University Observer Volume XVIII - Issue 4

niversity U bserver O

the

volume xviii · issue iv · www.universityobserver.ie

opinion

Features Who truly benefits from overseas volunteering?

OTWO

Should we have to pay for our education?

AT T E M P T S . . .

OCCUPYING

THE SU

SU to become SU Ltd

Katie Hughes News Editor

Progress has been made in turning what is currently UCD Students’ Union into UCD Students’ Union Ltd. The initiative is that of current Students’ Union President Pat de Brún and is expected to be completed by 2012.

The SU accounts are still being compiled and while De Brún hopes to have drafted final figures and plans of action by December, he concedes that it will be January before the SU is ready to “move and step up the restructuring side of things”.

De Brún states that he is “starting to get ideas” of the extent of the SU debt but is unwilling to estimate a figure, “while I want it to be as open as possible, until I have a figure myself I don’t want to speculate”.

He admits that the Union will most likely be looking for a loan, “it’s likely enough that we’ll have to get external financing. It is quite likely now; we won’t be in a position to get that until our final accounts are actually done”.

A budget is expected to be presented at the next meeting of Students’ Union Council, “I’m trying to make it as accurate as possible, which means it might take a little bit longer, the last thing I want to do is estimate figures that aren’t fully accurate”. He adds that the national fees campaign will incur significant costs that will need to be factored in.

As a part of the streamlining process, de Brún submitted a request to the Independent Appeals Boards (IAB) to lower sabbatical officers’ wages by ten per cent before he took over the position of President from Paul Lynam in June. The request was rejected as the IAB claimed the other officers would have had a legitimate expectation of a certain sum when running for office.

Regardless of the decision made, Students’ Union Officers have nonetheless seen a reduction in wages. Unlike previous years where an agreement had been in place with the Revenue Commission that officers Katie Hughes News Editor Plans are going ahead for a national protest orchestrated by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) against the possible increase of the student contribution fee. A sleep-out is planned to take place on Molesworth Street on November 16th following the march.

The protest follows the Labour Party reneging on the pledge they signed one week prior to the general election in February, which stated that they would not support any increase in the student contribution fee, the introduction of any variety of fees, and that there wouldn’t be any further cuts to the grant.

A spokesperson for the Department

would not be taxed, they have this year been moved onto the payroll.

According de Brún, the move was made as “it was an old agreement and it was just out of date and we wanted to make sure that everything was done perfectly”.

While nothing more can be done for this year’s elects’ wages, IAB may revise them downwards for next year’s officers prior to elections in March.

De Brún is finding the year “extremely challenging” thus far due to the condition the Union’s account emerged to be in over the summer, “it’s certainly not what I expected and it’s not what I thought the year would be at all, but that being said I’m enjoying the challenge because I know it’s the right thing to do and it’ll make a lasting impression and a lasting difference and it will really improve the organisation”.

“It’s definitely a difficult year because we’re facing all these cuts and challenges across the board but it also means that it takes up all of my time personally; other projects that I would have liked to pursue have had to take second place. I’m hoping that towards the New Year, I’ll be able to start focusing more on other things as well.”

Former President Mary Robinson on a recent visit to the UCD Humanities Institute Photographer: Ciara Andrews

SU to draft new constitution Katie Hughes News Editor A constitutional review committee has been established to draft a new constitution for the Students’ Union. This committee consists of chairperson Students’ Union President, Pat de Brún, the remaining sabbatical officers, excluding the Ents Officer, two council-elected class reps, one of last year’s presidential candidates, Brenadan Lannoye, and solicitor Richard Hammond.

De Brún is trying to “reach as large a catchment as possible and every sector of society in UCD” when writing the new document, and has consequently contacted society auditors, sports clubs, sabbatical officers from the past ten years as well as all students so as to gain their input. This is in an effort to “dispel the idea that the Union is a clique. I think, as part of the Constitutional Review process, we need to try and open up the Union and pick out the faults. It can be difficult when you’re someone who works in the Union to see some of

the faults that people see externally”.

De Brún considers the current constitution not fit for purpose, “I don’t think it represents modern UCD and I think there are parts of it which constrain the work of the Union and what the Union should be, the good work that we should be doing”.

The new constitution will not simply be an amendment of the one currently in place, but be a brand new document; “we’re not relying on the old constitution and changing a couple of things from it, we’re looking at a completely clean slate, building from the ground up, and everything is on the table: that ranges from who the sabbatical officers are to the structures of the Union and how the elections are run to everything that we do”.

One of the more contentious issues for de Brún is the article relating to class rep quotas, “I find it quite frustrating that … there is one representative for every ‘x’ amount of students … we have one rep for languages, literature and music – anyone can tell you that mu-

Student protest plans underway of Education has justified the possible increase in the fee as being due to Ireland having a requirement to adhere to its economic recovery program “in order to reduce the budget deficit to three per cent of GDP by 2015 and to restore our independence”.

USI President Gary Redmond has admitted that he is disappointed with the actions of the Labour Party and remarks that it is primarily due to their initiative to make education accessible to all that the party was elected, “I think large numbers, not only students but also their families and community

members who were concerned about education, swung towards the Labour Party because of the party coming out quite strongly and quite clearly pro-education and education funding”.

Redmond is not ruling out more direct action, such as occupations and sit-ins, if the march is unsuccessful, “I think that certainly direct action, if it comes to it, has been a part of every campaign if all other avenues have been exhausted. USI has used direct action in the past and I obviously can’t rule that out in the future”.

UCD Campaigns and Communica-

tions Officer, Brendan Lacey is setting up what he refers to as “campaign headquarters” in UCD. This will involve installing extra phones and computers in the Student Centre. Lacey intends to encourage students to come and ring or e-mail their local TDs regarding the pledge.

A “broken pencil” campaign stems from the larger initiative and involves students sending their local TDs a generic letter containing a broken pencil to symbolise that “they’re breaking education and they’re breaking their promise” says Lacey.

sic and languages have almost nothing in common, we have loads of people in those classes that would love to represent their classes but they can’t under the current system”.

The committee hopes to meet five times over the course of the year. According to de Brún the meetings won’t take place more often as “you can meet for an amount of time quite often or you can meet less regularly and give a whole day or a whole weekend. It’s by far the most efficient way to get things done; the nature of the work means that you really need to get stuck into it, it’s not a stop start thing”.

The final draft of the constitution is expected to be presented to Students’ Union Council on January 19th 2012. A vote will take place at the subsequent council to determine whether a referendum should take place. If the vote is positive, the constitution will be put forward to UCD students to be voted upon alongside the sabbatical elections.

These will take place prior to the twoweek study period in Semester Two. He stressed the importance of making an effort for the upcoming march, “we’re facing a bigger and a tougher battle than we have in the last ten years; this is a government that are strong, that are determined to bring in third level contribution and increase it”.

Redmond is positive about the unfolding campaign, “I think we may absolutely have a shot at ensuring that registration fees, let’s not call them registration fees, they’re college fees, there’s no doubt about that … will be frozen at the current level this year and the way we’re going to do that is hold a government party to account”.

A “town-hall” meeting is to take place on November 3rd in Theatre L in the Newman Building.

2

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Observer News

NEWS IN BRIEF Students criticise Darcy for Cheesefest act withdrawal

news@observer.ie

by Emer Sugrue

UCD Ball confirmed The UCD Ball will take place on the final day of the second semester, Friday the 20th of April 2012. A letter was presented at last week’s Students’ Union Council confirming the agreement of the date and location with UCD authorities.

The 2011 UCD Ball was cancelled and rescheduled at late notice due to disagreements between the Students’ Union and UCD authorities. Students’ Union Entertainments Officer Stephen Darcy assured the University Observer that this would not be an issue, “there was a miscommunication between the relevant authorities in UCD about the campus being closed but that’s been completely ironed out this year. What happened last year is one hundred per cent not happening this year”.

Students are encouraged to suggest and vote for acts they would like to see on the SU Ents’ Facebook page. Promotion for the event will begin before Christmas and tickets will be on sale early next semester.

Welfare Fund Increased The Student Welfare Fund has managed to secure increased levels of funding this semester. Kylemore have pledged additional money to the fund, while there has also been a “significant increase” in money from State sources.

Students’ Union Welfare Officer Rachel Breslin attributed the increase to higher demand due to grant cuts and explained that both the UCD SU and the USI have been lobbying the Government on students’ behalf.

“Certainly that the feedback from all the universities across the country is that this situation is getting worse for students. Finally the government has shown that they’re acknowledging that and that was where the money came from. There’s no denying that there are more and more students applying for the fund and that’s what the fact is, so it really had to happen.”

The funding, which comes both from the Government and the European Social Fund is divided between HEAR (Higher Education Access Route), the Student Assistance Fund and the Welfare Fund. The Welfare Fund meets every fortnight and is designed to help with unexpected events. The Student Assistance Fund covers students with an on-going need for assistance. Applications for this year are open from now until November the 15th.

Jack Walsh Students’ Union Entertainment Officer, Stephen Darcy, has been harshly criticised for the non-appearance of advertised acts at the recent Cheesefest. 5ive and all but one member of S Club pulled out hours before the event took place.

Members of the student body then criticised Darcy for a sparse line up, which consisted of the Vengaboys, and one member of S Club, Bradley, who performed for free. Darcy maintains that the criticism aimed at him was misplaced, as a member of S Club had to cancel due to a family bereavement and the two remaining members of 5ive could not attend as one had just undergone root canal surgery.

Darcy explained that he was personally affected by the news: “I was the most disappointed person in UCD that day. It felt like I let the students down”. Since the event, he has received complaints and insults directed at both himself and the Ents Crew with several students “having a go” at him on the night.

“There is a person at the end of UCD Ents, all of their negative comments do go somewhere and I was the one. I’m not looking for sympathy, I signed up for this but I didn’t realise how much it would actually affect me until it was

actually happening . . . even if they’re directing a bit of criticism towards Ents it does come back to me personally. I do take it to heart and I’ll do everything I can to make sure everyone’s happy.”

Darcy chose not to discuss the emails and Facebook comments he has received from students, but did go on to say that they “are still up there for anyone to see”. In the wake of the negative comments, he states that he has since received mostly positive feedback, following replies being sent out to all students who commented on the matter.

The Entertainment Officer is quick to dispel the idea that students feel they can say anything to their elected representatives, despite a similar situation occurring prior to last year’s UCD Ball.

“I hope it doesn’t become a trend that it’s ok to publically abuse someone or an organisation that is in place to do the best for UCD students. I ran for election to do the best I could for the students and it’s slightly disappointing to get a reaction like that.”

Darcy has described the incident as “one that I wholeheartedly regret” and will make sure to implement measures to prevent further problems in the future. Ultimately, he notes that, “the positive feedback and the general goodwill of the UCD students really came through for me over the weekend that followed”.

Society moratorium to stay in place Denis Vaughan The UCD Societies Council moratorium on new societies, implemented during the last academic year, will not be rescinded for an indefinite period of time.

Chairman of the UCD Societies Council, Stephen Whelan, stated that “the action was taken in light of a

number of concerns facing UCD societies, namely, limited space and resources.” When asked if many people had applied to set up new societies, Whelan said he was unsure of the exact number but didn’t believe that there were too many.

Societies in UCD currently receive an annual donation from the Societies Council. The sum of money varies from society to society but is depen-

dant on various factors including the number of members in the society and how active the society in question is.

The current moratorium on societies will remain in place for indefinitely and will be reviewed at the end of the term. “The moratorium was discussed at length as the main agenda item at a meeting of the Societies Council,” said Whelan, “it was voted

on and passed without opposition. It would be unfair on existing societies, and new societies that were set up if they were unable to perform due to existing restrictions. With that in mind it was agreed that a moratorium was, for the time being, in the best interests of UCD societies.”

The University Observer understands that UCD Sports Clubs have also decided to take similar action.

IFI films to be shown in UCD Cinema

Slán Abhaile Receives UCD Backing The SU Welfare scheme, Slán Abhaile, has received the full support of the UCD authorities, including financial backing and coverage for all bad debts incurred by the program.

The scheme, announced at the start of the semester, is a program whereby students can get a taxi home and pay the fare at a later date. A student’s details, including student number and phone number, will be registered in a system set up for the scheme. Once a student rings Wini-cabs, the taxi company through which the system is being run, they receive a text with a code, which is recorded by the driver. This allows the fare to be charged to the account that the SU have with the taxi company, in the student’s name.

“The way the technical system works” Students’ Union Welfare Officer Rachel Breslin explains, “is we have to have a float in the account. So [UCD] are going cover the float to make sure there’s always enough money in the account to make sure that people can get home that night.”

A reported 1,500 students have already signed up to the scheme, although some names remain unverified. To be included in the taxi scheme, your student card must be verified by the Student’s Union to ensure the security of the program. Card verification will take place on Wednesday, November 2nd from 11am to 3.30pm. The scheme is scheduled to go live in the next two to three weeks.

Eimear McGovern The UCD Cinema, due to open as part of the new Student Centre in April 2012, is to feature the screening of Irish Film Institute (IFI) and independent films.

Student Centre manager Dominic O’Keefe told the University Observer that he intends to purchase around 150 IFI films, which will be screened throughout the year in the UCD Cinema.

The IFI runs themed movie weekends, and the intention is that that the IFI films being screened in UCD will run with a similar pattern. Films will be screened six times every fortnight and

will be offered at a student-friendly price.

O’Keefe also intends to offer students a ‘season ticket’ for the IFI films, so that they can purchase a ticket that will guarantee them admission to all IFI films being screened that day in the UCD Cinema.

However O’Keefe says it will be important for the cinema to balance the films being shown, ensuring that mainstream and IFI films will be screened subject to demand.

It is also his intention that many of the IFI films will be screened in different languages to cater for international students. “You have to balance it, you have to have the genre,

and the collections, and the back catalogue. And then we have the rights from all the DVDs, and all the DVD collections.”

O’Keefe says that the choice of IFI films being screened will be “[features] popular with students. Like maybe you might do a Tuesday night Mad Max show with all the Mad Max films that are there, and then show all the Quentin Tarantino movies on a night.”

The cinema under construction is set to have 3D facilities, “to be a modern cinema now you have to have 3D, and the cinema has been designed to be a 3D projection system. We have the radio glasses and everything ordered in for it.

It’ll be 3D, THX surround sound and a Dolby sound system as well, so it will be full-blown 3D,” explains O’Keeffe.

He goes on to say that students will have a say as to what movies will be shown. “It’s very much an interactive cinema, insofar as we will interact with the customer, and the customer will interact with the house as well, to program the films. That makes it fun, and that’s the way it should be in a student environment, as opposed to pure consumerism. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. Hopefully there’ll be educational content in there for people too.

Maybe someone will take up filmmaking out of it”.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Students Beat World Record to Raise Mental Health Awareness Aoife Brophy The Union of Students Ireland (USI) together with Trinity Students’ Union, See Change, and Fighting Words, have succeeding in breaking a Guinness World Record in an attempt to raise awareness about mental health.

935 individuals took part in the attempt to break the record for ‘most people to write a story’. The attempt broke the previous record, in which 838 participants wrote a story in the South Pacific Island of Vanuatu in 2009.

The event took place on October 26th from 8am to 8pm in Trinity College. Students from universities across the country, including UCD, took part. Each person had to handwrite one sentence on the individual manuscript being used.

See Change’s campaign manager, Kahlil Thompson-Coyle explained the aim of the project. “Stigma and silence around mental health problems are still huge issues even for this nation of story-tellers. We’re using this literary theme to send the message that everyone had the power to re-write the story of how mental health is perceived.”

See Change is a non-governmental organisation which runs several initiatives to combat the stigma associated with mental health and encourages the nation to share their problems through dialogue.

The story started off with two main characters, Sarah and Sparky. Sarah was sitting in her exam hall, worrying about university and whether or not she had chosen the right course. After all 935 people had written one sentence, the story developed significantly and included cameo appearances from Harry Potter, David Norris and the Ninja Turtles.

The attempt was supported by Fighting Words, an organisation set up by Roddy Doyle to promote creative writing. It was launched by actress Mary McEvoy, formerly of Glenroe, and UCD student Leanne Waters, both of whom have recently spoken out about their mental health problems.

USI Welfare Officer and former UCD Welfare Officer, Scott Ahearn stresses the importance of raising awareness and speaking out against prejudices about mental health. “We all need to remember that talking is a sign of strength. We are attempting to break a Guinness World Record while also fighting the stigma that is attached to Mental Health. I am proud for the USI to be associated with this event”.

3

NEWS

November 9th nurses’ march cancelled Katie Hughes News Editor

A protest planned by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) for the 9th of November has been cancelled following the release of a proposal from the Department of Health regarding the payment of nurses and midwives while they complete their hospital placement.

The proposal has outlined plans to reduce the payment of nurses and midwives from eighty to sixty per cent of a qualified professional’s wage in 2012 and then to fifty percent for all subsequent years.

INMO Executive Council will meet on November 7th and 8th to discuss the matter. Following this, a national meeting will be convened in Dublin of all the class reps of the relevant courses from the twelve universities that offer nursing and midwifery. Information meetings are scheduled to take place the week starting November 14th in all colleges and major hospitals.

Thomspon-Coyle also stressed the importance of talking about mental health problems to a trusted friend, “talk, that’s the most important thing.

Find somebody that you trust: it could be your GP, it could be your family member, it could be a friend. The message we want to get across is that people with mental health problems can and do recover”.

Photographer: Brian O’Leary

Do you know what the world record is for?

In a letter to the INMO, the Secretary General Michael Scanlon stated that it should be appreciated that “the outcome has been achieved with considerable difficulty in the current financial circumstances and is very favourable to the nursing profession, particularly given that a term of the review when initially announced was that any revised proposal should be self-financing”.

Balloting of the current fourth year students will take place if the INMO decide to reject the proposal. Solely fourth year students will be balloted, as, according to USI President Gary Redmond, “they’re the ones who are actually receiving contracts from the hospitals”. They will be balloted for “industrial action” which will commence “very quickly in January after they go into the hospitals for their placement”.

The issue originally arose when the previous Fianna Fail government stated that they were completely discontinuing payments for student nurses, planning to phase them out by 2015. A protest was initiated and a report and review was agreed upon by the incoming Labour and Fine Gael coalition. The report was prepared but its contents remained sealed until Friday’s proposal.

The uncertainty of what it contained and the fact that students were not being informed was the reason behind the planned march.

Redmond described a different aspect of the protest, “in essence this work placement they do as a part of their pre-registration period, they are a nurse, same as any nurse would be on a ward”. Fourth year student nurses have the same responsibilities and consequently the same legal ramifications of their actions as their fully qualified counterparts.

UCD Campaigns and Communications Officer Brendan Lacey reiterated his commitment to the cause, “to ask someone who is in college, trying to fund working, trying to fund where they have to live and then asking them to work for free; the government were asking slave labour of the nurses”, and stated that “there’s absolutely no way I could stand over student nurses from UCD being turned into student slaves.

It’s just not acceptable”.

Voxpops by Aoife Brophy Photographs by Brian O’Leary

Stephen Callahan

Andrew Scanlon

Andrew Murphy

Computer Science, TCD

4th Year European Studies, TCD

1st Year Engineering, TCD

“I saw the tent but I didn’t get any information.”

“No. If it’s a story, one line each per person I think it’s a great idea.”

“It’s a good publicity stunt in terms of creating awareness of mental issues among young adults.”

Do you think it’s effective?

Claire Hyland

Sophie Smith

Danielle Curtis

3rd Year TSM, French and Irish, TCD

4th Year Engineering, TCD

Politics and Modern Languages, UCD and

Cathy Berger German and Linguistics, UCD

“I think it’s very effective. It gets people together and it’s a fun activity so people can just be very creative for thirty seconds and they can say that they took part in a Guinness world record”.

“Mental health is one of those taboo subjects and people don’t broach it a lot but it exists. It’s kind of gimmicky in a positive way because it’s making something that is a sticking point more accessible and easier to talk about. It’s definitely a good way to reach out to people and educate them.”

“The idea of writing a story to help promote re-writing the story of mental health, changing things that are already there and putting a new modern outlook on stuff, giving people the opportunity to break a Guinness world record it’s a really positive idea.”

4

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Financial Awareness raised at MUM Week

NEWS IN BRIEF

by Aaron Kennedy

New Student Amenities Fee approved at La Trobe University The newly approved Students Services Amenities Fee (SSAF) Bill will finally be put in place by Australian universities at the beginning of the 2012 academic year. The bill was set up to repeal the Howards government’s Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) legislation passed by the Senate. This will allow Universities to charge students for their use of recreational facilities, services and amenities.

The charges for the services can go up to $263 per annum depending on the amenity in question. The previous system in place was run under the VSU legislation, which stipulated that universities had to fully fund the services which their students had been using.

Many services, including welfare, suffered a major blow from this.

La Trobe Students’ Union President Adrian McMillan has expressed delight over the introduction of the SSAF, “after five years in the wilderness, student services and representation at Australian universities can start to be rebuilt”.

