The Trinity Year - An End of Year Review

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The University Times

THE TRINITY YEAR

Illustration by Mice Hell

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Never a dull moment

ROM OUR FIRST issue last September, there hasn’t been a lull in the stream of interesting and exciting news that we’ve covered this year. As Leanna Byrne documents in her review of the year’s news, it all kicked off with the Nick Griffin saga.

The Phil and Trinity Against Fascism were at each others’ throats for the best part of two weeks, culminating in a tactical move on the Phil’s sponsors by the anti-fascist group. Ultimately the matter was resolved by the College on health and safety grounds, but the ill feeling between the two parties did not subside as quickly as one might have expected.

The Thursday night debate that followed, between representatives of Trinity Against Fascism and the Phil, was essentially a cathartic experience for Phil members who felt they had been set upon by leftist militants. To this day, there is no love loss between the groups.

Nor indeed are relations on sound footing between our Students’ Union and the national representative organisation, USI. From early on this year, President Ryan Bartlett has made little secret of his dissatisfaction with how USI conduct themselves. From the rushed organisation of the national protest to the farcical attempts at occupations in

late November, USI have done little to suggest that Bartlett should better of them. However, Bartlett’s pre-Christmas charge for a referendum on disaffiliating from USI now seems to have lost most of its potency. Instead, SU Council will decide if a referendum will be held on the matter next October.

Finally, the three big hitters in terms of news were the stories on Midnight promotions, the new fraternity and the Trinity student arrested in relation to computer hacking. Much has been said in relation to the first two stories, not least by this newspaper.

However, since Donncha O’Cearbhaill was released from Garda custody, there has been scant discussion about his case or the morality of his actions. O’Cearbhaill may face extradition and, if extradition is granted, will face trial in an American federal court, where he could be sentenced to fifteen years in jail.

The O’Cearbhaill case is one to watch. If it progresses further and if he is to face charges, then Trinity students will no doubt be at the forefront of a discussion on the legitimacy of his actions and the severity of the penalties he may face.

This year has, if nothing else, re-affirmed that Trinity students like to be heard.

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Contents Page 3 Phenomenon of the Year: Occupations Rónán Burtenshaw on the occupation movement Page 4-5 A Campus Divided A review of the year’s news Page 6-7 A Year in Society A look at how Trinity’s societies fared this year Page 8-9 Trinity Through a Lens A selection of some of the best photographs of the year Page 10-11 The Year we Fell out of Love with USI Jack Leahy on our tumultuous relationship with USI Page 12 So, Feminism’s Cool Again Hannah Cogan on the resurgence of feminism in Trinity Page 13-19 The Students’ Union Review Q&A’s with officers of the SU

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

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Phenomenon of the Year: Occupations Rónán Burtenshaw examines the origins and growth of the Occupy movement

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HEN EGYPT’S REVOLUTIONARIES pitched their tent city in Tahrir Square in early February of 2011 it was designed to provide a roundthe-clock popular presence on the symbolic Cairo turf. The fighting against Mubarak’s regime had already been fierce in the two weeks since the January 25th uprising, with the nascent movement suffering dozens of deaths. As the square, proudly adorned with Egyptian flags and messages of defiance, became the heart of the movement it began to brim with crowds of hundreds of thousands.

Occupations, as an instrument of protest and insurrection, have been the defining feature of the political landscape for just over a year.

The aesthetics and structure of the camps bore a remarkable similarity across the world. The peaks of multi-coloured tents in prominent city squares and boulevards were articulated with scrawled placards demanding economic justice, civil liberty, genuine democracy and revolution. With the spread of the tactic from the Arab world to Europe, however, the purpose of the camps shifted – from active sites of revolution to media for political dialogue.

First in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol then Athens’ Syntagma Square, occupations protesting the established political order drew massive crowds in the early summer.

Spain’s 15-M movement demanded direct democracy – prominently featuring the ¡Democracia Real YA! activists – with an end to the twoparty system, political and banking corruption and, less prominently, capitalism. The emergent Spanish generation, blighted by mass unemployment and debt, became the focus – affording the group the title Los Indignados, “the indignants”.

The Spanish movement, and its counterpart in Greece, carried a robust strain of an ideology that was to shape the west’s occupations: anarchism. It was at Occupy Wall Street, an action

striking at the heart of American hegemony and the dominance of Big Finance, that occupations were stamped with the autonomous mark.

Consensus democracy, direct action protest, non-hierarchical organisation, the human microphone and hand signal communication tracing its roots to the antiglobalisation protests of the 1990s were combined with the 99% slogan authored by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber.

These traits brought a tendency that had been on the political fringes for at least half a century into the mainstream in the country that had been the site of execution for anarchist martyrs Sacco, Vanzetti and the Haymarket workers. It may also have dispelled some misconceptions about the anarchist ideology – those engaged in the movements found an unusually highly-organised structure drawing its distinction from a distaste for authority rather than a penchant for chaos.

The movement’s autonomist nature did encounter problems, however, as was clearly seen in Ireland’s most prominent manifestation - Occupy Dame Street.

In countries with weak leftwing and union organisations occupations tended to take depoliticised or postpolitical forms and avoided explicitly stating moderate demands in the hopes of tapping into broadly-held sentiments of discontent.

Anarchism’s rejection of conventional politics (parties and parliaments) combined, at times, with a feeling of general disapproval for politics that created a poorly-directed and confused movement. This opened the door for others. Conspiracist organisations like the Freemen became prominent.

The moment that seemed to most dim the wind in the ODS sails was the acrimonious assembly at which a minority – empowered with a veto by the structure of consensus democracy – decided not to co-operate on a march with the Dublin Council of Trade Unions (DCTU). This meeting was characterised

by a faction of ODS’ reluctance to engage with already existing political institutions – following from their desire to bring about something completely new. The movement had walked through a door opened by a form of anarchist theory and slammed it in front of DCTU – who have regularly had anarchist members – as it went. ODS retreated to a camp at that point, without a clear strategy to develop into a movement.

Student groups, too, tried their hand at occupations.

Occupying spaces has a much longer tradition in international student movements – from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) activism in the US in the 1960s up to 2010’s occupations of British universities. The transient nature of student politics (mitigating against the slow building of a movement), the relative

ineffectiveness of the strike as a tactic and the attentionseeking of student lifestyle activism have combined to make public direct action an attractive tactic.

So, before the Occupy movement went global, Irish students had seen Gardaí violently crackdown on 2010’s demonstration outside the Department of Finance. 2011 produced occupations by leftist group Free Education for Everyone (FEE) and representatives from the NUI Maynooth and Galway Students’ Unions. NUIM’s occupation of Fine Gael TD Anthony Lawlor’s office was the longest-lasting and most resilient but, ultimately, produced little.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) also engaged in occupations at the end of 2011. A failed attempt to replicate the global tent protests with a “sleep-out” on front of the Department of

Education on a miserable November evening was followed-up by attempted occupations of two government departments on the 29th. The unannounced action – featuring President Gary Redmond and a handful of others - drew criticism both from those in favour of direct action, for not being well-organised, and those against, for being ill-conceived and impractical.

So, in review, what are we to make of the occupations?

Internationally the most significant effect of these movements has been the creation of space in the public discourse and consciousness for discussions of fundamental political alternatives. In their manifest desire to be seen, and to be seen to be different, they presented a challenge to the established political order. As New York’s Zucotti Park sees its inhabitants removed by force again

on Occupy Wall Street’s sixmonth anniversary it’s clear that order feels threatened.

It is only possible to speculate as to why Ireland’s reception has been so out-of-sync.

Did we not do it properly – was the country waiting for a leader this movement eschewed? Or were we not interested? Perhaps Ireland consents to austerity and indebtedness – a fruit borne of a neoliberal spirit of practicality or a penance for what is widely-seen as the opulence of Celtic Tiger. Or maybe we have retreated from the political arena to our pubs once again – to pen sad songs facilitated by the emotion of inebriation. The global movement that started in Tahrir Square certainly occupied a pre-eminent spot in the culture of the past year. But it never really pitched up here.

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

BNP leader Nick Griffin was due to speak in a Phil debate on immigration before protest and fears over health and safety lead to the invitation being withdrawn. Griffin said that the withdrawal of the invitation was a capitulation to “leftists” who sought to erode the right to freedom of speech.

A Campus Divided News Editor Leanna Byrne reviews the stories that have defined this academic year. Students were frequently divided in their reactions to the events and scandals that broke within the UT’s pages

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011/12 WILL BE remembered as a year of divided opinions in Trinity College. Students were torn over whether Nick Griffin should be allowed speak in the Phil, voiced criticism of USI’s campaigning tactics and, more recently, conflicted as to whether Trinity should welcome Zeta Psi as a part of college life. It is almost time to bid farewell to this academic term and reluctantly give ourselves to exam season. Here, we take a look at the important news events that The University Times has covered and some of the stories that received huge readership on universitytimes.ie.

This year controversy in Trinity began in September when the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin,

was invited by The Philosophical Society to speak at a debate entitled “This House Believes Immigration Has Gone Too Far”. Those who spoke out against Griffin’s visit were Brian Fitzgerald, editor of Ireland’s weekly gay and lesbian newspaper Gay Community News, many of the Trinity LGBT community and our own Deputy Editor, Rónán Burtenshaw.

Burtenshaw set up a Facebook group named “Trinity Against Fascism”(TAF) to oppose Griffins visit and the group actively campaigned against the Griffin visit. Burtenshaw recused himself from all of UT’s Griffin coverage.

