Trinity News Issue 9

FEAR OF FLYING? We all live in a yellow submarine

Two

Seanad Special

JOSH ROBERTS LOOKS AT THE TREATMENTS FEATURES 11

Who’s running • interviews • THE CASE FOR ABOLITION OR REFORM

Trinity News Est 1953

Controversy over GSU Provost vote

Xmas exams on the table

Aine Pennello

Aine Pennello

Deputy College News Editor

Deputy College News Editor

The Graduate Students’ Union is being acccused by post graduate students of ignoring their preferences for the Provostial election. The GSU is allowed four votes in the election, cast by two sabbatical oficers and two faculty officers, all of whom serve on the GSU Executive.

In an email from GSU President Dearbhail Lawless to postgraduate students, Lawless announced that the GSU will cast four votes independent of the wishes expressed by postgraduate students in the Students’ Union elections. “Postgraduate students have already had an opportunity to participate in the provostial election process, through casting a vote during the SU election. Postrgrads were informed about this by the GSU’s weekly email”, Lawless explained.

She went on to state that the four votes would be made based on “identifying which provostial candidate will best represent postgraduate students”.

However, Trinity News has learnt that members of the GSU Executive are the campaign team of one of the candidates. As a result, concerns have been raised by postgraduate students who fear the GSU are more concerned with voting for their preferred

A meeting held on Tuesday of last week between the Undergraduate Studies Committee, Students’ Union Education Officer Jen Fox and Education Officer elect Rachel Barry came to the ruling that proposals to restructure the academic year will not deter the implementation of the GeneSIS project, a new student information system which Barry described as constituting “an absolutely essential change in College, and a welcome one.”

Concerns were held that Barry’s proposal to introduce Christmas exams, a significant part of the officer

“Postgraduate students have already had an opportunity to participate.” – Dearbhail Lawless candidate than listening to the wishes of the postgraduate student body.

When asked whether this would affect their impartiality, no members of the Executive were available for comment.

The Provost election process marks one of College’s oldest traditions, but the election process has already been criticised by former Dublin City University President Ferdinan Von Prondzynski. In a recent article for the Irish Times, the former Trinity Fellow expressed doubts as to whether the voting scheme represented a truly democratic process as most of the electorate is made up solely of academics with over half of the college’s employees unable to cast a vote.

Posting as ElectroTrinity on boards. ie, one student wrote, “How can [the GSU] pretend to be able to get the pulse of people without a vote? And if they do it on this, what on earth is stopping them from doing similar in other issues?

“The GSU will gather student feedback, questions, concerns and suggestions through multiple methods to ensure that all postgraduates have the opportunity to contribute the discussion,” Lawless defended. The methods outlined include email, faculty caucuses and hustings. Hustings for postgraduate students will be held on March 22 at 7pm in the Synge Theatre.

SS DU Amnesty celebrated Womens’ Day last Tuesday by launching pink lanterns. Unfortunately due to the wind, many lanterns were blown into the nearby trees after being let off. Photo by Olivia Headon.

International Womens’ Day celebrated in Trinity Leah Tierney Staff Reporter

Tuesday 8 March was the global centenary of International Women’s Day. To mark the occasion, College launched a week-long programme of events across campus, aimed at both celebrating the political, economic and social achievements of women, as well as increasing awareness of gender inequalities that still need to be addressed.

The events were organised with the support of staff and students at Trinity

College and ran from Monday 7 to Friday 11 March.

Highlights of the week included a talk given by US author and women’s rights activist Tayyibah Taylor which took place in the Graduates’ Memorial Building on Tuesday. Tayyibah Taylor is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Azizah Magazine, and as such is often considered to be the voice of Muslim American women. The event was organised by Dr Roja Fazaeli of the School of Religions and Theology in TCD, in collaboration with Dublin University Gender Equality Society, US

Embassy and UN Women.

On Tuesday afternoon, DU Amnesty International released 50 pink lanterns from the cricket pitch into the sky to commemorate female human rights activists from around the world. Prominent female members of staff from around college attended to show their support and release lanterns.

Later on that day, DU Amnesty International joined forces with TCDSU and Trinity Ents by organising Continued on page 2 

“Whether Christmas exams WILL be introduced at all is still under discussion” elect’s campaign manifesto, would hamper the success of the GeneSIS program which is held to be dependent on a lack of any fundamental college restructuring.

However, Academic Secretary Patricia Callaghan confirmed at the meeting that this was in reference to institutional restructuring rather than any restructuring of the academic year.

“The matter of whether Christmas exams will be introduced at all is still under discussion within each of the Schools,” Fox was careful to point out to Trinity News.

A report on student attitudes to college examinations is being compiled.

It will include research into attitudes to current assessment policies.

Students protest termination of 128 bus Caitriona Murphy College News Editor

Trinity Hall residents have expressed their anger this week at proposals for the termination of the 128 bus service. The bus line, which runs frequently from Trinity College and stops opposite the Halls residences, is to be merged with the 15 “The Luas is already packed to capacity at rush hour times.” – JCR President Plunkett McCullagh line and will no longer service Halls.

Part of the Dublin Bus Network Direct plan, the lines are being merged in an effort to streamline services and create a simpler system.

However, Trinity students have been protesting against the move, which will deprive them of a morning bus service that runs every ten minutes. A petition has been set up online to show Dublin Bus the number of students opposed

to the move and so far has gained just under 400 signatures.

Some have questioned the importance of the move, as there are numerous other means of transport between Halls and the College. The residences are approximately one hour’s walk from College, but the Milltown luas stop stands around the corner, as well as another bus stop, which runs several services to town.

However JCR President Plunkett McCullagh stated that the removal of the bus service would cause major difficulties to for the Luas service.

“If the service was taken away, there would a massive increase in the number of students taking the Luas. The Luas is already packed to capacity at rush hour times and could not cope with a large increase in numbers. It would undoubtedly stir more complaints from the already agitated residents of Temple Road as this is the only route to the Luas.”

The 128 service was introduced in 2007, up until which Halls residents had to find other way of getting in to town.

Protests against the planned changes began last year, when Rathmines Councillor Jim O’Callaghan launched a campaign to save the bus service after local TD Lucinda Creighton sent her proposal to change the route to Dublin Bus. McCullagh also believes that the changes in service are not just part

SS The 128 bus, the route of which is to be merged with that of the 15.

of Network Direct, but are the result of complaints from bus drivers over student behaviour.

“These complaints always arise as a result of incidents occurring when residents are making their way from Trinity Hall to nightclubs in town, many having already consumed alcohol, always between 10.30pm and 11.30pm. These residents represent a very small demographic of residents that regularly use the 128.”

On whether the petition would succeed, he stated: “A compromise can be reached if Dublin Bus agree to keep on the 128 service as normal but end it at 10pm. This way no more of the existing complaints can arise and the residents of Trinity Hall will still have this invaluable service.”

Dublin Bus were quick to state that the planned changes had not been given a date for implementation, and that customer feedback was still being consulted. They did confirm that leaflets had been handed out to customers rergarding the changes to the service.

Vol 57

Issue 8

15 March, 2011

of white

2 News this fortnight they said

“It’s without doubt my favourite society event that I’ve attended all year”

compiled by Caitriona Murphy

“What was happening was utter madness”

“It would be right for me to step down [from] the institution I have come to love” “In an open, democratic society, the people can debate these issues”

Mark Walsh attends the Trinity Orchestra Daft Punk concert

numerology

128 The bus route to Trinity Halls that Dublin bus are proposing to cut

3 €11,000 The number of Seanad seats that Trinity College can elect

The new pay cut on the Provost’s salary

37

Number of arrests during the Galway Rag Week

£300,000 Donation accepted by the LSE from the son of Libyan dicatator Muahammar Gaddafi

26

The average number of loans a printed book survives

get involved We’re always recruiting new writers, photographers, designers, copy editors and advertising executives. To get involved, contact the editor of the section you’re interested in, at firstname.lastname@trinitynews.ie

staff Editor: Deputy Editor: Public Editor: College News:

Aoife Crowley Kate Palmer Cillian Murphy Caitriona Murphy Aine Pennello National News: Evan Musgrave International News: Ralph Marnham

Ines Novacic News Features: James Coghill

Manus Lenihan Features: Josh Roberts Opinion: David Barrett

Jonathan Creasy World Review: Iseult McLister

Alice Stevens Travel: Jimmy Lee

Varun Khanna Business: Owen Bennett Science: John Engle

Anthea Lacchia Society: Christine Shields Sports Features: Daniel O’Callaghan

Kate Rowan College Sport: Eleni Megoran

Michael Gaskin Puzzles: Conor O’Toole Printed at The Guardian Print Centre, Longbridge Road, Manchester, M17 1SL. Trinity News is funded by a grant from DU Publications Committee. This publication claims no special rights or privileges. Serious complaints should be addressed to: The Editor, Trinity News, 6 Trinity College, Dublin 2. Appeals may be directed to the Press Council of Ireland.

Trinity News is a full participating member of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. This scheme, in addition to defending the freedom of the press, offers readers a quick, fair and free method of dealing with complaints that they may have in relation to articles that appear on our pages. To contact the Office of the Press Ombudsman go to www.pressombudsman.ie

Sir Howard Davies, writing in his letter of resignation as Director of LSE

Antonin Scalia debates the Supreme courts involvement in Constitutional decisions

“...lots and lots of cow gum, which you begin to get a little bit high from if you sniff too much of it” Seanad candidate Robin Hanan on his experiences working with Trinity News

Events in College for Womens’ Day Continued from page 1 

a comedy gig in the Synge Theatre entitled “Sex Traffic: How much is that woman in the window?” The comedy show was a creation of Keith Farnan’s and sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year.

Wednesday brought a unique bilingual event that celebrated women’s voices in the Gaelic tradition - Glór na mBan I dTraidisiún na nGael.

This featured poet and playwright Celia de Fréine, who read her work in both Irish and English. Adding to this event, singers Naisrín and Zahrah Elsafty provided a rendition of songs from the sean-nós tradition. The TCD’s Irish Language Office and the Equality Office hosted the event.

Another highlight of the programme included a panel discussion on women’s movements in Western Europe from

SS The Elsafty sisters were well received at the event.

the 1970s to the present, which took place on Thursday. The discussion provided a fascinating international perspective on the history of the feminist movement in Europe, while focusing more specifically on Ireland, Germany and Spain.

The College Sports Centre also contributed to the celebrations by

offering free fitness classes to women for the week.

These events for International Women’s Day follow a long and proud tradition. It was first commemorated in 1911 to honour the work of suffragettes, following increasing demands across the industrialised world for better working conditions and voting rights for women. The first International Women’s Day events were run in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911 and attended by over one million people.

One hundred years on, International Women’s Day has become a global mainstream phenomena celebrated across the world. Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. It has now been granted the status of an official holiday in approximately 25 countries.

Students to capture the Trinity Experience Applications are now open for the “It’s a Trinity Thing…” photography and video competition 2011. The competition, now in its third year, is open to all students, staff and alumni of Trinity College Dublin.

Applicants are encouraged to use artistic licence and submit images or videos, which may be old or new, that fall under the theme of “It’s a Trinity Thing…”, by capturing the personality of the College or the “Trinity Experience”.

There are three categories of student, staff and alumni, with a winner and runner-up in each and an overall winner of the competition.

Prizes of an Apple iPad will be awarded to the winner of each category and other prizes include Trinity Ball tickets and spot prizes awarded at the discretion of the judges.

Entrants may enter as many times as they wish, as an individual or as part of a team. Submit a photo or video along with a completed entry form by 5pm on 25th March 2011. Entry forms are available at www.tcd.ie/alumni/competitions.

Staff Reporter

With eye-catching posters, murals, facebook and twitter presence, it seemed impossible to ignore Dylan Haskins over the past month. Despite the media-savvy campaign, the 23 year old Trinity student of Classics and History of Art failed to secure a seat in the 31st Dáil, but received a respectable 1,383 first preference votes.

Haskins ran as an Independent candidate along with 202 others, marking this election as having the highest ever number of candidates seeking seats as Independent TDs, up from 90 in 2007. His Independent status may have discouraged voters giving him their first preference, since a position as an isolated backbencher against a potentially large government majority would result in limited impact.

A further reluctance on the part of voters may have been Haskins’ young age, a subject that appeared in most media attention relating to him, with both the Irish Times and Guardian noting the comparisons between the fresh-faced Haskins and the Jedward twins. Haskins received a positive reaction in College. He produced a student-friendly campaign, supporting free third-level education and a special investment fund for those in their 20s and 30s funded by the state, banks and social entrepreneurs amongst his policies. He may not have a seat in Ireland’s next government, but Dylan Haskins’s voice is one we will certainly hear again.

Contributing Reporter

CRANN Director receives Fellowship title Professor of Chemistry and Director of CRANN Nanoscience Institute, John Boland was recently made Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society, for his contributions to surface chemistry.

Professor Boland was presented with an official certificate and gold rosette pin at a ceremony at the AAAS Fellows Forum in Washington D.C. The Trinity lecturer is the only Irish resident to receive the honour among the organisation’s five million members. Professor Boland said it was

Una Kelly

Rachel Murphy

Right: The 2009 student runner-up photograph taken by Patrick Theiner

Contributing Reporter

Haskins wins 1,383 votes

Kilroy festival launches next month

Una Kelly

Fergal Mullins

A Trinity student describes the events of Galway Rag Week

a ‘‘great honour’’ and wished to pay tribute to those he’s worked with at Trinity and in the U.S. Professor Boland, who received the gold medal prize on graduating from The award is “a great honour” for Director of CRANN Nanoscience John Boland

University College Dublin, has a long history of working in the States. After UCD, Professor Boland enrolled in the prestigious California Institute of Technology where he was honoured with the Newby McKoy Award for

Graduate Excellence. After teaching at the University of North Carolina, Professor Boland worked with IBM for ten years. Professor Boland then ventured back to Trinity where he has been director of CRANN for the past six years.

Under his tenure, CRANN now has over 250 people working for it in 45 countries. CRANN also has built up 160 partnerships with colleges around the world, putting Trinity well and truly on the map. However Professor Boland’s endeavours don’t end there; he is also a Provostial candidate. He hopes to help Trinity become one of Europe’s top ten universities, renowned for educational experience, scholarship and cuttingedge research.

A celebration of the works of esteemed Irish playwright, author and academic, Thomas Kilroy, begins next month. The festivities open on the 29th April with a talk, ‘The modernity of Thomas Kilroy’ from Professor Nicholas Green, here in Trinity College.

Trinity’s Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing organizes ‘Across Boundaries’, the two-day event, in association with the University’s Long Room Hub, the Abbey and Unesco City of Literature. Kilroy was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel ‘The Big Chapel’ and the novel also received the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1971.

He is best known for his plays, The O Neill, Talbot’s Box, and Tea and Sex and Shakespeare. Some of his other accolades include the Heinemann Award for Literature, AIB Literary Prize and an Irish PEN Award. The second day of the celebration features a number of panel discussions on the works of Thomas Kilroy.

The day finishes with an highly anticipated reading from his play, Blake, by Abbey Theatre. This is the first performance of the play and is directed by Patrick Mason. It begins at 8pm in the Samuel Beckett Theatre.

Kilroy was recognized for his ‘Lifetime Achievement’ in the Irish Times / ESB Theatre Awards back in 2004.

TRINITY NEWS

3 news@trinitynews.ie

Supreme Court Justice speaks to the Hist Jack Marshall Contributing Reporter

Years after teaching summer law sessions at Trinity, Antonin Scalia, an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, returned to the College. Scalia spoke to the Hist in the Burke theatre last Thursday, giving a lecture he titled “Mullahs of the West: Judges as Moral Arbiters”.

Scalia used his time to discuss his strict constitutional judicial philosophy.

Scalia started his talk by talking about the creation of the “fourth headless branch of government”, the group of “expert” independent agencies in the United States government that worked on policy independently of the other three branches. He criticised the agencies for trying to come up with right and wrong answers on political matters based on personal opinion. As these agencies became less powerful, Scalia said that “belief in the expert gave way to belief in the judge moralists”.

Scalia said that he believed that even with cases of morality, there was no scientific way to determine which side was correct, meaning that the decisions should lie with the people.

“There is no more reason to take these issues away from the people than there is to take away issues of economic policy, because there is no moral expert to answer these problems,” Scalia said.

“In an open, democratic society, the people can debate these issues”.

However, as time has gone on, natural law has led to more abstract moralising from the unelected Supreme Court, which has led to the Supreme Court’s transition from making moral

Freya Findlay Staff Reporter

SS Scalia spoke for just over half an hour on his views on judicial philosophy.

decision to making policy decisions based on new interpretations of the Constitution.

With the development of a living Constitution, the Supreme Court has played a more active role in determining policy, a development that Scalia vehemently opposes, since many judges use their personal beliefs to

“interpret” the Constitution. “I would rather have the Constitution be revised in a Byzantine manner by the majority than have it revised by no-betterqualified lawyers”, Scalia said.

After speaking for just over half an hour, Scalia took questions from the audience. One another questioner asked about the legal developments

Knitting Society stitch to success The Knitting Society received the accolade of Best Overall Society at this years CSC awards, held last week. The Society was set up just this year and already has over 400 members. They held weekly knitting meetings and skills workshops, as well as taking part in several charity events. The other winners were as follows: Best Small Society – FLAC Best Medium Society – Orchestral Best Large Society – VDP Best New/Improved Society – Cards and Bridge Best Event – The Oscar Wilde Festival (Phil and Players) Best Fresher – Joel McKeever (Literary and Players) Best Individual – Declan Meehan (Phil) Best Website – Choral Society Best Poster – Law Soc - Swing Ball Best Publication – HistOracle Best Overall Society – Knitting Society SS Bella Fitzpatrick and Hannah Cagney of the Knitting Society, with a representative from AIB who sponsored the event

College attempts second planning application Caitriona Murphy College News Editor

The College has submitted plans to convert one of its properties into a restaurant facility and accommodation, The plans have been proposed for a former AIB bank building at 30-34 Anglesea road and 3-4 Foster place. If approved, they will see the creation of a restaurant, along with accommodation, educational and retail outlet facilities. A previous plan to set up a pub and restaurant in the building was rejected. Dublin City Council cited three reasons for the rejection, stating that the development would “lead to an excessive concentration of such uses in the area”, that a proposed extension between the Anglesea road and Fosters place would “seriously impact the character and integrity” of the buildings, and that a new opening on the ground floor would affect the

15 March, 2011

Trinity Profs win grants

symmetry of the building.

Regarding the new application, the College states: “The revised application addresses a number of concerns raised by the planners in relation to the previous application which was rejected. The focus of the redevelopment is to create coherent and accessible accommodation for academic activities across a number of connected buildings.

Some conservation queries have been addressed in greater detail in this application.” The Communications Office explains: “It is still proposed to use the ground floor for commercial use.

A retail unit is proposed as before on Foster Place. The previous application for a bar in the former banking hall has been replaced by a proposal to create a high quality restaurant in the space instead, reflecting the concerns raised by the planners and others at the overconcentration of pubs in the area.”

Caitriona Murphy

of Obama’s healthcare plan, which a Florida judge ruled unconstitutional.

Scalia said that when the Supreme Court looks at the law, they will not look at whether the law is beneficial or popular, but rather whether it is constitutional.

“Many very bad laws are constitutional, and many very good laws are unconstitutional.”

Trinity fails to make the cut Caitriona Murphy College News Editor

Trinity failed to feature on a new rankings system, “The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings”, released last week. The ranking is made up of a sub-set of the overall world rankings, and is based solely on academics’ “opinion of universities’ reputations worldwide, based on teaching and research”.

American universities dominate the top ten, with Harvard at number one, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The University of Cambridge came in third place. Neither Trinity nor UCD featured in the table, but did make the top 30 in Europe, at 14th and 26th place respectively.

College states that “the Trinity College Dublin top world ranking based on the composite THE World University Rankings, as well as the QS ranking still applies and has significant merit. It is ranked in 52nd position in the top 100 world universities by the QS World University Rankings 2010.”

Four Trinity lecturers have been awarded grants for their research projects by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) under its Research Development Initiative.

The IRCHSS funds cutting-edge research in social sciences, business, law and the humanities with a view to creating new knowledge and expertise.

Two lecturers, Dr Michéal Collins, lecturer in Economics and Dr Yvonne Scott, Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Head of Department, were successful with their projects submitted for the “Targeted Cofund Initiatives” strand. This grant of €60,000 is jointly funded by the IRCHSS and another partner.

The project Dr Michéal Collins won the award for is entitled, “Establishing Minimum Income Standards for Irish Households”. Working together with The Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ), Collins is planning to extend the research, which the VPSJ started in 2004, to establish the expenditure necessary for a minimum income standard of living among a selected group of Irish households.

The number of household cases being investigated will be increased from six to nine, and will broaden the VPSJ’s dataset so that data will be included on the essential living requirements of individuals and households across the entire lifecycle.

Dr Yvonne Scott’s research project is entitled “Bacon’s books: Francis Bacon’s library and its role in his art”. Working in collaboration with the Hugh Lane Gallery, this project aims to catalogue Francis Bacon’s personal library books and do comprehensive analysis to examine the relationship between text and image in his work. Such research has not yet been undertaken even though artists’ personal libraries are widely recognized as an invaluable resource for exploring and understanding their work.

Knowledge Exchange Grants were awarded to Dr Kathleen McTiernan and Professor Robbie Gilligan. Dr Kathleen McTiernan, lecturer in Psychology, was given the award for her project “Life History Knowledge Exchange: Sharing digital humanities knowledge with elderly autobiographers to facilitate their dissemination of the knowledge acquired over a lifetime”. Professor Robbie Gilligan, Head of the School of Social Work and Social Policy, and his associate investigator Dr Philip Curry, lecturer and research fellow, will be investigating a project entitled “What you need to know about children and racism”. This project will use a range of innovative approaches to disseminate findings from a recent study of interethnic relations in Dublin inner-city primary schools.

Students reject levy proposal Caitriona Murphy College News Editor

The recent Students’ Union elections and referendum saw the appointment of a new Union for 2011/12 and voters rejecting the proposed Student Centre levy.

The election dominated campus for two weeks in February as students campaigned for their preferred candidate. Results were announced over several hours, with Ents emerging as the tightest race. The Presidential race was narrowed down to just one candidate after both Aaron Heffernan and Sebastien LeCoq withdrew before voting started.

The new SU team for next year emerged as President Ryan Bartlett, Education Officer Rachel Barry, Welfare Officer Louisa Miller, Ents Officer Chris O’Connor and Communications Officer Ronan Costello. Colm Kearney also received the student endorsement for Provost.

However students voting in the referendum on the Student Centre, which took place along with the Union elections, chose to reject the proposed Student Centre levy, a major setback in its planning. SU President Nikolai “What was offered wasn’t what students wanted” Nikolai TrigoubRotnem Trigoub-Rotnem, who spent much of the year negotiating the financial deal, said that there were several possible reasons for the rejection of the levy.

He commented that had the referendum been called three to four years ago “it would have passed no bother.” Instead, he highighted the financial situation of many students.

He also felt that there was confusion amongst students about when they would have to start paying the levy,

and that Provostial candidate Colm Kearney’s statements regarding the student centre made students think that he was offering to pay for it.

Trigoub-Rotnem went to say he was not disappointed by the outcome, as it was his aim to “offer the best possible deal to students. After that point it was their decision, what was offered wasn’t what students wanted”. He made it clear that the SU had decided “not to take sides” once the offer had been made to students.