Universities will negotiate with the Students’ Union through the Student Services Committee with regards to how the money shall be used. Sports facilities, as well as the University campus, will benefit from the SSAF.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Katie Hughes News Editor “Mind Ur Money” (MUM) week took place last week to raise awareness about financial assistance funds available to students.

This is the first time the Students’ Union have held such a week. Welfare Officer Rachel Breslin explains that this is the case as there are significantly more people approaching her with

financial issues than have approached Welfare Officers in previous years.

The main objective of the week was to raise awareness of the funds available to students who are struggling financially, but also to raise awareness of the part-time job list and “general attitude that you should be out looking for discounts in order to save money and how to go about that”.

Instead of the regular A2 posters, Breslin opted for smaller ones to pro-

mote the MUM campaign, “I got smaller ones as they were cheaper to keep the theme”. The posters advertised the various funds that are available to students struggling with financial difficulties, “a fund for emergencies, a fund for unexpected events and there’s a fund for ongoing financial difficulties – for someone that is struggling there is an option out there and that’s the message I wanted to get across during the week”.

English Universities Seek To Lower Tuition Fees According to government sources, universities in England are considering lowering tuition fees for their students. The Office For Fair Access (OFFA) has revealed that approximately twenty-eight institutions across England have shown interest in reducing the fee to £7,500 or if possible, lower. Of these twenty-eight, eight universities have already submitted plans to achieve this goal.The Chief Executive of university think-tank million+, Pam Tatlow, has stated: “It is hardly surprising that some universities are now considering amending their bursary schemes and that OFFA is seeking to ensure that this process is managed within a timeframe.”

Any university with plans to lower their tuition fees must submit plans to do so before the 4th of November deadline.

In April of this year, universities set their bursary and fee levels; at this stage, forty-seven universities announced their intention to charge the £9,000 maximum standard fee. However, the government changed the current system in place, with ministers telling universities that if they charged less than £7,500 admission fees, the universities could bid for a portion of 20,000 full-time undergraduate places.

Students who applied to UCAS courses that had an October 15th deadline will be given the opportunity to change to a revised package or stay with their current one. All other applicants will be notified directly if their university of choice decides to change fees to allow them to change their UCAS preference before the January 15th deadline.

The first event of the week consisted of an eleven-foot inflatable discount booth, “we got an eleven foot inflatable discount booth and loads of businesses donated discount vouchers to us so people could enjoy getting in the booth and getting money off”.

Boomerang, a new company aiming to reunite people with their lost belongings, made an appearance on campus to promote their business and initiative. “There has been an issue with people losing belongings like phones or even laptops on campus; the way it works is that there’s a tag and it’s an electronic system, they do a discount for students.”

Breslin made a video to promote the various funds available to students in need, “I made a video which will last long beyond the week; I’m going to put it on the website and keep it going. It seems to have gotten a lot of positive feedback, I’ve been getting a lot of emails saying ‘you said in the video that this…’. The video is out there because in thve past things like talks have been run but it’s impossible to get everyone who wants the information to the talks or we can’t run a talk every week so I wanted something that can last and that people can get access to”.

Breslin was pleased with the turnout at the various events, “we got different people participating in all of the different things … you got a different sort of people that were coming to the [discount booth], that was a really fun activity”.

A second campaign will run in the second semester, the focus of which will be on part-time jobs.

COMMUNITY MUSICAL SEEK REPLACEMENT PRODUCER

Digital Public Library of America Complete by 2013 The Digital Public Library Of America (DPLA) created by Harvard staff members is in the midst of major developments.

The operation is making quick progress and should have a full operational online database set up by April 2013.

The DPLA accepted two significant donations from separate organisations in Washington D.C. last week, and has established relationships with similar organisations striving for the same goal.

The Sloan Foundation and Arcadia Fund contributed $2.5 million each to the project. The total $5 million will cover the costs of the DPLA’s attempt to collect digitised works from various locations.

University Professor Robert C. Darnton has described the DPLA as ‘unstoppable’. As well as long-standing partnerships with the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institute the DPLA will work with the Europeana Foundation, which works to collect digitised works across Europe.

The Executive Director of Europeana Jill Cousins has stated that “by this combined effort on two continents, Europeana and the DPLA hope to promote the creation of a global network with partners from around the world’.

Emily Longworth Acting Arts Manager Jason Masterson has denounced rumours that the UCD Community Musical has been cancelled and has confirmed the on-going efforts of the Musical’s production team to put on a show this year despite the resignation of the producer.

A university spokesperson has stated that following a recent resignation, “there is currently a search on for a replacement producer for the UCD Community Musical”.

Masterson was emphatic that this year’s Community Musical would still be going ahead, “the executive production team have already started planning a Community Musical event which will

take place in the third term” he explained, “we are very excited and committed to producing an excellent event which will appropriately celebrate the Community Musical’s five year anniversary.” The scheduling of the musical for the third term is later than in previous years, as it usually takes place in February.

Masterson confirmed that the overall status of the musical’s production has not been compromised by the rumours of management issues; the auditions for this year’s show have not been held yet nor have any ticket sales begun.

Details of the show have not yet been

announced by the production committee, but Masterson confirmed that they are set to be released in the coming weeks, “we hope to be able to release details of this event before the end of the first term”.

Previous years of the UCD Community Musical have seen performances of Beauty and the Beast, West Side Story, Guys ‘n’ Dolls and Footloose. There has been no report of any management issues in past years and many of the

Community Musicals have seen sellout runs that have recieved critical acclaim.

Masterson has also made an appeal to students who wish to take part in the production of this year’s show, saying that “we are keen to get as many people involved in the planning of this event as possible, so if anyone is interested in being part of a production team for a large scale show they can e-mail musical@ucd.ie”.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

NEWS

5

News Analysis Constructive Criticism As some SU representatives experience their first bouts of online criticism, Kate Rothwell examines the difference between constructive and crass critiquing

T

his year has already come to the inevitable point when sabbatical officers are coming under fire for promises that, for whatever reasons, have not been fulfilled. Stephen Darcy has been subject to harsh criticism after two, or approximately one and half, acts failed to perform at the ‘Cheesefest’ concert last month. Some of the students who voiced their disappointment on the Ents Facebook page complained that the compensation of a five Euro refund or two six Euro drinks tokens on the night was not adequate, and that a full refund or a guarantee of admission to the promised follow-up show should instead have been offered. Others resorted merely to name-calling.

The crude insults that come alongside genuine complaints and constructive comments are unavoidable in all walks of life, but access to internet forums and Facebook pages have invited an unfortunate deluge of the former

rather than the latter. Former Entertainment Officer Jonny Cosgrove received a similar backlash during the furore surrounding last year’s UCD Ball, however given the greater number of students who felt hard done by, his online ordeal was of a more extreme nature and the comments were also painfully personal.

The internet boasts endless advantages for anyone wishing to communicate with the public, but it is also a distinctly double-edged sword. Anyone promoting a society or event to the UCD student body must be fully confident in the quality of whatever they are bringing to their attention, as any flaws or unfavourable aspects will soon be pointed out by the many critical eyes online, and a personal insult or two may be thrown in for good measure. Those without a suitably thick skin would be better off not putting themselves out there.

Of course if you put yourself in the public eye, then you have to be prepared

to take the eventual criticism that is destined to come your way. Some of it will be deserved, some of it will not. Yet there is no doubt that many students take on sabbatical or extra-curricular positions without quite realising the intensity of the job that they have taken on. Just last week Stephen Darcy admitted that he didn’t realise how much criticism of Ents would have an impact on him personally, while Student Union President Pat de Brún acknowledged that he is finding his second sabbatical year “extremely challenging” and has had to put some planned projects on the long finger as a result of financial restructuring taking up more of his time than he had originally anticipated.

Yet there is a different sort of demand upon those who take on high-ranking positions within societies or the Students’ Union while still studying; they must balance their studies alongside their extra-curricular responsibilities.

Getting involved in a society or club at UCD can be the most enriching element of a student’s college life, but it can also lead to the most stressful times of the year becoming even more acutely pressured.

Poor exam results are a disappointment only for a student themselves, or at most also for their parents and perhaps a particularly concerned tutor. When a society event or SU initiative fails to go as planned or receives a poor reception however, there is the potential to disappoint tens, hundreds or even thousands of students. There is also often the legacy of revered predecessors to live up to; auditors who managed to secure notably renowned speakers, captains who brought their teams to new levels of success, SU officers who championed national campaigns. This is not to say that the pressure of extra-curricular activities is greater than a student’s academic obligations, but it does entail

Midwife Crisis

As pay cuts replace the abolition of payment for fourth year nurses, Jon Hozier-Byrne asks whether or not this concession goes far enough

T

he release of a letter to the INMO from Secretary General Michael Scanlon regarding a review of the proposed pay cuts for fourth year nurses on placement marks what may be the end of a long struggle for both the nurses involved and their resistant governing body. Activism began in February of this year to attempt to reverse the proposal to cut on-placement nurses’ pay from 200 euro a week to nil, a move which UCDSU Campaigns and Communications Officer Brendan Lacey described as “student nurses from UCD being turned into student slaves”. The original proposal was drafted by the previous government as a hurried attempt at cost-cutting, and was described by the INMO, according to then Campaigns and Communications Officer Pat de Brún, as “Mary Harney’s parting shot”.

The letter from Secretary General Scanlon to the INMO reveals that Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, concluded that undergraduate pay during the fourth year placement would be cut to sixty per cent of relevant staff nurse salary scale for the 2011/2012 academic year, to be cut a further ten per cent in the year following. Although this will no doubt be welcomed by some as a considerable improvement from the original proposal, not to mention a rare victory for student lobbying, it might more realistically be viewed as a still insignificant figure when placed in context of both the hours these students are expected to work, and the legal liability placed on their shoulders.

In contrast to any other work placement, the fourth year nursing placement puts students in what can be an incredibly letigious position, in which

they are required to take responsibility for the continous physical welfare of their patients. It is worth noting that these student nurses are effectively ‘students’ in name alone; they are placed under the same pressures, have the same responsibilities and work the same hours as their fully-qualified counterparts. Indeed, the very fact that they are forced to operate in a system in which under-paid students

are given the same burden of care, and furthermore, the same accountability as qualified nurses, speaks to the quality and the priorities of the health system itself.

Add to this the mandatory night shifts, twelve-hour working days and the mammoth figure of a thirty-six week placement, and one would be forgiven for thinking that even the revised pay reduction is still an appall-

ing cutback to what are, in essence, our frontline services. However, the argument must also be raised; why should nurses get paid a weekly stipend at all?

The final year is a placement, an essential application of real-world skills without which their eventual qualifications would be weakened. Hospitals are willing to take on inexperienced would-be nurses, for better or ill, and provide an educational service in

a different, and perhaps unanticipated, sense of expectation.

Our Students’ Union, societies and clubs can only continue to succeed and improve with both the devotion of those who dedicate themselves to these organisations, and the continued surveillance of the student body’s critical eye. Criticism can be constructive, and is undeniably necessary, but those who are tempted to voice their discontent in a crude manner should first consider if their comments will do anything to improve the situation they disapprove of, or if it would be more productive to simply get involved and attempt to make the necessary changes themselves.

Those who reach the highest echelons of non-academic activities however, must also consider whether they really are prepared and able to commit themselves to what can be the most demanding, but also most rewarding tasks that they may encounter during their time at university.

exchange for the student’s participation and working hours. Why should nurses be paid to receive education, without which they would not be qualified to work in their chosen field?

What differenciates, in principal, this stage of their education from a comparable final-year Science student working twelve hours in a lab? Does that too not constitute ‘slave labour’?

Perhaps the primary difference is that hospitals are external businesses, most unconnected to the University or the USI. Is it unacceptable to have students (most commonly post grads) work ungodly hours for minimal pay only if their work cannot aid the university, or even bolster both the university’s reputation and its coffers?

Where this argument falls down, however, is in the incomparable nature of the work expected of a nursing student and any other ‘working’ student discipline. Pay structures, in every occupation, take risk into account when calculating reward. Not only is the work of our student nurses essential, admirable, and valuable in and of itself, it represents an infinitely more labour-intensive working day than not only any other student placement, but the majority of ‘real-world’ profession. Furthermore, the legal liability these young men and women must be conscious of represents a very real working ‘risk’ for which they must be fairly and adequately compensated.

As such, the proposed cutbacks, although an unquestionable improvement from the frankly insulting Fianna Fáil scheme, still represents an inadequate remuneration for the young men and women who pursue this essential position, while targeting the vulnerable providers of frontline services that we so entirely depend on, but that the Government believes will be too preoccupied and too overworked to be in a position to actively resist. As such, it is worth noting that as welcome as the amendment to the previous proposal is, it still represents a further burden placed on those from whom we already expect so much.

7

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Observer Features Helping others help yourself With a growing number of organisations offering students the chance to do volunteer work overseas, Sally Hayden examines who really benefits from these initiatives

A

t some stage even the most hardhearted amongst us feel the urge to better the world we live in. While societies such as St. Vincent de Paul offer opportunities to volunteer in Dublin on a regular basis, more and more students are being drawn to bringing their goodwill overseas. Sun, sea and service can appear to be a winning combination for an alternative summer.

Each year droves of unskilled idealistic students head from the West to the developing world for between two weeks and two months. Tour operators have recognised growing demand for the feel-good factor, and ‘voluntourism’ trips, combining sightseeing with charity work, are becoming much more prevalent. Cynics call it ‘poverty tourism’. Building houses or teaching in orphanages can certainly feel very rewarding, but is such a short period of time long enough to make this much revered ‘difference’, or are we simply adding to existing problems?

UCD Volunteer Overseas’ (UCDVO) auditor Sinead Hughes recognises that there are positives and negatives to having such a limited time abroad. “I think short-term volunteering is more intense. You get a lot more done in a short time, I think if you were there for longer it would be more relaxed so in that way it’s good to go out and be efficient with your time,” she says. “But then I guess if it’s a case where you’re going into a country for four weeks and then not coming back then it has negative effects on the whole community, but with VO, I think the way we’re coming back year after year has a positive aspect.”

After working in a centre for children in Delhi the summer before last, third year medical student Rachel Rynne-Lyons admits she did consider whether it was unreasonable to become close to the children when she was only going to leave them again. “I thought, ‘was it fair?’ But I think a lot of the places that VO sends people to have a continuous system of volunteers and they’re used to it, and it’s really exciting for them because they get to meet new people, and new things to teach.

We’re such a different culture and I think we try to be really caring with kids, I think it’s just natural instinct, to girls especially, and then to become really close to the kids and then leave isn’t fair but I think it’s good for both of us to have, to make a connection even if it’s just for a month. You see that they do have someone all the time. And also

the kids are really clever and as much as you think that you’ve made them fall in love with you they’re very smart kids and they kind of know how to win everybody over, they’re really cute.”

During the course of their studies at UCD approximately twenty-five per cent of students undertake a course in some area of development, a statistic that demonstrates a legitimate and commendable interest in the field.

However, Dr Patrick Walsh of the UCD Development Studies Department sees volunteering overseas as an extension of this education, more of a benefit to the student who embarks on it than to the locals that are their target.

“I think it is what it is, to give relatively privileged students in Ireland the chance to see firsthand the conditions people have to live. It’s an important thing for people to see. When we’re giving money to students to do that I think we understand that this is for the development of the UCD student,” Dr. Walsh explains. “It’s not just about having an impact in Africa; it’s also about the education of the UCD stu-

“You can’t blame someone for being optimistic and wanting to help, but people need to know where they can apply themselves and where they are needed” James Mac Mahon, UCD World Aid Society

dent to have a more global mind. You could have views on a person’s trade and whether aid works in a big macro sense but this is not about that, this is just about UCD students broadening their horizons. I think you’re looking at a different return to the money.”

Foreign aid has arguably caused more harm than good in many regions when benefactors fail to properly research the local economy and examine the potential knock-on effects of their efforts. There are arguments with a sound basis that suggest that free volunteer work can lead to local unemployment, or free food to an exaggerated inflation of local farmer’s prices, and thus result in far-reaching negative impacts for the local community.

Dr Walsh also notes that aid volunteers are setting the required spending, rather than letting locals or a government do it themselves. “You’re enforcing a curriculum, a kind of value setting in the way you do things.”

Dr Walsh believes that if small projects are undertaken and tackled effectively, these can be far more useful than trying to surmount grand tasks. “Obviously the volunteer work is very community based, it can be very so-so, but they’ve done clever things. [UCDVO] brought second-hand computers, they fixed them, they’ve shipped them into Tanzania, and they brought them up to Eritrea. They have the skills. These are probably relatively small projects but they do them very effectively.”

Dr Walsh says that avoiding negative consequences can be best done by keeping your aims measurable and targeting those who need it most. “In general, if you go to an area [that] is the poorest of the poor, they genuinely have nothing. Nobody’s coming to build the road, nobody’s coming to fix the hospital. It’s more about going inside a community where you do this little job. It’s like going to an old person’s home, and you fix the shower or you fix the gate for them. It was not going to be done by someone else. And I think once the project is careful that you’re not displacing people, that you’re doing something that was otherwise not going to be done then I think it’s ok.

[With] any development project, or any intervention, you should be very careful that you’re not causing unintended bad outcomes. You should test yourself against these kinds of questions.”

Auditor of the UCD World Aid Society, James Mac Mahon reiterates the need to take care when picking your project and says “you can’t blame some-

one for being optimistic and wanting to help, but people need to know where they can apply themselves and where they are needed”. The World Aid Society is a well-known supporter of fair trade, and are also currently in the foundation stages of their own alter-

verse group from different schools and characters.”

Finding the money necessary to fund a student’s time abroad is another issue with temporary volunteerism. A lot of providers will often charge inflated prices, with no encouragement or

“I think it is what it is, to give relatively privileged students in Ireland the chance to see firsthand the conditions people have to live. It’s an important thing for people to see. When we’re giving money to students to do that I think we understand that this is for the development of the UCD student” Dr. Patrick Walsh, UCD Professor in Development Studies native travelling scheme, an exchange option with Africa. Aeshi University in Ghana encourages African graduates to remain in Africa, an anti-brain drain that is vital for sustainable development. “It’s encouraging Africa from the inside and promoting things like the middle class, and working it up, helping establish companies and businesses.”

Bringing their students to UCD for a term could be very empowering, giving them experiences and skills that they could use later to enhance their own region, whilst UCD students attending Aeshi could likewise learn a great deal from their African counterparts.

Changing attitudes and enhanced understanding are essential for global interaction and sustainable development. Hughes points out that in the long term a student can be suitably moved to dedicate further time, or even their profession, to improving the areas they’ve witnessed. “There are so many of our past volunteers who have focused their career on it, which greatly benefits that country. That’s really positive. And as well sending the money across could create a dependency that you don’t want to create in the country.

If you just feed money into them, when you stop what happens then?”

UCDVO holds information evenings annually, encouraging applications and holding interviews to guarantee they have the best teams possible. Eagerness, diversity and skills are all components that can secure you a place on a future project. As Hughes says, “Things like enthusiasm, people who can work on their own initiative.

Obviously people who have done construction or teaching before would be a benefit, or if they’ve got languages, exposure to working in hard conditions.

But I think the main thing is to get a di-

suggestions to aid potential volunteers.

However, with UCDVO there is a lot of support in place. “They have to raise €2,500 and there’s the student committee that provides support for them so I think it’s daunting at the start, but once you get going it’s fine. People do bag packs, we have Rás UCD, we did the Wicklow 200 cycle and got sponsorship for that, so there are a lot of generic events that they can latch onto, and then they can do their own things as well so it’s very doable. Most people reach beyond their targets.”

Most volunteers recount a similar tale of gaining a new insight and understanding of the plight of others.

Rynne-Lyons’ experience taught her to focus on a more global picture. “It sounds a bit ridiculous but you become more realistic about things you would have usually worried about when you come home. It puts things into perspective a little bit more.” This sentiment is echoed by Hughes. “I think on a personal level it teaches you a lot about yourself. How to deal in situations that push you outside your boundaries, and you appreciate everything once you come home.”

Though it is noble and commendable to want to change the world you live in, opportunities to volunteer abroad should always be tested for unintentional harms. Sustainable projects that operate on a manageable scale without displacing locals should be focused on, and volunteers should always be aware of keeping their agenda in line with what is best for the locality. Meanwhile a willingness to learn as much as you teach will ensure that you gain the best personal return on your investment, and realise that the difference you aim to champion will be as much to do with yourself as with anyone else.

8

FEATURES

Engendering Change

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

With UCD’s first Gender Equality Week coming up, Anna Curran examines the change in name from Women’s to Gender Equality Officer and the challenges that still surround the issue

“You could have asked … where’s the men’s officer?”

Patrick Wolohan, Gender Equality Officer.

