Vol. XXIII - Issue 8 - Berliner

UO the uNiVeRsity oBseRVeR AbOVE STUDENTS GETTiNG iNTO THE GrOOVE AT rELAY fOr LifE photo CaMille loMBaRD

PrEDATOrY JOUrNALS THE riSE Of PAYiNG TO WriTE KeRi heath p11

april 19th 2017 volUme xxiii issUe 8 UNiversityoBserver.ie

SNAKES HiSS HiSSSSS

DaNielle CRowley p17

UCD private ClUB to Cost at least €300,000 RoisiN guyett-NiCholsoN eDitoR UCD’S PLanneD private club is set to cost at least €300,000, with the funding expected to come from University resources. The initial budget has been approved by the university for development of the site and architectural plans. The club is expected to cater to staff, alumni, members of the club and corporate clients.

The plans emerged from the minutes of two Financial Renumeration and asset management committee meetings last semester. The minutes note that the club will provide “first-class engagement setting… complemented by conference and event facilities, with opportunities for public and industry engagement.”

The observer reached out to UCD for comment but did not receive a response before going to print.

The club is expected to be built adjacent to the current O’Reilly Hall, by the main lake. Planning permission for the club was submitted 12th December 2016 and observation ended 1st February 2017.

Permission has not yet been granted.

The club is intended to improve UCD’s facilities as a conference location. Chair of the Societies Council eoghan murphy explained that : “The university need[s] to be able to promote the

university… as a top class location for conferences and events… It can be challenged by purpose built facilities off campus, the likes of hotels and conference centres. and one of the things that UCD is missing in that space, that those other facilities can offer is a social and recreational space for conference delegates and conference attendees.”

However, the club has already received some criticism from students for being prioritised ahead of other capital improvements such as residences or building refurbishments.

UCD Students’ Union President, Conor Viscardi, who sits on the financial board, said of the club: “we always believe that anything new that’s built on campus should always be there to facilitate and support students and contribute to furthering a positive community dynamic on campus.”

There are, however, no objections from Viscardi noted in the minutes of the meetings. He went on to highlight that one of the main concerns for the union was that students would not have access to it. Viscardi explained that the union had submitted a proposal advocating “that post-graduate students would also have access to it as well if they were graduates of UCD.”

The club has already been highlighted to be open to alumni as it will be a focus point for the alumni network.

Viscardi went on to explain the University’s position, stating “because UCD is a public institution, they have to abide by all these regulations, so they have to put in all these extra submissions, bring in all these extra consultants, bringing in all these professionals to look at developing a very robust plan when they do capital development projects. and that actually is a very costly enterprise.”

He further noted that there were other capital developments, such as refurbishments of faculty buildings scheduled to take place “simultaneously”.

The club is to be built before the UCD residences masterplan begins. The campus Development Plan 2016-2026, outlines plans to build nearly 3,000 more beds. Planning for this is not scheduled to be submitted until the end of 2017.

The Residences masterplan is also scheduled to be rolled out on a phased basis with University Bursar gerry O’Brien noting that final stages may not commence if it’s not financially viable.

NEWTON fAULKNEr HiS MUSiC, AMbiTiONS AND MUSiCAL TOUrETTES seaN hayes otwo p16

TEA, fATHEr? A rEViEW Of YOUr LOCAL TEA JOiNTS NiaMh o RegaN otwo p6

exam UCarD peNalties effeCtively DroppeD MaRtiN healy Deputy eDitoR aCCORDIng to documents obtained by the university observer, fines collected from students who forget to bring their UCard to exams have dropped to the point where they are nearly non-existent.

Students have been warned by multiple sources – whether from the university itself or from the SU – to remember to bring their UCard with them during exams. In the past, it is made clear to students that, during exam sittings, they would be fined €50 if they do not have their UCard. according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information act, the total amount generated from the fines in the academic year 2013/14 was €24,103. In 2014/15, the figure was €23,040.

However, by 2015/16, this figure plummeted to just €50 – or the cost of just one single fine.

The decision that will likely result in an over

€20,000 drop in revenue per annum. The proceeds from the fines have previously gone to the Student Welfare Fund, which will likely see a similar drop.

The Welfare Fund is set up to provide student with financial assistance, should their circumstances change during the year.

Speaking to UCD Students Union education Officer Lexi Kilmartin, the Observer was told that the policy is “almost like a dormant policy, in as far as I would probably say that it exists and they’ve every right to enact that policy but in reality it’s not something they’ve done in the last three exams sittings.”

Kilmartin noted that UCD assessment was puzzled as to why the €50 fine was noted in UCDSU’s wingin it’ guidebook from the start of semester one. Kilmartin stated that “[assessment] asked

that we don’t publish that in next year’s handbook because in actual fact, they don’t fine people anymore now. They say they do, but it never really transpires.” as for why the change in policy wasn’t publicly stated, Kilmartin is uncertain: “I’m not sure why they made that decision. I’m glad they made it, I think it’s a big relief for students. I can also understand why they haven’t communicated it to students, to kind of keep the deterrent there.”

Kilmartin continued “It’s just they didn’t want to shout about it to everyone, because then everyone will just go ‘well it’s fine if you forget your UCard.”

Despite the apparent removal of the fine, Kilmartin still advises caution regarding one’s UCard: “as far as I’m aware… it’s still possible that [the fine is] applied so I wouldn’t take… the risk.”

PrOTEST MUSiC NEEDED NOW MOrE THAN EVEr? sioBhaN MeaRoN otwo p20

WOrD ON THE STrEET iriSH iNTEr-VArSiTY POETrY SLAM 2017 Melissa RiDge otwo p29 april 19th 2017 1

News

News in Brief Ruth Murphy

UCD finds success at the National Student Media Awards UCD managed to scoop up eight awards in total at the National Student Media Awards at the Aviva Stadium on the 6th of April. These awards were split between the University Observer, the College Tribune, and Belfield FM. University Observer writers Billy Vaughan, Aisling Brennan, and Conal Calhill won the European Commission Award, Science Education Writer of the Year, and Sports Writer of the Year respectively.

Observer editors Roisin Guyett-Nicholson and Martin Healy also won Editors of the Year and universityobserver.ie won Website of the Year.

The College Tribune claimed the award for Newspaper of the Year with editor Jack Power winning Journalist of the Year for National Press.

Oisín and Donal Ó Catháin of Belfield FM won the award for Radió trí Ghaeilge.

Ryan O’Neill of UCC claimed the title of Journalist of the Year and UCC’s Motley won Magazine of the Year for the fourth year in a row.

UCC won five awards in total. DIT and DCU won four awards each. UL and Limerick College of Further Education won three. Trinity College won Layout and Design for the newspaper Trinity News and the magazine TN2. Due to some mishaps, the voting system for People’s Choice Award had to be restarted after a few days of voting. UL’s An Focal won on the night.

SUSI now accepting grant applications THE SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) college grant scheme is open for applications for grants for the upcoming year. A postgraduate maintenance grant has been reintroduced after having been abolished in 2012. The grant of €6,000 will be open to those in the lowest income category. SUSI expects an increase in applications due to its reintroduction. A change to mature student grants means that mature students who had previously not completed their course will now be able to apply for a grant to enter a PLC programme.

The closing dates to apply for a grant for the coming college year are July 13th for new applicants and June 15th for renewal applications. Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton was quoted in the Irish Times as saying “I would encourage students who think they might be eligible for support to submit their online applications to SUSI as soon as possible to ensure that they are processed as quickly as possible.”

USI elects new team USI, the Union of Students in Ireland, have elected a new president, Michael Kerrigan.

Kerrigan was previously the Vice President for the Border, Midlands and Western Region and President of Galway-Mayo IT’s Students’ Union.

He was uncontested receiving 201 of 210 votes cast.

Síona Cahill has been re-elected Vice President for Equality and Citizenship. Amy Kelly, outgoing president of Galway-Mayo IT’s SU, has been elected Vice President for Campaigns. Niamh Kelly, USI’s outgoing President for the Southern Region, has been elected Vice President for Welfare.

The role of Leas-Uachtarán don Ghaeilge has been changed to a full-time paid position. It was also mandated that a Dublin Officer be elected.

USI, which represents universities (excluding UCD) across the island of Ireland, have passed a motion mandating their leadership to campaign for an Irish language act in Northern Ireland.

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UCD Take Part in “It Stops Now” Campaign Alanna O’Shea news editor UCD will be taking part in a new Europewide campaign to combat sexual harassment and violence at third level. The “It Stops Now” campaign is an EU funded project backed by the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI). A number of universities, colleges and institutes of technology around the country have already agreed to participate, including DCU, UCC and IADT, with more expected to join in the future.

According to the NWCI, 16% of students have had an unwanted sexual experience and 30% have reported feeling sexually harassed or intimidated at their third level institution.

According to Luke Fitzpatrick, the UCDSU’s Campaigns and Communications Officer, UCD will be “implementing a better framework for reporting of and response to sexual assault, improving awareness of supports for survivors and will be promoting consent and tackling harassment as part of this campaign.”

When asked if consent classes will be occurring as part of this campaign, Fitzpatrick said “That’s primarily what the funding is there to achieve” and that “training funding for in-house staff might also be provided for if there’s room left in the budget but more likely will have to come from universities themselves.”

At the launch of the campaign on the 5th of April, Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI, said: “we know that third-level education can be one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences in a person’s life, but unfortunately sexual harassment and violence is an issue that too many women are forced to contend with.”

The campaign aims to create a “zero tolerance” zone for sexual harassment at third-level by creating clear reporting mechanisms, providing

resources for support services and changing attitudes at an institutional level.

O’Connor also pointed out that women from marginalised groups, such as migrants and those with disabilities, are disproportionately affected.

The campaign is supported by the UCD Students’ Union. SU president Conor Viscardi said that this campaign is the first of its kind in scale and ambition. When asked why the SU decided to take part in this campaign, he cited the fact that it is led by experts, backed by the NWCI and has the funding power of the EU. “The main message of ‘It Stops Now’ is urgency, it is also change.” said Viscardi. “This is an overhaul of HEI [Higher Education Ireland] approach to consent and to stopping sexual violence and harassment.”

UCD Makes Bid for Two Properties Billy Vaughan features editor

IT has emerged that university authorities recently approved plans to purchase two properties adjacent to the Belfield campus. Specific details of price and location have not been disclosed, but the Bursar, Gerry O’Brien, noted that “the purchase makes sense both strategically and commercially”. The proposals were announced at a meeting of the Finance, Remuneration, and Asset Management Committee (FRAMC) in November last year.

It was noted by the Committee that the University has been purchasing “a number of properties adjacent to the Belfield campus” since 2008. It was not disclosed what properties were being referred to. The Committee approved funds to make an offer on the two properties.

The news comes amidst revelations last year that UCD had no plans to further develop a 3-acre site it acquired through a 2007 land deal made with Denis O’ Brien.

This land, adjacent to the Belgrove accommodation, now contains a small car park. At the time of the deal, it was proposed that student accommodation would be built on the site. The university was subsequently criticised for rushing the deal, which in turn led to the university placing a short-term profit above a longer-term financial dividend, due to the finances of the university at the time of the economic downturn.

As part of this same deal, UCD gave up land near the N11 that may have been suitable for student accommodation. Denis O’Brien has recently secured planning permission to build luxury apartments on the site, which are expected to sell for up to €50 million in the current housing climate.

It appears that the new properties to be purchased will not form part of UCD’s 10 year “Residences Masterplan”.

This leaves questions as to what use will be made of the new properties if purchased. The Masterplan proposes to add 3,000 bedrooms to campus over 10 years, and will cost around €370 million.

Work is underway on the first phase of the plan, which is expected to add 900 bedrooms. The cost of this phase has not yet been disclosed. A cost benefit analysis and risk assessment were approved, and a phased approach was emphasised to “reduce risk”, and that the project would not proceed if it was not deemed to be financially viable.

Free accommodation cut for residential assistants martin healy deputy editor

UCD’s Residential Assistants will no longer receive free accommodation. It will now be offered at a subsidised rate of €2,700 for the year.

The changes emerged following the opening of applications by the UCD Accommodation Office for the academic year 2017/2018. The number of RA positions has also been expanded from 48 to 70. Applications closed last Tuesday at 4pm.

The document describing the role explains that the cutting of free accommodation comes as part of a “full review” of the role, stating that the job has been “updated to better reflect the needs of the Residents and the RAs who support them.” There has been no indication that the increase in RAs will mean a reduction in the number of hours they are expected to work.

The Observer reached out to the Accommodation Office for clarification on their decision, but neither they nor the UCD Communications Office commented.

The decision has received some criticism from current RAs. Speaking on the issue with a Residential Assistant who wished to remain anonymous, the general consensus has been one of discontent. They said, “I could understand financial contribution if the [work] shifts changed significantly but there hasn’t been indication of that.”

They continued, speaking on the difficulties of the role at present: “I think that’s why this is

so frustrating for us, because being an RA does affect your whole college experience, you’re not just committing to work hours but taking up a role where you can face conflict with your peers. There’s a lot of responsibility, and a lot of scope to be seen negatively when you’re the one shutting down your friends’ party.”

The source also explained that as the role becomes more “community-focused”, it would mean more RAs will be available during each shift. As a result, RAs may not see reduced working hours.

Residential Assistants live on campus during term time and offer support to students living in residence. As described in the role description, RAs “help develop the community, provide leadership and assist in out of hours aspects of the UCD Residences.” The role of a RA is also described as having many responsibilities such as helping students “be aware of expected standards of behaviour within the residences and uphold the relevant rules.” RAs also serve as “role models” for acceptable behaviour, “enhance” the experience of living on campus and also help “develop positive relationships” in the residences.

New RAs must be available from mid-August to the 22nd of May next year, with training set to take place in the last two weeks in August, just before the start of the new academic year.

News & analysis

News Analysis: Consent at UCD’s powerful Take Back the Night event

News in Brief Claudia Dalby Hong Kong police prosecute pro-democracy academics

Rosa Torr

CONSENT at UCD’s (CUCD) Take Back the Night event took place last Wednesday evening in the old student bar. The evening was centred around the theme of the importance of compassion. The first half of the evening began with personal testimonies from survivors of rape or sexual assault, as well as testimonies that had been submitted to be read by members of CUCD. While in most cases the stories told were of how sexual violence had affected them, what was most prevalent was the bravery of each and every person who shared them. Organiser Julia Canney set down inclusive ground rules so that a safe space was facilitated for the speakers. The personal accounts came in different forms such as spoken word, showing the different ways survivors of sexual violence can channel their feelings and share their story to raise awareness.

One issue that was highlighted was the range of ways in which sexual assault can happen, showing

that there is no one way victims are affected and that the situation is not always what you hear about in the dominant narrative surrounding sexual violence. What did seem to correlate though was the heart-breaking accounts of victim blaming that each of the brave survivors read out, reminding those in attendance of the very real rape culture in that exists in university campuses and throughout the country.

The second portion of the event was held outside, with a candlelight vigil in front of O’Reilly Hall, where attendees stepped forward and candidly spoke about how sexual and relational violence has affected them or someone they know. Participants stood in a circle and held candles, while more stories were shared. Many people stepped forward to thank the group for sharing, for listening and the bravery of the survivors.

Some people spoke even though they said they hadn’t planned on speaking but that they had been

inspired by the others and felt more comfortable than they had in their lives to speak about their experiences.

Consent at UCD was set up this past January.

While the group is relatively new, last week’s SU council meeting saw a motion passed that will increase SU support of the group. CUCD now hold a status similar to that of UCD for Choice, meaning the SU will working closer with it next year in terms of organising similar events and providing funding.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and so these events are important, but they shouldn’t end when we reach May. We need to keep the fight to end rape culture alive and we must support and listen to those effected. If anyone would like someone to speak with, the DRCC hotline is available 24/7 at 1800 77 8888.

Campus News in Brief martin healy deputy editor UCD’s external research grants fail to reach target AS discussed at a meeting of the Finance, Remuneration and Asset Management Committee (FRAMC) in late November of last year, UCD’s total amount of externally funded research grants missed their target of €100m for the academic year 2015/16.

The figures were shared by Ms Sharon Bailey, who serves as the director of the Research Finance and Operations at UCD Research. Bailey noted that externally funded research grants, including overheads, amounted to €93.7m for 2015/16.

This is a 12% drop in funding from the previous year, as during 2014/15, UCD received €106.3m.

Overheads decreased by four million this year, down to €13.2m due to a “greater diversity of funding sources with different overhead policies” according to the minutes.

Regarding reasons as to why the funding target was not reached, it was stated that research grants from the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine were not awarded, while there was also an “underperformance” in EU Excellence awards.

Three awards had been anticipated, but ultimately only one of the applications were successful.

Another reason for the drop was posited by Professor Orla Feely, who is the VP for Research, Innovation, and Impact. Prof Feely made it known that Brexit, in the short-term, will see a drop in funding due to “existing UK partners on EU projects” being lost. In the long-term, however, she notes that Brexit will “provide opportunities” for the university.

The current estimated target for 2016/17 is €103m, although this figure is likely to fluctuate.

internatioNal

Document reveals the number of alleged thefts and threats in UCD A DOCUMENT released to the Observer, under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed the number of reported thefts and threats to personal safety on campus that were reported to UCD Campus Services since 2011.

According to the released document, over 197 bicycles and bicycle accessories were reported as being stolen during the period between the 1st of January 2011 and the 31st of December 2016. 137 pieces of “personal property” were also alleged to have been taken. UCD is home to approximately 4,400 bicycle stands.

There were also 9 alleged thefts of commercial goods, 45 of University property, as well as a reported 8 vehicles.

While Campus Services have reported hundreds of alleged thefts of varying property, 9 alleged threats to personal safety have also been reported to the service.

Campus Services have aimed to combat this in recent years, as their Walk Safe Service is available to all students via a phone call, if they don’t wish to walk on campus alone late at night.

UCD Festival set to return to campus this summer AFTER its launch last year, the second-annual UCD Festival is returning to Belfield this summer.

Set to take place on the 10th of June, the festival bills itself as “one day of celebrations, connections, discovery and exploration for one and all.”

While specific events are yet to be announced for this year’s UCD Festival, the festival will look to put together a day of family activities, woodland walks, tours, trails and explorations, a food fair, performance, talks, as well as interactive workshops.

The original festival took place last June and invited staff, alumni as well as current students to the campus for a day of activities. Alumni could book reunion picnics, allowing them to reconnect with old friends and classmates. A 5km fun run took place around the campus, alongside more, including a cultural fair such as live musical performances.

Gordon Snell, husband of the late Maeve Binchy, hosted a talk entitled Remembering Maeve, which looked back over her favourite works. UCD Sport and Fitness also played host to a panel called Life After Sport. Hosted by stand-up comedian and An Irishman Abroad host Jarlath Regan, the talk saw Derval O’Rourke, Niall Breslin, and Gordon D’Arcy discuss the importance of mental health in regards to sport.

NINE members of the Umbrella Movement, a wave of pro-democracy protests that occurred in Hong Kong between 2014-15, have been criminally prosecuted.

The Umbrella Movement - named for the yellow umbrellas the activists held to protect themselves against tear gas - lead by the founders of the Occupy Central campaign, protested to demand freer, democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. Continuous, large protests and sit-ins on the streets led to more than 900 arrests during the protests two years ago.

Academics, former student leaders, former and current legislators are facing criminal prosecution.

It comes a day after Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s new chief executive, was elected on 26 March by a mainly pro-Beijing electoral college. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

In response to the prosecutions, over 200 scholars from universities in Hong Kong and all over the world, have signed a joint statement to criticise Hong Kong law enforcement. They signed to express their “alarm and outrage” at the state’s act of what they call a move of “political revenge” by the government against the widespread anger of the city.

Swedish college to repay fees to dissatisfied student ON the 6th of April, the Swedish Court of Appeal, Svea Hovrätt, ruled that the Mälardalen University College must repay half of the cost of a university course to a student. The dissatisfied US student enrolled in the course and found it to not be of sufficient academic quality, and requested to be fully reimbursed for her fees.

The legal point applied by the court was that Mälardalen had not delivered a service product of the quality that the student had reason to believe she would receive when she enrolled in the course and paid the fees. The CEO of the Centre for Justice stated in a press release that: “it’s important that universities receive a clear message that the educational programs they provide and charge for, need to live up to sufficient standards in accordance with the law.”

One of the four judges in Svea Hovrätt, Vibeke Sylten, argued against the ruling, disagreeing with the principle of commercialising higher education: “[treating] the university as a producer and the student as a consumer is not adequate.”

This ruling means that the Court of Appeal believes that a university can be obliged to refund tuition fee if their courses do not live up to educational standards.

Mälardalen University College has four weeks to decide if it will appeal the case.

Philippines Senate Passes Bill for Free Public Higher Education State universities and colleges in the Philippines will soon provide free tuition for students under the Free Higher Education for All Act, which was passed on the 10th of April in the Philippines Senate.

More than 1.6 million students currently enrolled in one of the 112 state institutions will be covered by the fund, which will be administered by the Commission on Higher Education.

Previously funding for tuition had not been guaranteed, as it had been funded by the yearly budget.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, co-author of the bill, named it a “collective victory for those of us who believe that equitable access to education at all levels is the foundation upon which we may build a just and prosperous future for our country” There are doubts, however, as to the true equality of the bill, as some worry it will restrict access to higher education rather than making it available for all. The Kabataan Partylist, a youth party in the House of Representatives, stated it will encourage higher education institutions to hike non-tuition fees. They argue that providing free tuition will “tilt the enrolment in favour of students from richer households because of the cheaper cost of education with the subsidy”. Students from poor households, meanwhile, will continue to be left behind.

