the
University Observer
features
sport
otwo
The Gender Gap
The Ultimate Fighter
Ellie Goulding
with our incoming sabbatical team consisting of four males, what is at the core of the gender problem?
interviews with T.J. Dillashaw on MMA, Paul Kimmage on Lance Armstrong and Mark Keane on his Championship debut
talks living in Phoenix Park, outrageous egg demands and how Irish Students are just the right level of crazy drunk
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W W W . U N I V E R S I T Y O B S E R V E R . I E
UCD Ball 2013 to be held off-campus BY AOIFE VALENTINE · DEPUTY EDITOR
It has been revealed that this year’s UCD Ball will take place off campus, on the last day of the semester, April 26th, in a venue yet to be announced. Currently, the Students’ Union are hoping to launch the event this Thursday, April 18th, with a limited number of early bird tickets going on sale at the reduced rate of 25. Full price tickets will be available for 35, a reduction in price from last year’s 39.99. Though the Union have publicly announced that the Ball is to go ahead, UCD Students’ Union President, Rachel Breslin is hesitant to reveal the full details of the venue and line-up until final confirmations have been made. She commented: “Plans are currently in the final phase and rather than dripfeeding information, we want to launch all at once so people know exactly what is happening. When we had the basic confirmations and enough to absolutely guarantee to students we would be organising a UCD Ball, we released the information at council so students could book time off work, plan etc.” Breslin is clear that herself and Entertainments Officer Eoin Heffernan exhausted every option before moving the event to off-campus. She says: “There essentially was no decision to hold a ball off-campus, we pursued every avenue to hold it on campus for seven months and unfortunately a number of factors combined to leave no chance of an on-campus ball.” These factors are similar to those that fed into the many concerns raised throughout the year that a Ball would not take place this year at all, as reports emerged that location and licensing issues were causing problems for the SU. Breslin explained: “Our issues within UCD were resolvable and the President gave his approval for the Ball so we were able to secure a site but ultimately the Gardai did not feel that it was safe to have the Ball on campus and that we must move to an indoor venue.” The Gardai’s objections to granting an alcohol licence were based on the alcohol consumption at the previous Balls, coupled with dangers surrounding the N11 flyover being the only entrance to the Ball. Though Breslin states that the Union presented alternatives to “try and reduce these risks”,
BY YVANNE KENNEDY · NEWS EDITOR
Candle of Hope bags lit up during the three laps of silence at Relay for Life. Full story on page 3. the Gardai sent written notice of an objection to the plans on March 27th. She says: “The event had grown in scale while available space on campus had reduced, commercial activities on campus had increased and this year there are much more onerous obligations imposed on outdoor concerts following incidents last summer.” With regards to alcohol consumption at this year’s event, Breslin clearly stated: “There will be thorough security checks at the entrance to the venue, and it’s simple: if you’re too drunk you
won’t get in. We still want everyone to have a great time and to celebrate the last day with their friends but if you’re a danger to yourself or others there is a line.” The Union has been pleased with the reactions from Council to the news, and says: “ It’s a challenge but the SU are excited about the Ball and spurred on by the fantastic reaction... The absence of a bar this year has made the Ball even more of an important socialevent and despite all the problems and setbacks we encountered it made us
more determined to give students a Ball.” Commenting on the future of the event, Breslin is unsure whether it will return to campus, citing a number of issues that would need to be resolved first, such as student behaviour and alcohol consumption. She says: “Next year Ents will have to think outside the box when looking at options right from the beginning of the year and work closely with UCD and the Gardai to find the best solution for everyone.”
