Irish Student Newspaper of the Year 2009
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Tuesday November 3 2009
www.trinitynews.ie
Union left with the bill after Class Rep training
Provost set to receive 19 percent pay increase Lisa Byrne College News Editor
» Class Rep training results in damages to four-star hotel » Union in negotiations over costs, attempting to ‘recuperate’ funds from students involved Conor Sullivan Staff Reporter THE FOUR star Carlton Hotel played host to the Students’ Union recently, when they took over an entire hotel for their annual “Class Rep Training” weekend at a cost of some €15,000. The hotel didn’t come away unscathed, however, with one student throwing a table off a balcony on the top floor, and with several rooms, corridors and lifts coated with beer and foam from fire extinguishers. Those present said they had “one big party” with 250 students, the only guests at the hotel, five miles north of Trinity. The bill for damages is still being negotiated between the Union and the hotel, two weeks later. The bill was originally rumoured to be nearly €3,000; however the Union dispute this, saying that it should come to much less, though it has yet to be finalised. The hotel has refused to comment, except to confirm there was damage. Class reps were elected for every class in Trinity at the start of term, and “form the backbone of the Students’ Union”. During the annual “Training Weekend” the reps are treated to a series of talks such as “Supporting Student Welfare”, “Organising Class Parties” and “Negotiation Tactics” from Union Officers and invited guest speakers. The weekend is also “a great bonding experience where reps get to know each other and the Union Officers so that the Union can effectively function with enthusiastic reps,” said Education Officer Ashley Cooke. One student told Trinity News a “raucous” party took off in the evening with “everyone getting shitfaced” in the 120-room hotel until “things started to die off at 5am or so”. The night culminated in one student in an Ents-crew t-shirt chucking a table off a balcony on the third floor. The charges also include beer-stains on carpets and wallpaper and several fire extinguishers which got let off in rooms, corridors and lifts. One hotel staff
Issue 4, Volume 56
member said it was “like a bomb went off”, and a manager acknowledged there “was some damage done alright” but declined to comment further. Nevertheless the Union has stated all is good with the hotel and that “hotel management have told us that they would welcome the Students’ Union to hold any events it runs in the future”. The Union said it knows who was responsible and is also talking to them with “a view to recuperating any financial loss suffered by the Students’ Union as a result of their actions”. Cooke said that “when any large group of students go away there will inevitably be some ‘actingup’ by a small few. There were some incidents involving fire extinguishers but no major damage was done to the hotel. We brought over 200 students away and little disruption was caused to the hotel or its staff.” One student said class reps signed disclaimer forms whereby they would agree to pay for any damage inflicted. The student told Trinity News the Union knows who is responsible but can’t prove them culpable, which would leave the Union to foot the bill. The Students’ Union is funded mostly through a grant from the compulsory registration fee of approximately €320,000. This is supplemented through income from Ents nights, sponsorship and services such as selling Student Travelcards. While figures from last year are not yet available, figures from 2007/08 indicate the Union had a net income of approximately €400,000 that year. A selection of photos from the event with Cooke said some of the funding for the weekend will come students that were not involved in causing from sponsorship and College, though that has yet to be damage to the hotel. finalised.
THE PROVOST, Dr. John Hegarty, is set to get a pay increase which will put his salary on a par with President Barack Obama’s. The payments, which were due to be paid in 2007, followed recommendations made in the O’Brien review on Higher Remuneration. The report also granted pay increases to over 400 professors in Ireland, as well as bursars, university secretaries and registrars among other professions. This report aimed to bring the salaries of members of the public sector inline with their international counter parts. The review was established to “recommend remuneration rates for top public service posts which will enable the State to recruit, retain and motivate high-calibre people and reward them appropriately”. It examined the salaries of members of An Garda Síochana, prison doctors, higher posts in third-level education and the Judiciary among others. Following revelations of a number of unauthorised allowances paid by universities, the pay increases were withheld until the investigations into these allowances had been complete. Referring to allowances in the report, the group believed that the “Department of Education and Science should take the prime responsibility for ensuring that any unauthorised allowances are withdrawn and should take all necessary steps to resolve the situation without delay.” The Department confirmed that the allowances of “each of the professors and staff were assessed on a case-by-case basis and where we were satisfied, the pay increase has now been awarded.” The Department has since sanctioned all increases; however they have said
Dr Hegarty’s salary is due to rise to €270,000. that the Colleges themselves will be responsible for paying the increases, “if universities can manage it in their own budgets, not the Department of Finance”. The College Communications Office has confirmed that the “pay increases were applied to the Provost’s salary arising from the implementation of the first phase of the Review Body Report 42 plus Towards 2016 Phases 3 & 4”. When questioned, the office failed to comment on whether the Provost would be accepting or declining the increase. The Office also failed to confirm his new salary. However, Trinity News has learned that the Provost, along with three other NUI Presidents, is set to see his salary increase by 19% from €226,895 to €270,000. The other NUI Presidents who will enjoy the large increase are Dr. Hugh Brady of University College Dublin, Dr. Michael Murphy continued on page 2
