The Launch of RAG Week trinity students celebrate the launch of Raise and give week, a week where students fundraise for eleven trinity-based charities. this year, students have set a target of €20,000.

Scholars & Fellows Nude Calendar Faces Criticism from Former FellowDr Gerald Morgan att acks Fellows and Scholars in a series of widely circulated emails.

MagazineMara wilson on going from child actor to acclaimed playwright

EXCLUSIVE OPINION

Action AgainstHotel

OpposingPrivatisation

Trinity College authorities block the rebranding of the Trinity Capital Hotel to the Trinity Hotel in the midst of the university’s own identity initiative in news, page 4 »

Ciar McMormick opposes the privatisationof Trinity College, suggesting it would lead to the disappearance of true academic thought and the creation of factory-like universities in opinion, page 13 »

SUPPLEMENT

Rag WeekThe fi rst-ever raising and giving week supplement, giving you the low down on the list of events, fundraisers and causes that are supported during the week.

www.universitytimes.ieVolume V, Issue VI Tuesday 21 January, 2014

RAG Week Trinity Students Fundraise for Charity

photo by edMuNd heaphy FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

A former Fellow of Trinity College and professor in the

School of English, Dr Ger-ald Morgan, has voiced his disapproval of the Scholars and Fellows Nude Charity Calendar 2014 in a number of widely circulated emails, the recipients of which in-clude members of the Irish press, Dáil Éireann and the U.K. Parliament. Morgan’s complaints primarily tar-geted the participation of Fellows in the calendar and the fact that the Senior Common Room was fea-tured in one of the photo-graphs produced.

In a public email sent to the Editor of The Irish Times on 27 December 2013, Morgan deplored the “ill-advised” participation of the Fellows in the project, along with the “lack of orig-inality” inherent in the idea of the calendar. He contin-ued, “This is mere childish nonsense, and it trivialises the world of scholarship that the Fellows represent.

“As one who resigned his own Fellowship in 2002 in order to protect the dignity of Fellowship, I wish to dis-sociate myself from this ill-judged Calendar as far as the Fellows are concerned. I am astonished that this unwise contribution was countenanced by the Board of the College.”

The image concerned in-cludes the former and cur-rent Chair of the Fellows, members of Board, serving offi cers, a former Head of School and other promi-

nent Fellows. Dr Morgan has not yet registered a for-mal complaint about the calendar, nor has he writt en to the Scholars Committ ee. Furthermore, the Senior Common Room is a private, autonomous organisation separate from College gov-

ernance, thus the Provost cannot interfere in its ac-tivities.

Morgan resigned over a disciplinary matt er in 2002, then contested the resignation in a case which was brought to the High Court. The Court accepted the College procedures and a sett lement was reached thereafter. He is currently a member of the Senior Com-mon Room but has no oth-er remaining links with the College. Morgan is known for sending large batches of emails to numerous peo-ple, which has resulted in his college email privileges being revoked; he previ-ously issued complaints on a number of other issues, including the removal of borrowing rights in the College Library from re-tired academics.

In his next email sent on 28 December, this time to members of College staff , Dr Morgan put forth the suggestion that rather than participate in the cal-endar, each Fellow of the College should contribute €6,500 to the Trinity Ac-cess Programme, warning that “otherwise we shall be dismissed as mere exhi-bitionists and hypocrites masquerading as beautiful minds and great scholars.”

On 29 December, Morgan

Capitated Bodies Off ered Three-month Concession on Funding Cuts

C apitated bodies in Trinity have report-edly been off ered a

three-month concession on funding cuts by the College Board. The proposal would reduce the planned 5% cut in funding for 2013/2014 to a 3.7% cut, translating to a monetary reduction of the cut by €16,354. However, the off er does not aff ect next

year’s budget, in which a further cut of 5% is to be made.

Vice Provost, Professor Linda Hogan, suggested the three-month conces-sion at a meeting last week. If realised, this proposition would decrease funding for capitated bodies by €46,547 in 2013/2014 compared with

the last academic year’s budget. However, a further cut of 5% is still set to be made in 2014/15. This would put the Capitations budget for 2014/15 at €1,150,920, leaving it a total of €107,130 lower than the 2012/2013 al-location.

President of Trinity Col-lege Students’ Union, Tom Lenihan, was unwilling to comment on this proposed concession, stating only that “there have been pro-posals on both sides and we are working hard to resolve

the issue”.However, he expressed

his fear that the capitations cuts announced last term could cause “serious dam-age” to Trinity’s reputation, “both nationally and inter-nationally”. Lenihan also warned that capitations cuts, which would aff ect all societies in College, would

create a “high risk of losing alumni funding” and un-dermine the College’s Glob-al Relations Strategy.