As for the future of the plans, Trigoub-Rotnem said he thought the building should be used for other facilities. “the health centre needs to be improved”. He confirmed that the current model for the Students Centre was now off the table but that Colm Kearney has made some comments regarding funding: his manifesto states that he “will deliver” on the issue. Either way, Trigoub-Rotnem commented that the future of the project was “up to the next provost.”

4 Senate Election Special

Who will fill our seats in the Seanad?

GRADUATES OF Trinity College have the privilege of electing three seats in the Seanad. For years, this has meant three voices speaking out on behalf of the College, giving Trinity a strong representation in politics. However, a major policy for the newly elected government is the abolition of the Seanad, a move which will have serious implications for the College. This year, in what could be the final

Marc Coleman Broadcaster, Economist

Sean Barrett Senior Lecturer, TCD

Dermot Frost IT Specialist

Robin Hanan Social Justice Advocate

Maurice Gueret Medical Doctor

election for the positions, twenty candidates are standing for the three Trinity seats. Of the twenty candidates seeking election to the Seanad this year the two strong favourites are Ivana Bacik and David Norris, returning Senators. The third seat is still very much up for grabs however, and there are many likely contenders who could fill the void left by Shane Ross. According to Sharon McHugh

from Paddy Power: “All eyes will be on that third seat. One thing is for sure – it is going to take a big personality to fill Shane Ross’s boots!” With the election only a matter of weeks away (26-27th April), Trinity News asks the candidates why they think they should win a seat, and their thoughts on the issue of the abolition of the Seanad.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I’m running for four reasons: Competence – Having worked for two years as Economics Editor of the Irish Times between 2005 and 2007 – in which I repeatedly warned about the coming crisis (using facts and figures rather than emotion), I understand the challenge facing this country better than most.

Conviction – We have a centre left government and an opposition that is either hard left (ULA, SF) or tainted (FF). Middle Ireland needs a strong voice to stand up against rises in taxation and to advance instead an agenda of public sector reform.

Constructiveness – I’ve campaigned for making bondholders pay their share of our adjustment, but I’ve done it constructively in a way that can deliver results.

Courage – Too many politicians are scared of offending what they see as a media consensus. As a broadcaster with Newstalk and columnist with the Sunday Independent I am able to fight Middle Ireland’s corner without fear.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am running for the Seanad because in the short time since my election as a Trinity Senator in 2007, I believe that I have achieved real change on many issues and have used the Seanad effectively to work towards a more open, inclusive and pluralist Irish society. I want to be able to continue the work of representing Dublin University graduates in the Seanad and would do so if re-elected.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

Ireland is in a deep economic crisis. The EU/IMF bailout of €35 billion for banks and €50 billion for the public finances, the rapid rise in unemployment and the resumption of emigration are all serious problems requiring our urgent attention.

I will bring the highest level of economic expertise in economics to the legislature. Lack of expertise in economics among the banks and bank regulators has been the cause of our present difficulties and must be addressed.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am running in the Seanad election for the Trinity panel because I believe it to be one of the truly independent platforms for an alternative voice in Irish politics. Given the problems we face, we need politicians of conviction and passion who will offer solutions. I am a liberal in both economic and social terms and I believe that this brand of politics needs to be represented in our parliamentary system, particularly at a time when government enjoys an overwhelming majority.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

I have a long record in serving College and the country. Last year I was elected to the TCD Board and I would be uniquely able to bring to the Seanad the knowledge and experience of the university.

The task is urgent. If the Seanad is to be abolished I hope that people will say that it went out in a blaze of glory!

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

The seanad needs to be reformed rather than abolished.

Legislation is scrutinised in a far less partisan way than in the Dáil. I believe a debate on what can be expected from a second chamber should take place before the referendum on abolition is put to the people. You can find more details on my views on reform at www.omalley4tcd.ie

Fiona O’Malley Senator

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am standing for election to be a voice for science, technology and the smart economy in the Seanad.

Politicians pay lip service to these issues as long as the money keeps flowing in from Multinationals, but there is no real understanding of the issues in the Oireachtas. As a (relatively!) young person, I see at first hand the issues of emigration, unemployment, house repossession and education that are so heavily impacting me and my peers.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I want to represent the College, its academics, staff, students and graduates. I will promote alumni activity in the State, in the UK and worldwide. I also pledge to support liberal scholarship and academic freedom.

For Ireland, I will: – Use my political knowledge, experience and maturity working in the Seanad.

– Remove discriminatory Irish language restrictions on entrance to and employment in schools, colleges and universities.

– Tackle youth unemployment by innovative public sector employment practice including job sharing and fewer expensive redundancies.

– Seek a law required by the 2010 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights to protect the equal constitutional right to life of the mother.

– Reduce drastically the pension privileges of Ministers, Oireachtas members and other state officials.

Jeffrey Dudgeon Human Rights Campaigner

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

I think it is a naked power grab by the Dáil who want to be seen to be doing something about reform rather than actually tackling the fundamental problems with our political system. The Seanad is treated as a playpen and retirement home for wannabe and ex TDs rather than as a truly independent second chamber of the Oireachtas.

What is your opinion on the proposed abolition of the Seanad?

I have campaigned for fundamental reform of the Seanad, and would support abolition only as part of a package of broader Oireachtas reform to include changes to the Dail to ensure a higher level of scrutiny over legislation in that chamber, through for example the introduction of TDs elected on a national list system rather than purely on a geographic constituency basis, as at present.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I worked as a lobbyist and campaigner for human rights and social justice for 15 years, as CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland and Comhlámh (development workers in global solidarity).

In all of these roles, and as a volunteer campaigner before that, I was acutely aware of the need for social justice advocates to have a voice in the system. I chose to run as a independent candidate for the Seanad because this is the only way to remain free of party whips and of the pressures of local clientalism.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am running because I feel my legal and political education has equipped me with the requisite knowledge necessary to carefully scrutinise Dáil Bills, thereby ensuring that the rights, concerns and future prosperity of all Irish people are at their core. I will focus my youth, determination and passion on utilising the platform to address suicide, depression and positive mental healt. I will also champion the continuance of free third level fees as a skilled, educated workforce is the key to returning Ireland to prosperity on an international level.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

I believe that the Seanad needs drastic reform, not abolition. The Seanad should be reformed to make it fully representative of Irish society and to provide space for groups currently excluded like Travellers, emigrants and immigrants. It also needs to be given serious powers of inquiry and input to policy formation.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Senate?

I am of the belief that the Seanad performs a crucial function by operating as a system of checks and balances on the exercise of power by the Dáil. The reality is we would have to replace the Seanad with another system or systems that would inevitably cost just as much if not more.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

The late Professor James McCormick, one-time Dean of the Trinity Medical School, inspired many of his pupils to think outside the mainstream. I always remember him telling us that Doctors who want to make a real difference to their patient’s health, should give up prescribing and enter politics. James served on both the Eastern Health Board and as Chairman of TRUST, a small charity in Dublin that cares for the welfare and health of Homeless people.I succeeded Professor McCormick to both positions and now hope to have my voice heard in the chamber of Seanad Éireann.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

To ensure that constitutional and electoral reform remain on the agenda and are not sidelined by the new government. The new government, having filled offices under the current system would be very reluctant to implement change and will sideline reform with reports and consultations. The crisis that has befallen this country is symptomatic of poor governance. Policies were implemented for political expediency that at the time every knew were poor policy choices. Absent reform, these poor policy decisions will repeat themselves.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

I favour immediate Seanad reform and think abolition would be a retrograde step. A referendum should be held, but a third option should be offered to the people – Direct Voting to the Seanad for everyone with political party affiliation frowned upon for all candidates.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

I think it detracts from the authority of Parliament, lacks legitimacy and should be abolished provided reforms are implemented in the electoral system for the Dail. Even with some sort of reformed electorate, I don’t think a parliamentary chamber of social partners is desirable in our nation, nor does it have any sort of authority.

Ivana Bacik Senator

Maeve Cox Barrister-at-Law Degree Student

Dermot Sheehan Barrister TRINITY NEWS

The Candidates 5 news@trinitynews.ie

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am running for Seanad Éireann because I have expertise in two important areas for which no expertise exists in the Oireachtas. The two areas are Science and Literature. Both are essential to economic recovery, and both are essential to culture in the fullest sense of the word. I have four decades of experience as a physicist (three at Trinity), and two decades of experience as a creative writer. It is only through a Seanad seat that this combined expertise can enter the Oireachtas.

Iggy McGovern Physicist and Poet

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

It is clear that the Seanad has lost the confidence of the people, through a combination of flawed individuals and a general malaise arising from party political domination of the membership. The University members have been the honourable exception. I think there should still be second chamber, but one that is expertise-based and non-party political. And I’d change the name to Civic Forum!

Why are you running for the Seanad?

As is clear from the recent Dáil election, there is a real appetite in Ireland today for a movement for change and radical reform.

Shane Ross and I have worked closely together on political projects in the past and we hope that, with my election to the Seanad, we will play leading roles in that movement.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

The Seanad should be reformed, not abolished, and career politicians must be stopped from using the Seanad as a springboard for political advancement or a safety net for electoral failure.

As an immediate and effective move towards this aim, Seanad candidates should not have held another elected office for a year prior to seeking election.

Tony Williams Solicitor

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I am running for the Senate because I have unfinished business. I have been committed to public service for the last three decades and have I think made significant contributions to the Senate. I also wish to be in a position to mount a defence of the Senate from the time that it opens.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

It should be either reformed or scrapped but obviously reform is the better option. The political parties have had their eyes on the university seats for some time and they have now extended it to the abolition of the entire Senate.

The Senate has consistently shown what it can do in terms of legislation and the University Senators in particular have been to the fore in this.

For those who wish to see my views, they can read various articles either on my website www.senatordavidnorris.ie or on file including interviews with your own newspapers.

Why are you running for the Seanad?

I’m running for the Seanad because I believe it has huge potential. We just need to free it from the vested interests of political parties. The Seanad needs to be refocused on real issues. For the last ten years I have been addressing educational disadvantage in Dublin, Limerick and Mississippi. I have also served as President of TCDSU and USI. As the most prestigious university in the country, Trinity needs to have a strong voice on education.

What is your opinion on the abolition of the Seanad?

If attempts are not made to reform the Seanad in the immediate future, it should be abolished. For many people at the moment it is nothing more than a FÁS course for budding TDs or an A&E department for defeated Dáil candidates. Broadly speaking, the Seanad was meant as a forum for educated counsel and as a safety check on the power of the Dáil. While the current situation is far removed from such purpose, reform is possible. We can achieve this by addressing who is doing the work, why they are doing the work and how they are doing the work.

COMMENT

Senatus Consultum Ultimatum: The last act of Seanad Eireann?

Michael Gilligan In Ancient Rome, the Senate was run by the wisest and eldest members of that society. In Ireland, the story is a little different. After the establishment of the Free State in 1922, the First Seanad Éireann was set up as a system to check the powers of the Dáil, but also to retain a voice for the Protestant minority in the governing of the state. It had the power to delay the passing of a bill for 9 months and, at the height of its power in 1928, this was extended to 20 months.

However, Fianna Fáil under the leadership of Eamon de Valera quickly lost patience with the Seanad and abolished it in 1936 after it delayed bills which had been passed by the Dáil.

“The Senate only meets three times a week on average. Half of all Senators are reported to have other jobs”

15 March, 2011

William Priestly Youth Work Co-ordinator Also running but uncontactable at the time of going to press are: Bart Connolly Francis Donnolly Karen Dubsky Rosaleen McDonagh David Martin Graham Quinn

Provost pay cut

Contributing Reporter

With the foundation of the Republic the following year, a significantly weaker version was reinstated and exists, albeit precariously, to this day.

The modern Senate has very limited powers: it can, in theory, reject a bill, but this can be subsequently overrided by the government. It can also request of the President that a bill be decided on through a referendum but this power has never been used.

Senators are paid a basic annual salary of €65,000 (with added expenses) despite the fact that the Senate only meets three times a week on average. Half of all Senators are reported to have other jobs.

The Senate has been widely criticised by the public in recent years, leading it to be frequently labelled as a powerless “talking shop” for those on their way in, or out, of the Dáil. It has

David Norris Senator

SS Is this the final curtain for the Seanad?

also been argued that the process of electing senators is inherently unfair.

The majority of senators are elected by councillors which often leads to members of the five vocational panels being elected in line with their party affiliations. The 11 seats which are chosen first-hand by the Taoiseach were initially intended to allow specialists from outside of politics enter the system.

In reality, the Taoiseach’s nominations are used merely to bolster the government’s majority in the Upper House.

Only graduates of Trinity College Dublin and the NUI colleges are entitled to vote for the 6 university seats and, despite promises to

“The first Seanad Éireann was set up as a system to check the powers of the Dáil and to retain a voice for the Protestant minority.”

extend the vote to all Irish university graduates, no amendments have been made to the electoral process.

There are numerous reasons behind the widespread criticism

levelled at the Seanad in recent years.

This peaked in July last year when it was revealed that Senator Ivor Calley had claimed over €80,000 euros in expenses for his personal use.

However, with all three major parties in favour of its abolition, there is very little argument being put forward for its retention.

It is possible that the abolition of the Seanad is being used as political fodder for the hollow slogans of “reform” and “change” that were promised during the election campaign. However, it is certain that this will not prove a panacea for all our political and economic woes, it may instead be distracting us from bigger, more pressing, problems.

In line with new directives issued by the Department of Education, the salary of the Provost of Trinity College will be cut by just under €11,000, which will see their level of pay reduced from €202,118 to €191,147. Currently the Provost of Trinity College charts at 11th on the most recent Irish Times “100 Best Paid in Education list” placed behind the presidents of UCC, NUIG and vice-president of UCD and current provostial candidate Des Fitzgerald who tops the list with a yearly income of €263,062.

The position of Provost, which is up for grabs again as John Hegarty finishes his ten-year tenure in the summer, was advertised at the old rate and it is speculated that this provoked these new measures by the Irish government. The pay cut, however, will not affect current presidents and applies only to those who are coming into positions with immediate effect, as the new president of NUIM, Dr Philip Nolan, will also see his pay cut as his salary drops from €184,150 to €180,000.

With these new measures in place and the election of the new Provost looming ever larger, it begs the question whether this new pay cut will have any effect on the five academics who are aiming to succeed John Hegarty in the role.

Provostial candidate Colm Kearney has gone on record to state implicitly that the pay cut will not affect him, saying that “no one should be running for Provost for better financial gain, they should be running because they believe they can make the college better”. Present figures show that over three quarters of education expenditure is spent on pay and pensions, and so it’s unclear if this is just the first step of pay reduction across the board for university lecturers.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Finances states they have made a commitment to try and keep existing salaries in place, but also admitted that the wages for each education position will be assessed on a “case by case” basis.

Rob McCarthy

6 National news nationalnews@trinitynews.ie

€1.4m fund questioned

by Federation Edmund Buckley Staff Writer

Not too many people have heard of the Irish Universities Association (IUA). Not many people are aware of the millions that have been donated to this group over the past decade either. This year almost €1.4m will be spent on funding the company, whose aims include representing the interests of university presidents around the country.

The IUA lists seven university presidents on its board of directors.

However, as it is a limited company with charitable status, it is not subject to the same level of public scrutiny as the universities themselves, and information pertaining to the company’s workings has proved elusive to public knowledge. The company is furthermore exempt from the Freedom of Information Act due to its status as a charitable limited company.

The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) expressed concern over the level of university funds being given to the company at a time of third-level cutbacks.

The company’s largest funder is UCD, which contributes almost

€283,000 this year. UCC is additionally set to contribute €222,000, TCD €217,000, NUI Galway €204,000, University of Limerick €155,000, NUI Maynooth €143,000 and DCU €139,000. These figures represent a distinct drop in funding from recent years, which have been around the €3.9m mark. The sum paid to the company by universities during the height of the boom are believed to be higher, however figures for the period 2005-2007 have not been provided by the group.

The cash from the universities represents 64 percent of the association’s budget this year, with the remainder coming from the EU, the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Enterprise.

The website for the group outlines some of its objectives as providing human resources management for presidents, IBEC representation and a serviced to provide barristers in industrial relations disputes.

The company’s chief executive Ned Costello sought to dispel claims that the IUA was just a representative body for the university presidents.

He highlighted the company’s role in seeking to formulate collective policies on behalf of the universities.

Mr Costello claimed the IUA was more efficient in dealing with national issues than universities acting independently of each other would be.

“Our subscriptions are used to fund our core activities in policy formulation, coordination, and interaction with a wide range of stakeholders in the universities, government and the social partners.”

Costello stressed that the association had been involved in a number of valuable projects, including the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) and the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE), which offer places on reduced points to school leavers from disadvantaged backgrounds and with disabilities respectively.

In a week where university lecturer’s wages and student fees return to the table of discussions, much of the public are left searching for more information regarding this slice of money leaving university accounts.

Galway Rag Week “a national affair” ff Bottles thrown at local residents ff 37 arrests ff President abandons support for week Michael Gilligan Staff Writer

Mayhem erupted on the streets of Galway city last week during the annual NUIG Rag Week. Students from all over Ireland, including Trinity, are reported to have been involved in anti-social behaviour during the five day period which saw 37 arrests, including three for criminal damage.

Glass bottles were thrown at residents, cars were overturned, bonfires lit and pedestrians were “Not alone are we dealing with a minority of idiots from our own college, but hundreds of clowns bused in from outside.” taunted and verbally abused near the NUIG residence of Gort na Coiribe, where much of the disorder occurred.

Elderly residents in the nearby neighbourhood were afraid of leaving their houses unaccompanied and one resident, Martin Jennings, 68, has said that he may be forced to leave his home after witnessing what he described as “shocking” behaviour.

Students from universities throughout the country were involved in the disturbances, although it is understood that the majority were registered in the local institutes of NUIG and GMIT. Trinity student Colm Glennon was present at the event which he described as a “national affair.” He remembers that “the Bus Eireann bus between Dublin and Galway was full of students just going to Galway for Rag Week. What was happening was utter madness. It really is a completely different world down there as regards the attitude to education.”

President of NUIG, Dr James Browne, condemned the actions of the

SS Students piled three bins on top of a car in Galway last week. One of the bins was subsequently thrown in an illegal bonfire.

students involved, stating that “Not alone are we dealing with a minority of idiots from our own college but what happened this year – as in previous years – is that hundreds of clowns are being bussed in from outside of Galway.” He dismissed claims that €20,000 had been raised for charity, pointing instead to the damage of public property, the hours paid to Gardaí on overtime and the cost required to clean up the city. Dr. Browne also announced that NUIG would be officially withdrawing its support for the RAG week next year. This follows a similar claim made in 2009, after which the week was euphemistically renamed “College Week” and the NUIG Student Union promised to confine all events to the university campus. 40 arrests occurred during the 2009 RAG week,

while 42 arrests were made in the 2010 “College Week”. During his time in Galway, Colm Glennon observed that “there was no discernable difference between RAG week and College Week apart from the name.”

Blame has been levelled at the city’s off-licences, pubs and night clubs which Dr. Browne claims are “encouraging the consumption of alcohol in an undesirable way.” RAG week is one of the most profitable weeks in the year for alcohol sales in Galway city. Christopher Davey, another Trinity student present for this year’s event, believes that the offlicences and night-clubs “anticipated and blatantly encouraged excessive drinking.” This included the sale of beer cans for 80c, naggins for €4 and flaggins for €8.

Among the details Christopher remembers was the strictness of the bouncers at these clubs. People were rigorously interrogated at the entrances as to how much alcohol they had consumed and those intoxicated were turned away. “This forced all the drunk people out onto the street, where trouble was bound to happen.”

He also recalls a handful of 18 students drinking on the rooftop of the Lidl store on Headford Road shouting and throwing bottles at passers-by. He stated that alcohol consumption began, among the students involved, “as soon as they woke up every morning.”

The week was, Colm summarised, “essentially a clash between the students and everyone else in the city.”

Neither student interviewed was involved in any of the disturbances.

University lecturers face ultimatum over cuts Evan Musgrave National News Editor

SS Student nurses ramp up the campaign to save their wages

Government priorities questioned Evan Musgrave National News Editor

Lunchtime protests were held last at 13 major hospitals around the country in oppositions to plans to gradually phase-out of payment to final year nursing students during their nine month placement by 2015.

The protests were reported to have had no impact on patient services, as only nurses and midwives who were not rostered for duty took part.

Final year student nurses are currently paid 80 percent of a staff nurse’s pay, which amounts to €18,000.

Cork University held one of the largest demonstrations, with 500 students in attendance. Around four fifths of the nurse and midwife graduates from CUH’s new degree courses have been blocked from HSE work as a direct result of the system’s recruitment embargo.

This comes at a time when the HSE officially proclaimed last week’s graduation of 86 nursing specialists to be a “key moment” for the health service. The reality for most recent graduates is that work is becoming increasing difficult to secure in Ireland, as bureaucratic red- tape surrounding the employment process prevents the

vast majority from obtaining full-time hospital work.

Trinity News has been told that just 16 of the 86 graduates of these graduates have found public service work. The remaining 70 graduates are currently holding temporary work placements in public hospitals for private nursing agencies which are set to end this month. In such an employment arrangement, newly employed nurses who are filling in roles must pay a seven percent “commission” fee and €14.80 per hour to the nurse or midwife in question. On top of this, government pay to these nurses is subject to the 21 percent VAT rate which must be paid to the private agency firm. The current situation of these nurses is costing the taxpayer significantly more than the costs full time hospital work would involve. As it stands, at least 120 nursing and midwifery posts have been unfilled for a considerable period at CUH and CUMH. A spokesperson for the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) branded the positive HSE statement on yesterday’s graduation a “disgrace” and claimed the red tape involved in the employment process is one of the roots of financial issues in the nursing graduates’ scandal.

In an anticipated turnaround, the government has promised a review of last year’s Hunt Report on higher and third level education. The controversial report called for, among other things, a graduate contribution based on income. Annual student registration fees now stand at €2000, a figure which is set to remain at least at that level despite pledges made by Labour to implement a scheme which would lead to students paying in the region of €1500. An earlier OECD report on higher education in Ireland which had recommended the return of tuition fees will is also set to be reviewed before year end.

The standoff between University lecturers and the Department of Education has ramped up of late, with more than 2,000 lecturers facing pay cuts unless they sign up to the Croke Park agreement. The Department has renewed its intention to press ahead with pay cuts in an effective ultimatum to members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) who have continued to oppose the agreement.

As yet, the IFUT said it has received no ultimatum from the department threatening pay cuts. However senior figures in the Department have claimed the ultimatum would be delivered shortly unless the union changes tack.

Accepting the Croke Park agreement has already been rejected in a reballot last month after being dismissed previously last year in the

initial discussions. Last week, IFUT’s General Secretary Mike Jennings said there was no evidence to support suggestions that the department had “lost patience” with the federation.

Jennings commented in a statement: “IFUT has received no phone call, text, fax, e-mail or any other communication from the department or any university to indicate dissatisfaction with our engagement in the negotiating process.

There is no evidence to suggest that the department has “lost patience” with IFUT. Rather it has been IFUT that has expressed unease at the slow bicycle-race nature of the process and it would appear that other vested interests have adopted an approach of ‘getting their retaliation in first”.

The federation renewed its criticism of proposals from university presidents which would see a longer academic working year and changes in academic freedom.

