive what is a basic human right, an education. The school for blind boys has since bowed to huge pressure and opened its doors to girls, but the situation remains far from adequate. In the Western and developed world, we take it for granted that if we encounter such a trauma as blindness, there exists the appropriate institutions and support. At the most basic level, we expect there to be in place an education system that caters for our needs, as it forms the very basis of developing our sense of independence and quality of life. Ireland lacks the resources and expert analysis relied upon by other nations in determining the type and levels of education offered to disabled or handicapped children. The Irish government encourages blind children to attend mainstream schools, yet they fail to provide sufficient and regular support systems for those children, or provide the schools with staff training and equipment to teach particular subjects. Both these can be attributed to the expense of such schemes, which in political terms is poor but comprehendible. What, however, is beyond rational understanding is the failure
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to adapt the curriculum requirements for these children. Ostensibly, the concept of a blind pupil taking Leaving Certificate Art is ludicrous, but there are ways in which the course requirements can be adapted and structured to make it possible, enjoyable and beneficial. Given the fact that many schools cannot teach the core subjects such as maths and science without specialised training and equipment, surely the adaptation of other subjects is of even greater necessity. Taking art as the example, the pupil can concentrate on crafts, from tapestry and knitting to pottery. They could also, perhaps, do a research project into areas in which they held a particular interest. Under the current guidelines, blind pupils must still complete the same examinations and course components as their sighted peers, which includes a life drawing assessment. A blind student now here at Trinity was asked during hers if she would “like to feel the model”. She replied that she didn’t. It had been requested that if it was compulsory to participate in a direct observation exam, the subject could perhaps be exchanged for a still life scene, something that she could at least feel without causing two people great embarrassment. The request was denied on the grounds that offering a different subject would be “unfair” to other candidates. The charade does not stop there: the examiners were not permitted to be informed that the artwork they were assessing was drawn by a child who cannot see. Funding and resources may take the blame for the more general problems, but the inflexibility of the exam system is surely not beyond a budgeted restructuring. The closure of St. Mary’s School for Visually Impaired Girls in 1998 left a void that only became filled through the efforts and constant pressure applied by a parental support group. Established by the parents of visually impaired children in 1994, Féach helps to highlight blind educational issues and campaign for change. It is a shocking but all too familiar situation amongst minority groups that when change is needed most, it takes an immense deal of
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pressure and a raised public profile in order to secure any degree of success. However, the fact that the previously all-boy institutions of St. Joseph’s (primary level) and the Rosmini Community School (secondary level) now accept applications from girls has not, to any extent, fully solved the issue of the state of education available to blind children here in Ireland. There are two primary problems with only one fully, or even partially, resourced and equipped school in the country able to provide education for the blind. The first is the wider and more general issue applicable to the majority of handicapped and disabled children, the question of integration with other children their own age. The second is the fact that roughly half of the children attending these schools suffer from other conditions such as Autism, Down’s Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis. Pupils whom, with the exception of their eyesight, are in complete physical and mental health are keen to attend mainstream schools rather than be taught alongside children with severe learning difficulties. It is an understandable position and one actually encouraged by the government, yet to reiterate the point, there are no adequate curriculum structures in position that can cope with these students within the mainstream system. During the years between the closure of St. Mary’s and the completion of the court case against the boys’ school in Drumcondra, girls were forced to find a mainstream school prepared to accept them. Most were forced to look to the private education sector. There were (and the deficiency still remains) a shortage of Braille teachers, negating the possibility of home schooling. The profile of the situation was raised in an RTÉ programme featuring a young girl named Lorraine Cook, a Galway girl forced to travel to Ulster in order to go to school. Another family were forced to re-mortgage their home three times in order to send their daughter to the same school, Jordanstown near Belfast, which during that period was the nearest institution a blind girls. It was later discovered that during
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these intervening years, the Department of Education failed to locate sufficient numbers of teachers and examiners capable of reading Braille. Subsequently, a number of Junior Certificate exam papers written by the blind girls in mainstream schools on Braille typewriters were sent to sixth year pupils at the boys’ school in Drumcondra to be marked. Such a shockingly poor solution to the problem highlights the unwillingness of the government to tackle the issue with any earnest degree of seriousness. The Irish government are keen to replace the learning of Braille with the more technologically advanced methods now available via computers, despite American studies showing that such a move is detrimental to the education and development of the child. Braille is the major lifeline and source of independence for the majority of blind people throughout the developed world. It offers the opportunity to read privately, an ability that few of us would wish to deny anyone. Experts in America have carried out detailed research into the effects of various methods of teaching and learning amongst blind children and adults; they concluded that in every case, children who had been taught Braille gained a higher degree of education and went on to become more independent. They also enjoyed a significantly greater employment rate and a generally better quality of life. Why then does the Department of Education here in Dublin insist upon the discouragement of established methods that have been proven to offer a greater degree of learning? There are two explanations. To begin with, no such statistics exist in Ireland and the government has not supported or called for a similar research project to be conducted here. The Secretary of Féach, Bernie Burn, insists that the technology the government are insisting upon should “compliment and not replace” the teaching of Braille. It is a sentiment shared passionately by the blind themselves and supported by the scientific and social research done elsewhere. Second to the lack of research, the
teaching of Braille is skilled and expensive. Teachers are in extremely short supply. A child attending a mainstream school is likely to only receive a visiting teacher capable of teaching them Braille once a term, perhaps once a month. The deficit in teachers and resources for training has led to both the Department for Education and, shockingly, the National Council for the Blind, discouraging the teaching and use of Braille. The blind have vehemently urged that they could not imagine their lives without Braille; it is a complete necessity that affords them independence of mind in an existence where for so many things they are dependent upon others. It is also the case that the technology being encouraged to replace Braille is phenomenally expensive. Whilst after a fight, the government will assist financially, the training in how to use the equipment is itself in short supply. There are excellent facilities available in the United Kingdom, on the European mainland and across the pond in America. It would be naïve to demand a choice of institutions capable of rivalling these nations given the size of the Irish population and the subsequent comparably small number of children here of school going age who are without their sight. It would, however, be irresponsible and unnecessarily malevolent to fail to amend the current situation. Adapting the state examination system would not break the bank. Regarding the lack of Braille teachers and resources in the mainstream schools, an immediate or even graduated solution is obviously highly costly and difficult. The establishment of a Centre of Excellence on location at St. Joseph’s and Rosmini could help provide extra teaching to blind and visually impaired children who normally attend mainstream schools. It could begin to fill the void left by the deficit in Braille teachers and the little time they can dedicate to individual pupils at different schools. It would also offer the opportunity to academically advance and encourage those students who are capable and hopeful of gaining a place at university.
features@trinitynews.ie
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
P11
InProfile
Photo illustration: Martin McKenna
The man with too much money Chuck Feeney, the reclusive billionaire-turned-philanthropist, has opened up about how he made – then gave away – his fortune, writes Kevin Lynch
H
e is Trinity College’s biggest private donor by a country mile. But for years, virtually nothing was known about the secretive, American entrepreneur who was giving away money decades before it became fashionable. Now, a new book has shed light on how Chuck Feeney earned and donated his billions. Charles “Chuck” Feeney was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to a working class family with Irish grandparents. “I set out to work hard, not to get rich”, he says of this youth. He served as a signaller in the United States Army during Korea. After leaving the army, he studied hotel administration at Cornell University. He moved to Europe and began selling dutyfree alcohol and cigarettes to American sailors at Mediterranean ports. The company legend goes that he met Robert Miller, his future business partner, on a beach in Spain. They founded Duty Free Shops, Ltd and sold cheap luxury goods to travellers across the world. They worked hard and the company made them very rich. Personality differences became apparent; while Mr Miller funded lavish weddings for his daughters, Mr Feeney's family saw little of the money, working during summer holidays. His success was such that in 1982, unknown to his partners, Mr Feeney founded Atlantic Philanthropies. “I decided I had too much money”, he explained later. In 1988, Forbes listed him as the twenty third richest American alive – he wasn't. Four years previously, he had transferred his entire stake in DFS, Ltd to AP. By that stage earning money was no
longer Chuck Feeney's obsession – spending it was proving to be much harder. Not on gourmet foods or fine clothes, but on helping the poorest and most oppressed in the world. He kept back just five million dollars for himself. He lives in a rented apartment, uses public transport and eats ten dollar meals. Money didn't buy the things he valued; he reads voraciously and has a close circle of friends to whom he iss fiercely loyal to. At 76 years of age, he is still very active: last year US$128 million in grants awarded were personally researched and recommended by Feeney himself. As well as his modesty and hard work, Feeney is fiercely loyal to his roots, friends and alma mater. He was undoubtedly influenced by the poverty he witnessed as a child in the years after the Great Depression. His friendship with Ken Fletcher, an Australian tennis player, led to trips to Brisbane, a town he admired greatly and donated millions to. Cornell University has received over US$600 Million in grants and donations, more than any other college has received from an alumnus. Ireland, his ancestral home, is a major recipient of donations. The United States (Mr Feeney is American) and Bermuda (where Atlantic Philanthropies is incorporated) are also programme countries. AP has four main themes that guide its giving: ageing, disadvantaged children and youth, population health and reconciliation and human rights. Mr Feeney likes to fund academic research in these areas, creating a “multiplier effect” in
Evelyn Tent opinionandanalysis@trinitynews.ie
his spending, benefiting education as well as the programme area. Ireland is a good example of this. He is the single biggest donor to Irish universities, yet his name doesn't appear on any buildings or libraries, nor does it in Cornell. Last year, he partially funded the Irish Longitudinal Study in Ageing, a research programme that Trinity is hosting. He has taken a long-term interest in the Troubles, visiting the North eleven times, trying to find a way to help. He attracted controversy by funding Sinn Féin's Washington office, but has denied financing the Irish Republican Army. He defended his actions, arguing that he financed political parties on both sides of the divide to strengthen the political institutions in the North. For years, the most fascinating aspect of Mr Feeney's philanthropy was the obsessive lengths he went to hide it. AP found recipients themselves, the money arrived as cashier's cheques and the foundation was incorporated in Bermuda to avoid American tax disclosure rules. It didn't accept unsolicited requests for grants, preferring to seek out organisations that were doing good work and reward them. The only condition ever attached was that the donor remain annoymous. There are no black tie dinners, no speeches or plaques. “If you are perceived to have the ability to give away money, everybody lies to you, always”, explains Gara LaMarche, President of Atlantic Philanthropies. For Mr Feeney charity is it's own reward, not an investment in reputation or a purchase of egogratification. “I’m just not the kind of guy
Evelyn just loves getting letters of appreciation. Tim Smyth seems to be a big fan of mine. Darling, I love you too, you provide me with so much joy in life. Winter evenings simply wouldn’t be the same without you. Kisses. I’m just disappointed I didn’t get an invitation to his wonderful house warming. I can only imagine the fun and games that take place in a palace of prudish sobriety. Smyth does seem to be the only hack on campus not getting any. Some of last year’s losers have been transformed by their powerful positions this year. Claire Tighe was a completely unknown gaeilgeoir, Úna Faulkner was famous for her unrequited love of Bart Storan and Bartley Rock, well… someone now thinks he’s attractive? Now, there’s a shocker. It seems power really does corrupt. As for
who gets any kick out of attending these mutual admiration society dinners”, he says. After successfully giving nearly US$700 million anonymously over fifteen years, the entire operation was exposed in 1997 when a dispute with Mr Miller over the sale of DFS Ltd threatened to expose the entire operation. Feeney preempted the attention by granting an interview to the New York Times. Since then, Atlantic Philanthropies has been transparent about its activities, but still strives to be “understated, discreet and unbureaucratic”. In 2002, Mr Feeney decided that his fortune should die with him. “The man who dies rich dies disgraced”, he said. AP was given twelve to fifteen years to spend the rest of its endowment: approximately US$3.9 billion. It's part of his philosophy of “giving while living”, an idea that has had a big impact in philanthropy. His decision to tell his story, in The Billionaire who wasn't: How Chuck Feeney secretly made and gave away a fortune (written by Conor O'Cleary, formerly of the Irish Times) is part of his attempt to persuade other wealthy people to follow suit. He has had some success. Michael Dell, William Gates and Warren Buffet are among the billionaires who have turned their attention to philanthropy. Chuck Feeney could be proud. “People have to determine themselves whether they feel an obligation to use some of their wealth to improve life for their fellow human beings rather than create problems for future generations.”
steady Eddy, who has a lot on his plate, well, kudos, darling, SU hacks have never looked as pretty as your ENTS Crew do. Evelyn, along with every girl and boy in college certainly wouldn’t mind some entertainment from that lot. As for the other hacks in college well… Boobs Faller flirted with the ascendancy by indulging in a cute young chap, while her predecessor was found entertaining from his bedroom window. Oh, well, that is the extent one goes to after losing power and the perks that go with it. But darlings, I’m not impressed by any of this year’s trivial activities; it’s nothing compared to some of last year’s antics which lead to one girl hiring a private company to fix her shower, another discreet lady was caught by a security guard after screams woke up residents of
AP’s coffers Last year the fund shrunk by just US$60,357 despite spending over US$ 458M in 2005. Despite devoting all his energies to giving it away Mr Feeney is still making money. Thomas Mitchell, Trinity’s previous Provost, is now a non-executive Director of Atlantic Philanthropies. He is also the Director of the Trinity Foundation. The Neuroscience Institute was given €13,460,000. Mr Feeney has described his attitude by saying “If you want to give it away, think about giving it away while you are alive because you'll get a lot more satisfaction than if you wait until you’re dead. Besides, it's a lot more fun.” Mr Feeney had donated at least €250,000 to Sinn Féin by 1997. Although born in the United States, he holds dual citizenship with the Republic of Ireland. Other projects funded in Ireland include the Gay & Lesbian Equality Network, The Northside Partnership; a community level organisiation that provides services for the first five years of life in Belcamp, Moatview and Darndale, and a US $5 M grant to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
the Rubrics while another did irreparable damage to a door and, well, one really shouldn’t say anymore. These ladies truly have something to be proud of. On a recent surf trip it really was all sex, drugs and rock and roll, or, if one was to update the analogy, sex, drugs and techno. Speaking of good music, though, the boys at Beta Bar are busily trying to compete with the ever-so-deep pockets of steady Eddy and his main man, the cute country boy. With the drinks industries lobby group MEAS coming down hard on the poor boys, one hopes that a lady will still be able to get her G&T for a mere €4. God save those two lads, protectors of all that is good and decent in this college. The Beta Bar boys have been distracted of late, what with all their bedroom antics requiring one of them to keep a jar of
Nutella by his bedside. One never knows when that special lady might call…. One really does have to feel sorry for Taja Naidoo. After putting so much time and effort in the kitchen, the Iron Lady came down hard on poor Taja, telling her she was unhygienic. How awful and publicly humiliating. Taja was just trying to sell a few cakes to pay for all that champagne her committee members enjoy so much. Can a girl not get a break? It seems Taja’s situation was completely different to that of Freshers’ Week, where food was thrown about left, right and centre. The Iron Lady is terribly consistent in her decisions and that’s why we love her.
TRINITY NEWS
P12
Michaelmas term, Week 8
WorldReview
The mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Rogiro
“Offending Turkishness” PETER DONERTY STAFF WRITER Turkey is the bearer of an awful burden. It is a repository of Western hopes for a bridge to the East. It is a key access point for the United States into Iraq and for European imaginations into Muslim culture. Frequent and facile characterisations of the country as a borderland between Islam and Christianity, history and modernity, Occident and Orient fail to appreciate the complexities and anxieties of what it means to be Turkish. It is a measure of this anxiety that the Turkish government has blundered its way into making it a crime to “denigrate Turkishness” in Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Obviously this is a bit on the wooly side and, since no one really knows what Turkishness is, the government has had to content themselves with telling their citizens what it is not. For a country
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struggling to seat itself comfortably between its Middle Eastern and European neighbours, this kind of formation of national culture by process of elimination is profoundly damaging. A number of high-profile cases for the offense of insulting Turkishness have drawn the attention of the EU. Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize winning author, was assasinated after being tried for referring to the massacre of over a million Armenians by the Ottoman empire in World War I as genocide. In February 2006, five journalists were charged for criticising a court order to shut down a conference in Istanbul on this same topic. In the last month, the courts exiled youtube.com from Turkish cyberspace as clips were posted interpreted as insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, seen as the founder of the modern Turkish state. The international attention that these cases have attracted is decidedly not a good thing for the Turkish government as they attempt to cosy up to the EU, sugar-coating some
The Turkish government has turned the idea of national identity into something punitive.
of their more unsavoury policies in a membership bid which has sparked controversy at home and abroad. Apart from the blatant violation of the right to free speech, such prosecutions point out the disparity between European ideas of national identity and those of the Turkish administration. European culture prides itself on discussion and debate of what it means to be Irish, English or French. The Turkish government, on the other hand, has turned the idea of a national identity into something punitive, something which stifles the development of a modern and progressive culture. In the vagueness of the law, they have also left the door open for a cynical political hijacking of Turkishness. Radical nationalists in the country, known as the “deep state” and with links to the Ottoman Empire, aren’t big on the idea of accession to the EU. It was these happy fellows who brought the case against the five journalists in 2006, a trial which MEP Joost Lagendijk
Conflict for a frozen wasteland hots up
attended and afterward commented that the proceedings would have “consequences for the EU accession process”. This, of course, is exactly what the radical nationalists, who attend such hearings in suitably bad-guy black robes, want. Seeking out sympathetic prosecutors, they bring cases against liberal intellectuals and proponents of EU accession under Article 301. Not only does this serve to intimidate liberal media and threaten the free press, it focuses European attention on Turkey’s continuing problematic relationship with human rights. As EU accession talks move into their next phase, the Turkish administration continues to trample on the rights of its people to express their sense of nationality while giving a free reign to those who would scupper her attempts to find a place in the European community. Get it together, guys, or we won’t let you in our club.
