Students4Change Leads Boycott of Buttery Over Unfair Policies

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

Anumber of students gathered in the Buttery last week to boycott a policy implemented earlier this year that bans students from bringing outside food into the space.

The boycott, led by Students4Change and supported by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), aimed to highlight the unfairness of the policy and draw attention to the social issues it creates. In a statement published to their Instagram, TCDSU stated that “it seems obvious that students should be allowed to eat their own food in all college spaces”.

“This year students have been repeatedly asked to leave the Buttery unless they had bought their lunch there. The Trinity student population has grown by more than 5,000 over the last five years, but the free community spaces available to us have remained the same.

“At lunchtime, it’s nearly impossible to find a place to sit and many of us resort to eating on the floor”, they added.

“The Buttery is the main canteen on campus – of course students should be able to sit down and eat their prepared lunch if they have one without being forced to pay for a Buttery meal.”

They finished: “The main priority of College, and Trinity Catering, should be creating a vibrant, inclusive student community – not turning away its own students in favour of earning extra commercial revenue”.

Speaking to The University Times , Chairperson of Students4Change and incoming TCDSU President László Molnárfi said: “We are protesting Trinity College Dublin discriminatory elitist and classes policy of not letting students bring in their own to college catering places”.

“We have been hearing concrete reports that students are being kicked out for being their own food”, he continued.

“A lot of students cannot afford the expensive prices associated with catering places, and it is a cost of living crisis and the financial aftershock of a pandemic. Of course students will want to come in and sit with their friends in the Buttery because there’s not a lot of spaces around college.”

“Students will want to use this public college community space for their own good, but they’re not allowed to do that”, he added.

“Imagine being a student who can’t afford food from the Buttery, and then you are kicked out. It’s very embarrassing and some people might feel very ashamed of that.”

“The message this is sending is that Trinity College Dublin is not an inclusive place for those