T

he first ever UCD Gender Equality Week will begin on November 7th. Awareness-raising events such as talks by guest speakers, which at last year’s ‘Women’s Week’ included Miriam O’Callaghan, and mixed sports games are some of the activities set to take place. The current position of Gender Equality Officer was originally titled Women’s Officer, but the name was changed last year by referendum.

But what has the change in the title of the position achieved? Does it really mean anything? Patrick Wolohan, this year’s incumbent, believes that the

“If you’re looking for gender equality what you’re doing is looking to bring women into the equation to campaign for equality with the other gender, who are men” Dr Mary McAuliffe, UCD Women’s Research and Resource Centre.

new title is more inclusive of the entire representation in the general university Additionally, she believes that the university population and therefore population and in the positions of use of the word ‘gender’ in place of was worthwhile changing, explaining power is something Wolohan hopes ‘women’ could be reflective of a general that “it didn’t anger me too much but to address, pointing out that “there’s feeling in today’s society that women’s you could have asked … where’s the a general feeling in Irish society that rights and feminism are too much of a men’s officer?” politics is more of a man’s game.” He one-theme issue. In reality, such issues While preparing for Gender does not feel that actions such as affect all genders and all aspects of Equality Week, Wolohan asked the gender quotas would be the way to society, rather than being an issue of general student population what achieve a better balance and is instead importance to women only. their feelings on gender inequality urging female students to be more McAuliffe also addresses the issue within the campus were. The overall confident and outspoken in seeking SU that many people today, including UCD consensus was that gender inequality positions and bringing about a change students that Wolohan has spoken is not an issue in UCD. “I’ve been in attitudes. to, believe that the fight for women’s asking people have they any problems On the same issue, Dr. Mary rights is over. She explained that, themselves … Mainly people haven’t McAuliffe from the UCD Women’s although legally speaking parity does had many gender inequality issues.”

Research and Resource Centre exist, women still do the majority of However, although females (WERRC) also views the change work in the home, as well as working currently make up fifty-seven per cent from Women’s Officer to Gender full-time and essentially “doubleof university students in the country, Equality Officer as a positive move, jobbing.” They are also the gender most Ireland was recently ranked eightieth with the specific use of the word affected by childcare issues. Even in in the world for female participation ‘gender’ broadening the discourse on Ireland, ranked eighth in the world for in national parliaments. This statistic gender relations. gender equality in 2010, women still is reflected in our own Students’ However, McAuliffe believes that earned 17.1 per cent less than men for Union, in which the first female Vice- both titles essentially mean the same work of equal value.

President in three years was elected thing. “If you’re looking for gender When questioned on the reason for this year. Even then, Rachel Breslin equality what you’re doing is looking the under-representation of women in was elected to the traditionally more to bring women into the equation to Irish politics, Dr. McAuliffe purports, female role of Welfare Officer, in a race campaign for equality with the other similarly to Wolohan, that politics is in which included exclusively female gender, who are men, and that’s what still seen as a men’s domain. However, candidates.

I presume the women’s rights officer she is in favour of gender quotas in order This clear disparity between female was doing as well.” to bring about the necessary change to

A WORK IN PROGRESS With the publication of the Legal Services Regulation Bill, Aoife Valentine explores the effects it will have on the legal profession and today’s law students

I

n October, approval for the publication of the Legal Services Regulation Bill was granted to the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Alan Shatter. Its publication was met with some controversy from the Law Society and the Bar Council of Ireland, who were concerned about the effects the provisions of the Bill would have, if it were to be passed into law.

The Bill proposes a new regulatory system, independent of the Bar Council and Law Society, as well as allowing for multidisciplinary practices, all with the aim of increasing competition and transparency within the sector.

The Bill was drafted based on recommendations for reform from the Competition Authority in 2006 but it has been brought to the fore based on conditions set by the European Union/ International Monetary Fund (EU/ IMF) in the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland.

Providing for a new office, taking over from the Taxing Master, the Legal Costs Adjudicator will be a government appointed body which regulates legal costs and deals with complaints of professional misconduct. The idea is to provide transparency for consumers, a move welcomed by the Consumer

“Those who went into law to make the big bucks, and believe me they still exist in the classrooms of Roebuck, should realise that while we have made sacrifices in educating ourselves that we have no right to charge ridiculous fees to members of the public” Patrick Fitzgerald, Second Year Law Student.

Association of Ireland, despite unease Professor Colin Scott, however, does from many legal professionals. The Bill not believe these worries are justified. also highlights several issues which it “I am aware that members of the legal does not provide for directly, but which profession are anxious about their this new regulatory authority would independence but I do not feel these be required to investigate further, concerns so strongly. Costs are already including a potential deviation from subject to a degree of regulation and the split profession of barristers and the Bill provides for a new structure ... solicitors as well as paving the way for Fees are already subject to downward a review of legal education and training. pressure as part of a more general Concerns over a possible threat to process of market adjustments, due the independence of the profession have to the recession and decisions by been widely discussed since publication, government to reduce fees.” given that the regulatory body will be It is this matter of reduced legal costs, made up of a government-appointed and the idea that if this Bill passes, the panel with a lay majority. Dean of Law, legal profession may no longer be as

politics in this country. On the argument that gender quotas would bring lesser qualified candidates into parliament, she cites the less than glowing track record of previous politicians; “Frankly you could say that some of the men elected to political office in this country without gender quotas really shouldn’t have been there.”

It seems, then, that the change from Women’s Officer to Gender Equality Officer is an overwhelmingly positive move. It is worrying, however, that although the referendum on the name change may have encouraged some debate on the issue, it is generally under-discussed.

The general opinion in UCD, and indeed the entire country, appears to be that gender equality has effectively been achieved. Perhaps it is because we in university are relatively sheltered from the harsh reality of gender inequality in the working world that UCD students appear to be generally apathetic towards the issue.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that fifty-seven per cent of UCD graduates this year will be at an automatic disadvantage when they enter the job market.

lucrative as it has perhaps been shown to be before, which raises sharply contrasting opinions from UCD’s Law students. Patrick Fitzgerald, a second year student, argues that “those who went into law to make the big bucks, and believe me they still exist in the classrooms of Roebuck, should realise that while we have made sacrifices in educating ourselves that we have no right to charge ridiculous fees to members of the public. Rather than facilitating justice, we are impeding justice for members of the public and any move to reduce lawyers’ fees is welcome for the sake of justice.”

James Conroy, a third year student, takes a different view on the situation.

“I think people would realise when they see the amount of pressure a solicitor or barrister would be under and for the price that they’re getting, they’d be inclined to think ‘It looks like a fun job but it’s not worth it for the pressure you’re under and the money you’re getting.’ I think it would be a more daunting situation to go into. It would push me further to go to a different jurisdiction.”

Professor Scott, however, does not believe that it will have as big an effect on the bank balances of Irish solicitors and barristers as is perhaps being made out. “Well-trained and skilful lawyers will continue to make good livings in Ireland and have options to seek employment in other jurisdictions.

There may be greater competition in Ireland, but Ireland must also compete for good lawyers. Many lawyers, of course, receive fairly modest incomes and there is evidence that these incomes have been squeezed, but this is more a product of changes in the market than consequences of the Bill.”

This Bill aims to remove restrictive practices within the legal profession, and to balance the interests of the general public, the consumer and the legal professionals in a way which remains fair to all.

The issue of regulation of costs has proved the most contentious issue at hand at the moment, and with the twenty-ninth amendment to the Constitution just passed, perhaps the legal profession is beginning to feel a bit targeted. With a long process ahead before the Bill can be passed into law, there is still room to find a solution suitable for everyone.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

FEATURES

9

As Anna Burzlaff begins to settle into Berlin life, she attempts to get to grips with a nightlife that never sleeps FROM ABROAD:

BERLIN

“I

hope some of you are in Berlin for more than parties, alcohol, and drugs!” My first lecture at the Freie Universität Berlin was opened with an all-too-familiar sentiment.

Who could blame any academic, teacher, or adult with half an insight into youth culture for making such a connection?

Naturally one of the many appeals of Berlin for a lot of the exchange students here is the nightlife; a nightlife which literally does not sleep. While many try and hide their interest under a guise of culture and academia, it is all too clear to our professors that the pounding of monotonous techno pulled

us to the city. For it is a well known fact that no Berlin resident needs to worry when he or she feels the sudden urge to dance in a smoke-filled room with mind-numbing electronic music and a stereo system which is bound to cause tinnitus after the first beat.

“Ibiza would be afraid of Berlin” is one of my favourite remarks with regards to the city’s status as the party epicentre. Every old factory, every underground space is home to new and exciting clubs, parties, and people. The underground movement of the late eighties and early nineties has been transformed into a mass

commercial success, with thousands of tourists travelling to the German capital solely for the nightlife. One can certainly understand the pull that the capital exerts. I can say with no uncertainty that since my arrival here I have experienced a clubbing hedonism unknown to me before. Tripod would quiver in its boots if confronted with the mammoth that is the Berlin club scene.

While many spots can demand a waiting time of up to, or in excess of, an hour, the reward is certainly worth it, as you enter a world without rules or inhibitions. Gay men dressed

in nothing but skimpy leather shorts, accessorised only with a fan to keep them cool. Outdoor spaces with swings, bonfires, and infamous ‘confession boxes’.

Each club is like a still from a David Lynch film, without the threatening undertone and with just a hint of the perversion.

A friend of mine, Markus, who was been living in Berlin all his life, told me that Berlin is the home of the freak. It is the city that accepts those who were accepted nowhere.

I can rest fully assured in the fact that those outcasts of society have found their place in Berlin. Not only have they found their place, they are displaying it and indulging in it, for all those who stay up past 2am to see. Markus himself typifies the Berlin scene; part of the electronic movement of the early nineties, he has indulged in pleasures and delights too scandalous for our Irish-Catholic ears.

Characters such as Markus make the scene what it is. Naturally the structures of the clubs themselves help create a special experience, but it is the people within those clubs that truly set Berlin apart. Liberal would be too weak a term to describe a scene that begins on Friday and ends Monday morning. These people come from all walks of life; gay, straight, transsexual, rich, poor, young, old. Within the walls of Berlin’s legendary clubs you find a spectrum of society that you would

never find anywhere else. My latest experience in a club in Berlin included meeting a tour guide, a student, an old barman from the legendary Studio 54 and one of Lady Gaga’s dancers. Just another night in Berlin.

Of course my professor’s words are important to consider and Berlin should not be seen solely as a clubbing mecca. Both sides of Berlin are significant. The cool culture of the daylight hours is perhaps the better of the two, certainly the more sustainable. However the other side of Berlin, the side that comes out once the sun has gone down, is at this moment the more fascinating.

Perhaps that appeal is a reflection on the relative conservatism of Irish night-life, although I would be hard pressed to think of another city with such a level of sexual, expressive, and personal freedom.

Berlin night-life is multifaceted, and caters to every need. Naturally not all the clubs of Berlin are hedonistic hideouts, with leather-clad bodybuilders on copious amounts of drugs. The night-life also consists of mild-mannered establishments, pleasant and docile. Of course these are naturally the majority, however they do not make the stuff of exciting newspaper articles.

My professor’s words of hopeful optimism, naive or otherwise, have stuck with me, however. As I reflect on the pull that is Berlin night-life, I am reminded of hearing my friend recount how he failed his exams in Berlin as he was having too much fun. At the time I was astounded by the idea that a night-life could be so tempting. I am beginning to realise its danger.

A Week We Can Do Without?

Following NUI Galway’s cancellation of this year’s RAG week, Westley Barnes examines how entertainment and welfare can be balanced

R

ag Week has long been regarded as a rite-of-passage into university society for many students across the country. The events of any given Rag Week throughout our nation’s campuses bear the same contradictory but widely accepted hallmarks; charitable in theory, but often rowdy and occasionally disruptive in reality. However, the old adage ‘charity begins at home’ took on a new meaning for UCD’s western contemporaries NUI Galway recently, when NUIG SU president Emmet Connolly confirmed that he and his fellow officers had been successful in brokering a deal with NUI authorities whereby the University would be awarding 60,000 euro to the Student Assistance Fund as means of concession for the SU’s agreement to cancel all Rag Week events.

NUIG SU President Emmet Connolly discussed the obvious benefits which have emerged as a result of the cancellation and explained how the negative associations which Rag Week had provoked through recent years served as the genesis for the decision.

“The University have wanted to get rid of Rag Week for the past three or four years, but we weren’t going to give it up for nothing,” Connolly explains.

“That would obviously have made for poor negotiation on our behalf. So we decided to think of some concessions that could replace the benefits of having a Rag Week, and the one all of our Students’ Union agreed on was distributing money to the Student Assistance Fund.”

Connolly didn’t need to look far for the inspiration behind this move, as an urgent need to provide financial assistance was in evidence within the most disadvantaged sectors of the students he represented. “The main reason behind this decision was that NUI Galway has the highest percentage of students who depend on grants to pay for their education amongst all Irish uni-

“We decided to think of some concessions that could replace the benefits of having a Rag Week, and the one all of our Students’ Union agreed on was distributing money to the Student Assistance fund.”

Emmet Connolly, NUI Galway SU President versities.” Connolly asserts that offering financial assistance to the economically disadvantaged students which the SU represented was therefore of more importance than organising student revelry events in aid of charities which existed outside the college. “Seeing as our university community represents people from a series of different socioeconomic backgrounds it was our aim to focus the funds we were now receiving … towards a section that our students could hopefully benefit from”.

At the heart of the resolution lies a public relations victory, as Connolly admits that the greatest relief to come from the move was the fact the NUIG SU would no longer be affiliated with the negative press surrounding previous Rag Weeks. “The problem wasn’t really concerning the logistics of organising Rag Week or anything like that.

We just found that the reputational damage that Rag Week was doing to

the University and to the students’ degrees was becoming unjustifiable given the concept’s original intentions.”

In reaction to the developments of NUIG SU’s Rag Week’s cancellation UCDSU President Pat de Brún first discusses the initial plans for next semester’s Rag Week events. “Plans for Rag Week 2012 have not yet been finalised.

It is to be held in Semester Two and all proceeds from the week’s events will go to charity. The charity has not yet been chosen, but last year the chosen charity was the ‘UCD Community Reachout Fund’, which gave money to disadvantaged projects in the local area.”

The charitable focus of UCDSU’s Rag Week therefore parallels the intentions of NUIG SU’s, and de Brún shows no intention of changing the format. When asked of his reaction towards NUIG SU’s steps in removing Rag Week from their calendar, de Brún conveys scepticism about removing

what he sees as a positive undertaking on the part of Students’ Union. “I commend NUIG SU for their commitment to student welfare, but the decision appears to be a strange one to me. If anything it would make sense to go ahead with the week’s events and then give all the profits to the welfare fund. Rag week is a charity event and therefore raises money.”

Rag Week in recent years has included mainly nightclub and society events targeting very specific groups, so that many students seem not to be enticed or have any interest in attending activities. So how relevant can the traditional tomfoolery-in-aid-of-aworthy-cause approach remain? De Brún acknowledges this concern. “The week itself has never really taken off in UCD for a variety of reasons, particularly the size of the campus, along with the existence of the various charity faculty day events, which are hugely

successful.”

De Brún hopes for continued student interest in the University’s Rag Week Campaign. “I would love to see more people get involved with Rag Week and I do hope it is successful this year. If I thought for a second that not holding Rag Week would save money for student welfare, I would be opposed to [Rag Week]. The only reason I’m supportive of it is because it has the potential to make more money for charity and student welfare.”

The re-evaluation of what is less commonly known as ‘Raise and Give’ or ‘Raise a Grand’ Week might not be a country-wide effort, but NUIG SU’s innovative move has at least initiated an interesting discussion about the appropriate balance between entertainment and fundraising and the dangers of alcohol-influenced behaviour at college events. And who wouldn’t raise a glass to that?

10

FEATURES

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

COUNCILLORS ON CA MPUS Following the election of Ireland’s ninth president, Elizabeth O’Malley meets UCD’s very own political office holders

I

t has often been said, perhaps un- resolved on the go.” fairly, that the students of today are Stokes agreed but did point out some largely politically apathetic. Yet drawbacks of combing the two roles. many students in UCD are involved in “The difficult thing is that I’m usually political parties and every week the Lit- left with very little time to study except erary & Historical Society or the Law in exam periods … and sometimes I’m Society host debates on political issues, called away about emergency issues. It which often result in heated discussion could be anything at all. Then someeven after the speakers have gone home. times I have to suddenly stop what I’m Indeed, in light of the recent Presiden- doing. I remember last year during the tial election, it seems almost impossible exam period I had to take a day out a not come into contact with politics on week before the exams to do constitucampus. ency work and visit one or two people. It What most people might not know can be a challenge but I enjoy it overall, is that a number of students are not it’s a good balance.” only involved in student politics or poWhen asked whether being a politilitical discussion on campus, but also cian helped with his History and Polirepresent communities off-campus. tics degree, Stokes maintained that it Somewhat surprisingly, a number of had. “It’s certainly given me a lot of incouncillors are simultaneously attend- sight into the political structures and ing university. Among them is Labour how politics works on the ground, and Town Councillor Stephen Stokes, who it’s helped me broaden my expertise in was elected to Greystones Town Coun- writing history or politics essays.” cil in 2009, and Labour County CouncilBond felt it was his time in the SU lor Chris Bond, recently co-opted onto that had more of an impact on his work the South Dublin County Council after as a councillor than his studies. “It was a position was filled when Eamonn Ma- in the Students’ Union where I learned loney was elected to the Dáil. how to campaign on political issues, “It’s definitely caused me to be a where I learned how people tend to bit more withdrawn from the extra- behave in a political environment. I curricular stuff that’s on in UCD. At learned things like how to deal with the the moment I’m purely focusing on my media. I learned how to engage with studies,” explains final year Politics and people about their concerns too.”

Sociology student Bond. “But ... I’d have Many politicians started their politito say it’s quite a manageable thing to cal careers in college. Tánaiste Eamon juggle both my studies and my duties as Gilmore was president of the Union of a councillor. The good thing about being Students Ireland (USI) as was Minister a county councillor is that there are no Pat Rabitte. Enda Kenny and Micheál fixed hours so a lot of casework can be Martin both became heavily involved in

the youth wings of their parties, namely Young Fine Gael and Ógra Fianna Fáil.

However, not many politicians have taken political office while in college, making Stokes and Bond a rare breed.

Bond puts this down to the increase in mature students. “I think the college environment has become a lot more diverse now than it was twenty years ago. There’s … a lot more people who wouldn’t start until a lot older who would have to juggle their work commitments with college work too.”

Stokes is looking to become the Deputy Mayor of Greystones next June and he is hoping to use his position to campaign for reform of local government as well as raise other issues. “I’d try to use the office as best I can to highlight, even more so, some key issues in Greystones for all kinds of things, be it dog littering or sports facilities or just working with community groups.”

There are many different ways to become involved in politics. Being involved can mean as little as discussing the issues of the day with friends or as much as joining local organisations and political parties. As Bond quite rightly explains, “Politics is quite a simple business. All you need is to get together with a bunch of likeminded people who share the same concerns. The most important thing is to get involved in a political campaign because you see it as an important issue, not because you see it as a stepping stone. If a position in politics is meant for you, the opportunity will arise at some point.”

“The most important thing is getting involved in a political campaign because you see it as an important issue, not because you see it as a stepping stone. If a position in politics is meant for you, the opportunity will arise at some point.”

Chris Bond, South Dublin City County Councillor and UCD Student

“Sometimes I have to suddenly stop what I’m doing. I remember last year during the exam period I had to take a day out a week before the exams to do constituency work and visit one or two people. It can be a challenge but I enjoy it overall, it’s a good balance.”

Stephen Stokes, Greystones Town Councillor and UCD Student

An mbeidh a leithéid d’Uachtarán arís ann?

Agus uachtaránacht Mháire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa ag druidim chun clabhsúir, caitheann Séamas Ó Meachair súil siar ar a tréimhse in oifig agus ar an rian a d’fhág sí ar an tír. hachtaí ná sin, tá an tsíocháin i réim ó Thuaidh faoi dheireadh agus faoi dheoidh.

Bhí an-bhaint ar fad ag an Uachtarán agus ag a fear céile Máirtín i mbláthú na síochána sin ar ndóigh. Nuair a bhí Máire Ní Lionnacháin (mar ab ainm di sular phós sí) ina bean óg in Ard Eoin i dtuaisceart Bhéal Feirste, bhí na Trioblóidí faoi lán seoil. Bhí rudaí chomh hainnis sin gur cuireadh iallach ar a teaghlach an ceantar a fhágáil.

In ainneoin na timpeallachta lán d’fhuath ina tógadh í, ní i mbun an fhoréigin nó an tseicteachais a dheachaigh sí, ach i mbun céime sa dlí in Ollscoil na Banríona. Chinn sí gan a luath-aosacht a thiomnú ar son an easaontais nó na coimhlinte, ach ar son an cheartais agus an chomhionannais.