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International news African Students Attacked in India

EU students suffer a setback in Denmark Priscilla Obilana

Anne Lavelle

Ansal Plaza, India. The site of attacks on African nationals on March 27th

Ezeugo Nnamdi Lawrence II, the University Coordinator, advised students to ‘maintain and keep the peace, and discourage any form of retaliation towards Indians’. The students were also advised to stay indoors. Security services were deployed in the area to maintain order and prevent further violence.

This notice was given to the students after a second violent incident took place on Wednesday March 29th against a young Kenyan woman.

A group of men attacked the woman near the Alstonia Apartments and residents reported, “some local boys dragged her out of the cab and beat her up. She’s in trauma and is not speaking to anyone on the matter’.

This was the third attack in the sprawling township next to Delhi. The racial abuse is extremely worrying for those individuals of African nationality who are living in the region. African envoys have since spoken out and are claiming that the Indian authorities have insufficiently condemned the attacks and they have not recognized the racial abuse and xenophobic behaviour in a satisfactory manner. They added ‘no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken’.

These are not the first instances of such treatment of African students in India. As reported by CNN, an investigation that was carried out in 2014 by the Hindustan Times found that Africans in India report racist crimes on a daily basis in places throughout the country. Sonia Singh of New Delhi Television addressed the issue critically by asking why this racism is not considered a ‘national shame’.

of the National Union of Students in Denmark said, “we see no indication that international students come here for benefits as it is often portrayed by politicians. International students want a topshelf degree that they can use in Denmark, but unfortunately that is incredibly difficult for them.”

The cuts also have the potential to negatively impact businesses that rely on EU students for employees. Pointing out that Danish businesses have gained from this system, the Ministry of Education and Science even accused companies of taking advantage of the situation to get cheap labour.

While the head of the right-wing Danish People’s Party Jens Henrik Thulesen Dahl expressed his views that the education of international students was never Denmark’s prerogative: “this is the first step to secure that we only accept the number of students… that Denmark really has a need for. It has never been the intention that our higher education system shall educate youths from all over Europe.”

photo credit: jenny andersson

A NUMBER of racial attacks against African students living in India have recently been on the rise. The attacks are said to have been in response to the allegation that a 17-year-old Indian boy died after being forced to inhale drugs by a group of Nigerians. Shortly after a vigil being held for the Indian teen Manish Khari, chaos ensued.

Around 7pm on Monday March 27th, African nationals in Pari Chowk were attacked. A live video of the attack at Ansal Palace was published on Facebook by the ‘Association of African Students in India’. The video shows a large crowd gathering while individuals were being violently beaten on the ground. It was later reported that two Nigerian students were attacked by a mob when they were shopping in the Ansal Palace shopping centre in Greater Noida, a suburb of New Delhi.

DANISH Minister of Higher Education, Søren Pind, has resolved to cut the programme that gives EU students grants. The student funding programme came in to fruition in 2013 from a European Court of Justice regulation that determined EU citizens would be given Danish student funding if they were migrant workers.

The programme has, however, become immensely popular due to courses taught in English becoming a great attraction for EU students to study there, leading to the supposedly needed cuts. This departure from EU regulations comes on the tale of the triggering of the Brexit article.

The decision is supported by some Danish MPs who deduced the cut to be necessary as the graduates that benefit from the “the most generous student financing system in the world,” as reported

by University World News only go on to leave Denmark. Pind has outlined that the problem lies in not profiting enough from the programme stating, “we now see that the number of international students, coming here to have an education paid for by the Danish taxpayers, has increased significantly over [recent] years. But there are too few that are staying behind and this means that we now have to reduce the intake.

“Higher education should provide graduates for the Danish workforce. The analysis is clearly demonstrating that many of the higher professional degrees do not primarily serve this purpose, and there is a need to sort it out”.

The decision, however, was not unanimous – other viewpoints argue that the concentration should lie on making jobs available for EU graduates to inspire them to stay in Denmark. Sana Mahin Doost, chair

Søren Pind, Danish Minister of Higher Education, proposes EU student grant cuts

News Analysis: Hugarian law threatens closure of largest university

American University of Afghanistan reopened after terrorist attack

Rachael Mullally

Niamh O Regan Eagarthóir Gaeilge

CEU (Central European University) found itself to dispositions all too visible for the world to see. be the subject of international attention following Coupled with this, allegations on Orbán’s part the Hungarian Government’s attempt to fast-track a that NGO’s supported by Soros, not limited to but law through parliament last week that could see its including “Hungarian Helsinki Committee” and imminent closure.

“Transparency International” are actively working Under the legislation, foreign-accredited against Hungarian interests has made his reputation universities must establish bases in their home amongst Europe’s liberal community all too countries - and for CEU, establishing an American contested. campus by parliament’s deadline of February 2018 Nevertheless, in targeting one of Hungary’s last could prove to be an impossible task in terms of remnants of its long-gone liberal institutions, Orbán expense. Advocates for the university oppose the has taken a step too far in the eyes of Europe. The proposal as an overtly discriminatory attack upon unspoken policy of appeasement opted into by the CEU specifically, masked under the veil of an European Union up to this point was cast away, as attempt to strengthen the country’s “democratically the EU Executive began the process of investigating elected government”.

CEU’s closure this week. Among the proponents Founded in 1991, CEU was established by for such an investigation, Frans Timmermans, the billionaire George Soros to help promote liberal first vice-president of the European Commission, values within previously communist countries. described the university as “a pearl in the crown” Founded at a time of revolutionary change within and urged for a “thorough legal assessment” of Europe, CEU is known for its distinct academic and Orbán’s controversial legislation as soon as possible. intellectual focus riddled in history. The EnglishRecent discourse surrounding CEU has raised language CEU has 1800 students from 100 countries questions about the role of universities in facilitating and is ranked in the top 50 universities for political autonomy of research, free from the reigns of and international studies in the World University ideological conflict within states. Orbán’s actions Rankings list. over the past week have caused outrage within the Recent marches in Budapest over the past academic world and left outsiders looking in with week brought the small university, with just 1800 perplexed expressions concerning what constitutes students, under the watchful eyes of the international the limits of enforcing democracy. community as they await direct action. The Yet the question remains whether the events of the international pro-democracy group Freedom House past week have marked a significant change in the published a report two weeks ago outlining how discourse between Budapest and Brussels that will despite being held as global examples of democratic change relations for years to come. transformation post-communism, both Hungary and Poland had seen a “spectacular breakdown of democracy”.

Working tirelessly since his appointment as Prime Minister in 2010, Viktor Orbán, a self-proclaimed advocate for “illiberal democracy”, has moulded the institutions within Hungary to fit his nationalist agenda. From corroding the independent judiciary, targeting NGOs, ridding the nation of any memory of a pluralistic media and engaging in aggressive anti-refugee dialogue, Orbán has made his political The Central European University, Hungary

4 april 19th 2017

THE American University of Afghanistan has reopened following a terrorist attack in August, which left seventeen people dead including students, professors, security guards and policemen. Many more people were injured.

In early August last year, the university suffered its first series of kidnappings. This was followed by a bomb attack. The terrorist attack is suspected to have been carried out by members of the Taliban, although the organisation has never claimed responsibility.

A car bomb was used to breach the university, before four armed militants began firing indiscriminately. This was the first direct attack on the university itself since opening in Kabul in 2006. Just over a fortnight before the attacks, two university lecturers, one American and one Australian, were kidnapped by the Taliban. Despite two rescue attempts by US forces, the two professors still remain as hostages.

Since the university’s reopening, the boundary wall height has been increased almost twofold – all students and staff are now housed within the walls and the security towers are now manned by privately hired armed guards. University buildings now have steel doors, and the external walls have reportedly

been strengthened with blast protection and bulletproof gates.

Following the attack, a temporary-acting president of the university, David Sedney was appointed after the resignation of former president Mark English in the month after the attack. Sedney is also a senior associate with the International Security Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, and has helped in returning the university to a functioning state.

Dr. Kenneth Holland, a professor of political science, has recently been appointed as the new president and will take up his position on 1st June. Up to his appointment, he was the Executive Director of the Center for International Development at Ball State University in the US. Other universities in the region have been targeted by terrorist attacks prior to this. Aleppo University was bombed in 2013, Bacha Khan University in Pakistan was attacked in early 2016, with attacks on universities in Jerusalem, Baghdad and Islamabad in 2002, 2007 and 2009 respectively. Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, is a very turbulent region and has routinely been the site of terrorist attacks and receives threats almost daily.

Comment Confusions and Contradictions of the Female Wardrobe Louise Flanagan discusses the great contradictions between criticising teenage girls for wearing revealing clothing while they are being encouraged to empower themselves through their clothes.

TWO months ago the Facebook page for Kilkenny’s largest teenage disco, The Fusion Ball, published a post stating that due to the “deplorable dresses” that were seen at the last ball they were enforcing a strict observation of their dress code. Girls must wear dresses that were “knee length or just above the knee” with the new addition that these dresses may not a have a plunging neckline.

They also included photos of dresses from various clothes websites that were deemed inappropriate, and plastered a large “NO” in bold across them.

“Keep it neat and discreet ladies” were the closing words to the post.

There was backlash towards this, from the media as well as the teenagers who were attending the disco. Some said this was reinforcing a culture of sexism and victim-blaming. Others said it was denying a woman’s right to choose and to express herself how she pleases.

There is an uneasy line to be walked between celebrating a woman for taking charge of her right

“There is an uneasy line to be walked between celebrating a woman for taking charge of her right to wear what she chooses and telling her that she shouldn’t wear something because it is revealing.” to wear what she chooses and telling her that she shouldn’t wear something because it is revealing and might be seen as overtly sexual. Even if this

is being done under the guise of protecting women from sexual assault. We’ve seen through campaigns such as ‘My Clothes are Not my Consent’ that the thinking around this needs to change.

The problem here is not with the woman or the girl who decides to wear what she wants. The problem lies with the person making the judgment.

But of course you can’t just blame individuals.

These ideas have been around so long and are absorbed by people from such a young age, that most of us don’t even realise that we have such in-built biases about what women should and shouldn’t wear. Are they a prude, a whore, a slut, conservative?

These labels in themselves are damaging. People might feel like it’s an affront to their intelligence if you were to suggest they hold these ideas. But these patriarchal notions about how women look do exist.

We all have them.

This is well illustrated in European Renaissance painting, when women’s bodies were heavily sexualised. At this time the overwhelming majority of nude paintings were of women. These women were smooth-skinned, hairless, big-breasted and large-bottomed. They posed awkwardly, and in passive, languid stances, to reveal their feminine features, and often looked out towards the viewer, invitingly.

In these paintings the female body was an object to be admired, largely for the pleasure of her male viewers. She was a fantasy, an ideal for real women to aspire towards, not just a study of the human form. These portrayals of women’s bodies as beautiful sexual objects, detached from personhood, have filtered down the generations, leaving a dense residue in the current cultural landscape.

At the same time, what a woman wears is heavily influenced by what they see around them. This is particularly true for a young woman trying to figure out who she is personally, intellectually, emotionally, and sexually. Women grow up in a world where they are constantly being assaulted by images of what they are being told is beautifulusually a westernised ideal of a skinny white girl with a large chest.

Today the beacon of feminine beauty ideals comes from TV, film, magazines, ads, the internet, and the filtered photos we see of our friends or

notion that exposed flesh is seen as either an affront to others or an emphatic allusion to sex.

On the other hand, a woman wearing revealing clothing can be seen as empowering because she is making the choice to wear what she wants without fear of offending others. In reality, however, there is great societal pressure for young women to wear revealing clothing to keep up with modern beauty norms. The most vital note is this: in our society, a woman’s value is intrinsically tied to how she looks.

Ideally it shouldn’t be, women should have the right to wear what they want without being judged, whether that is revealing or conservative clothing.

“Teenage girls being told to cover up is intertwined with long-standing sexualisation of female bodies” people we follow on social media. This visual culture pervades our lives in a way that wasn’t even conceivable 60 years ago. Clothes companies like Abercrombie and Fitch and the recently closed American Apparel have been using these idealised beauty and explicitly sexualised images of women to sell their clothes. They sometimes try to wrap this up as a display of female sexual empowerment, but it still seems to have all the hallmarks of objectification, not too far away from those nude Renaissance paintings.

In truth, this whole subject is rife with complicated contradictions. The situation of teenage girls being told to cover up is intertwined with longstanding sexualisation of female bodies, and the

The Impact of Student Politics With the election of Katie Ascough, Orla Keaveney questions whether student politics really matter, and to who?

Photo credit: louise flanagan

was that Ascough didn’t really have the power to hamper campaigns like the UCD for Choice movement, as the SU constitution compelled her to follow the SU’s stance on abortion despite her own views. But if this is the case, is there even a point in voting in the elections at all?

Less than 3,000 students voted in the presidential election, not even 10% of the current UCD student population. As strange as it is to see students contradict themselves in their voting, it’s more concerning that so many are apathetic about our SU’s future – it’s a clear sign that the student body doesn’t see the value in the work of their representatives.

Most students are uncertain about the power the SU actually has to advocate their needs. The visible parts of the SU are its shops, class reps, and its events throughout the year. None of these will be greatly affected by the election results, and students see them as another part of UCD life. The general feeling is that, if the SU didn’t organise these things, someone else would.

It’s in the behind the scenes work that the individuals within the SU have the greatest impact, yet this is also where the results are less

UCDSU President Elect speaking at SU Hustings in the run up to the election LAST November, the UCD student body voted “No” to the referendum for SU neutrality on the issue of abortion, showing resounding support for the existing pro-choice stance. Four months on, Katie Ascough, a vocal pro-life campaigner and head of the neutrality campaign, is elected the UCD SU President for the coming academic year by the same students. This change in voiced opinion over such a short space of time calls into question whether UCD students take their SU seriously as a political organisation.

It could be argued that Ascough’s supporters were more interested in her other policies, like mental health support, consent classes and reducing financial pressure for students, and were willing to put her personal views aside. But Philip Weldon, the Repeal the 8th activist who finished 113 votes behind Ascough when the other candidates’ votes were redistributed, shared many

of these policies on his manifesto.

The main distinction between the candidates, besides personal views, was the campaigns they ran – Ascough’s team had a larger campus presence, her social media campaign had considerably more traction, and prioritising her promise of microwaves made her message simple but resonant.

Considering the contrast between the defeated neutrality referendum and Ascough’s victory, it seems that voters in either case must have been swayed by buzzwords and campaign prominence, without taking the time to look into the candidates or issues in more depth.

When Ascough’s victory was announced, there was outcry from students who strongly opposed her views on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and feminism – some went as far as to call for her impeachment before she even took office. Their main consolation

“Ascough doesn’t have the power to hamper campaigns like the UCD for Choice movement... But if this is the case, is there even a point in voting in the elections at all?” obvious. For example, current Campaigns and Communications Officer Luke Fitzpatrick and a team of college officers have been working all year to overcome Campus Service’s objections to faculty microwaves. Yet during the SU elections, few students were aware of the progress that had been already been made, and credited Ascough with being the first candidate to prioritise the issue.

The lack of engagement with the SU could be symptomatic of attitudes towards politics on a national scale. Young people increasingly rely on

social media as their primary news source, satirical pieces like Waterford Whispers articles are spread more widely than serious reporting, and therefore have a greater influence on students’ world view.

The effects of this phenomenon were evident in UCD just weeks ago. On Thursday the 30th of

“Less than 10% of UCD students voted in the election. As strange as it is to see students contradict themselves in their voting, it’s more concerning that so many are apathetic about the SU’s future.”

March, two public figures came to speak on campus: Blindboy Boatclub, one half of comic duo The Rubberbandits, and Frances Fitzgerald TD, the current Tánaiste and Minister for Justice.

Blindboy packed out the Fitzgerald Chamber with a talk on mental health, which criticised the state’s handling of the issue.

Meanwhile, about twenty students took the opportunity to speak directly with one of the most powerful politicians in the country, who could even be a contender for Taoiseach. The advertising and timing of the events may have contributed somewhat to the turnouts, but the wide gulf clearly illustrates that many students prefer to make fun of the political system than to engage with it.

The SU needs to adapt in order to prove its worth to the students it represents. Ascough has promised to “bridge the gap” between the SU and the student population, with more frequent opportunities to give feedback and voice concerns.

The SU could also make better use of its class reps and events to keep students aware of their activities, since these are the strongest existing points of contact. But without the implementation of effective changes, the existing trends of poor turnouts, inconsistent voting and political apathy shows no sign of improving.

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Comment Rooting Out Procrastination With exams just around the corner, procrastination is a daily struggle for many students. David Desai looks into why we procrastinate and whether we can change.

WITH the exams fast approaching, a procrastination epidemic is descending on our campus, rearing to eat away at student productivity. A recent study carried out in the UK discovered that 75% of students identify themselves as procrastinators. For many students reading this, the cycle of sitting down to study but being overcome by distraction is all too familiar.

What exactly can be done about it?

Firstly, it must be understood what procrastination actually is. Procrastination is the persistent avoidance of necessary tasks. It involves committing oneself to low-priority tasks instead of high-priority tasks. It invokes anxiety in the procrastinator. One may think it has gotten worse in our age of distraction and instant gratification, yet there are historical references to procrastination that date back over 3,000 years to ancient Egypt.

Some may argue that procrastination is simply a part of the process of getting work done, it is just

“The closer a student is to the temptation of fun, the more likely they are to indulge.” another step in the process. Some believe that so long as the work gets done, the procrastination itself is not really a problem. Indeed, many students claim that they do their best work under the pressure of a deadline. Cramming before an exam often boasts good results.

A study carried out, however, by the Warwick Business School discovered that on average students that submitted their work over 24 hours before the deadline received better results that students that submitted the work on the day of the deadline.

Nonetheless, that is not to say that procrastination has no benefits. Indeed many positive outcomes may be created by such simple acts as watching a few episodes of your favourite television show, or by

hanging out with a friend for a couple of hours. These activities may be low-priority on our list of tasks, but they can produce positive outcomes by making us more culturally aware and more sociable.

While these things may not seem vital when you’re chasing a deadline it is in fact certainly beneficial to connect with people and engage in forms of relaxation. However, it must be said that it is problematic when we are turning to these things as part of giving in to anxiety.

So, why is it that procrastination is so prevalent among students? Why are students that are presumably content with their choice of course so reluctant to hit the books? Is it caused by a simplistic, widespread laziness?

Well the answer is partly biological. The prefrontal cortex is the home of the will power of an individual, and, low and behold, it is still developing during a person’s early twenties. This renders students biologically predisposed to procrastinate, and the closer a student is to the temptation of fun, the more likely they are to indulge. So we can rid ourselves of some responsibility in this respect.

One look at the landscape of the life of a college student and it is easy to see how students are vulnerable to procrastination. Consider first the increasingly dominant role the internet has come to play in the lives of young people in recent years. Combine that with the instant access to friends, activities and Wi-Fi that a college campus provides, and you get the perfect storm for procrastination - where a short break from the library can easily turn into an hour wasted.

However, the most sinister cause of procrastination is actually induced by a fear of failure and the threat of evaluation. Some students are anxious about completing tasks in case even their best effort is not good enough. By spending valuable study time watching television or tidying up their desk, students provide themselves with justifications for why they did not excel at the task. It allows them

to tell themselves that it was not because they were not good enough, but because they did not apply themselves.

So what can be done about procrastination? It certainly seems that the odds are stacked against

“Students are anxious about completing tasks in case even their best effort is not good enough.” us, yet it can be controlled. Firstly, becoming more rigid about one’s study habits may help. For example, strictly defining the place where we work

as our workplace can help to alleviate temptation because it then becomes difficult to attempt to relax in that place.

The same can work for becoming distracted on your laptop. Creating a separate profile on your laptop that is specifically designated for studying can also be effective. Particularly if it is loaded up with apps that help to block distracting websites, such as the social network obstructing ‘Anti-Social’. Finally, working within restricted time-frames can be beneficial. For example, before sitting down to work, the act of making a mental contract with yourself to work for 30 minutes uninterrupted can greatly boost productivity.

So while it may seem that procrastination is a major part of student life, it doesn’t have to be.

Is Striking Ethically Justifiable?

Following a number of recent strikes, and the mixed responses they received, Aileen McGrath calls the ethics of striking into question.

THE act of striking first emerged throughout the period of the Industrial Revolution. Mass industrialised labour, poor working conditions and the total exploitation of workers were all contributing factors to this and provided an outlet through which the public could be heard. The legitimisation of strikes has played a particularly poignant part in Irish history with the general strike and eventual Irish independence. However, in today’s predominantly just and equal work environment, can the ethics of striking be called into question?

It is important to note that before entering this discussion on the ethics of striking, it will largely rely on the cause of the strike and on which side you stand. Generally speaking, unions exist to set standards private companies must meet. There is no doubt about the value they provide to society as a whole, however harsh economic times call into moral question the scope to which they can enforce their power.

Nationwide budget cuts have seen the suffering of the entirety of middle class Ireland, and so begs the question are strikes causing more damage to the very

people being appealed to for support?

There have been a seemingly ceaseless string of strikes across the country recently and each and every one has received a wholly different response.