Among the proposals is a deal which provides for no pay cuts and no forced redundancies until 2014 in return for measures to improve productivity and instigate modernisation.

The seven universities are currently finalising implementation plans for the deal, under which academics must clarify how their working hours are divided between teaching, research and other duties, though concerns have been raised about the administrative burden.

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Head of LSE resigns over Gaddafi links Katie McCarthy

of the Financial Services Authority and deputy governor of the Bank of England, Davies gave advice to the Libyan Investment Authority. He was offered a £30,700 fee for doing so, but requested that it be used to fund a scholarship to the university.

The LSE, widely criticized for the way it solicited this funding, resulting in it being dubbed the “Libyan School of Economics”, has since announced it is launching an independent inquiry to clarify the extent of its links with Libya and establish guidelines for future donations. It will also investigate allegations that Saif Gaddafi had plagiarized his PhD thesis, accepted by the school in 2008. Labour peer Lord Desai, who was one of the external examiners for the thesis, said Saif Gaddafi had been “rigorously examined” and that the degree was awarded before his donation was made. The Libyan leader’s son gained both an MSc and PhD whilst studying at the university.

The LSE students’ union, which had occupied Davis’s office in protest at the Libyan links, said his resignation was “the first step in restoring our faith in the integrity of the university”.

However, one academic has claimed the row is being blown out of proportion.

Professor Colin Talbot of Manchester Business School, who was taught on one of the LSE courses in Libya, thinks

Staff Writer

The Head of the London School of Economics resigned on Thursday, citing damage to the institution’s reputation caused by its ties to the Libyan government. In his letter of resignation, director Sir Howard Davies stated, “It would be right for me to step down [from] the institution I have come to love”.

Despite insisting that its academic independence had not been compromised, Davies conceded he gave the school “poor advice” regarding its decision to accept a donation from a charity run by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s son and an alumnus of the school. The decision to accept £300,000 for research from a foundation run by Gaddafi’s son had, as Davies concluded, “backfired”.

The scrutiny directed at the school intensified on Thursday following publication of a U.S. diplomatic cable by the Wikileaks web site indicating that Libya had agreed to pay the school £2.2 million to train 400 Libyan professionals and government employees. Further to this, Davis too claimed the decision to accept the British government’s invitation to become an economic envoy to Libya had “muddled” his personal position and role at the LSE. A former head

SS Davis stated his position as an economic envoy to Libya “muddled” his role at LSE.

Davis has been the victim of double standards. He commented, “We have some British companies who have been selling arms to the Libyan regime.

Nobody has been calling for the Chief Executive of those firms to stand down as a result, whereas the LSE, which has been involved in some fairly minor education and research activities, is going through this trauma.”

The resignation of Sir Howard Davies from his post as director reignites the ever-flammable question concerning the relationship between university and money. For years, politicians have been pressing universities to find alternative sources of funding. The origin of donations was thus wide-ranging and still come with varying degrees of cleanliness.

Not only that, markets know no boundaries. Once universities entered the game, they did so internationally.

In many respects, Libya was merely another market where a British education could be sold. What made it different was that the funding came not just from students buying degrees but also from high-rolling patrons, such as the Gaddafi family. Higher education has irrevocably become a business. As Davies himself said, the mistake he made was reputational, not substantive.

Davis will remain as the head of the LSE until a successor has been found.

Yemen students lead protests learn to succeed

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SS According to Amnesty, from mid-February the demonstrations resulted in around three deaths a day.

Monika Urbanski Staff Writer

Inspired by the ousting of Tunisia’s president in January, Tawakul Karman, a female activist who heads the group Women Journalists Without Chains, led two protests at Sanaa University.

These protests called on Yemenis to topple President Ali Abdullah Saleh by using text messages and emails.

The overthrow of the Tunisian president was a political earthquake that has shattered the image of oppressive, military-backed Arab rulers being immune to popular discontent. Despite the subsequent arrest of Karman, the initial protests drew thousands of demonstrators, mostly students,

to the streets.

In Sanaa, students at the university rallied inside the gates of the campus in demonstration.

They started out calling for an improved curriculum, for the removal of the university dean and for security forces to remain offcampus.

According to cnn.com those demonstrations quickly turned into anti-government protests which resulted in violence. Yemen’s president has now been in power for 32 years and has rejected mounting demands for his resignation. Globalpost.com reports that Saleh spoke out against the latest batch of unrest percolating across the Middle East: “This disease is alien to Yemen and its culture. It’s a virus that came from

Tunisia to Egypt and in some regions it’s behaving like a contagious disease: As soon as you sit with someone who is infected, you’ll be infected.”

Protests and sit-ins went on at Sana University and within a couple of weeks three students were killed and several others wounded. Despite the growing violence and tension, protests continued and the numbers of protestors increased. Refusing to stop, the student demonstrators were joined by growing numbers of civilians, numbering more than 100,000 across the country.

In the Sana encampment, there are signs everywhere calling for “no partisanship”. Only a number of the protesters at Sana University belong to political parties.

Cheating scandal rocks Japan’s universities Rachel Murphy Contributing Writer

Last week, questions and answers from the entrance exam to one of Japan’s most prestigious institutions, Kyoto University, appeared on the Yahoo Japanese site “Chiebukuro”, whilst the exam was in progress. The police, who are investigating the matter, are unclear whether one or more students used their mobile phones to take photos or type and post messages onto the forum.

Although cheating alone is not a criminal offense, the police are

15 March, 2011

investigating whether the students involved violated any laws in relation to obstructing the operations of institutions such as schools.

Invigilators patrol each classroom and participants are only permitted to have stationary on their desks. All mobile phones have to be turned off and kept in test takers’ bags.

Japanese society is proudly egalitarian and thus the revelation has sparked a national outcry and received vast media coverage. Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest daily newspaper, vented

its frustrations during its editorial on the Monday after the incident occurred. “This is a heinous act that undermines the fairness that should be the basis of the university entrance system”.

As a result, officials are considering whether to follow the example of South Korea, which dealt with a similar scandal involving mobile phone cheating in 2004. Footage of Korean students passing through metal detectors on their way to exams has been shown on Japan’s NHK broadcaster when discussing the current debacle.

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Coalition: No fees, for the moment

Comment

Last Sunday Fine Gael and Labour finalised their coalition deal, arriving at a half-way point between many of the respective parties’ targets. This is the dominant trend in the coalition’s 46-page document, Programme for National Recovery 20112016, but few clues are yet public as to where the line will be drawn between Fine Gael’s Graduate Tax scheme and “the long-held view of the Labour Party in Ireland that Third Level education should be funded through taxation”.

The only direct reference to the matter in the joint programme is short enough to be quoted here in full: “[the coalition will] Undertake a full review of the Hunt and OECD reports into third level funding before end of 2011. Our goal is to introduce a funding system that will provide third level institutions with reliable funding but does not impact access for students...”

The matter, for now, has been diverted. The Hunt Report advocated a graduate tax, while the OECD report recommended “That, subject to means testing, fees for undergraduate study be re-introduced and the ‘Free Fees’ policy be withdrawn”. Like the universal social charge, fees are to be

Molly Rowan Hamilton

“Like universal social charge, fees are to be ‘reviewed’.” “reviewed” – which puts the matter on the backburners for now. For the moment, at least, on the future of access to third-level education students have no greater certainty under Fine Gael and Labour than under the Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition.

Some clues exist, however Labour Education spokesperson Ruairi Quinn received the Education portfolio. However, given that the Labour and Fine Gael teams have been given access to the files of the Department of Finance and stated that the situation is worse than they thought, everything in the parties’ respective manifestoes is, for now, conditional.

Anther issue is raised in a passage in the joint programme. This relates to a “National Strategy” to develop “the ‘Education Ireland’ brand”. The target is to double the number of international students entering Irish universities, particularly students from India, China and the Middle East. The idea is, of course, based on the fact that these students will pay while Irish students will not, which could bring in €1.8 billion.

The phrase “Education Ireland” comes from Labour’s “Jobs, reform, fairness” manifesto, while the figure of €1.8 billion is Fine Gael’s.

What is left unclear in the document is whether, as was recently unveiled in a similar plan by Trinity College, non-paying (Irish) students will lose places to paying (international) students. Leaving nationality aside, this is the effective privatisation of a certain percentage of college places, freezing out some of those who would not have paid in favour of those who will. The practicalities of the plan, however, are rather vague: Fine Gael and Labour will make this €1.8 billion saving by “ensur[ing] advertising, diaspora policies and quality assurance systems are strategically developed to best position the international education sector”, meanwhile giving an “overhaul” to the student visa system.

The programme has been unanimously accepted by Fine Gael’s delegates, while Labour accepted it with a less secure but still overwhelming 95 percent.

Interestingly, Labour Youth, which is organized largely on college campuses and therefore has a huge stake in the issue of fees, has publicly rejected the deal.

Manus Lenihan

“Irish film industry deserves our support” Staff Writer

The Irish Film Board states that Irish film is now “achieving critical mass of filmmaking talent to match the kind of influence that it always enjoyed in the fields of literature and theatre”.

Strangely enough, neither I nor my friend who studies film knew anything about it previous to this article. And what does this tell us about Ireland?

For the industry, in the words of Leila Doolan, chairman of the Irish Film Board, is ‘an energetic and imaginative film activity that underpins the continuation and development of our national identity’. And what an accurate marker for the economic and emotional wealth of a nation the film industry is: the highly prosperous, affluent and exciting enterprise that Hollywood undoubtedly is, reflects in an equal ratio the flavour of the

Irish writers of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were practically held as literary and moral traitors to their country in moving almost permanently to London, feeling that Ireland was too provincial to harbour, tolerate and endorse their work. Even though people have been leaving Ireland to make their fortune for an age, in Yeats’ words, they should stay true to their homeland, contribute their assets through thick and thin, through richer and poorer, when things are thriving and failing, rather than getting out when the going gets tough. We must decide where our loyalties lie; austere individualism or pride and loyalty to our homeland.

Yet there was a time when the film industry was booming. Thanks to the support from the Irish Film Board and heavy tax breaks for filmmakers encouraged foreign investment.

This was soon to end as in 2009 it

“... an energetic and imaginative film activity that underpins the continuation and development of our national identity.” nation and economy behind it. The implications of Ireland’s film industry seem to be palpably obvious.

There used to be excuses. Ireland has previously been more strictly Catholic, creating acidic ground for the growth of controversial and contentiously progressive artistes.

Films were censored and often banned. Ireland was simply seen more as a good starting point for actors who could, from here, be released into the world. Jonathon Rhys Myers, Colin Farell and Pierce Brosnan, to name but a few, were all born and bred on the Emerald Isle, yet were quick to leave soon after their acting career took off. Critics argue that this shows the inherent talent within Irish society. Yet to me, it is not good enough for Ireland to be seen as a nest for preparing and honing the talents shortly to be exploited by foreign soil.

The media lauds actors or filmmakers who return to be part of nationally produced films as heroic and praiseworthy, yet they seem guilty of exactly the problem faced by those in the Irish Literary Revival of the late nineteenth century. Shaw and Yeats, two of the most notable

was recommended for abolition by the ‘Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes’ amid massive budgetary cutbacks. Indeed it is an expensive business; Clint Eastwood once observed that with the money needed to fund a film he could have ‘invaded a country’. Nevertheless, this should not justify its abandonment. In the film industry we see another child of the Celtic Tiger left to starve.

Perhaps I am being too callous, for let us not forget the frank wonders that have come directly out of Ireland’s film industry, The Wind That Shakes The Barley which won the Golden Palm at Cannes, The Commintments, The Door and most recently The Crush, directed by Michael Creagh which was nominated for the ‘bestlive-action- short film’ award at the Oscars this year. For a time the only Irish filmmakers of any real note were Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. Now, Ireland boasts 12 of such filmmakers.

And of course Trinity’s own celebrity, Jack Gleeson, who, after learning the crucial lessons of international cinema and stardom through his role Batman Begins, commented that the Irish film

SS The Irish film industry, despite recent triumphs, may be entering a period of decay

industry ‘persistently strived and succeeded in promoting our national

“Let’s not forget the wonders that have come out of Ireland’s film industry.” heritage’ and, after selflessly sharing his talents with Trinity Players, was

excited about the prospects of a career in the business. It is crucial that the industry persists in its development, not just for the soppy romantic notions of building an Irish national character. Economically, it is hugely advantageous, promoting an Irish culture which leads to huge benefits to tourism, as well as creating fertile ground for foreign film investment.

This, in turn will produce income and sharpen the craft and skills base of Irish crews with the hope that they too will go on to successes on home turf.

Worth the paper they’re not printed on? The cost of e-books Maya Zakrzewska-Pim

The UK office of HarperCollins is considering introducing similar rules in British libraries. This, however, has already led to some

Staff Writer

Reading e-books as opposed to printed paperbacks is growing increasingly common. As an effect of this, Irish book sales fell by approximately 10 percent last year, to €135 million, as people began purchasing more books online.

There are still frequent complaints about the prices of online reading materials, and its limited availability.

According to a survey, downloading an e-book from one of Ireland’s largest book retailers can cost up to double

“Downloading an e-book from one of Ireland’s retailers can cost up to double the price of the paperback version.”

“US libraries will only be allowed to lend e-books 26 times before having to purchase a new copy.” the price of the paperback version.

An example of this can be seen on Eason.ie, the website of a popular Irish high street bookshop. The most expensive book on sale last week was the biography of the English punk rock singer Ian Dury. At €25.05, it was exactly €13.05 more expensive than its paperback sibling.

Similar differences in prices are seen in “chick-lit” novels too: Mini Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella, cost €11 more for those who chose to download the book, while Rosie

SS The presence of E-books is making itself visible. But will high prices mean they remain a niche market?

Tremain’s e-book version of Trespass had an extra €9 added onto its price tag. Smaller differences can be seen only in certain cases, for instance the memoirs of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (50c more expensive online) and ex-US President Bill Clinton (80c more).

One may wonder if perhaps e-books are worth the price, considering that they are meant to be indestructible. It is for this reason that publishers are

now deprived of that extra round of sales revenue. In order to cut down on the financial losses entailed by turning from paperback copies to e-books, the American publisher HarperCollins has come up with a solution of sorts: US libraries will only be allowed to lend e-books 26 times before having to purchase a new copy. Based on the opinion of sales president Josh Marwell, 26 is the average number of loans that a print book survives.

frustrated reactions. Philip Bradley, vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, observes that “Clearly, printed books last a lot longer than 26 loans.”

His opinion is backed by two Oklahoma librarians on YouTube.

They select at random some of HarperCollins’ bestsellers to show that they are still in perfectly readable condition after being loaned out more than 26 times. They show us a copy of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, for instance, that has been loaned out 48 times, or Stuart Woods’ Swimming to Catalina that has passed through 120 pairs of hands and will still pass through more.

E-books are certainly growing in popularity, as technology develops to make them more accessible; there are already many students walking around College with Kindles and iPads containing their entire reading lists.

TRINITY NEWS

society 9 society@trinitynews.ie

DAS does Dames differently Scott Überend Digital Arts Society

On Wednesday 16 February the Digital Arts Society launched their flagship night in 4 Dame lane. The focus of the occasion being, to provide a nightclub platform for trinity students to socialize, while broadcasting the latest sounds from across the electronic music spectrum.

Considering the early beginning time, the anticipation of what was to come hung heavily in the air past 10 o’clock. Not even the barely sober students ‘shooting the breeze‘ at the bar could gave any hints. Were those attending about to be ensnared in an apocalyptic gospel rave (too much?) or would it prove to be a casual affair garnished with seductively smooth rhythms?

What was clear was that the majority of those attending were taken aback by ‘The Lane’. Unfortunately, after the 70th consecutive night in Diceys, one’s brain is

naturally warped into the belief that there are very few clubs that are worthy of one’s presence. However, those who were willing to escape from Harcourt Street’s monopoly were pleasantly rewarded.

Matthew Agius opened the night with his assortment of steady house cuts. He was succeeded by the dynamic duo, Evan McSweeney and Chris Baird, who both competently managed to lay down some quality tech, while taking photos of each other. Their shoes were duly filled by Hugh Manning, soon to be renamed the remixwizard, and for good reason. The high standard of music indicated that the night showed promise.

As the DJs proved their worth, the influx of students increased accordingly. All walks of life proceeded through the doors, although some certainly stood out more than others.

One image that many will recall with ease is that of the wife-beater cladden gentleman from the surfing society. With his defiant

combination of bicep flexes and tricep pumps, spectators could not help but be impressed.

By the time David Cuddy delivered Swedish House Mafia’s ‘One’, all those present followed his example, fist pumping like there was no tomorrow.

The night was drawn to a close by ‘Sm1ddy’, Ronan Sharkley and DJ Zeca. Each dabbling in their own respective styles, the variety was indicative of DJing’s purpose: to innovate and develop your own musical style with the intention of sharing with it others.

From Sm1ddy’s looped introduction to DJ Zeca’s last kick drum this spirit of DJing was observed by all those in attendence.

Mathew Agius, the society’s president, later shared that he felt the night was a success yet improvements could certainly be made.

Perhaps the most suitable analogy for his argument rests in a vomit-provoking techno track. It may have a slow start, but when it kicks in, it kicks in.

Don’t take uncessesary FLAC, know your employee rights Aine McDonnell FLAC Representative

All employees enjoy rights under Irish employment legislation, but it can be difficult to ascertain what those rights actually are.

Here are just a few of the essentials.

The first basic employment right is the right to a written statement of the terms and conditions of your employment, which should be issued to you within the first two months of your employment. The essentials that should be covered in this written statement (usually in the form of a contract) include your employer’s name and address, your rate of pay and how it is calculated, and any provisions relating to overtime and sick leave.

It is a common misconception that employees are entitled to be paid for sick leave, but this isn’t the case – there is no such entitlement unless it is provided for in the contract of employment.

Employees are entitled to a fifteen-minute break for every four and a half hours of work, and this increases to thirty minutes for a six-hour shift. Employees who undertake shift work in particular should be aware that they are entitled to a daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24 hours, and a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours.

The statutory minimum wage was recently reduced from €8.65 to €7.65, effective from 1st February 2011. However, the change in the law doesn’t mean that your employer can automatically impose a wage reduction.

Your rate of pay is a term of the employment

This Charmless Man Mark Walsh names Orchestral Society’s Daft Punk concert as his favourite society event of the year so far.

It feels like a very long time since I’ve written one of these things. I’d nearly forgotten about this column. I’ve been living my life the way I want to live it – without doing stuff. My reading week involved very little reading. It did however, involve an absolute shitload of sitting, so I’m pleased enough with that. Have a nice sit down, maybe think about something, then eat some food so you don’t die.

Lovely.

I also mourned the loss of Fade Street and began stalking all of the characters on Twitter.

I did, however, attend a bonus accounting class on the Monday of reading week. It was only meant to be for Erasmus people who missed the first term, but I decided to go because my understanding of the first term was pretty poor. Six hours, it lasted. Six hours of accounting. Six hours of debits and credits, income statements and balance sheets. It’s times like these you begin to ask yourself how your life came to be this way.

The event I’m going to talk about in this issue was actually before reading week, but as far as I’m concerned, I have no choice but to write about it, because it’s without doubt my favourite society event that I’ve attended all year. The Trinity Orchestra Daft Punk concert.

I’ve been to the last two shows the orchestra has put on – Sigur Ros two years ago, and Radiohead last year. Both of them blew me away. I was pretty excited about this one, as it seemed that bit more difficult to pull off than the previous ones.

“I always admire people doing things for a challenge. That’s usually the kind of thing I avoid.”

contract between you and your employer, and if a certain wage has been specified, your employer cannot unilaterally change this.

However, if your contract of employment specifies that you will be paid at the prevailing national minimum wage, your employer is within their rights to adjust your pay in accordance with the new law.

If any issues arise during the course of your employment, you should firstly discuss them with your employer and try to find a

solution together. However, if you fail to reach an agreement, you can get in touch with the National Employment Rights Agency (www. nera.ie) who can advise you of your rights.

You can also make a complaint to NERA’s Inspection Services. Alternatively, you can make a complaint to a Rights Commissioner who can assist with dispute resolution or hear both sides and give a decision.

Information on this service is available at www.lrc.ie.

A quick read through the programme confirmed that they’d chosen Daft Punk because it would be more challenging to arrange the music this time.

I always admire people doing things for a challenge. That’s usually the kind of thing I avoid. Often my reason for declining things is that they sound too challenging. If I’m doing a sudoku or crossword in the newspaper I’ll always go straight for the easy, or “quick” ones.

Anyway, the orchestra were playing the album ‘Discovery’ in its entirety. I have and love this album.

I don’t know all that much about instruments or musical terminology, so I think I’d sound pretty foolish trying to describe the gig like a proper music person. But fuck me, it was incredible. Sometimes when I go to gigs, I find myself getting pretty tired and almost bored towards the end. Still enjoying myself, but kind of wanting it to end soon so I’ll be able to finish enjoying myself. This usually coincides with the time when everyone else decides it’s time to mosh. Then I get to feel like an old man while everyone pushes and jumps around all happy and energetic, and I’m there hoping the gig ends soon so I can have a piss and go home.

Thankfully that wasn’t the case here at all. Every song was captivating. And there was no moshing.

Highlights for me were Veridis Quo, Something About Us, and Too Long. I’m friends with the conductor, Rob Farhat, so I don’t want to gush too much about him, but I will say that he’s an immensely talented man, and that he, and everyone else involved in that performance, should be very proud of themselves. I should mention Robbie Kitt too, who was singing on a few of the songs. He was excellent, and he’s also my mate, so I don’t want him to think I’m showing preferential treatment of my Rob friends.

After reading week, I attended a DU Food and Drink wine reception. This was on Pancake Tuesday. So after having a delicious feed of pancakes for dinner, I trotted off to the Eliz Room to enjoy some cheese and fine wine. Soon I got chatting to a young lady, and naturally it wasn’t long before she invited me down to the bathroom for what could only be described as shenanigans. Sexy shenanigans.

Obviously the above story isn’t true, but it’s what I imagine would have happened had I attended that drinks reception. I had planned to go to it, but then realised I’d forgotten that the Champions’ League was back, so instead of drinking free wine in college and mingling with people, I was sat at home with my Dad watching Barcelona and Arsenal. I regret absolutely nothing.

If you’re organising a society event and would like me to attend and review in this column, do let me know. I’ll do my best to actually attend, rather than making up an unrealistic account of the event.

Honestly. My email is mark.walsh@trinitynews.ie Read more from Mark at www.walsho.net

15 March, 2011

10 features

It’s Hanan time Aine Pennello catches-up with the ex-Trinity News Editor now running as an independent for the senate

A

s one of twenty candidates fighting for just three seats to represent the college on the Trinity Panel of the Senate, exTrinity News Editor Robin Hanan finds himself running up against the likes of well-known Senators such as David Norris and Ivana Bacik – both of whom Hanan campaigned for in the past. “It’s going to be very hard to break through but that’s an exciting challenge,” said the first-time candidate optimistically.

“I’ve never stood for election before – never even thought about it – but now is the time to get into the Senate and start shouting,” said Hanan who described the role of Senator as a relentless lobbyist of public issues.

So what exactly is Hanan so eager to start shouting about? While currently only college graduates are eligible to vote for Senate candidates, Hanan would like to expand the electorate in the interest of fairer representation.

As a Senate candidate for the Trinity Panel, Hanan can be elected only by graduates from Trinity College, teacher training colleges in Dublin which award Trinity degrees and those who graduated from DIT between 1975 to 1998 when Trinity College controlled the IT’s degree conferring powers.