On October 11th, TAF held a public meeting in the Joly Theater which was chaired by Ian McDonnell. Thirty-nine

people attended to voice their concerns, including members of the Phil council. However, the Phil refuted some of the claims made by TAF that they were guilty of ‘media sensationalism’ and centring the debate around his speech. The Phil issued a statement to The University Times saying that “contrary to the misconception held by several at the meeting that the debate was built around Mr Griffin’s speech, all of our guest speakers for this debate were confirmed before Mr Griffin and selected because they are qualified speakers on the issue of immigration”.

Those that supported the Phil included Democratic Party activist Vincent J Lavery who told the UT “those opposed to his speech have the total right of expression to be

heard but those in positions of decision making do not have the right to silence unpopular speech”.

Relations between the Phil and TAF became tense when Burtenshaw sent an email to one of the Phil’s sponsors, KC Peaches, urging them to break its ties with the Phil if the Phil didn’t rescind the invite. In the email, which carried “KC Peaches Sponsoring Event with Holocaust Denier” as its subject line, Burtenshaw explained the mission of the organisation and then goes on to say that antiracist groups had alerted the members of Trinity Against Fascism to the possibility that Griffin would use the Phil event to meet with and organise violent, far right groups in Ireland. While the Phil regarded these tactics

as not only underhanded but also detrimental to TAF’s credibility, TAF said they “stood by their actions in this matter”.

Eventually the Phil was forced to cancel the debate by the College, in the interest of the safety of staff and students. Although many believed the decision had been made following a sit-in held by non-students in the Graduate Memorial Building, the Phil maintained that the decision to cancel the debate was made prior to the event.

Funding of third level education and TCDSU’s affiliation with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have been topics of heated debate this year. Following the USI national protest on November 16th, Trinity students began questioning whether

the SU should continue to be a member of USI. While the national media deemed the protest a success, Trinity students showed their apathy with a lower turnout than had been seen in previous years, continuing a downward trend in Trinity’s engagement with USI-led activities.

Students’ Union President Ryan Bartlett denounced USI’s methods after a failed occupation in Store Street on November 29th. In an interview with The University Times Bartlett said that “the stated aims [of the USI campaign] was to get the Tánaiste to make a statement on Labour’s position. Whether the occupation was trying to encompass everything else about the campaign is unclear. I guess you can never

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012 know what’s going to happen next.” However, activist group Free Education for Everyone (FEE) was in support of the occupation for its radical initiative.

Relations between Trinity and USI continued to worsen after Bartlett pushed for a referendum to be held on whether the SU should disaffiliate with USI. In an exclusive interview, the SU President said he was no longer convinced that USI represented the views of Trinity students and he believed that a referendum was necessary to decide whether it was appropriate to continue participating in and paying for USI-organised campaigns.

Despite this, his call for a referendum on USI was put on the long finger due to problems with getting the requisite amount of signatures for the referendum petition signatures and the wording of the referendum proposition.

Nevertheless, the SU and the Phil hosted a Town Hall meeting at which the Phil’s David Byrne debated with USI President Gary Redmond, proposing the motion “This House Would Disaffiliate from USI”. This Town Hall had the highest turnout to date, with approximately 200 students attending.

The question of disaffiliation from USI is yet to be answered and will most likely continue on into next year.

Another area of controversy was the Students’ Union ban on The Daily Mail in the wake of the publication of Conor Kenny’s article “The Importance of Being Honest” on The University Times’ website, which reprimanded Marisa Lynch for incorrectly reporting that the body of UCC student Caolán Mulrooney had been found in the River Lee. To date, the piece has garnered 7,160 recommendations on Facebook, becoming the most widely read article on the paper’s site with over 45,701 views.

The motion to ban the paper was passed by an overwhelming majority at SU Council, having been proposed by Environmental and Ethical Training Officer Stephen Garry. However, the mandate to ban the paper came into force the same day as The Irish Daily Mail’s apology was printed, a fact which escaped the notice of the proposer and the students who

voted in favour of the ban.

Many students were unhappy with the ban, claiming the decision was undemocratic, promoted censorship and did not align with the views of the majority. The motion to lift the ban on The Irish Daily Mail only passed on its second attempt at Council.

This year’s SU elections did not live up the hype and fierce rivalries of last year.

Students showed their disinterest, with turnout down 20% on last year. The elections only became tense on count night at the Mont Clare Hotel, on Merrion Square.

The count resulted in the election of Rory Dunne, Dan Ferrick, Aisling Ní Chonaire, Owen Bennett and David Whelan as next year’s sabbatical officers.

This semester, Deputy Editor Rónán Burtenshaw broke the story about Midnight productions company becoming embroiled in a row over the “sexist and dangerous advertising” of one of its nights at Alchemy. The night takes place on Monday nights in the Temple Bar venue. It was being promoted with the tagline “If You’re Not Up For It, Don’t Cum”. It also included a picture of a girl in a skirt bending over to reach for her underwear, which are around her ankles.

After a number of comments were posted on the “Mondays at Alchemy” page and deleted, the “End Monday’s at Alchemy’s sexist and dangerous advertising” Facebook group was set up.

Posts on the page initially featured the images and a blog-post, titled “The Sex Sells Myth”, which accused the group of “blatant objectification and abasement of women”. At the time the story broke the group had 200 members, but currently has over 800 members.

In response to the story, Midnight employee Rob Walsh who was featured in the article apologised on the the UT comments section, stating that he was “extremely upset by what happened” and would like to “apologise to anybody who has taken offense”. According to Walsh, he did not think that his comments on the page would have been viewed by such a large readership.

The article has received over 21,000 views on the website.

“Introducing Trinity’s

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Top: USI Deputy President Colm Murphy addresses the crowd at the November 16th national protest. Photo: Dargan Crowley Long.

Above and right: Above is the Zeta Psi Twitter page which revealed the fraternity’s intention to set up in Dublin. Right, the membership charter.

New Frat Pack” was the article that was closest to home for most Trinity students. The University Times learned of a plan to set up an élite fraternity, called Theta Omicron, which would be the first Irish chapter of the Zeta Psi organisation. David Whelan, the Ents Officer-Elect, and Jack Cantillon, Horse Racing Society Auditor and campaign manager for Whelan, were named as members of the frat in the article. Both vehemently denied that they were members of the fraternity and accused The University Times of shoddy journalism. UT issued an apology for reporting that both were currently members of the fraternity and posted an update to the story. A week later, a photo of the charter of membership was discovered and listed the names of Whelan, Cantillon and Communications Officer-elect Owen Bennett. All three said that they had broken ties with the organisation before

the story broke and that the charter had been drawn up months ago. Frat President Jack O’Connor corroborated this story, saying that he had thought the charter could not be amended once the details had been sent to the parent organisation.

Students shared and commented on this story in their dozens. They were divided among those who thought that the fraternity was an awful development in college life and those who thought that the issue was being taken too seriously. Others simply condemned UT for the initial error in naming Cantillon and Whelan as current members of the frat and said that UT shouldn’t be going after such stories.

The Students’ Union is still to debate a motion in relation to the fraternity at Council this week.

Finally, there was Rónán Burtenshaw’s article on the arrest of Donnacha O’Cearbhaill, a first-year

Trinity student in Medicinal Chemistry, on March 6th in relation to an ongoing FBI probe into computer hacking. O’Cearbhaill was taken to Terenure Garda Station for questioning. The arrest came as part of an international campaign by law enforcement agencies against computer hackers. An FBI press release named two Irish citizens among five members of online activist groups Anonymous, LulzSec and Internet Feds. According to the press release, the five have been “charged in an indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court with computer hacking conspiracy involving the hacks of Fox Broadcasting Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and the Public Broadcasting Service”. The other Irishman named in the press release was 25-year-old Darren Martyn from Galway.

Martyn, who uses the hacker name pwnsause, has not yet been arrested. O’Cearbhaill

has subsequently been released from custody and a police spokesman confirmed a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

While the current UT editor will continue to cover news stories online until he makes way for Bennett in early July, this issue marks the end of news coverage for this volume of the newspaper. In many respects, the events and issues that came to the forefront of student life in Trinity highlighted deep divides amongst students.

Whether you felt that Nick Griffin should have been allowed speak at the Phil, or you thought that the Frat should be left to its own devices, Trinity students were not afraid to share their point of view and we’re glad they did so on The University Times Facebook, Twitter and site pages.

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

A Year in Society Trinity’s societies have had a vintage year. Here, Rory O’Donovan talks to those who worked to ensure that their society enjoyed success and acclaim

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HEN YOU HEAR the words ‘college societies’, what comes to mind? Cliquey losers? Ambitious and aloof individuals? I must confess that in my first year at Trinity, at any one time, I probably thought all of those things.

Societies seemed to me to be the embodiment of Trinity cliquishness – just another part of college I wasn’t, couldn’t be and didn’t want to be involved with. On reflection in my second year, I realised that this conception was based on little more than an impulsive assessment of something I knew little about. I endeavoured to find out whether my opinion was based in fact.

I talked to people I knew who were heavily involved in societies and, at the last minute, I decided to go on a society trip abroad. The trip changed my perception. I met committee members who, it shocked me to discover, were genuinely friendly and astonishingly ‘normal’. I was witness to the fun had by everyone else because of the hard work put in by the committee. I came back and was encouraged to run for committee the following year, which I did. I joined other societies and encouraged others to do the same and, gradually, I began to realise that most students don’t get involved in societies because of any inherent ambitious or snobbish nature; they do it because they enjoy it, because it’s fun.

Now when I think of college societies what I find most striking is the vast amount of time and effort contributed by the individuals involved. Sure, you might say they can use their participation to enhance their CV, ‘get their mates on the guest-list’ or, indeed, themselves. But Trinity’s societies are about so much more than that. At the heart of every society in this university, every publication, event, project, protest or fundraiser there

exists a group of individuals who, for one reason or another, care about what they are doing. They care about their society – its members, its reputation and its contribution to college life. They care enough to take time out of their undoubtedly busy lives to offer themselves, their passion, enthusiasm and skills to something they think is worthwhile.