The Repeal strike, which took place on International Women’s Day this past March, garnered support

“The main concern is whether strikes cause more harm to the general public than the government themselves.” from thousands nationwide, particularly amongst third-level students. Those in support of this strike believed they were supporting an ethical cause, and argued that even though many were opposed, it was not a strike which would in any way debilitate the minority.

Another strike on the receiving end of similar public support were the Tesco strikes, which saw

employees from sixteen stores across Ireland picket the company. According to the Irish Times, sales fell almost 80 per cent in picketed stores. A dramatic effect indeed but once again, this was not an issue that directly affected the public as a whole. People could shop elsewhere while also standing by a group of people who they deemed were independently being hard done by. Ultimately, it is a lot easier to ethically stand by a picket that has no direct effect on you.

Following the economic crisis and subsequent budget cuts, the Haddington Road Agreement was introduced in 2013 as a result of negotiations between the public service management and unions.

At first, its implementation was deemed as temporary in order to accelerate the country landing back on its feet. However the wage cuts encompassed in this agreement have carried on over the years and have only continued to the detriment of endless public sectors.

As a result of this, ongoing strikes amongst teachers and bus and rail drivers have yet to be met with a resolution. Citizens are becoming increasingly an-

photo credit: camille lombard

“Ultimately, it is a lot easier to ethically stand by a picket which has no direct effect on you.”

The Strike 4 Repeal march in UCD on International Women’s Day earlier this year

6 april 19th 2017

gered by this inconvenience and so each consecutive strike has been greeted by a steady decline in public support. These particular strikes are certainly more ethically questionable, particularly in the country’s current economic state. The motivation behind this grey area of strikes is difficult for those also receiving wage cuts to understand. Subsequently, these strikes have been polarising to the aforementioned groups, in turn hindering their effectiveness.

Arguably, the main concern to be had is whether strikes cause more harm to the general public than the government. At first glance the answer could be yes, as they rarely achieve instantaneous results.

However, we must consider the surmountable distrust growing between the government and unions resulting from the slow moving and seemingly ineffective previous policies.

Perhaps they are no longer prepared to engage in negotiation talks due to a lack of success in the past.

Undoubtedly, strikes can be a successful way of garnering momentum and support for a cause, particularly when arising in response to indifference.

An article published by the Huffington Post summarised three main circumstances under which a strike is ethically just. Firstly, one is entitled to strike when they have understood the policy and reached the conclusion it is unjust. Secondly, when the government have remained indifferent to other forms of negotiation and finally, if you are willing to undergo personal inconveniences in the face of achieving justice.

While the reasoning behind a strike may be drowned out for any inconvenience it causes, we must remember the historic importance of legalising strikes and exactly what this symbolises.

Not everyone will agree on the ethical nature of every individual strike but their very existence gives a voice to the overlooked and provides a springboard from which equality may leap. Once regulated, they play an important role in bridging the gap between the government and the public, and encourage open lines of communication and negotiation between the two.

Comment Ireland’s Responsibility to the Environment With a climate change denier leading the USA, Ross Walsh asks how Ireland should be tackling the issue of global warming.

“THE concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”. This statement, tweeted by the current American President Donald Trump on the 6th of November, 2012, is unfortunately indicative of his overall policy towards climate change, the environment, and our planet as a whole.

Trump and his administration have become figureheads for the push back against established climate science. His supporters do not care if their

“The creation of jobs means nothing without a habitable planet for people to live and work on” descendants will suffer because of the damage we are currently doing to the environment. They maintain an ignorant attitude that insists as long as they have jobs now, the future of the Earth is inconsequential.

Within a few days of his inauguration, Trump had issued a gag order on Federal employees who might have access to climate research. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture were legally forbidden from posting on social media or providing information to the press, while climate scientists were banned from discussing their work outside of scientific journals.

More recently, the Trump administration approved the continuation of the Keystone XL pipeline, reversing the Obama administration’s decision to block the project. Trump has also begun dismantling Obama’s Clean Power Plan, all in the name of creating an appearance of being the ‘jobs President’.

However, the creation of jobs means nothing without a habitable planet for people to live and work on.

And our planet is dying a slow death. The emissions caused by human activity, industry, farming and transport are heating the planet by trapping the

sun’s energy. Despite what many Trump supporters, and many more fossil fuel corporations, will tell you, greenhouse gases, global warming, and climate change are not simply theories. They are hard scientific facts that we cannot ignore.

In March, it was reported that Arctic Sea ice had dropped to its lowest levels on record. The warming of our oceans has already killed off huge chunks of The Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The Golden Toad of Central America, among other species, has already gone extinct due to climate change, and up to 700 other endangered species of mammal, reptile, bird and fish are under threat from a climate changing far too fast for them to adapt to.

The ever increasing population of humans is helping to drive the quickening of nature’s climate cycle. There are currently seven and a half billion people now living on the planet, and no signs that global population increases will slow down any time soon. Greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide from factories and vehicles, and methane from livestock farming, are increasing at a rate just as alarming as that of the human population.

On top of this, to create more room for agriculture and living space, humans are clearing vast areas of forest, rainforest, and jungle, diminishing the capacity of the trees in these environments to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The

“As it stands only 8.6% of energy consumption here comes from renewable sources” pollution of the environment from human waste also contributes greatly to the deaths of various animals and the destruction of their habitats.

How does Ireland fit into a world struggling to cope with the repercussions of climate change?

Despite huge pushes towards the use of alternative energy sources in this country, as it stands, only 8.6% of energy consumption here comes from

renewable sources. Compared to countries such as Sweden, where 54.1% of energy production comes from renewables, Ireland does not appear to be carrying its weight in the fight to halt climate change.

If we fail to meet a target of 16% of our energy being produced from sources such as wind, solar, biomass etc. by 2020, the state is looking at huge fines from the European Union that could potentially cost hundreds of millions of euro. Moreover, the Irish agricultural industry, with its heavy reliance on beef and dairy farming, has been described as neither economically or environmentally sustainable, and a large hindrance in the country’s efforts to curb our greenhouse gas emissions.

On the ground, the drive does appear to be present to try and protect the environment. Barry

Murphy, who was elected as next year’s C&C Officer for UCDSU, made increased environmental awareness a large part of his campaign.

Hopefully this will translate into this generation going forward and, unlike Trump’s America, putting an emphasis on ensuring the continuing habitability of our planet for many future generations to come.

Each and every individual has a role to play in stopping climate change. This stretches from developing new and more efficient methods of producing renewable energy, to overhauling Ireland’s environmentally disastrous agriculture sector to campaigning to affect environmental policy.

In billions of years, our sun will die and take Earth with it. Until then, this is the only home we have and we cannot continue to abuse it as we currently are.

Pulling Away from the Church With the recent census showing a significant drop in people identifying as Catholic, Dylan O’Neill looks at the meaning behind the figures.

THE results of the most recent Census showed a 5.9% drop in the number of people who identify as Roman Catholic versus the previous Census of 2011. While there is still a large majority identifying as Catholic, 78.3% to be precise, the number of non-Catholics amounts to approximately 132,200 people who no longer share the beliefs of the 1.27 billion Catholics worldwide. This is a surprising revelation, especially considering the involvement of the Catholic Church in Irish history.

Does this latest result indicate a shift in the ideals of the Irish population away from the central dogma of the Church’s ancient text?

In recent years, the Irish population has shown a divergence from the traditions held by the Catholic Church, especially concerning social issues such as marriage equality, views on suicide, and women’s reproductive rights. In 2015, a phenomenal 62% of Irish voters supported the idea of marriage equal-

ity, when just two decades earlier, only a narrow proportion of 51% of voters backed the removal of the constitutional ban on divorce. The result of the 2015 referendum was in direct conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality and the role of the family.

A distinct generation gap can be seen, with many young Irish people becoming more active in bringing about change in the way their country is being governed. One such issue – suicide – which the Catholic Church have openly condemned in the past, has now been highlighted as a serious issue by young Irish people, and more funding has been called for the improvement of mental health services in this country.

It was only after the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 1992, that the Catholic Church acknowledged “grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffer-

ing, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.” After that the church became more lenient on how it perceived people who die by suicide.

The most recent friction, and another likely cause for fewer people to follow the Catholic ethos, is the controversy over the reproductive rights of people in this country. The Catholic Church has always held a firm stance that all life is considered sacred, and this has been implemented into Irish law since 1983, in the form of the 8th Amendment, which equates the right to life of the unborn to the right to life of the mother, thus creating a constitutional ban on abortions.

Recent political movements such as the Repeal movement have been established to bring about reform in the Irish constitution to provide safe and effective healthcare in this country.

However, these are larger, social issues. At a grassroots level, there remains a large portion of the population who identify as Roman Catholic, but does this statistic accurately report the number of Catholics who regularly attend mass?

The census reported that urban districts such as Dublin City featured the highest percentage of non-Catholics in the country ranging from 20.1 to

“There is a significant amount of people who identify as Catholic, that do not regularly attend mass.”

34.2%. The Irish Times also predicted that the attendance at mass was to drop by up to a third by the year 2030.

With these current reports, it’s obvious that there is a significant amount of people who identify as Catholic, that do not regularly attend mass. Why is this? Is it that religion is so vapid to this current population that we no longer think to question the

beliefs we were raised with, but rather filter them out of our lives? Is it that, by identifying as Catholic, we stand to gain something?

Currently, 90% of primary schools in Ireland are owned by the Catholic Church, with only 90 multi-denominational schools, or Educate Together,

“Especially in rural Ireland, religion is a common factor people share which makes integration easier.” schools set up. This allows the Church to select children who have been baptised, for enrolment in schools, over children who do not share the same belief system.

Understandably, this influences a parent’s decision whether to baptise their child. However, the Minister for Education Richard Bruton announced back in January, that he had intended to remove this “baptism barrier” in primary schools and provide assurance that children from non-religious backgrounds be given the same educational opportunities as those with a Catholic background.

You cannot deny the appeal of being part of the majority. For people moving into a new area, especially in rural Ireland, religion is a common factor people share, which is something that makes integration easier. This shows in the latest census as Co. Tipperary had the lowest percentage of nonCatholics, with only 12.9% of people identifying as such.

The results of the 2016 Census clearly indicate the shift in the demographic away from the traditional ideals of the Catholic Church. If this trend continues, will the Catholic Church play less of a role in the lives of Irish people or will it make a resurgence in popularity? Predictions in support of the latter do not hold out much hope, with 57% of priests in Dublin being over the age of 60.

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Business Automation Changing the Face of Education AUTOMATION is the bugbear of the 21st Century; by distorting and reshaping the world’s labour market, the trend of replacing human workers with robots and automatic processes has been blamed for the rise of radical fringe groups and those who oppose globalisation, as well the eradication of past and potential future jobs.

Miso Robotics, a robotics firm specialising in kitchen automation, sits in Pasadena, California, and is the creator of Flippy, a delightful burgerflipping kitchen assistant. With built-in infrared imaging capable of determining the exact temperature on the surface of a beef burger, Flippy is, through

“Workers whose jobs have been displaced by automation or other forces tend to stop seeking employment rather than upskilling” no fault of his own, emblematic of the assault on unskilled jobs by automation and its tech company proponents.

While it’s no secret, however, that the jobs most at risk from automation are those which require little or minimal prior training, it is foolish to believe that positions which require a great deal of skill ensure job security, or that higher education of the current standard will prepare you for a job in the future at all.

In a study appropriately titled ‘Shift Happens’, it was reported that 65% of primary school children will ultimately end up in jobs which do not already exist, which in turn suggests that the current cohort of undergraduates will have to ‘reskill’ themselves at some point in their career as some tasks become automated and their job responsibilities inevitably change.

Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor of information technology at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and co-author of ‘The Second Machine Age: Work,

Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies’, declared dead the “old days when a person could go to college and never have to study again.”

However, for many, the prospect of returning to education is difficult, and already, issues have begun to manifest. For example, in the U.S.A., despite steadily rising employment figures, the labour force participation rate has been in near-constant decline since the late 1990s, suggesting that workers whose jobs have been displaced by automation or other forces tend to stop seeking employment rather than upskilling.

An oft-quoted 2013 study from Oxford reported that almost half of U.S. jobs were at risk of automation. In light of these figures, it is necessary to fundamentally change the nature of education. This presents an acute, namely, how to educate individuals for a lifetime of additional learning.

What will become of the grand institutions of learning that have grown across the modern world?

One can hardly imagine that UCD will become a stomping ground for emotionless androids, at least no more than at present.

Thomas Frey, a ‘futurist’, predicts that by 2030, students will learn from robot teachers, and will

“It is estimated that only 20% of education positions are fully automatable” be 10 times faster than today. Tailored lessons delivered online will allow students to learn at their own pace and delve into the areas in which they are most interested.

While this may seem fanciful, automation nevertheless presents a great opportunity to reduce the administrative tedium from jobs in the education sector; freeing up time for lecturers to perhaps focus on individual students.

Technology has already had an enormous impact on education, with Massive Open Online Courses

photo credit: ale floss-jones

Brían Donnelly examines whether we can expect to be taught by robot lecturers.

(MOOCs) bringing higher education to those who do not have the means or option to pursue it.

Professional services previously considered ‘safe options’, such as accountancy and legal services, may soon be undercut by automation. Though, the predicted trend is that tedious, repetitive tasks will be automated, leaving more time to focus on tasks involving a ‘human element.’

Education and teaching is no different, and it is estimated by consultancy firm McKinsey that teachers’ roles are unlikely to be replaced by automation entirely. In fact, it is estimated that only 20% of education positions are fully automatable.

As the trivial tasks of administration are removed from the job descriptions from teachers and others, the changing nature of the positions will induce demand for more creative, interpersonal, and entrepreneurial skills.

This is true across all sectors, but for people like

Frey, who believes that workers in the future will predominantly be creators and developers, rather than manufacturers, automation will necessitate a workforce and an education system that fosters creativity, and independence.

So, those who sneer ‘well what’s the point of an Arts course?’ may well wish to get more creative, as over half of the respondents to a 2016 survey described their approach to innovation as “accelerated.”

The survey of 138 CEOs from US technology firms, by accountancy behemoth KPMG, revealed that many multinational companies are concerned about product relevancy, as new generations demand nontraditional goods and services.

Many firms’ approach is currently to replace workers with robots, reskill those workers, and redeploy them elsewhere, and so to a large degree, the constant upskilling predicted may have already begun.

Nokia 3310: Brick or Brilliant?

Ciarán Busby examines whether consumers want a bit less when it comes to technology.

IN February, HMD Global, a Finnish company with the exclusive brand rights to Nokia, unveiled a range of brand new Nokia mobile phones. Among the new line-up of mid-range smartphones such as the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 3, HMD also announced the resurrection of the beloved nostalgiaevoking Nokia 3310; a mobile phone, which prior to its discontinuation in 2005, had over 126 million units in circulation around the globe.

Although internet users around the world were especially pleased with the announcement, a fact derived from how Google Trends analysed the mentions of the brands re-launch on social media, they may have been too quick to react. With the most up-to-date details of the hardware released to the public, HMD may have made a terrible mistake.

Unfortunately, the new Nokia 3310 only has a 2.5G connection, a huge step back from the 4G speeds to which we have become accustomed.

While some consumers may not care about being constantly connected to the internet with their phone, they may be horrified to discover that 2.5G connectivity is not supported in many key markets for HMD such as the US, Canada, Australia, and Singapore, as they have shut down the ageing networks in favour of higher speed ones.

This is of course a major problem for some. However, it is more likely that the phone was launched for one major reason: publicity. Launching the handheld, not by itself, but alongside three new Nokia phones has propelled the brand back into the public spotlight, a strategy some assumed may have been Nintendo’s goal with the release of the free-toplay Pokémon Go mobile game last year.

A stroke of marketing genius is the only way to describe this strategy, propelling the brand awareness of Nokia and also highlighting the newer entrants to the mobile market.

On the other hand, the resurrected handheld may

8 april 19th 2017

also act as an alternative to a smartphone for conscientious hermits eager to leave the digital world behind them, festival goers or even people who are

“[Consumers] may be horrified to discover that 2.5G connectivity is not supported in many key markets”

Nokia 3310

fed up of the lower battery life and reliability of modern phones.

The Nokia 3310 has remained a spectacle for the masses to reference the capabilities of handheld battery life over the years. And this re-launch is no exception to the sentiment. The phone boasts over a 31 day standby time, and more than 22 hours continuous talk time. Comparatively, Apple’s iPhone 7 indicates not an hour or day range, but claims only that it is the “longest iPhone battery life yet”.

Moreover, with the disaster of Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7 last year, and some reports of iPhones acting the same, the horror of having a phone’s CPU overworked to the point of the battery exploding is fast becoming reality. With major airlines outright banning the Galaxy Note 7, consumers’ trust in the technology could be decimated.

Furthermore, the reach of technology and the internet in our daily lives has instilled fear in some people. For those readers who are avid Netflix bingers, they will be well versed in the predictions of Black Mirror, a series that delves into the bleakest of societal futures focusing on technological dependence. Its clear from the title, Black Mirror, a reference to the screen of a device, the ubiquity of technology has made some people more dubious as to the future of technology and the implications it

poses for society.

Observant consumers of mobile tech have also spotted that there may in fact be a built-in obsolescence in products currently. Products are now designed to only last a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced, artificially shortening the product life cycle in order for the specific company to generate more revenue by releasing updated products on an annual basis.

With the likes of Apple releasing a new iPhone model religiously every September, users are forced to upgrade their device to a newer model once older models are no longer supported by either Apple or third party app developers. Furthermore, some

“Observant consumers of mobile tech have also spotted that there may in fact be a built-in obsolescence in products currently.” commentators have even suggested battery lives, rendering rates, internet connections, and RAM power deteriorate after the end of the support date.

All-in-all, the announcement of the Nokia 3310 was a stroke of genius by the marketing department of HMD Global, successfully dominating the news feeds and headlines of the world with another Android device press conference which most likely would have been glossed over without impact.

Whether or not the stand-alone product itself will be successful is a completely different question, but at least it still has Snake.

Gaeilge Cumhacht san Tuaisceart Conas mar a riallaítear tuaisceart na hÉireann agus an gá dúinn a bheith buartha faoin staid ina bhfuil an córas polaitíochta faoi láthair.

Niamh O Regan Eagarthóir Gaeilge Nuair a shíníodh Comhaontas Sunningdale i 1972, cuireadh tús le iarracht cumhachtroinnte a bhunú i dTuaisceart na hÉireann. Le linn bliana bhí teip ar.

Ansin bhí comhaontas Aoine Chéasta fiche bliain i ndiadh, agus bhí ag éirí go míshocair leis, cuireadh an Tionól ar cheal ar feadh cúig bliana ó 2002 go 2007, bhí comhaontas St. Andrews ann agus ó shin tá an Tionól tar éis feidhmiú mar is ceart, ach anois, tá sé i mbaol arís.

Feidhmíonn córas polaitíochta Tuaisceart na hÉireann ar chumhachtroinnt, daonlathas comhshochaíochtúil. Córas ab ea é a dhearaigh Arend Lijphart, teoiricí polaitíochta, do phobail a bhí

ag teacht ó coimhlint. De réir a theoirice, tá nasc ann idir an struchtúr sóisialta agus an cultúr polaitíochta ó thaobh buanseasmhacht polaitíochta de. Tá mórán coimhlint i dTuaisceart na hÉireann óna bhunaíodh é agus tá an córas cumhachtroinnte tar éis roinnt síochán a thabhairt do áit. Éagsúil ón gcuid eile den Riocht Aontaithe bíonn ionadaíocht chionmhar i gceist le toghcháin an Tuaiscirt agus mar aidhm na cumhachtroinnte, bíonn ionadaíocht ón dhá thaobh ann. Níor oibrigh an córas i dtús báire, toisc nach raibh an dhá thaobh ag cloí le rialacha an tí, ach ó 2007, cé go mbíodh coimhlint eatarthu ó am go chéile, d’oibrigh an córas mar is ceart.

Bhí toghchán ag Tuaisceart na hÉireann ar an tar éis a d’éirigh Martin McGuinness as a phost mar an Leas- Chéad Aire an rialtais, in agóid ar an scannal a tharla faoin Dreasacht Athnuachan Teasa. De bharr gur éirigh sé as a phost, chaill Arlene Foster a post mar Chéad Aire, de réir rialacha an chumhacht roinnt. De réir na rialacha, caithfidh dream aontachtóirí agus dream náisiúnaithe oibriú as lámh a chéile chun rialtas a bhunú. Tar éis na toghchána an uair seo, níor éirigh leis na páirtithe teacht ar chomh réiteach agus ag an am a cuireadh an alt seo i scríbhinn, ní raibh aon réiteach fós ann ar an rialtas. Mura dtagann siad ar réiteach, tá cosúlacht ann go nglaofar toghchán eile. Tá seans ann comh maith, go mbeadh

“Mura dtagann siad ar réiteach, tá cosúlacht ann go nglaofar toghchán eile. Tá seans ann comh maith, go mbeadh an parlaimint curtha ar ceal arís, agus go mbeadh an tír á rialú ó Westminister.” an parlaimint curtha ar ceal arís, agus go mbeadh an tír á rialú ó Westminister, in ionad Stormont. Is ar James Brokenshire, Rúnaí Stáit Tuaisceart na hÉireann, ar a bhfuil an dualgas. Is eisean a rinne an chinneadh gan toghchán eile a glaoch agus atriail a bhaint as an idirbheartaíocht. B’fhearr le gach éinne é go bhfanfadh an rialtas i Stormont i bhfeidhil, ach braitheann sé ar comhoibriú na páirtithe polaitíochta.