AMY COLGAN STAFF WRITER The dispute concerning the rightful ownership of various portions of the Arctic had, up until recently, been an academic one. The vast icy expanse and any resources therein were largely unknown and inaccessible, and as such, of little economic interest to the nations that could lay any claim to them – chiefly Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Russia and the United States. However, it emerged earlier this year that the ice which had once guarded the North Pole against the hand of the developer has now melted to such a degree that it is increasingly possible to drill. Now, this is of huge significance, in that it is estimated that up to 25% of the earth’s oil and gas reserves, as well as lead, zinc and gold deposits, lie beneath the previously impenetrable frozen waters. Thus where before the relevant countries were relatively content to accept a degree of ambiguity concerning their precise border rights, it has unsurprisingly become what one could term “a more pressing matter”, and they’ve all gone a bit mental. The Russians, whose position seems currently to be “it’s ours and we want it’, sent the infamous sub to plant a flag on the seabed in what appears to have been an attempt to “shotgun” or “bags” the oil. The Danes were less cinematic in their approach, shipping over a load of scientists, geologists and fact-finders who nodded and measured and quantified until eventually they decided it was indeed theirs and they wanted it. The United States’ position is similar, if more complicated, in that they have yet to accept the relevant UN
maritime legislation and have found themselves in a bit of a pickle as a result, much to their annoyance, because they’re pretty sure that it is, in fact, theirs, and they really want it. The Canadian reaction was, however, by far the most amusing. On a three day excursion to the far north, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that “Canada’s new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: use it or lose it”, and subsequently announced that Canada will be exercising their, ahem, “military might”. Yes, yes. They are genuinely building not one, but two military bases in the region, one of which shall serve as a training centre for a new breed of ice-soldier who shall, presumably with the assistance of armoured bears, fight off the enemy who was melting/about to explode/run Now, of course the idea of a battle in the North Pole between the Canadians and the Russians (who do love a good land war, after all) is hugely entertaining, and thus we can be forgiven for kind of wanting it to happen. But the situation is actually fairly dismal. Politically and economically, the impact of this Arctic scramble will be overwhelming. Whatever the outcome, it will affect trading passages and the global market to an unfathomable extent, and ecologically, well, it’s just pretty depressing. There is the obvious irony that the we can access these fossil fuels only because the ice is melting because we burned the fossil fuels et cetera. But beyond that is the bleak reality that, even in the face of such imminent environmental disaster, we won’t do the sensible thing instead of the profitable thing.
Russian Continental Shelf Claims in the Artic
= Russian claims in the Artic region = Current limit of International Waters
Turkey has a population of 71 million and the average age is 28. In 2006 Turkish GDP grew by 6% in real terms and unemployment is at 10% Turkey exports oil at the rate of 112600 barrels per day 99.8% of the population declare themselves Muslim while there is a Kurdish minority that comprises 20% of the population Source: CIA World Factbook
Race trouble in Switzerland MAX O’SULLIVAN
Conflicts over the ownership of the Arctic are intensifying with the discovery of substantial mineral deposits in the region
Turkey
CONTRIBUTING WRITERR Switzerland’s chequered history of race relations has again come under international scrutiny just as the country’s autumn elections draws to a close. Coming into the final week the right –wing Swiss People’s Party remain comfortably ahead in the polls and now expect at least 27% of the vote. Already the largest party in Parliament, their current campaign has focused almost exclusively on the issue of immigration. Controversy has centred on an SVP poster showing three white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland under the slogan “For more security”. Even more explicit is a political broadcast which contrasts the “heaven” of a Switzerland where trains run efficiently and Swiss families hike in the Alps, with a “hell” of veiled Muslim women, immigrant youths attacking Swiss girls and black men loitering idly on street corners. While denying the campaign is in any way racist, SVP leader and current Minister for Justice Christoph Blocher makes no apologies for singling out “the Balkans especially” as a source of crime in his homeland. Phrases such as “Hitler youth” should not be thrown around lightly, but it is hard not to feel uneasy about the SVP’s online games for children. In these we are introduced to Zottel, a loveable cartoon goat who cheerfully butts immigrant criminals out of Switzerland and, even more disturbingly, spears judges who offer citizenship to foreigners. Score enough points and the screen flashes up “Zottel saves Switzerland!” “It’s just a bit of fun”, claims Ueli
Maurer, the Party Chairman. Even some opponents of the party seem eager to downplay the controversy. President Michetine Calmy – Rey was quick to describe the SVP as the “least Swiss” of the countries political parties. Yet their overwhelming popularity would suggest otherwise. A 2002 survey found that 16% of Swiss people were open in expressing strong antiSemitic feelings and only last March UN envoy Doudou Diene highlighted the “deep-rooted cultural resistance within Swiss society to multiculturalism…. Especially where persons of south-eastern European or non- European origin are concerned”. Mr. Deine also used his report to harshly criticise the Swiss authorities over their repeated failure to implement any “coherent and resolute political and legal strategy against racism and xenophobia.” Foreign communities and minorities have started to speak out about the casual racism and atmosphere of discrimination they encounter on a daily basis. Many mention a fear of certain institutions, notably the police and one South African immigrant claimed the sense of division reminded him of the apartheid era. Perhaps most significant of all has been the first outbreak of violence at an election rally in living memory. As police in Berne resorted to using teargas to stop left-wing radicals from disrupting a Blocher march. In a country which in recent years has enjoyed a virtually non-existent crime rate, it seems the SVP’s aggressive stance on stamping out foreign criminality is rooted more in prejudice then reality. Either way, it has succeeded only in creating unrest where previously there was none.
worldreview@trinitynews.ie
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
P13
More work needed to deliver liberal agenda
Varsity Talk
Opinion&Analysis
I will continue the radical campaigning tradition of Mary Robinson and Mary Henry, writes newly elected Senator Ivana Bacik
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am delighted to be a new Dublin University Senator. Following the election in July, I have joined Senators David Norris and Shane Ross in representing this large constituency of about 50,000 voters, graduates of Trinity College or Dublin Institute of Technology. Reform of the Seanad election system is long overdue and I have consistently argued for change to make it more democratic. But despite the flaws in its structure, I believe that the upper house in our parliamentary system can play a vital role in Irish society. Outstanding former senators such as Mary Robinson and Mary Henry have used the Seanad as a platform to make valuable contributions to important debates on national and international issues. In particular, Mary Robinson famously pursued a radical agenda in the 1970’s and 1980’s, using the Seanad to make strong arguments in favour of legalising contraception, for example, and helping to change public opinion so that law reform was finally introduced. It is hard to believe that until 1992, condoms were not widely legally available, but her work as a senator made an immense contribution to bringing about that change. I would also like to pay tribute to outgoing Senator Mary Henry, who retired this year. She also made a significant contribution to opening up access to healthcare and on many other issues. I hope to continue her campaigning work during the lifetime of this Seanad. I have always campaigned for human rights and civil liberties. In 1989-90, after my final year as a Trinity law student, I became President of the Trinity College Students’ Union. That year, my fellow Union officers and I were taken to court and threatened with prison by anti-abortion activists, in an important case that paved the way for legal change to allow counsellors and doctors to give information on abortion to women with crisis pregnancies. Since then, I have been involved in a range of different rights campaigns: on anti-racism, on women’s rights, on trade union rights, on gay rights and disability rights and against the Iraq War.
I became President of the Trinity College Students’ Union. That year, my fellow Union officers and I were taken to court and threatened with prison by antiabortion activists
Hugh Roche Kelly
What can we do with this grant system? your support in this endeavour. As a Senator, I intend to campaign on issues such as gay marriage rights, childcare rights, abortion rights, paid paternity leave, educational equality, criminal justice reforms, environmental changes. I will do this through introducing private members’ bills and through providing a voice for campaign groups at legislative level. In the last few weeks, since the Seanad began sitting, I have already begun to put forward important and radical initiatives. On October 3, I launched a Climate Protection Bill which would bind the Government to making three percent cuts in carbon emissions every year between now and 2050. This Bill, which I drafted with Friends of the Earth Ireland, was backed by a whole range of environmental and development NGOs, under the banner “Stop Climate Chaos”. It will be debated further in the Seanad in December. I have also called for the separation of church and state, and the extension of multi-
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Because of my work, I have also been very involved in issues around education and criminal justice. Some years ago I worked with the Trinity Access Programme to extend scholarships in Law to students from targeted disadvantaged schools – a scheme now taken up college-wide. There is a view abroad that the liberal agenda has been achieved – but there is still so much to be done. I intend to use the Seanad as a launching pad for a new radical social agenda for the noughties and beyond. I would really appreciate
denominational schooling and have argued for the introduction of paid paternity leave so that fathers could take time off work to help partners look after newborn babies. Among other things, I have challenged the more conservative members of the Seanad, for example protesting at Senator Eoghan Harris’ outrageous call for the death penalty to be reintroduced and contradicting the appalling suggestion by other Senators that single parents or gay parents are not fit to have children. I would be glad to raise these or other issues for any of you in the Seanad. Finally, I am deeply grateful to have been elected to represent the Dublin University constituency in the Seanad. Trinity graduates have a proud record of electing articulate, passionate and effective Senators. I will endeavour to be a hard-working, radical and committed representative over the years ahead. Ivana Bacik is Reid Professor of Law and was elected to Seanad Eireann for the first time in July 2007.
Unhealthy lack of ball games Lack of city centre facilities discourages exercise. Trinity and the surrounding city centre parks should end their ban on casual ball games
NIGEL ALEXANDER DEPUTY OPINION EDITOR Does this seem familiar: it’s a lazy Sunday afternoon in Dublin. The weekend is nearing its demise and you feel you’d like to do something before going back to college that doesn’t involve polluting your body. It shouldn’t be hard to get a few friends together for a bit of a kick about. Once you’ve assembled your few remotely fit friends and found a ball, and/or other sports paraphernalia, you’re all ready to go. Except that there’s nowhere for you to play. Trying all the parks in and around central Dublin, you’re confronted with the usual signs listing all the fun activities that you’re not allowed to engage in while on the premises. The first line on the list will undoubtedly refer to the most heinous of all these activities, decreeing “No Ball Games”. Chancing your arm and playing anyway is sure to result in a prompt display of the mighty “parky’s” terrible wrath. This usually takes the form of you being asked to leave. But hey, at least you got three minutes of quality football in. Maybe if you can repeat this in another nineteen parks around Dublin
you’ll get a full hour of exercise. Why is it that in park after park around Dublin, people, who tend to be students, are banned from enjoying this most basic of pleasures? You would think that with the government’s attempts in recent years to curb Ireland’s “drinking culture”, that they would address one of its leading causes, that people often have nothing else to do. With today’s young adults drinking more and getting less exercise, why has nobody realised the lunacy of students being obstructed from passing a ball around in open grassy areas? If sociable and healthy activities are denied to people, then they will inevitably end up filling there time with far less savoury pursuits. Here in Trinity, the security at the Pavilion Bar and College Park seem far more content with patrons smoking joints on the premises then with them kicking a ball about amongst themselves. Resolute Trinity students have two options if they’re set on playing football. Either they can make the trip out to Bushy Park or parks like it outside Dublin city centre that do allow ball games, or pay for a session of indoor football in the new Sports Hall. The problem with the former is that students usually only have a small amount of time between lectures or study sessions. Making a trip away from college is not an option unless they want to give up half a day. This creates a barrier for those who want to play, just as the fee to play indoor football is a barrier, and we all know that it doesn’t take much to put students off the idea of exercise. We are lucky to have the Trinity Sports Hall in the city centre, but exercise should ideally be outside and free to all.
opinionandanalysis@trinitynews.ie
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The security at the Pav and cricket field seem far more content with patrons smoking joints on the premises then with them kicking a ball about amongst themselves
Also, let’s not forget the million or so other Dubliners who don’t have access to a sports hall right in the middle of town. Children and teenagers in Dublin city centre are far more affected by this. They are regularly left with nothing to do outside of school hours. This forces them to either stay at home or else aimlessly roam the streets - leading to antisocial behaviour. If they don’t have somewhere to kick a ball around, they have far more time to get drunk, look for fights or worse. If the government wants to prevent underage drinking, it must first look at the causes of it. Teens must be offered a viable alternative to days of boredom on the streets. This is not difficult to accomplish. Simply allowing them to play football in Dublin’s big empty parks would be a good start. Thankfully we do have large parks farther from the city centre, such as the already mentioned Bushy Park, that allow ball games. The problem is that much anti-social behaviour arises from working class areas in the city centre. Because of this, the real need for playing areas is in the city centre. Bushy Park is great if you live near Terenure, or if you have well-to-do parents to drive you and your other young friends there. Unfortunately children from poorer areas of the city centre don’t have either of these options. Dublin City Council, which controls most of the parklands in Dublin, needs to put an end to this pointless park rule for the good of all the people of Dublin. Those who enjoy football will be given the opportunity to engage in some harmless fun and the greater Dublin population may benefit from reduced anti-social behaviour. If there’s grass on the pitch – play ball!
O
n Tuesday 23 October, the Union of Students in Ireland held a protest rally outside Leinster House to protest over the student grant system and its failures. I’m not entirely sure if the word “system” – a “formulated, regular, or special method of plan or procedure” – is really applicable to the whole grant payment scheme. Paying grants through local authorities might have seemed a great idea to someone, but it hasn’t worked for the past five years. I know it hasn’t been working for the past three years and counting that I’ve been in receipt of a local authority grant. Forgive the liberty, but I think sharing some of my experience will give you an idea of why the USI is holding protests such as last Tuesday’s, and why I was at that protest. My grant comes (irregularly) from Clare County Council. It has to be said that they’re not the worst – I’ve never been left waiting for more than, say, two months. And, whether luckily or not, through the family means test I qualified for the highest-level grant available, the full distance grant, but without getting into top-up grant levels. On paper, before I moved out of my parents’ nest over three years ago, everything looked gravy. I saved up a bit of money from a summer job before coming up, thinking it would be enough to get me by until the grant arrived. Surely once I’ve registered, my next task will be to pick up my government cheque and transform it into things like food, books, rent payments, bus tickets, student travel cards, pens – maybe even stretch it out to one of those dead cool instant Tipp-Ex pen things? Alas, no. Enquiries to the seemingly relevant College authorities revealed the existence of a certificate. Which had to be filled out. Which entitled me to the actual grant payment. Ironically enough, it turned out to have been sent with the letter that originally informed me that I was entitled to a grant. This certificate has to be posted to Clare County Council (yes, using physical mail, a fax or email would be far too slow and risky) every October, or else no grant for me. The delays in the scheme are obvious, the inadequacies overwhelming. You don’t need to hear my full story to know that I’ve had to start working “part time” since halfway through first year – the penny I didn’t have finally dropped. For those who worry about money, college isn’t so carefree. My Junior Sophister year of study here was characterised by my absence – it was only through exceptionally understanding lecturers that I even passed and admitting that is not easy. Working while attempting to finish a “free” third level education is not an easy balance. Right now, writing this, I don’t actually see a way through my final year. In order to do it well – in order to make the most out of the opportunity to study at Trinity (which is apparently amazing), I know that I would need, right now, to stop working. All of my time is at the moment spent trying to support myself, through work. Loans are out of the question – I only recently managed to pay off an outstanding (and defaulted) loan from first year. Well, my grant will sort me out, won’t it? Even if it arrives late, I know that such an injection of cash will sort out all my troubles… oh, wait… An interesting result of all this is the direction I’ve taken with my part-time work. It might be a fatalistic shortterm view, but the way I see it, if you’re earning a living doing one thing and you’re draining that income doing another you tend to prioritise one over the other. Sure, my possible degree in History would one day provide a fantastic career in… hmmm. According to the Careers Office, History “doesn’t disqualify you from anything”. On the other hand, the experience I’ve gained in my part-time work over the past three years, qualifies me for a whole lot more. This isn’t the direction college was supposed to go. Sure, this isn’t the grant scheme’s entire fault. I could have made different decisions, taken different directions. I could have lived on twenty cent beans for the past three years. I could have had a free education. I could have received a grant that fulfilled its promises to students of similar backgrounds to mine. But I didn’t.
If you would like to share your opinions in “Varisty Talk” email opinionandanalysis@trinitynews.ie with your column idea.