Furthermore, Lenihan stressed the detrimental aff ect the cuts would have on the student experience in Trinity and said that cuts could lead to “students dropping out of college”. Student bodies in College would struggle to provide “student services and sup-port” and “the university will not be able form a co-herent goal for the Trin-

ity experience in the new strategic plan that is being drafted”.

The capitated bodies di-rectly aff ected by the cuts include University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC), the Central Societies Com-mitt ee (CSC), the Students’

T he Department of Social Protec-tion has defended the company that have advertised on the Job-

Bridge site looking for candidates with a “minimum” of a PhD.

Following a request for comment on the ClaroChem Ireland Ltd. adver-tisement from The University Times, a spokesperson from the Department said that “the qualifi cations required by a host organisation are a matt er for the organisation, which will know best the nature of the position that they are of-fering”.

However, in an interview with The University Times Magazine in November of last year Labour Party TD Joanna Tuff y expressed her concern about certain ad-vertisements on JobBridge stating that “some people have been made to take their JobBridge ads down”.

The spokesperson also went on to say that JobBridge is a voluntary scheme and that “interns choose the host or-ganisation they wish to work for”. Fur-thermore, the Department believes that highly skilled internships can off er an essential bridge of real workplace expe-rience to those with relevant qualifi ca-tions.

The Department went on to say that they have introduced a variety of control measures and criteria to “protect the in-tern and to ensure the integrity of Job-

Department of Social Protection Defends PhD JobBridgePosition

coNtiNued oN page 3 »

Editor: Leanna ByrneVolume 5, Issue 6ISSN: 2013-261XPhone: (01) 646 8431Email: info@universitytimes.ieWebsite: universitytimes.ie

To contact The University Times write to:The Editor,The University Times,6 Trinity CollegeDublin 2

This newspaper is produced with the fi nancial support of Trinity College Students’ Union, but maintains a mutually agreed policy of editorial independence.

The Role of Irishness in a Globalised WordFionn Rogan talks about the fallacy of nationality in an increas-ingly interconnected world page 10 »

Award-season Celebrity BodiesAisling Curtis and how celeb-rity body images are considered “normal” page 11 »

NEWS

FEATURES

OPINION

EDITORIAL

A2

A6

A10

A11

Emer GerrardstaFF wRiteR

Hannah RyanNews editoR

Leanna ByrneeditoR

coNtiNued oN page 10 »

SPORT

PHOTOS

FILM

FASHION

A14

M11

M16

M18

MUSIC

CULTURE

RAG WEEK SCHEDULE

CHARITIES LIST

M20

M10

S5

S8

“Fellows with bird brains and poor judgment disporting themselves in various states of disarray.dr gerald Morgan, former Fellow

Expected Fall in Capitation

+1.6%

2014-152013-142012-132011-122010-112009-102008-092007-08

First decrease in over a decade

+1.5%

−3.7%

−5%

€1,152,921

€1,170,561 €1,170,561 €1,170,561 €1,170,561

€1,126,250

€1,170,561

– – – –

€1,070,888

coNtiNued oN page 2 »

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

Members of Dáil Éireann and UK Parliament Included in Nude Calendar Email Thread

2

News

sent another email, addressed to a member of the College Board, de-scribing the offending photograph as depicting “Fellows with bird brains and poor judgment disport-ing themselves in various states of disarray”. He further complained of not being consulted on the mat-ter as a member of the Senior Com-mon Room, and accused the Fel-lows of treating “students on the Trinity Access Programme as the recipients of charity”.

The final email to which The University Times gained access was sent to the Provost and some 180 other recipients on 5 January 2014. In this message, Morgan stated: “In a competition for the ten dumbest Fellows of Trinity College Dublin in 2013-2014 the public-spirited char-itable nudists in the Senior Com-mon Room will be hard to beat. In my view they ought to be banned from membership of the Senior Common Room for a year.”

In the face of this criticism, Sec-retary to the Scholars, Amy Wor-rall Sch., asserted that the College was “very supportive” of the idea of the calendar. Dr Eoin O’Dell of the School of Law, a Fellow and partici-pant in the calendar, added: “[The College’s response] is another ex-

ample of the widespread support we enjoyed.

“In general, objectors shout the loudest, drowning out the major-ity who are supportive.”

On Morgan’s protestations in particular, O’Dell stated: “I find his correspondence tendentious. We do not dignify it with a response.”

Ms Worrall also spoke to The University Times about the reac-tion to the calendar more gener-ally:

“Ultimately the people in the calendar represent themselves,” Worrall stated. “There are people in College who are grumbling, but there is also huge support. Some of the complaints are legitimate, some are not. Some people ex-pressed worries about objectify-ing women, but we were careful to maintain a gender balance - in fact, there are more men than women [in the calendar], and there are no lewd portrayals of women - or men.”