Is rud ríthábhachtach é go bhfanann an cumhacht ar rialú i dTuaisceart na hÉireann, fiú má’s gá toghchán eile a bheith ann. Ar an gcéad dul síos, tá

Stormont

an rialtas i Westminister fíor gnóthach i láthair na huaire, agus bheifí buartha nach mbeadh a ndóthain aire tugtha don Tuaisceart ach amháin ar na coda is tábhachtaí. Tá a ndóthain de oibre le déanamh ag Stormont lena aire ar fad dírithe ar Tuaisceart na hÉireann, ní hamháin ó thaobh eacnamaíochta de, ach go sóisialta de. Cuid mhór den dílárú cumhachta ná an deis a thabhairt do dhá pobail éagsúil teacht le chéile agus rialú le chéile, i slite a mbeadh cothrom ar an ndá taobh. Tá roinnt fadhbanna idir na páirtithe is mó (Sinn Féin agus an DUP) ó thaobh polasaithe de. Tá aighneas agus achrann eatarthu faoi láthair bainte le Acht Teanga. De réir an córas cumhachtroinnte, tá sé de cheart ag an dhá príomh chultúr ann (Éireannach agus Ultais), a bheith ar comhchéim ann. Go dtí go bhfuil acht ann a dtugann aitheantas don Ghaeilge, braitheann daoine áirithe nach mbeadh cothromaíocht eatarthu. Is cosúil go mbeadh ábhar mar seo fágtha ar leataobh dá mbainfeadh an cumhacht uathu.

Dar le roinnt daoine, mura bhféidir leis an dhá thaobh teacht ar Chéad Aire agus Leas-Chéad Aire a ainmniú, nach bhfuil sé de cheart acu a bheith i bhfeighil orthu féin; ba cheart dóibh iarracht ar leith a dhéanamh chun teacht ar comh réiteach comh luath agus is féidir.

Tá argóintí ann go mbíonn dainginiú ar an deighilt idir an dhá pobal de thoradh ar an córas cumhachtroinnte. Tá argóint ann comh maith go mb’fhéídir go bhfuil an córas cumhacht roinnte tar éis moill a chur ar na deiseanna a bheadh ag páirtithe eile fás agus forbairt. Is soiléir go bhfuil deacrachtaí agus fadhbanna ag baint leis an córas anois nuair a nach féidir leo teacht ar réiteach. B’fhiú machnamh ar triail a bhaint as córas eile b’fhéidir, ach pé rud gur cheart a dhéanamh ní féidir é a dhéanamh mura bhfannann an gcumhacht i Stormont.

Deonú orgáin in Éirinn: ar cheart an córas a athrú?

Tugann Niamh O Regan a tuairim ar an córas de deonú orgáin atá againn in Éirinn.

LE déanaí bhí Seachtain Feasachta Deonú Órgán ann chun eolas a scaipeadh ar an gá atá ann do trasphlandú orgán agus chun daoine a mhealladh a n-orgáin a dheonú ar uair a bháis.

Bíonn gá le deonú órgán i gcónaí; na duáin, na scamhóga, an ae, an stéig bheag, an paincréas agus fiú an croí. Uaireannta bíonn gá le roinnt aistriú orgáin ag an am céanna, ach tá ganntanas deontóirí sa tír. Don chuid is mó den am, tarlaíonn trasphlandú orgáin tar éis bás duine éigin, agus go bhfuil a n-orgáin folláin a dhóthain, agus den fhuilghrúpa oiriúnach.

Is é an córas atá againn in Éirinn faoi láthair ná go gcaithfidh an duine a rá roimh a mbáis go bhfuil fonn orthu a n-orgáin a thabhairt don leigheas nuair a bhfaigheann siad bás. Ag deireadh an lae áfach, tá dualgas an chinnidh ar chlann an duine. Fiú má’s rud é go bhfuil ar dhuine a n-orgáin a thabhairt, caithfidh an neasghaol a gcead a thabhairt. Is féidir le daoine cárta a iompar leo a léiríonn na horgáin go bhfuil fonn orthu a thabhairt. Tá mórán deiseanna ann le chur in iúl go bhfuil fonn ar dhuine é a thabhairt. Ní hamháin go bhfuil an cárta féin ann ach is féidir é a luadh ar ceadúnas tiomána agus tá aip ghutháin fiú.

Níl aon clár náisiúnta ann áfach, ina gceanglaítear na rudaí seo ar fad le chéile. Is féidir le daoine clárú ar líne don Irish Donor Network, ach arís is eagraíocht amháin é sin as mórán. Fiú san aip a bhíonn ar an nguthán, bíonn na sonraí ar an ngutháin amháin, ní cláraítear iad ar córas náisiúnta. Tá córas éagsúil ann i roinnt tíortha eile. An córas atá ann sa Spáinn ná go glactar leis go bhfuil fonn ar dhaoine a n-orgáin a thabhairt, agus caithfear a chur in iúil má’s rud é nach bhfuil fonn ar dhaoine a n-orgáin a thabhairt. Ag tús na bliana seo, tugadh an riail isteach sa Fhrainc, agus in ionad clár deontóra, is clár diúltaithe a mbeidh ann. Is féidir le daoine clárú a rá nach bhfuil fonn orthu a n-orgáin a dheonú.

Tá roinnt argóintí i gcoinne a córas seo. Bíonn daoine amhrasach faoi toil a mhuintir agus sa gcás nach bhfuil a fhios acu cad a mb’fhearr leo, is minic go gcloíonn siad le gan na horgáin a thabhairt. Bíonn

daoine buartha go mbeadh brú á chuir ar dhaoine deonú le teann chiontachta, nó go ligfí do dhaoine bás a fháil níos tapúla ar mhaithe na n-orgáin a fháil.

Ar an gcéad dul síos, tá an dhá buairt deireanach seo go hiomlán mí-eiticiúil agus cé go bhfuil sé de cheart ag gach éinne a bheith buartha faoi sláinte a gclann, is cinnte go mbeadh an córas iomlán airdeallach ó thaobh eitice de. In Éirinn faoi láthair, glactar orgáin ó dhuine éigin atá tar éis bás a fháil, agus iad ar aerálaí. Meastar go bhfuil a inchinn tar éis bás ar fháil trí dhá scrúd a dhéanamh, agus ní hiad na dochtúirí a thugann faoi obráid an trasphlandú a dhéannan é seo a mheas. Anuas ar seo arís, ní glactar aon orgán ach amháin má tá duine ann a mbainfidh leas as. I gcás go dtugtar córas nua isteach, ionas go mbeadh toil an duine á leanúint caithfear cinntiú go bhfuil an eolas ag gach éinne. An chéad pháirt de ná go bhféidir leo diúltú, agus iad féin a bhaint ón gclár agus ansin conas mar go ndéantar é.

Ar cheart do Éireann an córas “opt out” a thabhairt isteach? Déarfainn gur cheart. Bíonn gá i gcónaí le trasphlandú orgáin, ach ní i gcónaí go mbíonn a ndóthain orgán á sholáthar. De réir an Irish Donor Network, bíonn thart ar 80 deonuithe gach aon bhliain sin 20 deonú as gach milliúin don daonra.

Deir siad go bhfuil fonn orthu é seo a ardú go 24 deonú as gach milliún, agus mar thoradh bheadh laghdú mór ar líon na ndaoine atá ar scagdhealú. Tá daoine ann, go háirithe páistí óga a fhéidir a slánú le trasphlandú, má tá orgán ann dóibh. Ní chuireann trasphlandú orgán moill ar an córas sochraide, nó ní bhíonn damáiste déanta don chorp. Chun go mbeidh rath ar trasphlandú, caithfidh roinnt coinníoll a líonadh. Ní úsáidtear ach orgáin atá iomlán sláintiúil agus déantar imscrúdú ar na horgáin roimh an trasphlandú, le cinntiú go bhfuil siad oiriúnach.

Tá rialacha docht ann ó thaobh sábháilteacht agus glaineacht de agus caitear taifead iomláine a choimeád de gach aon gné den trasphlandú. Má’s féidir níos mó daoine a slánú, tríd an córas deonú a aistriú, measaim go bhfuil sé de dhualgas orainn é a dhéanamh.

“Ag tús na bliana seo, tugadh an riail isteach sa Fhrainc, agus in ionad clár deontóra, is clár diúltaithe a mbeidh ann. Is féidir le daoine clárú a rá nach bhfuil fonn orthu a n-orgáin a dheonú.”

april 19th 2017 9

features Re-Thinking Student Activism In the wake of the Repeal protests, Mary Meadbh Park explores whether UCD student activism is suffering from tunnel vision. be great to see more awareness being spread about it. I do think that students should be more involved in a wide variety of issues as I think that’s a reason why we’re here, university should be more than just for academia”.

However, history student, Conor Rock disagrees.

He claims that a focus on many issues can blunt their impact. “The problem with UCD is that there are often too many issues being discussed and it

“University should be more than just for academia”

THIS year UCD students took part in protesting for Repeal, a topical and relevant issue in Irish society today, and it quickly became one of the most talked about topics on campus. The popularity of the issue and of the protest itself seemed to show that students in UCD are still willing to be engaged in activism. This begs another question: why aren’t other issues and topics being raised more frequently in the same way on our campus? Is it because students don’t care enough or perhaps feel that college isn’t the right place for politics?

Daniel is a psychology Masters student who had been to the Repeal protest. On the topic of whether there was enough political awareness being spread on campus, he stated “not really. Some semipolitical issues are topical, but not many because some of the other issues aren’t as fashionable, though they’re still relevant. Some of the activism

can dampen the effectiveness of each campaign.

Though the Repeal protest and the marriage equality referendum awareness campaign seemed to do well with student participation, engagement with other campaigns seems to dwindle. We seem to be very single issue orientated. It would be nice to see protests/campaigns on student fees, university fines and accommodation, as these are the things that affect a large portion of students on a daily basis”.

Chris Lohey, an Arts student, brought in the long history of student engagement with contemporary issues. “Historically and culturally speaking, a lot of political and cultural advancement was made in colleges and universities in the Western world in the 1960s, from humanism in the renaissance to ideas of civil liberty and human rights. When keeping this in mind, I believe that colleges should be the place of political and cultural awareness and discourse in order to challenge political systems and to continue political development”.

Jans is a Plant Biology student. On the topic of what he’d like to see being talked about more on campus, he felt that “for me the most political awareness I gain in UCD is from the students rather than the faculty. So from that approach you only really hear what’s directly in the political eye and nothing about more far out topics, stuff that your average student wouldn’t hear much about, like

that does go on in UCD is more about demonstrating you’re an activist instead of actually accomplishing anything”.

He spoke about what issues he would like to see more in the public spotlight:

“Some semi-political issues are topical, but not many because some of the other issues aren’t as fashionable” “Humanitarianism would be great to see being talked about more, animal conservation would be great because I haven’t seen anything about that around. Talking about mental health budget cuts would be great, there was a response to that, but it’d

environmental issues for example”.

He mentioned that more input from other faculty perspectives could help diversify discourse on campus. “I think a good approach would be more divided news from all courses, like weekly or monthly articles from every faculty and then tie that in to what’s going on in the political world, like [for] example; my degree, there [is] a lot of stuff teaching GMO growing and genetic mutation of plants to make stronger better plant foods, so where can that be tied into politics for someone who knows nothing about politics but might have an idea that could greatly impact the political world”.

In regards to whether university is a place for political awareness as well as learning, and whether we need to be talking about the outside world, Jans felt that “university is where you learn, but most of that learning is done outside of the lecture rooms. It’s about networking with other students from different courses and finding common ground that you believe in. You can

“Some of the activism that does go on in UCD is more about demonstrating you’re an activist instead of actually accomplishing anything” recruit these people to create a new world order that is built from the students who are learning all kinds of new stuff and not by people whose only claim to the world is that their predecessors were really rich and somehow rule the world”.

It seems that on the whole, students in UCD do actually care about the big issues. If so, this presents an opportunity for spreading more political awareness and the organisation of protests on campus in the future.

The Frontlines of UCD Res Eithne Dodd speaks to senior Residential Assistant, Jessica Quinn, about the difficulties that they face.

“It’s not uncommon for me to put my personal safety at risk” with residents, especially if certain residents regularly cause problems… SRAs frequently must bring sick/injured students to A&E. Hopefully with an increased number of RAs, this duty will not have to fall to SRAs who are needed on Res.” However, Quinn is concerned that this will make RAs care less about their work as they will see the accommodation subsidy as the university devaluing

10 april 19th 2017

their work. She raises the issue that the subsidy is the same, even though some accommodation blocs cost more than others.

“To live in Glenomena is eight thousand something and [living] in Merville is six thousand something so if you were to divide their working hours technically the Glenomena RAs would be getting paid more than the Merville RAs for the same amount of work for the same amount of hours” said Quinn.

This year, the SRAs have been working with SU Education Officer Lexi Kilmartin and C&C Officer Luke Fitzpatrick. Kilmartin and Fitzpatrick have been bringing the testimony of RAs to meetings. However, Quinn is worried that the SU does not have enough power to make all of the changes necessary.

Six senior residential assistants (SRAs) are responsible for the thousands of students who live in a UCD Residences. SRAs work every third night. If something happens to one of the over 3,000 students they are responsible for, they will get a phone call. “Most of the job is fairly grand and there are some nights where nothing happens” says Quinn.

“SRAs are dealing with bigger issues that the RAs aren’t authorised to deal with so that’s first aid, anytime ambulance or fire brigade or Gardaí are called to Res… If there is a student experiencing first aid issues such as mental health or physical health we usually show up and take over because we have done a first aid FETAC course and Assist training,” explains Quinn.

She also gives examples of incidents she’s been called to including someone who jumped over the fence to get into Res and fell and broke their ankle. It was an open fracture and Quinn had to wait with the person until the ambulance came. Another time, a student came back to Res covered in blood and couldn’t say what had happened to them.

“They could have just got torn going through

some bushes or something might have happened and you have to make that call,” said Quinn. “There is no decision-making training”.

Quinn, along with many other RAs, don’t feel that they have adequate training for the decisions they have to make, and of the training that SRAs do receive, only 50% of them are still working.

“Is someone going to have to die before we’re taken seriously?”

The other 50% that were brought on later in the year don’t have the advanced occupational first aid training their peers have.

“It’s not uncommon for me to put my personal safety at risk” said Quinn. “There was an incident where a student was experiencing a psychotic

break. It was quite frightening. I felt unsafe…. My options were to leave and let that person do more damage or to stay and help them even at my own expense”.

The SRAs have never had a face-to-face meeting with the people who make the decisions about UCD Res. Right now, there has been no clear plan given to the RAs on how their jobs will be different next year due to the increased number of RAs and no information regarding further training for them.

This is something Quinn feels very strongly about: “I’ve said before that the only thing that UCD would care about is if someone died and there was a newspaper article about it in the Irish Times. It would be an absolute national scandal if people found out that UCD, who charge the most expensive student accommodate, are putting the lives of your children in the hands of people who aren’t qualified and aren’t supported”.

photo credit: roisin guyett nicholson

AT SU Hustings last month, a senior RA (SRA) named Dylan Quinn McMahon highlighted the issues that SRAs have to deal with and asked the presidential candidates what they would do about it.

“In terms of Dylan’s question I think all the presidential candidates blew it off, but she [President Elect Katie Ascough] blew it off the most” said Jessica Quinn, a senior RA in UCD residences.

Quinn has been a senior RA throughout the current academic year, and spoke to the Observer about the issues that on-campus life faces.

Regarding Ascough, Quinn felt that she did not want to hear her concerns though she felt this year’s SU “have been fantastic”.

Katie Kilgannon is the newly elected UCDSU Res Campaigns Coordinator. She has stated that her main priorities for next year are adequate mental health training for RAs, saying that if UCD Res won’t organise it, then incoming welfare officer Eoghan Mac Domhnaill and the welfare crew will have to invest time and funding in.

UCD Res have recently announced the decision to increase the amount of RAs and to give the RAs subsidised accommodation rather than free accommodation. Kilgannon believes that the increased number of RAs planned for next year will be a good thing.

“RAs this year seemed to always be overworked and tired. I don’t think this helps their relations

features Inside The UCD Common Room Club Lisa Herden visited the UCD Common Room Club and spoke to members, voluntary staff and full-time staff.

1980s there was an enormous debate about whether non-academic staff should be let in. And in the end they decided, yes, it was elitist really to have only academics. So we’ve a really good mix of technical staff, all kinds of people.” Now about 40% of UCD staff are members.

This mix of people is what many members of the club enjoy. Caroline Barrett works in UCD Registry and as a member of the Common Room Club committee, which looks after membership.

What she likes best about the Common Room

“It’s cross-university staff from all areas, all ages, different roles, academic, professional, administrative, everybody” The Common Room Club in the Newman Building THE Common Room Club is located behind unassuming wooden doors on the first floor in the Newman building. If it wasn’t for the sign on the door that states ‘members only’, you could walk straight past it. But the smell of coffee and the clattering of plates and cutlery tell you that you’re in the right place even before you’ve seen the sign.

Behind the door, a long room stretches out.

There is a bar on one side and the broad windows on the other side, offering a great view across the lake towards O’Reilly Hall. The room is furnished with light coloured wooden chairs and tables, crème coloured sofas and a few beige lamps. The red curtains that you can see from outside, as well as the brown-red coloured carpet tiles add to the room’s cosy feel. At the far end of the room a selection of newspapers and magazines is presented and many different artworks are displayed on the walls. The Coffee Dock across the corridor also

belongs to the club and is similarly furnished.

The origin of the club, which was founded as a staff initiative, dates back to the early 1970s, after UCD had moved from Earlsfort Terrace to Belfield.

The original motivation for the club was that pubs had been around the university’s former location,

“The origin of the club, which was founded as a staff initiative, dates back to the early 1970s” but not so in Belfield. Current and former staff members are eligible for membership, as well as PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

This wasn’t always the case, as John O’Dowd, chair of the Common Room Club, explains: “In the

Club is “the spirit of it. What I mean by that is, it’s cross-university staff from all areas, you get to meet people ... all ages, different roles, academic, professional, administrative, everybody.”

Joanne Reilly, Study Abroad Officer at UCD, feels the same way. “It’s a great place to catch up with colleagues without having to leave the workplace.”

The Common Room Club offers a space for members to relax and to socialise. During its opening hours it serves tea and coffee, a light lunch and drinks in the evening. Functions include receptions after certain lectures, book launches and retirement events. It also hosts two main parties each year, the Spring Garden Party and the Christmas Party. These are organised by the voluntary members of the committee, who are elected during the annual general meeting. The annual membership fee is €65 for those based on Belfield campus and €55 for part-time staff, retirees and those not based in Belfield.

Throughout its history the club has experienced a few changes. “We’ve noticed probably [that] it’s

less busy in the evenings now than it used to be ... pubs generally, I suppose, are losing business,” John O’Dowd explains. “If there is any new element in the evenings, I think you do see large groups of post docs.”

Not only has the Common Room’s use changed, but also the way it is run. “In the early years there wasn’t even a professional barman. But from about the late 1970s onwards they began to employ a barman. And the barman is the linchpin of the whole thing.”

This linchpin is Declan Hyland, who has been working in the Common Room Club for about two years full-time. His duties are the day-today running, which includes “ordering in food, drinks, take care of functions, book launches, cash handling, cash lodgements.” He enjoys his work for the same reason that the members like to come to

“The barman is the linchpin of the whole thing” the Common Room. “You meet a variety of different people from different countries, people from different faculties, so there’s always different topics talked about within the Common Room. So, that’s interesting.”

With the planning of the new University Club, which is going to include a fully serviced restaurant, the future of the current Common Room is up for debate. John O’Dowd points out that President Deeks is very much in support of the Common Room Club. “I think he genuinely does want to sort of raise the level of it and make it a bigger and more successful, more flourishing kind of enterprise.

But I suppose it’d be fair to say that our existing membership are very comfortable the way things are”, John O’Dowd says. “It’s one of the things that visitors to UCD from other universities are very complimentary about, our Common Room Club.

So we would like to think that we would have an opportunity to continue, but it remains to be seen.”

Journals That Prey on Academic Research Keri Heath explores the murky world of Predatory Journals

“They’re really taking advantage of the increased pressure on academics” work published, become willing to pay – sometimes up to two thousand dollars per article – to get their articles published.

“It’s not all that predatory journals are the big bad wolf,” McGovern said. “They’re there because there’s a gap in the market and there’s a gap in the market because there’s such a demand to get these really coveted academic positions now.”

McGovern said that this can be a real problem for students and young academics who may not be as

aware of the differences. She said she gets about 10 emails a day asking for article submissions, conference attendances or journal editorships, among other things, all of which ask for fees and are considered predatory publications.

These predatory journals could be run by moneyseeking companies, groups, or even individuals.

McGovern noted a website called Scholarly Open Access, which used to provide a list of known predatory journals in fields ranging from

“They’re there because there’s a gap in the market” agriculture to humanities. The website was run by Jeffrey Beall, an associate professor at University of Colorado Denver and scholarly initiatives librarian at the Auraria Library. In January, the site was taken down. “I didn’t really have a choice,” Beall said. “I was pressured by my university to stop. I felt threatened.”

Beall sees predatory journals as a danger to students, especially those using databases, such as Google Scholar, that may not root out the predatory journals. However, he also said there was a wider impact that these publications will have outside academia. “In society, lawyers sometimes use published research when litigating court cases,” Beall said. “Doctors translate medical research into clinical practice. Public policy relies on vetted research, and journalists often report on research, translating the results for public readers.”