However Hanan, whose long list of professional experience includes lobbying for refugee camps, working with the Anti-European Poverty Network Ireland, and chairing the main policy group of Development NGO’s EU Liaison Committee, stated that the majority of people he’s supported and worked with are refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, not Irish college graduates. As such, one of the main goals on Hanan’s agenda is to fight for migrant representation in the Senate.

Hanan is also concerned by the lack of representation for the Irish traveling community. “There’s no reason why we

couldn’t have one or two traveler seats in our Seanad,” said Hanan citing the example of several Eastern European countries whose parliaments contain roma seats.

Other issues that Hanan hopes to raise in the Senate include global development, political reform, jobs and access to universities. “If I’m elected to the Senate I won’t promise to change all the policies but I will promise to have my voice heard,” said Hanan who argued that a long-term perspective was needed if the country’s problems are to be alleviated.

While only college graduates are currently eligible to vote in Senate elections, Hanan said current students should feel free to approach their Senators with their issues and comments on third-level education.

Remembering his own days at Trinity, Hanan said students today are facing many of the same issues from fee increases and grant cuts to university access problems. As Trinity’s first full-time Students’ Union Education Officer, Hanan was actively involved in student protests of the time. “I do remember the dentistry students occupied the dental hospital in Lincoln Place and closed it off. We sat around in dentist’s chairs for a few days and had correspondents from all the newspapers coming down,” Hanan reminisced. “Those of us who weren’t dentists were amused with stories of horrific things that happened to people when under sedation, probably mostly made up but they were pretty frightening.”

Reflecting on his experiences, Hanan said much of what he learnt about communication and expression came directly from his roles as Education Officer and Editor of Trinity News.

“Reflecting on his experiences, Hanan said much of what he learnt about communication came directly from his roles as Education Officer and Editor of Trinity News.”

While Trinity News now has a large staff, Hanan remembers running the paper with just a small group of students. “We did everything from thinking through what stories we wanted to cover, to writing them, to producing them, taking the photographs, going out searching for advertisements, and then actually producing the paper”.

Articles were written on an electric typewriter, cut into columns and then carefully laid out on paper with a ruler, “using lots and lots of cow gum, which you begin to get a little bit high from if you sniff too much of it”. The end result was an eight to twelve tabloid page paper, one-half or one-third smaller

The dictator wore Prada

T

here’s an old proverb which says “watch rolling news long enough and eventually it will become absurd”. Never has this been truer than in the last few weeks. I have to admit to spending an inordinate amount of time watching Sky News (I’m now accustomed to headlines such as “the death toll from the earthquake has now reached 8,000. In other news, here’s a cat that can water-ski”), but even I was shocked by the announcement that “after the break we’ll be talking to style guru Anita Gelden about how Colonel Gaddafi’s style will see him through this uprising. Don’t go away”.

Aside from guffing out the sort of drivel you’d expect from a “stylist-tothe-stars”, Anita did make a good point.

Dictators and despots throughout history have taken their appearance incredibly seriously, and go to extreme lengths to ensure they wear the right “look”. Hitler, for example, spent days agonising over the Nazi dress code; Saddam Hussein wore $3,000 tailored suits whilst standing trial; Kim Jong Il spends nearly $5,000 for each of his Dr.Evil-esque outfits and Gaddafi’s hand-woven silk shawls take nearly 6 months to make. This raises several questions. Why is fashion so important for dictators? And to what extent does a despot’s style define the kind of dictator they are?

It’s hardly surprising to find that most literature on the clothing of power refers to the old adage that “first impressions count”. For centuries theorists have espoused the need for

successful leaders to be dressed in appropriate clothing to at least give the impression of wisdom and leadership (think Machiavelli). They must appear powerful and formal, and yet in touch with the people they represent. They must, according to fashion historian

“Dictators know how to use symoblism to their advantage.”

Dinah Finnegan, “be able stand behind a lectern or sit in a television studio and look believable as a person of power.

Body and literal language are hugely important, but the influence of clothing cannot be ignored”.

For what we might call conventional (read: elected) politicians, this means well-fitted suits and sensible shoes, but what does it mean for leaders who seize power? Why would they care? The answer to this, according to Durham University’s Tom Squire, is that even though unelected, appearing “sympathetic and trustworthy” is an important aspect of maintaining power and this is shaped in no small way by the clothes dictators wear. Fidel Castro, for example, garnered trust by adopting the uniform of an army recruit as his go-to outfit. “Nothing screams ‘I’m right here with you, peasants’ like putting on the uniform of a low-ranking infantryman and snapping lots of pictures,” says Josh Loloper, Fashion Editor of StyleList Magazine.

Secondly, and in some senses more importantly, a despot’s choice of outfit often becomes the symbol for whatever scheme it is they’re trying to implement. Pol Pot’s devastating and repugnant rule of Cambodia illustrates this point. The black pyjamas citizens were forced to wear symbolised the tyrant’s suppression of character and disregard for human individuality. Essentially, to quote the aforementioned Dinah Finnegan, “there is so much more to clothing than practicality, [...] dictators throughout history have known the symbolism and used it to their advantage”.

But these are all internal factors – to what extent do dictators think about the outside world? The answer, as we might expect, is that they think about it a lot. On the international stage the way you dress has a huge influence on negotiations and the tone of events. “It’s a kind of power peacocking”, says fashion journalist Lucy Graeme, “Western leaders clad in boring suits are unlikely to get the kind of press attention that a Middle Eastern dictator in flamboyant

“Theorists espouse the need for successful leaders to be dressed in appropriate clothing to give the impression of wisdom and leadership.”

“Now is the time to get into the Senate and start shouting.” than today’s 24 page version.

While Trinity News is now available to members of the College community free of charge, the paper was sold for a fee during Hanan’s time. “In our day we set up stalls in the main entrances and sold it there and we had people standing outside classes to push it really hard.” Commenting on the other candidates running for election, Hanan jokes: “I don’t know if I’m the only exTrinity News editor in the field, but I might be. That’s got to be a winning ticket, isn’t it?”

From Gaddafi’s flamboyant gowns, to Kim Jong Il’s Dr. Evil suits, Sue Collini investigates

“Sadam Hussein wore a $3,000 suit while standing trial.” fabrics and Prada sunglasses will enjoy. In international eyes their style lessens the gravity of their policy”. The reverse is also true – Stalin’s military dress when meeting Churchill and Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference (both of whom were besuited) showed the world that he was a powerful force not worth meddling with.

Moreover, and more subtly, some dictators deliberately turn away from “dictator chic” to avoid its international connotations.

M a h m o u d Ahmadinejad (off of Iran), for example, wears sensible suits to avoid the trappings of looking like a despotic nutter.

So there you have it. What we’ve seen is that even the most brutal and genocidal dictators take huge pride in their wardrobe. To ignore the impact of your outfit is, for a dictator, a huge and potentially costly faux pas.

TRINITY NEWS

11 features@trinitynews.ie

Why fear of flying is just plane stupid Phobia of air travel has become the most common anxiety disorder. Nervous flier and Features Editor Josh Roberts explores some of the cures

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ith exams fast approaching, many of us will be looking forward with hungry anticipation to a summer spent basking in the sun of some foreign land. For most, the notion of “sun, sand and sangria” sounds like nothing other than idyllic paradise; but for roughly 6.5% of the college community it’s a terrifying concept. It’s not the lazy days spent gobbling-up celebrity gossip on sun loungers and the evenings spent getting wildly drunk and scoring ‘locals’ that brings about this apprehension, but the process by which you get to said paradise: these are the people who have a fear of flying.

A fear of flying (also known as aerophobia, aviatophobia or aviophobia) has recently overtaken spiders and death as the most commonly suffered phobia. A recent study conducted in the Netherlands showns nearly 40% of travelers suffer from anxiety associated with flying, and 6.5% experience such intense fear that they have stopped flying altogether. Symptoms exhibited by nervous passengers include: heavy sweating, headaches, stomach convulsions and panic attacks. I should know: ever since 9/11 I have experienced such a paralyzing fear of

“ I have, on more than one occassion, walked-off planes before take-off.” airtravel that I have, on more than one occasion, walked-off planes before take-off. The problem with aerophobia is that, unlike arachnophobia (spiders) or ophiophobia (snakes), it is hard escape. In the modern world with all its holidays and business trips, avoiding airplanes is simply not an

option. Why is it that people suffer from a fear of flying and, more importantly, how can you go about conquering it?

“All phobias occur in an altered state of consciousness”, says Dr. Martin Sief of the National Institute for Medical Studies. “They have to,

“The chances of dying onboard a plane are one in 9.2 million.” because by definition a phobia is an irrational fear. Sufferers’ brains simply do not work logically when faced with certain circumstances”.

But where does this irrationality stem from? For many, a single traumatic event (such as the death of a close family member or acute personal illness) paired with a naturally nervous predisposition is likely to be the cause of a fear of flying. A moment of panic is triggered in the rational part of the brain. A person might hear of a plane crash and wonder if it might happen to them. Among those that disposed to a fear of flying, following the initial thought, blood flow to the prefrontal lobes redirects to the part of the brain concerned with the ‘fight or flight’. It is this redirection of blood and chemicals away from rational thought, towards thoughts of survival, which allows irrational fear to take over.

During flight, the most common periods of periaqueductal stimulation are during take-off, periods of turbulence and landing all of which are irrational. You would have to fly every day for 16,000 years to be involved in a serious incident in the air. Even if you were, you have a 2/3 chance of survival. In other words, the chances of dying whilst aboard an aircraft are 1 in 9.2 million. Fear of turbulence is the most ludicrous, as

aircraft wings are designed to handle 20 times more stress than the worst recorded turbulence.

As I know, reading these stats from

“ Try to keep your blood pressure down by breathing slowly.” the safety of the Arts Block is all well and good, but once you’re in the air it’s quite another thing. How then can we prevent irrational thought taking over? Dr. Sief says “it sounds obvious, but you need to relax.”

The very word ‘self-help’ conjuresup images of Paul McKenna and other such crooks, whose books promise everything but deliver almost nothing.

Perhaps the main methods of self-help involve distraction and abstraction. Make yourself forget your circumstances. Get a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones and an

It’s a steal, but will it last?

Ivan De Klee finds three websites to help students meet their living costs, and questions to what extent “deals of the week” might be here to stay

L

et me set the scene. It’s Thursday last week, the sun is batting down on my olive skin (imagine, if you will, the deep hue of an old mahogany table) and I’m walking down Grafton street. The scent of freshlycut flowers (and to a certain extent urine) soaks the air, street musicians strum and screech their hearts-out, that bloke who paints himself like a statue is eating a sandwich, and I notice something. I notice that most, if not all, of the shops have signs in their windows saying things like ‘deal of the week’ and ‘buy one get one free’. “This is remarkable”, I think to myself, “are Dublin’s shop keepers finally realising that no one has any money? Are things starting to get cheaper? Could it be?”

So bemused was I, that once I arrived in College I Googled “Dublin deals”

“Are we going to see ‘deals’ become normal prices?” and discovered, to great elation, three websites: groupon.com, citydeal.ie and dealrush.ie.

Essentially, as their names suggest, these are all websites which offer members cheaper-than-usual deals on

15 March, 2011

everything from restaurants to venue tickets. It works like this: firstly, you have to register by entering your email address. Secondly, your peruse their list of deals. Thirdly, you pick and pay for a deal that you like and then print off the voucher they email you, take it into the restaurant/theatre/bicycle repair shop, and enjoy. It really is that

“Shopkeepers are using ‘deals’ as a stepping stone.” simple, and with deals like an Indian meal at Mantraa for nearly half-price there’s no reason not to sign-up. But what is the reasoning behind all these new websites? And more importantly, are we going to see ‘deals’ becoming ‘normal prices’ as the downturn continues to bite?

Some commentators, including Daniel Judd at the Centre for Consumer Finance, suggest there is every likelihood that shopkeepers and restaurateurs are using ‘deals’ as a stepping-stone to reducing their real prices. “In certain industries you can’t simply cut your prices when the economy takes a downturn”, said Judd in a recent interview. “Cutting prices immediately annoys customers

as it demonstrates the huge margins you’ve made off them in the past”.

This is certainly true: who wouldn’t be annoyed by a shopkeeper saying, “I used to rip you off at this price but now the banks are in trouble I’ll only rip you off this much’? The same thing, according to Judd, works in reverse.

“Once prices normalise at more realistic levels it will take a long period of prosperity before consumers accept the kind of price hikes we saw during the Celtic Tiger”, he says.

This is all good news, but is it realistic? Are shops really going to take pity on skint customers? Surely there’s little room in the cut-throat, Dragon’s Den of economics for shopkeepers get all teary eyed over their customers’ plight? “This is a rare circumstance

“Rental prices have dropped by 0.6 percent so far this year.” of economics and what you might call ‘morality’ coinciding”, says economist Katherine Glaister. “As long as inflation remains stable we should see shopkeepers lowering their prices to reflect lower input costs.” This business

iPod loaded with songs you really want to listen to, as well as something that is going to keep you thinking (a puzzle book, magazine or book). Once you’re settled it is vitally important not to ‘clock watch’. If you do become unnerved, try to keep your blood pressure down by breathing slowly and relax your muscles to avoid a higher heart rate (don’t grip the arm rest!).

If you’ve tried these methods before and are still terrified, then there are several courses and professional programs that can help. I went on the BMI course which involved two retired pilots, a psychologist, and about two hours in the pilot training simulator. Virgin Atlantic’s course offers to take you on a two hour flight and explain all the noises and movements which might make you anxious. These courses are expensive, but they are a way to conquer your fear.

For many most effective method is anti-anxiety medication. These drugs about “inflation remaining stable” is a fairly big ask, especially given the absurd rises of oil in recent weeks.

If the costs of production remain at Celtic Tiger levels, then price reductions are things of fantasy.

On the other hand, recent research conducted by property website Daft. ie has shown rental prices in the city centre tumbling by 0.6% so far this year, which m e a n s l o w e r

overheads for city centre shops and restaurants.

Predicting exactly what will happen to the price of a roll at Spar is clearly incredibly difficult, but overall it seems help is at hand for us struggling students and with websites like the ones mentioned above (and the group buying mentality they embody) it’s difficult for business to avoid consumers’ demand for fairer pricing. Go team!

reduce brain activity and block chemical reactions which cause anxiety. They work within a thirty minute period and are, I have found, particularly good on long-haul flights.

As with all medication, this group of drugs comes with some serious side-effects (drowsiness, nausea and potential addiction) which you must consider. If you think you might suit this type of treatment you must talk to your doctor. NEVER borrow other people’s prescriptions and if you intend to use them on your return journey take enough pills with you (dodgy foreign Benzodiazepines are, well, dodgy). One more thing – avoid getting boozed-up before your flight because, and I promise this is true, it only makes your brain more irrational.

I hope that for all y’all fellow nervous fliers this has been of some help. If all else fails try to remember this: you’ve got more chance of winning the lottery twice than dying on an airplane. Good luck, and happy flying.

12 World Review

Revolution in the Arab world Manus Lenihan discusses the social upheaval sweeping across the Middle East and the long, slow struggle towards democracy

T

“Despite the fact that this economic strategy demanded an oppressive tyranny and led to a revolution, the new government is committed to it too.”

he impact of cheap, fast information on the first great revolution of the age of the internet has been striking. Ousted President Ben Ali of Tunisia confirmed its importance in the clearest terms: it was on young men wielding cameras and phones that his death squads concentrated their bullets. But beneath the inevitable contemporary veneer the upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa is a classic revolution, a moment of historical impasse in which long-opposed social forces have been pushed at last into open conflict. This struggle is ongoing, and not only in the skirmishes of Libya. The dust cannot settle following the social explosions of the Middle East and North Africa until their causes are resolved. With a region so huge and diverse, generalizing broadly about what these causes are is necessarily selective and limiting. However, some common features are clear.

The explanations of the embattled leaders themselves are worth hearing, and not only for some comic relief amid the fear and bloodshed. President Saleh of Yemen claims that the masses who have braved murderous state violence to try to unseat him are “managed by Tel Aviv and under the supervision of Washington.” Gaddafi, meanwhile, contended that al-Qaeda and the US had engineered all the upheaval by poisoning Libyan youths with hallucinogenic drugs. In another life, perhaps, the Colonel might have made some classic b-movies, but however absurdly overblown it may be, this rhetoric illustrates the insecurity of

Oman, an oil exporter and key US ally, labours under the medieval institution of Absolute Monarchy. Egypt’s elections in November returned Mubarak’s party with a suspicious 97% of the vote.

It should suffice to point out that the whole region affected by protests is a dark tyrannical swathe on the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index world map.

What set revolutionary events so suddenly in motion after decades of apparent apathy and religious reaction was the attempted suicide of Mohamed Bou’azizi. Bou’azizi, a Tunisian street vendor who was harassed by police, spent his last bit of money on petrol and publicly set himself on fire. A wave of imitators across the region inspired the continuing mass movements. The

“A generation is emerging into a region of corrupt, unequal, oppresive societies, of miserably low pay and staggering unemployment.”

SS A protestor in Egypt, February 2011.

the rulers in question. They have been forced to point to popular bogeymenSaudi terrorists, US imperialism- so that they themselves can look good by comparison.

This is because hated, tyrannical leaders whose rule has dragged on for decades- Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi, Qaboos and Saleh, to name a few- are a common feature of these countries.

inconceivable desperation of Mohamed Bou’azizi should discourage us from glamourising the Arab revolution: that same desperation, not some abstract longing for democracy, is motivating masses of people to take to the streets.

This is not a movement of dilettantes and idealists- it is a bitter and often ugly struggle for survival fought on concrete issues like jobs and food.

The Middle East has a young, booming and underemployed populationtwo-thirds are under twenty four, unemployment running at twenty eight per cent in the fifteen to twenty nine age group. A similar situation reigns

Social scientists and the Arab revolutions Neil Warner looks at recent events in the Middle East and North Africa and the impact they have had in disrupting social scientific theories about the nature of democratisation

W

hen I started thinking about writing this article my intention was to try to come up with some sort of explanation - sociological, socio-economic or what have you – that would explain the unexpected revolutionary fervour that has gripped the Arab world over the last three months.

This plan unfortunately failed when I realised that, to put it bluntly, I really don’t have a clue.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped everyone else, and indeed it shouldn’t. There have been numerous plausible explanations given for the uprisings in the Middle East, from the impact of social media and cable TV networks like AlJazeera to neo-liberal economic policies and the persistence of deep social inequalities to the good old Marxian reliable, the imbalance between society and the political system caused by economic development. All these explanations make sense and are to some extent true. And yet I have a feeling that, as well as sending tremors throughout the dictatorships of North Africa and the Middle East, the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi on December 17th and the events that have flowed from it, have also led to absolute panic in social science departments the world over.

Imagine what it would do to the discipline of physics if tomorrow gravity were to suddenly stop working. Aside

from obvious practical difficulties, that is what social science goes through on a regular basis. Every major event in politics or economics tears up previous orthodoxies. It isn’t just one theory that is affected; it is the entire apparatus of a global narrative that has been built around that theory that comes under threat. Hundreds of academics suddenly have to rewrite the rule books to account for new circumstances and explain why they got it wrong before. But then the next event comes along and disproves this new theory and they have to start over again.

In the decades after World War II, social sciences and the humanities puzzled over why the democratic and industrial revolutions that were embraced in the Western world in the 19th and 20th centuries had not yet spread elsewhere. They came up with detailed explanations like “dependency theory” for why the emergence of democracy in Western Europe and North America could not be replicated elsewhere.

They became very confident and sophisticated in their analysis, writing book after book explaining very convincingly why this was the case. But then along came 1989, and everything that went with it. Suddenly it turned out that all those predictions about democratisation were indeed being realised in Eastern Europe and Latin America and Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia.

But there was one part of the world

“It seems likely, then, that these last few months have produced a kind of collective “oops” among political scientists.”

SS An American soldier distributes free candy. Photo by Al Jazeera.

that troubled these social scientific theories and that undermined any attempt to connect democratisation and popular revolutions to particular stages in economic or cultural evolution.

That was the Arab world. In 2004 Eva Bellin, writing on the Middle East and North Africa, noted how “popular mobilization on behalf of political reform remains weak. Nowhere in the region do mammoth, cross-class coalitions mobilize on the streets to push for reform”. And so, in the last 20 years, page upon page has been written explaining why it was that the Arab world had proven “immune” to democracy.

What began as an awkward exception has become vital to the most widely circulated theories of democratisation.

Ronald Inglehart noted how the “rent-

seeking” nature of Arab economic development legitimised his view that particular cultural and civil society developments, restricted to certain forms of industrialisation but not to those like the Middle East’s, were crucial to democratisation. Samuel Huntington and others spoke of an Islamic culture that was essentially an antithesis to Christian-based European values such as a democracy.

It seems likely, then, that these last few months have produced a kind of collective “oops” among political scientists. It must be frustrating that these developments in the Arab world do indeed actually fit into various past ideas about the modern growth of popular influence over government. The role of the internet and facebook neatly par-

allels current ideas about the English and French revolutions, which explain them in relation to the growth of interpersonal networks of communication in the 17th and 18th centuries. Cable TV was given as an explanation for the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, and now Al Jazeera takes up the same role. Inequality is indeed deeply entrenched in the Middle East and serves as a fairly constant variable in all political revolutions.

The problem is, though, that social scientists never seem to be able to predict what is coming next based on their theories. Theirs is a discipline that, instead of plausibly explaining the rhythms of the real world, is simply reduced to a humiliating practice of barely keeping up with it.

TRINITY NEWS

13 worldreview@trinitynews.ie in North Africa. A generation is emerging into a region of corrupt, unequal, oppressive societies, of miserably low pay and staggering unemployment.

This generation cannot fit into the world they have inherited. They have no choice but to try to reshape it. An almost uniform feature of the movements, alongside a visceral hatred of

“We are witnessing a revolt of world-historic proportions.” the political leaders in question, has been a demand for jobs and opportunities, echoed in the concessions of frightened regimes.

There was another important factor.

The FAO food price index rose by forty one per cent in 2010, tipping forty four million more people worldwide into extreme poverty. Droughts and floods, land grabs and a commodity derivatives trade worth nine trillion dollars, fuelled by the liquidity from the 2008 bailouts, have driven food prices over a dangerous threshold, and driven masses onto the streets. The Arab revolution is a somewhat more urgent repetition of the food riots that rocked over thirty countries, including Egypt, in 2008.

This was the immediate spark. But for years, the long-entrenched leaders of the region have been on a collision course with their own people. Decaying old regimes, usually propped up by foreign powers, for example Mubarak got two billion dollars annually from the USA, mostly for his army, are pitted against the force of demographics. The Egyptian working class has in recent years built independent unions and tested its strength in huge industrial struggles. Their wave of strikes that played so vital a role in the eighteen day uprising has yet to recede. In Tunisia the country’s biggest trade union, the UGTT, came to lead the revolution.

Now in both countries industrial action characterises the ongoing struggle.

The case of strikes in Tunisia illustrates a key point internationally. Under a government featuring many faces

and repressive tactics left over from the old regime, the dominant policy is selling off the forty per cent of the economy formerly owned by the Ben Ali-Trabelsi “mafia” to bring in foreign capital, mostly French and American. To assist this, the government is trying to stop the strikers, who are still demanding the fruits of their revolution.