“We tried to deal with construc-tive criticism,” Ms Worrall contin-ued. “We did not want to offend anyone. The most important thing was not to disrespect the institu-tion.”

O’Dell added that there have also been complaints surrounding the photograph for July, in that it bears some resemblance to the Last Sup-

per scene, but Ms Worrall firmly stated that any such similarities were not intended.

On whether he felt that the Scholars and Fellows Calendar has been targeted by critics more than the Trinity Cancer Society Naked Calendar which was produced at the same time, Dr O’Dell comment-ed that if so, this was because of the participation of the Fellows.

“The other calendar was of an entirely different genre,” Ms Wor-rall explained. “They chose not to have staff, whereas we made the strategic decision [to include staff]. It made it more legitimate for staff and adults to purchase the calen-dar, thereby increasing our mar-ket.”

Worrall said that the production of charity calendars by Scholars and Fellows in future years might be prevented by funding issues. “90% of the cost of printing was sponsored, and we also had a grant from the Trinity Association and Trust,” she said. “As scholars are precluded from applying for CSC grants, our funding opportunities are limited and we are extremely grateful for their support.”

The Scholars and Fellows Nude Charity Calendar is still on sale and can be purchased for €5 in Mandela House and from the online library shop. €5,000 has been raised so far.

P ostgraduate Fees for European students in Trinity College are

set to increase following a decision made by the Col-lege Board and Finance committee. It was decided to raise EU postgraduate fees by 3% across the board, affecting both future stu-dents and those currently enrolled. The proposal was first put forward at a meet-ing of the Finance Commit-tee in November 2013 and was subsequently approved by the Board. This action follows an earlier decision to increase Non-EU fees for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses with effect from the 2014/2015 academic year.

The college has defended the increase on the basis of comparisons with other universities and the fact that this is the first time these fees have been in-creased in four years, al-though Trinity does review

fees on an annual basis.A College spokesperson

told The University Times: “College recently con-ducted a student survey of existing EU fee levels. Com-parative analyses were also undertaken which bench-marked our fees with peer institutions. Based on the survey outcomes, the com-parative analysis and the fact that there has been no increase of fees in the past four years since 2009/10, College proposed to in-crease the EU fee levels for postgraduate courses. The Finance Committee has ap-proved a 3% increase in all EU postgraduate fees and this recommendation has been approved by Board.”

President of the Gradu-ate Students’ Union (GSU), Ryan Kenny, has recognised the argument for trying to increase the College’s in-come, but has also voiced criticism of the impact that this measure will have on current students, stating: “Postgraduate study, par-ticularly at the doctoral level, is a serious, and of-ten challenging, personal

and financial commitment - one which no student un-dertakes without a great deal of thought and careful financial planning.

“A fee increase of this kind, which is imposed not just on new entrants but also on continuing students, gives no regard to the challenges of multi-year postgraduate work - which is tremendously disappointing in an insti-tution with such a strong reputation for its commit-ment to its postgraduate researchers.”

The Postgraduate stu-dents who will be affected make up a significant pro-portion of Trinity’s student population, with some 5,300 students on the post-graduate register, account-ing for approximately 32% of the total student body.

The implications of the increase for EU students undertaking, for example, an MSc in Finance with the School of Business, will be an increase in tuition fees in 2014/2015 to €13,650, from €13,250 at 2013/2014 levels. The same qualifica-

« coNtiNued FRoM page 1

tion in Civil Engineering will now cost €5,925 annu-ally in tuition fees, up from €5,750, and a Doctoral de-gree in Clinical psychology will increase from €13,953 to €14,370.

Kenny has assured that “The GSU is actively en-gaged with College in our efforts to guarantee that postgraduate [students] in Trinity get the best possi-ble educational experience, and will continue to be so. We  must acknowledge that, as  public funding for higher education continues to fall, achieving the stand-ards to which the college aspires, and which the post-graduate students expect, has become much more challenging. It remains to be seen whether the pro-posed fee increases can ad-dress the challenges that the college faces, and that postgraduates students ex-perience every day, but the GSU will continue to work to address those challeng-es, and to make sure that postgrads receive the very best an elite university like Trinity can offer.”

Trinity Economic Forum Maturing into Powerful Student Platform

College to Increase Postgraduate Fees for EU students

Catherine O’CallaghanstaFF wRiteR

photo by aNdRew MuRphy FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

JobBridge Internship Seeking PhD Qualifications

Bridge”. These measures include vetting of advertisements and the requirement for the host organi-sation to participate in monthly compliance reporting.