As the industry changes, however, it may become even more difficult to determine the difference between legitimate and predatory journals. Kenneth Dawson is director of the Centre for BioNano Interactions. “It’s been a little difficult to differentiate between them [predatory and legitimate journals] because the new models require you to pay,” Dawson said.

He explained that more and more grants and funding schemes require researchers to publish their articles in open access forums. However, if a journal doesn’t charge for an access fee, its

photo credit: Louise Flanagan

FOR professors at institutions such as UCD, publishing research is essential to advancing their career. Today, however, researchers face a different kind of challenge when trying to put their work in the field. Academics seeking to publish their work must now determine the difference between legitimate and predatory journals.

These predatory journals – exploitive publications that charge authors publishing fees – often do not provide editorial review at all or at full capacity.

This means many of the articles included in these publications may not be peer reviewed or even have accurate results. Michelle Dalton, scholarly communications librarian at UCD, says these journals have become more of a problem in recent years.

“The move to online, digital publishing makes it a lot easier for these publishers to set up, compared to print publishers,” Dalton said. “Also, they’re really taking advantage of the increased pressure on academics now to publish more and more research output.”

This pressure to have research published was also noted by Assistant Professor of Forensic and Legal Medicine Cliona McGovern. She said that college rankings and the need to publish for tenured positions are among the contributing factors pushing researchers to predatory journals. Academics who are new to the field or who are desperate to have their

only source of income might be through publishing charges. So as academic journals move towards open access, researchers might see more legitimate publications charging publishing fees.

But McGovern said one of the biggest difficulties is that not all research published in predatory journals is bad. Some of the papers in these journals are well researched and accurate. However, she pointed out that if these papers are in journals without the peer

“It’s the academic equivalent of fake news” review and editorial process, it’s difficult to know for sure. “It’s the academic equivalent of fake news,” McGovern said. “But that’s not to say that everything published in that predatory journal or all predatory journals is bogus. Now we really can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.”

Dawson noted that this can be dangerous for the careers of young academics. While one paper may not end someone’s career, multiple could be harmful.

“If you see those papers on a CV, you have to ask yourself why,” Dawson said. “There’s too much pressure onto narrow metrics but if you don’t, how do you decide who goes forward?”

Dalton noted that she often provides advice to researchers on the journals to avoid publishing their work in. “Certainly the volume of queries we’ve received from researchers has increased in recent times as to whether it’s a reputable journal,” Dalton said. She suggested that academics check that the journal is listed in a good database, and check the credentials, quality of the research and the peer review process. She pointed out that a journal without an editorial board is probably a scam. Ultimately, she noted, determining whether or not a journal is reputable is up to the individual.

april 19th 2017 11

Features Being a Student in Direct Provision As the conversation around immigration continues, Roisin Guyett-Nicholson examines how those in Direct Provision can enter higher education in Ireland. people in the system looking to attend third-level education in Ireland must pay non-EU fees. This can be between €16,000 to over €23,000 for most universities.

However many in Direct Provision not only do not have this amount of money, but cannot work to earn it during their time waiting for refugee status.

“Children are growing up in [Direct Provision]”

The Direct Provision Centre, Athlone The controversial Direct Provision system was set up in 1999 as a supposedly temporary solution to a chronic situation. However, in 2017 the system is still in existence, with a total of 4,463 people registered as part of the system at the end of March.

Direct Provision is run by the state and looks to provide basic needs for asylum seekers. While people are only supposed to be in the system for a number of months, the reality is that many spend years in centres which only offer basic facilities.

Asylum seekers are given a place to live, food, access to some medical care and children are offered free primary and secondary education. Per week, adults are given €19.10 and children are given €9.60.

However, people in this system are not allowed to work as they do not have full refugee status.

Emma Sommers, Public Engagement Project Manager at Suas and organiser of the 8x8 Festival

explained: “it doesn’t provide the freedom to work.

That’s a huge thing for anybody, when you consider like the average amount of time for somebody in direct provision is three years, four months, that’s a long time to not be allowed determine your own space, your own life.”

“Even if they get the points and get offered a place, which has happened with students across the country, they can’t take it up” This is an issue that also extends to those who look to attend third-level education. As most people in Direct Provision are not from Europe, they do not receive EU status when applying to colleges. What this ultimately means is that

“Let’s say they get through that, they get through the Irish education system, they do their Leaving Cert, even if they get the points and get offered a place, which has happened with students across the country, they can’t take it up because they have to pay non-EU fees,” Sommers said.

She also noted that with the low amount of financial support asylum seekers receive, they wouldn’t “be saving a huge amount of money to be able to pay €16,000 a year.”

This is a sentiment echoed by Charlotte Byrne, a Student Advisor with the Irish Refugee Council: “they are recognised as international students, so instead of the fees being €6,000 a year, its €15,000 a year or something like that. So that puts them out of the picture. And even if you recognise them as an EU student, in many cases they’re not entitled to the free fees that an Irish person would be entitled to… even if they were entitled to that, they still don’t have €6,000.”

The lack of EU status also puts many out of the running for SUSI grants, which requires the applicants to have refugee status. Similarly, many do not qualify for the “Free Fees” initiative.

While Sommers notes “children are growing up in [Direct Provision]” it’s clear that the children in the system are not given the same options as their classmates.

The number of children in the Direct Provision system at the end of March 2017 was 1,051.

However, as Byrne points out, it is not just young people that may be looking to enter education. She highlights that a number of people will travel to

Ireland with qualifications already. However she notes “they know when they get their papers and they are entitled to work, they know they have to retrain. It makes sense that they would retrain while they’re going through the process.”

There are, however, a number of initiatives that try to place asylum seekers in higher education.

The Irish Refugee Council last year received a grant that allowed it to fund a number of courses.

Byrne explains: “We didn’t really know what response we were going to get and we got over 100 people.”

However, she noted that the grant was limited and required a selective process. “There’s an

“Part of the problem with being in direct provision is boredom… if you’ve just worked hard for your Leaving Certificate and then you’ve got to sit at home and you can’t study.” option of whether you help lots of people do smaller courses. So you know the FETAC courses or the QII level 5, level 6, generally speaking they only cost €250 or €300. So if people choose those you can help lots of people keep busy. And part of the problem with being in direct provision is boredom. No matter what age you’re at it’s difficult but if you’ve just worked hard for your Leaving Certificate and then you’ve got to sit at home and you can’t study.”

Despite the initiative, it is clear that more must be done for those looking to access higher education. There is clearly an appetite among those within the system for greater opportunities.

However they are being refused not only the possibility to access these but also the option to earn money to cover the cost.

Quinn’s Bizzness All aboard for the final Quinn’s Bizzness of the year, The Captain has wisdom to impart for those long summer months.

This is the end, hello darkness my old friend.

We’ve reached the end of another year here at UCD. Don’t be too upset though, you’ll probably have to come back and do a few repeats. This place is like quicksand: if you struggle you’ll sink fast. It’s time to click out of Netflix and find out what you need to catch up on. So far all you’ve done since midterm is binge watch 13 Reasons Why. Ironic since now you’re gonna need some solid reasons to justify your grades.

That’s the thing about third-level education, you relax for five minutes and next thing you know you’re somehow failing eleven classes, even though you’re only taking six.

The only people more clueless than students during this exam season are the Trump Administration. Sean Spicer being the first History student ever to get a result lower than 0%. The bunch of white guys who are restricting abortion services, to save lives, are now dropping bombs on Syria and Afghanistan.

At least when you were failing as a student it was because you needed a nap, not because you were having a weird fling with Vladimir Putin. I can imagine the Kremlin screenshotting Trump’s tweets and WhatsApping them to Putin.

Speaking of our boi Vlad, the Holocaust 2.0 is taking place happening in Chechnya. Gay men are being rounded up, put in camps, being tortured and killed. The Chechnyian authorities denies this by saying there are no gay people in Chechnya.

Well there won’t be if this continues.

Sorry for lowering the mood. I think the key to not losing faith in humanity is to just not think about it so much. In the future documentaries will ask, ‘where were you at the beginning of WW3?’, and your response will be ‘I dunno looking at memes or something.’

12 april 19th 2017

Speaking of oppressive regimes, at least we don’t have to worry about our incoming SU causing chaos, because they do not matter. That feeling when the most reassuring thing about the incoming SU is the fact that they’re too incompetent to do anything. The more time I spend in UCD the more I realise that those who dedicate their lives to student politics, or aspire to have a career as a politician aren’t doing it because they care.

They’re just not good at anything, can’t think for themselves and believe effective change happens with a trending hashtag. Slacktivism at its finest.

The 2016 census results have finally been released. The data was collected over a year ago, who was analysing it? The staff at Subway? Anyways, the reduction in Catholicism and increase of people with ‘no religion’ has revitalised the Church and state debate. The biggest defender of Ireland remaining God fearing and Catholic is the Iona Institute. This ‘organisation’ is six people. Why do they keep getting a say in national debates when they couldn’t even fill a booth in the Clubhouse?

The Good Friday alcohol ban is being questioned. Yes, because THAT is the most toxic Catholic influence on our laws. I dunno, without the ban, there won’t be any confused British stag parties wandering around Temple Bar, and that’s kind of fun. I always find I become more interested in bigger issues when I need to be working towards achieving my mass-awarded and meaningless degree.

You can tell a lot about a person based on how they behave this time of year and where they choose to study in the library. The first floor is, ‘The Hufflepuff floor’, where you’ll find that person who is just ‘popping in’ between classes, not re-

ally committed to staying there very long, or just decided to have a look to see what all the fuss is about.

The second floor is ‘the Slytherin floor’ where you’ll find your snakes. Lots of talk about ‘oh I haven’t been studying either’ when in fact they have. Also trying to navigate around this massive floor requires lots of experience. Hiss hiss Business and Law students. No one on this floor ‘totally hasn’t started yet.’

The true experts know that the third floor is where it’s at, ‘The Ravenclaw Floor’ if you will. There’s plugs for all, the escalator cannot be heard, and you won’t find much messing here.

Last but certainly not least is the fourth floor, Gryffindor! All those who enter here understand that it is a place where friends come together to save the semester. You need help, or notes? You’ll find it on the fourth floor…. If you do Ag or Science.

Did you enjoy that Harry Potter reference? Get a life, saddo. But seriously, look after yourself and your friends during this stressful time. Don’t forget that grades aren’t everything. Also, remember that Readers still doesn’t accept card.

It’s been real guys, that’s it from me, who knows what the future will bring. It’s like the bacteria in the lab who are about to be put in a centrifuge.

One minute you’re just chilling with your buds in some broth and then some student decides to put you in a tube and spin you at 14,000rpm. Oh jaysus, you know you’ve been working too hard when your world view is inspired by college work. Here’s hoping UCD will still be standing when we come back in September.

NEWS in brief: >> Gluten free, Law student afraid to leave house due to aerial gluten. >> Lake duck identifies as swan. >> Student not allowed on plane until captioned photo of pint at the airport ‘sure be rude not to’ added to Snapchat story. >> Commerce student who can’t stop refreshing Instagram likes totally has ADHD. >> Reusable SU coffee mugs halt climate change. >> Nursing student cures clinical depression by demanding positive thinking. >> Horse runs race of its career at student race day, but no one notices. >> 21 year-old man choses pro-life stance for fear that he could be aborted. >> Finally, right leaning Centra deli fears uncontrolled immigration of microwaves into main campus.

Year in review UCDSU: Year in Review As the end of the academic year approaches, Roisin Guyett-Nicholson sits down to chat to UCDSU President, Conor Viscardi about how the year has been.

TO a degree it is always difficult to sum up the progress of any team of the Students’ Union during their year. The sabbatical officers are by their very nature very transient and it can be hard to establish much of a continuation from year-to-year.

Speaking to Students’ Union President Conor Viscardi, the union seem to be happy overall with

“The Students’ Union were able to facilitate large groups of people being proactive on different issues” the year. He outlined that “I think the year has been very successful, I think we’ve excelled in a lot of key areas like in representation, activism, lobbying and even community development as well, has been quite good this year. We’ve had a good range of diverse events: you saw RAG week, Christmas Day, Trad Tuesday, Zulu. So I think that from that perspective we have covered a lot of bases and also furthering the development of the student community as well which I think is a very positive thing.”

By all accounts this year’s officers have had a relatively calm, if somewhat bland year. There have been a number of high-profile campaigns and undoubtedly an increased level of engagement among students.

However, these have been largely cosmetic improvements. There have been few direct improvements for students in UCD. Reading through a number of the officers year reports and it’s clear engagement and campaigns are seen as a major success.

Viscardi stated that he believed the strongest part of the year was: “from my own perspective and I think the team would definitely be in agreement with this, was the amount of activism that was around this year and that the Students’ Union were able to facilitate large groups of people being proactive on different issues.”

In particular Viscardi noted the effect of multiannual campaigns. He explained: “I think one of the things that we’ve definitely learnt this year… is that you know the challenges that the students’ union face because they’ve a different sabbatical team every year, is that you know some of the campaigns are so large that they actually span over multi-annual periods, so you saw that this year that between Repeal the 8th and consent those were

“We’ve covered a lot of different areas within the realm of consent.” campaigns that were started over previous years and we continued them on then and some of them have even culminated now, which is fantastic.”

He continued, stating that it was something the union had developed strongly this year: “from that perspective one of the things we’ve learned is that by taking on campaigns that are already there to ensure that we actually do get good traction and good movement within the key areas that we’re focusing on. That would be one of the things that we’ve learnt but we have actually done as well at the same time.”

One particular campaign that the union carried on from two previous years was on consent, something which Viscardi sees as a success. “I think it was the first Sex Out Loud campaign, and then last year…

[NotAskingForIt]…and then this year we have UCD signed onto ESHTE [Ending Sexual Harassment and Violence in Third Level Education Initiative] as an institution, so you can see that there was a very clear progression there which is very positive and you also

“The consent campaign this year has culminated in support for the Consent at UCD group.” saw there as well that the students’ union is going to officially support UCD for consent, so that’s another thing as well. So we’ve covered a lot of different areas within the realm of consent, on an institutional capacity but also on a grass roots capacity as well for UCD for consent. They’re already in existence [but] by supporting them.”

The consent campaign this year has culminated in support for the Consent at UCD group, while a number of classes on the topic were held earlier in the year. However, at the beginning of the semester the classes were dropped. At the time, Welfare Officer Róisín O’Mara explained that the union were looking at other ways of discussing the issue across campus. This has seen UCDSU join the National Womens Council initiative, “It Stops Now”.

However, when asked whether he considered the dropping of classes part of the “success” of the campaign, Viscardi stated: “Yeah, so like I think what happened was, when we rolled out the consent campaigns, we gauged the kind of median attendance that people partook in them. And as a result then we did very proactively assess the consent campaign as it was run. And I think that’s exactly what kind of led us to ESHTE then, because ESHTE with kind of its area of expertise, the participatory element of it as well, that you have a situation where institutions

“Viscardi did note however that the university had agreed to only increase on-campus prices relative to inflation.

This does raise other issues though, as housing prices in Dublin are already increasing at an alarming rate.” and organisations throughout Ireland and indeed Europe come together and discuss models of best practice.”

Campaigns, such as consent, Repeal the 8th and funding demonstrations are important. There, however, seems to be few clear improvements for students emerging this year. In his end of year report, Viscardi notes that the union took part in a campaign to promote digs with daft.ie at the start of the year, which is something that he hopes will grow next year.

However, the report also notes that “lobbying university management to lower on-campus accommodation prices” is ongoing. This year, prices were annoucned to increase by another 6% in the coming years despite earlier assertions that they would only increase by 2-3%. Viscardi did note however that the university had agreed to only increase on-campus prices relative to inflation.

This does raise other issues though, as housing prices in Dublin are already increasing at an alarming rate.

Aside from accommodation, the union this year has also looked into how to reduce resit/repeat fees.

While Education officer Lexi Kilmartin did present work on this to union council earlier in the year, there seems to have been little recent updates.

At the time, Kilmartin explained to council that

“Overall the union this year have played it safe.” the university understood the costs as spreading out the higher costs from subjects which are more expensive to repeat. However, this is something next year’s education officer, Robert Sweeney, has stated he wants to look into the issue and try to cap the fees.

One of the more coherent aspects of the year has been Luke Fitzpatrick’s development of the Campaigns and Communication role. As Viscardi noted, campaigns has been one of the main successes of the year, much of that is due to the revitalisation of the role. After what many would see as a weak year, Fitzpatrick did address and develop the role more substantially.

This included a focus on different campaigns as he notes in his end of year report. The union has looked more at environmental campaigns and disability rights. However, while there has been a stronger interest in these campaigns among the SU, it hasn’t translated to the wider student body, with a limited amount of people attending disability rights protests.

Overall the union this year have played it safe.

Afraid of upsetting the applecart, they’ve done very little dynamic or attention grabbing. While they can safely say they didn’t ruin the union, the question remains, what did they actually bring to UCD?

april 19th 2017 13

photo credit:louise flanagan

photo credit: camille lombard

Year in review

Jane Lynch visits DramSoc

photo credit: Kevin Quinlan

photo credit:louise flanagan

RTÉ Strike 4 Repeal Protest

UCD Staff Choir perform in the Science Building

photo credit: Dominika Biernacka

photo credit: Nell Hensey

Don’t Stop Me Now: Bob Geldof chats to LawSoc and EconSoc Auditors, Aodhán Peelo and Robert Sweeney in February

Musical Soc’s produciton of The Last Five Years

UCD Juggling Soc 14 april 19th 2017

photo credit: Alex Floss-Jones

photo credit: Joanna O’Malley

Foil, Arms & Hog perform in the Astra Hall during RAG Week

The Doughnut Fair in the Astra Hall

Year in review

illustration: Danielle crowley

illustration: Meadhbh Sheridan

illustration: Meadhbh Sheridan

illustration: rebecca kelly

illustration: rebecca kelly

illustration: claudia dalby

illustration: joanna o’malley

april 19th 2017 15

Call for applications for editorial team 2017-18

Editor Applications are invited for the position of Editor of the University Observer for the academic year 2017/2018.

The Position: The Editor of the University Observer is responsible for all aspects of the newspaper. The Editor is responsible for the management of the newspaper, the publication and distribution of the newspaper, the content of the newspaper and is responsible for the co-ordination of the newspaper’s writers. The Editor is responsible for all internal appointments (with the exception of the Deputy Editor and the Designer) within the newspaper as well as any disciplinary matters that may arise (with the exception of the Deputy Editor and the Designer).

The position of Editor of the University Observer is an extremely demanding one and applicants for the position should be aware that the role involves working unsocial hours in a highly pressurised environment. The Editor is responsible for all deadlines being met by the newspaper.

The position includes working alternate weekends.

The University Observer is editorially independent from the Students’ Union, as enshrined in the Union constitution. The Editor has complete authority over the content of the newspaper, proviso to the standard regulations governing newspaper content (e.g. defamation etc).

The Editor is appointed for the full academic year, 2017/2018.

The Candidate: The candidate should exhibit a serious commitment to journalism. Ideally, the candidate should have experience working for a newspaper or media organisation.

It is preferable but not essential that the candidate is/was a registered student of University College Dublin.

Deputy Editor Applications are invited for the position of Deputy Editor of the University Observer for the academic year 2017/2018.

The Position: The Deputy Editor of the University Observer, upon direction from the Editor, is responsible for all aspects of the newspaper. The Deputy Editor, subject in all matters concerning the newspaper to the direction of the Editor, shall be responsible, with the Editor, for the management of the newspaper, the publication and distribution of the newspaper, the content of the newspaper and is responsible for the co-ordination of the newspaper’s writers.

The position of Deputy Editor of the University Observer is an extremely demanding one and applicants for the position should be aware that the role involves working unsocial hours in a highly pressurised environment. The Deputy Editor is responsible for all deadlines being met by the newspaper.

The position includes working alternate weekends.

The University Observer is editorially independent from the Students’ Union, as enshrined in the Union constitution. The Deputy Editor has authority over the content of the newspaper, subject to the standard regulations governing newspaper content (e.g. defamation etc).

The Deputy Editor is appointed for the full academic year, 2017/2018.

The Candidate: The candidate should exhibit a serious commitment to journalism. Ideally, the candidate should have experience working for a newspaper or media organisation.

It is preferable but not essential that the candidate is/ was a registered student of University College Dublin.

Art & design Editor Applications are invited for the position of Art and Design Editor of the University Observer for the academic year 2017/2018

16 april 19th 2017

The position is a full-time one and the candidate should be aware of the pressurised environment under which newspaper editors operate. The candidate must be in a position to prove to the interview panel their ability to meet fixed, non-negotiable printing deadlines whilst working at speed and under pressure.

The candidate should exhibit a clear sense of duty towards the newspaper, combined with sharp commercial acumen.

A strong knowledge of social media is essential in order to manage the demands of The University Observer website and online resources.

Remuneration: Wages currently stand at €650 per issue minus taxes (eight editions of the paper are normally published) and some expenses incurred during production of the newspaper may be reclaimed.

Application Procedure: Applicants for the above position must submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae and a detailed proposal outlining how the candidate intends to operate and manage the University Observer. The proposal must include a comprehensive outline of strategic changes that can be made to improve the newspaper. Specific areas where the newspaper can be improved should be dealt with in some detail. The applicant should also outline their proposals for the day-to-day organisation and management of the newspaper.