Before the ousting of Ben Ali, Tunisia was named Africa’s “most competitive” country by the World Economic Forum- meaning it had low wages, few public services and high unemployment. Despite the fact that this economic strategy demanded an oppressive tyranny and led to a revolution, the new government is committed to it, even if that means sacrificing everything so far gained by struggle. This is likely to be the case in Egypt as well.

This does not mean that the demands of the revolution are impossible. Nothing is impossible now except a continuation of anything like the status quo. A region populated by 400m people is experiencing mass struggle on a spectacular scale: governments have fallen, armies have been won over and the masses of these countries, infused with new confidence, now know their own strength.

“Hated, tyrannical leaders are a common feature of these countries.”

Entire peoples driven to revolt by insupportable conditions are not simply going to disappear, though many individuals may, in the Pinochet sense of the word.

The conditions themselves must vanish- a simple statement that has massive implications for the world’s economic and political landscape. Revolution is a slow process, and the pace of events will speed up and slow to a crawl at different times. But this process has begun on a spectacular scale, and we are witness to a revolt of worldhistoric proportions.

Are the Teflon days over?

Siri Bjørntvedt comments on Silvio Berlusconi’s history of scandal and corruption in light of the most recents allegations against the Italian Prime Minister

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hile Italy is set to celebrate 150 years of unity this month, Silvio Berlusconi is due in court on two charges of financial misconduct, along with a pre-trial hearing on financial irregularities, and this is just for the month of March.

More importantly, Berlusconi will be back in court in early April charged with paying for sex with a minor and abusing his powers. While Italy’s prime minister has been known for his sex scandals and his ability to escape unscathed from them all, it now appears that his Teflon-days are numbered. However, Berlusconi is not a man that is likely to go down easy, and the latest scandal has increased the likelihood of a constitutional showdown in Italy.

In the latest scandal, the so-called Ruby-case, Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Karima elMahroug, a Moroccan runaway, who was under 18 at the time and later abusing his powers when Berlusconi got Miss el-Mahroug out of lockup by claiming she was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak. Together the two offences carry a maximum sentence of 15 years, and while Berlusconi has been able to escape numerous accusations of corruption and financial irregularities by using various immunities attached to his office, he seems unable to escape his seventh sex scandal. Consequently, on February 15th a female judge, Cristina Di Censo, ensured that the case will go straight to trial without committal proceedings, and in a curious coincidence, both the prosecutor coordinating the

investigation and all of the three judges are going to be women.

According to Berlusconi, the judiciary and the Economist are both part of a communist plot against him, and he maintains his innocence.

Berlusconi stated that he is not worried as he is “a rich gentleman who can go on to setting up hospitals for children around the world.” This, he claims, is something he has always wanted to do.

Since Berlusconi emerged in Ital-

“Berlusconi stated that he is not worried as he is ‘a rich gentleman who can go on to setting up hospitals for children around the world.’” ian politics in 1994 he has been on trial numerous times, but Italy’s statute of limitations and recent changes in legislation benefitting the prime minister has kept him out of jail. Berlusconi’s business empire, Fininvest, came under close scrutiny during the mani pulite (clean hands) investigations in the 1990s and was suspected of moneylaundering, association with the Mafia, tax evasion and complicity in murder and bribery of politicians, judges and the finance ministry’s police. Berlusconi says that the mani pulite investigations were politically motivated, and despite only three of nine trials having reached the final appeals court, he has had no convictions yet. Berlusconi has also asserted that Italy is not an ordinary country and that his actions and

his conduct must be understood in the context of his country. He claims that he has done nothing worse than any other businessman in Italy. Nonetheless, Berlusconi’s strongest card is the fact that most of the accusations and even the convictions against him have been public knowledge for years.

While the courts might not agree, the public has clearly made their verdict known by electing him for office three times.

Unlike both the German Minister of Defense who resigned after it was revealed that his doctorate was plagiarized and the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs who resigned after a controversial holiday in Tunisia, Berlusconi maintains that he is ‘performing a service for the country and making a lot of sacrifices’ and has no intention of resigning from office.

While arguably sticking out as an abnormality in European terms, looking at some of the past Italian prime ministers, Berlusconi seems right in claiming that Italy is no ordinary country. After the mani pulite investigations uncovered an endemic corruption in Italian politics, the prime minster Benedetto Craxi became the symbol of a corrupt system, and in order to escape trial he fled to Tunisia. While Giulio Andreotti was acquitted of Mafia connections because of statutory terms in 2003, the judge in Palermo stated that Andreotti had enjoyed ‘authentic, stable and amicable’ relations with the Mafia.

The celebration of 150 years of unity this month might be one of very few things Italians have to celebrate in a long time, as it seems that Berlusconi has no intention of resigning any time soon. Whether he is found guilty or not, the trials will take a long time and might prove very embarrassing for Italy and Italians. However, three terms with Berlusconi as prime minister is arguably a strong indication that Italy might not be an ordinary country. Nonetheless, 150 years of unity is something worth celebrating, and one can only speculate as to what other celebrations are coming up, perhaps children in need of new hospitals will have something to celebrate soon.

COMMENT

More turmoil to follow Mubarak?

Syria is on the cusp of change, and poised to play a new and influential role in the middle East, but could it follow the route of Tunisia and Egypt? Niall Murphy investigates

D

r. Bashar was never meant to be the leader of Syria. His father did not talk to him about politics; he had only entered his father’s office once at the age of seven before 2000 when his father died and Bashar took control of the reins of power. Having never held political office before, the man whose education taught him how to heal the human eye, and not the human condition, seemed an unlikely successor.

Syria, unlike Egypt, has not been an ally of the USA. The Assad regime sought its support from the USSR or in later years, Iran. It has also been in a perpetual state of war with Israel since 1948, and it is common knowledge that much of Hamas and Hezbollah’s financial backing is derived from Syria. The final blow to its relations with the U.S was its inevitable opposition to the Iraq war.

Under his father’s reign, Syria was the model of a totalitarian state. Posters of the leader adorned the cities and the cult of leader was exacerbated.

Hafaz al Assad rose through the ranks of the Baath party which was formed after independence from France in 1946, and became defence minister in 1970. He headed a bloodless coup in that year with a cohort of military officers. Since that time, his Shiite sect has managed to maintain control of a country where seventy per cent of the population are Sunni Muslim. Hafez dealt harshly with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, whose aim is to make Syria a fundamentalist Islamic state. A totalitarian styled police force and the massacre of between 10,000 and 40,000 people in Hama is how the Shiite party have managed to retain power. This tough internal action was coupled with a “cute whoreism” approach to foreign policy that was so remarkably successful that Bill Clinton stated he was “the smartest Middle Eastern Leader I’ve ever met”.

It was the son however, who encouraged his fa-

15 March, 2011

ther to modernise the country and connect Syria to the internet in 1998. Upon becoming President, he released hundreds of political prisoners and began a crusade on corruption. He has also begun the process of turning the Syrian economy into a more open, free-market portrait and the banking system was privatised, taxes cut and a stock exchange was founded. The reform of the antiquated education system has begun with new textbooks, the first upgrade since the 1970’s, and teachers abounding. Yet at the same time, many internet sites have been blocked by the authorities including Facebook and You-Tube.

As we watched the events unfold in Egypt it is in this context that we can begin to see the similarities which link many Arab states together.

Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran, to name but a few, are all ruled by dynasties that came to power in the seventies and eighties. Some of them have the support of the USA such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while others like Iran and Syria, have not.

Many would argue that authoritarian, despotic rule is better than mob rule, and if that comes at a price to democracy, then so be it. Furthermore, would Islamic extremism, in the shape of say the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, come to power in the “free and fair elections” that the West harps on about? How would Christians fair in a fundamentalist Egypt? This is what makes the whole situation more difficult and less black and white than it had first seemed.

The revolution in Egypt will not be welcomed in the White House. International agreements with Israel could be revoked if a fundamentalist party came to power. Meanwhile, there has been no word of trouble in Syria or Iran since the 17th of December. Yet these are the countries where the U.S would love to see a revolutionary overthrow.

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14 Travel

A view from the Autobahn

travel@trinitynews.ie

On a weekend city break, travel writer Allan Klompas explores all the history, beer, and wurst that Bavaria has to offer Allan Klompas Travel Contributer

One of the many benefits of studying abroad is the quick and easy access to cheap travel, especially around Europe. For my wife Julie and I, both Canadians from immigrant families, this presents a glorious opportunity to explore our roots, as we had never conceived of before moving to Ireland.

Julie’s grandmother fled Germany after World War II, and although being nurtured in German culture as a child, had never had the opportunity to explore her family’s heritage until her birthday fell on a long weekend that presented the perfect opportunity.

Julie’s family has many contacts throughout Germany and one couple that her parents had travelled with in their youth, Klaus and Sabine, had been sending Julie monthly emails advising us to go stay with them so that they could show us their little corner of Deutschland... a little corner that had us covering over 1000 km in four days and seeing everything in between.

Flying into Frankfurt on Friday evening, we were met at the gate by a Canadian flag and 2 smiling faces waiting to whisk us off into the darkness to cover the 400 km we had in front of us to their home in Mehring.

Awaiting our arrival, Sabine had prepared a midnight meal of cold cuts and breads and Bavarian Weissbier, until the stroke of midnight signified Julie’s birthday when Sabine vanished, only to return with a homemade cake and a round of champagne. We were astonished by their hospitality. Before now we had never met any one of their family, and already they had driven us across a quarter of the country and threw Julie a birthday party. As enjoyable as it all was, they shuttled us off to bed as they had big plans for us early the next morning.

Morning came quickly, and after

another cold cut feast we found ourselves speeding through the Bavarian countryside toward the Alps for an hour hike up Kneifelspitzweg.

We pushed through the crisp October air to arrive at the peak containing a Gasthaus and one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen.

Across the horizon was peak after peak of sheer beauty, all the while Klaus was explaining the chilling history of how each one had played its part in Germany’s lengthy history.

An hour of relaxation with some more Bavarian beer and pastries prepared us for our descent and the next phase or our journey. Klaus and Sabine were excited to take us to Königsee, the ‘Lake of the Kings’, located near

the Austrian border. This is a popular tourist location, with a small lakeside ‘postcard’ village bustling with tourist shops. A short 10 minute hike up to the lookout gives you a vision of the stunning lake, which has been preserved for one hundred years allowing only human or electric powered vehicles. Cradled in the mountains, the cold deep water oozes history and is home to one of the all time best flugelhorn echoes known to man. From Königsee we drove to Klostergastoff Raitenhaslach, an ancient monastery for coffee and pastry, before arriving at Burghausen, along the Austrian border and the river Salzach to visit the longest castle in Europe (1051m long). Dating back to the late 1200s, Burghausen castle contained a full city and has functioned as an imperial residence, prison, barracks, and fortress. Mostly used as an educational tool now, the building had demonstrations for tourists about

t h e history of the region, although now in the twilight of our first day in Bavaria, nearly all the tourists had retreated. We followed suit, but not before a quick drive along the Austrian side of the river to catch another view of the castle. For dinner, our hosts planned a fondue where we were embraced as family, albeit this evening the discussion took place in English. Within 24 hours in Germany we had a birthday party, climbed an alp, visited an ancient lake, monastery and a 700 year old fortress, and drove through Austria.

Much like Saturday, Sunday found us on the road early heading toward Munich, but not without stopping in Altötting where pilgrims flock each year to pay homage to Mary’s miraculous saving of a boy who had drowned in 1489. The churches are lined with hand made art work with personalized prayers to loved ones, many of which pray for the safe return of war bound family members. Regardless of your religious affiliations, the monument is moving and exudes heartfelt passion.

Doing the Texas three-step

W e were then taken off into the center of Munich where Klaus’ daughter, Claudia had arranged for a guided tour through the heart of the city, including the famous seat of Oktoberfest, Hofbräuhaus. Although Oktoberfest had finished 3 weeks earlier, the place was bustling with people guzzling Bavarian lager from oversized seidels

“Within 24 hours in Germany we had a birthday party, climbed an alp, visited an ancient lake, monastery and a 700 year old fortress, and drove through Austria.” while men in lederhosen blared polka music. After polishing off some beer and Weisswurst, we thanked Claudia and hurried off to Frankfurt at near warp speed on the Autobahn to spend the night with another stranger, Klaus’ brother Karlheinz, following another round of beer, pork and sauerkraut of

Vegetarians, look away now. Jonathan Cauchi welcomes you to the meat Mecca that is Texas

Jonathan Cauchi

that incredibly, includes a 64-year-old grandmother. I’m no slouch when it comes to glutting my maw on red meat but there is some things better left to the pros. My esteemed meat messenger informs me that the steak is delicious and well worth the visit - even if you’re only going for a measly 12 oz.

While steak is a worthy muse for an entire article, I feel I should move on to my second love, barbecue. I have been informed that there are many differences in barbecue depending on your

Travel Contributer

For reasons I may never understand, some people avoid certain meats or even animal products altogether. I’m here to say that the scale can go the other way. If I could find meat that bleeds vitamin C, I would eschew plant products for an eternity and gorge myself only on the flesh of recently deceased, living-breathing creatures. I would replace the blunt incisors of my jaw with flesh-shredding canines. But until that glorious day, to continue staving off scurvy, I’ll be reduced to chewing cellulose like some grazing ruminant.

I abide this debasement as a means to sustain my body, to live another day to eat more meat.

So where do my fellow meat-craving gastronomes go. If you’re in North America, there is a good chance that Texas will rank at the top of the list. I have traveled little through America but have always been attracted to the Lone Star state. Famed for massive steaks and greasy barbecue, Texas is my meat Mecca. I haven’t been there myself but I’m planning a pilgrimage this summer. My guide will be a native Texan who is studying with me in Ireland. If Texas was the afterlife, and

by God I hope it is, this man would be my psychopomp. He’s the Abraham of my religion and in my religion pork is kosher. He has recounted ad nauseum - or in this case it really should be ad delicias - scores of diners, restaurants and dives located up and down the state. I provide a glimpse into his meat erudition so that if you feel like I do about dead animal flesh, one day you may also take the pilgrimage.

The first stop on our meat tour will be for steak. When I think of Texas I think of cowboys. It’s stereotypi-

course.

O n o u r final day in Germany, we were treated to another guided tour, this time delivered by Sabine.

A highlight was seeing the modern new city from the top of the 800 year old St. Bartholomew Cathedral of the Emperors. Amazingly, much of the old city was rebuilt after the bombings of World War II, where legend speaks of only one building left unscathed.

A museum in the heart of the old city dedicated to the memories of the war demonstrates Germany’s moral consciousness of it’s troubling past.

Fiercely juxtaposed, across the river sits the core of Europe’s financial infrastructure clearly displaying the new role the country now embraces.

On reflection of this weekend getaway, I am still amazed by the open hospitality we were granted by literal strangers.

Three generations opened their homes to us, and we are truly grateful for the experiences they were kind enough to provide. In addition to seeing the country, Julie was looking for a deeper connection to her heritage, and although there was no direct family relation, we felt completely welcomed by everyone we met. A weekend of sightseeing allowed us to explore a third of the country from countryside to cityscape, fill to the brim with childhood comforts, and renew our spirit of true hospitality. Next time it’ll be our turn to host and now we’ll know just what to do.

“That’s just over 2kg of meat in one sitting.

70,000 people have tried and only 8,000 have been successful.”

cal but it’s that imagery that much of Texas tourism banks on. These spurwearing, hard-cases keep everything in their life simple including their grub. And to the carnivore, you can’t get simpler than a monster slab of beef.

The Big Texan is a legendary restaurant in Amarillo steeped in this tradition. I originally heard about it from an American TV show about a corpulent fellow that eats his way across the USA one famous restaurant at a time. The

“If native Texans are willing to go to bat for potential illegal aliens the food must be good.” restaurant has a renowned eating challenge that is the subject for a particular episode. The eating challenge is quite an undertaking: 72 oz steak in under

one hour along with a shrimp cocktail, a roll, side salad and a baked potato. For those not imperially inclined, that’s just over 2 kg of meat in one sitting - this steak could be the wheel of a Volkswagen. The cost for this prodigious feat of gluttony is comped by the proprietors if the challenge is successful. 70 000 people have tried and only 8000 have succeeded. Successful challengers gain local prestige and my undying awe and adulation, a group

geographic location in America. Texas tends to use a dry rub cooked “low and slow”. The meat is roasted over a wood-stoked fire sometimes for as long as 12 hours and it’s the wood that lends the smoky flavor that is so iconic to the region. In Italy, the pizza you get from any corner restaurant is head and shoulders above the vast majority of pizza you get anywhere else. But you can still find places within Italy that are beyond your average corner restaurant by the same margin. The same can be said of Texas and barbecue.

My guide tells me that the place the connoisseurs visit from all over the state is The Salt Lick. Located in Driftwood, a name that sounds like it comes right out of Unforgiven, The Salt Lick cooks everything on an indoor flame pit that strictly burns oak wood. They sear the meat first and then gradually cook it over the course

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science 15 science@trinitynews.ie

Walking the walk? Get on your bike Jack McCaughan

costs come from construction. Wind may be a possible source for supplying a small percentage of our national energy needs one day, but it is by no means a solution.

Contributing Writer

I HAVE the answer to climate change.

It’s a bold statement, but my solution will work, even if most readers will not like it. The answer is simple: stop being lazy and start cycling to work instead of driving or getting the bus.

This conclusion may meet with some criticism, but it seems that scientists, politicians, economists, and the countless bigwigs concerned with climate change and energy shortages are far too interested in high-brow ideas and neglect discussing the real issue with respect to these problems: consumption.

I have read about some brilliant ideas about how hydrogen fuel cells will be the future of powering our transport systems. After all, having the most abundant compound in the universe as fuel, and the only emission water vapour seem perfect. The only problem is that bulk hydrogen is mainly taken from the steam reforming of natural gas. Also, research has effectively shown that water vapour could behave

“There is plently of wind, especially in blustery Ireland, so why not turn some of that into gold dust?”

“Consumption is something which all of us can consider.” as a greenhouse gas, not to mention the practical issues surrounding the storage of hydrogen.

Then there is wind energy. Sure there is plenty of wind everywhere, especially in blustery Ireland, so why not turn some of that all too familiar gust into gold dust? Though there are many arguments for and against wind energy, one fact is important to mention: 80% of wind-generated energy

SS Simply walking or riding a bicycle instead of taking the car or bus can help reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability.

We could always turn to nuclear power. Perhaps, when we think of nuclear power, we think of the bad press with the Sellafield controversy, in which Irish and Norwegian authorities suspect nuclear waste from the facility could have made its way into the Irish Sea and onto their respective coastlines. While it is possible to improve how we deal with nuclear waste, it remains a controversial environmental and political issue.

It is not that these alternative energy sources are unimportant to solving energy problems, along with other alternatives like bio-fuels, solar, hydro, cleaner methods to combust fossil fuels, and carbon capture. However, the fact remains that they mean nothing unless something is done about consumption.

Consumption is something which all of us can consider. We all are consumers. But our demand is consuming us.

It seems more and more people are obsessed with getting a larger house and a bigger car. But this desire for more and bigger things lead to high-energy consumption.

Despite this problem staring us in the face, individuals have no incentives

to reduce consumption, and encourage people to consume less energy. Perhaps Keynesian economists won’t be too happy to hear about less consumption but sustainability is a serious issue, irrespective of economics.

Just as the First Law of Thermodynamics tells us matter cannot be created or destroyed, you can’t get something for nothing. Everything has an effect. No matter what great ideas engineers and scientists come up with regarding energy production, if consumption continues the way it has, or even increases as is projected, it is not sustainable.

So the next time you think you want to help the planet, don’t go on about big, evil oil companies while you get a lift on a 4x4 after leaving you laptop switched on at home. You, who are all

“Scientists, politicians and economists are far too interested in high-brow ideas, and neglect discussing consumption.” into your big ideas and swallowing the thesaurus, consider this: Be the change you want to see in the world and convert your ideas into action by taking little steps towards a big change.

To borrow the phrase from a wellknown student-friendly retailer: “Every little helps.” Each small step we take towards consuming less will help turn very big ideas into a very big movement for global change.

Stay clear of the recession: do a postgrad Enda Shevlin Staff Writer

When I first started college, postgraduate study was the last thing on my mind. This was in 2005 when nothing, it seemed, could go wrong. Multi-million Euro investments from corporate behemoths were offering high-tech jobs as well as an easy progression once my college days were over.

It was not to be however, and come my final year, I found myself considering a postgraduate course.

Choosing was hard. It is difficult to give a solid three or four year commitment to anything in one’s early twenties, especially when it is to a semistudent life. Personally, I found current

confidence and optimism that will last at least until you meet your supervisor.

He or she will then sceptically peruse your results with the same aforementioned disbelief before politely urging you to repeat the work another three or

while I haven’t seen their pay-slips, I can assure you they are earning more than a pittance. If you think cash could be a problem, many masters students and almost all PhDs are required to engage in some form of basic undergraduate teaching, either through lab demonstrations or tutorials for which additional remuneration will be applied. As for any disillusionment, the people I have met so far all have the same steel in their determination to do a good job on their research as Gordon Gekko had to make money in Wall Street. Postgraduate study is not a place for slackers.

My area of interest is the immune system. I ended up studying Immunology in my sophister years almost by

“One thing is certain: you will earn your qualification.”

“Before I started, I thought that grad students were a disillusioned bunch, starved of money whilst stuck in the u-bend between university and the real world.” grad students and my final year project supervisor to be a great help in eeking out the pros and cons.

Before I started I thought that grad students were a disillusioned and tawdry bunch, starved of money whilst stuck in the u-bend between university and the real world. I found The Simpsons put it best: Bart: [to Marge after watching a film] “I was so bored I cut the pony tail off the guy in front of us.” [holds pony tail to his head] Bart: “Look at me, I’m a grad student.

I’m 30 years old and I made $600 last year.”

There are indeed a number of doctoral students in my department sporting pony tails but all are below 25, and

15 March, 2011

chance, but ended up enjoying it. I do want to put one thing straight however, lest there be any confusion: I was not a particularly great student throughout college, but importantly I peaked at the right time, the sophister years. Be under no illusion; that is where, academically, university really counts.

I am now five months into my PhD and I am extremely glad that I had a basic interest in my subject before I started. I cannot emphasise this enough.

The days are never boring and often hectic. It can of course be monotonous at times, but also it is engrossing to the point of complete consummation. A good result can and will induce an initial state of disbelief, followed by relief, followed later by a sense of prolonged

SS Pursuing a postgraduate degree can prove a very rewarding experience for those willing to spend the extra years in academia.

four times because they do not believe a word of it. One thing is certain: you will earn your qualification.

The circle of friends, colleagues and advisors around me has been absolutely key so far. However, prospective students, myself included, tend to prefer, and apply to, only the larger and more prestigious institutions or labs in order get a big name on their CV and to maybe boost future prospects.

The more eminent colleges, by way of attracting and funding renowned staff do tend to conduct the star research and provide attractive facilities. But I can promise you that that big name on your CV will count for little if the star professor is too busy to provide the help and advise that will ultimately decide the quality of your work, and thus the quality of job you land afterwards.

To finish, travelling is an unexpected perk of pursuing a doctorate, with opportunities for quick sojourns here and there, tending to crop up at least once or twice a year. Salvador, Verona and Hong Kong were three locations for recent immunology meetings, all in the name of science of course, with students, even new recruits such as myself, expected to attend. And herein lies one of the true perks of a PhD: the travel grant. It usually comes as part of your funding and it’s all just for you.