TRINITY NEWS
P14
Michaelmas term, Week 8
Opinion&Analysis Face Off
And you put your left foot forward...
with Joey Facer The longer I do not have a television, the more books I read. The more books I read, the more I swear never again to watch a television. “Were people this dumb before television?”, asks Don de Lilo in his acclaimed White Noise. History would tend to say they were not. Of course, television is not wholly evil. For one thing, the more books I read, which inevitably equates to the more hours I spend in studied seclusion in a small hobbit-hole in the library, the worse I get at speaking. And here, my sincere apologies to anyone I have ever come into contact with in the two hours after my library stints. Words clutter up my brain and swim around without direction, with the result that I tend to say very little, and stutter and bluster very much, whilst occasionally saying randomly offenive and defamatory things I really don’t mean (as well as occasionally promising to do things I quite instantly am unaware I have promised to do). Whereas television watchers, I believe, are like debators in their canny grasp of language and rhetoric. Why, a TV watcher can beat me in an argument any day. For one thing, post-library, all arguments on my side consist of a bleating about “well, I read in this book this one time…” And some of the higher-brow TV watchers of my acquaintance (which is potentially practically every television watcher in this illustrious College) do assure me of the continuing good that can be found in the realms of the televised. I am told of countless historical, literary and current affairs shows that from my own past flickings have ever eluded me. I believe it is like Penneys: I am always seeing people in wonderful clothes allegedly from this Mecca of cheap wearables, and on entering myself can find nothing more than bizarrely shaped polyester knits in atrocious colours. The good stuff does exist, on TV as in Penneys, it just takes a mammouth and committed effort to locate it. Well, I’m not convinced I want to expend such an effort. I am not one to ban the book before reading it. I am a self-confessed recovered television fiend. When asked by so many of my occasional “American accent” I blame not my upbringing (British pastoral at its best, confiningly suburban at worst), but my TV-filled childhood hours. I don’t think I read a book a year of note until I was fifteen, when I decided on the spur of a bet to read a book a week, and have kept to that, perhaps from pride, ever since. But the pre-book-shed years were devilishly filled with American sitcoms, useless chat-shows and the occasional cartoon. Indeed, associating home with all things of old, I found myself last Christmas wasting whole afternoons, whole days even, channelflicking, wading through vast deserts of nonsense, unable to turn myself to other endeavour. And television is so very addictive. It mesmerises the sluggish or tired mind and before you know it, hours have passed by and you have very little to show for them (unless you are the aforementioned adept of channel-hunting). I do have pity for the tired mind; believe me, after a day of the library my mind too is in need of rest. But in the absence of a television, this tired mind will pick up a lighter novel, something enjoyable, and continue to read. Believe it or not, this can rest the mind just as easily. And failing this, sleep is always an option, and most of us need more of it at any rate. And television is an impenetrably different world. A world of different ethics, a different values system, a different time frame and even different hair styles. It is an illusion, and a fickle one. The world of books may be at as far a remove from reality, but I don’t think many would argue with me when I say that books have been key to man’s progression and ascenscion since time immemorial. Television, on the other hand, has yet to prove its pudding. Ideas are keenly lacking from most shows I have been privy to. I will concede, I too am partial to Blackadder’s pastiche and satire, and I too enjoy the wardrobe of Sex and the City. Call me a hypocrite, but I rail less at television in general than telelvision specifically stealing my time, stealing my ideas, numbing my brain. And so should everyone. The rise of the reality show is especially terrifying. (Sadly, due to my job in a Dublin theatre I know far more than I would like about the TV show that spawned the star of our current production. Not through watching, but through the press emails we are required to memorise. I always feel a little bit sneaky when I rhapsodise about a rise to fame I was never privy to to the customer.) Television seems to have run out of ideas, so instead presents the viewer with a reflection of real life to watch. This blatant voyeurism must end. Watching people living in place of living yourself is the zenith of the postmodern condition. (Or so said I book I probably read.) Yes, I do experience the sinking of heart at the start of any conversation beginning “did you see ___ last night?” I know this is a loop I will only ever smile wryly at the outskirts of. However, as my work colleagues discussed Big Brother over the summer, I entered the minds of some of the most renowned of thinkers and writers. Had television been still my bride, I would not have discovered Murakami, or Bradbury, Lodge or Kundera, Bulgakov or De Bernieres. Long live the book, and all its forms: death to the television, the sapper of life, the promotor of thoughtlessness, the spinner of fabrication.
Security, equipped with a boombox, appear to lead the dance during UCD’s Med Day invasion of Front Square last week. Photo: Eoin O’Braoin
Why I wish I was an atheist The Church may be 2000 years old, but Christian thinking need not be
People who don’t know me automatically assume that I must be homophobic, misogynistic, some sort of fundamentalist, anti-sex and anti-intellectual.
DARREN MCCALLIG CHURCH OF IRELAND CHAPLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE
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uite frankly, I sometimes wish I wasn't a clergyman. I sometimes wish I wasn't ordained. Because I find it so frustrating when people who don't know me automatically assume – when they find out what I do - that I must be: homophobic; misogynistic; some sort of fundamentalist; anti-sex and anti-intellectual. What's more, they assume I think non-believers and people of other religions are all going to hell. So, you see, in many ways, I do rather wish I was an atheist. I often say to people that if I didn't have a strong sense of vocation, a sense of calling to be a clergyman, then I probably wouldn't ever bother going near a church. You see, I love the Church dearly, but I'm certainly not blind to its flaws. When I look at the Church I see an institution which has contributed greatly to human flourishing over the last two thousand years. But I also see an institution which has been, and still is, in many ways, guilty of a long list of crimes including: the abuse and exploitation of women; discrimination against gay people; persecution of people of other faiths and the most terrible abuses of power. So, you see, for me to be a part of this institution was never going to be easy! Indeed, there was a time in my life when the whole idea of faith and Church and all that stuff seemed at best irrelevant and at worst a dangerous delusion. So, you might well ask, what happened? Well, let me tell you first what didn't happen. I didn't have a "road to Damascus" type experience. For me there were no
blinding lights, no booming voice from heaven, not even a few angels. No, nothing terribly dramatic like that. What did happen was this. I gradually came to realise that the popular understanding of Christianity, the understanding of Christianity presented to me as a child and as a teenager, was not the only way of being a Christian. I discovered that Christianity isn't really all about fear and judgement and about avoiding hell when we die. No, Christianity is actually more about compassion and mercy and learning how to live with joy and with courage and with kindness here in this life. And I discovered some things about faith too. I learned that faith, properly understood, isn't about believing ten impossible things before breakfast. No, faith is ultimately about trust. Faith is the trust that there is a meaning and a purpose to life and that that meaning is bound up with self-giving, self-sacrificing love. Faith is trust in the buoyancy of God. And I also learned some things about the Bible too. I learned that the Bible is the "Word of God" and not, literally the "words of God." The text did not drop, fully-formed, from the sky. Rather, it is a collection of documents written by many different authors over a very long period of time. It tells of God's relationship with God's people. However, it also inevitably reflects the views, perspectives and prejudices of its human authors. So I learned that you don't have to take all of the Bible literally in order to take it seriously.
I learned that arguing over whether certain things in the Bible actually happened in the ways described is, in most cases, to miss the point. What makes us more spiritual, more fully-alive people is not the act of believing in our heads that this or that event happened 2000 years ago. Rather, we become more spiritually alive when we allow the deeper, often symbolic and metaphorical truths of scripture to change our hearts and our attitudes. I also learned some new things about God. I grew up and realised that the image of God as an old man in the sky with a long white beard may have been suitable for me as a child, but it is wholly inadequate for trying to describe that depth and that meaning behind and beyond all things, into which, when I pray, I try to sink. I grew up and learned that we are all, all, made in the image of God and that differences of gender, or class, or sexual orientation do not alter that fact. Sadly, our Anglican Church has still some way to go on this one. But I know that we will get there in the end. So that, in a short summary, has been my journey. You could say that I tried atheism, but I kept having doubts! I have put all of this down on paper because I know that many people may well be on a similar journey and I want to reassure them that while our faith is 2000 years old, our thinking does not have to be. Also, as a new Chaplain on this campus I want to set out my vision of what a Chaplaincy should be about. I believe that the Chaplaincy should be a place where simplistic, pat answers to life's mysteries are rejected in favour of a more honest questioning. No one should have to park their brain at the door of the church. Rather, the Chapel should be a place where we wrestle with big questions like: Why are we here? Is there any meaning and purpose to life? Is it simply the case that he or she who dies with the most toys wins, or is there another way? How can we live lives of integrity and conviction? And, what can the great religious traditions, and in particular, Christianity, teach us? Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says that “religion is the space we make in our life for the things that are important, not just urgent." He is correct. There does appear to be something in the human condition that is always reaching for something more, something beyond. There is something in the human condition that tries to reach beyond the secular, beyond the material, beyond the visible and the quantifiable. We may be "dust of the earth", but we have these immortal longings. We are the only species which can imagine a world other than the one we live in. We are the one life-form known to us in the universe capable to asking the question, "why?" Those "why?" questions ask us to lift up our eyes beyond the immediate, in search of the ultimate. And the name we give to the ultimate ultimate is God.
opinionandanalysis@trinitynews.ie
TRINITY NEWS
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Issue 3, Volume 54 Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 6 Trinity College, Dublin 2 www.trinitynews.ie
Sterilising the student experience The recent lack of clarity from the Junior Dean and College authorities regarding catering rules highlights the overreaching and exaggerated use of “authority” in Trinity. Restricting the distribution of tea and toast on the basis of health and safety regulations is not only a misguided use of administrative manpower, but such action serves no purpose other than to restrict student activities in an apparently arbritrary way. The fact that there is no consistency in the application of these “rules” further emphasises the frivolous nature of them. A university full of students does not need a “pastoral” use of authority to tell them what they may or may not eat ot drink, especially given that cooking by students for students is no more dangerous than students cooking for themselves. Further, the suggestion that any student food-based event requires preparation by a person holding a professional qualification with College approval is simply unpractical, and effectivley rules out the possibility of any society serving any substantial food. The International Students’ Society’s attempt to cook a reception to welcome foreign students to our fair College was one case to suffer from “over enforcement”. A worthy endeavour one might think, however, it led to a fine for the society and leaves us wondering – does the College and in this case, the Junior Dean, care more about implementing the “rules” or about helping students. On another note, considering that it is best practice to eat before or while consuming alcohol, the new policies upheld by the Junior Dean appear to increase the dangers of excessive drunkeness at college events. Surely this is not desired? Policies such as this one are not only ridiculous in and of themselves, but are indicative of a much wider abuse of power and a complete lack of a simple common sense approach. Recent proposals regarding the restructuring of the university have been described as “overly bureaucratic” and it is particularly sad that the actuality of such a view can be seen at every level of College life. Certain members of our administrative and support staff should spend their time helping and supporting our students rather than finding obscure and petty ways to inconvenience them.
On the positive nature of aggressive opinion The recent challenge to the College Visitors by Dr Vij is refreshing and encouraging, not because one agrees with his opinion one way or another, but because it demonstrates that at least some members of the academic staff still care about their university. While students can sometimes be relied upon to protest, whether onmasse and publicly, or, more frequently, through the appropriate channels, this is a luxury which the student body possesses for two reasons: first, that they are more akin to a customer of the college than an employee, and second, that any one student is usually only in college for four years, and in a position of power for perhaps one. However, a much more substantial power lies in the College staff, for the simple fact that they generally hold office for a much longer term and can become more familiar with all aspects of College life. However, going against the official College policy on a number of issuses can be problematic for an employee of the organisation. It is encouraging, therefore, to see a member of staff who has such conviction as to challenge the authority of the College itself. Whether Dr Vij’s challenge is upheld in the future by the College Visitors is unimportant; what is important is that he is willing to stand against the College Board, comprised of his peers, the Annual Officers, and the Provost himself, based on what he believes to be best for the University. While the Board is likely doing what it also believes to be in the best interests of Trinity College, it is far easier to do this from a position of authority and power than from a personal capacity. Such actions should reassure the students of this College that despite the increasingly managerial approach to the education of young people, there are those who will, when they feel it necessary, oppose even the most powerful figures within the University. And, as it is virtually impossible to influence or oppose college policy without holding a privileged or informed position, men and women within the College community with such an attitude are absolutely invaluable to the continuation of an open-minded, free thinking and democratic university. We would encourage as many staff as possible to follow Dr Vij’s lead. letters@trinitynews.ie
Misrepresentation, lies and untruths in Trinity News? Sir - I am emailing you in response to a number of suggestions and insinuations in "Trinity "News"" in regard to the Hist. On both page 1 on and page 3 of your last publication, your writer Caoimhe Hanley suggested that the Hist was in some way connected with the Philander scandal. This allegation was printed dispite the fact that I told her during a telephone conversation, and indeed you as well in a further telephone conversation prior to publication, that the College Historical Society had no involvement whatsoever in the story or indeed subsequent news interest in the story. Furthermore Ms. Hanley saw fit to quote anonymous sources to back up her claim, a procedure which in effect allows your publication to write complete fiction whenever you or a writer requires in order fill inconvenient gaps. A policy which completely undermines the integrity of the publication. It is particularly disappointing that your writer saw fit to distract from the main element of the story, that of the offending line, and instead focus on
trying to turn the story into something about Hist attacking the Phil. I am also disgusted that you continue to allow anonymous article under the guise of "Evelyn Tent" (such an original pun) to be published attacking myself and various other indivduals around college. Something which only undermines your claim to be a "newspaper" It also means that number of important questions have to be answered by you and the college authorities concerning "Trinity News" In particular, whether it is acceptable for students to effectively continue to subsidise attacks on themselves through the grant "Trinity "News"" receives from the capitations committee. I can only say that at present "Evelyn Tent" reflects very poorly on the policy you have chosen to follow as editor of "Trinity "News"" in allowing such petty, spiteful and untruthful material to be published, and since it is written anonymously and no one else in House six apart from you seems to know who writes it, one could quite reasonably
suggest that you are responsible, I think anyone left treating your publication seriously deserves a clarifification of your position, and perhaps an apology. Yours etc, Tim Smyth Auditor, College Historical Society • This letter has been published verbatim the writers’ request
Sir - I was disgusted and appalled at the recent fallacies and inaccuracies contained in your column entitled “Evelyn Tent”. As we all know I'm floating on a cloud of “Stoli” am not “gin-soaked”, dah-ling! Yours, Etc Ruth Faller President, University Philsophical Society
“Obscene” increase in Provost’s salary Sir - I note with dismay the obscene salary increase of 19%, that is, an increase to €270,000, for the Provost's salary. When was the Provost removed from the salary scale applicable to all members of
College? I note that money is unavailable to finance the salaries of many deserving Scholars in College. I note too that the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English remains unfilled for lack of
funds. This is a disgrace and a public scandal. Yours etc, Gerald Morgan, Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (1993)
International contact must be more accessible Sir - As an international student here at Trinity, I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to study at such a world-renowned institution. I am especially lucky to live on campus, meaning I only have to wake up five minutes before class if I like! There really has not been a downside to my Trinity experience in the past month, with one exception. As an international student visiting from California, I am four thousand miles away from my family and network of friends at home. Luckily, unlike only twenty years ago when writing letters back and forth and an occasional call from a pay phone would have been the only means of communication, the world of internet has made it quite easy for much more satisfying and instant ways to stay in touch with those back home. Programmes like Skype, AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger have made it much easier for international students to chat with their families and
friends. The Trinity College internet network, however, does not make this type of communication easy or convenient for many students. Because of the high security IS Services has placed on the campus network, there are very few outside programs even supported by the network. Skype and MSN messenger are the two allowed, and I know that for some students, the network will not even let them connect to Skype! And if you are one of the fortunate ones who can get Skype to work, you must go through an entirely new process of security features to allow your computer to use the program through the network. Making it so difficult for students to use features such as Skype and impossible to use other ones such as AOL Instant Messenger, which I was relying on to allow me to communicate with most of my friends back home, just makes it harder for international students to adapt to being in a new environment. Leaving home
to study abroad is a fulfilling and educational experience, but at times can also be a lonely and stressful one. My experience thus far has been that Trinity College makes sure that international students have many resources to help them become adjusted and happy in their transition phase. However, making the instant communication that many students have come to rely on to help them feel closer to home so difficult to come by is not helpful in combating homesickness, in fact it is hindering. I suggest that Trinity College IS Services work on creating a more relaxed network where students can use outside programs to help them feel a little more connected to the outside world. Yours etc, Jessica Youngsmith
Send your letters to letters@trinitynews.ie
To the students at large, being undergraduates When you stay a whole night out of the College, in order to save the punishment, go to the Dean the next day, and tell him that the evening before, you were sick, were obliged to go to bed before the night-roll, and had no person to return you: or say and insist on it boldly, that you were in the hall and answered your name; that you returned yourself at the porters’ lodge, etc. Upon this the Dean will be forced to believe you, and omit laying on the fine. If you have chambers on a ground floor, fronting the street or any back waste ground about the College, get screws to one of the bars of the windows, so as to remove it occasionally, and make a passage to get out; or contrive to let the upper sash drop down at pleasure, and get over the bars. I knew a couple of ingenious Freshmen who had chambers on the first floor next to the Park, into which they let down a rope ladder from their windows, and by this means got out into town almost every night, after they answered their names at night-roll. There are some of you such economists in your amours as to bring girls into your rooms at night. This must be done with great caution and privacy, lest being detected you should suffer an expulsion or rustication. You can pass them in, in men’s dress, in a coach at night; or, if a watchful porter (as generally happens) stands at the gate, in the boot of a coach: or drag them over the walls after twelve o’clock. But the best method of all to get your wench in, is this: let her borrow a child or two from a friend, and get some of her sisterhood to accompany her, who may bring back the children again; and thus she will evade the vigilance of the porters at the gate, by passing for a maid servant; and after taking
a few walks around the Park, she can slip into your rooms unnoticed. If the Dean should get intelligence of your having a girl, and come to search your rooms, you are in a terrible situation; but the best way to get out of it will be to open the door at once, and when you learn the cause of his visit, assert boldly that there is no such person in your apartments, which you can desire him to examine. Then, through politeness, he must believe your word; or, if not, the wench will have time to hide herself somewhere. There was a student once who had chambers on a ground floor, in which he cut a large hole, and had it covered with a nice trap door, that could scarcely be distinguished from the floor: into this, upon any alarm he would instantly thrust down his wench, where she lay snug until the coast was clear. Idleness is not only excusable, but absolutely necessary to procure you the character of an honest fellow, or a man of honour. Whatever time, therefore, you spend in study, let it be carefully concealed from every one; whether you are a candidate for a caution, or a premium: for in the first case it will be discovered that you are a dunce, and in the next, you will be considered a man of uncommon genius and abilities, who are able to make such great answering on such small reading. Should twelve hours of the four and twenty be dedicated to intense study (as is the practice with some of you who are called premium men) you must notwithstanding appear to be totally idle, and dissipated; by frequently showing yourself in the daytime, by attending places of public amusement if you can afford it, and above all things by neglecting the duties. This, besides making you an
object of admiration, will serve to put your adversaries off their guard, who can have no cause to fear you as their competitor for the premium. Saluting the Fellows, and keeping your hat off when you speak to, or are near them, is a custom instituted by themselves, when they otherwise failed of commanding respect; and so degrading to a gentleman, that you must totally lay it aside. However, if some surly dogs among the Fellows should insist on the shadow of respect, take notice that you are not obliged to know them as Fellows, except in their academic dress; not to salute them (according to the statutes) except within the limits of the College. If you wish to live in town, rather than in the College; although it should be attended with more expense, you can nevertheless turn it to a good purpose. Take lodgings in the neighbourhood of the College, that you may be near your companions. Then go, and tell your Tutor that you live at a great distance, at Ranelagh, Arbour Hill, Dorset Street, etc. Your Tutor will then have you marked down as residing at such places in the different rolls, and you will consequently be excused most of the duties. This manoeuvre will not only prove your great ingenuity, but enable you (of you are obliged to pay your notes out of your allowance) to spend more among your comrades: besides the satisfaction of playing such a trick on the Fellows; over whom as lawful enemies, it is your duty to take every advantage. From Advice to the University of Dublin (Dublin: P Byrne, 1791) Compiled by Peter Henry.