Applications should be sent as a pdf file to editor@universityobserver.ie or to the following address:

Roisin Guyett-Nicholson, The University Observer, Student Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Applicants with further queries should contact Roisin Guyett-Nicholson, at 01 716 3835, weekdays during business hours, or at the above email address.

Shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview, where they will be expected to answer any questions raised in relation to their proposal.

Members of the interview panel will include the current Editor, two previous Editors of the newspaper, a financial representative of the Students’ Union and the current Union President.

Note: • Applicants are only permitted to enter this competition individually. Joint applications will not be accepted.

• Canvassing members of the interview panel is forbidden. Candidates who canvass members of the interview panel may be disqualified from consideration.

• No formal training is offered to successful candidates.

• Applicants should make it clear in their cover letter whether or not they would like to be considered for the role of Deputy Editor as well as Editor.

•Applications should be no longer than 5,000 words.

Closing date for applications is 5pm, 1st May 2017.

The position is a full time one and the candidate should be aware of the pressurised environment under which newspaper editors operate. The candidate must be in a position to prove to the interview panel their ability to meet fixed, non negotiable printing deadlines whilst working at speed and under pressure.

The candidate should exhibit a clear sense of duty towards the newspaper, combined with sharp commercial acumen.

A strong knowledge of social media is essential in order to manage the demands of the University Observer website and other online resources.

Remuneration: Wages currently stand at €610 per issue minus taxes (eight editions of the paper are expected to be published) and some expenses incurred during production of the newspaper may be reclaimed Application Procedure: Applicants for the above position must submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae and a detailed proposal, outlining how the candidate intends to operate and manage the University Observer. The proposal must include a comprehensive outline of strategic changes that can be made to improve the newspaper. Specifics areas where the newspaper can be improved should be dealt with in some detail. The applicant should also outline their proposals for the day-to-day organisation and management of the newspaper.

Applications should be sent as a pdf file to editor@ universityobserver.ie or to the following address:

The Position: You will be responsible for the design and layout of the newspaper, working in conjunction with the editors and contributors in producing and sourcing high-quality imagery and related media. The position requires an understanding of visual culture, and the integral role it plays in journalism.

The position will require work at alternate weekends, whilst working hours during the week are flexible. Although this work is highly demanding it is also highly rewarding. The successful candidate would be expected to constantly strive to improve the overall design of the newspaper.

The Art & Design Editor reports to the Editor and Deputy Editor.

illustration or graphic design is essential. Knowledge of video production is an advantage.

It is expected that the candidate will have a good understanding of the modern media context and an enthusiasm in taking part in what is a defining era for print media.

As a person you should possess ability to meet tight deadlines and manage a large workload. You must also have the ability to meet technical guidelines in print and digital media and a basic knowledge of the production/ printing process.

The Candidate: The successful applicant will have excellent computer skills and be proficient in Adobe InDesign as well as Adobe Photoshop. Experience in photography,

Application Procedure: Candidates should submit a cover letter and CV. Applications should be sent as a pdf file to editor@ universityobserver.ie or to the following address:

Remuneration: Wages currently stand at €610 per issue minus taxes (eight editions of the paper are normally published).

Roisin Guyett-Nicholson, The University Observer Student Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Applicants with further queries should contact Roisin Guyett-Nicholson at 01 716 3835, weekdays during business hours, or at the above email address.

Short-listed candidates will be called for an interview, where they will be expected to answer any question raised in relation to the proposal.

Note: • Applicants are only permitted to apply for this position individually. Joint applications will not be accepted.

• Canvassing members of the interview panel is forbidden. Candidates who canvass members of the interview panel may be disqualified from consideration.

• No formal training is offered to successful candidates.

• Applicants should make it clear in their cover letter whether or not they would like to be considered for the role of Editor as well as Deputy Editor.

•Applications should be no longer than 5,000 words.

Closing date for applications is 5pm, 1st May, 2017.

Roisin Guyett-Nicholson, The University Observer, Student Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Note: • Applicants may be required to present a portfolio of work upon request.

• Interviews may be conducted using modern communications media for candidates who are not able to attend in person.

• Canvassing members of the interview panel is forbidden. Candidates who canvass members of the interview panel may be disqualified from consideration.

• No formal training is offered to successful candidates.

Closing date for applications is 5pm, 19th May 2017.

science Fangs For The Hug From epic battle between baby iguanas to myths and legends, snakes have captured our imagination. Danielle Crowley looks at some of their unique talents.

A few weeks ago, a reticulated python made international headlines when it swallowed a man whole. While this is not the first story of its kind, this was one of the first to be verified when the snake was cut open to reveal its last meal. Such stories have often been treated to scepticism, as human shoulders were considered too broad and awkward for most snakes to manage.

Reticulated pythons are the longest snakes in the world, reaching up to 10 metres in length with appetites to match. These snakes belong to the group known as constrictors, which don’t use venom to subdue their prey, preferring to wrap their coils around it and suffocate it by tightening every time the unfortunate animal exhales. Not exactly the best cuddle buddy. The metabolism of these snakes is quite remarkable, and increases 40 times to deal with their binges.

A snake’s physiology is also amazingly flexible.

To handle large prey, snakes can unhinge their jaws, and then “walk” their lower jaw across the body of their prey. This enables them to tackle enormous prey such as sheep, antelopes, and even other predators like crocodilians and even jaguars.

Snakes smell with their tongues, and they have a special organ called the Jacobson’s organ in their upper jaw to allow them to do that. Their

“Banded sea kraits were discovered to have a hunting partnership with predatory fish such as trevally” fantastic sense of smell allows them to follow a scent trail left by the animals they feed on. Some snakes (like boas) can detect the heat given off by living creatures using special labial pits in their snouts. They can detect differences in temperature between an animal and its surroundings by a 1000th of a degree. Both these abilities allow snakes to hunt even in pitch darkness.

Once a snake has caught up with its prey, it will either subdue it using constriction or with venom.

A snake’s venom glands are really just modified

salivary glands, and venom is injected into the prey through hollow teeth called fangs. At up to five centimetres long, the Gaboon viper has the longest fangs of any snake. How a snake’s venom works depends on what the snake needs the venom to

“Crotoxin in rattlesnake venom is very specific, so it is being used to target and destroy cancer cells” do. Some terrestrial snakes can afford to wait, and after biting their prey will follow until the venom overcomes it. In this way they can avoid injury.

Sea snakes have incredibly potent venom, which makes sense when their habitat and diet is considered. Since they hunt for fish in coral reefs, they need their fishy meals to die instantly, because if it gets away they have lost their meal.

A remarkable discovery was made when banded sea kraits were discovered to have a hunting partnership with predatory fish such as trevally.

These fish scare smaller fish into crevices on the reef where it is easier for the kraits to catch them.

Any fish that escape swim right into the jaws of the waiting trevally.

Snake venom is being used to help hundreds of people. As well as being used to make antivenom to treat snake bites, medical researchers are currently looking into using the compounds in snake venom to treat disorders of the nervous system, lowering blood pressure and even treating cancer. Crotoxin in rattlesnake venom is very specific, so it is being used to target and destroy cancer cells.

The Mozambique spitting cobra delivers its venom in an unusual way, by, well, spitting. Its spitting distance is up to eight feet, and it will try to aim for the eyes of its attackers. Venom landing anywhere else will not cause any harm, but venom to the eyes can result in blindness. If the attacker continues to approach, the snake will bite.

“Cobra” means hooded, and this hood is their most distinguishing feature. The hood is formed from their ribs, which can be extended out in

illustration: Meadhbh Sheridan

display. “True cobras” belong to the genus Naja, which brings to mind the Naga of Indian mythology, which were usually benevolent godlike beings who were very dangerous if not treated with respect. In fact, many depictions of them show them with cobra-like hoods.

Cobras were also significant in Egyptian mythology, and adorned the crowns of the Pharaohs. Buto or Wadjet was the cobra goddess, and it was she who protected Egypt and the Pharaoh.

At 5.5 meters, the king cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world. As cobras can raise a third of their body length of the ground, a snake this long could look a person in the eye. As it does

“The king cobra is also considered to be one of the most intelligent snakes, with its mental capabilities compared to that of an eight-year-old child” not belong to the genus Naja it is not a true cobra, and in fact has its own genus, Ophiophagus, which means “snake eating”. The king cobra is a snake eating specialist, which is why it needs such toxic venom. One bite is enough to kill an elephant.

Although it has a fearsome reputation, it is a shy snake, which is not aggressive unless pushed to be. Some reports state that even if it is forced to strike, it often strikes with its mouth closed. It was the star of a recent viral video where it drank from a bottle of water offered to it by a member of the village it had wandered into.

The king cobra is also considered to be one of the most intelligent snakes, with its mental capabilities compared to that of an eight-year-old child. The female is the only snake to build a nest for her eggs and will guard them fiercely until they hatch.

The king cobra is not the only dedicated snake mother. The female African rock python will

incubate her eggs for three months. They require a temperature of above 30 degrees Celsius. To obtain this, their mother will bask in the sun until her body temperature reaches 40 degrees, then she will wrap her body around her eggs. Doing this everyday puts enormous stress on her body, and if it doesn’t kill her it will take her three years to recover.

Snakes have been around for millions of years, and one notable example is Titanoboa, a behemoth that reached 13 metres long. It is believed to have lived like modern anacondas, in that it had a semi aquatic lifestyle.

Snakes are awesome, and really just deserve our respect instead of fear, or as the Facebook page Snakes With Hats shows, our love.

The God Complex – Will Humans Ever Manufacture Life?

Orla Keaveney looks at the pros and cons for synthetic life.

THE power that scientific advances have given us would have seemed supernatural, even god-like, only a century ago. We can talk to people on the other side of the world, translate any language into our own, access a million libraries’ worth of information in seconds – and carry the tools to do all these things in our pockets. Not even science fiction could imagine the sorts of abilities we take for granted every day.

Despite all our progress, there are still mysteries that the greatest minds in the world are yet to figure out – a major one being the origins of life itself.

Although countless theories have been debated, nobody has ever managed to create a living thing completely from scratch. Some people even take the unsolved riddle of life as evidence that a higher power must exist, that there are some things beyond human understanding.

Synthetic biology is a branch of science that aims to unlock the secrets of creating life. At the moment, the advances have mainly been in manipulating the genes of existing plants and animals – the best-known example being genetically

“Nobody has ever managed to create a living thing completely from scratch” modified organisms (GMOs). DNA has been manipulated to increase crop efficiency, develop cures for diseases, and clone animals like Dolly the Sheep. But instead of using existing life forms as starting points, the ultimate goal of synthetic biology is to let humans invent organisms entirely from non-living components.

The starting point in creating new life is the cell.

Often called the “building blocks of life”, cells are present in every organism from bacteria to blue whales. Even creatures as complex as humans begin as microscopic cells, which gradually multiply and combine to form tissues. So far, cells have been known to form spontaneously from non-living chemicals in nature, though studies have not been able to conclusively propose a way to control this process.

Partially artificial genomes (the part of a cell that affects its genetic make-up), have been successfully manufactured in labs, but only by “rewriting” the DNA of an existing bacterium. Scientists are still a long way from forming single cells, not to mention constructing organisms that serve practical functions.

If scientists eventually come up with a reliable recipe for creating life, it could have a range of applications far beyond biology. Purpose-built organisms could theoretically produce alternative fuel sources, eat pollutants in water, tackle disease within people’s bodies, or support human life on other planets. However, such radical powers could have unexpected consequences, especially on the already fragile state of Earth’s ecosystem.

Human interference with nature has nearly always ended badly, especially when introducing new creatures: in 1788, when Europeans first settled in Australia, a seemingly innocuous move like introducing rabbits had a disastrous effect on the local wildlife. The rabbit population spiked and monopolised the food resources, contributing more than any other factor to the extinction of native species and remaining a major pest today.

We’d like to believe that humanity has learned from its mistakes, but with climate change deniers still among the White House staff, the pursuit of financial applications for synthetic biology could

easily come at the expense of the environment.

There’s also a question of the cultural implications of such a discovery. Science has been seen as the enemy of religion since the days of Galileo, as new discoveries seemingly undermine the Bible and other sacred teachings. If humans solve the mystery of creating life, which has long been used as proof that a divine being must exist, it could be the death knell for religious

“Purpose-built organisms could theoretically produce alternative fuel sources, eat pollutants in water, tackle disease within people’s bodies, or support human life on other planets” faith. The creation of new life forms could also be controversial if we design beings of human-like intelligence and characteristics, which would spark a debate over how their rights compare to ours.

Considering the current progress of synthetic biology, it’s unlikely that we will need to tackle these problems in our lifetimes. However, as contemporary researchers work towards manufacturing life, it’s their duty to consider the impact that their discoveries will have on future generations. If scientists had been afraid to challenge the limits of humanity throughout history, modern society wouldn’t be able to enjoy the resulting advances in healthcare, technology and beyond. Nonetheless when it comes to playing God, we may find that humans simply aren’t meant to handle such power.

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sCieNCe oUr little frieNDs Inside everyone there are millions of microbes, George Merrin sets out to explore how they affect us.

THe word microbiome has two meanings; it can mean either the collection of microbes in a community, or it can be the collection of genes within a community of microbes. In the context of the human microbiome, the microbiome can be seen as an equivalent match to the human genome, with one hundred genes for every one in the human genome.

Due to the importance of the microbiomes to humans, the Unites States national Institute of Health (nIH) started the Human microbiome Project (HmP). The purpose of this study is to identify all the micro-organisms that can be found in both healthy and diseased humans and see how the microbes change between the two. The Project was started in 2008 and had a massive budget of $115 million. In order to make it easier to study, the human body was split into five key areas, which are as different to each other as the arctic, Sahara, and amazon are. These areas are the gut, oral cavity, skin, vaginal, and nasal/lung.

The gut is of particular interest as it plays a large role in our development of certain diseases. around the world, but especially in the West, there is a rise in immune-mediated diseases.

These are diseases that are caused by the immune

“The dirt on our pets exposes us to these beneficial bacteria” system negatively affecting the body. This is either through attacking the body’s own tissues or by acting unusually. as our modern lifestyle has altered a lot from the past it is thought that factors such as improved sanitation, caesarean sections, antibiotic usage and immunisation (all of which are factors which change the microbiota) may be the driving forces behind this.

But how does this actually affect us? In a recent study, it was shown that being exposed to pets at a young age is beneficial as it decreases the rates

of both childhood allergies and obesity due to the presence of Ruminococcus and oscillospica, which have been linked to reduced levels of these respectively. This is because the dirt on our pets exposes us to these beneficial bacteria.

Certain strands of probiotic bacteria have been shown to possess efficacy in certain disorders of the Central nervous System. This includes disorders such as anxiety, depression, autism spectrum disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders. These improve with daily doses of 109 to 1010 colony forming units for one to two months.

These bacteria belong to the Bifidobacterium and lactobacillus genera.

But our gut bacteria don’t only help prevent diseases and disorders, they also are essential to produce many important biochemical building

“But our gut bacteria don’t only help prevent diseases and disorders, they also are essential to produce many important biochemical building blocks in our bodies” blocks in our bodies. They are involved with fermenting dietary fibre into short-chain fatty acids (SCFas). These are the main sources of energy for the cells that line the colon, which is a major thing needed for our health. examples of these SCFas are acetic acid and butyric acid. These bacteria also synthesise vitamins B and K. Vitamin B12 prevents pernicious anaemia. Vitamin K binds to calcium, which helps build stronger bones and teeth. Vitamin K is also needed for blood coagulation.

Problems begin when dysbiosis occurs. Dysbiosis is when an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in the gut. There is a particular problem with Clostridium difficile. It can opportunistically take over the gut causing major problems.

When this happens, Faecal microbiota Transplants (FmTs) becomes an option. This is where the faeces of one person are transplanted into another person with the purpose of reintroducing a normal microbiome. Since the introduction of FmTs the incidence of antibiotic resistance has decreased. as antibiotic resistance becomes a major problem throughout the world, solutions, such as these relating to microbes, are an option to tackle this.

the Big BaD moNster: fear everyone experiences fear. Aoife Hardesty investigates when those fears become hard to handle.

ImagIne a fear so strong that it takes over your body and mind. Imagine being so terrified of an object/place/situation that that fear consumes and controls you, leaving you helpless. You go out of your way to avoid the source of your fear, no matter how irrational it may be. If you do have to deal with the fear, you have a physical response, maybe fainting, a panic attack, a something else. Such a disorder is called a phobia, named after Phobos, the greek god of fear. a phobia is a crippling anxiety disorder in which a persistent, relentless fear can take over someone’s life. more than just the feeling of fear, having a phobia means the sufferer will go to great lengths to avoid the object of their fear and have an adverse physical response when faced with the object of their fear.

Phobia anxiety disorder can be divided into three categories: specific phobia, agoraphobia and social phobia.

Specific phobia is a fear of a certain object/ animal/situation. Some examples: acrophobia is the fear of heights, claustrophobia is the fear of

“Phobia anxiety disorder can be divided into three categories: specific phobia, agoraphobia and social phobia” enclosed spaces, cynophobia is the fear of dogs and galeophobia is the fear of sharks.

Though agoraphobia is commonly thought of as the fear of open spaces, it can also be a fear of leaving your house, or leaving a place in which you feel safe. It has been suggested that reclusive poet emily Dickinson suffered from agoraphobia as she never left her house.

Social phobia is more usually called social anxiety disorder. It is the fear of public situations and social interactions, which might lead to embarrassment. evolutionarily, fear has kept us safe. We learn what situations are dangerous and to be fearful of such situations. Think of two hunters in a wood hunting for dinner and there’s a rustle in the bushes, a tiger jumps out and gobbles up one hunter, the surviving hunter runs home scared and the tribe learns to avoid the tiger due to fear, protecting them from becoming the tiger’s dinner.

For the surviving hunter in that scenario, fear triggers a biological response. The body becomes flooded with hormones that put the body on red alert,

into a stressed state, ready for fight or flight. For people with a phobia, that fight or flight response occurs in overdrive when faced with the object of fear, and it’s basically because the brain is overreacting.

Fear begins within our brains, and fear learning is processed by a structure called the amygdala. Things that make us scared are encoded into memory as “scary” by passing through the amygdala. Such scary things are better remembered than non-scary things, because it’s important to our survival to remember scary things that might otherwise result in our deaths.

In phobias, it’s thought that the initial learning event for “that thing is scary” is overexaggerated by the amygdala. Subsequent encounters with the scary thing result in an overreaction of the fight-or-flight response, which leads to panic, anxiety and stress.

For people with a phobia that greatly affects their day-to-day lives, they can seek help from a

“Subsequent encounters with the scary thing result in an overreaction of the fight or flight response which leads to panic, anxiety and stress” doctor. Like with other anxiety disorders, therapy and medications are available to help people live fulfilling lives. Therapy can help people develop techniques to overcome the panic reaction and medications can be used to combat the fight or flight response.

Phobias are real anxiety disorders, and should be taken as seriously as other mental illnesses, so if someone ever tells you they have a phobia, don’t belittle or mock them. Listen to what they say, be kind, and try to understand them.

UNBe-leaf-aBle Aisling Brennan takes a journey into the weird and wonderful world of plants.

FROm the massive to the deadly, as well as the smelly to the just plain bizarre, plants have diversified and filled every ecological niche you could think of. While many of them simply photosynthesise and bloom, and do what plants do best, there’s quite a few species that dare to do more, and many of them aren’t very friendly.

Top of any list of weird plants will be carnivorous plants. Venus flytraps and pitcher plants are well known for their animal eating habits, and to be fair, what’s weirder than a plant that pulls the natural order of things up by the roots? How about sticky, dewy leaves that envelope insects and digest them over hours and days like the sundew? Or plants that enlist the help of carpenter ant colonies to clean up the remains of kills too large for even their digestive juices to handle? maybe the bladderwort, which

uses air sacs to float and sink, and eats tiny fish and invertebrates by sucking them into a vacuum trap?

Or how about some species of pitcher plants, which access valuable nitrogen by acting as an attractive toilet bowl option for tree shrews (complete with shrew-sized seat), and collecting their dung?

Have I got your attention or have you just had your lunch? If you’re queasy it might be best to

18 april 19th 2017

the deep-red sap flowing under its bark, which can seep out and ‘bleed’ if damaged.

Trees may not seem like the weirdest of plants, but some of them take being a tree to extremes, like the largest tree ever recorded: a Coast redwood

are incredibly toxic and dangerous, even (and sometimes especially) to humans.

But today’s winner for weirdest plant, is the hammer orchid (which, following a trend in today’s article, smells like raw meat). The name doesn’t give much away to be honest, it simply describes the strange protruding appendage that sticks out “Eating too much of certain the flower, but that’s where it just begins. parts causes severe calcium from The appendage mimics the appearance of the flightless female thynnid wasp, which is known to oxalate poisoning – a climb on top of plants and corrosive toxin that burns flowers to signal to flying males that into flesh and is capable of is ready to shutting down organ systems” she mate. So, when a hapless male that fell in 1905, and weighed nearly 3 million wasp sees the kilograms. Or the Pando tree aspen colony, which is swaying ‘hammer’, a shared root system with more than 40,000 clonal he tends to do what trunks that are estimated to be about 80,000 years males so often do old, and survivors of multiple ice ages and fires. best and leaps before For a little more diversity look no further than looking, trying to pick acacia species, which can warn nearby trees to up the ‘female’ for a good become more toxic if a herbivore eats its leaves, or time. The problem is that strike up a room-and-board deal with massive ant this female doesn’t want colonies in exchange for swarmy, bitey protection. to go anywhere, and before and that’s on top of having massive thorns. the male gets very far he’s Some plants look weird, some plants smell unceremoniously dunked into strange, some are just plain wacky, like a pitcher of orchid pollen.

