Irish Student Newspaper of the Year 2009
AND WOMEN IN DEATH DESTRUCTION IN POLITICS: NIGERIA INDIA, NEWS FEATURES, P8 IRELAND, OPINION, P17
WORLD REVIEW, P12
Tuesday March 23 2010
IS FAIRTRADE REALLY FAIR? BUSINESS, P20
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Union warns of precarious Library hours Cal McDonagh Staff Reporter SUNDAY LIBRARY openings are under review once again and the Students’ Union has warned that “there is a chance that this service will be pulled” if it is not made use of. Education Officer Ashley Cooke hails the scheme as an opportunity to show the College that Sunday openings are an indispensible service by “their own definition”. The number of visitors entering the Library each day is being monitored over a six week period which started at the beginning of March. The Students’ Union hopes that the data collected will indicate it is viable for Trinity Library to continue opening on Sundays. Some students have been advised by their Class Representatives to avail of Sunday openings as much as possible over the coming weeks if they want the service to continue. Senior Freshman History students were advised to “try and use it so that we don’t lose it”. The investigation resulted from an agreement between the Provost and the Students’ Union to compare library usage on Sundays with every other day in the week. Previous investigations have only looked at Sunday attendance figures on their own. Ashley Cooke told Trinity News that “so far”, when shorter weekend opening hours are taken into account, not every day in the week has significantly outperformed Sunday levels of attendance. “Sundays are low but so are all the other days,” he said, also claiming that, in some
cases, library attendance has been higher on Sundays than on Saturdays. The Library, though, was unable to release attendance figures at the time of publication. Although the Students’ Union hopes to demonstrate that Sunday library openings are not a dispensable service, the Library has not agreed to a benchmark for library attendance which would secure the status of Sunday openings if achieved. Deputy Librarian Jessie Kurtz explained, “we felt we couldn’t come up with a percentage [of attendance which would lead to a commitment to opening on Sundays]”. Sunday openings have “always been a trial run” says Cooke, who aims to permanently secure Sunday library access for students. Although College is currently committed to opening the Hamilton and BLU Libraries on Sundays in the run up to end-of-year examinations, Cooke makes the case for also opening the Library on Sundays throughout the academic year, especially in the approach to January scholarship examinations. Cooke says Sunday opening is not an underused service but asserts College should provide for the “particular need” of students who want to use the Library on Sundays, even if they form a minority. He cites Sunday openings and 24-hour study access as examples of how students should be allowed to choose when they study. Cooke expects the number of those using the
Issue 11, Volume 56
“LIL BOOK OF SHAME” LAUNCHED TO RAISE MONEY FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
IT WAS an eventful start for the “Lil Book of Shame” last Friday, which was launched at the 24-hour musical in Players before going on sale all week in the Hamilton, Arts Block and the SU shop, with all proceeds going to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Though nothing can be done to prevent disasters such as the earthquke, providing the help needed to rebuild Haiti is something that every single person can help with. From this, the idea for the Lil’ Book of Shame was born. For the past three weeks, students were asked to anonymously submit their most shameful secrets and embarrassing moments on the back of postcards and deposit them into one of 15 “Confession Boxes” around campus. Organisers DUBES and Players selected the best to be coloured, illustrated and bound into the Lil’Book of Shame. Over 500 students contributed their secrets, helping to raise awareness for the disaster. It is hoped that through the sale of the book, at the bargain price of €5 each, that a target of €4,000 can be raised in the next two weeks for those most in need. David Adamson (Photo: Nora Ward)
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Ó Broin plans to scrap Demand goes down, officers in USI campaign prices up for rooms Students’ Union President Cónán Ó Broin runs for USI Deputy President » Ó Broin proposes dropping USI Equality Officer and LGBT Rights Officer »
Cal McDonagh Staff Reporter STUDENTS’ UNION President Cónán Ó Broin has been nominated as a candidate for the Deputy Presidency of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), an organisation he is openly critical of. Ó Broin is running on an unofficial joint ticket with Presidential candidate and current UCD Students’ Union President, Gary Redmond, although both posts will be elected independently of one another. Current USI Equality Officer Linda Kelly is also vying to be elected President at the USI Congress, which takes place from 29th March to 1st April. Both Redmond and Ó Broin support a motion by Students’ Union Presidents to downgrade the full-time role of USI Equality Officer and LGBT Rights Officer to part-time roles within the Union. They also plan to replace the four Area Officers with a single Constituent Organisation Liaison Officer. Ó Broin says the job description for the role of Equality Officer is “too vague”, failing to impact the life of most students. The candidate for Deputy President also says that there is no longer “enough policy material” for a full-time LGBT Rights Officer, but says USI-organised Pink Training will continue to be run. The job of the USI is “to protect students’