Often, even if you’re a member of a society, you don’t see much of the hard work done behind the scenes.

In this spirit, the Central Societies Committee (CSC) hosts an annual awards ceremony to recognise the efforts of Trinity’s societies, their committees and their members. It is an evening of acknowledgement and appreciation which highlights the substantial achievements of individuals and groups of students who have taken it upon themselves to provide us with entertainment and enlightenment throughout the year.

I took a look at some of the societies recognised this year and spoke to some of the people involved in an attempt to illustrate just how deserving the winners were.

I’ll begin with the people, the foundations of every society. This year’s award for Best Individual was shared

by Rob Kearns of the Trinity Orchestra and Jack Cantillon of both the newly established Horse Racing Society and the Law Society. Best Fresher was awarded to Donal McKeating of Players.

Kearns has been an integral part of Trinity Orchestra’s recent success. His expertise and dedication to the role of technical officer was highlighted by many as invaluable in making the orchestra’s popular performances possible. But his musical creativity and unquestionable talent have also made them enjoyable; incredible even. Perhaps his greatest achievement this college year saw him

single-handedly orchestrating the music of Arcade Fire for performance by the orchestra in three sold-out concerts.

Cantillon is the brains and drive behind one of the year’s biggest success stories – TCD Horse Racing Society. The preliminary work undertaken during the summer was evident even in Fresher’s Week, with the Horse Racing Soc team seemingly better prepared and more creative in their promotional push than some of the old-hands.

Cantillon has worked tirelessly on the project and its success, including extremely affordable and hugely popular student race days and the acquisition of the society’s own horse, show that his work has paid off. He is also Librarian for Law Soc and has gone above and beyond his role to help with the organisation of many of the society’s events.

McKeating was identified by Players’ members as deserving of the accolade of Fresher of The Year principally because of his involvement in so many of this year’s most successful productions.

But many also pointed to his presence – his energy, enthusiasm and undaunted nature – as reason enough. This year, following a prominent role in the Freshers’ Co-op production, he delivered a standout performance as a kidnapped bishop in Brownbread, displaying a genuine ability to make people laugh. He also produced and fundraised for two other plays – Crave and Inadmissible Evidence.

His comedic skills were further illustrated in the play he wrote for the 6 plays in a day event and through his involvement with Trinity’s only improvised comedy troupe Improve, She Wrote, in the Trinity Fringe Festival. McKeating’s efforts have been recognized before now, as he was elected Players’ house manager in February.

The award for Best Large Society went to The Phil,

Above: The Freshers’ fair in Trinity Halls last September. Photo: Ronan Costello Below: Trinity Orchestra dazzle an Exam Hall audience with their Pink Floyd concert. Photo: George Voronov.

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

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Above: From left to right - Jack Cantillon, Richie Halpin and Peter Martin. Cantillon founded the Horse Racing Society at the start of the year and was awarded Best Individual and Best New/Improved Society at the CSC awards. By the end of Freshers’ week the society was in the top five societies in Trinity as regards membership. Photo: Ronan Costello Above right: Courtney Love’s visit to the Phil was one of the highlights of the society’s blockbuster year. Love amused the audience with her candour. Photo: Andrew Murphy Right: Formula 1 guru Eddie Jordan entertained a Phil audience in Michaelmas term with anecdotes from his days as an F1 team owner. Photo: Holly Acton

likely for the impressive quality and sheer number of events they have provided for their members: from Thursday night debates to workshops, the Bram Stoker Club to drinks receptions and, of course, countless inspiring guest speakers; it has undoubtedly been a successful year. Treasurer Glen Rogers attributes the success to a ‘seriously hard-working and truly familial team of officers and council members’ who are ‘really in love with the Phil and what we do’. Rogers notes that crucial to their achievements were the obtainment of ‘record amounts of sponsorship and donations from honorary members which enabled us to provide some great events and receptions to our 8,500 members’.

Best Medium Society went to DU Amnesty, whose varied and interesting events, highly effective stunts and fund-raising efforts have made them prominent in

the Trinity society scene and raised thousands of euro for their parent organization – Amnesty International. Amongst the highlights of their year were the highly original stunts of the cage in the Arts block during RAG week and the eviction notices stuck on the doors of campus residents to promote their events and increase awareness of important issues. Olivia Headon, DU Amnesty’s public relations officer, tells me that good coordination of the timing of events and attention-grabbing stunts were crucial to their success this year. ‘We tried to coordinate our events with the SU calendar to make them relevant to what was going on around campus,’ Headon said. ‘We wanted ‘raising awareness’ to have that extra wow factor, and also ensure that the issues were relevant to our members’ interests.

In sum, I think our success this year was down to lots of high quality events and lots

and lots of high quality people who made them possible’.

This year’s Best Small Society was awarded to the Classical Society. Whilst they cannot claim the membership of some of Trinity’s larger societies, Classical soc have organized a huge variety of events this year. Film screenings, the inevitable toga parties and other social events, talks, the blacktie Imperial Ball and a trip to visit the Roman ruins at Tarragona in Barcelona. Auditor Charlie Kerrigan said ‘we’re delighted to be voted Best Small Society’, adding that one of the highlights was their fourth week event Recitatio, a Roman banquet at which members recited pieces of poetry and drama in several different languages.

The Horse Racing Society was named Best New/Improved Society. The year began well, with an impressive 1,400 members signed-up in Fresher’s week. From this firm foundation, the society

announced ambitious plans for student race days which, when they came to fruition, were hugely successful. The race days were run with efficiency and good humour and were, above all, impressively cheap. Not only did they organize stable tours and recently revealed plans for comprehensive coverage of Cheltenham, but the society pulled-off a spectacular coup by acquiring their own racehorse – Local Champion, who runs in Trinity colours. Auditor Jack Cantillon said the committee were ‘absolutely delighted and brimming with pride’, adding that he hoped this year is ‘only the beginning of Trinity’s love affair with the sport of Kings’.

Trinity Arts Festival was awarded the title of best society event for this college year. As the only studentrun arts festival in Ireland, it aimed to showcase and encourage the boundless artistic talent that Trinity has to offer. As daytime events

co-coordinator Evan Horan summarised ‘through a combination of sourcing internal talent and bringing in speakers and artists, our goal is to get students to try something new and promote involvement in the Arts’. During the day, campus was alive with a broad variety of tours, workshops and guest speakers and the evenings didn’t disappoint – the concert in the exam hall, which hosted Cloud Castle Lake and many more, proved to be an extremely popular event. Horan attributed the festival’s success not only to a ‘highly motivated committee’ but also to ‘its participatory nature with the involvement of other societies, highlighting the benefits of collaborative projects. We are thrilled with what the festival offered students and wish the best for next year’s committee, who will be elected at our AGM later this month’.

As well as the above, Players’ The Player was awarded

Best Publication, Best Online Presence was jointly awarded to Trinity Orchestra and The Hist and Best Poster was awarded to Éna Brennan for her effort promoting Trinity Orchestra’s Michaelmas Term Concert.

The achievements of the individuals and collectives in Trinity societies this year are immense and fully deserving of praise. Perhaps the greatest compliment any of them can be paid is if their success encourages even more students to get involved with societies in Trinity. I shall conclude with an extract from an email sent to all students by Rob Farhat, Chair of the CSC: “Trinity students are extremely privileged to have more than 110 societies at their disposal, where anyone with a keen interest, talent, or good idea can get involved and make their mark.”

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Photos by George Voronov, Dargan Crowley Long and Ronan Costello.

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Trinity Through a Lens Left: Rory Dunne celebrates his victory in the SU Presidential election. Dunne was joined on the night by his father, Rory Snr. and his sister, Kate.

Below middle left and right: The “Stop Fees, Save the Grant” march on November 16th saw thousands of students take to the streets ahead of the December budget. USI President Gary Redmond came in for criticism from SU President Ryan Bartlett for his organisation of the march and the subsequent USI-organised occupations.

Below left and right: On the left is a photo of SU President Ryan Bartlett mediating the Town Hall meeting on fees.

On the right, the Phil’s Dave Byrne debates against USI President, arguing that TCDSU should disaffiliate from the national representative organisation.

Facing Page

Top left and right: On the left is Trinity Orchestra performing thir Pink Floyd concert. On the right is Dr Patrick Prendergast, Trinity’s 44th Provost, who took office this year.

Middle right: A dance troupe for the film “Ek Tha Tiger” practice on the steps of the Dining Hall.

Below left: The lights of Trinity’s first ever Christmas tree illuminate front square and the campanile.

Below right: President Michael D. Higgins with the organisers of the Trinity Economic Forum.

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

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The Year we Fell Out of Love with USI This year saw USI come under unprecedented criticism from Trinity students for their organisation of the national protest, their campaign rhetoric and the farcical attempts at occupying various government buildings. Jack Leahy reviews their performance

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OLLOWING GARY REDMOND’S reelection to the office of President of the Union of Students at USI congress in Ireland on March 16th 2011, his second term officially began on July 1st. Evident from the off was a prioritisation of the traditional student issues, with an announcement that ‘massive delays’ were expected in the delivery of student maintenance grants. Two weeks later, there followed the announcement that the High Court had granted the USI a judicial review of changes in the Student Grant Scheme proposed in the 2010 Budget, which reformed the rules governing how far a student must live from college in order to receive a higher rate of payment.

The first major demonstration of the academic year took place in the early days of August when, in protest against landlords who withheld deposits, a number of campaigners and sabbatical officers of constituent universities staged a sleep-out protest at Custom House. Denied access to the grounds by Custom House security, Redmond scaled the railings before pitching his tent before remaining unfazed when informed that the Gardaí had been called to the scene.