Lithrops species, which survive by pretending and if he gets fooled twice, to look like rocks, or the 2000 year old 2-leafed then the glorious life-cycle of the raw-meat-smelling, tweeblaarkanniedood (say it fast five times). and some, like the deadly new Zealand tree nettle, thynnid wasp cat-fishing orchid, gets to begin anew. or blinding and necrotising giant hogweed,

illUstratioN: meaDhBh sheriDaN

“On top of smelling like a dead body, the flower has no roots, stems, or leaves, and exists normally as a parasitic vine fragment”

avoid the next few contestants on our journey to the centre of mother nature’s twisted mind. a surprising variety of different plants smell like crap. Or faeces, or rotting corpses, or any number of unpleasant things that attract pollinators and prey alike.

The Rafflesia arnoldii corpse flower (or stinking corpse lily) is the largest single flower on the planet. Or is it? On top of smelling like a dead body, the flower has no roots, stems, or leaves, and exists normally as a parasitic vine fragment, and its puzzling (and not terribly efficient) habit of occasionally forming a flower up to 43cm wide has confused scientists as to whether it’s a plant, a fungus, or something even weirder.

On the subject of stinking flowers, there are many examples to choose from. The elephant-foot yam also smells like a corpse, and produces an edible fruit that is a delicacy in some places (West Bengal) but the most inferior and last resort of all yam varieties in others (Tonga).

The skunk cabbage is doubly terrible. a big, foul smelling flower in north america, specific parts of the plant were found to be edible by indigenous people. This was presumably following a drawn out Russian roulette style trial and error, as eating too much of certain parts causes severe calcium oxalate poisoning – a corrosive toxin that burns into flesh and is capable of shutting down organ systems.

Let’s leave the odorous plants behind us. ever wondered what the plant with the coolest name is? a strong contender is the Dragon’s-Blood tree, which looks a bit like an umbrella, with a canopy near-impenetrable to light shading its roots from the desert sun. Where it gets its name though, is from

immmr visits UCD On Thursday the 30th of March 2017, Sarah and Sophie from the immmr team visited University College Dublin to introduce students to the future of calling. They set up a stand in the student centre of the college and held a competition to win free flight vouchers. The aim was to gain general feedback from students and to tell them all about what immmr can offer as a communication app. Students were particularly interested in using immmr for international calling and additional numbers, which most of the participants suggested could be very useful when travelling to call home and abroad.

Cross Device What is Cross Device?

Cross Device allows you to access your contacts anytime and anywhere. Phone. Desktop. Tablet. Home.

Or abroad. Just login on web.immmr.com. Your communication; all calls, messages and contacts are combined in one place.

How does it work?

immmr users can not only access their contacts and conversations, but they can also make and receive voice, video calls and messages from any device. The only thing needed is an internet connection. You can move seamlessly from one device to another with all of your contacts and threads up in the cloud.

Why do I need it?

immmr is there for you when your phone or laptop battery dies. Has your tablet lost WiFi connection on the train during a call? Pick up your phone and use data to reconnect while on the move! Lost your mobile on a night out and want to connect with friends? Grab your laptop or tablet to contact your immmr friends. Our aim is to keep the world connected and have fun while doing so! What are you waiting for?!

Open-immmr What is open-immmr?

Open-immmr is a feature which allows you to connect with non-registered users anywhere around the world.

immmr set-up in the Student Centre in U.C.D

How does open-immmr work?

What is immmr?

Simply send your open-immmr URL link and connect with friends, family and colleagues near and far without prompting download or sign-up of the app!

So what exactly is immmr? Well, immmr is a voice and video communication service created to reboot calling. It provides a range of features including video calling, international calling, additional numbers, cross device, open-immmr and more. Forget the limitations of low mobile phone battery and multiple SIM cards. immmr unifies voice, video calls and messaging in one service, so that users can connect from any device and from anywhere.

You can also make international calls and send SMS texts across the world. Don’t let distance get in the way, immmr is here to make life easier for you to stay connected to your loved ones. immmr to immmr calling is always completely free, all you need is an internet connection.

You can also use immmr to call out from the app. This works just the same as a regular call, and the person you are calling doesn’t need to have immmr downloaded to receive the call. immmr helps you to communicate with family and friends wherever they are. When you download immmr, you receive 250 free minutes every month to call internationally to over 120 countries.

Why do I need it?

Additional Numbers

With open-immmr, you can create your own personal space and choose what information to show. Do you want to get in contact with others without inviting them to personal social media platforms? Provide no personal details on your open-immmr space to secure your privacy. Open-immmr lets you chat and make voice and video calls. immmr can be for everyone, even non-immmr users can just open the link, enter a nickname and say hello.

Video Calling Nothing beats seeing a friendly face. One on one, in a group, always for free. See your friend’s new dog or reconnect with family abroad. Make personal and business video calls directly to another immmr user, or create a group video call to connect with multiple users at the same time. You can also switch seamlessly between voice and video calls. Lying on the beach on a holiday and want to make your friends at home jealous? Video call them and show them what they’re missing! Can’t go out at the weekend because of upcoming exams? Stay connected with friends by group video calls, and even help each other study! Be open, be social, be immmr.

What are Additional Numbers?

With immmr you can have more than one number without needing multiple SIM cards. immmr’s additional numbers are perfect for when you need to separate your home and work life, and very useful for dating, travel, and even selling items online.

How do they work?

When you register your account with immmr, you will need to use your regular phone number to create an account. At the moment, immmr offers a FREE additional UK number when you download the app, for you to use as you choose! If you have family and friends in the UK they can also call this number for the same price as a regular local call!

The additional number is not attached to any SIM card and you can receive calls on this UK number once you are connected to the internet. Think having an additional number without an additional SIM card. Think using your mobile number to make a call without your actual mobile phone. Think immmr. Think independent.

Why do I need them?

Be whoever you want to be with immmr! Tinder date didn’t go so well? immmr users can protect their main phone number and create new ones for their own convenience! Selling concert tickets online and don’t want to be flooded with calls? Use a second number!

Studying abroad but still want your home number? Why not have both! With immmr you can have multiple numbers from different countries, perfect for students on Erasmus or taking part in the J1 Programme.

(L-R): immmr in the Google Play Store and the App Store Messaging Run out of SMS texts and it’s only half way through the month? Don’t worry, you can send an immmr message to registered users for free! You can also use your free monthly 250 minutes for sending SMS texts to non-registered users. One minute = one SMS. immmr keeps all of your messages easily accessible together in one place. Don’t forget that immmr also provides group messaging. Want to organize a work night out? Make an immmr group conversation and add in your colleagues! immmr also supports location sharing once location is enabled on your device, along with images, contacts, voice messages and videos.

What immmr offers: Download immmr today: www.immmr.com/ie and you will receive a FREE additional UK number, along with 250 minutes every month to text or call to over 120 countries.

The winners of our competition from our U.C.D visit are Mr. Donagh Ruane, Ms. Róisín Rigg and Ms. Cathy O´Donoghue. Congratulations guys! Anyone who missed out, you have another chance to win 1 of 2 €100 flight vouchers, just fill out our survey to enter the competition at www.immmr.com/ ie and download immmr today!

april 19th 2017 19

Student voices This Newspaper and This Society For the final issue of the year Online Comment & Opinion Editor and OCM of the LGBTQ+ Society Ruth Murphy talks about her time in UCD.

“When I got these positions I didn’t know the people I would work alongside for the coming year and now, you might say, I know too much.” wanted. The following year, I was sitting in the new Observer office, opposite the Features Editor at the time Gráinne Loughran, dishing out articles and encouraging people to eat the free biscuits on the table.

When I entered the Freshers’ tent that year I walked straight, however nervously, to the LGBT society stand. The following year I was sitting at that stand willing the nervous queers to come over to us.

When I got these positions I didn’t know the people I would work alongside for the coming year and now, you might say, I know too much. I would advise anyone interested in the University Observer or the LGBTQ+ Society or any society or club or

whatever PleaseTalk is to get involved. It is never too late.

In first year I did not go to a single LGBTQ+ Society day-time event. I was a believer in the social lubricant that is alcohol and only went on the nights out to Prhomo and the George. They were

“I would advise anyone interested in the University Observer or the LGBTQ+ Society to get involved.” pretty great times though and I am still friends with many of the people I hung out with on those nights, even if I think many of them could tone down their obsession with RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In my time in the LGBTQ+ Society I have made wonderful friends whom I love. I have marched with so many proud others at Pride. I got to interview former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh (I actually met her again at the Student Media Awards).

I helped get people from every county registered to vote for marriage equality. I have been part of a team that has achieved so much and though it changes from year to year I know that it will continue to achieve and strive to make LGBTQ+ people in this university feel welcome, accepted, and that they belong.

I understand that some see the society as cliquey but please get involved and change that. It is the members that make the society. I wouldn’t recommend joining the society to pick up chicks/dicks/ gender-neutral-somethings as you’ll probably just end up making lots of friends. However, I did manage to meet my exceptional girlfriend on this society committee and I could write this whole article about how great she is but I feel like that wouldn’t make it to print.

With the Observer I’ve had the chance to work with amazing people and write some hopefully not-too-shit articles. I’ve learnt more about journalism and I’ve enjoyed dappling in multiple sections – did you know we have a magazine? I’ve watched a friend stand up on stage at the Smedias

photo credit: James Brady

THIS is the final LGBTQ+ Society column of the 2016/2017 academic year. This may also be the last time I write for the University Observer (I heavily encourage the next committee of the society and the next editors of the Observer to keep this column running for another year!). I was surprised in first year to discover that this column in terms of its content and contributors is not sorted by the Observer but by the LGBTQ+ Society. The Observer approve and edit all articles. They have yet to say no to me.

I am taking advantage of this in talking about my time here in UCD, in this society and with this newspaper. I hope that you will excuse my allusions to what may seem unrelated to queer things, but eh, I’m queer so therefore it’s a bit queer. I’m queer therefore I am or something.

At my first Observer meeting I sat in a room of strangers hoping to get a pitch to write. I waited while the more confident people got the first few articles and eventually I got a Comment article I

Ruth interviewing Maria Walsh on receipt of the Foy-Zappone Award from the LGBTQ+ Society in 2015 as dedicated to the gays as these guys. Thanks to these guys also for letting this column run and, where possible, giving me editorial control.

This column runs because we have a newspaper that gets in touch with others to give insight into more ways of existing in UCD. Thank you and well done to past editors Gráinne Loughran and Patrick Kelleher, and Cormac Duffy and David Corscadden who produced an exceptional newspaper that has only gone from strength to strength. Thank you so much to Roisin Guyett-Nicholson and Martin Healy.

Congratulations on winning Editors of the Year.

You deserve it and more! (Roisin and Martin have edited this and I darn hope that their modest selves didn’t take from my congratulations.) Also thanks to Louise Flanagan for making these words into a newspaper and making it pretty. Without design, all these columns would never see the light of day.

and receive a well-deserved award for Journalist of the Year and had the opportunity to stand on that stage myself two years later along with the better and more hard-working Online Broadsheet Editor Eithne Dodd.

I also saw the Science award return, which many of us credit to journalist extraordinaire Aoife Hardesty. I have seen Patrick Kelleher, as Arts and Literature editor, trawl through and politely slightly edit so many Creative Writing pieces when the section was first introduced, before it got its own editor.

The people who run these groups in UCD do not always get the recognition they deserve. Thank you so much to past and present LGBTQ+ Society auditors Philip Weldon, Aoife Ward, Amy Crean, and Louise Keogh and I’m not just saying that because I’m friends with all of them. I do not know anyone

Puzzles!

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Thu Apr 13 10:34:32 2017 GMT. Enjoy!

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Thu Apr 13 10:30:01 2017 GMT. Enjoy!

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Thu Apr 13 10:35:43 2017 GMT. Enjoy!

*The University Observer reserves the right to not publish the answers to these puzzles. It does so in the belief that at least some of you are intelligent enough to figure them out for yourselves.

20 april 19th 2017

eDitoRial

eDitorial aS we come to the end of the year, it seems the right time to reflect on the position of this university and its future direction. There has been a prominent theme throughout this year. Various things came to light that highlight a certain priority among university management.

Consent classes, introduced last year, were dropped in January following poor promotion and attendance. The university offered no money to the UCDSU to help run the classes. This was despite claims by marcus O’Halloran last year that UCD wanted to support moves to promote consent.

The cost of the classes (€1,800) was ultimately covered by the SU alone. a number of the new SU representatives have expressed a desire to see them return, but not all are clear what the problem was that saw them fail previously.

What was ultimately clear was that UCD was not supportive of moves to promote consent at all. It is an issue only discussed by the university when there is significant national media attention.

This year it has also emerged that the building of a private university club is a priority of the university. The initial development is set to cost €300,000, money which will come from the university resources.

It is unclear what material benefit this club will offer students or even why it needs to be built in the first place. There is a similar staff club already in existence in the newman building.

The Confucius Institute is also running behind schedule and likely to cost the university almost

€3 million more than originally projected. The very existence of this institute on campus not only costs the university money, which could be going to other student services but also undervalues each student’s degree. It is unclear what UCD actually receives from this partnership bar a headache and an emptier wallet.

These decisions by the university management show where UCD’s priorities lie. and it’s not with providing their students with an education.

While money is funnelled into these private pet projects such as a private club or into procuring new land, student services are being cut. ad astra, one of the only scholarships the university offers, has been halved over the last few years.

Students now on the same stream but who entered at different points receive different money. It also fails to recognise the efforts or talents of those who have worked hard for a number of years and undervalues their efforts. While simultaneously praising those Olympians who had trained in UCD, the university cuts funding to those very programmes.

This is evident not only in scholarship programmes but also in funding for different sports clubs. The athletic Union Council this year has outlined that it has received no increase in its funds for the last 8 years and as a result cut grants for outdoor sports clubs. These are useful and important outlets for students. It is a travesty that students are now not offered the same supports they were a year ago.

Similarly, the library has been found and acknowledged by the university to be underfunded.

the uNiVeRsity oBseRVeR eDitoR Roisin guyett-nicholson UCD Foundation, the charitable organisation, recently sourced €60,000 for new materials. While this work is to be commended, it underlines the wider issue of the lack of investment from the University.

These are just a flavour of the things that have emerged over the past year or so. The ultimate issue is that UCDSU needs to focus on these issues an awful lot more than they currently are doing.

Students are coming second to the bottom line, the potential for profit.

It is up to the SU to fight for students; something the union has not been doing. However, on the subject of the union, there has been a number of controversial developments. The election of Katie ascough raised more than a few eyebrows.

In a year that UCDSU reaffirmed their pro-choice status, students also elected a pro-life advocate as the head of said union. However, this may actually work in everyone’s favour. as someone with something to prove to the student body, ascough could deliver something that none of the recent unions have managed to do. If she can actually present a strong voice to university management and really question these issues, then perhaps she will lead the union in actually fighting for students.

Time will tell how the union develops. However it is clear that this is an interesting time. It will be hugely important to students how the union develops in future.

TaLLeY HO!! something for once and actually work for students.

What’s that over there, a flying pig?

This proposal is only to ask for post-grad students that have already graduated from UCD to be allowed entry to these hallowed halls of Deeks’ new lair. Bacardi seems to have forgotten that alumni will be allowed entry to the club anyway. good work representing the needs of the students there, by asking the University to agree to something they were going to do anyway.

His crop of followers have also seemed just as useless. Scared of doing anything that actually might seem to be too radical/actually work, the union have continued their just-listen-to-what-theuniversity-says-and-not-actually-question-anything attitude. Talley’s sure that’s worked out real well.

Talley believes Cian “The Phantom One” Casey is still alive, but who really knows? It’s entirely possible he fell down a flight of stairs in Blackrock and hasn’t been found. Perhaps he’s still roaming the halls there.

Lexi Kiljoy and Roisin O’Bortions-for-some are still rattling around their cages, amid cries of “student cases” and “working groups”. Talley assumes this is supposed to mean they actually achieved something with their year? meanwhile, Fitzhandbook is still wandering around campus. Talley hears he’s still trying to push that handbook they made at the start of the

year. What a pity half of the information in it was inaccurate. In future though, if Fitzhandbook has an issue with articles published in this turgid publication or its award-winning website, Talley recommends he speaks to the editors directly. even ol’ Power-hungry doesn’t stoop to getting his girlfriend to do his dirty work for him.

On the other hand, the university have proved particularly obstinate and determined to pretend that there are no student issues or student media outlets on campus at all this year. Clearly, emails to the UCD communication department just go into a big black hole where nobody can ever access them again. even when UCD is the most successful at the Student media awards, someone seems to have forgotten they even happened this year. ah well, Talley’s sure that won’t come back to bite them on the ass. ever. at all. Like say when any of this year’s editorial teams go into national media. It’s not like any old editors are in national media. Oh wait… all this bile would be enough to strike down a being with weaker constituion than I. Time to rest, for now. Don’t you worry my semi-literate pleb, Talley shall rise once again come the autumn.

For now, TaLLeY OUT XOXO

letters to the eDitor Letters, corrections and clarifications pertaining to articles published in this newspaper and online are welcome and encouraged.

aRt & DesigN eDitoR Louise Flanagan Chief of photogRaphy Camille Lombard News eDitoR alanna O’Shea Deputy/iNteRNatioNal News eDitoR Rory geoghegan CoMMeNt eDitoR Julia O’Reilly featuRes eDitoR Billy Vaughan eagaRthóiR gaeilge niamh O’Regan sCieNCe eDitoR Danielle Crowley Co-spoRts eDitoRs Conall Cahill & David Kent BusiNess eDitoR Brían Donnelly BRoaDsheet oNliNe eDitoRs Ruth murphy eithne Dodd

talleyraND HeLLO, dear plebs. I, Charles maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord have begrudingly returned for my last ramblings of the year. and it has been quite an eventful one. However, the main thing Talley has learned this year is that there are few people in University College Dishwater that one can actually put up with without wanting to bang one’s head against a wall. mostly anyone in UCD management or the omnipotent, successful, driven SU. Wait what’s that? The SU don’t actually affect any change? Talley is well aware but they don’t seem to know that.

We saw another year of incompetent inaction from our esteemed SU sabbats. But hey its’ not all bad. They inspired ol’ Katie ask-for-microwaves to make a run for the top position. They say the incoming sabbats show how successful your year has been. If that’s true, ask-for-microwaves’ election speaks for itself.

This year’s sabbats seem to have been virtually useless. Old Coke and Bacardi’s biggest gripe about the private University Club seems to be that students wouldn’t be able to access it. not the fact it’s been prioritised over accommodation during an accommodation crisis. good catch there Bacardi.

But to combat this dreadful travesty of an elite and expensive club on campus, that has virtually no benefit for students, the SU have submitted a proposal! Yay, you say, maybe they’ll actually do

Deputy eDitoR martin Healy

staff wRiteRs aisling Brennan aoife Hardesty Keri Heath Orla Keaveney george merrin Jessica Quinn Ross Walsh BRoaDsheet CoNtRiButoRs Ciaran Busby Claudia Dalby David Desai Lisa Herden anne Lavelle aileen mcgrath Rachael mullally Priscill Obilana Kevin O’Leary Dylan O’neill mary meadbh Park Talleyrand Rosa Torr Visual CoNteNt CoNtRiButoRs aisling mcguire Rebecca Kelly Joanna O’malley Claudia Dalby alex Floss-Jones meadhbh Sheridan speCial thaNKs Laura Harte and all at Webprint aoife “the easter Bunny” Hardesty all of the Observer Staff The RDS Coffee Happy Belated Birthday to David Kent

Letters should be addressed to: The editor, University Observer, UCD Student Centre, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Correspondence may also be sent to editor@universityobserver.ie.

april 19th 2017 21

Sport

There’s No Business Like Snow Business David Kent visited the slopes and interviewed UCD Snowsports Club for the final Club Focus of the year. photo credit: UCD snowsports facebook

That’s a fairly impressive year by all accounts, particularly the trip up the French mountains. There’s very few slopes to go down in Ireland, (discounting the Hill of Tara) but this doesn’t seem to bother the Snowsports club: “Having no snow is not an issue for us. We go for

“Seeing the place flooded with UCD students who were having an absolute blast brought a smile to my face.”

IRELAND. A place where you can never ever tell what the weather is going to be like. Put on that big heavy coat? It’s guaranteed to be sunny.

Decided to break out the shorts? Your leg hair will be skinned off you by the wind.

Something we almost never get though, is snow.

Whenever we rarely get a flurry, it’s at the most random time, like St. Patrick’s Day last year. But if it sticks, you’ll see people breaking out sleds, ski’s and snowboards to race down hills. They’re subconsciously taking part in snowsports In UCD, that kind of things falls under the banner of UCD Snowsports club. Going into its 11th year as a club, the unique group was formed by a group of friends and was a medium for like minded indi-

viduals to go on a major trip to the Alps.

That tradition has continued all the way. Speaking to the University Observer, club captain Michael Kerr reflected on the college year gone by: “It’s the biggest event for us. 200 students went over the Val D’isere in France in January for a

“It can be dangerous yes, but we always take precautions.” week and it was amazing. We had the annual Ball which was held in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, as well as the Fresher’s Night, Apres Ski Trip Night and plenty of weekly social events as well.”