Ba é téama a huachtaránachta ná “Droichid a Thógáil” agus is dócha gur chabhraigh an cineál tógála a fuair Mhic Ghiolla Íosa i mBéal Feirste leis an bpáirt a ghlac sí i bhfeabhsú an ghaoil idir pobail ar an dá thaobh den teorainn. Ábhar conspóide a bhí ann nuair a bhuail Máire Mhic Róibín le Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh agus í ina huachtarán.

Rinne Mhic Ghiolla Íosa a seacht míle dícheall cairdeas a chothú leis na dílseoirí. D’oscail sí geataí an Árais do bhaill an Oird Oráistigh agus reachtaigh sí ceiliúrtha bliantúla ar an 12 Iúil. B’aisteach ar fad an ceannaire den Chumann Cosanta Uladh (UDA) a fheiceáil ag ól tae ag féasta i ngairdíní an Árais!

Tháinig iarrachtaí Mhic Ghiolla Íosa comhoibriú agus comhthuiscint a chothú i gcrích i Mí Bealtaine na bliana seo nuair a thug an Bhanríon Eilís II cuairt ar an bPoblacht seo den chéad uair. Ba chomhartha cinnte í an chuairt

I

s beag mac léinn sa tír seo gur cuimhin leis uachtaránachtaí Mháire Mhic Róibín nó Phádraig Uí Irghile.

I gcuimhní na glúine óige seo s’againne, is dócha gur ionann Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa is an uachtaránacht.

Nuair a smaoinímid ar an teach mór millteach sin thuas i bPáirc an Fhionnuisce, is Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa a ritheann linn go léir. Mar sin is mór an t-athrú a bhéas ann nuair a chuirfear clabhsúr lena tréimhse in oifig Dé hAoine na seachtaine seo chugainn.

Nuair a hinsealbhaíodh Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa ina huachtarán i 1997, tír eile ar fad ab í Éire. Ní raibh deireadh tagtha leis na dTrioblóidí go fóill. Níor chualathas riamh trácht ar Chomhaontú Aoine an Chéasta agus bhí an tragóid uafásach san Ómaigh fós le teacht.

Bhí an Tíogar Ceilteach fós ag búireadh agus an geilleagar ag dul ó neart go neart. Ach tír thar a bheith coimeádach a bhí ann. Tír a bhí fós faoi smacht docht na hEaglaise Caitlicí. Tír nach raibh ach díreach tar éis an colscaradh a dhlisteanaí! Tír aonchineálach go leor a bhí ann agus ba bheag focal Polainnise a bhí le cloisteáil ar shráideanna na cathrach seo!

ríoga sin d’aibíocht na Poblachta seo agus den ghaol nua idir an dá oileán.

Tá go leor fós le baint amach ar ndóigh. Ní bheidh an-chuid daoine sásta go dtí go mbeidh aontú na tíre bainte amach againn. Ach rinneadh an-dul chun cinn ar fad le linn uachtaránachta Mhic Ghiolla Íosa agus ba chóir dúinn uilig a bheith buíoch as sin.

Nuair a cuireadh agallamh teilifíse ar an Uachtarán roinnt seachtaine ó shin, dúirt sí go raibh searmanas oscailte na gCluichí Oilimpeacha Speisialta i bPáirc an Chrócaigh ar cheann de na buaicphointí eile dá téarma uachtaránachta. Ba ócáid speisialta é sin chomh maith, ócáid eile ina raibh Mhic Ghiolla Íosa ina h-ionadaí dúinne ar an ardán mór domhanda.

Ceann de na cúraim is tábhachtaí ar fad a bhí ag Mhic Ghiolla Íosa ná an ról ambasadóireachta seo agus le linn a tréimhse in oifig, rinne sí go snasta agus go foirfe é. Amach ón gconspóid a tharraing sí lena ráiteas faoin seicteachas ó Thuaidh agus í ag an gcuimhneachán in Auschwitz na Polainne in 2005, bhí uachtaránacht Mhic Ghiolla Íosa gan locht. Chuaigh sí i mbun a róil uachtaránachta le dínit agus le hómós agus í i gcéin agus i gcóngar.

Is deacair a shamhlú go mbeidh a leithéid d’Uachtarán againn arís. Fágann gach uachtarán rian a láimhe ar a thír agus tá oidhreacht iontach fágtha ag Mhic Ghiolla Íosa. Uachtarán fíor-spreagúil a bhí inti ó thús a huachtaránacht go dtí an deireadh agus beidh folúntas ollmhór fágtha ina diaidh aici nuair a fhágfaidh sí Áras an Uachtaráin den uair dheireanach an tseachtain seo chugainn.

Tá sár-jab déanta agat, a Mháire.

Míle buíochas!

Gluais: Ar bhonn idirnáisiúnta is dócha go Ach le linn do Mhic Ghiolla Íosa a raibh cúrsaí níos síochánta ná mar atá bheith ina h-uachtarán, tharla forbairtí na laethanta seo. Bhí Ionsaithe 9-11 fós ollmhóra in Éirinn. Forbairtí diúltacha le tarlú agus na cogaidh sa Mheánoirt- - tá ár bhflaitheas eacnamaíoch caillte hear fós le briseadh amach. Agus gach againn, nach bhfuil! Ach forbairtí dearduine ag súil go mór le tús dóchasach facha chomh maith. na mílaoise nua, d’fhéadfá a rá gur i Ní féidir a shéanadh go bhfuilimid gcineál “ré na soineantachta” a bhío- inár gcónaí i dtír atá níos oscailte agus mar ag maireachtáil. níos ilchultúrtha anois. Ach níos táb-

chun clabhsúir ..................................................................... to a conclusion rian .............................................................................................................. legacy dlisteanú ........................................................................................ legalisation tír aonchineálach ..................................................... homogenous country an Mhílaois ............................................................................ the Millenium flaitheas eacnamaíoch ......................................... economic sovereignty seicteachas .................................................................................. sectarianism An tOrd Oráisteach ...................................................... The Orange Order An Chuairt Ríoga .................................................................. The Royal Visit

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

FEATURES

11

The cost of a free education With the possible re-introduction of third level fees on the horizon, Deirdre Dunne explores different ways of funding higher education

M

inister Ruairi Quinn has not ruled out the possibility of reintroducing third level fees in the near future. This has lead to widespread restlessness among current and impending students. What way does our third level education system operate presently, and why does it need to be altered at all?

Universities in Ireland are statefunded but are otherwise generally independent. Most undergraduate students attending publicly funded third level courses in Ireland, therefore, do not have to pay tuition fees. Under the terms of the Free Fees Initiative, the Department of Education and Skills pay the fees to colleges. Professor Gerard Casey of UCD argues that our third level education system should not be referred to as “free” however, given that undergraduates do hand over a sum of money to register for their third level courses every year. Who is this money paid to, if it is not paid to the government, and what is it used for?

The charge in question is imposed by the colleges and is an annual student contribution, formerly called the Student Services Charge. It is also widely known as a registration fee and its purpose is to cover the cost of student services and examinations. The fee, which was introduced following the abolition of third-level fees in 1996, has since undergone a 780 per cent hike. The amount of the contribution currently varies from one institution to another. However, the maximum rate of the student contribution for the year 2011/2012 is set at €2,000.

The government’s approach to the current fees arrangement is likely to be shaped by a forthcoming report on third-level funding by the Higher Education Authority. Minister Quinn has commissioned the Higher Education Authority to examine the funding crisis ahead of expected Cabinet discussions later in the year on possible new charges. Experts anticipate that the authority’s report will conclude that the current funding model is unsustainable. The Hunt report, released earlier this year, indicated that the average cost of educating a full-time undergraduate student amounts to roughly €10,000 per annum, a cost too high for a state that is already severely in debt.

Professor Gerard Casey illustrated that the cost of running UCD every year reaches up to €200 million. He explained that UCD raises about a third of that money externally through grants and research, which leaves a shortfall of €140 million. Professor Casey pointed out that this deficit is not being met.

“We’re not getting that from the government, we’re not getting that from the students, where the hell is the money supposed to come from?” He believes that the system has already been “cut to the bone ... Soon, I can expect to be in here in the dark without heating. It’s almost getting to that stage.”

In addition to salary cuts across the board, reductions have also been made to staff and he suggests that perhaps fees are the answer to this problem.

“All of the juice in the orange has been squeezed. So what are you going to do?

You have to make a decision, somebody’s got to pay. Either the government picks up the tab or the students pick up the tab or there’s a combination

in between, but the real costs of education have to be met.”

Aengus Ó Maoláin, USI Education Officer, believes that our current fees model is sustainable. He maintains that third level education should be prioritised by the government and funded

year for all undergraduate courses in 2012. Rather than pay the tuition fees up front or while studying at these universities, students can take out a government student loan for tuition, and defer payment until they have left the university and are earning a mini-

taken free of charge on the basis that in the US run extensive support prothe student completes unpaid work grammes for students who can’t afford placements during the course. This to pay college fees. “What they do is work placement is essentially classed they charge a premium, if you like, on as training, but many students view what they charge the other students, so it as payment for the course. The UK let’s say the fees are set at seven thoualso offer generous support packages sand for the student, well, if you charge for other skills-based courses such as everyone 7,500, then the extra money teaching. Could the Irish government that you generate allows the university provide this? to provide the support, that’s how it In France, like Ireland, higher works.” education is funded by the state. The Ó Maoláin believes that a reintroundergraduate tuition fees are gener- duction of fees at the same level as the ally a lot lower than in Ireland however, UK would have a “disastrous” impact Aengus Ó Maoláin, USI Education Officer with tuition costs varying from €150 within society. He mentions that since to €700 depending on the university fees have been brought back in the UK, through the “public purse”. Ó Maoláin mum salary, which currently stands and differing levels of education. Pro- there has been a significant decrease does not agree that charging students at £21,000 per year. Canada’s system fessor Casey does not think that we in social inclusion in higher education. higher fees is the only avenue left to functions in a similar fashion. The stu- could afford to imitate the countries on “Already, some colleges who initially pursue. He feels that, if you take into dent is able to obtain a student loan to the continent where the fees are “mas- decided that they were going to charge consideration the budget of UCD for fund their third-level tuition. In their sively government subsidised, almost £9,000 have realised the serious limiexample, over seventy-five per cent of official election policy, Fine Gael pro- extravagantly so.” tations that was having on their applithe budget allocated by the state goes posed a student loans scheme, similar Would the reintroduction of fees be cations and are now, in fact revising on salaries in comparison to our coun- to the one that operates in the UK, as a detrimental socially and cause a large down.” He deduces that, “very simply, terparts in the UK, where it is closer to possible solution to the problems posed proportion of students to be excluded fees damage who goes to college. The fifty per cent. He states that by asking higher the fees, the higher the social students to pay higher fees, we would “All of the juice in the orange has been squeezed. cohort of the people who go to college.” only be “continuing this cycle of counDuring last year’s election camSo what are you going to do? You have to make paign, ter-productive investments in educaQuinn signed a Union of Stution,” and that it is instead the salaries a decision, somebody’s got to pay. Either the dents in Ireland pledge to reassure that need to be addressed. that Labour would not reingovernment picks up the tab or the students pick up students Earlier this year, the Hunt report estroduce third level fees when in govtablished that annual funding for highthe tab or there’s a combination in between, but the ernment, or support an increase in the er education would require an increase Student Services Charge. Ó Maoláin real costs of education have to be met” speculates of €500 million a year, from €1.3 bilthat we really don’t know lion to €1.8 billion by 2020, if academic whether the reinitiating of fees is likely Gerard Casey, UCD Professor of Philosophy or not because “the current adminisquality and the full range of student services were to be maintained. This tration of the Department of Education would suggest that the current fees by the current fees structure. from education? Professor Casey feels has proven itself much more adept at system, if maintained, might be limitIf the UK approach favoured by that this need not be the case if the keeping secrets than the previous one.” ing the quality of the education that we Fine Gael was adopted, would the Irish correct methods are employed. He fa- Speculation is rife on the topic and pocan offer. Professor Casey believes that government also follow the UK’s strat- vours the US model of education, which tential alternative methods abound – this is the case and feels that if anyone egy in waiving fees for specific skills or incorporates some subsidies in state the only thing that is for certain is that requires proof, all that is needed is a medical based courses? For example, in universities but largely, the money is the current system is bound to undergo quick glance at the ratings. “We’re basi- the UK, a health-based course that is provided by the students. He also eluci- further change before long. cally going through the floor,” he com- partnered with the NHS can be under- dated that the majority of universities ments.

In the latest QS World University rankings, Trinity College Dublin is 65th in the rankings, a fall of thirteen places, while UCD dropped twenty places to 134th. Professor Casey indicated that one of the most important factors in calculating a university’s world ranking is its staff-student ratio.

He explained that in recent times, staff numbers in UCD had fallen by six to seven per cent, whereas student numbers had risen by twelve per cent. However, some Irish colleges did reasonably well in the latest rankings, with Dublin City University recording an increase in its ranking from 330 in 2010 to 326 for 2011, while University College Cork also saw a rise to 184 from 181. Last year, UCC also became the first Irish university to achieve a five-star rating. Ó Maoláin believes that the idea that our current fees system hampers the quality of our education is a “blinkered” outlook. He does not think that it is “in anyone’s interest to be saying that we need students to pay more fees, therefore our quality will get better.”

This begs the question; what kind of alternatives are there? How do other countries operate their third level fees system, and can we take inspiration from them?

In the UK, universities are not state funded and the fees are significantly higher. For example, the University of Cambridge and The University of Nottingham will be charging new U.K and EU students tuition fees of £9,000 per Photographer: Brian O’Leary

“Very simply, fees damage who goes to college. The higher the fees, the higher the social cohort of the people who go to college”

opinion.

12

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Should we have to pay for our education?

With the looming threat of an increase in fees on the horizon, Cormac Duffy and Colm O’Grada debate whether students should be obliged to pay for third level education

no.

Another year, another impending student march and the reprise of the fees debate. When all of us are living a constant state of insecurity and uncertainty about how much our education could cost next year, it’s no wonder that the issue receives such focus. Yet the arguments in favour of the threatened introduction never hold much weight.

The worst assumption about third level education is that it is by necessity a luxury good, not one that should be largely funded by the government if it is not going to be treated seriously by students. If there is any concern about the quality of the education that the government is paying for students to have, then the issue is about improving standards, not about money.

All fees manage to do is to limit the potential for individuals to access education because of their wealth, not their ability or dedication.

When we ask ourselves whether third level education is a right, we’re probably asking the wrong question. We need to decide whether it should be a right and I think the answer is an obvious yes. The changing nature of the jobs market means that more and more jobs in our country will be exclusively for university graduates. We’ve seen a higher percentage of students opt for college after their Leaving Certificate, and an ever growing number of mature and returning students. Why should it be that as more need to attend for employment, we should be actively limiting access?

Fees and graduate taxes all send the message that the cost of education is to be incurred by those who partake in it alone.

The message this sends out is absurd. Firstly, it perpetuates the false idea that education is unnecessary. Funding the training and education of graduates in all disciplines as an investment yields higher dividends for society as a whole than many areas of government expenditure. The argument against the graduate tax captures this well, pointing out its redundancy given that graduates tend to fall into higher tax brackets in general anyway. Secondly, anything that is universally accessible amongst our society should be universally funded. This is happily taken as a given for healthcare, infrastructure, and for primary and secondary education, so why not for third level education? If the criticism offered is that the rich should be paying higher fees just because they can, the idea is not that simple.

yes.

Cormac Duffy As with everything else, taxation is progressive for this reason. If we are coming up short in our state finances, then those who can contribute should be contributing. But when you allow this to happen through fees rather than taxation, you merely create the risk of division.

The free fees programme in Ireland, while not a cure for all, goes a long way to prevent the formation of a two-tiered education system in Ireland. By paying for fees, the government puts all universities in the same boat.

Compare this to the secondary education system and the difference is immense. Those who can pay for better standards always will, allowing them to bypass public schools in favour of private ones, leaving many schools financially struggling while some take in huge profits. For universities, everyone, regardless of class and background, attends the same set of universities. When parents and individuals with wealth and influence are concerned about the standards of education enough to seek change, they demand more of the universities we all attend.

That change benefits everyone in the system, not just those in the same income bracket or classroom.

Rebuttal by Colm O’Grada

A limit on access to university based on financial status is to be avoided, but it has been demonstrated, time and again, that the introduction of state funding for third level education has not helped in this respect. The problem remains and is based on socio-cultural barriers, not purely financial issues. By introducing fees for the majority of students, more money is made available for programmes that encourage and fund those from typically non-attending backgrounds to enter university. This is in contrast to the current system, a dysfunctional smattering of grants trickling from a fast emptying pot.

Equally importantly, the focus of our education system should be on the graduates it produces.

Without adequate funding we simply won’t be able to provide the quality education our country needs to support its economy. With a retracting education budget, funding is already tight and impacting the performance of our third level institutions.

Ever rising taxes aren’t an option; those who avail of third level education should be responsible for funding it, whether through a loan system or otherwise.

“When we ask ourselves whether third level education is a right, we’re probably asking the wrong question.

We need to decide whether it should be a right and I think the answer is an obvious yes.”

“Unfortunately, with a shrinking education budget, realities have to be faced. Third level education is expensive; do not let poorly sloganised t-shirts and naïve, misguided protests have you believe otherwise”

Colm O’Grada

There are very few things in life that By re-introducing fees for the are truly free, and education is cer- majority of students, we solve sevtainly not one of them. Misleading eral longstanding issues with our and downright false concepts such third level education system. An as ‘free fees’ have helped to gener- increase in funding will undoubtate a culture wherein education, up edly benefit students and enhance to and often beyond third level, is the quality of their education. More seen as a basic right for all. This veil money in the pot means that those of entitlement has blinded many to who are truly incapable of paying the failures of the system and the for third level education have greatfocus has shifted from what we look er access to grants and services to for in the output of our education help them fund their studies. The insystem to what we must have in the vestment required in funding a deinput. gree would represent an important Our public education system has thought process that should help provided a great deal of valuable students and their families consider service to Irish society over many more carefully whether a particular decades and is undoubtedly a con- degree is suitable for them. tributory factor in the successes We focus too much on the toof so many Irish men and women tal proportion of Irish youths that throughout the world. The value of are in third level education and not strong fundamental education is enough on the quality of the deunquestionable. In a context of eco- grees they receive; university is not nomic challenges and spending cut- for everyone and education is not backs, the security of free primary a replacement for employment. By and secondary education should be focusing on quantity rather than prioritised to ensure strong founda- quality, we have spited ourselves tions in learning are provided to all with a resultant education system Irish children. that caters to the lowest common Unfortunately, with a shrinking denominator. Fees may just be a education budget, realities have small part of this problem, but they to be faced. Third level education represent an important part that is expensive; do not let poorly slo- cannot be ignored. ganised t-shirts and naïve, misguided protests have you believe Rebuttal by otherwise. Every academics’ salary, Cormac Duffy every chemical used in a lab, every To say that the issue is that exam paper printed and every unit universities emphasise quality of energy used to light and heat a over quantity is a dubious building are paid for by someone; assertion at best. When the the taxpayer. Add to this the cost of pro-fees argument emphasises constructing new buildings, provid- the notion that all money taken ing services for students and main- in is to improve educational taining the grounds of a university standards, the main assumption and the combined cost of third level that underlies this is that there are education is far from free. too many people in our education The priority of third level educa- system. It’s ridiculous to say tion must be to generate the best that we need graduates that are quality graduates that we can; competitive on an international graduates that are competitive on scale while not being bothered a global scale and degrees that are that we put ourselves in a situation more than just a piece of paper. This where the only ones attaining this education is not cheap, and with quality education are those who cutbacks in government education can afford it. spending, alternate sources of fundIt’s especially ridiculous to ing must be sought to ensure future claim this will help those lacking graduates attain the same quality the means to achieve this. That of education that we have come to the middle class has always had expect from our best third level in- a culture of third level education stitutions. and can easily afford fees is simple Time and again, it has been dem- falsehood. Across the majority of onstrated that the introduction of the middle class, the introduction so-called ‘free fees’ has done little of free fees was the first time a to increase the proportion of those family member attended college. from lower income families continu- And in recessionary times, families ing into third level education. The who benefited from the Celtic barriers to third level education for Tiger are back to living from many low-income families are more paycheque to paycheque, not than just financial; cultural and so- least due to the fact that they are cietal factors play a greater role in paying higher taxes and ‘social preventing traditionally working charges’. To add another flat tax class students from attending uni- in the form of university fees versity. The biggest winners in the would stretch them to breaking ‘free fees’ game has been middle point. Education benefits not just class families, who with a tradition of the individual but the nation as a attending third level education, are whole and should be paid by the now relieved of the burden of pay- nation through progessive taxing, ing for their children’s education. as with other education.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

OPINION

13

A VERY PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW As the 2011 Irish Presidential election comes to a close, Emer Sugrue takes a look back at the campaign

T

he votes have been cast and the ballots counted and we finally have a new president.

