The University Times Volume 2 Issue 1

Page 1

EYE ON AMERICA

FIGHT LIKE APES FRESHERS’ FASHION OPEN-AIR FILM

Special Supplement

The TRINITY TWENTY & Society Rankings

EUGENE REAVEY DISCUSSES THE “GROUND ZERO MOSQUE”

in our new improved culture supplement

The University Times Irish Student Newspaper of the Year TUESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2010

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www.universitytimes.ie

LEAKED SURVEY DAMNS RESTRUCTURING Suppressed survey of academics on restructuring yields dismal results for Hegarty and Prendergast Rónán Burtenshaw Deputy News Editor An academic survey obtained by The University Times has delivered a damning verdict on College’s restructuring process. The survey was designed specifically to be “in line with the reasons cited for change of the University’s governance structures.” The exercise was carried out in March of 2010 in advance of a broader mid-term review process. It contained nineteen positivelyframed statements for agreement or disagreement in three sections entitled “general”, “the formation of Schools” and “the formation of new Faculties”. The results were staggering. In not one of the 19 categories were the results positive. Academics were given the chance to rank their agreement with the statement posed between a range of one to five; with one meaning “strongly disagree” and five meaning “strongly agree”. There was also an option called “unable to judge” which was listed as zero. The “rating average” for each category was negative and below the central option, number three, which was “no significant change”. The highest score

for any category was for the statement “there is greater opportunity for cross-College activity”, which polled at an average of 2.54, almost exactly between “disagree” and “no significant change”. Alarmingly, however, seven of the nineteen category responses were between “strongly disagree” and “disagree”, with the lowest being “budgets have been devolved sufficiently to simplify decision making”, which polled at 1.58. The average of all of the poll scores reflects the mood of the academics surveyed, at 2.15 it is clearly negative. The survey also showed pockets of resounding disapproval from academics, with over 30% “strongly disagreeing” with statements on budget devolvement, simplified communication with College, time for research and teaching, duplication of tasks, connection with central decision-making processes and administrative support. The “no significant change” option polled at over 30% on issues like inter-institutional collaboration, crossCollege academic activity, developing new academic Continued on p2

Provost John Hegarty chats with Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Conor Lenihan at the Minister’s less controversial launch of the last few weeks. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long

Law Soc threatens to sue Hist as Under 40% of reg fee society mailouts are censored spent on services Ronan Costello News Editor Societies were in disarray in the run-up to Freshers’ Week as College authorities blocked the mailing of some flyers, brochures and adverts by student societies to incoming Freshers. An argument over the fees charged by The Hist to Law Soc, who were ultimately excluded, got nasty on Friday of last week, with fiery Law Soc Auditor Grace O’Malley threatening to sue the Hist over the €300 charged. Ultimately, Hist Auditor Huw Duffy relented and gave back the cash, “pending discussion of the costs”. The mailout, organised jointly by The Phil and The Hist, was a massive operation with upwards of 15 people working in CSC offices over a period of a week to fill the envelopes. The project began on Monday last and continued throughout the week, but ran into choppy waters quickly as the Student Records office informed the organisers that some of the content of the mailout was not consistent with College policy. The mailout comprised material from over twenty different societies, of which three,

DUBES, Comedy Soc and Law Soc were deemed unsuitable for the eyes of Freshers. Societies complained that the guidelines on printed materials were not made readily available to them in time. Charlotte Broadhead, Comedy Soc Auditor said “They recycled it before we even knew about it. We sent them a digital copy that they were going to send to the censor but that never happened. Meanwhile, Duffy disclaimed any knowledge of the College guidelines, on the part of The Hist at least: “The first we heard about it was on Monday” when the Comedy Soc brochure was pulled. “Comedy Soc were dealing with The Phil.” However, Comedy Soc Auditor Charlotte Broadhead says that when she was notified by CSC of her publication’s exlcusion she rang Duffy who claimed he had no knowledge of CSC’s objections. When questioned further by The University Times Duffy admitted that the Hist’s Treasurer had in fact been the one who had liaised with Comedy Soc in regard to payment for inclusion in the mailout. Bizzarely, Duffy could not recall the total cost