Traditionally belligerent student political campaigning was accelerated in August when, having famously signed a declaration promising not to re-introduce third level fees in the 2011 election campaign period, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn ruled out a loan scheme as a means of student fee remission and signalled an increase in up-front third-level fees. The announcement came a forthnight before all students registering for third-level institutions

were hit with a bill of €2,000, despite the 2011 Budget dictating that the increased fee would apply to a family’s first child only.

Quinn’s announcement, coupled with a report in The Irish Times suggesting that the student contribution could rise to €5,000 in the 2012 budget, provided the basis for the ‘Stop Fees, Save the Grant’ campaign organised in retaliation. While the USI recognised that the potential fee was merely ‘thrown around’ in government departments and may never have been on the table, Redmond affirmed to UCD’s The College Tribune his belief that ‘tens of thousands of students’ would be excluded from third-level education by such an increase.

Retrospective analysis has scolded the USI for naivety is holding out too much hope on the back of what was essentially an election promise by an electioneering politician. These words were of no comfort to USI officers, who reacted to news that Quinn had refused to rule out an increase in up-front fees by taking out full-page ads in the Irish Times and the Irish Independent ostentatiously branding the government ‘LIARS’. The advertisements also included the contact details of all 166 government TDs and encouraged constituents to make contact with their representatives.

Aside from the traditional encouragement of TD lobbying and letter-writing, the campaign was to come to a crescendo with the staging of a national protest march in Dublin city centre for the second year in a row on November 16th followed by a sleep-out on whichever of O’Connell Street and Kildare Street could best accommodate the numbers involved.

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union had previously

operated under a mandate to ‘oppose the re-introduction of fees under any guise’ which expired at the end of the 2010/11 academic year. While recognising that the campaign was hastily organised, TCDSU sabbatical officers appealed to SU Council for a temporary mandate to support the campaign so as to not compromise any future position on fees. The mandate was granted and last-minute preparations for participation in the march could begin.

A week before the protest march, Redmond appeared on an episode of Prime Time to debate the issue of third-level fees with Minister Quinn. Twitter responses seemed to favour Redmond, who offered the verdict that he had ‘tried to push the message that the fees and grants issue isn’t just about students; it’s about families struggling to meet costs.’ Two days later, an interview with UCC president Michael Murphy appeared in The Irish Times in which Murphy called for student fees of at least €4,000 a year, while the fees debate is given only five minutes on Pat Kenny’s The Frontline on the following Monday.

Following the announcement that 10,000 students had appealed to their TDs to fight an increase in the student contribution, the time had arrived for the staging for the second student national student protest march in just over twelve months. Despite an apparent distaste among Trinity students, about 1,500 students formed the Trinity contingent of the student protest body estimated by Redmond to have comprised 1520,000 students.

USI sabbatical officers endeavoured throughout the event to keep the Free Education for Everyone (FEE) contingent out of the main body of the march from

the Garden of Remembrance on O’Connell Street to the office of the Taoiseach on Merrion Square. FEE later attempted an occupation of the Fine Gael party headquarters before meeting to re-organise in the Trinity arts block. The march passed without major trouble and finished with a quasi-rally on Merrion Square, after which Redmond commented ‘It was a great feeling to address such a large crowd...it felt great to see that so many people are passionate about Ireland, recovery and the future of this country. I think we got our message across.’

Having come in for criticism in 2010 for ending the campaign against fee increases after the protest march and weeks before the budget was announced, the ‘Stop Fees, Save the Grant’ campaign was extended into the end of November as Redmond led a group of four sabbatical officers of USI-affiliated Colleges to an occupation of the Department of Social Protection. An attempt to occupy Labour Party HQ was foiled by the dastardly defence plot of locking the front door before the protesters moved to their final location via the Department of Jobs.

Once again, however, the actions of the national representative body came in for heady criticism; the occupation ended when the use of pepper spray was threatened, and Redmond sent an email room his Blackberry to sabbatical officers of USI affiliate Colleges to inform them that the occupation was underway rather than informing them in advance or seeking a mandate.

TCDSU President Ryan Bartlett went down to the occupation to observe the goings-on, though he did so while hiding any TCDSU branding on his clothing so as not to imply any endorsement of the actions. After a four-hour occupation, the four officers were taken to Store Street Garda Station and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

With officers returned to their offices, it was time to sit back and helplessly watch as Minister for Finance Michael Noonan delivered his fiscal plan for 2012.

Rumours began to circulate in the week leading up to the announcement that the postgraduate maintenance grant would be scrapped entirely, and that

Noonan would announce an increase in third-level fees of €250 a year for each of the next four years. This would have amounted to fees of €3,000 by 2016.

In the end, Noonan announced a €250 once-off increase in the student contribution, a scrapping of the postgraduate maintenance grant, a 4% cut to university core and non-pay funding, and a 3% cut in the student grant. The USI were quick to react, asserting in a statement that the increase in up-front fees would cause ‘enormous hardship for families, but [would] only raise €16million for the Exchequer’. The statement went on to criticise the cuts of 3% across to the Higher Education Grant, saying that “it means that students on the lowest level of the grant will be expected to eat, pay for transport and buy books for just over €1 a day.’ This, it said, would deny ‘opportunities’ to those ‘locked in a cycle of poverty’.

The USI’s troubles continued in December with the news that TCDSU President Bartlett had called for a referendum on his Union’s membership of the body in response to concerns that Trinity students’ interests were not best represented by the majority vote of USI’s decision-making bodies. The referendum is yet to materialise though it should now be held in early October alongside the elections of class reps. While it remains to be seen whether or not a majority of Trinity students feel disenfranchised to the extent that they would vote in favour of a schism, there can be no doubting that dissatisfaction with the USI is at its highest point for a number of years within the walls of Trinity College.

In response to some of the more minor criticisms of its operations, the USI convened a Special Congress meeting in January 2012, keeping the content of the meeting under wraps. After much debate, a number of new constitutional measures were introduced, including a pay increase to bring the USI officers in line with public servants, the introduction of preferendum-style voting, a decrease in the number of sabbatical officers and the creation of an Equality Officer to replace the LGBT Rights Officer. The most controversial of the new measures was that which allows officers to hold a third term

in one office, replacing the previous regulations that allowed three years of service across two offices.

The latter constitutional change fueled angry speculation that Redmond was allowing himself a third term in officer with an increased wage. Redmond was invited to speak at a debate entitled ‘That this house would disaffiliate from the USI’ in the JM Synge Theatre in Trinity during the annual sabbatical officer elections, at which he confirmed that he would not seek a third term in office and that he was looking forward to finishing his degree. At this debate, the prodisaffiliation arguments of the Phil’s Dave Byrne proved more popular by a show of hands, but as already mentioned, the debates remain ongoing and a decision is, quite literally, months away.

The most recent activity of the year is a preferendum vote to be held throughout affiliate Colleges over the next two weeks to decide what position the Union will take on the fees issue going forward. Students will be ranking in order of preference whether they believe third-level fees should be 100% Exchequer-funded, 100% funded by the student, funded by a loan system, or funded by the current student contribution system.

While it has been a controversial year as always, the USI will look back on its year with a degree of satisfaction having played its part in preventing a very possible rise of much more than €250 in the student contribution. However, for a body to be representative and have the respect of the students who provide its capitation, it is imperative that a greater effort is made to seek a mandate for its actions. Its decision to take action on the grants issue at the highest level in the country is a positive move for student activism, but a strong case must be put forward for the case to be viewed as anything more than empty rhetoric and ill-conceived actions of foolhardy student politicians. With a number of member unions due to re-ballot their members of USI membership and the idea of disaffiliation popularised by TCDSU, next year’s USI hierarchy will have work to do towards the near impossible task of pleasing everyone.

“

An attempt to occupy Labour Party HQ was foiled by the dastardly defence of locking the front door

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

The Evolution of BESS girl: From private school prima donna to Arts Block feminista

By Sinéad Mercier

Hot Topic of the Year

So, feminism’s cool again Opinion Editor Hannah Cogan discusses the recent resurgence of feminism in Trinity

I

AM, BY A lot of people’s measuring, a really lousy feminist. The sisterhood, as a concept, bothers me. I think gender quotas are undemocratic and demeaning to women in politics. I believe the prostitution is an extension of my right to selfdetermination.

Feminism and porn, even hardcore porn, aren’t irreconcilable; providing men and women alike with outlets to explore their sexuality is probably a good thing. And I profoundly hate International Women’s Day. Feminism is almost unique among social movements in that its goals- the destruction of limitations imposed by gender on men and women alike- have no absolute method of recognition. Most of us agree that women shouldn’t be condemned for embracing their sexuality, but whether or not

that means women should be allowed to enter the prostitution industry is a matter for contentious debate. The often-criticized inconsistencies in the ‘feminist’ reaction to a number of stories run this year have masked a rise of feminist thought in Trinity College. This year saw the launch of Siren, Trinity’s feminist magazine, several packed GMB debates, an incredibly successful year for the Gender Equality Society, and a prominent and well-attended International Women’s Week.

In November, the Law Society ran the Playboy Party, raising hackles over the objectification of women when it encouraged female attendees to dress up like Playboy Bunnies and male attendees to dress as Hugh Hefner (I dressed up as a sexy Hugh Hefner - deconstruct that any way you like). Whether

women are empowered when deemed sexy is a matter for open discussion, but the existence of such division shouldn’t undermine the very real concerns put forward when Rob Walsh, a midnight employee, declared that concerns over Midnight Promotions’ advertising campaign were unfounded because “girls only really receive [sexual harassment] problems when they are dressed up to attract it”.

Numerous comments made in the ensuing debate on rape and sexual assault referenced earlier disagreements about how empowering provocative dressing can be to women, with one commentator noting ‘a solution would be if people didn’t start these ‘feminist’ revolutions unless they target the same thing every time’.