But before you settle back for seven years of forgetting the job ever existed, it’s time to rake over this news corpse just in case we missed any gold fillings. Despite the role being largely ceremonial and providing no influence over government policy whatsoever, the campaign was awash with impossible promises. Dana promised to use the veto powers she wouldn’t have, Mitchell made the controversial pledge to both understand Ireland’s past and believe in its future, and Davis declared a thousand more years of Mary. Luckily all the soon-to-be incumbent President Michael D Higgins promised was to be “a president for all the people” which is in fact, literally true. It’s that sort of transparent politics that got him the big job.

While some may complain about the ludicrous levels of media coverage for what amounts to a two month interview for an

entirely pointless job, one thing the race did provide was an interesting snapshot of changing Irish values. Having an openly gay candidate would be almost unthinkable in many countries, even in relatively liberal western countries such as the United States, but it was not treated as an issue by the Irish press or the majority of the population. For balance we also had Gay Mitchell representing the “why did they have to go and ruin a perfectly good word” portion of the country. At the same time the most ferociously religious anti-abortion candidate did incredibly poorly, although that was possibly due to her most significant contribution to the international stage being on an actual stage. Even the fact that the winner is from the Labour party is quite impressive. The economic crisis has, occupations aside, seen quite a dramatic swing to the right in Europe, where worrying promises of ‘traditional values’ dominate rhetoric and the National Front’s Marianne Le

Pen has a chance at the French presidency. As always, Ireland is the Yin to Europe’s Yang and we just yinned all over ourselves.

Hopefully this campaign will lead to a re-evaluation of Ireland’s international reputation as a hyperCatholic backwater nation.

There was no shortage of other controversy throughout the campaign however. Martin McGuinness was particularly problematic given his allegedly checkered past, his candidacy punctuated by widows and children of soldiers confronting him about his time in the IRA. My biggest concern was the fact that he was the only candidate with a real job as Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, which he gleefully ignored for two months. Sean “the money was just resting in my account” Gallagher started off as the astute Dragon businessman but things went sour when allegations began to abound of pocketed brown envelopes from smugglers, reviving Fianna Fáil’s legacy in the electorate’s politi-

cal memory, and destroying his frankly baffling forty per cent support in the final week. He then compounded the controversy by accusing McGuinness of ‘political assassination’ and calling for people to come forward with information about IRA killings, risking both his credibility and kneecaps. Dana topped even that with a myriad of contentious headlines from owning an American passport, to family allegations to accusing people of slashing her tires. Look, it wasn’t a great song but I did manage to get over it. It turned out that nobody had done anything to Dana’s tires but herself, by driving on a flat.

Norris hit the papers early and even pulled out of the race when it emerged that he had written to an Israeli court asking for clemency for a former partner accused of rape, and again when he rejoined the race and it looked like the odd nomination system would exclude him despite his popularity. His last-minute nomination ensured that no one would bother trying

to change the system for at least seven years, and after his high of claiming a potential twenty-one per cent of the vote he spent the rest of the campaign whittling it down to just six. Gay Mitchell stayed relatively controversy-free by mainly being too boring for anyone to write about, and the only attention Mary Davis got was for her innovative blurring of the lines between political campaign posters and a Kelloggs advert.

Michael D Higgins meanwhile, emerged as the calm and competent ringleader of a circus where someone has accidentally replaced the animal feed with crack.

But finally this weekend it all ended, and we can look forward to seeing some actual news again.

Michael D can slink back into the political shadows, albeit now the shadows in a gigantic stateprovided White House, and Mary McAleese can go back to her life as... well, I’m sure she’ll find something to do. I look forward to the opening of many primary schools and shopping centres.

Chief Photographer: David Nowak

What we go to school for With a ‘bare-bones’ college program now offered in the UK, Evan O’Quigley asks if there is more to college than a degree

S

All Souls College from Oxford University.

ince the economic recession began in 2008 there has been talk of increasing tuition fees in universities all across the world. Our own little island is no different, where this year we all had the good fortune of paying an extra five hundred quid or so in order to attend this very university.

In the United Kingdom college was always free under the welfare state until 1998, when tuition fees were introduced at £1,000 a year.

This year they were brought up to maximum fees of £9,000, which is now the cost of attending many top-ranking universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. This increase has already taken its toll on UK education, with university applications falling by twelve per cent in 2011.

In order to try and combat this new system, which is leaving many without third level education, Coventry University College are offering full-time evening courses from 7pm to 10pm, and on weekends until 4pm, for half the price of usual fees. Their students get the same degree for less money, and have more freedom to work during the

course of their studies. While of clubs, societies and excuses to some may feel that this solves drink you meet new people, dethe problem, allowing people velop new interests and have new to work and fund their own way experiences. There are so many through a degree, it does raise different aspects to university life the question: is there more to that it’s all too easy to briefly forattending university than just get about its educational purpose. the degree and the education The problem with this new disitself? count-degree proposal is that it How many times have you offers education with virtually no thought, ‘I love college, but authentic university experience. wouldn’t it be so much better The wider college experience prewithout all the academic stuff?’ If pares people emotionally as well only we could just hang around all as educationally, and helps develday drinking weak SU coffee and op skills that will last a lifetime. eating chips in the student bar It also prompts the queswithout having to worry about tion, if students are to work five silly things like assignments and days a week in order to pay for exams. From the minute you walk their education as well as doing into college on the first day, you night classes, then when exactly are bombarded by an overwhelm- are they supposed to have time ing array of extra-curricular op- for any kind of a social life? Are tions. There are posters every- we to believe that in order to where for various societies, and compete in the jobs market stupeople are handing you countless dents will now essentially have flyers for gyms that you won’t be to turn their life off for three or joining since you are not plan- four years and come out at the ning on doing anything remotely end forgetting how to actually healthy or constructive for the live? It also leads you to wonder next few months. Many students how anyone is supposed to be move away from home and have able to pay attention to lectures to learn to manage without their and classes past seven o’clock parents for the first time in their in the evening, having already lives. Through the endless array worked a full shift. Usually by

four o’clock I’m no longer able to remember what day it is, let alone when Germany was united under Bismarck.

Any proposal which would extend higher education to a wider base of people is always welcome, whether it’s perfect or not. However, this latest proposal seems to be a half-baked apology for the considerable damage done to the economy by politicians who introduced increased university fees in the first place.

The student fees situation has become more and more of a problem as of late. In the ‘Occupy’ protests that are taking place all across the world, many students are beginning to take to the streets, enraged that they must struggle in order to pay for college. While the concept of students working full-time is relatively new in Europe it has long been commonplace in the US, where there is less focus on state funded third level education.

While receiving the bare bones of a degree in order to compete in the jobs market may seem like a happy medium for some, it may ultimately leave many others justifiably dissatisfied.

14

OPINION

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

All together now?

With pressure increasing daily on the European economy, Hannah Dowling looks at whether or not the EU will survive its current crisis

T

he EU leviathan is flirting with collapse under the weight of its self-made financial and political problems. Political stalemate has lead to an increasing threat of economic failure with substantial collateral damage to other economic zones and legitimate questions about the strength, unity and governance of the EU and the Eurozone must be asked. From its inception, there was the belief that policymakers knew how to build and run a single currency, and that members would adhere to its rules and stand shoulder to shoulder in support of one another. This crisis has erupted because of a failure to stick by these rules. Financial markets have lost confidence in the European Union’s ability to effectively deal with the fallout and are no longer willing to fund profligate governments. The consensus is that EU institutions have performed poorly, thus exacerbating the problem considerably.

This issue affects economies on a global scale, and EU leaders are coming under mounting pressure to finally deal with it. The United States, China and international financial institutions have little patience for any more dithering.

There is a desperate urgency to end the crisis. Increasingly, the onus for devising a solution has come to rest upon the two behemoths of the Eurozone: Germany and France.

Chancellor Merkel of Germany is under heavy international criticism for her caution at a time when swift action or a “big bang” is what is needed, however there is heavy domestic opposition to delivering precisely what the international community wants. She is in a difficult position. Key policy differences between France’s President Sarkozy and Merkel have not helped. Sarzoky’s blunt and dynamic manner differs to

the guarded and less exuberant has been lost as “Eurozone leadmannerisms of Dr Merkel. Their ers have consistently tried to defy lack of chemistry has contributed markets and have wasted a lot of to the muddling that has charac- time and resources on the wrong terised much of the EU’s response approach.” to the crisis.

It is not surprising that the situIn sharp contrast, the United ation is being used as a pretext in Kingdom and United States gov- the UK for holding a referendum ernments’ decisive action in 2008 on whether or not to leave the which has a high number of euroseffectively dealt with matters in a European Union. The UK’s par- ceptic MPs, to vote for such a proway the EU has not when it failed ticipation in the EU has always posal is putting increased strain to recognise and tackle sovereign been a divisive issue, both within on David Cameron’s government. debt and bank balance sheets in Westminster and the population Their coalition partners, the Liba realistic way. Economics Profes- at large, and the current circum- eral Democrats, as well as the sor Gary O’Callahan wrote in the stances have allowed politicians Labour party, believe that such a Irish Independent that benefits in the UK to question the strength concept would stifle Britain’s ecofrom membership in a common and merits of remaining within the nomic growth and weaken the UK. currency include market credibil- European project. Demands from The Chief Secretary to the Treaity in the system. This advantage within the Conservative party, sury, Danny Alexander MP, said of

To Love, Honour and Survey

As a recent survey claims that job satisfaction is at a new low, Emer Sugrue examines the motivation behind such statistics

L

ast week a story hit the presses detailing a worrying new survey about job satisfaction.

Conducted between 2010 and 2011, the report states that one in three Irish workers are seriously considering leaving their job, up from a fifth reported in a similar study conducted in 2004. This is even higher among younger workers, with just under half of sixteen to twenty-four year olds and forty-one per cent of those aged between twenty-five and thirty-four considering leaving their jobs. The largest decline in the survey related to how happy Irish workers are with their benefits. Only forty-seven per cent of Irish workers say that their benefits are as good as, or better than, those offered by other organisations in their industry, down from seventy-one per cent in 2004. The g re ate s t concern of employees by far

is base pay, the basic salary before overtime or bonuses, but only fortysix per cent say they are satisfied with this pay. Job security is the second most important factor for Irish workers.

While the headline-grabbing result that one in three workers wants to leave their job may have come as a surprise to those feeling that anyone lucky enough to be employed these days should be grateful for what they have, the general downturn in happiness is probably to be expected. Pay cuts and general job insecurity take their toll on people, and often cuts in some areas mean extra work is pushed on those remaining – thirty-six per cent said that the amount of work they are asked in their jobs is unreasonable, with the same number unable to maintain a healthy balance between their work and personal lives.

Is this a significant story however? While these survey results are certainly an interesting reflection of the recent recession, it

the idea that “sadly eurosceptics on the left and right fail to understand Winston Churchill’s central insight that sharing sovereignty strengthens influence and isolation weakens us”. On balance it is not likely that the UK will hold a referendum as the bulk of the political elite is in favour of EU membership, though on looser terms.

Demands for a referendum arose not because of a groundswell of opinion but because of a new procedure that allows a debate to take place in the Commons if it is backed by 100,000 votes in a petition. As the UK electorate is forty-two million, this is not a high hurdle. Most X Factor contestants get that many votes every Saturday night.

The question of a euro collapse is a dark cloud hanging over Europe, and many Eurozone politicians view the continuation of the Euro and the continuity of the EU as one. Regardless of the defence that the single market was in existence before the Euro, there is the probable result that a return to individual currencies would lead to increased and prolonged recessions in many of these countries and place the Union itself under severe strain.

The break-up of the Eurozone would only occur if France, Germany and Italy left the common currency union, but even the cost to them is too great to contemplate.

If the Eurozone is to survive, member countries need to align their economies more closely. Effective monetary union requires effective political union. Without these, economies cannot be run at parallel lines and long-term currency stability is all but impossible.

“Almost all surveys, studies and ‘scientific formulae’ for the ‘most depressing day of the year’ or ‘how to make the perfect cup of tea’ that are joyfully printed in newspapers every day are actually campaigns to get a product some publicity”

must be viewed in the light of two survey but could easily be down to major facts that have been some- ‘survey apathy’. How many did not what skated over in the news: The reply to the survey at all? Maybe survey size was just 1,000 people, they were too busy with their fulfilland it was conducted by Mercer, the ing job. We don’t know. There are world’s largest human resource con- any number of biases that could be sulting firm. occurring in this report but there is 1,000 people is just 0.05 per cent absolutely no information available of the Irish workforce and hardly on its methods. sufficient to give a clear snapshot of What makes this lack of informathe thoughts and feelings of a popu- tion particularly relevant was that it lation. The report doesn’t explain was not conducted by a university, how these workers were found or government agency or even by a what industries they work in. There media outlet, but a human resource are no such details for the 2004 re- consultancy. So what we have here port either and therefore there is no is in fact less of a study than a PR way of knowing if the groups asked exercise; a survey of employee disthen and now are in any way com- satisfaction conducted by a comparable. We don’t know whether the pany who hires themselves out to survey was conducted in person or businesses to decrease employee via email, or whether response was dissatisfaction. Well done Mercer, mandatory or voluntary. at least someone is satisfied. StateWhile thirty-five per cent are ments in Mercer’s report highreported as seriously considering light the true purpose of the study, leaving and forty-two per cent not, “These scores point to an environtwenty-three per cent did not com- ment that is ripe for employers to mit to either option. This is used as boost communication efforts, helpan indication of worker apathy in the ing employees connect the dots to

improve overall knowledge and acceptance.” Now, who can we find that offers juvst this sort of communication training...

This may not invalidate the results, but they were not produced by a disinterested party. This sort of skewed undertaking is so common that it is hardly worth presenting an example. Almost all surveys, studies and ‘scientific formulae’ for the ‘most depressing day of the year’ or ‘how to make the perfect cup of tea’ that are joyfully printed in newspapers every day are actually campaigns to get a product some publicity. They make the funny pages, the science pages, the business pages and even the news pages. Surveys without published methodology should always be taken with a pinch of salt and even more so when their producers are selling the product that is ‘lacking’.

Just something to keep in mind before, say, hiring a human resource company to help with employee job satisfaction.

YOU HAVE TALENTS

WE HAVE OPTIONS FULL-TIME ANALYST Deadline for application: 6 November 2011 SUMMER ANALYST Deadline for application: 12 December 2011 SPRING INSIGHT Deadline for application: 12 December 2011

YOUR FUTURE STARTS HERE. At Morgan Stanley, solving complex challenges and fueling economic growth across continents is what we do. We offer you a structured path to success, providing you with the training, mobility and responsibility to make a real difference.

We currently have a number of exciting Full-Time and Summer Analyst Opportunities in our Sales & Trading, Investment Banking, Global Capital Markets, Private Wealth and Asset Management divisions. We also offer an Institutional Securities Spring Insight program.

To find out more about career opportunities, please visit www.morganstanley.com/careers.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity /affirmative action employer committed to workforce diversity. (M/F/D/V) © 2011 Morgan Stanley

16

health THE OBSERVER GUIDE TO SURVIVING WINTER As the temperature drops, so do our chances of surviving long enough to see Christmas.

Alison Lee continues our series on mothering you so your mother doesn’t have to

Winter is well and truly upon us. It’s a season of many perils - what with global pandemics and extreme weather conditions, you’ll be lucky if you make it through to spring. If living past January is something that you intend to do however, read on; our guide might boost your chances of surviving long enough to break your new year’s resolutions.

Seasonal influenza is one of the biggest winter threats. Thankfully there has been less talk of ‘swine flu pandemics’ this year, but even milder flu strains can be debilitating.

Symptoms include a headache, fever and cough and the disease usually resolves itself within a week. That said, no one wants to be struck down with the flu when the dreaded E-word is lurking on the horizon. The best way to avoid the virus is to avoid being in confined spaces with other people (yes, a valid excuse to skip lectures!). Basic hygiene measures such as hand-washing also help. Individuals particularly at risk, such as asthmatics or diabetics, can get vaccinated.

The above precautions apply to avoiding another of winter’s hazards: the common cold. Becoming run-down is difficult to avoid at this time of year, making it hard to avoid picking up whatever germs are flying about and leaving us vulnerable to ailments such as cold sores. Try keeping your health in shape by exercising (yes, even in bad weather you can go to the gym) and invest in multivitamin supplements.

If you feel like doing it the natural way then try herbal remedies such as echinacea or elderflower. St. John’s Wort is another useful herb that attacks enveloped viruses, such as the influenza virus, however it is available only on prescription.

In addition, the cold temperature itself can be dangerous. Hypothermia occurs if your body temperature drops below 37°C to 35°C. This is a scary condition; at first sufferers shiver and feel hungry but this then gives way to apathy, confusion and lethargy.

Eventually the afflicted just sit down and freeze to death. Students be warned; alcohol intake increases your chances of suffering from hypothermia as it causes blood vessels near the skin surface to dilate and lose essential body heat. Luckily it is easily prevented by dressing appropriately for the weather - girls, that means bare legs and opentoed heels are off the agenda. What is on the agenda? Hats - the majority of body heat is lost through the head.

Sadly the rule of thumb when choosing winter headgear is “the dumber it looks, the warmer it is”. So swap style for comfort and have a happy winter!

&

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

science

Doctor, Doctor?

PhD student Feidhlim Dervin talks to Conor O’Nolan about his life as a postgrad and how his work could lead to a better understanding of heart disease What is the official title of your PhD? Investigation into WNT signalling effectors in atherothrombosis.

Explain the official title in English please.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by the accumulation of lipids, fibrous elements and immune cells in medium to large arteries. Initial damage to the artery wall results in the accumulation of such cells, which over time build up at the site of damage, leading to plaque formation. Plaque build-up in the arteries can occur over a period of decades, resulting in partial or complete occlusion of the vessel. Oxygen deprivation from cessation of blood flow to heart muscle, due to blood platelets clumping at the plaque site, results in localised cardiac cell death leading to what it called a myocardial infarction, or more commonly, a heart attack. This process is known as atherothrombosis.

Recent evidence has uncovered that WNT signalling may play an important role in the regulation of atherothrombosis. However, due to the complex interactions between WNT family members and their inhibitors their physiological and pathological roles are far from clear. By tracing this cellular network and understanding the functional role of the proteins involved in the platelet response, my studies aim to characterise the role of WNT’s in atherothrombosis to help develop an understanding of the disease and provide novel insights into the cause of the heart disease.

What undergraduate degree course did you do?

I completed a four year B.Sc. in Pharmacology right here in UCD. The course was packed with really interesting modules such as ‘CNS Pharmacology’ where I learnt about different

drugs of abuse such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana, and their effects on the body. Other modules such as ‘Molecular Basis of Disease’ covered a diverse array of diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease, whilst also covering the likes of microbial pathogenesis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Final year modules such as ‘Emerging Therapies’ and ‘Finding New Pharmaceuticals’ provided an insight into case studies of effective and ineffective therapeutic targeting and industryfocused processes such as drug patents, production, marketing and distribution and the role of regulatory authorities in drug approval.

What made you choose to do a PhD? My undergraduate final year project was also in the area of cardiovascular disease and was completed under the supervision of Dr. Orina Belton in UCD’s Conway Institute. My time spent in the lab was a very enjoyable experience and from that I knew I wanted to continue down the same path, so when the opportunity arose to undertake a Science Foundation Ireland funded PhD with another UCD Conway Institute team led by Dr. Patricia Maguire, there was no question as to what my choice would be.

At the time there was emerging evidence from Dr. Maguire’s and other labs that identified WNT as an important contributor to atherothrombosis. My PhD project builds on these exciting findings to understand the role of WNT in the vasculature in disease. Given the potential role of WNT as a secreted endogenous regulator of both inflammation and platelet activation, several elements of the WNT pathway may prove to be targets for the development of therapies directed at atherothrombosis, closely aligning with my background in studying pharmacology.

What is the best thing about research?

From my brief time in research to date, it is an ever-changing experience. It allows you to grow not just academically but personally. Every day is a new challenge; be it demonstrating to undergraduate students, working side-byside in the lab with other PhD students and Postdoctoral research scientists, or attending courses and conferences with the world’s leading experts.

What is the worst thing about research?

The hours can be quite long and tedious depending on what type of experiment you are conducting. Rather than you deciding when to start and finish, your time has to revolve around when your experiment will work best, not when it suits.

Therefore work can lead to late nights and early mornings.

There are also times when your experiments just won’t work out. This can go on for days, weeks and even months. These can be testing times, but you just have to keep trying or take a new approach and

Pasteurise and Fall

A

group of chefs, food critics and farmers have recently taken on the government over its plan to issue a complete ban on the sale of unpasteurised (raw) milk to the general public. The group, which call themselves CRMI (Campaign for Raw Milk in Ireland) include acclaimed figures in traditional Irish cooking such as Darina Allen and Neven Maguire, and formidable food critics including Paulo Tulio.