16 opinion profile: Fiona O’Malley

Radical or redundant?

David Barrett talks to Senator Fiona O’Malley about life in politics, her desire for a new liberal party and what she hopes she can bring to Trinity as a senator for the University

W

ho would have thought it? I am shocked, shocked I say, to discover that in the midst of the most important formation of a government in the history of the state that most politicians are too busy to speak to the Opinions Editor of Trinity News. Except for, of course, Senator Fiona O’Malley.

I must confess, I have a soft-spot for Senator O’Malley, having voted for her previously in her bid to become PD leader (don’t ask) and I was intrigued when she announced that she would be contesting the University of Dublin (Trinity) panel in the senate. While the panel has a vacancy because of the election of Shane Ross to the Dail the other two senators – gay rights activist and possible future president David Norris and liberal and progressive icon Ivana Bacik – were most definitely running again. With the university panels, and especially Trinity, having a reputation for being notoriously difficult to get elected in that’s quite a challenge for any politician.

But O’Malley is no stranger to political challenges, first breaking into political life as a PD councillor for Stillorgan in 1999. From there it was onwards and upwards and in 2002 she proceeded to win a Dail seat in Dun Laoighaire – against the

FactBox

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O’Malley studied History of Art in Trinity before doing further study In City University London.

She canvassed in the last local and general election for Mannix Flynn.

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O’Malley previously worked as an Arts Administrator and as PA to Liz O’Donnell.

She believes the Seanad can propose good amendments and has a higher quality of debates.

Illustration by Aoife Crowley

expectations of everyone. Everyone, that is, except O’Malley herself, who always believed that the election was winnable, explaining that if she did not believe she was going to win how could she persuade anyone else of that either. She lost her seat in the party meltdown in 2007 but was appointed to the senate by Bertie Ahern. She ran for the party leadership soon after where she was very narrowly defeated and became and independent when the party finally wound itself up soon after.

O’Malley has said that she has no regrets about the ups and downs of her political career. ‘Politics is a competitive sport’ she explains philosophically ‘And there are always winners and losers in every sport’. She says that the reason why she entered politics was to enact change, but did she not find this challenging as a backbench TD? ‘First term government backbenchers are the lowest of the low in the Dail. It takes you a year to simply get your bearings!

And there is a sense of responsibility there too. You can’t just say anything you like because you are part of the government. It’s a discipline certainly.’

That did not stop O’Malley from championing some of her favoured causes as a backbencher, particularly with regard to the outrageous charging of VAT on condoms as a luxury good,

on which she became a vocal voice.

She said that, while she believes in the value of the party system, you are somewhat constrained by being in a party. However she did say that reason why she remains an independent is that no party currently in existence appeals to her This attitude though explains why she is still hoping for the emergence of a new Irish liberal party, to replace her old alma mater. She commented that though several liberal groups have emerged since the demise of the PDs, none of them contested the general election. ‘There is a difference between interest groups and political parties’ said O’Malley, ‘It’s just that interest groups can never really understand what it’s really like – the cut and thrust of it’ O’Malley explained that her running for the Trinity panel was very different from any election that she had ever fought before. ‘I love to meet people. I also always feel that

someone is more likely to vote for you if they have met you, even briefly, and that’s just not possible on a university panel’. She is also quick to point out that the role of a university senator is very different from any that she has held before: ‘University senators have great freedom. The job values thinking outside the box and radical solutions.

It gives you great scope and freedom to talk about what you feel really needs to be said.’

So what would O’Malley do with all of this if she is elected? She identified several priorities, the first of which was the reform of the education system and the end of rote learning. She followed that up with a desire to keep Ireland low tax and pro-enterprise, identifying the areas of ocean energy and wind as areas that Ireland has not seized the opportunity nature has given it. Finally she identified a greater role for the arts in Ireland, expressing the hope that the arts would become as embedded in each local community as the GAA.

“Library cuts bite the hand that feeds us” Nicholas Bland decries the lack of funding for the library and the services it provides, and asks how much longer it will be able to sustain a service without investment It is admirable for a university to offer a comprehensive education. It is less admirable for a university to prioritize breadth of learning over excellence in learning. Trinity is famous for its academic distinction.

Its most celebrated alumni reflect this reputation: Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Ernest Walton, and in more recent times, William Trevor. Trinity may have provided an education for sportspeople, actors, broadcasters, comedians etc., but it is an institution that specializes in an academic domain. It doesn’t need to provide sundry entertainments.

Trinity should try to achieve balanced, diverse investment when it can; but if cuts are necessary, those making the choices should avoid inflicting damage on the university’s essential organs.

Academic departments can fight their own fights. The library is different. Spatially, the university libraries comprise a significant proportion of Trinity’s main campus.

But the library isn’t represented by a similarly substantial voice when it comes to financial considerations. As a consequence, relative to other areas chosen for investment, the library has endured destabilizing cuts. This is absurd. The library is a blood supply of knowledge for every academic discipline here. After academics, libraries are the most valuable resource a university can provide students with. For most students, time spent in the library correlates closely with academic success. Superficially, the changes to library administration are still not great, but as the academic year progresses, they become increasingly apparent.

Arriving at Trinity in September, I was overwhelmed by the extensive collections made available by the library. Books whose prices I had tracked optimistically on Amazon for years sat unglamorously beside equally attractive neighbours. Before this my (admittedly rudimentary) study had depended on unreliable

online information, and the lottery of finding relevant journal criticism. It is not just the marvellous inheritance of copyright, but it is also the excellent online services, the choice journal subscriptions (an archive that includes, for example, decades of The New Yorker), as well as wide film and audio collections that all make Trinity’s library exceptional. This is a healthy kind of richness, and it forms the machinery necessary for study here.

It is a privilege to have access to these resources, but it is a privilege each Trinity student has earned.

With all these materials at hand, as a new student, I was disheartened to learn of the comparatively frugal opening hours in the main library.

During the week, opening times are fine, but the weekend provides students with vital space in which to consider reading for the week ahead. Weekdays are often busy with appointments that restrict independent study. For nearly all of last term, the library’s weekend opening hours ran from 9.30am to 4pm on Saturdays. Saturday midmorning to mid-afternoon tends to be the busiest part of the weekend. If you played sport, or went shopping, those library books not lent out (the overwhelming majority) were probably off limits on weekends. A paucity of weekend opening hours significantly

affects students’ capacity to learn.

Still, the library is open on Sundays this term. Yet half the students I’ve talked to don’t know it. I certainly wouldn’t blame this lack of publicity on the library staff. To my experience, the majority do their jobs almost faultlessly.

However, since the beginning of the year, the library has lost 20 employees.

A by-product is the irritating growth of students who people the library mainly to gossip and woop, and generally irritate the many students trying to work. Duty librarians tend to prevent this, but they are now harder to find.

They battle admirably, but haven’t enough troops. Chatter just resumes louder when librarians move on.

But perhaps most concerning is the management of books. Whilst the collections remain first-rate, they teeter on the edge of long-term malady. Generally, lending books are in poor condition. So it is no surprise that among the redundancies are subject librarians, whose knowledge is essential for maintaining collections.

Some of them have spent years curating

collections which now suffer without their expertise. Deliveries from Santry (vital to undergraduates with only basic borrowing rights) occur once a day: halved from the standard twicedaily delivery in 2008. To summarize: one of Europe’s most brilliant research libraries is gradually going to bits.

At the end of the year, six staff will retire. None of them are due to be replaced. An inevitable decline in service will become worse. In addition to what I have mentioned above, already, books are re-shelved slower and deliveries from Santry have been reduced once again.

There are no easy solutions to mass budget deficits. But in a university where spending on marginal interests –student union elections, esoteric sports, and laboured entertainments – remains evident, we would do well to remember why Trinity has flourished in the past, and what we must maintain - at all costs - if we are to continue to flourish. Opting to cut library services bites the hand that feeds us.

“Since the beginning of the year, the library has lost 20 employees. In addition, at the end of this year, six staff will retire. None of them are due to be replaced.”

TRINITY NEWS

17 opinion@trinitynews.ie

Erasmus reflections

O

ne ordinary day on the Art’s block couches – busy procrastinating before the long walk to the Lecky ahead – I hear the familiar natter of French students nearby. My days on exchange in Paris still fresh in my mind, I turn to see two quintessential Erasmus kids arguing away. They’re roaring in French, but, to my shame and despite having spent a year deciphering this stuff, I don’t have a clue what they are on about.

I’ve always wondered what these Erasmus kids get up to when they’re not in lectures, pretending to understand. I used to imagine them all living in tenement flats somewhere off Parnell Street, like some messed up adaptation of a Séan O’Casey play. I know they smoke (loads), but do they drink?

My dislike of the library is great this year and I begin to reflect on my Erasmus in Paris, to see if I could transpose myself into their shoes to answer my questions. For the postlecture gargle we’d head to “Chez George”: cheap wine in the company of rowdy Italians. The ceilings were

dangerously low, the chairs were falling apart and the only choonage to be had was what can only be described as Jewish Trad music: not your ordinary Dublin snug. The whole eccentricity of it coupled with total anonymity made me feel like a real Ernest Hemmingway: a well-educated ponce enjoying his Parisian adventure. My French acquaintances were quite few

“College has always been the promse lad for Leaving Cert students: a place of Dutch Gold, naked women and warm apple pie.” but I didn’t mind. Sciences Po, my host Institution, was a pretty intense place to go for Erasmus, let alone fulltime, and if the locals weren’t exactly waving their berets in welcome it was quite understandable.

This is not to say that I was confined

Mark Aherne ponders the benefits of Erasmus students both here and abroad to English-speaking students, I actually spent most of my time with Italians and Spanish. They have terrible English, great French and are well up for the craic: just what you need for a healthy Erasmus in France.

It is hard to remember my reasons for going on Erasmus (probably because it was a requirement of my course) but retrospectively I can think of some really splendid answers. College has always been the promise land for Leaving Cert students: a place of Dutch Gold, naked women and warm apple pie. But when the last tinny is drank, the women are all dressed and enough pies have been desecrated, you realise that your CV has little more to show for it than “awarded J1 visa for two consecutive years”. To my enduring credit I never lowered myself to join the great circle-jerk of society life.

Nor did I apply for any internship in Coffee Making at KPMG or raise enough money to perform the ultimate act of charity that is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I did, however, “gain a strong capacity to adapt to and work in an unfamiliar environment, become more outgoing and able to engage with

people using a second language, build up a network of contacts across Europe and the wider world, etc.” If God had a

“I’ve always wondered what these Erasmus kids get up to when they’re not in lectures, pretending to understand.”

CV, Erasmus would be on it.

All I can say for sure is that Erasmus was the best experiences of my life and, having benefitted from a grant of over two thousand Euros, I assure you that there are still ways of milking our European sugar-daddy.

In all honesty my Erasmus year was a chance to see what living outside Ireland was like, and I liked it. It mightn’t make for a great slogan, it might seem defeatist and it might be that Rachel Barry doesn’t like it, but I want education AND emigration.

Journalists should think before they write Sarah Clarkin outlines the danger of uninformed comment in media

N

ancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” message is alive and well in Ireland today, except now, it is not just drugs we are asking people to simply reject, but the ability for drug users to become parents as well.

The arguments for the sterilisation of drug addicts, and indeed any addicts at all, have been around for sometime, and they are gathering pace in Ireland today, even making it into the Irish Independent last week. Moderate readers were forced to read Ian O’Doherty’s ridiculous claim that rendering “junkies” unable to reproduce would make economic sense, whilst simultaneously declaring that his suggestions were not based upon moral lines.

The allegation that his suggestion was not a moral one is not even the most revolting piece in the article. His constant referral to drug users as “junkies” has dangerous social consequences for this island as a whole. Name-calling is typical of this line of argument, and is of course obligatory to its success. Degrading those who you deem to be your enemies, or wish to make enemies of the state, calls for the use of a deprecating name, the creation of a harmful persona and the manufacturing of a potentially terrifying legacy if the perceived enemies are not treated with in the manner the author deems suitable. In this case, drug users

“It is an established fact that in times of hardship and recession hard-line views flourish.”

are labelled “junkies”. O’Doherty claims that he is unable to see where the harm lies in this term, as it is all these “scum” deserve. The harmful persona cultivated is a person who steals for a quick fix, one whom you could never trust not to act violently, those with no loyalty to anyone, except perhaps the evil drug dealers. In the midst of an economic crisis, O’Doherty goes for the proverbial jugular vein by asserting that these “junkie scum” are a drain on our society.

In a follow on article, during which O’Doherty weakly attempts to legitimise his stance, by professing that only foreigners were upset by his views, he appears bemused by comparisons to Hitler, Stalin and Mao, recorded fans of eugenics. It is an established fact that in times of hardship and recession, hard-line views flourish, views which are potentially detrimental to civilised society, yet views such as O Doherty’s need to be tackled before they gain momentum. It is neither right nor reasonable to target a sub-section of society’s most disadvantaged merely because they offended you, and to quite literally demonise them in the national press.

The temperament in Ireland at the moment rests on a knife edge. While provoking hatred against those who are most vulnerable may seem attractive to journalists, who wish to boost their readership by courting controversy, this practice should be avoided. The recent history of the eugenics movement has shown how revolting the results can be.

The abuse directed at the Abenaki tribe and their perceived “degenerative genes” in Vermont throughout the 1930s is only one example.

Yet, the crux of the matter is that

“It is neither right nor reasonable to target a sub-section of society’s most disadvantaged because they offended you.” we have been here before in Ireland.

For years, the State sponsored the Catholic Church to decide upon who were fit parents, and hundreds and thousands of children were taken from their parents and placed in industrial schools. Although these religious houses were dubbed orphanages at the time, this was not always to be the case. With the bare facts laid out, it leads for petrifying reading. Many of these children had parents, but parents who were deemed to be unfit, parents who were, like O’Doherty claims of drug users, perceived to be a drain on society. Because the Church, with the explicit backing of the State, successfully denigrated the status of the children in industrial schools so much, questions regarding their treatment were dissuaded from entering the public agora.

By claiming that sterilising those who resort to stealing to fund their drug habits would ease the financial drain upon the country, it is clear that O’Doherty doesn’t quite grasp even the basics of economic principles. However, of greater issue than O’Doherty’s distinct lack of economic knowledge, is the fact that his moral compass seems to be worryingly astray. Much like Gandhi’s eye for an eye leaving us all blind, if a society were to sterilise all those deemed “undesirable”, where is the line to be drawn?

Lack of tenure enemy of academic progress A letter to the Irish Times by 160 signatories insisting on the link between academic freedom and tenure has given rise to some unflattering comments about the life of ease and security in the ivory tower.

I can only say that my own experience has been very different.

I was appointed as one of five Junior Lecturers in English in 1968. All five of us were involved in demanding new teaching duties at the same time as completing our postgraduate theses. These requirements were often in open conflict and impossible to reconcile. One lecturer in French was sacked in 1971 and then subsequently reappointed. One lecturer in English committed suicide in 1978. Three of my colleagues from 1968 resigned mid-career (in 1986, 1995 and 1997 respectively).

The career of my former wife (a distinguished Pascal and La Rochefoucauld scholar) came to an

15 March, 2011

abrupt halt in 1985 when she failed for a third time since 1979 to secure the appointment she had held in 1969-1978 before being elected to a Fellowship at Oxford. She paid the ultimate price for her political innocence. I do not need to go into the circumstances of my own career other than to say that I was

a view from new square

gerald morgan

fortunate to survive until retirement.

I do not know where the idea has arisen that lecturing is straightforward after the preparation of one’s first few lecture series. It is not easy to master a subject at university level and one can never have confidence in one’s infallibility. I recall walking through the woods near Haslemere in Surrey in 1986 wrestling with the difficulties of Troilus’s speech on free will and predestination in Troilus and Criseyde.

I did not understand it perfectly (no one did at the time) and I found it difficult even to clarify the points of difficulty.

But I had to give a lecture on it within a few days.

Students are unforgiving in lectures by displays of boredom or by prolonged absences. A successful lecture is a triumph and in my case was always followed by physical and mental exhaustion. The demands of research at the highest international level are yet more severe. How to guard oneself

against the real possibility of the failure of articles submitted to the top journals? My method, albeit imperfect, was to line up two more journals in the case of rejection. Three failures meant a need for radical rethinking. Many good scholars with years of academic success behind them may have to realise in their forties that they will never be regarded among the very best in their field.

Thus academics are subject to continuous and daunting pressures.

Even (and perhaps especially) success in itself is a danger. Those with real originality likely to transform their subjects are vulnerable to authoritarian managers whose methods are determined by the market place rather than by the disciplines of scholarship.

Bureaucrats with unrealistic targets for intellectual production are now the enemy of intellectual progress. gmorgan1066@gmail.com

USA

“Workers must be championed for economic recovery” If we needed just one more reason to fear global climate change, we’ve finally got one.

Rising temperatures now threaten that piping hot mug of liquid wakefulness, coffee! According to recent reports, harvests of Arabica coffee beans, which account for most of the world’s coffee consumption, have plummeted hugely, perhaps as much as seventy percent.

In the mountainous forests of Colombia, increasing temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, and climate more hospitable to pests have had an extremely detrimental effect on the production of coffee beans. What’s more, developing countries like China and Brazil have, with an emerging class of skilled workers, developed their own irrepressible java habits.

It is certainly a feat of the imagination to envision a world in which high quality coffee is not available at reasonable prices, but this is exactly the damnable situation facing all fellow addicts of the bean. I must admit, I don’t mind the attendant news, that over-priced hellhole dens of homogenous coffee consumptions such as Starbucks are taking a hit in the profit margin. But if there ever comes a day when I must think twice about tipping just a bit more ground bean into my press café, and instead have to settle for a cold shower and a slap in the face to rouse me from grogginess, I might have to think twice about getting out of bed at all.

In the wake of near worldwide financial collapse, governments across the globe are trying to find ways of balancing budgets and getting citizens back to work.

But in a state rarely considered aside from its cheese production, injustice has prevailed in the name of fiscal ideology.

From the beginning of February, government employees including teachers, railroad workers and public transportation employees occupied the state capitol in Wisconsin. They were protesting measures proposed by Governor Scott Walker, a Tea Party politician only three months on the job, to strip labor unions of their right to collectively bargain. That is, their rights to function as a union at all.

Walker maintained his position even as workers agreed to pay cuts and benefit reductions. All the while, the Governor decried the state’s public debt and a need to balance the budget.

But, on March 9 Walker and 19 Republican state senators proved just how much they cared for the average working people of Wisconsin, while belying even their claims to fiscal responsibility.

In a vote that excluded all Democrats, and lasted only thirty minutes with no debate, the Republicans managed to push through, on a technicality, measures that all but dismantle workers’ rights to collective bargaining. They were able to do so by removing any provisions in the bill that related directly to appropriations.

That is, they removed entirely the motive of balancing the budget and used the vote to directly attack the labor unions. In thirty minutes and without debate, a century of gains in workers’ rights were reversed.

Let the galling situation in Wisconsin remind all ailing governments that economic recovery and stability will occur by championing middle class workers, by valuing and encouraging their productivity and improvement, not by trampling them under foot.

Jonathan Creasy

18 Editorial

Head to Head: Social networking

Trinity News Est 1953 towards some revival of the collegiate spirit, which modern conditions tend to discourage

t

New government, old prejudices It may be a new government, but old prejudices regrettably remain. This week, controversy over female cabinet appointments is only the most recent incidence of gender inequality in the Irish workplace. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore – and Taoiseach Enda Kenny by extension – have been facing a PR crisis amid accusations of sexism in the allocation ministerial positions.

Both party leaders were quick to refute the claims, but it is clear female TDs did not fare well in making the ministerial cut. Out of 15 ministers, only 2 are women.

Female numbers in the cabinet have dropped after the election, despite overall results yielding a marginal increase in female representation from 23 to 25 members.

Despite their pre-election commitments to change and reform, both Fine Gael and Labour hold true to the government’s “Old Boys’ Club” legacy.

At the centre of the controversy is deputy Labour leader, Joan Burton. Despite her experience as the Spokesperson in Finance, Burton was awarded the more stereotypically feminine role of Minister for Social Protection. Brendan Howlin, who has previously served as a Minister for Environment and Minister for Health, will instead head the Department of Public Expenditure.

This is not the first time gender has been an issue for Burton. Last November, then-Taoiseach Brian Cowen was forced to apologise to the Labour TD after calling on Gilmore “rein her in”. Burton’s reply was particularly salient: “Are you going to say that’s women for you?

There are few women in this house. The Taoiseach is not going to reign me in.” The incident is testament to an environment where to express one’s opinion is an inherently masculine activity. Outspoken women are anomalous; they are to be reigned in.

Across the sea, British cabinet positions are almost exclusively jobs for boys. The ministerial conveyer-belt of Eton, Oxbridge and Parliament leaves little room for minority representation. Out of 23 members of the Cabinet Portfolio, 4 are women. Among the positions occupied by women are the Minister for Women and Equality, and Minister for Environment, Rural and Food Affairs. The coalition’s agenda indicates a distinct lack of female input. There is a striking absence of compassion in some of the budgetary measures that have been recently implemented. Cuts in social welfare, childcare support and social care recruitment will inevitably hit females the hardest. There is a fundamental contradiction between David Cameron’s push for a “Big Society”, and public sector cuts that affect single mothers and women in caring professions. It indicates a worrying trend towards a “Bigot Society”, which can only widen the gender income equality gap.

The Irish ministerial allocation fiasco is only part of a wider malaise in employment equality. Here in Trinity, females make up 2/3 of students and 53% of employees.

Over half the lecturers in Trinity are female, but the number of women lecturers above the Bar drops dramatically by half. Only 8% of female staff occupy a Head of School position, compared to 82% of men. A mere one in five Fellows of the College are women. The College Equality Office says these figures reflect a “marked labour segregation” by gender. Female staff in Trinity are undoubtedly underrepresented and, figures suggest, struggle to be promoted. Yet the Equality Office are making some progress in rectifying the situation. Crèche opening hours have been extended, whilst a recruitment monitoring programme has been put in place to monitor equal employment.

At a time when these services are being cut in Ireland, the future for women’s employment is uncertain. We have certainly come far in the last few decades. Trinity graduates from the 1960s would remember a time when women had to leave the College campus before 6pm.

Trinity Hall was originally a female-only residence; set out in Rathmines to keep women away from male students on campus. But as our incoming cabinet demonstrates, the equality game has yet to be won.

“The privacy risks associated are greatly outweighed by the benefits” Roisin Costello

The arguments of breach of privacy and of the proliferation of mindless gossip have been almost shorn of any meaning, such is their over-use in the discussion of social networking sites. But I ask this: were these arguments ever anything but superficially appealing rhetoric? Or were they legitimate examples of the supposed detriments of the social networks which have come to define communications technology in the last ten years?

I argue that although there are risks associated with the privacy of information on such sites, these issues are greatly outweighed by the benefits that social networking has brought.

Supply and Demand. At its most basic, social networking is about nothing more poetic or less prosaic than those great predictors of the free market. In an age where we are increasingly uncomfortable with ignorance, we demand access to knowledge. Social networks supply this demand.

As the generation who grew up shoulderto-shoulder with the internet, we were the first children baptised in the new wave of instant global communications and twenty four hour media. We crave information, are outraged by the idea that there is a grain of knowledge which has been squirreled away from us and see it as only logical that whatever others place on the internet can no longer be considered sacred.