TRINITY NEWS
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
Business&Careers
The
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Once an iconic image of both American consumerism and commercial success, the Wal-Mart company has found itself in some difficult times, as fresh competition provides fresh challenges for America’s most famous franchise. DANIELLE RYAN BUSINESS & CAREERS EDITOR Wal-Mart, America’s largest company and the largest private employer in the world, seems to have hit a rough patch. Sales are slowing and shares are trading lower than ever, far below their 2004 high. Analysts are calling Wal-Mart’s stock “dead money”. Over the past eighteen months, Wal-Mart’s steady growth formula has stopped working the way it used to. It’s still a profiting company, but isn’t receiving the returns that it saw in the 1990’s. The year 2006 was its worst ever with only a 1.9% gain in same-store sales compared to the 5% gain it once had and 2007 hasn’t been looking a lot brighter so far. Company CEO Lee Scott Jr. has been looking for ways to give the shareholders the returns that they need. For so many years, WalMart has been able to exist almost without any threatening competition; even its closest competitors didn’t pose a threat to the Wal-Mart boom. It is normal for a company not yet half a century old to face a struggle to sustain the rapid growth that it once
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knew, but not many predicted that WalMart would face the problem this soon. Companies which were once lagging far behind Wal-Mart in growth rates, including Target, Costco, Kroger and Walgreen’s, are among the many retailers that began this year growing at two to five times faster that Wal-Mart. It is the opinion of some that Wal-Mart’s glory days are over, but Scott does not recognise any limits to Wal-Mart’s growth. In fact, he has remarked that he sees room for 4000 more Supercenters in the United States alone. Yet considering the fact that the newest Supercenters are located so close to existing ones that WalMart ends up competing with itself, Scott’s plan for 4000 more stores seems totally unrealistic. Not only that, but the new stores aren’t even amounting enough in sales to offset the costs of building them and, to top it all off, mismanaged stores accumulate billions of dollars of excess inventories. Last year alone in the United States, WalMart opened new stores at the rate of nearly one a day. It appears that it would suit WalMart better to put a hold on creating new
The real issue is, are we going to be good enough to take advantage of the amazing possibilities that exist?
stores and start paying more attention to the thousands that it has already (a plan which McDonalds’ strategists have adopted) because it’s not only slowing growth that has Wal-Mart in trouble. It’s also their refusal to provide adequate healthcare for employees, their often devastating effect on small communities and “Mom & Pop” stores where a Wal-Mart store opens and their effect on the environment, not to mention that they are constantly involved in lawsuits regarding discrimination (these are often sexual discrimination cases) and violation of wage laws. Scott doesn’t seem to have any interest in adopting the McDonalds idea, however. In his view, as he says “The real issue is, are we going to be good enough to take advantage of the opportunities that exist?” Statistics released a year and a half ago would suggest that 25% of WalMart stores failed to meet even minimum expectations of cleanliness and product availability. Last year, the company announced it would cut its eight percent annual addition to United States store square footage to seven percent, but Scott says that they would be stupid to stop growth and
expect to automatically have better performing stores. Wal-Mart rose to glory on its slogan “Always Low Prices”, but always having the lowest price is no longer enough; Wal-Mart have found themselves in the risky position of having to sell on price alone. Why? BusinessWeek visited three Wal-Mart stores to take a look at things from the inside and confirmed what many knew already; Wal-Mart has a huge customer services problem. With many of its employees feeling hostile toward the company, they are led to treat customers badly, which means the only thing keeping WalMart ticking over are the low prices. That, in turn, means margins are tighter and it’s even more difficult to raise wages and keep its 1.3million store employees happy. Employees at the stores are of the opinion that if Wal-Mart doesn’t care about them, they don’t care about Wal-Mart. Lee Scott has commented that improving customer service is a top priority in his three year plan to improve business. The overall mission at Wal-Mart has always been to keep the prices as low as possible, but the success of that formula has begun to wane and it just
isn’t enough anymore. Scott initially blamed WalMart’s Wall Street problem on rising gas prices, but by now, they have realised or accepted that they are up against serious competitors which will continue to take a piece of their business. Wal-Mart was founded by the now legendary Sam Walton who once famously danced in a hula skirt and floral shirt on Wall Street after losing a bet with Wal-Mart store managers who believed that they could achieve a pretax margin larger than eight percent.Walton founded the company with the belief that the happiness and satisfaction of its employees was of the utmost importance. Today, however, it is a rare occurrence to find a satisfied Wal-Mart employee. The Wal-Mart of today is different to the one Sam Walton founded in 1962, but it’s not all bad. Scott has effectively reformed some areas of business, striking up relationships with environmental groups and adding more women to its board, but it still has a long way to go to rebuild the momentum it once had.
The Celtic Tiger and the Golden Lion In a world where charity and international aid are becoming more frequent and popular, can economics and romanticism exist together? Can we undo the damage that has been done? AISLING DENG CONTRIBUTING WRITER As a young naïve kid, standing outside a sweet shop, my eyes darted epileptically to and fro from the infinite rows of neon coloured gobstoppers to psychedelic looking lollipops and sherbet fountains. Life was like a rainbow tinted dynamic explosion of pure, sweet joy. I’d idly devour a paper bag of sweets until the bag noticeably lightened and my contentedness too turned sour and evaporated as fast as the sugar rush coursing through my veins. If I was lucky enough, the candy cane adventure would be rounded off with an impromptu trip to Eddie Rockets for ice-cream floats. My friends and I would chew 20 pence gumballs while waiting impatiently for our Pièce de résistances- our floats. The Coke and ice-cream would come separately. The ice-cream: rich, creamy, heavenly soft on the palette and the Coke: spunky, sharp and satisfyingly fizzy would sink, crackle and pop at contact and emerge in the midst of an octave of dynamic hissing feline noises trapped in a thick mane of foam. I used to wonder what other oddly contrasting mismatched items complemented each other like the magical ice-cream float. Doughnuts and salami? Brie and Mars bars? Or maybe, just maybe… economics and romanticism? Can economics support romanticism and turn its ideals into reality? If they integrated their positive elements together: economics lending some of its ethics and structure to romanticism and romanticism reviving economics with a breath of fresh ideas, a magnificent society worthy of the Roman Renaissance would emerge. One
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could say the combination of economics and romanticism is just another way of saying communism. But like oil and water, they’re at opposite poles and no matter how hard we try, the sad reality is that as we flick through the richly embroidered pages of history, we’re shown that it doesn’t bode well for those who attempt it. Why can’t two subjects, both in theory pristine and pure, work? Like learning puzzling maths theories and laws (a minus by a minus = plus?) and reading Kafka and Orwell before bedtime, it’s a seriously screwed up matter, leaving one feeling quite bleak. Theory is the crucial and critical word here. Reality is, well… the reality and, consequently, the fatal flaw. Does the lure of a sticky toffee pudding still have such a strong childish hold on us and our actions, or are we finally suppressing the almighty vice of power and letting goodness overflow? Will the operation be clogged up with the grease
and grime of corruption? Has history turned us into terrible pessimistic sceptics, lacking in faith in the heart of our own societies? Can we undo the wrong that’s been done? These are some of the questions that are reeling through my mind, ahead of the World Bank’s International Development Association two-day meeting, scheduled to take place next month on 12 and 13 November in our very own city. Robert Zoellick, the new President of the World Bank, has certainly not made the start of his presidency easy, already treading on controversial territory. Last Thursday, he announced at a news conference in Washington DC that he’ll be setting up a new strategy which will draw private-sector companies in, allowing them to help finance aid to the world’s poorest countries. The other pressing issue for the World Bank will be its fifteenth fund-raising campaign to restructure and replenish the assets of the International Development Association, the bank’s main lender to some of the world’s poorest countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa like Niger and Ethiopia. With promises of doubling IDA contributions to 3.5 billion dollars this year, some are growing uneasy and cynical, especially since Zoellick announced this could extend to private foundations and sectors. This raises many questions and alarms, mainly stemming from the fact that the World Bank is a public institution serving citizens, not shareholders. The threat of breaching policy and ethics will always loom over the situation, leaving plenty of room for corruption which lingers menacingly and tantalisingly in the air when privatisation in the picture. It may thwart the attempts of reform to empower third world countries and newly industrial countries that would
also give them greater say in matters. The waters tend to turn murkier as private sectors become increasingly involved and compromises will undoubtedly be made. The balance of power may shift more, outweighing the actual benefits that including them may actually do. Giving more international reign of influence and control to these companies is an extremely delicate and dangerous matter which could end up creating and nurturing further and greater class divides within our hierarchy instead of narrowing the partition. Strict regulations and precautions must be put in place to ensure that the plan doesn’t silently submerge into darkness and that the goals set are clear and carried out precisely and unhampered. As the world keeps turning, realities get broken and made, blurred and exposed. Pure economics and romanticism will inevitably leak together again in the future… and from most experiences the potentness of one’s power and desire overcomes the good intentions of the original plan. But I’m still a believer that maybe, just maybe, a master confectioner will come up with the perfect recipe, the ultimate balance between sweet and sour and that more good will come out than bad: a success story to shine some radiant positive light on things, maybe even set the tone for the future? While I cling onto this idea in my flights of fancy, I can’t help but feel tingling intuition whispering the affirmative. But I guess the proof is in the pudding. All we can hope is that the temptingly luscious forbidden siren red apple will remain intact and pristine in the Garden of Eden, or more politically correct… the board room. Well, here’s hoping the kittens don’t soil their mittens!a
Wind turbines in South Africa. Photo: Lovinda Geeve
Europe is leader in eco-energy DANIELLE RYAN BUSINESS & CAREERS EDITOR The sustainable energy industry, it appears, is the way for companies to boost profit margins and fight global warming at the same time. The sector has become a multibillion dollar industry and Europe is leading the way as it remains the top location for public and private investment in the world’s renewable energy sector in 2007. Wind and solar power are currently the most profitable and viable sources. Over 25000 wind farms are currently operating in Europe and that number is expected to double within the next six years. Many other companies, one of which is Marine Current Turbines in southern England, are looking into ways to harness tidal power to generate more energy. MCT is planning on opening its first “tidal farm” early in 2008. It used to be difficult to find funding for projects such as this, but saving the planet is big business these days; governments and investors are delighted to be handing over money to environmentally-friendly business ventures. The industry is growing so rapidly that the German company QCells has gone from employing nineteen people in 2000 to a predicted 5000 people in 2010. Behind the surge of interest in renewable energy is the European Commis-
sion’s policy plan to produce 20% of the EU’s energy from renewable resources by the year 2020. Europe is leading the way, but the United States isn’t far behind; it is predicted that then United States will soon be attracting more renewable energy investment than Europe. Investment in renewable energy in India has grown 160% in the last three years and in China it has jumped by over 2000% in those same three years. No one is naïve enough to think that these investments are being made purely to save the planet. It’s nice to believe that everyone is in it to save the world, but cynically thinking, it’s the high returns that companies receive from investing in sustainable energy that motivates them. Though it does makes a nice change, however, to see a multibillion dollar industry that serves to improve the planet rather than destroy it and that is nothing to be cynical about. Having said that, this doesn’t mean that an end to the original coal and gas-fired power plants will be seen any time soon. Wind power still stands at only ten percent of Europe’s energy production and other alternatives such as biomass and solar power remain too expensive to be used as freely as wind power. So we might not be as environmentally friendly as we’d like just yet, but it’s all a move in the right direction.
businessandcareers@trinitynews.ie
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 6
Science&Technology
A plague on cancer Trinity researchers are on the way to providing new forms of treatment
A computer simulation of the Semliki Forest Virus. Image courtesy of Fuller, Butcher, Berriman and Gowen at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany.
SCIENCE EDITOR Cancer is the second most common cause of death in our society today. Inevitably it is a part of our lives, whether we like that or not; its abundance means we can hardly escape it, be it as patient, relative or friend. In simple terms cancer can be considered a random mutation of the human genome manifesting in cell development. This may have been favoured by outer influences like radiation or, nowadays, more influential for us, smoking. The mutated cells multiply in an uncontrolled fashion; the naturally programmed cell death that usually applies for all cells is overridden, so the cancer can continue to grow and will inevitably affect the body at some point. The dangerous part about it is: cancer cells are still native body cells, but they affect the immune system so that it fails to recognize the malprogrammed cells as a danger to the body. What can be done about this? At Trinity’s School of Microbiology & Genetics, there are quite a few researchers that work on possible cancer treatments. Let me introduce one of them to you: Frank Roche currently is a postgraduate in the Virology Group within this school, under the supervision of Prof. Gregory Atkins and working in conjunction with Prof. Shane O’Mara from Trinity’s Institute of Neuroscience. He completed his undergraduate degree at National University of Ireland Maynooth in Biotechnology in 2004 and after a year off travelling, he started the current project on eradication of tumors. Virology Group, you say, what do they have got to do with cancer treatment? Interesting point! The very clever idea in Frank’s project is to treat cancer with viruses. I hear you: that man must be kidding! Treat one plague with another? Very much so, let me show you how. To do this, he needs some real life patients. No, not humans, he is using rats. These rats show a form of brain cancer that closely resembles the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer that humans can develop (see box: Glioblastoma Multiforme). The closer the resemblance is, the more applicable Frank’s results will be to the development of treatments for humans, so this is as close as he can get. It is his aim to provide treatment for this very form of cancer and he is currently testing this method for its potential applicability in clinical treatment. That’s the starting point. To treat the cancer in rats, he aims to go inside their body and attack the cells in the very place they grew, i.e. not like palliative radiotherapy or chemotherapy (palliative means they don’t provide a cure). However, that implies he needs an agent that will deal with the cancer within the body, a messenger to
“ ” The different effects play together like clockwork
Glioblastome Multiforme (GBM) Despite this form of brain cancer being the most aggressive and, at the same time, most common, form of brain cancer, it occurs in only 2 -3 cases per 100000 people in the Western Hemisphere. Amongst those diagnosed with GBM, - the median life expectancy is one year, - less than 5% survive after two years. - GBM is considered to be invariably fatal.
Magnetic Resonance Image of the rat’s brain tumor that is to be treated. The tumor can be recognised by its lighter shade of grey in this image which is a result of the tumor’s higher density compared to the surrounding tissue. Image courtesy: Dr. Oliviero Gobbo, TCIN.