The launch of Trinity’s own Siren magazine was

a welcome respite. Read it carefully. The articles don’t speak with a unanimous voice, and in fact contradict each other on a wide range of issues, for reasons editor Fiona Hyde points out in her editorial; “A world in which headscarves are worn proudly or dutifully, a world with kind ex-boyfriends and brave single mothers, a world where opinions mingle and clash- a world populated by strong women crying out for change, but also intelligent women who refuse to call themselves feminists for fear it might be somehow unseemly. These issues, so diverse and disparate, are all branched under the one big, buckling umbrella of ‘feminism’’. That there can never be an absolute ‘feminist’ agenda or concrete measures of realization is, in fact, inevitable.

That the feminists of this

college don’t speak with a unanimous voice shouldn’t be held against us; in all probability, it’s evidence that we’re right. “More women leaders in all areas is essential for better governance” proclaimed Nancy Pelosi at last week’s Phil Inaugural, and the slogan adorns SU Council posters around college this week, encouraging women to run for SU Executive positions and society committees. I think it’s a rubbish idea; there are no innately ‘female’ traits that would make society better or worse and encouraging women to participate purely on the basis that they are women is thoroughly demeaning.

Plenty of people would argue otherwise; women excluded from governance for so long offer new positions and ideas in a system innately biased against them; a system of gender quotas is the only way

to make their voices heard.

Both positions parse the same problem in different terms- women don’t run for office with nearly the same frequency as men, and that’s an imbalance that should be redressed, but the method of best encouraging political participation is open for debate. When men and women of different ideologies and political positions can agree on an overarching problem, its existence becomes factual. That men and women are perceived differently, even in the progressive confines of Trinity College, is no longer a matter for debate. As long as feminists keep disagreeing, we’re moving toward a way to fix it.

Students’ Union Review

Elected on a manifesto of promises, the SU Sabbatical Officers work for twelve months, from one summer to the next, and hope that they can deliver on as much of their promises as possible.

In this section, our reporters sat down with the officers to talk about what they had achieved, what didn’t work out and what they would do if they were starting again.

Note: An interview was conducted with Louisa Miller and will be posted online later this week. Delay due to writer’s illness.

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

SU President Ryan Bartlett surveying the crowd in Front Square just before the start of the November 16th national protest.

Photo: Dargan Crowley Long

President Ryan Bartlett Q&A by Ronan Richardson I suppose the main thing people have been talking about is the delay in holding the USI disaffiliation referendum. I’ve heard that people think that the SU are purposely delaying the referendum - how would you respond to that?

I’d never want to see it delayed.

The key problem is that the referendum has to be done in the right way, otherwise it has no effect. There was a petition going around, but it was discovered that if the petition was successful and went to vote, regardless of the result it would have had no impact because the way the question was worded meant that it wouldn’t have held any water. The vote would have implied that students wanted to or didn’t want to disaffiliate, but it wouldn’t have firmly said anything. There’s no point asking people to express their opinion if you’re not going to be able to listen to it. Now we have to look and see when the first opportunity will be to get the right question to the students. The question has to be rewritten and if it works out in time, it could come on Tuesday. The

question can come to Council and be approved, which would be a better way of doing it than something that’ll have no effect. A difficulty with the work that we do is that you want to do what students want, but you have to figure out ways to find that out, and while I can’t ask, for example, an opinion on a private Board document, what I can do is hold discussions and ask questions about certain topics and from that work out how they might react if I asked the question that I’m not allowed to ask.

Have you heard back from any students regarding disaffiliation recently?

A part of this debate is that quite a lot of people have opinions on it but for a referendum to happen people have to commit to campaign teams.

People will sign petitions, but not a lot of people have come forward to campaign for either side or help organise the whole thing. Obviously the closer we get to the whole thing the more difficult it becomes. Oveall the question is a valid question to ask and is something that people

should have a vote on and so we’re trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

Can you put a timeframe on the referendum?

My hope would be that it could come to next SU council and that it could happen at the same time as class rep elections early next year and I think that’s the soonest time available to us with the constitutional restrictions - you wouldn’t want to hold it during the summer when people can’t vote.

Leading on from that, with Trinity going to USI congress, do you think there’ll be much tension between Trinity and the USI or other SUs? I don’t think so. Lots of Colleges have USI referenda as the status quo and they require them to happen every so often. For example, UCC have just recently held one and decided to stay in, and they’re required to hold one every few years.

IADT recently had one too. It’s a positive exercise and if the vote is

to stay within USI then the USI becomes stronger for it. It really is seen as a worthwhile exercise and it’s a win-win. If students decide to remain within USI then that’s great and if they decide that they don’t then it’s good that you found that out.

Going by the reactions and questions of students at the recent disaffiliation debate with Gary Redmond and David Byrne, it would seem that Trinity is very much anti-USI...

Well I think it’s really difficult to say. The people who went to the debate are the interested and actively involved ones. There’s always the concern about the opinions of the people that you didn’t get to speak to. In an ideal world, everybody would vote in elections and you would know what everyone was thinking. But you don’t, and you have to ask questions as to why and see what you can do to improve that. There’s no way of saying - it could be that every single person who didn’t go to the debate was pro-USI. It’s a self-selecting sample

and the chances are that it’s fairly representative, but it could be unrepresentative enough to make the difference. What it did show is that it’s not all one-sided and that it’s a worthwhile question to ask, and that when students found out more, some of them were more positive about USI. Some students went the other way. Overall, an informed decision is the best decision and if we can tell people more about issues like affiliation and fees then students will have a bigger input into what TCDSU USI does.

Moving away from USI, in relation to campaigns we’ve held throughout the year - a lot of students have made the comment that there have been very few campaigns this year.

How would you respond to that?

I suppose the main point of my campaign was to try to help people to do things themselves and achieve smaller things. The campaigns that the SU undertake depend on the circumstances - whereas before

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

we’ve had big campaigns relating to library services, this year we’ve seen some big improvements in relation to those services, for example the expected installment of self-check-in desks. The pressure we exerted at the beginning of the year was enough to make progress on this. The problem with campaigns is that if you campaign for everything then you campaign for nothing - we can make advances without having to wage huge campaigns and this allows us to run a lot of smaller campaigns for things that students really want. My main objective was, when someone came to me with a problem, rather than adding to my list of things to do, I would use the existing SU structures to help them do what was right for them. If we can deal with the big problems through active committee work and better use of the class rep system then we don’t have to put resources into campaigns. If drastic things happen within the College then SU campaigns will react, but when they’re not happening the pro-active campaigns keep making progress.

A paragraph in my manifesto was dedicated to protection from cuts - that essentially means being vigilant all the time at committees and poking holes in lots of things and if you do that well you don’t need to have massive campaigns.

Are you content with what you’ve done with regards what was in your election manifesto?

I’m pretty content. A lot of the things are completed and a lot were done early on.

A lot are ongoing, though you can never finish protecting students from cuts. As I look back over my reports from SU Council, nearly everything has seen progress.

I spoke about fixing swipecard readers and the system was fixed during the summer when I convinced College to install chips in student cards. The deadline for the systems in March so I’ll see what happens in a few weeks.

There were a few things with which I was disappointed, for example trying to get €5 and €10 notes in the ATMs the €10 notes went into the

Hamilton one during the elections but we’re still waiting. Something things came up that would have a bigger impact and we had to wait a bit.

Do you envy Rory Dunne and the year he has ahead of him, or do you pity the job he has to do?

I would like to be starting again - I’ve really enjoyed it.

I’d like to do it again from the start, but I’m not sure I’d want to continue. I’ve seen what needs to be changed and I can try to make those changes so that things are easier for Rory, and that’s how the organisation grows. Knowing you have to do all you can in the time you have is a really good motivator and you do an awful lot of work because of it. That said, 12 months is not enough...

I know, isn’t it? I always see people running again in UCD - could you not bring even more to the Union because you know how things work?

There are definitely benefits to having people working for longer but we’ve managed to do very well with the system that we have and it’s about adapting that system.

I’m looking already at Rory’s manifesto and I’m still going to do what I said I would but I’ll also be trying to make the transition easier for him.

There’s nothing in his manifesto that contradicts what was in mine. As long as the student message is the SU message then changing the face of that message is fine.

15,000 euro of SU funding to the Graduate Students’ Union was cut could you clarify why that was?

It is a really complex issue and has been talked about a lot. Basically, over a number of years the GSU had been spending more money than they were allocated by the capitations committee. For the last year the shortfall has been funded by the savings the SU were making. Since then, there’ve been many attempts to restructure and lots of documents were submitted to capitations and all

the capitated bodies sat together to work out a solution.

It was decided the €60,000 was needed to maintain services. As this was going on, everyone seemed happy.

We’ve sat down on a number of occasions since to work out plans, and the SU staff do a lot of support work for the GSU because they perform similar functions. There are questions as to whether some of the figures submitted to the capitations committee by the GSU are reflective. We now have to go back and look at the information submitted - I’m not sure how it’s going to go. The figures that they submitted weren’t necessarily what they thought. The decisions were made to make sure that the GSU would be secure next year based on the best information available at the time and if there is better information then we’ll look at that too. The main priority is to provide as best as possible for students and that’s the reason for the original funding from the SU. The GSU made out their budget and couldn’t afford all of it, so rather than cut the easy things rather than the strategic decisions - as is the way in College - the idea was that the SU could provide fund for the GSU to make strategic decisions. The problem with continuing is that if the GSU still need more support, we’ll have to look at what the SU doesn’t provide because providing from savings is unsustainable. A new exercise is beginning to make things work better in the future.