of the mailout to the Hist and the Phil, nor could he say what portion of the cost would have been covered by the other societies’ inclusion in the mail out. The Comedy Soc brochure featured a series of three images of bananas, manipulated to simulate genitalia. Broadhead said “We were dealing with The Hist. They knew our mailout had been pulled but we only found out about it on Thursday by chance, and by then it had been recycled by CSC.” We spent about €850 on printing and The Hist was looking for €900 from us for inclusion in the mailout - we should be asking them for our printing costs back!” Law Soc’s mailout was censored due to advertising its “Sue me or Screw me” party, while DUBES fell afoul of the College Alcohol Policy, claiming that “drinking during the day is encouraged” on their trip to Barcelona this year. Law Soc Auditor Grace O’Malley was subjected to a lengthy dressing down at the hands of Joe O’Gorman, Honorary Treasurer of the Central Societies Committee. O’Gorman called the leaflet “obnoxious and promoting an

undesirable lifestyle” and a ‘piece of filth”. Mr O Gorman was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press. O’Malley says that this conversation was a one-way rant during which O’Gorman disparaged the Law Soc’s publication. She also notes that the Phil were given the opportunity to alter their publication with black marker, the same courtesy not being extended to any other society. She claims that the College and CSC showed clear favouritism towards the Phil in allowing them to do this. CSC Treasurer Matt Smyth said that there was very little that could be done about the loss of money to the societies involved. He cited the controversy over the Philander and its perceived anti-semitism two years ago as an example of how seemingly innocent and humorous publications can cause offence. On Friday, O’Malley met with Duffy to discuss the issue. In what sources say was a heated argument O’Malley threatened to sue The Hist, saying “I could easily seek professional legal advice.” O’Malley claims that Duffy had told her that he couldn’t

return her money as to do so would preclude negotiations with the other two societies who had been left out. It was at this stage clear to The University Times that DUBES and Comedy Soc had not at that stage paid for their abortive mailout inclusion. In an earlier interview with The University Times, O’Malley had made clear her intentions to bring a legal case against The Hist if not compensated. Phil President Declan Meehan then approached O’Malley, Broadhead and Zach Eustace, Auditor of DUBES, in order to organise a meeting after Freshers’ week during which the issue would be discussed fully. Both O’Malley and Broadhead are adamant that neither the Phil nor the Hist will get a penny to cover the cost of the mailout. Additional reporting: Tom Lowe

Barra Roantree College Affairs Correspondent Figures obtained by the University Times show that less than 40% of the €14.6m collected from the student service charge is being used for its stated purpose. The majority of the revenue is instead used to cover the cuts in the main funding the College receives from Government. The student service charge, sometimes called the registration fee currently stands at €1,500 and is paid by all EU students. The Students’ Unions have long complained that the charge was being used to fund core academic facilities such as the library instead of student services such as the health centre or careers advisory service. While relevant legislation is vague on what the charge covers, the admission is at odds

with figures presented to the Oireachtas Education Committee by the College in January this year, which claimed that expenditure on student services of €31.1m in 2008/9 far outstripped income from the charge. The figures obtained by the Times show the comparable amount as €4.8m, and no longer includes academic services such as library costs. The figures were compiled as part of a new agreement by the College on the presentation of the controversial charge. This arises from a report by the Working Party on the Student Registration Charge, chaired by the Dean of Students. The report’s recommendations adopted by the College Board, established a Student Services Charge Consultative Group, with 50 per cent student representation, which will consider the composition and disbursement of the charge revenues in

The University Times

Editor: Tom Lowe Deputy Editor: Tommy Gavin Volume 2, Issue 1 Phone: 01 646 8431 Email: info@universitytimes.ie

This newspaper is produced with the financial support of Trinity College Students’ Union.

future. Speaking to the University Times, Student’s Union President Nikolai Trigoub-Rotnem welcomed the establishment of the consultative group, saying “at least now Trinity is being honest that the student service charge is being used as fees by the back door”. The Union’s Education Officer, Jenifier Fox said that while “the acknowledgement from the Provost that the student registration charge is being used to soak up the reduction in the core grant” was to be welcomed, it was still a “blatant misuse of students’ registration fees”.

SU Education Officer Jen Fox

The Editor, The University Times, 6 Trinity College Dublin 2 Website: www.universitytimes.ie


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