Tech Specs John O’Reilly
MAC OS X LEOPARD The Tiger changes its stripes
SEBASTIAN WIESMAIER
science@trinitynews.ie
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bring bad news to the cancer cells, if you like. Now, this is where the virus comes into play. Frank uses the so-called Semliki Forest Virus that was discovered 1942 in Uganda. It is of the rather harmless kind as it can infect humans but won’t show any symptoms of infection, i.e. you wouldn’t even notice you had an infection. That also means the virus can be handled safely. But we still don’t know how the virus exactly acts on tumor cells. Why would it do any harm to them? This is the concept of a viral vector. You can call it gene delivery if you like and there we get back to the role of the messenger that the virus plays. This is how it works: when a virus (in its normal form) infects a cell, it may alter the DNA of the host cell in the process of reproducing itself. Both of these effects are not advantageous as altering DNA can, in itself, cause cancer and this reproduction of the virus leads to cell and tissue damage. To prevent that and in turn to achieve the desired effect, the virus has to be castrated of its reproductive genes, metaphorically, of course, and the remaining genes need to be reprogrammed by very specifically acting enzymes. When the virus’ genome is manipulated, it is not called a virus anymore, technically scientists refer to it as a virus-like particle or VLP (I’ll stick to virus here to leave things simple). Once that is done, the virus will alter the tumor cells’ protein production system (and not the DNA) and forces them to produce, or “express” as the researchers call it, certain highly reactive proteins. From there on, a chain reaction, so-called down-stream effects, take place, which means there are several impacts on the tumor cells that work together to eradicate the tumor. First of all, the virus itself causes the tumor cells to die. Second, the body’s immune system is usually skewed by the tumor so it cannot take measures against it. The proteins shift it back to a state where it will be able to attack the tumor. Third, as there’s now a virus genome inside the cell, this offers the immune system another incentive to target these very cells, they are now labelled with virus properties. Finally,
to be able to survive, every tumor needs to grow its own blood vessels after having reached a certain size; the proteins produced will inhibit the growth of these and therefore starve the tumor cells and weaken them. As you can see, this is an amazingly well thought-out process and the different effects play together like clockwork. What Frank is currently looking at is whether these effects will be sufficient to reproducibly and effectively kill the tumor. Every method needs fine-tuning to do exactly what you want it to do. After the virus is introduced into the rats, it begins acting locally on the tumor cells. It is important to bring it directly into the tumor as the virus would not be able to differ between healthy body cells and tumor cells (not even the immune system can do that at this point). The second reason to inject the virus directly in the target region is the toxicity of the proteins that are going to be produced. Yes, they are toxic, but only in high concentrations. If you have a high concentration only in a small area (the tumor), the proteins will be very much diluted over the whole body. That means their impact can be controlled to appear only in the tumor. After the injection, Frank applies Magnetic Resonance Imaging to monitor the effects the virus shows. Within two to three weeks, he can tell if the tumor starts to decrease and further monitors it after that to ensure full eradication of the tumor. The animal is then dissected to investigate all possible effects, including any negative side effects that the therapy might have, to ensure that this is a possibility indeed to treat brain cancer in the future. Every cycle of experiments lasts a few weeks, so as with all good research, it takes a while to get enough information for him to gauge the process and present his results to the scientific community. However, slight improvements can go a long way in the end and Frank’s work could prove significant enough to help counteract this fatal malfunction of cells.
Apple has finally released Mac OS X Leopard, the sixth and most significant upgrade to their operating system in its history. First announced to developers in mid 2005 and originally intended to be released in late 2006/early 2007, its release had been delayed due to Apple’s development efforts of the iPhone, which forced them to “borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from {our} Mac OS X team.” The update is Apple’s answer to Windows Vista, which, so far, has failed to win the hearts of its adopters; Apple is hoping to increase their market share with Leopard, adding another layer of polish and some useful new features to their previous offering, Tiger. Apple puts 316 as the number of new features available with Leopard, with some being core under-thehood components and others more general day to day applications, but as a whole, Leopard makes interacting with your computer a more satisfying and productive experience. Anyone used to iTunes will be at home with this new OS; as many features which originated in the jukebox software have migrated to the OS as a whole, such as the layout of the redesigned Finder (the Mac equivalent of Windows Explorer) and the “Coverflow” method of visually browsing files, a feature first found in iTunes. Other key features of the update are an automated backup feature allowing deleted files to be restored and the introduction of virtual desktops allowing multiple desktops to be used at a time. With Mac adoption at an all time high worldwide, this update will be put through its paces by a larger than ever user base, and so Apple has worked hard to get the release right.For those that bought a Mac after 1 October, Apple will waive the €129 price of the software, making the upgrade free apart from a shipping-and-handling fee of €8.95. At the other end of the scale, for those with an older Mac, Leopard may not be for you and has a minimum spec of an 867 MHz processor with 512MB of ram. If your machine doesn’t live up to Leopards’ requirements, don’t see it all as bad news: you are now armed with a perfect excuse to replace your ageing computer.
Microsoft Zune 2 A solid number 2 Microsoft has recently updated their Zune line of media players, and while they haven’t introduced any earthshattering new features, they have brought them from an also-ran to a solid second effort in the portable media player market. They have introduced one interesting feature to the table, however, wireless syncing of the device with your computer over wi-fi. This is one unique feature that the Zune has over the undisputed market leader, the beloved iPod. Microsoft has also announced that all of the new software functions of the Zune 2 (such as wireless syncing, additional codec support etc.) will be made available free of charge to first generation Zune owners through a downloadable firmware update. This is a commendable case of Microsoft looking after its early adopters and is something Apple has stopped doing with its players, instead encouraging consumers to purchase the newest models. While the Zune has yet to leave American markets, the update does signal that Apple will sooner, rather than later, have to introduce wireless syncing into their wi-fi enabled iPod touch and iPhone. For large data transfers between device and computer, wireless syncing isn’t practical, but for smaller updates (e.g. a few songs, etc.) it can be very convenient. Altogether, though, the Zune as a portable media player provides nothing ground breaking and given that the majority of mp3 players are iPods, Microsoft needs to provide a genuine reason for people to want to switch platforms. While it is a welcome improvement over its predecessor, Microsoft hasn’t yet found a way to shake Apple’s stranglehold and, for now, can aim quite happily for second best.
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
WorldTravel Road trip through a fanatsy world ZOE JELLICOE NEW ZEALAND New Zealand is a country where the landscape could have been lifted out of a fantasy novel and where the sheep outnumber the people four to one. It’s somewhere where the time should be spent exploring and generally enveloping yourself within its lifestyle. Travelling by car seems much easier - you have complete freedom to explore any dirt path to your heart’s desire. One that remains vivid in my mind is a twenty minute dirt path that ended up being a dead end. This was particularly memorable as I remember passing a property that had the legend “Piss Off” inscribed on a sign. As my family have always been into our gruelling car journeys, we decided to attempt the ultimate road trip across an untamed landscape. That said, bus services are a bargain and ferries provide a cheap way to commute between the North and South Island. There are also limited train services, the main one running from Auckland to Wellington. Air New Zealand is also a relatively cheap way of getting around, the obvious benefits being that you can get some incredible views of the landscape. A flight from Queenstown to Wellington, for example, might cost anywhere between NZ$100 and NZ$300, cheaper, evidently, when booking in advance. After spending some days exploring Coromandel, we drove to Rotorua. Found in the North Island in an area called the Bay of Plenty, the region has some of New Zealand’s most beautiful scenery and temperate climates. “The sulphur city” is a hot bed of thermal springs, geysers and spectacular raging rivers. The town earns its reputation as a tourist trap through the activities it has on offer and its rich Maori heritage. One of the activities is taking part in a traditional Maori meal cooked in an earth oven, or “hangi”. On our way to try some white water rafting, we enjoyed a good chat with our guide, a Geology student in Auckland. However, I enjoyed talking to the Japanese exchange student far more and can now say that I am sufficiently well versed in the art of swearing in Japanese: Jama Shinaide! The rafting was well worth all the sulphur smells put together, especially after we had gotten the hang of the oars, although my father seemed to spend more time in the river than on the raft.
After the exertions of Rotorua, we took the car on the long journey down to Wellington, a kind of bohemian and very chilled out, unpolluted Dublin. Therefore, like Dublin in no way. It had the same quirky ambience of New York, although friendlier… and without the oversized mutant rats. New Zealand’s capital is set in a stunning harbour enveloped by steep hills. During the day, we wandered around town, in and out of coffee shops, of which I heartily recommend Fidel’s, a friendly little café where you can eat your scrambled eggs beneath unnerving images of Castro. My personal favourite, though, had to be Café L’Affare, where you can dine beneath a disco ball. What else could you possibly desire? Eventually we stumbled upon the gem that is Cuba Street: stuffed with striking old vintage shops, quirky restaurants and a vinyl store that I sometimes still dream about. We rambled up along the street, mesmerised, even splashing out and buying some incredible 1920’s clothes (my pride and joy being a green velvet hat topped by a feather). On the first evening spent there, we walked up Mount Victoria to watch the sunset. Though after ten minutes of panting uphill, we got back into the car and drove the rest of the way, although seeing the golden sunset over the bay would have been worth the walk. We stayed in a cosy B&B called “Booklover”. I was pretty thrilled to hear that it was traditional for each guest to leave a book in exchange for taking one left by someone else, so after spending a good hour or so browsing, I finally choose a beautiful leather bound edition of Byron and parted ways (most happily) with Foucault. To get down to Christchurch, we took a small plane from Wellington to cross over the “Cook Strait”. Though Canterbury has probably the less exciting landscape of the South Island, consisting mostly of wellfarmed flatlands, it is also home to serene green, sheep strewn pastures overlooked by jagged mountain peaks. Christchurch is a picturesque small town filled with art galleries and elegant cafés. What really brought the beauty of the town to life was canoeing on the River Avon, which runs through the Botanic Gardens. Renting out a canoe for an hour is only seven dollars, which was fairly good value considering that we almost had the whole river to ourselves! The Vagabond Backpackers seemed to be a popular choice to stay with some students we met in the Botanic Gardens, and after building up a thirst
City Breaks PRAGUE
Beer and culture in an old town
New Zealand provides stretches of fierce and rugged rock towered over by foreboding icy peaks, as well as lush green pastures. Photo: Adrian Jenkins
Hostels For hostels in New Zealand check out www.hostels. com/en/nz.html. Booklovers B&B is run by author Jane Tolerton. Double rooms run at about NZ$100-120. With delicious breakfasts it’s well worth the expense. www.bbnb. co.nz
walking around town, we ended up at a cosy pub called the Jolly Poacher. Though we were only planning to stay for a pint, we all chatted until the early hours of the morning. After Christchurch, the family split up, with dad and I steeling ourselves for a gruelling car journey across the stunning mountain ranges of the South Island. We took a detour driving down the West Coast at Punakaiki, where we wandered around the “Pancake Rocks”. Created through years and years of what is called “stylobedding” (the layering and weathering of rock), the name was given to this curious stretch of coast because of the way in which the limestone rocks looked like stacks of pancakes. We drove for several days along Westland, through stretches of fierce and rugged rock, towered over by foreboding icy peaks. As Lord of the Rings had to be mentioned somewhere in this article, I shall do so here. Yes, New Zealand is every bit as
beautiful as it looks in the film, and more so. This is because the way in which the movie was filmed meant landscapes were continually cut and pasted onto others. It’s exhilarating instead to see the landscape by driving through it. The most vivid scenery emerged whilst driving into Queenstown. The gravel road was deserted as we drove along the narrow path, curving up a rugged mountain, and finally catching the first glimpse of Queenstown, scattered on the northern shore of the dark and churning Lake Wakatipu. Probably the best way to get a sense of the landscape is to climb up the Coronet Peak where, at sunset, the light glimmers off the Remarkables, a mountain range overlooking the town. And there you have it, New Zealand in a nutshell. Hopefully this information will give any travellers an idea of what the country has to offer, though reading about something should never be a substitute for getting out there and doing it!
Friends and wild music in Morocco SHEILA LYNCH MOROCCO I shall tell you a tale about Morocco, and like all good stories there will be mysterious strangers, palace guards and marriage proposals. Once upon a time, two friends went travelling in Morocco during Ramadan. In Nador they realised that it is foolish to try and plan ahead in Africa. Their flight arrived at 3.00 instead of 22.00 to an empty airport. The airport bank was closed; there was no ATM and no bus to anywhere. Instead they haggled with the taxi driver (well, the young man did, the taxi drivers didn’t really negotiate with women) and then clung on for dear life while the taxi driver did 120 km/hour along narrow desert roads to get to the train on time. The train was not there. “Ahh, Monsieur, c’est le saoum”. They then took the bus. The bus drove very far and for a very long time, but the views were amazing. The bus drove through the northern fringes of the Sahara, past dried riverbeds, around hairpin bends in the Riff Mountains, past homesteads and goat herders. The helpful young Moroccan girl on the bus informed them that the film Babel had not been well received in Morocco. They were not surprised.
In Fez they discovered Morocco. Their hostel was on the edge of Fez el Bali (the walled city) around the corner from the mosque and the minaret. Each morning just before dawn, they were woken by the Adhan, the call to prayer. This indicated the end of suhoor, the pre-fast meal, and the beginning of the day. The Lebanese woman in the hostel explained to them that traditionally when there is enough light to tell a black thread from a white thread, it is day. She told them of the treasures to be found in the Medina (the walled section of the city, a labyrinth of narrow lanes and markets where everyone lived, worked and prayed) the colourful leathers, the fantastic jewels and the beautiful mosques. So into the Medina, they went. They carefully followed the advice given to them on how to navigate, to turn right downhill to go further in and to turn left uphill to get home. Despite their best efforts, they got lost. They did find the leather works where donkeys hauled carts piled high with skins through narrow lanes, where the old tanners sat cross legged in little shops cutting leather and working it into belts, shoes and bags. They also got offered hash, marijuana, weed, grass and kif several times over. One particularly keen entrepreneur (who was at most fourteen) kept following them and offering them everything from aphrodisiacs to camels. The young entrepreneur then realised that he needed to adapt his product to suit the market, so he offered to find the young lady a nice Moroccan husband.
In Rabat they tried to see the Royal Palace, but it turned out that the King doesn’t like people seeing his house. They walked up to the entrance to try and get a ticket, instead the palace guards quite sternly directed them out of the driveway. After sunset, they went to a café to drink sweet mint tea to revive their spirits. An action movie was playing in the back, with an audience of loud and enthusiastic young men. So they sat at the other end of the café to watch the musicians and the men playing cards. The music was wild and from the mountains, the cardplayers were crafty and keen and the only other women in the café were prostitutes. An interesting scene. In Casablanca they were shown true hospitality. One evening, they returned to the hotel at dusk to find a group of men sitting out on the roof about to eat iftar (the traditional meal eaten to break the day’s fasting). The men invited the two travellers to sit and eat with them. The meal began with water and dates, followed by a thick lentil soup and bread. They sat there under the stars and four floors above the market, listening to each other’s stories. In Marrakech they came to the end of their journey. They had seen many camels and fairs, haggled and bargain and wandered happily for many days. They left Morocco tired and content and eager to return.
Since the Velvet Revolution of 1989 toppled the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Prague has opened up to the world and become one of Europe’s top destinations. In the summer months, it’s absolutely crammed with tourists, particularly the rampaging inter-railing crew, for whom this is an essential stop. The city is divided into five districts, each with its own distinct flavour. An excellent way to get a handle on the city is by taking a walking tour. As well as getting your bearings, you’ll get a brief lesson on Prague’s rich history from its days as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire through the violent student protests of the 1960’s to the relatively recent birth of the Czech Republic and Slovakia as separate states. The tours cost about five euros and the Old Town Square is the place to pick one up. A range of themed tours are also available, covering subjects such as Communism and haunted Prague. I suppose it makes sense to begin your visit to Prague in the Old Town Square with a look at the famous Astronomical Clock. This mechanical marvel was built in 1490 and, on the hour, the clock’s figures, designed to represent vices and biblical characters, perform for the crowds below. You’ll know how to find the clock - just look at the huge crowd of gaping tourists. Unfortunately pickpockets also tend to notice this vulnerable gang, so be very careful to hold onto your bag while gazing upwards. From the Old Town, make your way to Charles’ Bridge on the River Vltava. This pedestrian bridge, with its guard of honour of looming black statues, is one of the city’s most distinctive sights. During the day, it is packed with tourists, which somewhat undermines the somewhat creepy gothic architecture, so a good tip is to head there as early as possible. Dawn on Charles’ Bridge is a magical experience. Josefov, Prague’s Jewish district, tells another tale from the city’s turbulent history. This once-thriving quarter of the city was deliberately preserved by the Nazis during the occupation. They planned that it would serve as a “museum of an extinct race” in the future. Today, you can visit Europe’s oldest working synagogue as well as the extensive Jewish Museum. Prague has a huge amount to offer in terms of evening entertainment. A longstanding centre of culture, Prague has a great opera house and regular classical music performances. To enjoy a uniquely Prague experience, try out a black light theatre performance. Black light theatre involves the use of a dark stage, ultraviolet lighting and fluorescent costumes combined with mime, music, dancing and acrobatics to produce a very unusual spectacle. The city also boasts a plethora of night clubs, including Karlovy Lazne, central Europe’s biggest music club. One reason Prague is so popular with the student tourist is that it is the beer capital of the world. In Prague beer is cheaper than water, so if you have any sense you’ll get to like it. It also has a lot to offer for the beer connoisseur. The Czechs have been brewing since the ninth century and still make some of the worlds’ best beer. Traditionally Czech food is not great (unless you’re a big dumpling fan), but more than a decade of intense tourism has seen a significant improvement. These days you can eat well in the city and prices remain reasonable. There is a great range of accommodation in Prague, from hostels to trendy boutique hotels. Dormitory beds in hostels can be found from about twelve euros a night. The grimy but well-loved Clown and Bard Hostel offers beds in its 32 bed mixed dorms for just ten euros a night, and attached is one of the best bars in town.