It has become knowledge to quench our thirst.

Perhaps more importantly, we take it as a given that we will receive no more privacy than that behemoth of detail gives others. Indeed we are fully aware that we may receive none at all.

In an age where we demand knowledge, the internet through social networking sites supplies it. To opt into this system, use the knowledge it supplies unquestioningly and then to turn around and cry foul when information you consented to give it is broadcast is facetious

at best and hypocritical at worst. Membership of such sites is not mandatory. You opt to join the site in the knowledge that it is a network founded on the exchange of information.

You cannot therefore turn around when the information you provided is used in a way you do not like. You were responsible for putting the information into the forum, you considered the benefits of doing so greater than the detriment of abstaining, you took that risk and should there be consequences you alone are responsible for dealing with them.

The issue of privacy dovetails suitably with my next point, that of freedom of expression. It would be trite to say that social networking sites have acted as a vehicle for social change, however it would be perhaps more reprehensible to ignore the power that these networks have given to the individual to voice their concerns and opinions in an international forum where somebody is always listening.

However banal it may sound, social networking sites are the most widely used, the most frequently consulted and the most accessible of forums. While this may be lamented by some I would hold, conversely, that it means they can be a powerful tool for communicating to a global audience the ideas, the events and the actions which would previously have gone unheard.

The protests following the Iranian elections in June 2009 were broadcast by protestors through Twitter to a global audience in seconds circumventing government control over phones and the media and compelling the international community to take heed. It is this potential for good, this vindication of freedom of expression and of ideals that the social networking sites allow that makes them so very valuable to our society.

Knowledge is power, but today social networks are the currency it is traded in.

“Online, you cannot hear a laugh, see a smile or share a knowing look” Christopher Flood

The internet has its dangers. We know this. We have all heard the harrowing reports: the child who died whilst its parents looked after a virtual baby; the journalist who followed a woman for an entire day simply by tracking her online updates; the suicide pacts; the predators, child-molesters and rapists who lurk beyond the screen. We know that the internet involves risks but we choose to ignore the risks. Generally, we feel safe and in control, even empowered, when we log on to social networking sites like Facebook. But we are not in control.

Facebook does not facilitate autonomy.

You might feel that you are somehow uncaged whilst on Facebook. Perhaps you say things online that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face, and somehow you feel liberated. To escape the outside world and possess an online identity in a seemingly neutral, confined space can be a liberating experience but you do not have any real autonomy whilst on Facebook. Even if you choose not to display your personal details on your profile page, Facebook still has them, stored away from when you first registered.

Our lives are our own. I don’t think we always realise that or appreciate it. I certainly don’t.

Privacy is something to value. It is not a given, and, like the vote, it is wasted if not exercised.

Of course it can be enticing to share every aspect of your life with hundreds, if not thousands, of people, as part of an attentionseeking, self-conscious circle. However, there is no reason for you to do this. There is an expectation that you must have a Facebook account (how else would you know what time the party starts?...) but honestly, you do not have to. I was never a Bebo conscript and now it’s dead. No causal link there, but it makes me

feel better. Why not actually live more of your short life and share it with whomever you see fit, face-to-face? It’s as if Facebook has claimed ownership over us. We feel compelled to give it what it wants. Surely it would be better for us to take ownership, even just mental ownership, of our own lives and our own thoughts and feelings.

Today, we seem to place less and less value on actual human contact. Humanity itself is important. On Facebook, you cannot hear a laugh, see a smile or share a knowing look. The real “roflcopters” are to be had in the real world, the world outside of that bright screen with its addictive red notification symbols. Facebook, along with its weird sisters, are no substitute for in-the-flesh interaction. Take humour as an example. You cannot appreciate humour fully online. It is not the same. We all have friends who make us laugh uncontrollably. Sometimes all it takes is a dead-eyed glance amidst some dark words for me to break down, crying with laughter. These communications are silent.

They cannot be seen on Facebook and no, a smiley or emoticon does not adequately fill the void... Facebook is diminishing human emotion.

I can’t really lecture anyone. I use Facebook more than the average person should. I do not expect to initiate an exodus from the land of Zuckerberg, but I do feel that we should at least think about how we use online social media, what we choose to share, how much of our privacy and autonomy we are prepared to sacrifice. I hear Lent is underway. I think I’ll deactivate my Facebook account for these forty days and nights and see how long I last. After that maybe I’ll delete it.

Maybe...

TRINITY NEWS

19 opinion@trinitynews.ie

Letters letters@trinitynews.ie

Roll up for the honour roll Madam – I would like to draw the attention of your readers to the new Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour, a scheme introduced this year to recognise student participation in extracurricular activity.

Trinity College students engage in a great variety of extracurricular, voluntary activities both inside and outside College. Voluntary activity is an all-embracing concept that encompasses unpaid formal and non-formal, social, cultural, political, inter-personal and caring activities.

College values the experience and learning opportunities offered by involvement in all voluntary activities.

The benefits of this learning might be entirely personal to the student, but there is also the potential to develop civic-mindedness and to be beneficial to either or both the College and wider communities. The learning derived from participation in extracurricular, voluntary activity may be enhanced through critical reflection on that experience.

The new Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour primarily serves to facilitate students in recognising the learning they have gained through involvement

Letters should be sent to letters@ trinitynews.ie. We reserve the right to edit submissions for style and length.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Trinity News.

in extracurricular, voluntary activities by providing them with an opportunity for reflecting on their experience; secondarily it serves to acknowledge the contribution which this experience has enabled the student to make to his/her organisation or peers, or the College or the wider community.

The criteria for inclusion on the Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour are as follows: 20 hours or more of voluntary activity with a College sports club or student society or with a community organisation outside the University between April 1st 2010 and 24th March 2011, verification of this commitment of hours by the club, society or organisation, completion of a reflective application form through which students articulate their objectives and expectations of the activity and also any learning derived from the activity.

More details about the scheme are available here - http://www.tcd.ie/ Community/students/roll-honour/ The deadline for receipt of applications is 24 March 2011 and the application form is available online.

The presentation of certificates to those students included on the roll will take place at 3.00 p.m. on Thursday, 7 April in the Dining Hall.

Yours, etc., Gerry Whyte Dean of Students

A student-friendly pension The pension system is divided into three pillars; state, occupational, and private provision. In a country with a Pay-As-You-Go system where the current taxpayers pay for those who are pensioners presently, state provision can be problematic. In this light many are turning to the third pillar, private pension provision. The government has made some attempt to facilitate this shift through the use of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs), but are these the only alternatives available to us? Whilst watching an episode of Black Books, where Bernard and Manning attempt to recreate the fine-wine intend as a gift for the Pope, I found myself considering the value of investing in commodities.

It has become rather fashionable of late to diversify ones portfolio by investing in wine. Furthermore, the appeal of adding a wine cellar to your pension fund is intuitive inasmuch as its value is reputed to grow with age.

This is in part due to supply-side factors. This is the kind of investment which appeals to students, the trick here is to remember not to bring the aforementioned fine-wine to Friday’s house party or drink it during the romantic meal you forgot to buy wine for.

Alternatively, if you’re an Arts Block hipster you might prefer to invest in art. There are a number of reason to do so aside from the obvious, “ooh pretty!”. This has been advocated by business men informed by studies such as that which was conducted by the Harvard Business School which

led to the creation of the Fernwood Art Investments. Additionally this kind of investment has been suggested by the likes of Hemmingway, who writes about Miss Stein’s instruction on the matter in A Moveable Feast. Miss Stein, in the fashion conscious Paris warns the author that “You can either buy clothes or buy pictures”. At New York University’s Stern School, Professors Moses, and Mei have compiled the “Mei Mosses index”. This has permitted them to track the long-term performance of fine art, so for the BESS students among us you can track the expected rate of return on these kinds of investments, with the Mei Moses index placing an emphasis on those artists whose oeuvres get the best prices at auction.

Nevertheless, this form of investment is not without risk. Notably, there is the issue that art is less liquid than say, instance stocks. Indeed there is also the matter that demand for works of art can at times fall prey to the whims of the fashionable people who may change with every season.

If I cannot rely on the first two pillars of state, then I must make private provisions when I attain the means to do so. I will swap my pop art posters for tableaus and my M&S bottle of red with the “meal deal” for a well-stocked cellar. At the end of the day, if the value of my investments depreciates, the art will look well hanging on the wall, and the wine will taste fantastic when uncorked.

Ciara Finlay

A right royal welcome from Trinity QUEEN Elizabeth II will visit Dublin in May. Will she come to Trinity College? The college often hosts visiting dignitaries, and had in the past a long custom of welcoming kings and queen.

The Queen may, however, prefer to avoid visiting what the simple masses choose to see as a bastion of the old Ascendancy in Ireland.

(It is worth noting that this will not be the first royal visit to Ireland in a century, unless one considers the northern counties to be on some other island. It will not even have been 100 years since a British monarch was welcomed in Dublin: King George V visited in July 1911, so 99 years and 10 months will be more accurate.)

We have one previous visit to thank for a silly story still passed around. Queen Victoria, it is said, on being shown the Book of Kells during her 1849 visit, did not recognise it for what it was, and assumed she was being asked to sign her name in a visitors’ book.

She dutifully appended her signature to the priceless book. Sadly for the tour guides, the tale is false. The queen and her husband, Prince Albert, actually signed a relatively modern flyleaf. In 1861 Prince Alfred added his name to this page, which was removed in 1953 when the book was rebound.

The last visit to the college by a British monarch was on July 8, 1911. King George V and his queen consort ar-

Old Trinity Peter henry 15 March, 2011

The Public Editor It is fashionable these days to study how equally the sexes constitute the media, no doubt under the assumption that more balanced coverage will result from an even devision of writing assignments.

Certainly, it seems sensible to assign articles to each sex according to the statistics which make up a publication’s readership. In the case of Trinity News, which, since it caters to a college audience split more or less equally along the gender fault line, a fifty/fifty devision should logically therefore be sought.

So, with a general sense of the desirability of equal representation, and a genuine curiosity about how we would fare when evaluated under the rubric of sex, I set about going through this year’s issues of Trinity News in order to determine the proportion of articles written by our male and female contributors.

In order to do this, I had to assign certain perimeters in terms of the definition of the word “article.” I chose not to include puzzles, the editorial, the numerology, or the ‘This Week They Said’ section. I counted every other article, and where one article was written by two or more people, each writer was counted individually. Where there were many parts to an article, as is common in the news-in-brief type pieces, but where all were written by a single author, I decided to count it only once.

These were my findings: Male Issue 1 55% Issue 2 47% Issue 3 48% Issue 4 42% Issue 5 54% Issue 6 47% Issue 7 48% Average 49%

rived at half past three, and were received at the entrance to the Dining Hall. The Weekly Irish Times gave a description of the visit, which, it said, was attended by “a large and fashionable gathering”.

To keep numbers down, entrance to the college was by ticket only. It must have been a spectacle: prior to the royal couple’s arrival, 350 members of the newly formed Dublin University Officers’ Training Corps marched into Parliament Square, “with their pipers”.

The Weekly Irish Times piece tells us that at half past three the visitors arrived: “Their Majesties drove into the quadrangle amid vociferous cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the Band of the Buffs [a military band] playing the national anthem.” This adoration was not peculiar to Trinity: the couple had been mobbed by fans outside the college earlier in the day, and their visit was met with widespread enthusiasm.

The welcoming party was the caput of the University of Dublin: Chancellor the Earl of Iveagh, Provost Traill, Senior Master Non-Regent Westropp Roberts, and other members of the senate.

The queen consort was presented with

a bouquet of flowers by Olive Purser on behalf of the female students. (Miss Purser had been the first female Scholar several years previously, and published a history of women at Trinity in 1954.)

Lord Iveagh read a suitably welcoming speech to which the king replied: “As a graduate of Trinity I feel at home within your famous walls, and claim a right to share in those great traditions to which you have so properly referred.”

Was the king a Trinity graduate? He is not listed among the honorary degree recipients in the 1912 Red Calendar.

“Trinity College, wisely governed, will, I am sure, always continue to hold its high place in the estimation both of Ireland and the world. I am particularly glad to hear what you say as to your recently established officers’ training corps. May success ever attend its efforts.”

A cheer went up at this comment and, finishing his remarks, the king inspected the members of the OTC, accompanied by the Provost. The corps was to be the only university OTC to see “action” during the period of the Great War, as they were called upon in

1916.

During his inspection, the unfortunate queen consort Mary was given a detailed description of the university mace by Dr Mahaffy, and she claimed to be “much interested in its design and style of manufacture”.

The Weekly Irish Times report concludes by noting that the visit “will take its place in the records of the university as one of the most interesting and pleasing events in the history an institution famous for its learning”.

One would expect so, yet King George’s visit to Trinity is not mentioned at all in the histories of McDowell and Webb, Bailey, or the recently deceased Luce.

It would be an honour for Trinity College to welcome Queen Elizabeth II in May. One wonders if the Provost or the Board have at least issued the necessary invitation. Perhaps, like Victoria and Albert, she and the Duke of Edinburgh will add their names to that old Book of Kells flyleaf. And one hopes they would receive a welcome similar to that enjoyed by King George V and Mary. pehenry@tcd.ie

Female 45% 53% 52% 58% 46% 53% 52% 51%

I can only conclude that the paper represents both genders very well, and though I am not so naive to assume that this puts the balance of our coverage beyond doubt, we can only take these numbers as a good sign. Both sexes are well served by the staff of a paper which mirrors the college population, as indicated by the fact that an equal number of men and women continue to sign up to write for it.

I also think that the statistics show a healthy degree of fluctuation from issue to issue, indicating that a quota system is not at work. The balance is achieved gradually, over the course of the year, and hence indicating that an editor is not forced to think about the gender of the reporter before agreeing to run their story.

However, this also means that if a reader only read one issue of the paper in a year, then they may well be getting a skewed picture of the world.

For example, if the conventional wisdom about the inherent virtue of a gender equilibrium is true, then a reader solely of issue 4 was getting a decisively female perspective.

Likewise, issue 1 provided a male view.

If this all seems like a reductive way of evaluating a newspaper, and I admit it probably is, I maintain that it is probably a good idea to run a quick check like this every so often. Knowing that a balance is quietly being achieved should, I hope, enable the paper to continue to go about its business of assigning talented journalists to cover worthy stories with greater confidence. My only advice: carry on.

Cillian Murphy, Public Editor public@trinitynews.ie

20 Business business@trinitynews.ie

student managed fund

Spreading the bets Spread trading is the growing vehicle through which both career investors and students alike are expressing their views on financial markets. Offering tax free gains and requiring comparatively small start up capital, it is clear why it is becoming increasingly popular.

Effectively a bet on any financial instrument, the platform was the inspiration for popular sportsbook website Betfair.

Each position has the potential for exponential returns, but be warned should the market move against you, exponential losses are also possible.

Stop loss positions are a key feature of any position, automatically closing a position at a certain price after it has incurred losses. On the upside, these are also available on to lock in profits accrued from a successful bet. In addition, a new feature has been introduced to limit loss risks. A limited liability account prohibits the account holder from having positions extending past the account balance, protecting them from a large amount of the potential downside without hindering the upside.

The Irish Institute of Financial Trading has been founded to teach the correct spread trading approach.

Headed by the former chief trader at HSBC and backed by Money Markets International, it is the first of its kind in Europe. Following the success of similar enterprises in the US, its popularity is growing in the capital as the economy has given up on some of Ireland’s brightest. So confident of their process, they offered Trinity Investors Society two places on their diploma course. Many applicants submitted CVs and cover letters and the successful candidates were chosen by committee decision. In the end John Murphy and John Garvin, both postgraduates in M.Sc. Finance, were chosen. “I was skeptical at first”, says Murphy, “but from the outset the IIFT weren’t trying to sell me anything, and they were certainly not making empty promises. We were presented with a variety of strategies based on our risk aversion, and we both quickly realized the edge we were gaining on the rest of the market. It’s clear now that there is no simple model which can beat the market.”

Patrick Lynch

The end of the sugar daddy?

Marius Nigond focuses on UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play regulations and their possible affect on Premier League clubs

B

ack in September 2009, UEFA’s Executive Committee unanimously approved a new ground breaking financial framework to come into effect from the start of the 2012-13 season which could fundamentally change the face of European football. Under these new rules and using a concept of football-relevant income and expenses, clubs will have to balance their books or break even over a three year period.

This would introduce more rationality and discipline in club football finances, decrease inflationary pressures within the game, provide a more level playing field within which clubs can compete and hopefully protect the long term viability of European club football. A Club Financial Control Panel (CFCP) has been set up to monitor clubs’ financial behaviour and any failure to comply with these regulations will ultimately lead to a ban from all European competitions.

How easily clubs will adapt to these regulations remains to be seen. In 2009, 47% of European clubs reported losses and around 20% spent over 120% of their revenue. This is particularly striking in England, where the rise of the “sugar daddy” and huge amounts of cash they are able to provide have caused extreme transfer and wage inflation. This has created a vicious circle within the league as other clubs attempt to follow suit, with wage inflation standing at a staggering 18% for 2009. With the difficult market conditions created by the wider economic downturn and

SS The new regulations could have wide-reaching effects on clubs

the subsequent negative impact on revenue generation and availability of financing, English clubs really seem to be in a league of their own.

If we were to look at the top seven Premier League clubs for the 2009-10 season who qualified for European competitions, we would see that only three of them actually broke even.

Of the four clubs who didn’t, namely Man City, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool, three of them are funded by rich owners. Liverpool are crippled by their considerable loan burden arising from the disastrous Gillett and Hicks era. However, even this is misleading, as the profits of Manchester United and Tottenham are only due to significant player sales, which is unsustainable in the long run if they wish to keep their star players on the pitch.

United’s crippling £70 million interest payments were only balanced through its £80 million sale of Cristiano Ronaldo whilst Tottenham’s £57 million worth of player sales just about accounted for £38 million in amortisation costs. After years of

“In 2009, just under half of European clubs reported losses, and one in five spent over 120 percent of their revenue for that year.”

treading along a prudent financial path, Arsenal is the only club which reported healthy and sustainable profits. According to UEFA, it is the only English club which would meet the financial fair play criteria today.

So what would these regulations mean for English clubs? Well, first of all it would make Manchester City’s recent £300 million spending spree almost impossible as it would limit the amount of money rich owners can inject into their clubs.

Under the concept of “relevant income and expenditure” only a limited amount of money pumped in by owners would be taken into account under clubs’ profit and loss statement.

The CFCP would ensure that owners wouldn’t be able to inject money in alternative ways such as through indirect sponsorship deals or paying over the odds for an executive box.

Under this same concept, sensible long term investments such as building up a youth academy or incurring debts to fund a new stadium wouldn’t be taken into account.

Although there are question marks over UEFA’s power to stop clubs competing in European competitions and talk of disgruntled clubs breaking away from UEFA, this move should

be embraced by all football lovers as it would go a long way to eliminate the influence of rich owners and the “financial doping” they bring to the sport. It should help prevent the financial difficulties and resulting fall

“These moves would go a long way to eliminate the influence of rich owners and the ‘financial doping’ they bring to the sport.” from grace, as experienced by smaller clubs such as Portsmouth and Leeds in recent years. It would also help bring some harmonisation to the way football clubs across Europe are run, providing a more level playing field both within and across different countries. Once taken into account, all these measures should hopefully reduce inflationary pressures within the sport, eliminate the irrational business environment football clubs currently operate in, and protect the long term viability of the beautiful sporting platform that is European football.

The planet of the guerrillas Cost-effective advertising is the new flavour of the month. Sadhbh Byrne investigates

T

o the common or garden student, guerrilla warfare’s impact on their lives may appear only to extend as far as the ubiquitous tattered Che Guevara poster in the kitchen (or perhaps, for a particularly “alt” student, a Vive Le Che t-shirt). The term guerrilla, however, is also used to describe a type of marketing– one which defines itself by its omnipresence in our lives.

Guerrilla marketing, as coined by Jay Conrad Levinson (author of the popular 1984 book on the subject) is “a body of unconventional ways of pursuing conventional goals”, with an unexpected location being key. The marketing scheme relies on human resources like time, energy and imagination rather than a large budget.

Thus it is for the most part utilised by small businesses, although it is increasingly being employed by larger corporations. The term is also used loosely to describe alternative media, such as viral marketing through social networks, astroturfing, and reverse graffiti.

Reverse graffiti, also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing or clean advertising, is a method of creating temporary images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt

from a surface. Due to the temporary and environmentally friendly nature of this method, it is growing wildly in popularity, and can be seen in wide scale campaigns such as the Miller Genuine Draft ‘Clean Streets’ TV ad campaign of 2010. The British artist Paul Curtis, in an interview with the

“The marketing scheme relies on human resources like time, energy and imagination rather than a large budget.”

New York Times said: “Once you do this, you make people confront whether or not they like people cleaning walls or if they really have a problem with personal expression.”

The question remains: are guerrilla tactics more pleasant to the eye than traditional forms of advertising?

Advertisements were once delineated from art, their goal being to sell you something, whereas the goal of art is less easy to define. Considering the litany of corporate logos and slogans

that invade personal space, it must be asked: at what point do they become graffiti? They seem to fit some people’s definitions of visual litter: they are bright, ever-present, distracting and invasive. If guerrilla artists get paid to put up graffiti, and if corporations can put up ads without paying, where does guerrilla art stop and guerrilla advertising begin? Perhaps the most confusing part of this debate is the street artists who have gained acceptance, popularity, and fame for their urban art. Artists Banksy and Neckface, once considered criminals, now enjoy successful careers as artists.

Is it a case of them selling out, or an indication of burgeoning creativity in the advertising industry?

The irony of the term “guerrilla”, espoused by many to further anticapitalist aims, is not lost on the Anti-Advertising Agency (AAA).

The organisation was established in 2004 by artist Steve Lambert, and endeavours to encourage people to “critically consider the role and strategies of today’s marketing media as well as alternatives for the public arena.”

In January 2007 a campaign by the AAA hit the streets of New York in an attempt to highlight how graffiti artists are consistently targeted by the police, while major corporate entities plaster the city with advertisements, but do not suffer any consequences.

The operation itself employed guerrilla tactics, by using black foam with messages such as “NYC’S TRUE

GRAFFITI PROBLEM” to cover back-lit displays such as bus shelters and store windows, and used the slogan: “Advertising is the vandalism of the Fortune 500”.

This incongruity is reflected in astronomical fees charged by guerrilla marketing mogul, Jay Conrad Levinson for consultations. Reportedly he is paid over $50,000 in consultation fees by firms keen to exploit the guerrilla phenomenon.

While there are many contentious issues surrounding guerrilla marketing, its innovative approach certainly appeals.

TRINITY NEWS

21 advertising@trinitynews.ie

ON CA MPUS

ON CA

15 March, 2011

22 sport features sportfeatures@trinitynews.ie

Comment

Lemaitre and the “Great White Hope” In Annecy, France, a young man watched on as Usain Bolt strolled to victory in the 100m final of the Beijing Olympics, the Jamaican finding time within his 9.69 second run to celebrate before crossing the finishing line. Two years later, Christophe Lemaitre’s name would be touted in the international press and on Internet message boards alike, inspiring writers to dust off one of sport’s most controversial titles, the “Great White Hope”.

The term can be traced to American journalist and social activist Jack London, a pioneer of commercial magazine fiction and avid boxing fan. It was London who, in 1908, called for a “Great White Hope” to challenge Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, and win the “heavyweight title... back for the white race.” This era was marked by Johnson’s domination of the sport, something that would foreshadow his successors, Joe Louis and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), while simultaneously fermenting deep animosity in the white community.