The Badger’s Great Sporting Summer The Badger goes into hibernation for the summer, but isn’t looking forward to it.

Ah yes, the great sporting summer is here, where your average punter has absolutely nothing to look forward to. There’s ‘’no football’’ around because the Premier League wraps up in May (the Badger weeps for the League of Ireland) and most GAA fans will switch off the television until August time.

Sure the entertainment is already finished for the year as the unstoppable Dubs were stopped and their fans proved just how petty they were, blaming everything from the ref to the weather conditions for their defeat. You stay classy.

But what’s actually on? The Lions tour? Oh, Warren Gatland’s favourite fifteen getting their arses handed to them by the All-Blacks on their own turf.

It’s just as well it’s to New Zealand, otherwise Ireland’s South Africa’s CJ Stander would have to come up against the side that he wasn’t good enough to play on. The Badger loves that about rugby. If you’re not good enough for the place you were born, just move somewhere else. Imagine if that happened in other sports.

22 april 19th 2017

Roy Keane isn’t good enough for Cobh Ramblers, emigrates to Walsall, plays for England. Gooch Cooper can’t get into the Dr Crokes, so he crosses the border and the greatest forward of all time instead plays for Limerick.

Oh hang on – Cooper actually could’ve done that!

With all the hype about the Lions, the Irish public and media seem to have forgotten about the World Cup happening in this very college later this year. How bad is it that we have to be told it’s the “Women’s World Cup”. I look forward to the next Men’s World Cup in Japan in a couple of years.

On the advice of one of the rats in the set, The Badger decided to take a peek at the award winning Student Newspaper of the Year: the College Tribune.

You know, the paper edited by the guy who believed Yik Yak last year. Anyway, the Badger flicked to the back pages and found a report on the Colours match between UCD and Trinity last weekend. Match.

Singular. Just the men’s match, despite the women playing two hours prior. Because equality!

Even more stunning was the Tribune’s ability to report on a match they weren’t at.

The Badger was sniffing about at the UCD Bowl the day after the rugby for the UCD AFC game against Athlone Town. Nuzzled comfortably in the corner of the press box, the Badger recognised the two people sat alongside him. One was reporting for the national press, one for a football website. No sign of any other reporter, and yet a report appeared in the Tribune. The editor even admitted on a radio show that he had no knowledge of the UCD Waves, the senior ladies side here in Belfield.

Let the countdown to the great sporting winter begin…

training two days a week (Thursday and Friday) up in the ski club of Ireland in Kilternan on a dry slope. It’s not perfect, but we have to work with what we’ve got.”

The high point of the year for Kerr however, came at the very start. “Seeing the sheer amount of people that were eager to learn how to ski (was my highlight). In our first training session this year, we brought 120 people up to Kilternan for lessons.

Seeing the place flooded with UCD students who were having an absolute blast brought a smile to my face.”

The practice and lessons paid off. On the 9th of April, Trinity, DIT, DCU, Maynooth and UCD all competed for the Intervarsities title in racing and freestyle in Kilternan. UCD Snowsports had a team of 30 ranging from beginners all the way up to Irish international racers. The college came out on top by a total of 27 points, regaining the title after losing last year. And it wasn’t just a flash in the pan – this was the clubs 11th intervarsity in 12 years.

Finishing the year with 570 members, the wheel keeps turning during the summer.

“We start all over again” said Kerr. “Plan and organise everything for next year, especially the trip.

The new committee is being elected on Wednesday

19th April so they will have a busy summer after exams.”

You see some pretty grotesque injuries at the top level of skiing and snowboarding, but Kerr is quick to dismiss the danger, maintaining that the club will always put safety first.

“It can be dangerous yes, but we always take precautions. We encourage our members to always play it safe. We provide safety equipment such as helmets during training to make sure our members are protected.”

Looking to the future, the captain has grand ambitions: ‘(In ten years time) I hope to see it as the biggest club in UCD. Snowsports is really starting to grow internationally thanks to the X Games and it shows with the amount of people who are taking up skiing and snowboarding for the first time’ Fancy grabbing your skis and boards and joining the club right now? Mixed news.

“As it is the end of the academic year we aren’t

“Snowsports is really starting to grow internationally thanks to the X Games…” signing new members up. The first time we will be signing members up is during fresher’s week next September. All they have to do is come down to stand during the week. It’s that simple. If for any reason they can’t make it down during fresher’s week we do hold weekly signups every Monday throughout the year.

“We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and of course the club email. If anyone wants to get in contact with us they can get a hold of us on any of those platforms. Alternatively, if they want to speak to us personally they can pop down to us at our weekly signups and one of the committee members will help them with anything they need.”

Sports Digest A round up of the sport news happening around UCD. Soccer: UCD’s under 19 goalkeeper went viral over the last two weeks. Conor Kearns made an appearance on Soccer AM after scoring an injury time equalizer against Cork City. The 19 year-old went up for a UCD corner and struck an overhead kick into the goal.

UCD’s senior side drew the Dublin 4 derby against Cabinteely, coming from 2-0 down to finish 2-2. Collie O’Neil’s charges sit second in the Airtricity League First Division. Daire O’Connor and Jason McLelland have been called up to the Irish College & University squad for next week’s game against Scotland.

Rugby: UCD finished the AIL season off with a 37-28 defeat to Clontarf. They finished the league in 5th place, after picking up eight wins from eighteen games.

Athletics: The Intervarsity track and field championships took place in Cork IT last week. The final event for UCD Athletics Club was a successful one, with the club taking nine medals back to Belfield.

Carla Sweeney ran for gold in the 1500m, Tom O’Keefe won the 5000 metres in a time of 14

minutes and 58 seconds, while Mairead O’Neill set a new UCD hammer throw record of 50.72 to win gold.

The women’s 4x400 metres won silver behind DCU with Tim Bowler finishing second in the combined events.

In the sprints, UCD won three bronze medals: Aisling Drumgoole in the 400 metres, with Stephen Gaffney and Sarah Lavin finishing third in the men’s and women’s 200m respectively An overall total of 72 points saw UCD finish fifth, but a rise of 20 points from last year’s Intervarsities is a huge testament to the work of the club over the year.

UCD Volleyball: The Association Cup final takes place in UCD this coming Saturday, with the premier women’s team making it to the decider after beating Trinity by three games to nil (25-3, 25-18, 25-13).

Cycling: UCD Cycling club was well represented in the John Reilly Cup on the 8th of April. Club scholar Cian O’Reilly won the event in Balscadden, with team mate Eoin Morton finishing fourth.

Club Captain Simon Jones won the A2 Category to finish a great day in Meath.

UCD’s medal winning Athlectics Team at the Intervarstites in CIT

sport

Why we should enjoy the League of Ireland more

As we head for (hopefully) a long, fine summer, Kevin O’Leary opens up about his love affair with the League of Ireland and explains why you should allow yourself to be smitten. signs of following these players to the highest levels of professional football.

While I’m not so blind as to think the league is of a comparable standard to the Premier League or La Liga, it certainly matches them with excitement.

I would trade quality for excitement any day. No amount of Sky Sports hype can change the fact that you just watched another boring José Mourinho team get a scoreless draw at home.

Some of the best sporting moments I have ever experienced involved League of Ireland clubs. The manic celebrating when Cork clinched the First Division with a last-minute winner; my jaw nearly dropping off my face when a 25-yard Pat Sullivan piledriver helped send Shamrock Rovers into the Europa League; and the unbridled joy I felt when my team won the FAI Cup with a 120th-minute winner in front of almost 30,000 fans…all of these were feats made more special by the fact that it was Irish teams who had achieved them.

Being a League of Ireland fan puts you in a pretty unique position. A Liverpool fan would like nothing more than to see the Manchester clubs dumped out I’M a Cork City fan. My first League of Ireland game was on a gloriously warm summer evening, glued to the edge of my seat as Cork and Bohemians battled out a titanic clash for the 2008 league title. And even though we lost that night, it still provoked the birth of a vivid passion that has intensified immensely in the years since then.

I had always been a massive football fan, but my attention had almost entirely been drawn to the leagues of England and mainland Europe. It was easy to follow the Premier League from the comfort of my armchair, as I actually still do. Nowadays though, I combine my liking for Manchester United with avid support for the Rebel Army. Despite knowing a professional league existed practically on my doorstep, it was only when RTÉ started showing Monday Night Soccer (now Soccer Republic) that I became suitably

inspired to take more interest in the domestic game.

The league here has always seemed to be tucked away, hidden from public view, as if Irish football can’t evoke the same intrigue as the foreign equivalents. Ask most people why they don’t follow an Irish club and the typical response is that the standard just isn’t high enough.

Yet in the few short years that I have been a supporter of our domestic league, fans have seen the likes of James McClean, Séamus Coleman and Daryl Horgan dazzle defences and play the game at such a high level that they have since gained deserved places in the national squad.

And to think we’ve only paid €10 to see our international stars mesmerise us just a few yards from our seats. The league’s current stars, such as Seán Maguire and Patrick McEleney, are showing all the

“I sat on my bed with my laptop, looking out the window at Manhattan’s skyscrapers in the distance, while American pundits sat discussing Dundalk and the beauty of football in Europe” of Europe at the first hurdle. As a Cork City fan, there’s nothing I’d like to see more than an Irish club in the Champions League group stages, even if it’s not my own club.

Although it would put them in their own financial sphere were they to progress, I will be cheering on Dundalk every step of the way in the Champions

League qualifiers this summer. Supporting a rival in Europe would be unimaginable in almost every league in the world, but not here. In addition to such

“While I’m not so blind as to think the league is of a comparable standard to the Premier League or La Liga, I would trade quality for excitement any day” an achievement being a massive coup for an underdog, the exposure the league would get would benefit the rest of us, as Dundalk’s run last year seems to have done.

Working on a J1 in New York last summer, I got up early one August morning to watch Dundalk take on BATE Borisov in the Champions League third qualifying round. It was an unforgettable experience, sitting on my bed with my laptop, looking out the window at Manhattan’s skyscrapers in the distance, while American pundits sat around in their New York studio discussing what the possibility of having Dundalk in the group stages said about the beauty of football in Europe. It was a moment that was as exhilarating as it was surreal.

There’s always a dream for our league’s fans that we will have modern stadia, well-paid quality footballers, and regular appearances in Champions League and Europa League groups. Dundalk’s trailblazing last year felt like a definite and timely step in that direction, and the buzz in the league created by their success has remained.

If you go to a League of Ireland match, you are buying into all those things; the last-minute goals, the incredible European nights, the thrill of witnessing top-tier football in a stadium just a few minutes from your doorstep. One trip to Anfield could easily cost €400. You could go to 40 Shamrock Rovers games for that amount. I know which option I would pick.

WRWC 2017: Opportunity Awaits With just over three months to kick-off, Niamh O Regan discusses how the Women’s Rugby World Cup is a massive chance for the IRFU to support the game.

AUGUST 9th 2017, the kick off for the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) takes place in the UCD Bowl at 2pm. The final whistle is set to be blown at approximately 9.25pm in the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast, a little over two weeks later. The World Cup brings with it opportunities, or at least a particular pressure to create opportunities.

The first Women’s Rugby World Cup was held in 1991, only four years after the inaugural men’s counterpart, despite a much shorter history. While the men’s game was professionalised in 1995, women’s rugby have yet to see the same across the board.

In Ireland, women’s rugby is not professional.

The women who line out for their country are not compensated for their efforts. Like their sporting comrades in the GAA, there’s a 5am start for morning training, a full day of work, and back training again in the evening. There has been a slower movement towards professionalisation across all women’s sports.

Speaking to the University Observer, Leah Hayden, UCD Women’s Rugby captain, explained that in the last World Cup – held in France back in 2014

“It is not to say that the Ireland women did not perform in this year’s Six Nations, but England dominated.”

-- Irish women were not compensated for their loss of earnings. Including training camp before the World Cup, time spent over there before and during the tournament can amount to six weeks, which is a month-and-a-half of earning gone without a trace.

Perhaps hosting the World Cup will be an excellent opportunity for the IRFU to at least begin to compensate women for loss of earnings in some capacity. These women are currently only

playing for the passion for the game and the pride of representing their country. While passion is probably the most important thing in the survival of a sport, investment is crucial to keep a game alive, and the amateur status is not shared across all rugby unions.

Last summer it was announced that England women would be awarded professional contracts for the 2016/17 season, with the Sevens players having been awarded contracts the year previously. While

“Constant recruitment becomes a lot easier with high levels of coverage.” money isn’t everything, the difference shows.

It is not to say that the Ireland women did not perform in this year’s Six Nations, but England dominated. The fact that England women could dedicate all day, every day training and have enough time to recover, definitely showed through in their performance. Both Ireland and England were up for a Grand Slam this year and while Ireland put up a good fight in the final game, the heightened skill and intensity of England allowed them to plough through the last quarter.

This investment in players and player development not only leads to increased skills and success for the team, but success acts as its own tool of recruitment. Hayden believes that there has definitely been an increase in women’s rugby recruitment in UCD this year, quite likely off the back of the World Cup and the fact that UCD are hosting some of the matches. Hayden herself only began playing rugby when she started university, and finds that a lot of women join when they got to college because it is something new, something they haven’t tried before.

By contrast, a lot of those playing for men’s university teams, will have played rugby for some of

secondary school at least. The WRWC offers a good opportunity to encourage more girls to get involved at a younger age, and ensure a constant consistent line of recruitment, so that skills can be taught and honed from an early age.

This level of constant recruitment becomes a lot easier with high levels of coverage. However, women’s sport not gaining the same traction of the men’s is nothing new.

Until 2013, women’s rugby had not featured on the national broadcaster, while the matches of the Munster and Leinster Senior Cups have been televised consistently since 2005. Following the UCD Colours match on the 7th of April, the Irish Times covered the results of the men’s match which was won by UCD, but neglected to mention the women even played a match, not to mention that in winning, UCD women had now won two years in a row. The following for the women’s team isn’t as

big as the men’s, but the following is not likely to increase with a lack of exposure.

The Irish Women beat the Black Ferns -- the New Zealand’s women team -- in the last World Cup, but there were no front pages dedicated to Ireland’s first win over New Zealand. While there has definitely been an increase in coverage of Women’s Rugby since the launch of the World Cup last September, it is not at all on a level field. Eir has bought the rights to show all the games from the tournament although RTÉ will show all of Ireland’s games too. It is up to pubs and people across the country to tune in and support their national side.

There is so much potential with this world cup to expand the game of rugby and its player base. There is an opportunity for the IRFU to further certify their commitment to investment in women’s rugby as a whole and to give the women what they deserve: compensation and coverage.

april 19th 2017 23

Sport Gizzy Lyng: When it All Made Sense Conall Cahill talks to former Wexford senior hurling captain Diarmuid “Gizzy” Lyng about the excitement of lining out for your county.

“Wouldn’t it be a lovely question to be asking young people: ‘Did you have any moment where it all made sense?”

24 april 19th 2017

I learnt to accept it more for what it was and be less emphatic about having to win.”

The basic and pure capacity to experience sport is available to all of us – the rush of scoring a point, making a block or beating a friend with a winning

“They meet an image they have of you”

“The idea of hippy commune-style hurling where everyone takes part for the fun of it, that’s cloud cuckoo land”

putt on the eighteenth green – but there is one aspect of its magic that most can only ever love through observation. It is Lionel Messi seeming to slow down time itself as he slaloms past three defenders and coolly slides the ball past a goalkeeper; it is Colm Cooper taking two steps back and playing a pass no-one else could see; it is Diarmuid Lyng scoring a sideline cut from near half-way. What it feels like to produce such an exquisite moment is the experience of a chosen few in sport, just as it is in all walks of life. Perhaps it is unfair to ask such individuals to put their actions into a words – but in the presence of Lyng, it’s hard to resist the urge to delve deeper: “I suppose it (the experience) is achievable in so many places…I would have been preoccupied with it in sport – like, this is this opportunity - or music or theatre or dance. But I don’t know is it there in walking, I don’t know is it there in sitting, I don’t know is it there in washing up. I don’t know are these moments there… this is what, I guess, mindfulness and meditation and these things tell us – it is always available, this heightened state. In a game, you’re in some kind of battle and all of your senses

are heightened at that moment in time to some kind of maximum. And when you look at, I guess, mountain climbers - who talk about coming down through mountains and not putting a single foot wrong their body is in complete control for that four hours because anything else and they will die.

“I suppose I was as surprised as anybody to fall into that moment and then fall back out of it. There’s something I’d like to ask somebody after a game.

‘Did you have any moment where you fell into flow with the game, a moment where…everything that was happening and everything that could happen was just all within your grasp for a brief moment? Did you have that experience?’ As opposed to just: ‘Did you win?’ Or: ‘Did you score?’ Wouldn’t it be a lovely question to be asking young people? ‘Did you have any moment where it all made sense?’

“So… to have ever felt those things, I can only talk about them through my experience of them. I have cultivated those situations in an observer kind of way in different areas of my life at different times, doing yoga or meditation or whatever... a moment of clarity. And that’s kind of what it feels like, just a real moment of clarity where your mind isn’t in the way and you’re just doing everything that needs to be done. Quite disturbing in a way, to feel like your mind isn’t in control, because it always wants to be in control. But then it is glorious when you think about what it is, and what that experience is.”

“I feel gratitude that it ever happened, and you just hope that it happens to anybody else at any stage of their life - that they find a thing where that state of being can come in and just highlight a moment that they will never forget…that it would be impossible to forget.”

photovia diarmuidlyng.com

sporting career) is gone - that’s when I think difficulties start to come in.

“Now there is more help, there is more awareness, the GPA are doing more work on it, the GAA are more aware of it, society is a bit more aware of it.

But I still think it is a disconcerting thing for past players and that there is a lot more internal struggling going on than these past heroes can actually allow for.”

There is all of that, of course. And yet, to quote Cusack once more, “If you could live again you would hurl more, because that is living.” There’s a beauty to it, a luck in being fortunate enough in your position in the world that you have the time and space, the physical capacity and the opportunity to spend part of your life playing such a wonderful game. Each time you pick up a hurl or a football or hop on a bike at your leisure you do something more than just exist – you live. And that’s why we harp on about the demands on players and player identity. Because we should never lose sight of that essence of our games, of sport. Lyng sums it up quite beautifully: “If you are purely focussed on winning and you don’t stop on the way in some shape or form to hear the wind and to feel the power of the natural forces that are around you as part of the game… the wind, or the crowd, or the feel of the grass, whatever it is… there’s a whole process that’s part of the journey along the way and even though that’s being talked about a huge amount now – ‘process is everything, process is everything’ – if you’re really focussed to an extreme degree, I think that the thing that we lose out on is the journey towards it.

That’s where most of the gold is…and that’s where

photo credit: Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

MOST of us have spent at least some portion of our lives chasing after it. Clutching for it. Grasping at the thin air behind it as it rushes ahead of us, mocking us with its unattainability. What is it? It is the answer, the light; the medicine, the answer to the ache in our hearts. The job, the salary; the girl, the boy; the trophy, the medal. It is what we have dreamed of, what we live out each day; it is both who we are and what we seek to be. Defining us and shaping us in equal measure. And, potentially, destroying us.

In a sense, sacrificing everything in pursuit of a goal – say, an All-Ireland medal - is the definition of living, full-blooded and complete. As Donal Óg Cusack wrote of moderation in his powerful autobiography, Come What May, “it’s neither doing nor not doing. It’s the wobbling compromise that makes noone happy.” Letting that goal define you and affect your self-worth is, though, a step too far – and yet it is a step that is taken by many of our most talented sportspeople.

Diarmuid ‘Gizzy’ Lyng is one such sportsperson.

A former Wexford hurling captain (one of very few model hurlers from the past quarter-century to hold a Leinster senior medal), Lyng once admitted: “I spent my whole career thinking if I didn’t win an All-Ireland or play in one, then my career was a failure.”

Watch Lyng’s TEDx talk on YouTube on the varied and rich meanings behind a hurl and its clear Lyng’s complex understanding of hurling is shaped by his own troubled and intense love of the sport.

He is, therefore, well-placed to comment on whether more “moderation” is needed regarding the huge commitment required of inter-county GAA players: “I guess it depends hugely on case to case and how you approach it. There’s definitely not one-sizefits-all… When you put down one side and try to get the other side of it across, it’s as if you’re kind of pinned down with the other side. And I don’t think that’s the case. The idea of a hippy commune-style hurling commune where everyone takes part for the fun of it and everything else, that’s cloud cuckoo land.”

There is however, a constant pressure on players that ties them almost inextricably to the sport. It is here that Irish society, and the GAA, need to exert care and awareness. Conversations around the need for Gaelic footballers and hurlers to forge an identity outside their sport are well underway (listen to Alan O’Mara’s excellent Real Talks podcast, for example) – and yet, even within as varied an environment as university, it can still perhaps be hard for players to find this alternative face.

Imagine, then, the struggle to do so in a rural or small-town area of Ireland. Former All Star Clare hurler (and founder of SOAR) Tony Griffin wrote in his own book, Screaming At The Sky: “Because the game has always been so intertwined with who I am and where I am from, at some point the lines blurred and it became difficult to separate the hurler from the person.”

Lyng echoes these sentiments: “There is a thing that happens definitely in the countryside…(people) meet an image they have of you. And I think that image they put upon you can kind of skew your view of the world in a way, and leads you to identify yourself more with the image that they are putting forward. I think that’s maybe why players, when the lights go down, and after two or three years of trying to figure things out when that (their