ADDITIONAL INFO You can fly from Dublin to Prague with Ryanair for about €80 return. Prague’s historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prague’s nickname is “The city of a hundred spires”. King Wenceslas, immortalised in the Christmas carol, was King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor and ruled from Prague. Andrea Mulligan, Travel Editor
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TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
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SportFeatures
Composure fails Hamilton at the last as Raikkonen triumphs CONNEL MCKENNA SPORT FEATURES EDITOR In sport, very little can ever be taken for granted. Commentators who have prematurely uttered the words “game over” (or something to that effect) have often ended up looking rather silly - just ask George Hamilton. His namesake Lewis, the young English star of Formula 1, has in recent weeks learned harsh lessons on sport’s ability to twist tales. Twelve points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso with two races remaining in the world championship, Hamilton last Sunday ended the season second, a point behind eventual champion Kimi Raikkonen, having gleaned only two points from the final two races of the season. Raikkonen is a worthy, and somewhat remarkable champion, having taken six race wins over the season and been a full 17 points behind Hamilton before the penultimate race. At that stage the Finn’s cause looked lost, but he remained faithful to sport’s capacity for surprise. Hamilton is so measured, so focussed, that it is almost unthinkable that he would become complacent, but given all the aces he held leading into the the Chinese Grand Prix, the last but one of the season, certain questions have to be asked. One example: Is Hamilton the most composed, most self-confident choker in sport? Things began to go awry for the 22-year old when he beached his McLaren-Mercedes in the gravel trap from a Championshipwinning position in that penultimate race in rain-soaked Shanghai. At that moment Formula 1 displayed its capacity to produce a sporting quality it all too often neglects: unpredictability. It is at times like these difficult to escape the notion that this sport should only take place when it rains. A fanciful (and in truth not altogether serious) notion maybe, but what fun it would provide. Often the presence of water on the track is the only thing which keeps anyone but the die-hards interested, and the events of the rain in Shanghai and Fuji, Japan before it were nothing if not interesting. It is difficult to imagine that even the saturated fans on the grandstands of those circuits were cursing the elements, given the drama they were being treated to. They, like the rest of us, were no doubt revelling in the reality that when the sky is crying, F1 becomes a battle between men and not machines. These conditions are perhaps the only in which a driver’s true worth can be ascertained, testing so severly as they do, his skill, tactical acumen, and
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courage. Schumacher often rubber-stamped his greatness with his mastery of the rain, and Hamilton displayed signs of a similar prowess with an imperious drive in appalling conditions in Japan three weeks ago, which lined up a shot at the title in China. His failure to replicate his previous performance in less extreme, but more complex conditions there, allowed the tussle at the top end of the standings to continue unresolved into the final race at Interlagos, Brazil. Interlagos, bursting at the seams with sharp bends and steep gradients, is renowned as being one the toughest tracks on the F1 circuit. It was also of course a track around which Hamilton had never driven, which put him at a notable disadvantage to Alonso and Ferrari’s Raikkonen. Considering for a moment though the events of China, both he and his team will feel a deep regret that they allowed such a situation to arise. His requirement from the last two races was nine points – maximum. Given that his McLaren had not suffered a retirement all season it was a meagre sum, and one which sensible, pragmatic driving and team management would surely have secured. In Shanghai though, Hamilton did not drive pragmatically, and his team failed him in not acting sensibly. In conjunction these failings lead to Hamilton’s drifting into the gravel only hundreds of yards from the pit crew that was his immediate destination. The changeable conditions during the race conjured a tactical battle between the teams and drivers, whereby the timing of a switch from wet to dry tires, and the level of caution adopted by the drivers during the period when the track was drying but wet ‘intermediates’ were still on the wheels, would decide the race. And so it did. Hamilton’s team failed him in being fatally hesitant with their timing of the tyre change, and worse still, being so without due cause. It seemed the decision to call Hamilton in on lap 30 rather than 29 stemmed from a concern over the losing of track position to Raikkonen, a man whom Hamilton would have eliminated from championship proceedings by finishing fifth, or perhaps even lower. In the event, Raikkonen passed Hamilton as the Englishman’s tyres began to fade, before track position became utterly irrelevant when the same intermediate tyres failed absolutely to maintain their grip on the rapidly drying track moments later. McLaren are known for being somewhat plodding in their reactions to changing race conditions, and are often accused of sticking too rigidly to pre-race strategy. Ferrari and their technical director Ross Brawn caught them on the hop on numerous occasions
during the Schumacher/Hakkinen battles of the late 90s and the same side were the beneficiaries here, to the detriment this time of Hamilton. For his part, the championship leader perhaps displayed in pushing his aging tyres harder than was wise or indeed necessary, the first glimpses of petulence and inexperience we would expect from a driver of his age. Perhaps the the sight of the championship finish line had blurred his judgement, and if so this is where the choking can be considered to have started. Winners are concerned with the winning. If it is achieved in style, all the better, but this should never become a pre-occupaion. Perhaps for Hamilton it did. He had spoken before each of the final two races of his intentions to race hard and without the inhibitance he was wary of such a sizable lead inflicting on his naturally aggressive instincts. The purists may laud him for his ‘race-to-win’ ethos, and there is great merit to be found in it, but it is difficult to deny that a more measured approach during these races would have been a selfsacrifice worth making. It is better to lose the battle than lose the war afterall. Hamilton chose to engage in a battle in Shanghai with Raikkonen when there was no need to. Ron Dennis, McLaren’s team principal, admitted as much after that race, and it is curious that the race tactics of his team didn’t reflect this at the time. As it was the Finn saw his rival shoot himself in the foot and held off brief pressure from a rejuvenated Alonso to take victory. Amazingly, Hamilton repeated the mistake of unnecessary gunslinging at Interlagos, when he took on Alonso and ran wide, eventually off the track, dropping from 4th to 8th. It is difficult to imagine a more experienced driver making the tactical boob the Stevenage man made at Shanghai, let alone err twice so similarly in a fortnight. With a man as immaculately composed as Hamilton, it is equally difficult to reason that it was anything other than pressure of a magnitude he had not not previously experienced that lead him towards the kind of faults he had duped us into thinking he he was above. Despite all this, it was a technical failure that cost Hamilton dearest in Brazil. In negotiating the ‘Senna Esses’ - the same portion of the track at which he had ran into trouble in tackling Alonso - his car slammed into neutral during a gear change. In being forced to manually reconfigure, the championship leader dropped back to 18th in the field, a position he would ultimately fail to recover sufficiently from. By the time Hamilton had made his third pit stop it was clear that only a collision between two of the cars that were jostling for
position ahead of him was going to rescue his aspirations. That possiblity was also all that could maintain an interest in the events on the track, with Raikkonen coasting towards the title in first place with teammate Felipe Massa a handy buffer between him and an off-colour Alonso in third. Despite some near misses involving Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber and Nico Rosberg in the Williams, that unlikely saving grace failed to materialise and Raikkonen could savour a first world title. Despite his agonising failure to become the first rookie world champion, Hamilton’s debut year performance will go down as the story of the season, and not just in England. Raikkonen’s triumph though will prove to be one to jump off the pages of the history books, such was the deficit he overturned. For many, the unfathomable climax to the season also represents poetic justice in light of the spying scandal which rocked the sport during the summer, and lead to some observers declaring this a void championship, should any McLaren driver have won it. Having been convicted of improper conduct by the inquiry which followed a 700 page Ferrari dossier being discovered at the home one of their technicians, McLaren were heavily sanctioned; sanctions which included their enfored non-participation in the constructors championship. Although Hamilton is utterly blameless in this, it is difficult to see how he could not have unwittingly benefitted from this breach of the rules if his team were found to have. Yet his and his team-mate’s points were allowed to stand without penalty. For many of the sport’s fans, Raikkonen’s unlikely victory goes some way towards limiting the further damage the case has done to F1’s already bludgeoned credibility. It would be unfair to suggest that Hamilton’s burgeoning reputation and staturehas taken a similar bludgeoning with his title collapse, it has simply reminded us that he is still a mere rookie, albeit an utterly remarkable one. His thoughts following the confirmation of this year’s failure were utterly typical - no moping, back next year, fitter, stronger, better. He would almost have had you believing that losing the championship was no big deal, which in the heat of such moments is one hell of a display of composure. Except it is a big deal. If it wasn’t Hamilton would never have baulked under the sheer weight of it. Sure, he choked, but it was one of the most impressive chokes you’re ever likely to see. The obscenely self-confident 22-year old will undoubtedy return next year, and he’ll be all the stronger for his experience. And he’ll be gunning for Raikkonen’s crown.
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Staunton deserves more than a legacy marred by scorn and ridicule CONNEL MCKENNA SPORT FEATURES EDITOR If it is true to say that history is written by the victors, then Steve Staunton, having been jettisoned by the Football Association of Ireland last week, really has no say in how he will be remembered by the Irish public. To attempt an impassioned defence of his managerial reign would be to make him look foolish, but the ex-Liverpool and Aston Villa defender deserves better than a legacy marred by scorn and ridicule. Let’s not forget that we are talking about one of the greats of Irish football here. By way of a brief reflection on his time in charge, well, make no mistake about it, Staunton’s tenure as Republic of Ireland manager was, for the most part, a directionless mess, and, for the time, outside of that a disorientated struggle. Staunton was failing miserably as manager and against Cyprus two weeks ago, the proof was in the pudding. Things were not, as he had earlier put it, “coming along along nicely” – Ireland were lurching fom one farce to another. The buck stops with the manager, unfortunately, and Staunton had to go. As major a contributing factor to Staunton’s demise were poor performances. What happened in Nicosia needs no elaboration, but even in gaining points Ireland were all-too-often awful. San Marino and the home games against Wales and the Cypriots spring immediately to mind. Staunton’s honeymoon period, meanwhile, resembled something Ben Stiller’s Heartbreak Kid could doubtlessly empathise with, given the shockers at home to Chile and Holland, where against the latter, Ireland suffered their worst home defeat in forty years. Nicosia (which has already become something of an epitaph for the Louth man) also provided the sign of things to come in terms of team selection. As a barometer for the onset of desperate times, how highly does Lee Carsley’s elevation to the status of “national saviour” rank? More browfurrowing was caused by the mis-casting in recent games of Darron Gibson, Jonathon Douglas, Andy Keogh and Joey O’Brien, as did the continued deployment of the penetrative Stephen Hunt from the bench. All too often, Staunton’s decisions baffled the fans, further alienating them. When he infamously, cringe-inducingly, offered San Marino’s development as a team as a defence of Ireland’s impossibly marginal win there, most fans saw a manager who was out of touch with reality. But let us, the fans, not lose touch similarly. There was, remember, a time when the moniker “Stan”, one which has been used with a mocking tone in recent times by the red tops, was wholly salutory. It is sad that a man who, in many ways, personified the success of the Charlton era has now become synonomous with the national side’s current malaise. Of course, given that he is partly responsible for this, it is an inevitability. Staunton can only hope his name will in time regain its association with Ireland’s “glory days.” Given his contribution, it should. Are we to place emphasis on twenty months of failure or fifteen years of sterling service? A record 102 international caps, the only player in history to play in all thirteen of Ireland’s World Cup games to date - these facts alone provide sufficient notice of the stature of the man in question here. Beyond the numbers game, Staunton was a highly skilled and committed footballer whose defensive nous was complimented by his comfort on the ball. A superb left foot meant he was blessed with terrific passing and crossing abilities, while he was particularly threatening from set pieces. His renaissance as an integral figure in the side of the later McCarthy years culminated with some classy performances at the 2002 World Cup, where he captained the side in Roy Keane’s absence. It is a measure of his talents that Staunton managed as a 19-year old to break into Liverpool’s great title-winning side of 1988, eventually forcing Gary Ablett onto the sidelines. How many young Irish players could emulate such a feat today? This side of Staunton must be remembered, but those of us who care for the pride and integrity of Irish football should be glad that he is history. We must also ensure though, that history treats “Stan” fondly.
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
SportFeatures ‘That is the life of a team: they start all enthusiastic and play; after, they go to a level where there is a good balance between being efficient but still playing, and then they get to a level where they are only efficient’ Arsene Wenger, October 2006
Arsenal fans rediscover that Wenger knows best MARK TREACY STAFF WRITER If this is the barometer by which to judge the progress, and development, of a team; Arsene Wenger’s young Arsenal side appear, on current form, to have graduated to phase two. Sitting astride the Premier League, as well as their Champions League Group, Wenger’s charges have become the darlings of both the media and the neutral; producing some of the most aesthetically pleasing football the Premiership has seen in years. Last week’s 7-0 mauling of Slavia Prague was just the latest case in point. Quite a change from the start of the season, when the clouds appeared to be gathering ominously over the Emirates Stadium. The resignation of David Dein, a possible hostile takeover, the departure of Theirry Henry and Wenger’s apparent hesitation in signing a contract extension, were all valid reasons for Arsenal fans to fear for the club’s future. However, in the midst of all the doom and gloom, we all seemed to forget that, over the past three to four years, Wenger has assembled, and been nurturing, a pool of young footballing talent which would be the envy of any club in world football. An undefeated start to the season has gone a long way towards jogging our memories. With Wenger now committed until 2011 and the warring factions in the boardroom having reached an apparent stalemate, those clouds have well and truly dispersed. And what of Henry? He would be regarded as a traitor if the team were struggling; however, the goodwill shown to him by the fans is an indicator of how little the Arsenal of 2007-08 have missed him. Every team has a fan’s favourite, and when they depart, someone else, given time, assumes the role; as they say, “the king is dead, long live the king”. People argue that Cesc Fabregas, or perhaps Robin Van Persie, will seize the mantle; in my opinion the new king is already in situ: Mr. Arsene Wenger. In the recent past, the Arsenal fans have shown unshakable faith in their manager. After all, how many head coaches could oversee three relatively unsuccessful years without their position even being questioned? Obviously Wenger’s achievements during his first eight years at Highbury earned him this trust. His transformation of Arsenal from boring 1-0 merchants under George Graham to a club which played the most fluid football in Europe is well documented and doesn’t require any further examination. Of far more interest is his handling of the financial constraints placed upon him during the past three seasons.
No matter what the future holds, Wenger’s place in the pantheon of great Arsenal managers is assured; however, if this Arsenal side, constructed on a shoestring budget, fulfills its undoubted potential, Wenger may just deserve to be considered as the greatest manager of all time. Since the end of Arsenal’s “Invincible” season of 2003-2004, Arsenal Wenger has overseen a transfer budget surplus of £9 million. In the same period, Chelsea have spent (in net terms) £160 million, Manchester United £90 million, and Liverpool £78 million respectively. When you also consider that only three members of that squad, namely Jens Lehmann, Gilberto Silva, and Kolo Toure, are still at the club, one begins to comprehend the squad overhaul that Wenger has undertaken without the comfort of a big budget. Hamstrung by finances, Wenger has relied upon not only spotting raw talent, but also, at times, his recognition that a particular player may be more productively deployed elsewhere on the pitch. Of course, this is a managerial characteristic that Wenger has been displaying for years. He is responsible for the unearthing, and subsequent polishing, of the likes of Weah, Anelka and Henry, to name but three; surely the names of Fabregas, Van Persie and Eboue will appear on this list in times to come. Likewise, he has garnered a reputation for reinventing players. Henry arrived as a left winger; before developing into the most feared striker in Europe, Emmanuel Petit was transformed from left back to midfield enforcer, and Kolo Toure from utility man to accomplished centre half. Again, the list of Wenger success stories goes on and on. The need for frugality over the course of the past three seasons has seen the Arsenal manager utilise these strengths to the full. This close season’s primary transfer activity at the Emirates is a case in point. In need of a central defender, Wenger, rather than go into the market, decided to convert Gilberto from midfield, thus placing faith in a maturing Abou Diaby. When he first arrived two years ago, the young Frenchman’s second touch was invariably a tackle; it is now impossible to ignore his resemblance to Patrick Vieira. The departure of Fredrick Ljungberg saw the need for the arrival of a wide man; not in Wenger’s opinion, as Emmanuel Eboue moved from right back to the wing in order to make room for the arrival of Bacary Sagna. On current form Sagna, a £7 million acquisition from Auxerre, looks to be a bargain, while Eboue is prospering having being given freedom to attack further down the right touchline. But how would Wenger compensate for the loss of the talismanic Henry? Although Eduardo Da Silva was brought from Dinamo Zagreb for £8 million, he was never intended as a like for like
replacement and despite doing an incredibly good impression in the early weeks of this season, neither is Emmanuel Adebeyor. Wenger, well aware of Arsenal’s reliance on Henry, could not have helped but notice the effect that Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s departure had on Manchester United’s performace last season. The similarities are clear to see: a record and apparently indispensible goalscorer departs, the team responds by sharing his goal scoring responsibilities among them. With Van Nistelrooy as the sole focal point of attack, Alex Ferguson felt United had become too predictable. Perhaps the same could be said of Arsenal over past seasons. Either way, the response of the team to their Captain’s departure has been tremendous. Many say this is due to Henry’s intimidating stature within the club. Certainly it would appear that without the fear of a Gallic outburst of frustration should they misplace a pass, that the likes of Rosicky, Hleb and Van Persie have, if anything, benefitted from his exit. And so have team results; with goals coming from all over the pitch. We’ve already touched upon the faith placed in Wenger by the Arsenal fans. They believed that he was the man to lead them towards a new era in the Emirates and they have been proved correct. They know that although players may come and go, he is the guiding hand that will shape a successful future at their football club. Coupled with their position at the top of the Premier League, the club also recently announced an annual turnover of £200 million: this represents a 46% increase on 2005-2006, and earns them second place on the football club rich list, behind Real Madrid. The increased capacity of the Emirates accounts for the club’s new lofty position; however, it also draws attention to Wenger’s management of finances, which have been simply outstanding over the past few years. His prudence in the transfer market and replacement of mature players with developing talent has ensured that Arsenal’s wage bill has not been subject to inflation. After all, Gael Clichy is less expensive to employ than Ashley Cole, Van Persie may be the new Bergkamp, but certainly commands less for his services, and Adebeyor, Eduardo and Bendtner are probably sharing Henry’s now-defunct £100,000 per week contract between them. With operating profits increasing by 274% to £48 pounds for 2006-2007, Wenger has stated that, in 2009, he will be in a position to compete financially, for the first time, with the likes of Chelsea. Given his performance from a position of inferiority, one wonders what he could achieve with substantial funds at his disposal. The reasons for Wenger’s visible inertia regarding the departure of Henry are becoming quite clear. As the saying goes down at the Emirates: “Arsene Knows”.