Sports promoters were thrust onto unknown territory after the AfricanAmerican’s victory and reacted by billing all subsequent boxing matches involving Johnson as “Great White Hope” fights.

The hand of undefeated former heavyweight champion, James J. Jeffries, was forced in 1910 because of extreme pressure placed on white pugilists to defeat the seemingly insuperable Johnson. Jeffries had refused to face Johnson in 1903. The return of “The Boilermaker” from the pastures of retirement caused mass hysteria throughout the boxing

community, seemingly fostering renewed hope that Johnson’s title would return to the hands of the white man. Jack London, the by-now revered social commentator, had begun to appreciate, and even praise, Johnson’s efforts in the ring, contrasting his coolness and intellectual boxing to the rash, impetuous style of his white opponents. Johnson, according to the eponymous London, was “superb. He was impregnable...as inaccessible as Mont Blanc.”

The “Fight of the Century” took place on Independence Day, 1910 in an open air ring in Reno, Nevada. Jeffries, a man who felt “obligated to the sporting public... to reclaim the heavyweight championship for the white race” was out-fought and out-thought by the stronger and more nimble Johnson.

The racial riots that followed the “Giant’s” victory marred what was a defining day in the sporting history of the African American community.

Johnson held the title for a further 5 years, defeating any pretenders to his crown, before losing to the enormous Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba after a marathon 20 round bout.

The heavyweight title once again belonged to a white man, changing hands a number of times as the popularity of the sport plummeted following the end of Jack Dempsey’s reign in 1926. The “Brown Bomber”, apart from Muhammad Ali, had arguably the largest cultural impact outside the ring of any boxer. He is widely regarded as the first African American to bridge the racial gap and achieve the status of nationwide hero in the United States. He was also instrumental in integrating the

“The newspapers did not laud Lemaitre’s individual achievement, the headlines simply read, ‘White man breaks ten-second barrier’.”

James Hussey looks at the rising career of French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre and how his to fame has led to the remergence of one of sport’s most controversial titles

game of golf, appearing in a PGA event in 1952, breaking the sport’s colour barrier in America. The title of “Great White Hope” was therefore shelved during the lifetime of the extraordinarily popular Louis, with the white community entirely happy to acknowledge the humble pugilist from Lafayette, Alabama as the champion of the world.

The mantle of “Great White Hope” lay disused from the end of Louis’s fights with Schmeling onwards. The increasing domination of African American heavyweights throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s meant the title fell out of use, eventually serving as a reminder of a bygone era of segregation and racial hatred. Why then, should the French Athletics Championships of 2010 be remarkable in such a context?

The sprinter Christophe Lemaitre blew his competition away, running

a winning race in 9.98sec to the delight of the assembled crowd. The newspapers did not laud Lemaitre’s individual achievement or mark his time as the third faster sprinter ever for his age group, the headlines read: White man breaks ten-second barrier.

“White Lightning’s” feat prompted uncomfortable topics of conversation in the French press. Le Monde, addressing the topic the day after the race, wrote: “It has launched an old and controversial debate that can be summarised by the question: Do black people run faster than white people and if so, why?”

Liberal blogs and message boards railed against the references of race as inflammatory, rabble-rousing and outof-date. The other end of the political spectrum revelled in the Annecy-born sprinter’s victory, extolling Lemaitre’s win as a triumph for the white race.

Lemaitre, when asked about his newly gained status, found the topic distasteful, adding that “talking about white sprinters, I find this absurd.” The debate did not subside however, only intensifying after the Frenchman won both 100m and 200m gold medals at last summer’s European Championships.

The inevitable parallels to Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay followed and Lemaitre was quick to reject any comparisons with the foremost sprinters of today.

A number of mainstream sports sites have, since Lemaitre’s emergence, dedicated “Top 10 Lists” to current “Great White Hopes” listing Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Kevin Love as similar “hopes” in what they term as “a world dominated by black athletes”.

The questionable taste of such lists and the journalists that write them only act to fuel the debate surrounding the Frenchman’s achievements.

e “When it comes to the future, therepar en,

let it hap ho w e os th : le p eo p of s nd ki e re th who e os th d an , en p p ha it e ak m those who wonder what happened.”

John M. Richardson Jr.

Take control of your future and come to DCU Business School’s Postgraduate Open Evening on Tuesday, 22nd March from 6.00pm - 7.30pm.

DCU Business School P27607 DCU DCUBS Open Eve. TrinNews 205x300 AD.indd 1

You can go anywhere from here. www.dcu.ie/dcubs 11/03/2011 15:13

TRINITY NEWS

College sport 23 collegesport@trinitynews.ie

Trinity Soccer up the tempo

DUFC stylish win of Frank Russel trophy

Michael Gaskin Deputy College Sport Editor

Following on from being eliminated at the Quarter Final Stage of the Collingwood Cup the previous day

by University of Ulster Jordanstown, Trinity College played the University of Limerick for a place in the final of the Farquhar Cup. The game took place on a heavy Santry pitch that continued to cut up badly as the match progressed. Both sides came out with positive game plans following on from their disappointing exits the previous day, which looked to get the ball in behind the defences at every possible opportunity.

The tempo over the opening twenty minutes was fast and furious. Each team looked to exploit the speed of their wingers down the much smoother wide sections of the pitch. In comparison to the churned-up middle section of the pitch, it was like playing on silk. Trinity had the better of the opening chances against a physically imposing UL side.

With twenty-five minutes of the first half gone and both sides locked at nil-nil, Trinity were awarded a penalty after an awful back-pass to the UL keeper. He dragged down Trinity’s oncoming centre forward. Frank Wilson stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way when he blasted the ball into the bottom left corner.

After taking the lead, Trinity took complete control of the game.

Captain Conall O’Shaughnessy was given free rein to come forward from centre back at will. Further chances followed shortly afterwards for Trinity to extend their lead. The best of these fell to Thomas Wylie, who instead of shooting, decided to lay the ball off The chance was then lost after being intercepted and cleared by the UL defence.

With Frank Wilson popping up all over the forward line and Conor Molloy and Oisin McMahon coming forward from the respective full back positions, the UL defence had that overwhelmed looked about it. Their only saving grace was the referee blowing up for half time.

Dublin University team Alexander Kelly

Niall O’Carroll Oisin McMahon Fogarty Shane Massey Conor Molloy Conal O’Shaughnessy Darren Burke Conor Bobbitt Luke Clarke James Connolly David Kelly Thomas Wylie Evin O’Reilly Shane Daly Ronan Fahy Conor Hynes Ciaran Laler Steven Maher Garry Weafer Frank Wilson Graham Conway Ciaran Armstrong

After only a five minute break, the second half was back under way with UL coming out with the sole intent of pulling level by any means possible.

Their hopes were soon dealt a massive blow when they were reduced to ten men after an altercation off the ball between Trinity’s Thomas Wylie and UL’s Darragh Kiernan, in which Kiernan struck out at Wylie.

With a half an hour left on the clock, UL regrouped and enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession, although they were let down time and again by their final ball and inability to break down an impressive Trinity defence unit. Trinity’s Defenders were vocal throughout the game with each other, ensuring they were in sync with one another.

Frank Wilson’s second goal of the game came after a brilliant throughball by Ciaran Lawler. Graham Lowry latched onto it, and his shoot was closely palmed away by UL’s keeper.

This left Wilson to tap in the simplest goal of his career. With Trinity now two goals to the good and Limerick down to ten men, Trinity were effectively home

“The tempo over the opening twenty minutes was fast and furious with each team looking to exploit the speed of their wingers”

DUFC Club Captain & Men’s Captain

For THE fourth year in a row, DUFC are Irish Intervarsity Champions.

Aided by a more sober approach both to the event and preparation for it, Trinity won 37 bouts out of 40 and 5 out of the 6 weapon events to ensure retention of the Frank Russel trophy in style.

The solid performance over the weekend must also be partly attributed to the dedicated, highly visible and vocal support provided to Trinity fencers all weekend. Every member of the squad was clear in both their duties on the piste and off it. They made sure that no Trinity fencer went into a match in any doubt that all of the Trinity squad stood behind them, sometimes literally so. UCD came a distant second with 27 bout victories ahead of UCC with 25.

The weekend started off with a scrappy loss in Men’s Epee against the eventual winners of that event, Queens, but things rapidly improved.

The team made some amends with a dominant victory over UCD in their next match, and they went on to win all remaining matches with strong RESULTS: Trinity – 37 bouts out of 40, 5 of 6 weapon events

SS Photo by Nilgiri Pearson.

and dry at this stage.

Soon after the restart, Wilson had an opportunity for his hat trick. An in-swinging Limerick free kick was well cleared by Centre Back Conall O’Shaughnessy and then sent over the top of the Limerick defence by Oisin McMahon.

Wilson then used his speed to beat the offside trap and drive the ball high and hard at the UL goal, only for it to be pushed over the bar by UL’s keeper.

With the clock running down, both Trinity and UL emptied their respective benches. The last real chance of the game fell to Trinity’s Wylie, who under pressure from UL defence skied his

chance high over the bar from 10 yards out.

After this, UL’s goalkeeper could only palm the ball to him due to a wicked cross ball from Wilson, who proved to be a major thorn in the side of UL throughout the game.

Full time could not come soon enough for both sides. Trinity and UL were finding it increasingly difficult to play on what was a thoroughly churned up Santry pitch.

Trinity’s victory allowed them to the Farquhar Cup final the following morning. The match report against DCU is provided below.

Farquhar Cup Final, Santry Playing Fields

Trinity take home the Farquhar Cup Michael Gaskin Deputy College Sport Editor

trinity enjoyed a second win this week over DCU in the Farquhar Cup Final.

Even though it was their third and game in the same amount of days, Trinity started the game brightly with a customary vocal defence. The team was kept well ordered throughout, while at the opposite end of the pitch DCU’s Goalkeeper Ben Dale marshalled his defence throughout the game.

Trinity continued where they left off from the previous afternoon when Number 9 Gary Weafer gave the team an early lead. After some fine build up play on what was a far smoother pitch to the ones both sides played on in their respective semi-finals, Weafer’s shot landed in the back of the Dale’s net, much to the disappointment of his DCU teammates.

After getting off to the best start possible, Trinity began to open the game up both sides going all out over the first twenty minutes. DCU’s forward duo were proving a handful for Trinity’s Centre Backs Darren Burke and Conall O’Shaughnessy.

However, a number of well-timed tackles and a strong physical presence by the pair proved to be the key

15 March, 2011

throughout the game. Both forwards regularly became frustrated at losing the ball, while the whole DCU side became discouraged by the bluntness of their overall attack.

As the game moved past the quarter hour mark, DCU began to have increasingly greater success down the left wing. Ian Byrne proved to be a real nuisance to the Trinity team. His speed and deft footwork regularly got him in behind the Trinity defence, only to see his crosses claimed by Goalkeeper Niall O’Carroll, or cleared by the defence for the likes of Shane Massey, Thomas Wylie and Ronan Fahey to launch counter attacks.

With 27 minutes on the clock, DCU’s Paddy Collins had his goal ruled out for offside following an excellent swung in ball by Ian Byrne.

Following from this, Trinity stepped up their effort and both sides began to cancel each other out. The ball pingponged between the two defences, while there was very little in the way of chances for either side.

With half time fast approaching and Trinity still holding onto their one goal lead, DCU began to look thoroughly demoralised. Trinity’s Wylie and Fahey broke up play on a regular basis and refused to allow DCU gain a foothold in the game.

This meant any hopes of gaining the ascendency in the game were always quickly extinguished.

The second half began the same way the first ended, with DCU gaining

“With twenty seven minutes on the clock Paddy Collins had his goal ruled offside following an excellent swung in ball by Ian Byrne.” the lion’s share of possession but doing very little with it due to the effectiveness of Trinity’s midfield.

In order to end the far too regular supply of crosses and constant threat from Ian Byrne, Trinity brought on Conor Molloy in place of James Connolly. DCU finally recognised the inability of their own forward line brought on Shane Keely and Trevor Traynor in place of Jamie O’Sullivan and Paddy Collins.

With fourteen minutes gone, Gary

Weafer came agonisingly close to grabbing his and Trinity’s second goal of the game when he slid into the six yard box just as the ball went past on empty DCU goal. As the half continued to progress, Trinity began to look more and more like a team holding for dear life as DCU began to get a monopoly on the ball in the middle third. DCU’s two recently introduced substitutes looked threatening when in possession of the ball.

Trinity began to introduce a continuous stream of fresh legs as the game entered the latter stages. DCU launched a constant stream of attacks, with Frank Wilson acting as the lone front man for Trinity. He persistently hassled and harried DCU defence with speed at every given opportunity. It was a role that Wilson continued to excel in as, against all odds, he won the ball against three DCU players. Wilson powered his way into the box, only for his shot to curl away from the back post, with no other Trinity player able to get into the box to tap it in.

As the final whistle blew, Trinity players and management went on to commiserate their beaten opponents before beginning celebrations of their own. The Trinity team can be happy with both their success in winning the Farquhar Cup.

margins of victory. Following the first match neither Captain Alex Kelly nor Colm Flynn dropped a bout all day.

The efforts they put in were matched by a solid performance from Lochlainn Coyne on his Intervarsity début as he racked up numerous bout wins. The efforts were not enough however as the Queens’ team finished unbeaten, preventing Trinity’s male epeeists from claiming a fifth title in a row.

On Saturday 12, Women’s Foil won against a strong UCD team in a match that ended in a 5-4. Propelled forward by the presence of Canadian Anna Smith, three other members of the team, Viviane Brefort, Geraldine Davies and Jenny Jennings, made significant contributions.

In Coleraine in 2009, Trinity won five out of six weapons. It had been the Men’s Sabre that proved too tough for our fencers. That was a case of affairs that was not going to last long, however, as despite missing out by an agonisingly small margin in 2010, the effort the club has put into that weapon over the last few seasons paid off. Nobody was able to challenge Trinity’s fencers in the Men’s Sabre event this year. Even with Irish international Jack McHugh unavailable for the competition, our Men’s Sabre team were unbeatable and their long awaited triumph was well deserved.

The strongest team performance of the weekend was Trinity’s Men’s Foilists. Fencing on the second day of competition, they didn’t drop a single bout all day and consequently won each and every match 5-0. Led by former-captain Louis Arron, the team benefited from consistent showings from Ned Mitchel and Declan Gibbons as well as an impressive Intervarsities début from novice Li Dong. He came off the bench in a number of matches and did his job well each time.

DUFC’s Women’s Epee team and the Trinity Women’s Sabre team each dropped a match. The women’s epeeists achieved triumph. Newcomer Jenni Myung was able to look to the experience of Kate Cunningham as well as that of Irish Champion, Hannah Lowry-O’Reilly.

In the Women’s Sabre event, Trinity Ladies Captain, Helen Naddy, led from the front with a strong, focused performance. She played alongside the impressive Liz Fitzgerald and foilistnewly-cum-sabreur, Bairbre Holmes.

Homes excelled psychologically, even in the most pressurised of events.

The overall victory represents Trinity’s 34th triumph in the 57-year history of the competition.

collegesport@trinitynews.ie

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Trinity open season win over rivals Conor Bates Staff Writer

On the back of their win at the Intervarsity Championship in November, the Dublin University American Football Team travelled to Colour’s rivals, UCD, for the season opener of the 2011 campaign. On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Belfield, Trinity sought to improve their record of 3-1 over their collegiate rivals and get their league campaign off to the best possible start.

Trinity received the kickoff and made the best of the early possession, driving their opponents down the field before ultimately RESULTS: Trinity – 20 UCD – 16 turning it over. Wide receiver David Corcoran even had the ball in the endzone but the play was called back for a penalty at the line.

With good field position, the Trinity defence unleashed the speedy Yousef Abdul-Wahab from defensive end, and the linebacker trio of Hunter Inman, Amir Alsaffar and defensive captain Stephen Carton, to shut down UCD’s advances. On UCD’s fourth down, a bad long-snap missed its target and found its way into their endzone, and Trinity were awarded with a safety for their early pressure.

As a result of the safety, Trinity took the ball on offence again, with quarterback Alex Canepa finding tight-end Andrew Harvey with ease, and a solid run game being established

by Rob McDowell and Garrett Dargan.

Trinity progressed upfield before Canepa scrambled for the offense’s first score. Trinity narrowly failed to convert a 2-point conversion. Trinity were 8 points up by the second quarter.

Ball-hawk Brendan O’Sullivan recovered an onside kick following the touchdown and Trinity were on the offensive again. They continued to threaten on offense, with a creative mix of run and pass effectively penetrating the UCD defence. Trinity struck another killer blow when a carefully guided Canepa pass found running back McDowell on the left hand side of the pitch. McDowell dodged tackles and sprinted home to increase Trinity’s

SS Rob McDowell (No. 21) returning a kick-off for a touchdown. Photo by Jessica Pakenham-Money.

lead. Having missed the 2-point conversion, the scoreline read 14-0.

For the remainder of the second quarter Trinity and UCD exchanged blows, with Trinity looking the sharper unit. They were hitting form and cruising by the end of the half as they were still spreading the ball well on offense, and making big hits and covering well on defence.

The second half would prove to be a somewhat different affair. The dominant Trinity that left the field at half time was replaced by an air of complacency. Despite the continuing efforts of the offensive unit, and some great tackling by Ziad Foty and expert coverage from Fionn Chen and Hunter Inman on defence, UCD began to make ground. The capitalised on infrequent sloppy defending with deep passes and

found the endzone mid-way through the third quarter. They also scored a 2-point conversion to leave the score at 14-8.

The trend continued in a quarter to forget for Trinity, but the squad were more than determined not to be beaten in this encounter. Trinity brightened up again in the fourth quarter with the encouragement of the coaches ringing in their ears and they began to refind their feet in the game. However, this was not done before UCD scored another again with another long ball downfield. The scoreline read 16-14 to UCD with 7 minutes left in the game.

Trinity did not have to wait long for another score however. The following kickoff, a deep kick, found its way into the hands of the lightning fast McDowell. Solid blocks on special

teams by Amir Alsaffar, Tom Gonzalez and David Corcoran, among others, freed up space for McDowell to sprint 80 yards for a touchdown and reinstate Trinity’s lead. Once more Trinity couldn’t complete a 2-point conversion, but breathed a sigh of relief as they now lead 20-16.

After getting good field position from the next kickoff, Trinity began to defend and attack with vigour.

UCD were at a loose end and couldn’t make the yards required for first downs, as Trinity’s defence held firm under pressure, with cornerback Chen covering the pass excellently. By turning the ball over on downs, the offensive unit took the field with the aim of clock management in mind. Dargan and McDowell were entrusted with rushing the ball and running down

the clock and were effective in gaining yards and earning fresh sets of downs.

Their advances were stopped at the UCD 20 yard line and the defence were put in for one final stand. A desperate UCD were no match for the calm and strong Trinity defence, as they finished off their opponents and sealed a win for Trinity. With two touchdowns, Rob McDowell was awarded man of the match by his teammates.

Trinity cruised for large parts of the game and showed great skill and abundant potential, with only their own lapses in concentration giving their opponents glimmers of hope.

Trinity, in a sense, validated their college championship by beating their Colours rivals, and have earned the ideal start to their league campaign: 1-0 with at least 7 more games to play.

Noonan headlines Trinity brawl Conor Bates and James Hussey Staff Writers

The annual boxing colours event took place in Trinity on Wednesday evening. Both sets of fighters were competing for the Fred Tiet Cup, and the honour that the colours bouts bring with them. With seven fights scheduled over five weight categories, the event promised to be an entertaining evening for the many spectators packed into the Exam Hall.

The opening fight featured TCD’s Declan Carroll and UCD’s James Brady, fighting in the 81kg category.

The fight was a frantic one with both fighters throwing punches in a scrappy affair. The styles were uncontrolled, and despite Carroll’s good use of the jab, Brady connected with hooks and crosses. The frenzied nature of the fight took its toll on Carroll who tired in the later stages, dropped his guard, and ultimately had blood drawn from his nose. The fight was awarded to UCD. The second bout was a more controlled affair with Michael Halpin of Trinity, and Eoin Barry of UCD displaying tidier styles in the 71kg category. Halpin forced his opponent into a corner once, and onto the ropes twice, in what appeared to be a dominating performance of solid strikes and excellent combos. Barry countered with his best effort but Halpin appeared to have performed better. The crowd were therefore

displeased to learn that Barry had been awarded the fight by majority vote; a somewhat contentious decision.

The final bout before the intermission saw Trinity’s Seth Bromley take on Shaun McGeady in the 71kg category. Bromley was quick and nimble but possessed an unorthodox style, in which he stayed very low. He tried to throw strong overhand lefts but his shorter reach and unique stance left him vulnerable to the taller, more powerful McGeady who landed cleaner punches on his opponent. Despite displaying good fitness throughout, Bromley lost the fight on unanimous decision.

Tension in the hall reached a crescendo as the entertaining, “Michael Buffer-esque” ring announcer called patrons back to their seats at ringside.

The resumption of the night’s boxing was marked by the only ladies’ bout of the eponymous “Brawl in the Hall”.

Gillian Muirhead of Trinity faced off against UCD’s Shona Maguire. Both combatants held very controlled, orthodox styles throughout all three rounds, combining good offensive pressure with solid jabs and hooks.

Maguire only pulled clear in the last round. UCD were awarded the fight on a majority decision, with sustained pressure garnering the win despite the protestations of many Trinity students in the crowd.

The night’s boxing continued with the 75kg fight between Trinity’s Seán

“Molten Lava” Mulvaney and UCD’s Bill Malone. Mulvaney’s southpaw stance proved challenging for the Belfield boxer, as Malone struggled to counteract the barrage of hooks and crosses from the man in the red corner.

Mulvaney finished the 1st round with a series of good combinations, and continued his rich vein of form in the 2nd, moving well out of range of Malone’s punches and attacking when the opportunity presented itself.

Mulvaney responded well to a late rally from Malone, ending the fight in style and gaining the majority decision for TCD’s first victory of the night.

The penultimate fight of the night saw TCD’s Ciarán Noonan competing against Domhnall Finch at the 81kg weight. The fight erupted with flurries of punches from both fighters. Noonan suffered a slip in round one but recovered well and began to dominate in the second. He cut Finch’s nose with an onslaught of punches and continued to assault the face throughout the third round, in one of the most ferocious performances of the evening. Noonan’s immaculate display of controlled aggression and effective technique won him the fight on majority decision, in undoubtedly Trinity’s best fight of the night.

The heaviest weight category of the night, 85kg, was reserved for the last fight, with Trinity’s Thomas Spencer battling UCD’s captain Alan O’Reilly.

The noise in reached deafening levels

SS Photo by Nilgiri Pearson.

as the Trinity boxer stepped into the ring, for the last bout. The fight started nervously with both boxers resorting to holding tactics in attempting to find their opponent’s measure. As the fight progressed, both fighters found their range, landing clean body shots and good combinations. O’Reilly gained the upper hand, despite resorting to holding Spencer’s head guard on

various occasions. Spencer attacked strongly, forcing O’Reilly to the corner with a frantic attacking style. It proved to be not enough for the Trinity man, as O’Reilly calmed the tempo in the final minute, evading Spencer’s punches and sealing UCD’s 5th victory of the evening. O’Reilly was also, contentiously, awarded fighter of the night.

TRINITY NEWS