On the 29th August 2011 the group published a letter in The Irish Times, explaining their position: they believe raw milk tastes better and is more natural than heat-treated milk.

They also claim that drinking raw milk can reduce allergies and asthma.

Although these health benefits remain disputed, it is indeed true that if raw milk comes from cows in excellent health and remains free from contamination, then it is theoretically safe to drink - indeed many dairy farmers and their families consume their own unpasteurised produce.

Ireland is famed for the quality of its dairy products, but it only takes one hygiene slip-up or cattle disease outbreak for a batch of raw milk to become contaminated with dangerous bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella or even Mycobacteria, which cause tuberculosis. These bacteria would normally be eliminated during the pasteurisation process, which involves heating milk to seventy-two degrees centigrade for fifteen seconds.

If such milk were to cause a disease outbreak in humans there’s no telling the damage that could be done, not only to those who consumed the product but also to Ireland’s dairy industry. Considering how badly Spain’s cucumber industry was affected by this summer’s E. Coli outbreak, and considering our precarious economic situation, Ireland must be careful to do all it can to uphold its ‘clean and green’ image.

devise a new experimental strategy with which to prove your hypothesis.

How could your work make a difference to the world?

Atherosclerosis is a disease that develops over a period of three to four decades in one’s lifetime. My research will hopefully open up new opportunities to diagnose the severity of atherosclerosis and risk of atherothrombosis, and thereby lead to a quicker and more definitive diagnostic method. This may lead to a more effective strategy to therapeutic intervention and decrease morbidity and mortality rates across the globe.

How do you hope your PhD will affect your career prospects?

Completion of my PhD will provide me with leading knowledge on cuttingedge technologies in science and industry. My options will be wide and varying from continuing research at a postdoctoral level, to management consulting or working in industry such as pharma-based companies both here and abroad.

As recent campaigns see the popularity of raw milk rise in Ireland, Alison Lee explores why this could be an important issue

Another issue is that of immunity.

Dairy farmers and their families may be able to drink home-produced raw milk safely; they have been exposed to any microorganisms present in the milk all their lives and have built a solid immunity to them. The same may not be true of your average suburb-dweller who hasn’t set foot on a farm in years; to them, these ‘harmless’ bacteria may not be so innocuous.

Until 2006, it was illegal to sell unpasteurised, or “raw” milk in Ireland, even in artisan delicatessens or farmers markets. The situation changed when the EU introduced new food hygiene rules which allowed raw milk to be sold directly to the consumer. However, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has scientific evidence from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on his side which he claims proves raw milk poses serious health risks to the public, and recently announced that the ban would be introduced “as soon as possible”.

However, lobbyists such as CRMI might yet have their way - watch this space for further developments in the dairy dispute.

17

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

The passing of an era

This October, three notable people in the computing world passed away, with one death receiving more attention than the rest.

Their respective achievements are nearly immeasurable, writes Conor O’Nolan

John McCarthy

On October 23rd, John McCarthy passed away. His contribution to computer science was incredible; he spent his academic life working on artificial intelligence, cognitive science and mathematical logic.

He showed a prowess for maths from an early age, teaching himself at college level before enrolling in a degree in California Institute of Technology and going on to do a PhD at the prestigious Princeton University. After

finishing his PhD he spent time at other very respected universities such as MIT and Dartmouth, but he finally settled when he became a professor at Stanford.

While at MIT he did what could be described as his most inf luential work; he invented LISP. LISP is one of the oldest computer programming languages still in use today. In its early days it was often used for artificial intelligence programming, which caused fast progress to be made in AI research. One of the elements of LISP that has had massive consequences on computer programming was LISP’s ‘garbage collection’ system. Garbage collection is a system where computer memory is managed automatically. Before this became commonplace, memory had to be managed manually, which was a painstaking process that often resulted in catastrophic errors in programs.

Throughout the last few decades LISP has spawned dozens of implementations and dialects. Many of these have had massive inf luences on the more popular programming languages used today, such as Python, Ruby and Javascript.

Steve Jobs

Dennis Ritchie

Dennis Ritchie died on October 12th, his passing occurring the week after the death of Steve Jobs. As a result his death garnered little attention, but his contributions were arguably much more important. He will be remembered for his two main contributions to computing: the UNIX operating system and the C Programming Language.

In the 1970’s, while working at Bell Labs, Ritchie helped write the UNIX operating system. At this point, computer programs tended to be written

in such a way that they were very dependent on the specific hardware they were written on.

In 1973, the UNIX operating system was rewritten in Ritchie’s C programming language, which made it much more portable.

This new operating system that was ‘easy’ to use made computing infinitely more accessible to many people.

Ritchie’s work on UNIX has indirectly formed the backbone of a massive amount of modern technology. The vast majority of internet servers run Linux or BSD as their operating system, which are derivatives of UNIX. Apple computers run OSX, which features a lot of UNIX-derived code, as do iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones.

Google Android runs a modified version of Linux, which is itself a system similar to UNIX. Ritchie’s C programming language was also incredibly influential. It is a compact language that can be used on almost any computer and for almost any task. Despite it being almost forty years old, it is still one of the most widely used languages in the world. Even its manual (which Ritchie co-authored) is seen as a template for computer programming books and a perfect example of clear scientific writing.

Steve Jobs died on October 5th after a lengthy battle with a pancreatic tumour. His passing was met with global tributes to his incredible life’s work.

Jobs cofounded Apple in 1973, and in 1977 the company began selling their first mass-produced computer, the Apple II, which was sold in millions over the course of its lifespan. Jobs had a keen eye for technologies that could potentially change the world of computing. In 1979 he licensed some software from Xerox that Xerox’s executives

Reduce your waistline, expand your mind E

xercise is good for you, and not just good for your health. By exercising regularly we ‘will be leaner, smell nicer, be more attractive to the opposite sex’, as the Vice-President for Students Martin Butler reminded us in a recent email.

Many may share Dr Butler’s apparent concern that UCD students aren’t as attractive as they could be. Or perhaps he is really concerned with our health, but realises that we’re more likely to be motivated by rewards we can cash-in on while young.

Idle speculation aside, for a message from a man whose primary interest is in education, there was one benefit of exercise that was conspicuous by its absence: it makes you smarter.

This may seem surprising; we’re inclined to think of the mental and physical, mind and body, as fundamentally different. Nor does it fit with the ‘jock’ and ‘nerd’ stereotypes.

Regular exercise has far more benefits than just a lean body and sense of achievement, writes Barry Singleton

Our minds, however, are limited by our physical brains, as anyone who has encountered a concussion or cognac will attest to. We can change our minds by changing our brains. But how does exercise do that?

Take a broader perspective from the viewpoint of evolution, and you see just how closely related movement and cognition are. After all, only organisms that move have brains. The brain evolved from and controls the nervous system in animals, which itself came about because of the need to predict and respond to stimuli encountered in physical space. As neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás puts it: “That which we call thinking is the evolutionary internalization of movement.”

Given that active movement was the original evolutionary imperative for brain growth, it makes sense that exercise and brain function are closely related. But how does exercise make

you smarter?

Acquiring knowledge involves the creation and maintenance of connections between brain cells, or neurons.

In order to do this, cells are dependent on what are called factors, the main one being brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. This factor is present in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is related to memory and learning.

Learning itself increases BDNF levels in the brain. But so does exercise.

The lesson is simple: if you want to prime your brain, move. In one study, people learned vocabulary twenty per cent faster after exercise than before, and this correlated with BDNF levels.

Moreover, exercise not only helps create and maintain connections between existing neurons, but spurs the development of new cells in the hippocampus as well.

The other important way in which

exercise makes you smarter is that it improves your willingness to learn. Exercise means increased attention and motivation – ‘self-discipline’, a trait that has a strong positive correlation with scholastic achievement.

Exercise boosts dopamine, which is one of the main brain chemicals or neurotransmitters.

This neurotransmitter is all about motivation and attention; it calms the brain down and enables one to focus.

In fact it is this neurotransmitter that is the target of attention deficit medications such as methylphenidate. But we don’t need a full-blown attention deficit disorder in order to benefit from more dopamine.

Regular exercise increases dopamine storage in the brain and also initiates a process which ultimately creates dopamine receptors in the reward centre of the brain, making us more sensitive to the neurotransmitter. Serotonin

saw no value in, but it went on to become the way we interact with computers today; the graphical user interface (with mouse input).

Jobs was a demanding manager who expected an incredible amount from his staff and this led to tensions which caused his dismissal from the company. He went on to found NeXT Computer, another company that dealt in the very high-end computer market. This venture was not incredibly profitable, but resulted in the development of some brilliant technology, which came in useful when Apple bought the company and rehired Steve Jobs. At the time of the acquisition, Apple was performing very poorly financially and Jobs’ shrewd business skills helped save the company.

Jobs might not have contributed an awful lot to the computing world in a technical sense, but he made a serious mark in the world of computers and technology as a whole. His keen eye for detail led him to make aesthetic decisions which Apple are now renowned for, from the design of their computers to the rendering of fonts in their operating system. The iPod, iPad and iPhone have all changed the way in which we consume media.

is another neurotransmitter equally affected by exercise and is important for mood and impulse-control.

As well as improving our mood and making it easier to learn, exercise also offers protection against those things which can set us off in the opposite direction, namely; stress, anxiety and depression.

So you may be asking: what exercise do I need to do in I order to boost my brain? There are three crucial factors. First, it must be aerobic, that is it involves elevating your heart rate and breathing for a sustained period of time. Second, it must be combined with some sort of learning; use those new connections and nerve cells or lose them! And finally, it must be continuous. You could go for morning runs before the start of lectures, or learn martial arts and so on – just pick something you enjoy and stick to it.

What about strength training? Little is known about the effects of strength training on the brain, yet some gymgoers and bodybuilders might unwittingly be doing something to boost their cognition. Creatine, a popular supplement and substance found naturally in low quantities in meat, is stored in muscle tissue. But creatine is also stored in the brain, where it increases the availability of energy to neurons.

It has been demonstrated that supplementation of five grams a day over a six-week period significantly increases scores on fluid intelligence (at least in vegetarians).

So move. Get smarter. And you’ll be more attractive too.

18

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

“Throughout my degree, although inspired and motivated by some wonderful members of staff and happily involved in societies and student life, I felt the niggling sensation that a certain something was missing from my experience”

Natalie Voorheis

UCD alumna and education intern at The National Gallery of Ireland writes on the importance of the visual arts within UCD

Talleyrand Salutations slackers!

This week, the sub-hominid dwellers of Helfield are screaming, and their screams sound ‘Revolution!’

Yes, the Revolution is well and truly upon us, and even CTN refuse to televise it.

Brendan “Big Mickey” Lacey is on the case, in a furious tidal wave of mediocre posters and town hall meetings, like a stubbly Dana angrily waving a constitution in the air with one hand, while frantically strangling an effigy of Eamonn Gilmore with the other. Lacey Skywalker, hero of the rebel alliance, seemingly will not rest until the Dáil pond runs red with the blood of Labour party backbenchers, and all it takes for you to go to college is fifteen points in your Leaving, a handful of coppers thrown directly at the new Student Centre and the promise of a shifty Handy-J for the Campaigns Officer behind said new Student Centre.

But will the Revolution really be all that it promises to be? Will the sleepout outside the Dáil be a glorious, festival-themed re-enactment of Les Miserables, or it will it have more of a mediocre, ‘Oxegen Blue Campsite on Monday morning’ feel?

Only time, and an indication of how heavily the ‘no alcohol’ rule will be enforced, will tell. Suffice to say, Talleyrand will be there, for the same purpose he attended the Occupy Dame Street campaign – to spit on hippies.

Meanwhile, Pat “Snood or Nude” de Brún has been busy turning your Students’ Union into a rather elaborate game of Monopoly, and Stephen “We Never Promised Seven” Darcy has been receiving a hard time off the empty-headed gutterlings who are all too ready to complain that by not getting to hear the boring one out of S Club sing, they are being denied their God-given rights. These petulant children should crawl back in to whatever hole they came from – most likely a hole that can be found on the concourse, approximately between the library and the chapel.

It seems to be a slow news week for the Exec in their entirety, who are more concerned with partying as if it were nineteen-ninety-nine than actually doing any work. In the years of Talleyrands passed, one would have to imagine the depths of depravity the Sap-bats would get up to on their bi-weekly yagerbomb sessions, but now, thank you to the wonders of modern technology and social networking, we no longer have to imagine. Facebook is now awash with more awkward photographs than Sam Geoghegan’s family photo album. What might have been a pleasant orgy of good conversation, good food and good friends, quickly turned into a regular orgy of sex. Special mention must once again go to Brendan “Hear the Lamentations of the Womens” Lacey, who, one can only surmise from the photographic evidence provided, took several female prisoners, who Talleyrand is at caution to note, have not been seen since. Such is the price we pay for our fearless, barbaric crusader – we have to be prepared to sacrifice one or two of our better looking PROs. And how have the recent floods affected our beloved representatives? Negatively, I would assume.

Talleyrand has it on good authority that Rachel “Token” Breslin destroyed at least one of her pairs of Vitton shoes (bought with your money, remember, you revolutionary students you), and that Sam “Sméagol” Geoghegan’s cave flooded. As for Pat, well, we all know he’s been banging like a percussionist with a particularly vociferous case of Parkinsons, and a bit of moisture won’t have him deterred. When asked whether the floods interrupted his jam-packed schedule of jam-packing, he remarked, in the thickest of Bagenalstown accents, “Sure here, the damp only encourages me.”

Talley-ho!

Talleyrand

During my graduation ceremony in August I was struck by Hugh Brady’s speech in which he urged the graduates who sat before him to put one per cent of their first million back into UCD. I questioned if I would be prepared to do this and since then contemplation of my time in UCD has played at the back of my mind. Now, nearly half a year after finishing my final exam, with the distance of time and space between myself and UCD I am able to vocalise a set of ideals relating to the visual arts which, I feel, had they been in place during my time in the university, would have made the very good education I received and which I deeply value, a world class one.

And for which, if put in place, Brady could have that infamous one per cent.

Throughout my degree, although inspired and motivated by some wonderful members of staff and happily involved in societies and student life, I felt the niggling sensation that a certain something was missing from my experience. I remained unsure of what this was until, as my interest in the visual arts was nurtured by the Art History Department, I felt my eyes opening. In opening my mind to the world of art and aesthetic concerns the UCD Art History Department exposed me, for the first time, to the environment around me, the built interior of the many buildings of the Clonskeagh campus, and, most specifically, the Newman Building. What I saw was a collection of spaces and walls within the Arts Block which were inconsistently hung with small amounts of art in areas of bad lighting, with no identifiable or consistent labelling system and dirty, grey, unpainted walls.

Wall colour is one of those things that the majority of students will never notice during their time at UCD. However, it is something that the brain is, in every moment and with every change of environment as one walks through UCD, processing and creating an emotional response to. I believe that the students and the media, who have named the UCD campus a ‘concrete jungle’ are responding to the emotional response our interior environment has on us and expressing their desire for one which is conducive to their needs as students.

Every year, underneath the James Joyce Library, students crowd around the folios of posters during poster sales. These sales are successful year after year, a fact which demonstrates, on a most basic level, students’ desires to transform their digs and study spaces by creating visually interesting walls. Even a student on the tightest of budgets will stretch their funds for a poster. You wouldn’t leave the walls of your home unpainted, revealing monotone and dirty grey slabs, so why should we allow UCD to force this visual desert on us? Remember, according to Brady, they are giving us an education that provides us with the ability to go on to be, not just successful, but millionaires. That would imply that we as students are taking the most we can from the education on offer. But how can we do this when the interior environment of this institution is, in so many instances, not conducive to positive mental health, a sense of belonging, optimism and supportive of learning and creativity?

One must question, for example, the thoughts of UCD authorities who have recently chosen to paint the wall directly opposite the entry gates to the James Joyce library an aggressive and

oppressive red colour. This space has traditionally been used by students to sit with friends and unwind between periods of study. The UCD authorities should have you, the student, at the heart of every choice that is made about your built and interior environment. Creating an un-restful space in an area used by students, even in an unofficial capacity to rest, is simply unacceptable. By way of comparison it is useful to note that walking into the Arts library in TCD, the student passes a large artwork by famed Irish artist Robert Ballagh.

Colour theory relating to the educational environment is a large area of discussion and research. Papers such as ‘Color in an Optimum Learning Environment’, published in 2008 by the International Centre for Leadership in Education have been concerned with advising institutions on how best to create a positive interior environment for students. Papers such as this state clearly that the colour red should not be used in a study environment and that a hallway area, such as the one outside the James Joyce Library, performs the function of refreshing the student as they pass through, and that colour choice should reflect this.

It would be an unbalanced view not to highlight the positive uses of space and art within UCD which have begun to emerge. The architecture school, for example, recently made a powerful statement by implementing a change to the fabric of their building. Knitted together on the ceiling of a rectangular lecture room are the names of past graduates engraved on coloured blocks. These blocks are sympathetic to the colour scheme of a tiled floor pattern in another room of the school.

The ceiling is a powerful statement of togetherness and inclusion. Above the heads of the students as their creative sparks are lit by their education, the names of those who went before them float. This screams one central point to architecture students from their school’s authorities. They, past graduates, matter to us and so do you. This is an excellent example of the positive and transformative nature of art in the educational environment.

The recent ‘Euro Barometer Aggregate Report 2011’ on wellbeing ranks culture as number eight out of nine factors that contribute to wellbeing alongside the economy, civic life and our environment. With this in mind let us focus on our own UCD SU Welfare position. Rachel Breslin, who, with her strong CV, professionalism, good interpersonal skills, and the notable achievements in the introduction of some innovative projects within the Welfare umbrella under her belt is well placed to take such EU findings and use them in her role as Welfare Officer.

Breslin, in a position which has been focused on mental health for some time, could develop this by petitioning the UCD authorities and championing a focus on our interior environment as transformative for students’ well being. Giving the grey interiors of buildings like the Arts Block a facelift and ensuring that relaxation spaces such as outside the James Joyce library remain in place are ways in which the visual arts within an institution such as UCD can have transformative and positive effects.

The inconsistent nature of UCD authorities dealings with the interiors of much of our campus is reflected in student pride in those environments, and then in their institution as a whole.

Brady, if you want one per cent of my first million, you need to create a sense of pride for students in their environment and thus in what they are learning within this environment. Lectures and tutors come and go, and schools undergo change. If I could be sure that no matter what, a continuity of pride could be created within the student body’s future generations, in their institution and their education, you would have earned my money.

Grainne Millar, founder of Culture Night, and current Irish representative on the EU Expert Group on Cultural and Creative Industries, made a strong case for the importance of the visual arts in the development and economic success of Ireland in a recent article entitled Building Ireland’s Creative Economy with Help from Europe, which appeared in the Winter/ Spring edition of ‘Heritage Outlook’.

She singled out Finland as a positive example of achievement in this field.

Successive governments of Finland, which is number one on the EU Ranking on Active Cultural Participation and number two on the EU Innovation Scoreboard, have consistently understood that together with science and education, culture, heritage and the arts create the intellectual foundation of a society. The arts are not a surplus indulgence of the boom years but are seen by European leaders as a stimulus for our economies and integral to the make-up of an engaged and educated society. So committed to this train of thought are the EU that between now and the end of 2013 the European Commission will be investing over seventy billion euro in developing the creative economy across Europe – the world of arts culture, heritage and the creative industries.

The student body of UCD, made up of 22,000 people, are a community within Irish society actively engaged in education. In accordance with current EU thinking on education and on the framework of a successful society, providing access to the visual arts and a learning environment which is informed by a sense of the visual is not just important but crucial.

One of the most important remits of your Students’ Union is to look after your mental well being and if your environment is not conducive to productivity of study or restful periods between study, then you must highlight this and ask them to strive for change and for a more conscious attention to the interiors of UCD. I can’t advise as to what colours or pieces of art should be painted and hung on every wall within UCD in the confines of this article, but what I can do is make you, the student, aware of the power of colour and of the visual arts. UCD, in facilitating your education, must pay heed to colour choice throughout the institution, and the art that should surround you on these walls.

Let not the defining colour and mood of our university be grey, but let it be diverse, a representation of the people who walk through the halls - a celebration of your first Freud class, your determination to complete your Masters thesis or the innovation you have demonstrated in the construction of your PhD. Let it support and inspire you throughout your journey and foster a sense of pride in your college. We are the educated of our society. We are not grey. Why should we live that way?

The interior spaces of our university are the homes of learning and should support us as such.

19

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Observer Editorial

Quotes of the Fortnight

editor @ universityobserver.ie

“it is extremely possible that by making education something that is not ‘free’, but something of notable value that must be capitalised on, that students would be more encouraged to treat the opportunity with the gravity it deserves”

A

s the ballot boxes were cracked open and the votes were counted, it became immediately apparent that our ninth President will be one that, somewhat paradoxically, reflects the concerns and the preoccupations of the nation’s youth. Michael D. Higgins, at all of seventy years of age, represented more than any other candidate, a zeitgeist in pseudo-political youth culture. Higgins is, if Labour’s viral video campaign taught this Editor anything, the protest President, an energetic campaigner for causes as wide as ‘illegitimate’ children’s rights, the Iraq war, and divorce. He is a President who, in sharp contrast to his primary opponent in the Presidential race, is surrounded somewhat by a socialist, bordering on anti-Capitalist caché, and as such, he has emerged to the forefront of the Irish political and cultural conciousness at a fortunate moment.