Health Service hazy on Engineering commencements delayed by college authorities current swine flu rates » Health Service admit there is only one person who is aware of current swine flu trends in College » National trends show rates doubling Kate Palmer Deputy College News Editor THE IMPACT of the “Swine Flu” pandemic on Trinity College remains a mystery to the students and staff it may affect. It has emerged that only one person out of Trinity’s 2676 staff and 15716 students is aware of the instances of the H1N1 virus in TCD. That person is Dr. David McGrath, Director of the College Health Service. The College Health Service confirmed to Trinity News that Dr. McGrath is the only person with access to the vital statistics and, as he was away last week on annual leave, there was no-one on campus who knew the current state of the deadly pandemic. There is no such apparent lack of accountability evident in other Irish
universities. NUI Galway, for example, published a document accounting the 165 instances of swine flu reported since term began in mid-September. Furthermore, the weekly breakdown of the document, provided by spokesperson for the NUI Galway Health Service Kevina Shaughnessy within an hour of request, indicates a stable pattern in the number of reported cases. The purpose of the document is to make lecturers and staff aware of the impact the pandemic may have on their teaching programmes. However documents of a similar nature are not readily available to Trinity College staff or students. The College has continued to remain hazy in their response to the virus. In contrast, staff at UCD have been advised to cut their twelve-week
teaching terms by two weeks in order to accommodate the rising instances of Swine Flu among the student body. The decision was made as a result of research by the UCD Swine Flu Committee. A spokesperson for the TCD Communications Office, Sally-Anne Fisher, revealed that the instances of swine flu among college students and staff are “in line with national trends”. If this is in fact the case, then rates of swine flu in College should be doubling weekly. The HSE released a report this week disclosing the number of hospitalised cases, which has risen by 109 to 492 nationwide, with an almost 50% increase in consultations. When asked about the volume of swine flurelated GP appointments made in College this term, the TCD Health Service remained unable to comment.
Lisa Byrne College News Editor
MEMBERS OF the Engineering class of 2009 have been left angry after receiving the news that their graduation date has been deferred due to impending industrial action, receiving little over three weeks notice. An email sent by the College to some members of the Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science read: “A National Day of Protest has been scheduled for November 6, 2009. As such, it has become necessary to postpone all commencement ceremonies scheduled on this day.” Students were then informed of the news via email. The College believed these measures were necessary as it was “deemed prudent due to the likely disruption to the Country’s transport network, the expected demonstrations around the College en route to Dáil Éireann, and the possibility of reduced staffing levels.” In an email addressed to the graduating class, Professor John Fitzpatrick, Head of the School of Engineering, apologised to the students saying, “I would like to let you know that the School made a very strong case
as to why the date should not change, but with the overwhelming likelihood that there will be significant industrial action ... reluctantly agreed that it would not be possible to go ahead with the ceremonies.” Graduand Dani Pickett has said that the class were “disgusted” by the change of date and late notice given to students: “It really upset a lot of people and created uproar among the students.” She told Trinity News that a lot of people were not in a position to change their travel arrangements: “For example, there’s two guys living in Saudi Arabia and another who’s due to move to Australia who obviously won’t be able to make it.” EngSoc echoed this, saying “Changing the date of commencements has increased the costs of the already overpriced event, by forcing people to change their flight dates.” Similar to Ms. Pickett, many graduands who have taken up jobs since leaving the College have already arranged for time off and may not be in a position to re-arrange their dates. The College said that “the fee paid for commencements is fully allocated to covering the costs associated with the conduct of the ceremonies; therefore regrettably we are not in a position to
offer compensation” to students who have had to make alternative travel arrangements. Students have been advised to contact their insurance companies to see if they can be reimbursed. The Registrar, Professor Jurgen Barkhoff, addressed the complaints made by graduands and their parents but said that the measures were necessary to “safeguard the integrity and logistics of hosting the ceremonies.” Professor Barkhoff offered to accommodate those graduands who could not attend the deferred date by allowing them to graduate in another ceremony on Thursday, November 5th. However less than 10% of the graduands availed of this option as they wanted to graduate together. Graduand Diarmuid Maguire stressed that, while “the whole situation has put an obvious downer on the graduation ... it shouldn’t stop us from having a great time anyway!” Professor Barkhoff concluded saying: “The College is conscious of the fact that the class spirit of the graduating classes is particularly strong and that the students place particular emphasis on being conferred together. It is deeply regrettable that the class has been affected in this way.”