So just to clarify, the SU were using savings to fund the GSU? For a while the GSU were funding their own activities from their own savings, and when their savings ran out the SU stepped in with its savings for a period of three years before a review. During that three years we’ve worked to find a better solution from the capitations committee which would make it official instead of the temporary arrangement that existed previously, which we deemed to be a better solution. The capitation committee believe this would be a better solution, but the GSU believes that there are still issues outstanding.

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Education Officer Rachel Barry Q&A by Cormac Shine

Did you promise a referendum on fees?

That actually wasn’t on my manifesto. The referendum on fees came from an interview with the UT; and my opponent suggested it, so it was on my opponent’s [John Cooney] manifesto. I said I wouldn’t be adverse to it if it was the best way of getting opinion. In terms of fees, I think the way that we’ve gone about it this year is the right way. The problem with referendums are that they’re longterm policies, so referendums can only be got over by another referendum. Now, in the current climate, you have to ask questions as to whether locking yourself into a financial policy for that long a time, potentially indefinitely, is that a good idea? So I do think the way we’ve gone about it in terms of a consultation process, including the town hall meetings, student surveys, is the right way. It’s not a decision you can make off the cuff.

What we have done is lobby behind the scenes within USI to get the USI to vote on it, and we’ll be having a vote next week that will enable students to mandate the delegation Trinity will be sending to USI to vote in a certain way. It’s a ballot, not a referendum; a ballot essentially is a more democratic way of saying how Trinity will vote. If 5,000 people vote in it, that’ll be pretty convincing and next year may choose to have that as SU policy.

On the subject of Christmas exams/ semesterisation, you submitted a report to the Undergraduate Studies Committee earlier in the year, has there been any more progress on that?

There’s actually a good deal of progress on that; it’s probably one of the areas we’ve had the most progress.

I suppose it’s the blessing and the curse of education that a lot of the work is done in the background. That report is going up on the education website; it’s a broad policy document that looks at the situation now, looks at the possible alternatives and asks questions. That document went to the EMS Faculty Executive, the USC, from where it was circulated to every single school in college, then it came back, receiving an almost surprisingly positive response from the EMSFE. They recognised the issues.

Patrick Geoghegan, Chair of the USC, has come out against it, will that hold up progress at all?

I think other members of the committee, in particular the undergrad chairs. Dentistry, health and medicine came back and said it was one of their favourite documents this year. It’s one of the first instances that we’ve seen the SU getting up there and putting forward policy instead of reacting to policies put on the table. In terms of the immediate results, PG is against semesterisation and Christmas exams. I think you have to look at it in a broader way because there are results that can be achieved from this document that aren’t simply Christmas exams. The document I put forward, because I’m mandated by council to argue for Christmas exams, went for Christmas exams.

However, another effect of the doc is that there are going to be three faculty forums happening this April that will discuss how we assess

and how we can do it better. Another thing that came from it was the Senior Lecturer commissioned a study that asked how people are assessed. For the first time we have on paper in college documents how many exams people are doing, so we can see the problems.

EMS was highlighted as the biggest problem; in science you can have anything from three to 15 exams at the end of the year. What’s also happened is that at the last USC meeting it was noted that we’ve been discussing the academic year structure in piecemeal bits, and one member said why don’t we review it in full? What that doc has led to is next year the academic year structure will undergo a full review when academic council had ruled that the question was over.

Obviously it’s not going to be resolved in a year but hopefully we’ll have the immediate result of other forms of assessment.

You’re in charge of class rep training. Firstly, were you happy with how it went and do you think the issue of the gap between reps and students needs to be addressed; and how much did it cost?

It was the cheapest it’s ever been, because this year I went after sponsorship. I managed to get the hotel company TIFCO to be the headline sponsors and that’s the first time we’ve ever done headline sponsorship. They’ve been more willing to offer deals for the Science Ball, the Health Science Ball, the Arts Ball, the Hall Ball etc. USI have a national council every month or so out in Dundalk, and TIFCO

Rachel Barry with Lucinda Creighton TD at the launch of Opportunities Abroad Week gave myself and Ryan free accommodation there so we don’t have to spend students’ money, so that’s about €100 saved every month. It actually pays back in a lot of ways.

In terms of the actual event, I think it was fantastic. It was the first time we haven’t had any damages.

We also produced a class rep handbook. We go through a lot at the training and as well as preparing people to deal with things, it also cements the bonds between class reps in different faculties.

The great thing about that is once it’s done, when you have a problem in engineering, your mate in council will probably be able to help.

Once you have that bond, it makes things so much easier. Whenever you have a problem in Trinity, you’re not the first person to ever have it. Problems repeat, repeat,

repeat.

Has there been increased awareness of the work of SU Council this year?

The SU can get better at getting its message out there.

That might be a question for Ronan Costello. We’ve done better this year than ever before; we’ve had posters for every council, we’ve had information up online and we’ve had class rep videos. I think it’s a reflection of that that on first count we had 340 class reps elected this year, an increase of about 80 from last year.

I do agree that there is an indifference to the class rep system and to the union as a whole. I think the SU can always do something to make things better by providing training, making sure people

are going for class rep. A lot of it depends on the individual. I think it’s important that students engage to make sure the right person gets elected.

Obviously a lot of your work is done out of view of the college in general and there’s a lot of low-key committee work; what kind of stuff have you been doing that you think should be highlighted or that has really progressed over the last year?

Our relationship with them has come on in leaps and bounds this year. The SU works best when it works with people, and on my manifesto last year was graduate opportunities. I was very lucky in that I studied law and when I was in third year

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012 I was in a very competitive class, which pushed me to get my act together. I got an internship, loved it and was lucky enough to get a job. My sister did French and Spanish TSM and she didn’t have that same push. My aim at the start of last year was to get people at least thinking about internships in the early years. What I promised was subject-specific careers fairs for that purpose, and International Careers Day, which actually turned into International Careers Week!

That came from a lot of meetings, quite frustrating meetings at times at the start of the year, and we really had to push to get the internship day on campus.

500 people turned up in a two-hour period and what’s even better is that it’s been penciled into the calendar for next year. In terms of subjectspecific careers fairs we’ve had science fairs, law fairs, and I’d like that to expand next year. We got together with the Alumni Foundation and had the CALFS event, specifically for first- and second-years, because again nobody gets internships in this time because nothing’s marketed. Myself and Aidan [Bond-James, Finance and Services Officer] were eager.

He did a lot of work for that, he deserves most of the credit, but it fitted in with my ideas. We had people coming in talking about how to get lab experience. This is something that’s never done in college.

We’ve also had the Alumni Foundation and the careers service they really want to get together and work with students outside of the SU.

I’ve had a proposition from the Alumni Foundation and the careers service suggesting that we sit down with all the newly-elected society auditors and the SU in the summer and do up a careersoriented plan. The Alumni Foundation are a relatively untapped resource in terms of societies’ and the SU’s use of them.

I guess there were a lot of difficulties with the library.

It’s suffered huge cutbacks, and we’ve also got unions to deal with. What has been done is the introduction of self-service check-in desks that will be used for lending books; lending isn’t the problem, counter reserve is the problem.

Progress in the library is very slow and the issue is that unions have said that we’d be replacing staff. It’s a bigger issue and it has to be dealt with very carefully. It’s not a case of barricading the library because we are talking about people’s jobs. When you’re on the other side in a boardroom, it’s very difficult to get the balance right.

The attitude that the SU is gonna do its homework and prepare documents and push to set the agenda will transfer to other offices next year. Louisa [Miller] certainly wants Welfare to go that way, and I’ve talked to Aisling Ni Chonaire and Rory Dunne, so I’ll be chatting with the other officers during the transition period on how to write policy documents and play the game with college. I couldn’t understand when I came in how a union hadn’t been doing its homework, setting the agenda and pushing policy as opposed to

17

merely reacting. When I first came to college, I had the impression of the union being full of hacks and I think that’s not the case any more.

There’s still a long way to go until you have every single person on campus involved.

I think we’ve come a hell of a long way. I’m confident the people coming in are the right people to take it to the next level.

Is there anything you could have done better or anything you regret doing?

I would say the two things that Dan Ferrick had on his manifesto. They were two things myself and the senior lecturer were talking about at the start of the year. In terms of the timetabling, we’ve got a bit of a start. I made it known to the provost who included the issue in his inaugural address. Myself and Ryan floated the idea of a Trinity Wednesday like they have in the UK, and [the Provost] loved that. The Provost and the senior lecturer are really behind this to make sure you have a timetable that actually suits, because when you sign up for a full-time course, you sign up for 9 to 5 in my view, at the most 9 to 6.

The only regret I have is that I didn’t push that as much, purely because I was elected on other issues. It’s not really a regret because I’ve actually been able to place it in the minds of the people who need to know about it. We’ve laid the groundwork for Dan, who has put it as a top priority for next year. There will be big progress next year.

Know something we don’t?

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The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Communications Officer Ronan Costello Q&A by Fionn Ó’Deá Have you enjoyed your stint as Communications Officer?

Yeah, the most enjoyable part for me has been editing The University Times. What we tried to do this year was build and the work that Tom Lowe and Robert Donohoe had done. We wanted to expand the online coverage to have at least one update per day, and to improve the newspaper as much as we could. One of the main ways we tried to do this were make the main supplement to UT better by founding The University Times Magazine.

Tommy Gavin and Dargan Crowley Long have done great work on this, like the recent sex issue where they sent someone undercover to Wezz (Wesley Disco) and generally doing risqué pieces like that. With the broadsheet, I tried to create ideas for other supplements. For instance in this issue we’ll have the Trinity Year in Review supplement. As well, we tried to continue to break stories and I think we’ve been very successful with that. Before Christmas we had great coverage of the Nick Griffin visit and since then my Deputy Editor Rónán Burtenshaw has broken stories like the one on Alchemy Club promotions and the Trinity hacker.

Is there anything you regret about the inaccuracy in the fraternity story?