Occupy Everything is, as the name suggests, everywhere, from Wall Street, to Dame Street, to the pages of our humble Otwo. As such, it represents one of the largest, most culturally pervasive ill-conceived political movements in history. The campaign, which is set to end its protests amongst the prompt end to Western Capitalism, express not only a wider move towards activism in the country’s youth in recent weeks, but also the same generational flaws these protests expose. Their cry is one of both a misunderstanding of fundamental political and economic realities, and a sense of personal entitlement that borders on the extraordinary.

It would be unfair to suppose that the people who actively pursue, and those who support, the somewhat obfuscated

tenets of the Occupy movement all share the same simplistic view of the Capitalist system, and they most likely represent a diverse strata of Irish society.

With that said, as always, the most vocal proponents of the campaign are also the most radical, and for better or worse, they drag what might hypothetically be a reasoned, moral argument about the distribution of wealth down to a childish plea for what they want, when they want it. The Occupy protests outside of locations that are of actual cultural or financial importance (for example, the damage to tourism that the occupation of St. Paul’s Cathedral has no doubt caused), represent nothing less than a petulant child holding their breath until a parental figure gives in to their non-specific demands.

I do feel the activists should be commended, at the very least, for their very activism. This Editor applauds anyone who is ready and willing to stand up, or in this case, huddle down, for their beliefs. However, one can’t help but wish that these particular ideals were founded on a logical philosophical belief, a sound ecenomic principal, or, indeed, anything. Instead, what we get is nothing, screamed loudly.

The protests coincide with major plans for student sleepouts outside the Dáil, and a mass protest on the 16th of this month. Although standing up and

forcing the powers that be to take note of your beliefs is undoubtably a noble pursuit, one is forced to question the effectiveness of this course of action. After all, this is a government that is being internationally praised for their austerity, and more action is needed. Students represent an easy target in the eyes of the Department of Finance, and a fitting target in the eyes of the electorate.

Amidst a constant flow of media reports about students’ drunken, anti-social behaviour, the majority of working, nine-to-five voters would almost relish the chance to impart some m u c h needed fiscal reality onto the student population at large.

This argument is not without merit; it is extremely possible that by making education something that is not ‘free’, but something of notable value that must be capitalised on, that students would be more encouraged to treat the opportunity with the gravity it deserves, and less inclined to destroy quiet pubs that had the audacity to exist near campus.

I wholeheartedly believe that those who are not in a position to pay for their own education (informed as that is, in reality, by the financial situation they were born into), should be allowed attend university. However, I also believe that a third level education is a product, one that directly and tangibly ben-

Letters to the editor

Dear Mr. Editor, I am writing to express my sheer rage at the lack of remotely accessible and edible food on campus. During the day there is a middling selection of overpricedfood or cheap sandwiches that are only good for a prompt full body detox. Once 5 o’clock hits, anywhere other than the SU shops, the main “restaurant” and the Bar, is closed.

The main restaurant is the main culprit of exceptionally overpriced slop. €4.80 for a plate of chicken goujons and chips! What’s worse is the fact that this is the “safe” option, if one was to try anything else on the menu they would have to be prepared to taste the most mysterious of mystery meats, and at a premium price too!

UCD’s lack of remotely subsidised food is an exceptionally irritating problem with our campus. While there might be some reasonably varied food in some of the seldom-open outlets, the food is just prohibitively expensive.

Yours etc, James White, 1st year English

Dear Sir, The closure of the library on Monday the 31st of October is extremely frustrating.

As we get towards the end of the semester, assignments that need to be plowed through are continually building up and the library’s closure is not helping this in any capacity. Some of us are not blessed with an environment at home that is conducive to study.

In the run up to the exams, the library should be open in the vague hope that we can prepare for exams. If the weather is nearly as bad as it is predicted we are going to lose more opening hours of the library, and that will only hinder preparations.

Yours etc, Disgruntled Final Year Student

Letters should be sent by email to letters@universityobserver.ie or by mail to The editor, The University Observer, UCD Student Centre, Belfield, Dublin 4 The editor reserves the right to edit any letters.

All letters are subject to editorial approval.

the

“Michael D. Higgins, at all of seventy years of age, represented more than any other candidate, a zeitgeist in pseudo-political youth culture”

University Observer Volume XVIII Issue IV Telephone: (01) 716 3119/3120 Email: info@universityobserver.ie www.universityobserver.ie The University Observer is printed at The Guardian Print Centre, Longbridge Road, Manchester M17 1SN.

Sports Editor Daniel Keenan

Deputy Editor Kate Rothwell

Irish Editor Séamas Ó Meachair

Art and Design Director Conor O’Toole

Music Editor Cormac Duffy

Otwo Editors George Morahan Aoife Valentine

Film Editor Dermot O’Rourke

Features Editor Matt Gregg Opinion Editor Emer Sugrue Science & Health Editor Conor O’Nolan Chief Science & Health Writer Alison Lee

Brendan Lacey

“UCD students are generally lovely people and hopefully it won’t become a trend” Stephen Darcy on being verbally abused by students following the cancellation of Cheesefest acts

“Maybe someone will take up filmmaking out of it too. Happy days.”

Dominic O’Keefe on the benefits of the new cinema

“It’s likely enough that we’ll have to get external financing, it is quite likely now” Pat de Brún on the condition of SU accounts

Clarifications & Corrections

“What happened last year is one hundred per cent not happening this year”

It is the policy of the University Observer to rectify any errors as soon as they arise.

Queries and clarifications can be addressed to info@universityobserver.ie.

Stephen Darcy on the UCD Ball

“I don’t think the document is fit for purpose at all” Pat de Brún on the current UCDSU constitution

Editor Jon Hozier-Byrne

News Editor Katie Hughes

efits its consumer, no different from the computer I write this on now. Just as I would not expect the Government, and the people who fund it, to pay for my computer, nor should we expect them to pay for the personal education of a minority. Why should the taxpayer be forced to pay for the personal products of other people’s children?

In an ideal world, a sliding-scale means test would be introduced, in which third level education costs what its consumers can afford, thereby plugging both the budgetary gap and the socio-economic educational elitism that is still in evidence, regardless of the supposedly ‘free’ fees we currently enjoy. In the absence of such logical and straightforward right-thinking, fees will most likely be introduced, so as to avoid the bureaucratic nightmare a means test might incur. To those who often tout the ‘embarrassing’ nature of a means test, bear in mind; if your options are paying full price for third level education or a mild embarrassment, and the latter seems more pressing, you most likely don’t value the profound nature of third level education enough to be worthy of it.

Instead of a reasoned argument, or an alternative such as the one proposed here, youth protests, be they USI or Occupy, present themselves as little more than a throng of sullen teenagers, begging not to be taken seriously. One can’t help but assume that a focused argument from the heads of both movements, channeled through legitimate protest, would be more effective, and force the supposed ‘powers-that-be’ to take note. What we have at present is a movement that has tried nothing, and is all out of ideas.

“There’s absolutely no way I could stand over student nurses from UCD being turned into student slaves”

Fashion Editor Sophie Lioe Food & Travel Editor Elaine Lavery Online Editor Ryan MacKenzie Contributors Stephen Allen Ciara Andrews The Badger Steven Balbirnie Westley Barnes

Elizabeth Beecham Aoife Brophy Anna Burzlaff Dixon Coltrane Rory Crean Anna Curran Deirdre Dunne Hannah Dowling Lorraine Haigney Sara Holbrook Sally Hayden Aaron Kennedy Emily Longworth Gareth Lyons Mark Malone Eimear McGovern Matthew Morrow Mystic Mittens Gordon O’Callaghan Colm O’Grada Catriona O’Malley Elizabeth O’Malley Evan O’Quigley Michael O’Sullivan Ruairi Robertson Mante Romoskaite Barry Singleton

Greg Talbot Talleyrand Denis Vaughan Natalie Voorheis Olivia van Wallingham Jack Walsh Killian Woods Illustrator Olwen Hogan Chief Photographer David Nowak Photographers Ciara Andrews Caoimhe McDonnell Ed Scannell Brian O ’Leary Special Thanks Peter, Ian, Tim, Malcolm, Ade, Jonathan, Dave, Emma, Ged, Bob, Steve (and the robots) at GPC Manchester Eilis O’Brien

Dominic Martella Colm, Sabrina and Rory at MCD Promotions Bernie Divilly at PIAS Giselle Jiang Dominic, Grace, Charlie, Jason, Gary, Stephen, Mark, Sandra, Paul and all the Student Centre Staff Very Special Thanks Amy Bracken, Donna Doyle, Bríd Doherty, Paul Fennessey, Bridget Fitzsimons, Danielle Moran, Joe Murphy, Dave Neary, Quinton O’Reilly, Rob Lowney, Ruth McCourt, Gav Reilly, Natalie Voorheis and all other friends and family who have supported and encouraged us during our fourth issue.

CAN YOU AFFORD CAN YOU AFFORD CAN YOU AFFORD CAN YOU AFFORD

€ 5,000 €5,000 STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT

‘CONTRIBUTION’ ‘CONTRIBUTION’ ‘CONTRIBUTION’ ‘CONTRIBUTION’ ‘CONTRIBUTION’

FEE? FEE? FEE? FEE? FEE?

LIED LIED THE LABOUR PARTY THE LABOUR PARTY THE LABOUR PARTY THE LABOUR PARTY

TOWN HALL MEETING TOWN HALL MEETING TOWN HALL MEETING TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN TOWN HALL MEETING TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN

TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN CAN STOP THIS INCREASE TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN CAN STOP THIS INCREASE CAN STOP THIS INCREASE CAN STOP THIS THURSDAY 3RD NOVINCREASE // 6PM TH. L THURSDAY 3RD NOV // THURSDAY 3RD NOV // THURSDAY 3RD NOV // THURSDAY 3RD NOV //

6PM TH. L 6PM TH. L 6PM TH. L 6PM TH. L

CAN YOU AFFORD CAN YOU AFFORD CAN YOU AFFORD

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

SPORT

21

Four-Pronged Attack This year all four Irish provinces will take part in the Heineken Cup for the very first time. Our sports writers analyse their prospects.

Munster

Pool 1

L

Ulster

Prediction: Quarter-Final

ast year’s Heineken Cup campaign was perhaps the lowest point in the professional era for Munster, as they failed to qualify for the knock-out stages for the first time in over a decade. Again, this season they are going to have to compete with some very respectable opposition in the opening stage.

First up for Munster is the visit of last year’s finalist Northampton Saints.

The English side will have a point to prove in this competition, having had the cup ripped from their grasp during the second-half of last season’s final.

Northampton have added some seri-

ous talent to their squad over the summer with fly-half Ryan Lamb joining former Blackrock College winger, Vasily Artemeiv, and Samoan George Pisi.

Performing below par in the opening rounds of the English Premiership, the reintroduction of their World Cup stars, Ben Foden, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and Chris Aston will mean they will provide stiff competition for that top spot.

The Scarlets are the third rank team in Pool 1 but they should they not be underestimated. The Welsh side may be lacking a bit up front but they have an impressive backline. Irish tormentor

Pool 4

Prediction: Group Stages

U

lster had their best season in the ern province. The loss of BJ Botha to Heineken Cup last year since win- Munster could have had a catastrophic ning the competition in 1999. A effect on the Ulster scrum, so pivotal to place in the quarter-finals, where they lost their attacking game, but with the acquito eventual finalists Northampton, was sition of Afoa, Ulster have managed to their best finish in twelve years. They are find an even better scrummager. an ever-improving squad with a mixture Another new recruit, Jared Payne, has of young Irish talent, international players ruptured his Achilles tendon and his parand strong clubmen. Every Heineken Cup ticipation in the group stages is in doubt. team will be buoyed by the return of their The New Zealand born centre/fullback World Cup stars, but Ulster have arguably showed brief glimpses of his Blues’ form the best returning contingent. in the three games he has played so far Stephen Ferris and Rory Best, two and his injury comes just as he looked to linchpins in the Ulster forward line, join be settling into the Ulster team.

Ruan Piennar, Johann Muller, Andrew Ulster face a mammoth task to even Trimble and new recruit John Afoa get out of their group, with Clermont among others, in returning to the north- Auvergne and Leicester Tigers in their

Leinster

Pool 3

G

Connacht

Rhys Priestland pulls the strings from out-half and he can call upon powerful runners outside him such as George North and Jonathan Davies. After a landmark World Cup for Wales, a run in Europe can be expected from a regional club, who traditionally misfire in this competition. With the Ospreys losing players to the lure of French money, it might just be up to the Scarlets to continue the revitalisation of Welsh rugby.

Castre Olympique are a slightly unpredictable side, and have surprised many in France by finishing third in the Top 14. They do have familiar faces in Max Evans and Scott Murray, and

way in Pool 4. Clermont have never truly excelled in the Heineken Cup but can never be written off. Losing Napolioni Nalaga is significant but with the signing of Sitiveni Sivavatu, Lee Byrne and David Skrela, Clermont have an extremely dangerous backline, already containing Morgan Parra, Aurèlin Rougerie and Julien Malzieu. Combined with a traditionally strong French pack, Clermont could easily top the group. Ulster’s best opportunity to beat them will be in Ravenhill next weekend, when they may well catch them with a World Cup hangover. Overcoming Clermont in France is a near impossible task.

Ulster won’t fear Aviva Premiership

Prediction: Finalists

iven their recent record in this tournament, Leinster will enter the Heineken Cup full of confidence, having won it twice in the past three years and making the semi-final on the other occasion.

After playing the top three sides in France, as well as the English Champions of that year, on their way to the final last season, Leinster have been given an easier draw this year. Looking at the group, it would not be unreasonable to expect an experienced Leinster side to pick up five wins. Bath are not even close to the force they once were.

Although they boast talents such as the hard-hitting Lewis Moody, they are far

from a daunting prospect.

Glasgow, although a traditional bogey team for Leinster, rarely perform in Europe and lack the necessary skill in their backline to trouble the bigger teams. Barring a miracle of Braveheart proportions, they are unlikely to challenge the top spot in Pool 3.

Despite finishing as runners-up in last season’s Top 14, little would be known about Montpellier by those who don’t follow the French league.

Their domestic success last season was something of a shock. With Fulgence Ouedraogo and Francois Trinh-Duc in their squad, they are not tournament minnows, but are inexperienced at this

Pool 6

Prediction: Group Stages

C

level. Leinster should come out of the group expecting a home quarter-final.

The Heineken Cup is an unpredictable tournament and there are more obstacles to overcome than your opposition, the main problem being injuries.

Injuries can stop a championship season dead in its tracks. Although Leinster have great depth in certain areas, others could be left seriously exposed by even one casualty.

The most obvious of these is at outhalf. If Jonathan Sexton were to pick up a serious knock, it would be a huge problem for Leinster. Although Ian Madigan has been impressive, it is hard to see him replicating Sexton’s replace-

onnacht have qualified for their lenge Cup semi-final in 2010. His re- captain John Muldoon. first Heineken Cup not through turn from Japanese side Kobe SteelDespite the youth coming through the Celtic League but by virtue ers is easily their biggest acquisition. the ranks, including recent signing of of Leinster winning the Heineken Cup The signing of Tongan winger Fetu’u UCD’s David McSharry, Connacht will last season, and rising two ERC rank- Vainikolo is quite a coup for Connacht, struggle to make an impact this year in ing points. while rugby league convert Henry the tournament, with the presence of With the mass exodus of Connacht’s Fa’afili in the centre will plug the gap- Heineken Cup legends Toulouse, curyoung Irish hopes; Jamie Hagan, Ian ing hole in their defence. rent English Premiership leaders HarleKeatley, Fionn Carr and Sean Croinin, Overall, Connacht have improved quins and former big hitters Gloucester. at the end of last season, Connacht have since last season and increased their Connacht fans are sure to be excited needed to recruit, signing fifteen play- squad depth, a problem that has hin- at the prospect of Toulouse arriving ers during the summer. The return of dered their progress over the years. In in the West of Ireland, but Connacht their star No. 8 George Naoupu will their traditionally injury-ravaged back couldn’t have asked for a tougher draw, provide a huge boost as it was the New row, they have signed former Ulster with the four-time Champions one of Zealander’s all action performances player Willie Faloon and Munster na- the only French teams who travel well. that brought them to the Amlin Chal- tive Eoghan Grace to join Naoupu and With one of the world’s most ferocious

By Gordon O’Callaghan like any French team will be well organised.

If Munster are to progress into the knock-out stages of this year’s competition they will have to move past their traditional conservative game. The Saints and the Scarlets are more than capable of throwing the ball around the pitch and scoring tries. Ian Keatley has been in good form in the absence of O’Gara, and with the return of Conor Murray and Keith Earls, one would hope that Tony McGahan will turn to the likes of Keatley and Murray as well as Simon Zebo and Danny Barnes, to give them some youthful energy.

By Daniel Keenan opposition but Leicester Tigers are capable of beating any team, with a bruising forward line and their dogged style of play.

The Tigers should overcome Ulster in Leicester and a win for them in Belfast is certainly within the realm of possibilities.

The pressure will even be on Ulster to secure bonus point wins over group minnows Aironi, as with the tight nature of the group, bonus points are likely to decide who progresses. Group 4 will be a very tight group, meaning the secondplaced team is unlikely to qualify as one of the best runners-up. Ulster are constantly improving but it seems a place in the quarter-finals will be a bridge too far this year.

By Kevin Beirne ment-heroics of 2009, while Mat Berquist has barely left the physio table since arriving in the summer.

More worryingly, should Leo Cullen be forced out by injury, a possibility made all the more likely given the fact he will be thirty-four by the time the knockout stages begin, there is no clear-cut replacement to step in and compete at a level remotely resembling that of the captain.

That being said, Leinster are the team to beat this year. If they can stay clear of injuries and continue to grow under Schmidt, than there is no question about them reaching the final. They may even become the first back-to-back winners since Leicester in 2001/2002.

By Fearghal Bannon packs and a backline to match, as well as IRB World Player of the Year Thierry Dusautoir, Connacht’s chances are minuscule.

With their upcoming talent and their superb management on and off the field, Connacht are a rising force, which can only be a positive for Irish rugby. The Heineken Cup, however, takes no prisoners, and the best Connacht can hope for is a big financial turnover from games at the redeveloped sports ground; they will be lucky to come out of Pool 6 with a win, the best opportunity for which will be at home to Gloucester on December 10th.

22

SPORT

SPORTS DIGEST Volleyball UCD’s Premier Men’s Volleyball team came close to inflicting revenge on local rivals Ballymun Patriots in a thrilling five-set encounter at the UCD Sports Centre on Sunday, October 23rd. After starting the season with two wins, including an emphatic win away to current champions Munster Thunder, UCD were hoping to continue their unbeaten run against last year’s cup champions. The match began with long rallies, courtesy of some fantastic defence on both sides. There was little to separate the sides but Ballymun drew first blood, winning the first and third set, with UCD claiming the second and fourth set. Momentum had swung in the home side’s favour in the fifth set tie-breaker, with some excellent jump-serving giving UCD a comfortable advantage at 8-4 at the change of ends. However, Ballymun fought back as they blocked and defended everything UCD threw at them. By the time UCD found a way to end their static play on one rotation, Ballymun had pulled away 13-9 and took the tie break, 15-9.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

No More Compromise

Soccer UCD AFC came from behind to fire five goals past IT Tallaght in Belfield on Tuesday in the latest round of fixtures in the Colleges and Universities Football League.

In windy conditions, UCD fell behind following a mix-up at the back, but went on to record their second win of the competition, after goals from Paul Corry (2), Robbie Murray, Tyrone McNelis and Sean Buckley.

Cricket UCD Cricket has announced the return of the Indoor Super League (ISL) which will run throughout the winter at the indoor hall in St. Mary’s, Rathmines.

The competition will begin on Friday 4th November, when Merville Magic will be hoping to repeat their win in last year’s inaugural competition. The ISL will build up to the Indoor Intervarsities, which will take place next year.

by Matthew Morrow

John Terryble

With the International Rules Series beginning this week, Kevin Beirne questions the relevance of the competition

The Badger hunts his latest prey: John Terry

T

Sailing UCD Sailing Club made the journey to the Dingle Sailing Club, Kerry for the Irish University Sailing Association Western Championships which took place from the 15-16th October. The weekend event was the first of five college team racing events of the year, sailed in two-man Firefly dinghies. The gentle breeze and strong spring tides on the first morning led to some challenging conditions. All College 1st teams were in Gold fleet, 2nd teams in Silver, with all others in Bronze.