Full-time Graduate Education Officer elected with just 42 votes BY EMER SUGRUE · EDITOR
In a by-election held last Thursday, April 11th, MA student Dylan Gray was elected as UCD Students’ Union Graduate Education Officer. The total valid poll was just 68, with Gray receiving 62% of the votes cast. The Graduate Education Office was established in the new Students’ Union Constitution passed last year. While only final year and postgraduate students were eligible to vote in this election, with over 10,000 students falling into these categories, the total poll amounts to less that 1% of the available votes. Speaking on the turnout for the election, UCDSU President Rachel Breslin stated that it was “really really low, unacceptably low… There’s no doubt
SU to intervene as residents afraid to appeal fines
that the turnout was unacceptable, but whether it was unavoidable when you start a completely new position, particularly a Graduate Officer when graduates are a group that everyone knows have a very low engagement with the Students’ Union ... I suppose why would you vote for something you haven’t thus far seen any benefit from? So it might be a chicken before the egg scenario.” Graduate Education Officer-elect Dylan Gray places the blame for the low turnout largely on the number of sabbatical and society elections held in recent months: “There have been so many elections this semester, there’s been massive USI and constitutional referendums, there was Sabbatical and Convener elections, L&H elections and the LawSoc elections and I think there
might have been one other as well.” Gray also cites confusion over the way the by-election was held for the lack of votes. “Normally a sabbat election would be run over two days, and on the second day all faculties would be able to vote in Arts, so I had quite a few people calling in to me saying they didn’t have time to vote today but would vote tomorrow. There were quite a few people in Ag who tried to vote in Arts and were told they couldn’t, but then they didn’t want to go all the way back to the student centre to vote … stuff like that all added up together.” Paddy Guiney, UCDSU Campaigns and Communications Officer, who was in charge of the ‘Get Out and Vote’ campaign for this election feels the turnout reflects the lack of interest in the SU ex-
pressed by older students: “This turnout probably says it the most, with sabbatical elections, 60% of voter turnout is via first years, 20-30% is second years and the final 10% is from 3rd year, final year and postgrad students.” Guiney concluded: “Turnout was so abysmal because it’s a new position, students don’t know what the position will entail so the mandate will be completely unknown to them, so the candidate Dylan has a lot to prove to justify that.” With interest so low, it seems the future of the office is unclear, with Breslin stating that “if that turnout continues then the position needs to change and we need to look at a different structure for graduate representation, no doubt about it.”
Following from a number of issues that have come to light regarding UCD Residences, UCD Students’ Union Vice President for Welfare, Mícheál Gallagher, intends to bring a motion on the issue to the final Union Council of the 2012/13 academic year. The motion specifically addresses the UCD Residences Licence to Reside, and the appeals process for fines. In the past two weeks, Gallagher says that he has “had an unusual peak in casework from students living in UCD residences. This casework was primarily around the area of students feeling they were fined wrongly.” Gallagher notes that there is a “new phenomena .. that students [are] afraid to appeal [certain] decisions due to a line in the Category Two – Internal Appeal Form.” This clause states that while residents have the right to lodge an appeal if they have evidence to show they didn’t deserve the fine. This appeal must be made in 48 hours, and unsuccessful appeals, according to the clause, may result in a higher fine. This has made students “reluctant to appeal decision[s]” for fear their fines will actually be increased,” says Gallagher. Gallagher believes it is “unacceptable that in the current economic situation that students are being asked to pay out 100 for misunderstandings with UCD residences and that if they try to appeal it they have the threat of an increased fine to deal with”. This issue is the latest in a series which have arisen from UCD Residences this year. Earlier problems concerned the nature of the Licence to Reside as distinct from the typical lease afforded to tenants in private rented accommodation, as well as concerns over profiteering as increased numbers of deposits were being retained . There was also controversy over invasions in privacy due to the permission given to Residential Assistants to film inside apartments. The motion to be brought to vote is for a new UCDSU Policy which will give the Union as an organisation a mandate “to call for a renegotiation of the Licence to Reside”. There will be a specific emphasis on a fair system of appeal without the threat of fines increasing is an unsuccessful appeal is made. A formal recognised system of resident representation will also be called for a will a “demand for total transparency in where all monies from deposit retention and fines collected of residents go.” There have been calls for UCD Residences to alter their agreements to reflect the traditional protections of a lease. Following a further incident involving the Blackrock Residences late last year, then Chairperson of the UCD Student Legal Service Patrick Fitzgerald said that: “If UCD Residences adopted a lease, students would enjoy a right of appeal to the PRTB. This would allow students to challenge a decision of UCD cheaply in an independent forum. This would ensure greater transparency than we have now and ensure students enjoy rights as tenants... The present situation where the appeal process is operated by UCD has led to an arbitrary system that truly lacks proper procedure, transparency and independence.”