One of the pitfalls of student journalism in particular is that as editor, you have to trust your journalists to get the basics right, and for the most part they have. The guys who wrote the fraternity story were working in the knowledge that a couple of people mentioned in the story were members and it just so happened that a few weeks prior to publication of the story, those people mentioned had broken ties with

fraternity. Though, as it transpired, their names were still on the membership charter. You always regret having to issue retractions but by and large, I stand by that story. I can see how people were upset but a lot of it was trying to avoid association with the organisation when they saw the backlash that it was getting. They had been involved for a couple of months in the first term so they knew what it was about. They said that they cut ties because they thought that it was elitist and sexist but also because they had political ambitions. I think what they meant was, they cut ties because they had political ambitions and didn’t want to be perceived to be elitist and sexist, and I think a lot of people saw that.

There seems to be a lack of awareness about what the Communications Officer’s duties are outside of editing The University Times.

That happens every year. The other side of the job is that you are essentially the poster guy, the materials person of the SU. For instance, I’ve just finished laying out an information booklet on a fees preferendum that’ll be happening next week. As well, there’s the general online presence of the SU, like the weekly email, the tcdsu.org website, introductory videos for all the different officers, and new landing tabs on the Facebook pages. Universitytimes.ie was also updated just before Freshers’ Week. The biggest thing for me over the summer was getting the SU diary together which cost €4,000 less than the year previous as we changed printer.

Has anything surprised you about the job?

I’ve been involved in the office since second year with the University Record. Also, being around Tom Lowe a lot last year, I knew what to expect. One thing that has been hard to get used to though has been – and the other officers don’t really get this as much – the responsibility you have for everything that The University Times publishes. If a story comes to you written, you have to trust that the journalists have done their jobs.

When you put a story out that you know is going to be controversial… the stress of that takes some getting used to.

Have you stayed true to your manifesto from last year? There was a proposed Dummy’s Guide to the SU that hasn’t come about.

Well that was actually something we came up with mid-campaign. I could still have time to do it, the content is written and I’m still in the job until June/July. Another thing I said in my manifesto was that I was going to have an appointments page in each issue.

As it turns out the careers advisory service and Rachel Barry (Education Officer) do a lot of that anyway.

Something that my successor and his successor will have to keep in mind is that when you get into the job with all these ideas, sometimes they just can’t happen. As regards the other promises in the manifesto, the video output of both the SU and UT have increased dramatically. Our online presence is massive, particularly with UT. In the last month alone, universitytimes. ie has received over 140,000 page views.

Have the Town Hall Meetings got off the ground to the extent

With over 140,000 page views in a month, the Trinity conversation is on www.universitytimes.ie

that you hoped?

I’d say that two out of the three we had were successful. The first was the public interview with the Provost in the GMB. The only problem with it was that the Provost’s office wouldn’t let people ask questions spontaneously so it didn’t have that Town Hall feel to it, but all in all it was a success. The fees one was the most disappointing.

Students elect Class Reps to represent them at things like that and the fact that there were only about ten of them at it was a disappointment not only to myself but to the rest of the Sabbatical team. The third one, the USI debate with the Phil between Gary Redmond and Dave Byrne, was the best one. There were pushing on 200 people at that

and there was great discussion. USI were there in force and we had 3045 minutes worth of questions from the floor afterwards. The format is being replicated not only by people running for positions in other colleges but by the USI themselves.

Do have any advice for Editor-elect Owen Bennett?

The one thing that I hope he does, despite the grief he’ll inevitably get for running stories that are controversial or even that’ll just piss some people off, is to do it anyway. There are 17,000 students here and there are special interest groups who will get pissed off when you tread on their toes, but the majority of students will want to read it and deserve to read it.

The University Times

The University Times The Trinity Year | Tuesday, March 20 2012

Ents Officer Chris O’Connor Q&A by Shauna Watson After the year as Ents Officer, do you think you had the necessary experience for the job or do you think it was a learning curve?

During the elections I thought I had more experience than I actually had but once you start it all hits you like a ton of bricks so you have to get your shit together pretty quickly. I don’t think I was anticipating how hard it was.

making back the costs of promoting.

Explain what happened with the European Mystery Tour.

What a disaster! It was my biggest regret of the year. It only sold 20 tickets. In hindsight I should have done it as my mystery tour in Term 1 and then done the normal mystery tour after Christmas.

Where had you planned to go?

Madhaus has been the main focus of Ents this year. How do you think that having one set venue each week worked?

I can’t tell the location just in case I organise it next year.

I’d like to stay involved with Dave. He has all these great ideas and I’d like to bring the contacts in and the experience from this year.

I think it was a good idea starting fresh from September to try and get it off the ground. I think re-launching it in Term 2 in a new venue and the introduction of the night in the Button Factory has worked well. I realised some people couldn’t go out on Wednesday night so I wanted to put effort into that.

I tried to do a night in Club M on Mondays and it was a complete disaster. For the 3 weeks that it was running it was just not worth it.

The website, www. trinityents.com, has been updated very rarely this year. Did you decide to use another medium of informing and advertising?

Why didn’t the night work out?

I think the reason it didn’t go as well was because we were competing with Alchemy and they were willing to drop their night to free as soon as they saw competition in Temple Bar. That works well for Alchemy…apart from all the scandals.

You ran Tuesday night live but it wasn’t to be.

How did you find keeping the night going?

Tuesday night live was there to give Trinity bands a chance to perform to crowds of students. The turnout wasn’t as high as I had hoped so I discontinued it in Term 2 just because we weren’t even

The way things are going now is all through Facebook.

The Ents Facebook page has the software designed...maybe I haven’t been updating it as much as I should. I might update that later today now that I think about it.

You also said in your manifesto that you wanted to incorporate a blog and a polling system for students to give feed back about Ents. Why didn’t you implement this idea?

I tried to bring the polling thing into the Facebook page. There’s a box there for it and I was supposed to have a question of the week. It’s annoying now that I’m looking this up now and I completely forgot about it!

You said in your debate with McDaid that you thought there was a lot of corruption in the Ents’

Office in previous years.

Do you think that people feel the same about the position?

Before my budget started to slim out, it was fairly evident where all the money was going - Calvin Harris, Freshers’ Ball and the Halloween Ball. I paid a substantial amount of money for an act and only charged €5 in. I like to think that people can see where the money is going.

What do you think has been your biggest success this year?

The Calvin Harris gig definitely. Or Surf, Sail, Sevens.

That was the most successful big event that I ran and all the money went to the sports clubs. College is only as good as the sports clubs and the societies. One of the things that makes Trinity so good is that everyone is so eager and so involved in societies instead of sitting on the couch playing FIFA. During Rag week we didn’t raise as much as last year but we raised €12,000 and for Freshers’ week we sold out the 800 wrist bands.

And it was brilliant to get the screens in the Pav. If we can find the budget again we’ll try to run another during April.

Will you stay involved with Ents next year?

You won’t be seeing much of me next year. To be honest, I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to the books! I’ll be going undercover in the library trying to do as well as I can in my degree.

19

UT Magazine Positions:

Deputy Editor News Editor Deputy News Editor Features Editor Deputy Features Editor Opinion Editor Deputy Opinion Editor Sports Editor Deputy Sports Editor Online Editor Deputy Online Editor Photo Editor Deputy Photo Editor Copy Editor Broadhseet Layout and Design Multimedia Editor (Videos and photos) Web Editor

UT Magazine Editor Deputy Magazine Editor Online Magazine Editor Arts and Culture Editor Music Editor Film Editor Magazine Copy Editor Magazine Layout and Design

Send applications via email to Owen Bennett, at applications@universitytimes.ie.

Deadline for receipt of applications: Wednesday March 28th. .

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No previous experience with the newspaper is necessary but candidates are expected to have strong writing skills. If you are interested in applying for any of the positions listed below, please email applications@ universitytimes.ie with a brief outline of why you deserve the position. The inclusion of a sample of any previous work is encouraged but not demanded. Applications close on Wednesday March 28th.

Applications are now open for next year’s staff positions in The University Times. As the winner of Student Newspaper of the Year for the previous two years, The University Times offers a fantastic platform for those wishing to pursue a career in media, hone their writing skills, or simply voice their opinions.

Staff Applications 2012/2013

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eal mitte tur ned that his Rónán Burten icated tha ITY Tim her ord while his RS ind shaw IVE victim revealed phone tribution from his oughout or. In his Deputy News A UN aspec her con of ts thr ey the m the do had re- the pet rators were Editortigation has some up of thefied practice say ing “th red fro a groling, one ves quali per of troub s jee ry, up. howev mbers e, the ph m Rober t er.thi dents, s sto This DUSSC sturly is par-nd about thi trip gro 30 ticula A University that me absenc the h book th casetoin light cal l fro r Busi- ski dents on the s fa sou Times en 25 and witce Sou i- expan ved a .com/u Stu its gation into the bet weinvest vate sion were so ofng” t yea interv iew - cei in recen the pri practice iofofus, a firs niversity stut years. ckrock trip, in y Times, deole thiour ing research invest an is conn Maguire Computing alumn s Blaigatio grants n led wh times ed ski wn to buy school us to Jun ior De tio iversit r of sto end n and senior out iga ou Un nk teaching has s att bli The acade est avi reveaDu led a worry an inv ged in- nes t who had CBC Mo mics who described ak- Theibed the beh pat hic”, ing trend llege, - “mark wrought cting a e. Spe le alle cio ed Co du of vil increa devalu of An ing under ce den ock Colleg y Times, scr group as “so ws-se” in teach ingies graduate educa Sno Moun-t buy-o -off ” beckr o “a ser took pla from tempoint the tion. and Trinit y’sutsski Universit in Bla a “spend rary reliefwh ich trip ock any Academics in oc on toanestabl cidents ux Alpes resort b- ing to The ire denied nual ished practi report ing for mer Blackr nTrinithav y Colleg rt ce. nts, e b’s The quest have always had Tri De Magu the sta ts Clu of the Du the eve at Les ion of who tween two one from accespor s to a faprior to in is inrts Mr ge of cility that allow members ack nowldents, the weekvolved in replacement teach m UCD, y s theminto whiching rsit y Snow Spo as knowled he use the stu and one fro money from nch ll ive l impor research of ter m. is of centra which the g, as we low ing t the Fre lin Un alt hough ity yin grants tha t ar to compensate e least tance. Colthat fol does were sta students, inathave It is clelege cal for comp lednot Clubfor edged a system : p2 portion of their the teaching weensur re ing nit y en t to see that Ronan ux Alpes whooth er Tri workload. lice ek report ed Co de pe nd poThis leave Les De those teaching portio ste ld RAG We ble, thesabba Unicoullo nobecau to on tical n would then Editor Greor y-Long. wh tw ice se of re-Eloect or told The five be search passed on to Crowle nea r grants str ong , s have a contract lectur Da rga n spend resort 300+ are replaced by source Times that - those er, who is paid Photo: with comp Mr the bot h the per modu le they andarable LA ST waste the intended G Week. sity where ficatio qualireplace.