After an inconsistent start, UCD 1 (the first team) scored three wins from five races, while in the silver fleet, UCD 2 had a perfect day, winning all their races and securing a place in Gold fleet for Sunday. UCD 3 had a good day in Bronze, qualifying for the Bronze semi-finals, while UCD 4 and 5 just missed out. On the Sunday, knock-out sailing began with UCD 2 just losing out to UL in a close quarter-final, before UCD 1 breezed into their semi-final.

UCD 1 failed to qualify for the final after a ‘best of three’ race, but recovered to win the third/fourth place sail-off.

The Badger:

A

s a sport, Compromised Rules simply doesn’t have the resources to succeed as anything more than a novelty With the beginning of the International Rules Series on Friday, one has to wonder whether or not this tournament is still relevant.

Is there really any true value in a sport that only exists twice every two years? The decision to only play the game every third year, made because of a lack of interest in the series from players in both nations, has gone largely unnoticed by the public, such is the interest in the series.

The GAA enjoys huge support all over the country, so why the apathy towards the international version?

Surely the cross-code game should unite the people of Ireland behind one of the greatest markers of Irish identity in the modern world.

The simple explanation is that they are not the same sports. Fans of Gaelic football aren’t automatically going to enjoy the bruising nature of International Rules, in the same way that Rugby Union fans don’t always warm to Rugby League. Liking one sport does not mean that you have to like the other.

The growing perception is that the International Rules Series suffers from ‘Carling Cup syndrome’, where the interest the fans have in a competition is proportional to the amount of interest expressed by those competing in it.

How can the GAA expect the Irish public to be interested in a series where the majority of the top players don’t value it any higher than their county championships? Stephen Cluxton, the All-Ireland-winning

goalkeeper and Irish captain for the into? Remember, with professionseries, only joined his teammates af- alism banned in GAA, Cluxton is ter his club were knocked out of the the rule, not the exception.

Dublin championship.

This year, Cluxton earned his What kind of a message does it place on the All-Star team and then send to fans when the captain of the in the Irish team. However, Neil national team thinks representing McGee of Donegal was the only his club is more important than his All-Star who joined Cluxton in the country? Cluxton seemed to view starting line-up for the first test travelling down under as more of a against Australia. Karl Lacey, also chore than an honour. of Donegal, was the only All-Star How could an institution that to make the bench. Kerry’s All-Star represents traditional Ireland fail wing-forward, Darran O’Sullivan, so spectacularly to achieve national chose his club over country and repride when competing against anoth- mained in Ireland. er nation? How can these players not In total, only two players who want to take the time to go to Austra- featured in the 2011 All-Ireland lia and represent their country?

Final appeared in the match day One reason that is very often twenty-four for Ireland on Frioverlooked is that these players are day: Cluxton and Kerry’s Kieran still amateurs. The still have com- Donaghy. Instead of putting their mitments back home - commitments best players on the international that they may have ignored over stage, the GAA seem more conthe summer if their team made a cerned with diversity, as fourteen long run in the Championship. How different counties are represented much time can these amateurs be by the twenty-four players. The expected to take off work for what is Australians meanwhile, picked a a part-time sport treated like a pro- team consisting of just two Allfession, before it becomes unfair on Australians and one club captain. their employers and co-workers?

This can be partly explained by Cluxton is a teacher in St. Vin- a desire for the team to represent

As a sport, Compromised Rules simply doesn’t have the resources to succeed as anything more than a novelty cent’s CBS, Glasnevin as well as a part-time student, studying for a BSc in Science Education. Is it fair to ask him to take time out to play a game, one which it seems he doesn’t want to play, but has been roped

the entire country, although Connacht has a disappointing representation of only two players. Another reason not to include the top players, such as the Brogan brothers or Colm Cooper, may be to avoid advertising them to the AFL, something the GAA are no doubt afraid of.

The last series was a poor affair, failing to draw the attention of previous series in the earlier part of the decade. Australia won a dull series, only made interesting by a late Irish effort in the second game.

It seems the cancellation of the series wouldn’t leave many people too disappointed. As a sport, it simply doesn’t have the resources to succeed as anything more than a novelty.

Whether or not the GAA has the self-awareness to realise the true public perception of the series remains to be seen. At the very least, it has more credibility than the hurling/shinty mash-up.

he Badger, being both black and white, is race neutral. You’d think this would make him immune to racism, but in fact he has the worst of both worlds. Not only does the Badger have to put up with disgusting stereotypes and names born from hundreds of years of oppression, but he also has to accept that he has absolutely no rhythm. So the Badger knows all about dealing with discrimination, whether from angry farmers or in the world of sports journalism, where badgers are outcasts.

Now the Badger hates many things: any tries scored by Chris Ashton, Jamie Redknapp’s use of the word ‘literally’, Rafael Nadal’s t-shirt collection, but racism is right at the top of the list.

Joining it are footballers with ridiculous public lives and average players who are considered world class simply because they’re English.

You may have guessed by now that the Badger doesn’t particularly like John Terry. It’s a hatred that has simmered for years, one which cooled during his banana skin moment in Moscow, only to boil over again in the last two years.

When the Badger heard about the extramarital affair with Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend, he finally had a reason to lambast the world’s slowest defender for something more than his blown-up head. Then the Badger heard about the gagging order; what he thought was just kinky foreplay with Bridge’s girlfriend turned out to be a court injunction to silence the media.

Thankfully for the Badger, £150,000 a week can’t buy you privacy anymore, and the story leaked through every facet of social networks and eventually through the mainstream media. After more accusations were hurdled against Terry, this time of racism, the Badger has found yet more reasons to hate JT. The Badger is of the “guilty until proven innocent” mind, especially when it comes to Terry. His exchange with Anton Ferdinand is similar to an incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra two weeks ago, but unlike the Suarez-Evra incident, there is video footage of the abuse, and unlike watching an episode of Gilmore Girls, it’s easy to read lips in this case.

So how can Terry wriggle his way out of this one? Would he follow in the paw prints of the Badger and be a man’s man?

No, he’d deny it of course. Terry claims he only said these words in order to deny using such language. The Badger can’t help but think of OJ Simpson.

Despite everything, the Badger does have a small grain of respect for Terry, for never has a man with the footballing ability of a drunken rhinoceros risen so high. Despite the tomcatting, despite the alleged racism, despite the complete inability to do anything with a football apart from head it, the man who makes Paul McShane look like a superstar, is captain of England and Chelsea. So the Badger will give credit where it’s due; to John Terry - the man who’s risen higher than any sex-addicted purported racist could ever dream.

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

SPORT

The League in Review

As the Airtricity League finishes up for another year, Gordon O’Callaghan looks back on the 2011 season

Action from UCD vs Shamrock Rovers last Monday. Rovers won the league title after a 2-1 win at the Belfield Bowl.

Photographer: Ed Scannell

R

eviewing this season’s Airtricity League, you could say that the league and UCD AFC did not sway from the obvious during the 2011 season.

Bohemians looked like they were on the verge of collapse. Facing mounting debts and uncertainty over the future of Pat Fenlon, many questioned whether the team would be able to survive the winter off-season.

Shamrock Rovers had tied up their first league title in over a decade, but the re-emergence of Derry City and the continued development of Sligo Rovers threatened the Tallaght outfit’s dominance at the top of the table.

UCD had lost thirteen first team players from the previous campaign. Despite last year’s bottom club, Drogheda United, remaining in the league due to Sporting Fingals’ collapse, many tipped the Students for the drop.

UCD started the season in responsible fashion with a last gasp winner from Cillian Morrison away to Drogheda United, securing an early three points for Martin Russell’s side.

UCD would fail to win again for eight games, until the arrival of Sligo Rovers to the Bowl on the 29th of April. Draws against Galway United and St. Patrick’s Athletic during that period meant that the Students stayed off the bottom of the league.

An early win for Galway United against Bohemians on the 25th of March would be the Tribesmen’s solitary win of the season, as they were rooted to the bottom of the table from the beginning and they would stay there for the remainder of the season.

Shamrock Rovers started the season well, going unbeaten in their first five games before Pat Devlin’s high flying Bray Wanderers brought the Hoops crashing down to earth in Tallaght with a 1-0 win.

Early pace setters Derry City went nine games into the league season without losing, as new signing Eamon Zayed hit the ground running. Alongside his new teammates, the Libyan international ensured that the Candy Stripes would have a dream start to the new season.

Pat Devlin’s Bray Wanderers were the surprise package of the league early on, despite only managing to secure their Premier Division status with a play-off victory the previous season. Two shock wins over Shamrock Rovers, and an early victory over St. Patrick’s Athletic, coupled with their ability to pick up points against most teams below them, meant that the league began to stand up and take notice of the Seagulls.

Bray would not be able to make that early season form count though, as they suffered four defeats on the bounce and put paid to any ambitions that they had on the top half of the table. Eventually they would finish sixth, eleven points

behind fifth-placed Bohemians.

UCD’s spring and summer was a tale of contrast, beating Sligo Rovers and Drogheda United in back to back games which seemed to kick start their season. They backed these games up with their biggest defeat of the season against Derry City, conceding seven goals to the Candy-Stripes.

Despite picking up three points aginst Galway the following week, they would lose six games on the bounce in the run up to the mid-season break.

As the season progressed it became obvious that Shamrock Rovers would not be running away with the league; European commitments coupled with Sligo Rovers and Derry City’s good form meant the Tallaght outfit where anything but safe at the top of the table.

Bohemians and St. Patrick’s Athletic trailed the leading pack, but a couple of results in the final quarter of the season could very well have propelled both teams into the title race.

On September 3rd, UCD and Drogheda United would play out perhaps the game of the season. The Students stormed into a two goal lead before Drogheda pinned them back and even-

tually went two goals up themselves heading into the final ten minutes, before three goals in the final three minutes from UCD saw them claim all three points in dramatic fashion.

That result would set up a run in which UCD would go five games unbeaten at home. During that run they would end the title hopes of St. Partick’s Athletic and Bohemians, and it appeared that UCD would hold the balance of power in the final quarter of the season as they played Shamrock Rovers at home and Sligo away in the final two games.

Rovers came to the Bowl on October 26th needing only one win in their final two games to win the league. They overcame the Students 2-1, thanks to a last minute goal from Dean Kelly, securing their second title in a row, much to the heartache of Sligo and UCD. Sligo went on to beat UCD 4-2 at the Showgrounds on Friday.

So while it might seem that the Airtricity League teetered out to a predictable finale, the league ebbed and flowed throughout, and the final standings were far from obvious in the midseason.

Giovanni Trapattoni has guided Ireland to two straight qualifiers, but questions still remain about his playing style

Photographer: Ed Scannell

23

Killian goes down undeR The University Observer’s resident New Zealand columnist, Killian Woods, offers further insight from the Rugby World Cup

T

“The All Blacks have treated the week following the final as a chance to duly bask in their glory and celebrate winning the Rugby World Cup with the entire island”

he time lapse since All Blacks captain Richie McCaw lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy has offered the chance to give a realistic perspective of the tournament that the initial unrelenting praise aimed at New Zealand did not. An end to the tournament signals many things for different types of fans.

Some see this as a lull after their experience of the sport as of late; a time when the ability to immerse oneself in rugby dissipates as it returns to season structure normality. Teams like France will view it as a fresh start and a chance to begin a new cycle ahead of the next competition in England 2015. It even could be interpreted as the start of another twenty-four year respite between New Zealand winning the competition again.

The All Blacks, however, have treated the week following the final as a chance to duly bask in their glory and celebrate winning the Rugby World Cup with the entire island.

The tense, brand-wielding final lived up to certain expectations and generically fell in line with a lot of the sensible low try-scoring, kick-dominated predictions, and was a closer affair than the tournament form guide suggested. After eighty minutes, the best team of the tournament won, while the most spirited and best team in Eden Park that day went home with silver.

During the aftermath, two parades to flaunt the team’s new gold ware were organised for Auckland and Wellington respectively, while a special procession was gifted to Christchurch.

The earthquake-ravaged city had their Rugby World Cup duties revoked due to effects of the seismic activity in 2010.

The move, although appropriate, deprived the most rugby-orientated city in the country the chance to showcase the game. However, in a show of good faith, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw brought the Webb Ellis and their team to their hometown to give the stricken city something to celebrate.

Yet when the parades ceased and the confetti angels made by Israel Dagg and Cory Jane on the Eden Park turf were cleaned up, the twenty-four year countdown began and the country fronted up as a nation suffering. This win has brought New Zealand a lot of joy, but off the coast of Tauranga the worst shipping disaster to ever strike New Zealand is still affecting the NorthEast coast, Christchurch is an area continually in anguish and the true value of hosting the tournament has become apparent.

The euphoria that New Zealand have enjoyed from winning the tournament has become somewhat similar to that of a father on his daughter’s wedding day. While relishing the notion of offering the bride the best day of her life, he still has to pay the bill; much like

the New Zealand taxpayer, who will be forced to account for some of the costs that the IRB have accumulated.

However, focusing more on the collective impact of the tournament, the disappointments seem easier to list off. As a fan sitting in the stadium for all of Ireland’s games and a number of high profile games including Australia vs South Africa and Wales vs France, I personally found the tournament wholly unexciting. For nearly two months we watched teams so scared of losing that it drastically affected their ability to dazzle.

This predominant fear was eminent in Quade-Cooper, who like many others, failed to reproduce his form for the Queensland Reds with the Wallabies.

Although players like Jerome Kaino, Jamie Roberts and Sean O’Brien performed consistently, we were deprived of a standout star of the tournament.

Then there were the heinous scandals which hit the World Cup. Even if there was any life in the tournament, Mike Tindall treating the tournament as an extension of his stag party detracted from the game itself and performances on the field. Shenanigans like these only meant that you had to look a bit harder to find the true meaning of the tournament.

It has been cited before in this sexually and promiscuously named column, but the vibe added to games by fans from the Pacific Islands lifted the mood of the tournament.

Tongans, Samoans and Fijians lined the streets leading to the stadia and celebrated non--stop, despite some desperately disappointing results.

The atmosphere also received a gentle boost due to the presence of a youthful generation of Irish émigrés following the team from game to game.

Although some literal Irish bandwagoners (in campervans) skipped lower profile games and only attended the big events, a core contingent of fans supported the team throughout and were relentless in drinking New Plymouth and Dunedin dry.

And finally, breaching the minimal continuity this column ever had, I’ll launch into my favourite part of the Rugby World Cup. Throughout the tournament, there were over 230,400 seconds of action and my highlight hinges on a brief moment during one of these seconds: Felipe Contepomi’s one-handed, mid-air pass that only required a flick of the wrist to be guided into the hands of his supporting teammate, during the attack that led to their try in the quarter-final against New Zealand. It was breathtaking and a final showcase of the stalwart’s everlasting genius.

It wasn’t the best tournament, but it wasn’t the worst. To coin a kiwi phrase that generally reflects a ‘no worries’ shoulder shrug, it was “sweet as”.

24

OSbserver P O R T

The University Observer · 1 November 2011

Comprehensive Win for Collidge in the Bowl

A dominant UCD beat Bruff in an encouraging but ultimately uninspiring match, writes Aaron Kennedy

C

oming off the back of a defeat to Buccaneers in Athlone two weeks ago, UCD hoped to bounce back as they welcomed Bruff to the UCD Bowl on Saturday. Collidge have had a mixed start to the season, overcoming UCC but losing to Buccs and suffering a comprehensive beating at the hands of Dungannon. Collidge made several changes to their squad for the visit of Bruff, the most notable of which was replacing Michael Twomey with Andy Boyle at fullback.

Both sides shot out of the gates quickly and had an even share of the play. The match began with a lot of kicking, as Collidge slowly began to edge themselves forward, and set themselves up with a great attacking platform. After a great take in the air by Shane Grannell, the Belfield outfit gained excellent field position following a high-quality kick to touch in the five metre line by winger Tom Fletcher.

The early pressure that was applied forced Bruff to concede penalty after penalty. Bruff were being penalised in the scrum early on, as UCD’s pack were proving to be the more dominant force. This proved costly for Bruff as in the fifth minute, Niall Earls converted a penalty to make it 3-0 to UCD. A mistake by UCD from the resulting kickoff gave Bruff a good field position to mount an attack on the untested UCD defence. Momentum swung in the Limerick men’s favour as their backs began to make up decent ground against the UCD defence. This resulted in an

Rob Shanley breaks away from the Bruff defence during Saturday’s All Ireland League game in the UCD Bowl. Photographer: Caoimhe McDonnell early try opportunity for Bruff but it was squandered as Bruff conceded a penalty after they went off their feet. More consistent back play resulted in a glorious chance for Bruff, but a knock-on foiled their chances of scoring.

Neither team was critical when it came to scoring and punishing the opposition approaching the twenty-minute mark. After a large period of possession for Bruff, UCD began to come back into

the game and started putting immense pressure on the opposition’s defence.

UCD began to spread the ball nicely across the backline and this eventually resulted in a try for the Collidge, as fullback Andy Boyle crossed in the nineteenth minute. Earls missed the conversion, so the score remained 8-0 to the home side.

Bruff were made to rue missed opportunities, as a long-range penalty was con-

UCD 21 Bruff RFC 8 verted by Earls in the twenty-third minute to make it 11-0. More and more penalties soon began to creep into the Limerick side’s forward play, which proved to be their downfall in the first-half.

They were soon punished once more for a lack of concentration in the backline when centre David McSharry was released through the centre by Rob Shanley. The newly signed Connacht player touched down to make it 18-0 after the conversion. McSharry was proving to be a handful for the Bruff backline and made another decent burst through their defence before being hauled down short of the line.

Bruff were struggling to get out of their own half and were looking to their wingers, Mark Cosgrove and Andrew Cashman, to spark some inspiration for the team. Approaching the half-time mark, Bruff started to come back into the game and came very close to a try, but the ball was knocked on by fullback Paul O’Brien. A penalty was awarded to Bruff late on but was missed by Brian Cahill.

UCD dominated most aspects of the first-half, making it difficult for Bruff to even exit their own half, with Niall Earls’ kicking pegging them back. The teams went into the half-time break with the score at 18-0.

Earls missed a penalty early in the second half, while good back play soon created chances for Bruff. This resulted in a try in the forty-sixth minute from Michael Carroll, which was not converted. Both teams stood off and created very little in the second-half, as UCD coasted home. A penalty scored by Cahill was merely a consolation for Bruff, as James Thornton came on for Earls and slotted over a kick to finish the match off as a 21-8 victory for UCD. The win moves UCD up to seventh in the table but the stifled creativity in the second half somewhat tainted the win.

With an overall impressive first-half display however, UCD will travel to Ballymena with confidence that they can correct their poor away form.

Sports Crew plan year ahead

INSIDE...

We analyse the prospects of the Irish provinces in the Heineken Cup

page 21 The Badger badgers his badger-y little heart out on John Terry

page 22

We question the relevance of the International Rules Series

page 22

With the first meeting of the Sports Crew taking place last week, Daniel Keenan speaks to Sports Officer Paddy Guiney about plans for the year ahead

I

Low crowd attendance at UCD matches is one issue that Sports Officer Paddy Guiney plans to tackle with the Sports Crew

ntroduced by Paul Lynam last year, the roll of Sports Officer has been set up in UCD to promote internal sports and healthy living. Though in its second year, this is the first year to have an official sports crew, lead by Sports Officer, Paddy Guiney. One problem that Guiney hopes to tackle is the lack of support for UCD teams.

For so long, UCD has been the centre for academic sporting excellence, but despite having the largest one-campus student population in Ireland, attendance and support at matches is abysmal.

UCD AFC compete in the Airtricity League; UCD RFC are in the second highest league in Ireland and contain potential Irish internationals in their squad, while the GAA clubs have county stars and compete in the Dublin Championship, as well as Intervarsity tournaments such as the Sigerson Cup. Despite consistently impressive teams, they fail to receive the support that a university with a population of about 22,000 should receive. It’s not an uncommon sight to see UCD AFC playing in front of a near-empty Bowl, or for a hockey tournament held on campus to go almost unnoticed.

Whether this is due to the teams

failing to capture the imagination of supporters, lack of advertising or just the lack of comradery and togetherness among students, it is a problem that Guiney plans to tackle.

“This year, my own goal is to get people to matches,” says Guiney. “We have a soccer team in the Airtricity, we have a rugby team that’s very successful and the hockey team is better than ever at the weekends. But unfortunately people don’t know that and don’t attend the games. [Low attendance at matches] is a cultural problem in UCD and can’t be changed overnight.”

To try and encourage attendance, Guiney and the Sports Crew have several different ideas to promote sports around UCD. “We’d like to see UCD flags up around campus and we have an idea for a mascot. One of the ideas is Support Your College Week; in any particular week the Sports Crew and I will plug a particular team completely.”

While a big part of the Sports Crew’s job is to try to build a fanbase for the major sports teams in UCD, they are also hosting events throughout the year to encourage students to get involved and get active.