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TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
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NationalSport
True Irish sporting heroes “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
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JESS MAJEKODUNMI CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On 12 October, 141 Irish athletes landed at Dublin Airport after a gruelling thirteen hour flight. Bringing home an incredible 41 gold, 35 silver and 43 bronze medals plus 69 ribbons, there was no sign of tiredness as they were led out into the arrivals hall by a piper to an explosion of cheers and applause from the large crowd which had gathered to greet them. Dismiss memories of failed drugs tests and returned medals, forget the disheartening rugby performances, never mind Stan and his underachieving squad – these 141 athletes are true Irish heroes of whom the country should be very proud. They competed with passion, determination and focus. These are the outstanding Irish sportsmen and sportswomen who wore green with pride at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games. As well as weekly training sessions in their local Special Olympics clubs, the TEAM Ireland athletes from all over the island of Ireland met up monthly for the last year to focus their efforts on the World Games in Shanghai. The hard work paid dividends with a series of personal bests and exceptional team performances recorded.
They couldn’t do it in the rugby at the Stade de France, but at the Shanghai Sunshine Soccer Fields Ireland beat France in the men’s 11-aside soccer final to clinch gold.
Medallist Sharon O’Brien received a kiss from her mother Anne and father Martin after she arrived in Dublin Airport from the Special Olympics in Shanghai. Photo: Sportsfile comprehensive win, putting seven goals into the French net during the match. Two goals each from Darren Flanagan and Francis Belardi, plus goals from Danny Sands, Adrian Clarke and Ryan Doherty left the French defence in disarray. The organised Ireland team had, in fact, won every game in their pool without conceding any goals, beating strong contenders from Austria (12-0) and Australia (6-0). The Pudong pool was awash with Irish success. Meath’s Nuala Burns achieved personal bests in all her medalwinning efforts to claim bronze in both the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Ryan Archibold, an incredible swimmer who
Here’s just a taster of the sporting highlights from Shanghai. (Apologies to all the athletes who are not mentioned). In artistic gymnastics William Loughnane had the performance of a lifetime, winning a total of seven medals – six gold and one bronze. Competition was especially intense in the vault; the Clare man was challenged by strong Russian athletes in the final who managed to win gold and silver. They couldn’t do it in the rugby at the Stade de France, but at the Shanghai Sunshine Soccer Fields, Ireland beat France in the men’s eleven-a-side soccer final to clinch gold. Ireland’s undefeated team dominated the French side with a
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relies solely on upper body strength, succeeded in bringing back a medal to his hometown of Ballymoney, Co Antrim. Archibold powered his way to a welldeserved bronze in the 100-metre freestyle event, smashing his previous best time. After beating Spain 18-12 in the men’s basketball semis, the Irish team faced a very impressive Russian outfit in the final at Jiatong Gymnasium. In what was hotly tipped to be the match of the tournament, both sides impressed in a keenly fought contest. Having been behind 11-2 at the break, the Irish team fought back admirably and scored some fantastic baskets. Unfortunately the clock ran out on
what was a thrilling match with the Irish team securing silver, the final score 17–11 to Russia. But sport is not just about the number or the colour of winning medals, as Special Olympics demonstrates. Of course we are delighted to see Irish athletes returning home adorned with medals and hear the stories from the Games, yet the true success of the Special Olympics athletes cannot be measured by a medal and ribbon tally alone. In the words of Fergus Finlay, Special Olympics Ireland Chairman, “Let us honour and celebrate human endeavour and achievement in all its varied and wonderful manifestations.”
Five star Pats hammer Rovers Duddy defeats ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC SHAMROCK ROVERS:
MARK MCDERMOTT STAFF WRITER
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A brace apiece from Alan Kirby and Billy Gibson earned St. Patrick’s Athletic a comprehensive victory over their Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers in a hugely entertaining game at Richmond Park. St. Pat’s came into this game having beaten Sligo Rovers in their previous match whilst Rovers had suffered a dip in form, losing in their previous three outings. This game was billed as the battle for second place and an automatic United European Football Association Cup place, with Drogheda United, the odds-on favourites to win the league. Despite its billing, the final scoreline suggested a massive gulf between the two sides and the truly excellent performance of the home team did much to reinforce this perception. The first chance of the game fell to Shamrock Rovers when Paul Shields collected a breaking ball to race clear of the Pats defence, but Brendan Clarke, deputising for the injured Murphy, made a brave save, diving low to his right to smother the ball. In spite of this, it was St. Pat’s who were making all the running early in the match. Their first chance came when a short corner from Michael Keane found Billy Gibson, who saw his goal-bound effort cleared off the line. From the breaking ball, Mark Quigley took advantage of confusion in the Rovers defence, but his shot flew high over the shed end of the stadium. St. Pat’s looked, by far, the more threatening team in the early period of the match and there was a sense of the inevitable when they took the lead in minute 24 of the game. After yet more pressure, the Rovers defence could only clear the ball towards Alan Kirby, who hit a lovely swerving snap-shot with the outside of his right foot low to the goalkeeper’s right.
The Rovers fans still sang loudly throughout, although their chants were drowned out by a chorus of “Are you Ireland in disguise?” from the home support.
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DROGHEDA UNITED: CORK CITY:
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A dramatic late winner from Guy Bates confirmed Drogheda United as Premier Division champions 2007. It seemed that Drogheda would have to wait for their crown after Jason Gavin’s own goal equalised Eamon Zayed’s opener for the home side, but with one minute left on the clock, Bates, a recent signing from Newcastle United, skipped past two Cork defenders and unleashed a powerful shot which nestled into Michael Devine’s goal to send the Boynesiders’ fans into raptures. Drogheda, long the champions elect, will now represent Ireland in the Champions League next season
Prince in royal victory The Derry boxer moves closer to a world title fight.
PADDY O’SHEA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
forward and instead seemed intent on roughhousing the home side, a tactic which had very little effect. Shamrock Rovers made changes in personnel at half time, but they failed to change the pattern of a game that was, in truth, already lost. A third goal for Pats arrived at 56 minutes, engineered by the industrious Keith Fahey. The winger beat his man easily and whipped a cross onto Alan Kirby’s foot, which slotted home his second of the night. Five minutes later, it was 4-0 as Shamrock Rovers capitulated utterly. Pats broke from their own box, Fahey found Gary O’Neill, who supplied the cross for Mark Quigley to tap in, the goal a just reward for his endeavours. Alan Kirby missed two chances for his hat trick as St. Pat’s looked to compound Shamrock Rovers’ misery. Manager John McDonnell, not content with the scoreline, threw on two fresh forwards to drive home their advantage. Shamrock Rovers’ night went from bad to worse on 70 minutes when Eric McGill was sent off for a reckless chal-
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There was better to come from Pat’s before the break. Mark Quigley had his shot cleared off the line in the 35th minute and Keith Fahey shot agonisingly wide a few minutes later after a well-worked free kick, before Billy Gibson unleashed an unstoppable volley into the top corner to make it 2-0. The Rovers defence struggled to clear the ball and Gibson’s effort gave the keeper no chance. St. Patrick’s Athletic were completely dominant as the Rovers offered little going
Drogheda seal first ever league crown
lenge on Michael Keane. Despite the miserable situation their team found themselves in, the Rovers fans still sang loudly throughout, although their chants were drowned out by a chorus of “Are you Ireland in disguise?” from the home support. The scoring was completed in the 73rd minute when Billy Gibson grabbed his second after some neat interplay with O’Neill. Gibson calmly slotted under the goalkeeper to send the St. Pat’s fans wild. Speaking after the match, St. Pat’s manager, John McDonnell, lauded his team’s impressive performance. “No one has tanked Rovers in the league this season, so for us to go out and do that was very pleasing,” he told Trinity News. He also took time to congratulate Drogheda on winning the league title. “Fair play to them, they spent three years building a team approaching a championship winning standard and this season they’ve collected the points to win.” The match took place on Friday October 19th
Ireland’s new golden boy John “The Derry Destroyer” Duddy came a step closer to a world title shot on Saturday 20 October at the National Stadium. In his second appearance in Dublin since his return from the United States, he made easy work of late replacement Prince Arron. Duddy had been scheduled to box Uruguayan Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba, who suffered a detached retina and was forced to pull out. Prince Arron came in as the underdog with far less experience. What he did have in comparison to Duddy was greater height and reach, although he was unable to utilise this, as Duddy’s power overwhelmed the nineteen year old from the bell. Arron was initially floored in the first round by a long left hook, however, it was not enough for the bout to be stopped. As the second round ensued, Arron hit the canvas twice before the referee stopped the fight two minutes and thirty three
seconds into the round, giving Duddy the twenty second victory in his professional career. On the undercard was another up-and-coming Irish middleweight, Matthew Macklin. A former underage Tipperary hurler, now living in Birmingham, Macklin scored an eighth round technical knockout of seasoned journeyman Alessio Furlan. Ricky Hatton was also present in his younger brother Matthew Hatton’s corner. Hatton left his opponent, Samuli Leppiaho, looking the worse for wear after six of a scheduled eight rounds when the referee stepped in. Duddy is expecting a world title shot against American Kelly Pavlik next year. A win would earn him both the WBO and WBC belts and would be the most high profile fight in Irish boxing in years. Duddy’s impressive record is of twenty two victories, no draws and no defeats features fifteen knock-outs, nine of which occurred in the first round. This speaks for itself; last Saturday simply cemented his position as the next Irish champion.
TRINITY NEWS
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Michaelmas term, Week 8
SportingLegends
Time out with Bernard Bernard Dunne is the shining light in Irish boxing. The former Trinity student looks back on a glittering career to date with Eoin Fleck and reveals his plans for the future.
B
ernard Dunne is a hard man to reach. The assumption that this interview was a done deal when I got my hands on his number was somewhat naïve. After numerous voicemails, we agree to meet in a local restaurant in Palmerstown. On arrival I find a slight man tucked away in the corner of the restaurant stirring a pot of tea: not your stereotypical boxer. Greeted with a warm smile and firm handshake, he apologises for his evasive ways, pointing out his hectic schedule. Aware that there were a number of touchy subjects to be addressed, he encourages me to talk about the recent knock-out at the hands of Kiko Martinez. To say I’m surprised and slightly relieved would be somewhat of an understatement. After all, it’s not very often a professional boxer lets his guard down. His boxing odyssey began as a five year old. He remembers “tagging along” with his older brothers to the C.I.E Boxing Club. His initial love for the sport arose from the enjoyment it brought and it wasn’t until later that he found he had a talent for putting people on the floor that he started to take it seriously. It was at the age of fifteen that it became clear that boxing was something that could provide a living. “You fantasise as a kid, you want to be ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard or Wayne McCullough”, he gushes. Dunne quickly developed a reputation as a hugely promising amateur. A record of 119 wins to 11 defeats capped a hugely successful amateur career that came to an end in 2000. He says, “As an amateur, I was never beaten in this country. I thrived on people trying to beat me”. He talks of the focus that was needed in the early days of his career, in his own words it was, “dog eat dog at the bottom.” He recalls the difficulty of staying focused and disciplined in the amateur days. He says, “Even as a kid, the National Championships were a week after Easter Sunday. Imagine having to tell an eleven year old kid that he can’t be eating Easter eggs, that’s just torture!” However, he eludes to the fact, “if you want to be successful at what you want to do, you always have to make sacrifices.” Just as his boxing career was taking off, he found himself at the gates of Trinity College Dublin. Under the influence of Fred Tiedt, he managed to mix his training with the study of Human Anatomy. “Boxing opened so many doors for me. Trinity was very different for a person like myself and to this day, it stands to me. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the college and I still have a lot of friends there.” While still in Trinity, the opportunity to represent his country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics arose. At
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“ ” Boxing opened so many doors for me. Trinity was very different for a person like myself and to this day it stands to me
that stage, it was “all he ever wanted”. “It changed my whole attitude and it was then I knew, I wanted to be a professional.” Early in 2000, at twenty years of age, Dunne turned professional. He was soon offered a contract in Los Angeles. to train in the infamous “Wild Card” gym under the guidance of Freddie Roach. He says he would have went further in Trinity had he not been offered the opportunity to go to the United States. “I realised at that stage in my career, I was young and had nothing to loose. It was tough leaving behind family and friends, but looking back now, it was the best move I ever made.” While training in L.A. he sparred with household names on a daily basis. “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao and Wayne McCullough, to name a few. He says Pacquiao was the best he has trained with. “He was a phenomenal fighter, he could punch all day and he could bang. To spar with those guys, you can’t buy that kind of experience.” Dunne’s career took off from there, with eleven of his first fourteen fights being nationally televise. He argues that being a young Irish kid in the United States gained him a lot of recognition. However, by that stage Dunne was eager to return home. There was a big void in Irish boxing since the Collins days and Dunne was keen to stake his claim. Reflecting on his time in LA, the biggest lesson he learned was “living
away from Mammy. I didn’t just grow as a boxer, I grew as a person.” The “Dublin Dynamo” returned to Ireland in 2004 and under the guidance of manager Brian Peters and trainer Harry Hawkins, the Bernard Dunne road show commenced. Dunne’s first fight after a four year stint in America resulted in Jim Betts, the Englishman, falling to the canvas after five rounds. From there he gained momentum and, seven fights later, he won the vacant European Super Bantamweight title, defeating Esham Pickering in the Point Depot. Undoubtedly it’s Dunne’s character as much as skill that has made him one of the most-loved of all Irish boxers. I ask him what its like being in that ring before the bell goes off. He simply replies “it’s showtime, that’s what it is. I’ve never done drugs, but I don’t think anything can beat stepping outside the curtain and listening to the crowds reaction as you approach the ring. Once the bell goes off, I’m in the zone: out of 8000 people that are screaming, I can hear three voices-my dad, my coach, and my brothers that’s how focused you are.” In person he is relaxed and approachable, away from the ring it’s difficult to believe he’s a fighter. He seems too friendly, too nice. I put it too him that he adopts a different persona in the ring. A grin fills his face. “I’m an entertainer. People say ‘Dunne is cocky’, but if I was cocky, I wouldn’t have trained as hard as I’ve trained. I back up anything I say in the ring”. The defeat to Kiko Martinez last July in which he lost his EBU title is still fresh in his memory. He argues, “Boxing is different to other sports, when you lose a soccer game, it’s not a personal defeat, when you are boxing it’s personal. I was in the best shape of my life. We knew he [Martinez] was going to come out and do me. I knew if I beat this guy I’m fighting for the World Title next fight and that’s what that fight cost me. The guy hit me with a punch I didn’t see. I’ve no excuses, the guy hit me, he beat me and that’s boxing.” I ask if there’s a possibility of a rematch. He calmly replies “I’ve something to prove to myself. I’m a proud fella.” Outside the ring he finds it easy to switch-off. He explains that its essential to have “down-time”, otherwise you burn-out. He is really enjoying his break from the ring. It’s the first time he’s been able to “chill-out” in four years. He is a young father and his wife Pamela is expecting another child next month. Aside from playing charity football matches and rally driving with Keith Duffy, he manages to keep up his fitness with weights and cardio sessions in the gym. He’s a fanatical Liverpool
Biography Dunne started boxing at the tender age of 5. Fighting 119 times in the amateur ranks, Dunne remained undefeated in Ireland before turning professional at the age of 20. Joined Trinity as a sports scholar, studying human anatomy and competing for the College in various competitions, including the annual colours bout against UCD. Launched his career in Los Angeles and spent four years under world-re nowned coach Freddie Roach. He enjoyed training with high-caliber opponents such as Shane Mosley and Mike Tyson. On his return to Ireland in 2004, under the management of Brian Peters, Dunne develops a huge fanbase, earning the nickname “The Dublin Dynamo”, selling out The Point for all of his fights. After only 7 fights, Dunne fought Englishman Esham Pickering for the Europea n Title at Super Bantamweight, beating him comprehensively in Dublin, leading to whispers about a potential World Title shot. In July, Dunne was knocked out in the first round by Spaniard Kiko Martinez at The Point, losing his European Title. Planning for the future when his boxing career is over, Dunne applies for the Dublin Fire Service; two weeks ago, he was accepted as a new recruit.
fan and tries to get to Anfield as much as possible. Just two weeks ago, he was accepted into the Fire Service and proudly explains how he aced the required aptitude test, claiming he’s “not as dumb as he looks.” He’s never forgotten where he came from. “I’m the same Bernard Dunne as I was when I was an eight year old in Neilstown”. His success and fame have not turned his head, nor have
they diluted his straightforwardness. His advice to young aspiring boxers is to enjoy what they are doing. “Boxing is a fantastic thing to do and I would encourage anyone to get involved.” At 27, Dunne is approaching his prime and while his career in the ring may not exactly be “Hunky Dory” , you somehow get the feeling that he isn’t Dunne yet.