TH tingent including llia ms s ver d for RA nns. cicon pie dis ts, SD re staystURmo culminat AY saw t Mr Wi be anonymou DUSSC The moion cers get studen , are facing This practice up we the be- tha the rsity trip t his ica l Offi te groUnive ail to ms has ms m of tha bat em of been ’ fro llia llia investwo int separa ey. used in the past DUSSCTimes tigatiothe ens ion Sab nor Wi He also the ir to rea lise in the Wi ry hea rings e SU c s weeks re to t i cti eviden Both n produced we ing the . dents’ Un pai T a cele press Co ce t fai led na ear of know n as “relief give what’s ing. specifi ge” Stu gn bu low pli on app ing fol c ernal trip . tify im se he’s a led

by Pro” to academces Triniwould u d e d camthe ext instan ior Dean the trip.

Officer i nWh c l en hotelwhere ics. This would ts to no andfessor cau “I hate nit y. na me field. s and m the y Jun other senior Ash leyingReatur ning mean that it iinr on s that contestanfine relating is cted fro e Tri om:” nounced throw used when an Universit , behaviou eiv ing this a swast acaCooke of the remark s were academic wish- eje demic e “Fr en The y s afterreplaced even hat ll conB e r - an- of a €2,000 orteddar me c k ult es to engage in I don’t Trinit y becaus the waby Wi llia ms revealed the tract Wh After rec The Universit him lectur B l a res he rep erson a large-scale re- gen who were to e ke to Mr his ty. ms was n, ns ita was damages, daubed ho-not in t Ry search projec dow was ssion had bea tha an nrtle kaposse te out of t I say I hat elligent enough Times spo t the art icle for matio ed Mr Wi llia esof or of the ck t or tenrybacu n t aBa i , ttto tha ask a €50 no int s shi ispers thiisrd flo a PhD. inv of us... forms of sabba go on other of the This sca re ly took eat thi I’m not he said not neces Times -inch thi m o k the group then wh s under tical, “I t “a two sarily He wa to d RO t.” tly a g tha by it.” h bec c*n infor personal reason whether tel dicati witon om g ten N wa llet, sai ” and promp in if he ”. He deplayinan d sid imed of poore get into stupid UCD be- wr itten intenPre r. Dis r teach ent buyine TC Editor, to na me ast DS ing, He cla the aga us that you a and -el le but tter” Dear t ny prove their ability s or to im- would ma rke ect hab s, a group of O’C nig ht and Ch gU for breakf paint seem to open “I’m jus too ma involvement in the tigation. personal ma pints punis to carry out the door apparent to Les Deux Alpe on nor had their job. went lower ast ika is group, ring the dy had is a t y i n ris any t on tence to y Ski Trip to has become so. mind stand it d p is per the Du sw rea in s bei aul Trinit com sen ards. a did nie this “th “al spa The ng ial Any e fro expan- In recent hour the rane m of one of mmerce , the ass medals new e regarding sion in The process involv t he had nt on this” eived tive light. With is in anyw thistod A video k ou m im m the ay area would by a cus tor rec and van us in a nega fore thi spend-off shing an articl and tha a Co that of the t, ed tsid p me edi En publi , in laton grou ts taining resear inn the com has to under Wi ld anything studen in nince. Collegr Triseem smok, er sur faced reference a ch grants is clear, shou passtt Ela race to telyeak suit again in Framine Pau l Qu to print, from Conor Trinit y to ref use llia ms said he diasqu yea e’s asserUCD, in which you as , our position follow hotel. take a libel rd foltions adin €50 to ine tnce ing s d s. s unt ail make that An to applic force evide a the trip esteem Mc A thi Mr Wi ation is made assaulaceds senior Da studen an em m the email the day ism in theasked if he wa ingid to mely strong electeofd En we would like shed we will indeed be for a grant to fol low ing eryone adem ics are ng a Tube in risk fro be dent wa en up.

Visibly ts dents@ you have extre For a s usi College, appoi specifi stu You s. p.

Offi reg rets Wh “ev stu vot ed ty te, Tri name liam body; in part cer at least the gro untrue be publi thus we suggest that no es. tion by these could be ofnted a on by te , I no ark ing that naming any on ly the Ski trinity ucdemail, picfourunder dence. We private comp bygive invest iga said “if I am no 141as s or indeed publishers, es.” entered ed to gradu low ing false prece clothed dress s rem the r claim aThe ate €20 les nies, funds or Thi unde and al der gly ms paMont r mateach themselv ng any such the semi-state enti- students her foubest e we stron and character briated under wear, Mr ail.com. threatens leg Cla re just before maki ing exMr Wi llia about it.” enjoyed ties. This cigarette ty, integrity she and perienThe lightly. Henc from - ine d gm off as digni this ve, Ho al ce. taken could nt pay art iour ow cke m be tel, be preve College a company slandering her roo was the Merrion per , and in therm tes that he “fu er”. tured abo the case of an “in don’t kn this is not to m-mates like Pfizer for , in order to There ed Squ are, howev ale roo serious and medic ven are ma n e is withdrawn o-pha 100% bar , articl inn sta are Well-plac rmaa n the riv tes act ion in ying the group s two fem er, some inan Qu ceutical grants d from ue for the ingcou that any such ear , or bodies like centives to hire one dow tra sta recommend pt. contract lectur fasten ski 8pm o does er. tont sle the Environme [his] ph ed why, he tio cle por t.” It app wh furth , n €50 any spe wa ntal Protection ers with postg radua cul . s lea kin ve ligh press victim ask te degre being taken med, Agenc y, Econo only those The g do bootsaWhen a negati the ing to im be naes. wn cou with to mic such h fromen a resort and nt was try ing to qualifiexp Socia l tion t wis ca-eriresea rch Institu that “I lots we room as the Wh was try can benoused rely, her le te or the Irish re nds... I Yours Since bal- ty guard ke asofmoduThe co-Uniresea rch Coun ordinators spo my frie impressi sor ted and securi or appoi cil for the Huh nted first ched one ons we nts manit ies and - ur iners.

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by Un re glean Socia l Scienc approa Trinity and Times. ive es ed for their respe into In the cours veresity tor, Tom rsit y Times ctive fields. of resear came EdiLowe, this story, the If this applic them ching i was of paper ly twe and ation is mspwhile

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Dr S Frolov (Mathe matics) Dr P Gallagher (Physics) Dr P Geoghegan(H istories and Human Dr C Gobl (Lingu ities) istic, Dr A Harkin (Pharm Speech and Communicati on Sciences) acy and Pharm Dr E Heffernan aceutical Scienc (Law) es) Dr J Lalor (Nursi ng and Midwif ery) Dr L Leeson (Lingu istic, Speech and Dr A McLysaght Communication (Genetics and Sciences) Microbiology) Dr B O’Kelly (Engin eering) Dr M Ó Siochrú (Histor Dr F O’Toole (Social ies and Humanities) Sciences and Philoso Dr J Stout (Natur phy) al Dr S Tresize (Dram Sciences) a, Film and Music) Dr V Timonen (Social Work and Social Policy) Dr S Waldren (Natural Scienc es)

go up. Students are seen as

lks dams ta Gerry A Reavey: e to Eugen page 8

Keating | n | Caroline an ron Hefferna stello | Aa nor | Darren O’Gorm | Ronan Co on n Cooney | Chris O’C Bartlett | Joh ler | Elaine McDaid rry | Ryan uisa Mil Rachel Ba LeCocq | Lo Sebastian

The SU

Irish St

TUESDAY, 19 OC TOBER 2010

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Freshers’ Week . Photo: Darga The Promoted n Crowley-Lon : The twenty-se g ven academics to receive the pay bump

Personal Chair Professor S O’Mar a Professor C O’Sulli (Psychology) van (Computer Professor J Parnell Science and Statist (Natural Scienc ics) es) Associate Profes sor Dr D Coghlan (Busin Dr S Connon (Chem ess Studies) istry) Dr T Conno r (Medic Dr A Corvin (Medic ine) Dr S Duffy (Histor ine) ies and Human Dr I Rozas ities) (Chem istry) Dr J Wickham (Social Scienc es and Philoso phy) Senior Lecturer Dr P Carmody (Natural Scienc es)

Registration fe e to double - Ó Broi n

Ronan Costello News Editor

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Hi tt and cDermo Gavin M zcano meet Ana Le buskers Dublin’s FILTHY HIPSTER S SOCIAL NETWOR K TWO DOOR CINE REVIEW MA CLUB INTERVIEW

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