interests”, Ó Broin says, “not to save the world”. Ó Broin, who describes the current structure of the USI as “woefully inadequate”, will be competing against Southern Area Officer Jono Clifford. The Trinity Students’ Union Council has mandated its 22 USI delegates to vote “ReOpen Nominations” for the Equality and LGBT Rights Officers and to support any motion to amend these roles, as well as the role of Area Officer, in accordance with Redmond and Ó Broin’s design. UCDSU delegates are also authorised to support such a motion. Ó Broin considers such restructuring to be important for generating continuity in the USI. He argues the employment of a full-time lobbyist, a researcher and an administrator would provide the USI with better value for money than Officers who only serve for a yearlong term. Presidential candidate Linda Kelly also wants to employ an Administrations or Operations Officer and says that her experience within the USI will allow for a degree of continuity which “Gary Redmond can’t offer”. Kelly, however, is opposed to what she describes as her opponents’ policy of “If we can remove X officer we can employ Y staff,” adding, “I don’t think a permanent strategist or lobbyist is the best use of resources.” While the “strategic lobbying of key
politicians and public bodies” is central to Redmond’s manifesto aim to “end the threat of tuition fees for once and for all”, Kelly says that the USI should not rely too much on hiring lobbyists, pointing out that the enactment of legislation which has already been passed, such as the Student Support Bill, should also be a priority. While claiming to recognise the “enormous potential” of the USI, which uniquely provides student representation on the Higher Education Authority, Cónán Ó Broin says the USI requires modernisation in order to wield greater political influence. He openly criticises USI leadership in the campaign against third-level fees, calling it “not nearly as effective as it could have been”, attributing much of the work done to individual Students’ Unions. The manifestos of both Presidential candidates lay out plans for developing strong inter-union communications. The role of Liaison Officer, according to Redmond, would be conducive to “getting our Constituent Organisations and members involved in all of the USI’s work”. Kelly also says “there is a lot to be said for creating a national Liaison Officer”, suggesting that the positions of Area Officer “never fulfilled their potential”. USI was unable to provide comment on restructuring proposals because they are “a policy decision”.
Kate Palmer College News Editor THE TRINITY College Accommodation Office has received significantly fewer applications than last year, and has extended the deadline for room applications. At the time of going to print, the Accommodation Office had received 720 applications from undergraduates hoping to live on Campus, and 50 for Trinity Hall. For the year 2009-2010, however, the Office received a total of 2,234 applications, although this also included postgraduate and international students. Even so, there are only 80 places for postgraduate students on Campus and none at all for international students, indicating a significant discrepancy for the following year. There are currently 700 rooms on Campus, although 285 of these are reserved for Scholars and students with other entitlements. In an e-mail sent out on 8th March, the Accommodation Office explained that the deadline would be extended to one week later than the original date. A spokeswoman from the Office explained, “The application deadline has been extended for a number of reasons. A lot of students were having trouble with the online system of submitting an application, and for some reason couldn’t pay their application fee. “We couldn’t see any problems with the system, but in the interests of fairness the deadline was extended”. The decision to extend the deadline was made by the Junior Dean, Dr. Emma Stokes. The spokeswoman added, “We were aware the deadline lay during reading week, when a lot of students would be away from College, and might not have been aware of the applications.” College have recently renovated 44 rooms on campus,
which became available on 19th February. Of these, 22 rooms were reserved for staff members. The remaining rooms, which were open only to Senior Sophisters who had been previously unsuccessful in the application process, have yet to be filled. As of Friday 12th March, 6 rooms remained available. The cost for rent and utilities was in excess of €1,745 for the period 19th The price of rent and utilities for rooms on Campus is decided by the Junior Dean, Dr. Emma Stokes. February to 8th May. The accommodation rates come to an average of €158 per week. This exceeds the current rate for the same Standard Room during Hilary and Trinity terms, which costs an average of €120 per week. The spokeswoman from the Accommodation Office said she “expects the rooms to go by the end of the month”, and that students who had been unable to get rooms in September will be “happy to say yes in good time”. The current rate for a room on Campus, including utilities, ranges from €2830.69 for a standard twin to €5079.13 for a modern single. These prices were set by the College Board and approved by the Junior Dean in December 2008. The spokeswoman comments, “Any price rises will be in adaptation to the private sector. “Because the Accommodation Office has to set the rates early it does not give us the ability of the private sector to adapt to the current market. The cost of rent and utilities has not risen any more than is usual.”