TRINITY NEWS
Michaelmas term, Week 8
P23
CollegeSport
Climbing Rocks WITH JACK
Olympian fencers DR BRIAN HAMILTON & RORY GREENAN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Aside from the Regional and National Championships, International selection, World University Games participation and representation in the World Championships, perhaps the greatest honour for any fencer is represent his country in competing at the Olympic Games. Members who took up fencing for the first time in College have achieved all these goals whilst still in College. Fencing is one of only four sports which have been held in every Olympics in the modern era since Athens, 1896. Irish fencers first competed in London Olympics in 1948. Currently, the Dublin University Fencing Club has a few members such as Lachlan Sykes, Grant Couper and David Cahill who have represented Ireland. The Club’s Honorary President Dr Brian Hamilton has achieved representation in all the above arenas and its coach Fionbarr
Farrell fenced for Ireland in the Mexico Olympics of 1968. Few are aware of the Olympic medal opportunities. There are three weapons for both ladies and men: namely, foil, epee, and sabre. For both the individual and team events, there are 122 medals up for grabs in gold, silver and bronze for the ladies and men. Two fencers in the past have won twelve medals in six different Olympic Games. Had there been two Olympics in 1940 and 1944, it could have been possible that they might have won even more medals. Irish fencers have competed in up to three Olympics. At a number of Olympics, most of the national team flag carriers were fencers. Being chosen for this is a great honour. If a good fencer has, say, three Olympics in him or her, there are potentially up to 18 medals to be won. But there is more! The pentathlon, another Olympic sport, has epee fencing as one of its five sports. Therefore, there are more medals to be won. For students who have an Olympic goal and apply
themselves, the facilities and opportunities are immense. Dr Trevor West, the esteemed Chairman of Dublin University Central Athletics Committee states in his book The Bold Collegians that fencing has been in Trinity since the College was founded, as duelling was commonplace among the gentry for one hundred and fifty years thereafter. John Hely-Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College from 1774 to 1794, promoted fencing as a manly accomplishment and a “Gentleman’s Club of the Sword” existed in the college in the eighteenth century. The present fencing club dates from 1941. For many years, one of Ireland’s premier fencing clubs, Trinity has produced a string of International and Olympic fencers and in 1990-91, the club retained the Russell Cup for Irish Intervarsity Fencing Championships for a remarkable 13th consecutive year. This year, the Fencing Club committee has made a few changes, adding private fencing instruction from Tristan Parris. This is a ground-breaking
Fencing is one of only 4 sports that have been held in every Olympics in the Modern era, since Athens in 1896 and has been popular in Trinity since the foundation of DU fencing club. Photos courtesy of DU Fencing Club
opportunity to hone the skills required to compete at the highest level. The Club will strengthen this year with the intervarsities in mind. The Intervarsity Championships have been held every year since the Russell Cup was first presented in 1955. Dublin University Fencing Club has won the trophy a total of 30 times in the competition’s 52 year history. The next intervarsity championships will take place at Cork in 2008. This year, the Club starts with over 190 members, presenting a formidable future. With the recent new facilities and pending additional equipment, the quality of Dublin University Fencing Club can only move forward with greater support and amenities within the Sports Hall. The Club forges camraderie within the realm of social recreation too by organising events and weekends away along with fencing competitions. We are always looking for new talent at any skill level which will lead the Club with cohesion and success.
Plain sailing for Trinity ladies’ rowing club AINE FEENEY & MAGGIE O’DONOGHUE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Iniscarra Lake, the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood, Co. Cork was the scene for the biggest regatta of the year, the two day National Championships and the culmination of a long and greulling season. Dublin University Ladies Boat Club had five crews entered, an Intermediate 8+, an Intermediate 4+, a Novice 8+ and two Novice 4+s. Although only one of these crews would emerge from the weekend victorious, it can truly be said that every crew raced exceptionally well, notably the novice 4+ entries, which were comprised of rowers who had never before experienced a National Championship. They were put out of their heats by far more experienced crews, but will surely be back next year to seek revenge. The Intermediate 4+ and Novice 8+ raced well enough to escape their heats, but could not pull out a victory in respectful finals. The main goal of the club in the past few years, however, has been to win the elusive Intermediate 8+s category, a feat
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narrowly escaped in previous years perfoming best with 3rd and 2nd place finishes in 2005 and 2006. The question remained: was 2007 to be Trinity’s year? The Inter 8+ had trained to perfection for what was about to unfold as a highly contested all-varsity showdown which included main rivals UCD. It was with seething ambition and palpable concentration that the eight oarswomen and cox would take to the water on that overcast Friday, 13th of July at lunchtime. DULBC had dominated this category all season long, having won nigh on every race. Neither the pressure to win nor the expectations of others affected the crew as they sat on the line under starter’s orders. From the curt, “Attention, GO!”, the swift lowering of the flag, that instantaneous surge and din of bellowing coxes, the Trinity crew never knew the panic of defeat, leading from the first stroke. It was a perfect 2000m race, with Trinity gliding patiently ahead as each competitor behind battled and scrapped for a glimpse of the lead. By the 1000 meter mark it was all over. Trinity pushed ahead and had gained an entire length of open water. The nine women who had dedicated
Members of DULBC following their victory at the National Championships in Farran Wood, Co. Cork. Photograph courtesy of DU Ladies Rowing Club
ten months of their lives to this collective goal sensed imminent victory and knew at that point that nothing could be done to stop them. Queens and UCD, 2nd and 3rd place finishers, would make admirable sprints for the line, but could only alter Trinity´s margin of victory to a full boat length. 7 minutes and 17 seconds was all it took to secure the first place finish; an incredible end to a truly memorable season. A win, not only for hose nine in the boat, but for coach, club and college. The 2007-2008 season, begins for this club who arewell on the move, on 10th of November at Neptune Head on Blessington.
The crew Siobhán McNamara (bow), Isabel Unwin, Doireann O’Loughlin, Katherine Sheane, Áine Feeney, Anna Sheane, Maeve O’Donnell, Maggie O’Donoghue (stroke), Eimear Deady (cox)
CLINGAN
Taking Trinity to new heights For many in Trinity, a vision of the imposing cobalt edifice protruding from the apex of the college’s new Sports Hall will represent their first contact with the Dublin University Climbing Club. Certainly the new climbing wall, 36 feet tall and jutting out monstrously in sections, is a daunting sight and is even more so when you get up close. It is a well-known fact amongst climbers that walls always become considerably steeper the closer you come to them; never is this more apparent than when you find yourself halfway up a route with the remaining section requiring you to caste off gravity and slither gecko-style across what is, to all intents and purposes, a knobby roof. Thus I’ve often found myself hanging upside-down from my harness staring up past my toes to the unscalable heights of the ceiling above. You might think that this sort of experience would leave you quivering on the floor with a newfound interest in sports like tiddlywinks, but falling off a climb is far more exhilarating and a lot less dangerous than you might think. Climbing equipment is seriously tested and can generally withstand the force of a small car being dropped on it. In any event, heights are generally far more afraid of you than you are of them. The real apprehension is of being winched back to the ground and having to watch someone else grace up the route that spat you off so contemptuously. This, however, serves as an introduction to the world of the social climber. Having fallen off the wall, I find myself delighting in the opportunity to torture the next victim who dares attempt the evidently impossible. And if, by some miracle, they make it to the top, then, of course, the credit is all mine; my advice having been instrumental to the successful ascent - the climbing equivalent of having loosened the lid on a jar of marmalade. Indeed there are those who rarely climb at all at wall sessions, preferring instead to bask in the glories of the victories of others and recall them with fondness in the pub afterwards. That’s not to say that the Club doesn’t have its share of illustrious climbers. Founded in 1958 by a group of student enthusiasts at a time when a harness consisted of loop of hemp and a well-stocked climber was anyone with a bag of sandwiches and a thermos flask, the club has evolved greatly over the years, even going so far as to admit ladies in the constitutional referendum of 1964. A group of particularly adventurous climbers even managed to put up a first ascent on Aiguille Poincenot, one of Patagonia’s fiercest peaks in the Winter of 1962. Closer to home, the club’s records illustrate a colourful history of climbing on campus, putting up routes on various buildings (the Graduates’ Memorial Building, the 1937 Reading Room, various houses on New Square and, though never officially confirmed, even the Campanile!) at a time when no climbing wall was to be found. Upon the mysterious arrival of a red top hat upon the uppermost spike of the Campanile in Trinity week of 1961, members of the club, neglecting to confess, were nevertheless quick to offer their services, free of charge, for the retrieval of the offending headpiece, but were declined in favour of steeplejacks – cost to the college: £12-10-0. The subsequent use of the Campanile as a hat stand for a variety of bonnets in different shapes and colours has never received official comment from the club. Now, with the advent of Trinity’s own indoor climbing wall, one of the best in Ireland, the phase that was building appears to have died out. The new wall, on the other hand, has garnered no end of interest and the Climbing Club remains the best way to get involved, offering students and staff free access to the walls and free instruction and gear use for everyone interested. The Sports Hentre itself will be running climbing courses for beginners in the coming months, and, as always, everyone is welcome at Club sessions held at the wall on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. For more information on the climbing club, our trips, our sessions at the climbing wall and at the pub afterwards see out our website at www.tcd.ie/Clubs/Climbing
TRINITY NEWS
P24
Michaelmas term, Week 8
CollegeSport
Determined Trinity ladies The withstand a Northern invasion Team DULHC V GREENISLAND
Buckley and Costigan inspire Trinity ladies to a moral boosting Irish Cup victory over Greenisland. DU LADIES HOCKEY CLUB: GREENISLAND HOCKEY CLUB:
2 0
JONATHAN DRENNAN COLLEGE SPORT EDITOR Visits from uncompromising Northern Irish neighbours are becoming a bit of a recurring theme in Trinity. Less than 24 hours after Ian Paisley’s historic lecture in the Graduates’ Memorial Building, Dublin University Ladies’ Hockey Club were confronted by gritty Northern outfit Greenisland in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup at home in Santry. If anybody has any doubts what Purgatory is like, spending time shivering on the touchline at Santry would be a fairly good indicator. However, it’s often possible to forget about the ugly surroundings when you are able to watch entertaining hockey. Unfortunately this game promised a lot and delivered very little. Confronted by limited opponents who were keen to frustrate and foul when chances presented themselves, DULHC were forced to live off scraps and their game duly suffered. After defeating University College Dublin comprehensively a few days earlier, confidence was justifiably high for Trinity going into this fixture. However, the opening quarter did not make pleasant viewing for the handful of spectators gathered. Irritated by Greenisland’s defensive tactics, the students found it difficult to move into any sort of rhythm, with simple passes being missed. The majority of play was fought over in the middle of the pitch, leaving forwards and defenders on both sides starved of possession. By placing most of their players behind the ball, Greenisland gave themselves a puncher’s chance. Technically limited but physically imposing, Greenisland played dull but effective hockey. DULHC were seemingly unable to impose any sort of structure, with their usual attacking options becoming limited. In centre midfield Ciara Murphy valiantly tried to create chances for the home side, but was often shackled by heavy marking, nullifying much of Trinity’s creative spark. Gradually Trinity began to make some attacking inroads past an extremely stubborn Greenisland defence. Utilising the pace and skill of Claire Hearnden, chances began to present themselves in the form of short corners. Unfortunately the finished product was symptomatic of a frustrating day at the office. The students were unable to convert a bevy of chances and trudged
off for half time with a severe tactical headache. The second half brought a renewed effort, if not a ready solution, to finding that elusive goal. Trinity seemed unable to find any cohesive structure as they found themselves fouled frequently. While attacking chances remained limited, it would be difficult to fault DULHC’s defensive capabilities. Under the calm leadership of Vanessa Buckley, players such as Christine Boyle and Caroline Murphy distinguished themselves with key tackling and vital passes. As the game wore on, attacking chances again presented themselves in the form of short-corners. Forward Lyndsey Watson proved a catalyst for many of the chances, showing immense skill in the circle while under severe pressure. Despite short-corners going unconverted, Trinity’s superior conditioning appeared to be paying dividends as holes were starting to be punched into the resolute Ulster defence. After an industrious if not spectacular game, Vice-Captain Danielle Costigan showed great composure to deflect a high paced pass into the back of the net to give a 1-0 lead. Despite being the dominant team for most of the match, Trinity did find themselves under pressure from counterattacks at times, with Buckley often being forced to make crucial interceptions. After a frenetic period late in the game, Trinity looked capable of throwing the game away or enjoying comfortable victory. Creating an interesting midfield combination, the ever impressive Maebh Horan proved a vital foil for Ciara Murphy who remained largely constricted in her attacking endeavours by a wily defence. Leaving behind a quiet start to the game, Costigan’s goal seemed to create a spark which lead to her leading the line often on her own, with tireless running. After weathering another unpredictable Greenisland storm, Trinity managed to put the game away for good. Using pace and skill, Hearnden sprinted through a barrage of defenders to create a chance for Costigan who hit a powerful shot, before Hearnden ushered it into the goal to leave the score at 2-0 as the final whistle was blown. In boxing, they say you only realise how good a fighter is when he comes back to win after suffering for most of the fight. Beating a fiercely determined and gritty side in Greenisland by two goals on a grey day at Santry would seem to give us all the evidence we need that this group of players have the calibre to do anything they want this season.
1
Ciara Rowe
2
Maebh Horan
3
Caroline Murphy
4
Karen Morrisey
5
Katie O’ Byrne
6
Rebecca Murphy (c)
7
Becca Coll
8
Ciara Murphy
9
Danielle Costigan (vc)
10
Lyndsey Watson
11
Christine Boyle
12
Louisa Johnston
13
Vanessa Buckley
14
Claire Hearnden
15
Megan Duffy
16
Gillian Lane
MAN OF THE MATCH Vanessa Buckley A mainstay of the DULHC set-up for the best part of three years; Buckley’s confidence and experience were vital in this contest. She was impressive with the ball, her interceptions and tackles created relief and also created attacking opportunities for the midfield. Buckley’s main accolade was her organisational skills under adversity. Facing an unpredictable side in this tie, calmness under pressure and clearness of thought were demanded and Buckley remained the outstanding candidate.
Rebecca, Caroline and Ciara Murphy from Trinity’s hockey team in action in Botany Bay following their success over Greenisland. Photo Illustration: Martin McKenna
Walking wounded defeat fierce rivals DU GAELIC FOOTBALL CLUB: 3 – 9 ST. PAT’S DRUMCONDRA: 1 – 12
KARL MCGUCKIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Last Thursday saw the meeting of the two giants in Trench Cup football as Trinity College Dublin accepted the challenge of the home team St. Patrick’s Drumcondra. Rivalry could not have been more intense as the two teams took to the field, as a hostile home crowd surrounded the pitch. The rivalry between the two teams has grown ferociously since the Trinity team of 2006 defeated a hotly favoured St Pat’s team in the Trench Cup Final. Fuel was then added to the fire when St Pat’s defeated Trinity in a passionate affair in
Santry last year when the St Pats boys came off the deserved winners and claimed ownership to the Trench Cup a few months later. Owen Coyle started the ball rolling with a fine long-range effort lifting the team greatly. However, St Pat’s characteristically fought back, grasping onto a three point lead. Trinity were then hit again with bad luck as Captain Karl McGuckin was carried off following a dubious challenge. Replacement Stephen Moloumby replaced the injured party and could not have been more effective. The Kilmacud Crokes stalwart opened up his tally with a beautifully finished goal after some brainy play by James Sweeney. Only a few minutes had passed before Moloumby scored again, upsetting the balance of the game in Trinity’s favour.
Sean McCormick was very influential around the 40, picking up loose balls and distributing wonderfully as Alan McAndrew and Mark Brady worked tirelessly in midfield. St Pat’s edged closer again with a few well-taken frees by midfielder Declan McKernan, but James Sweeney was the toast of the team when he grasped onto a ball on the 21 and finished impressively to the net just a few moments before the half time whistle with the score at Trinity (3-3) St Pats (0-7). The Trinity team were struck down by injury once again at the start of the second half when Shane Bouchier dislocated his shoulder. However, Trinity portrayed a great strength and depth replacing the tenacious corner back with the exciting John Griffith. Things got worse for the Trinity boys before they got better,
as a supposed foot block from goalkeeper Dermot Mullan resulted in penalty for St Pat’s. McKernan finished to the net with relative ease as the game reached boiling point. St Pat’s period of dominance could easily have seen them come through as winners, but two terrifically pointed frees from sub Daniel Carroll eased Trinity hearts once again. With only ten minutes remaining, only a single score separated the teams. Paul Kennedy, Donal Lynch and Conan O’Brion all showed a hearty determination setting up a bulwark to the wave of players St Pat’s pushed up the field. However, it was the experienced heads of Coyle and James Sweeney that settled the ship. Coyle conveyed great style in converting two points from play, one of which was edged over the bar by the St
HOW HAMILTON LOST IT ALL CONNEL MCKENNA INVESTIGATES SPORTS FEATURE, P21
DU GAA team D. Mullan, D. Burke, C. O'Brion, S. Boucher, M. Shorthall, D. Lynch, P. Kennedy, M. Brady, A. McAndrew, P. Stapleton,
S. McCormick (0-3), A. Hartnett, K. McGuckin, O. Coyle (0-3), J. Sweeney (1-1),
Pat’s keeper. Although it was James Sweeney who came to the fore in the dying minutes as he swept up around midfield and half back, maintaining possession and helping the team hold onto their three-point lead, Marcus Shorthall and Dermot Burke
Subs: J. Griffith for S. Boucher S. Moloumby(2-0) for K. McGuckin 19. D. Carroll (0-2) for P. Stapleton
continued their vein of good form as they held the line brilliantly in the dying minutes with O’Brion proving inspirational at full back with some rousing displays of guts and courage. Trinity held onto their lead to win on a score-line of (3-9) to (1-12).
KNOCKOUT
BERNARD DUNNE TELLS OF HIS EXPERIENCES SINCE LEAVING TRINITY, P22 collegesport@trinitynews.ie