When asked whether or not the skill set gained from completing a PhD is of greater value than a Job-Bridge internship the spokesper-son responded:

“JobBridge gives opportunities to jobseekers across the spectrum of qualifications. In the recent independent evaluation of Job-Bridge, it was found that 35.9% of interns hold qualifications below primary degree level, with 22.4% of interns having a postgraduate qualification. Given the high num-bers of interns holding graduate and post-graduate qualifications, it is necessary that JobBridge of-fers them an internship that meets their needs.”

ClaroChem Ireland Ltd is an APIs manufacturing plant, located in Damastown. The company say they are looking for an intern who will work as a Process Chemist. This intern will gain “practical experi-ence in development and scale-up of chemical processes and their introduction to the manufactur-ing plant, gathering and reviewing relevant information/documenta-tion”.

Although the internship is trying to attract a candidate with a “mini-mum PhD in Synthetic Chemistry”, the advertisement also states that there is “no experience required”. The applicant must only be “keen to develop their industrial expe-rience in a busy pharmaceutical/chemical manufacturing plant. Furthermore, the intern is expect-ed to work for 39 hours per week for a period of six months with an allowance of €50 per week in addi-tion to the current Social Welfare

payment. In relation to the wage of €50 per

week, on top of social welfare, the Departments wished to stress that this was not seen to be a wage, but a “top-up to take account of addi-tional costs that may be incurred due to participation in JobBridge”.

The University Times first learned of the JobBridge advertisement on 16 January at 2:37pm when a tweet was sent to our Twitter account with the link to jobsireland.ie and published the story on university-times.ie.

In a bid to highlight the issues surrounding JobBridge, Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy staged a protest outside Advance Pitstop’s Dublin and Cork offices on Satur-day evening. Advance Pitstop have also been criticised for advertising relating to twenty-eight JobBridge positions.

ClaroChem have declined to comment on their advertisement.

« coNtiNued FRoM page 1

O ne of the newest and most ex-citing dates on the college cal-endar is the Trinity Economic

Forum and preparations are under way for the 2014 installment which is to take place on the 14th and 15th Feb-ruary. I sat down with this year’s coor-dinator and co-founder Gary Finnerty to discuss the history, mission and fu-ture of the forum.

Gary, a 4th year BESS student, and two fellow students, Patrick Lynch and Seán Gill, sat down three years ago and came up with the core idea of TEF which was to “engage students in economic discourse of contemporary issues, on issues which might not be to the fore in traditional lectures and business syllabi, and to create a plat-form from which student thinkers could influence policy making.”

The two forums which we have en-joyed so far have been notable for some very progressive speakers, espe-cially the inaugural address delivered by President Higgins which was a stir-ring appeal for a return to a socially

Finn KeyescuRReNt aFFaiRs editoR

and ethically responsible business environment. Nonetheless, Gary is keen to stress that the forum is an “ag-nostic platform for students to make up their own minds” as to the best way to shape financial and economic policy for the future and the forum itself, perhaps by definition, doesn’t have a policy agenda or mission. “The forum remains unbiased and allows students themselves to shape policy though student perspectives will nat-urally tend towards a new or liberal standpoint.”

A key feature of the forum to date has been the policy workshops where like minded students have joined forces to create policy ideas and pro-posals which are then forwarded on to the Department of Finance. However, the Department receives a huge num-ber of such proposals and often don’t act upon student initiatives as the proposals get lost in the mail bags. A major new initiative of this year’s fo-rum seeks to build and improve on this, with the best proposal now re-ceiving ‘The Department of Finance Award for Policy Advancement’ and a paid internship and opportunity to help oversee the implementation of their policy idea and get a substan-tial education in policy development more generally. Gary spoke of his ex-

citement at having “student ideas in government policy” and sees it as a major step forward for the forum to see a tangible policy result from stu-dent submissions.

This year’s forum will also seek to bring more international speakers to the event with a hope perhaps gaining new perspectives on issues. The two speakers announced so far are Casey B. Mulligan of the University of Chi-cago and Martin Hellwig of the Uni-versity of Bonn, Germany, with more distinguished speakers from the UK such as Simon Kuper from the Finan-cial Times to be formally announced soon. Previous speakers have stressed the value of student feedback and dis-cussion and interaction and network-ing with the speakers is an integral part of the forum.

Acknowledging its setting and sur-roundings, the forum will address on the Friday night the state of the third level education system and the merits or otherwise of partial privatization as well as an investigation of teach-ing methods, with questions such as the role of online learning, in a discussion chaired by David McWil-liams entitled ‘Third Level Education: Broke, Broken or Both?’. There will be a number of speakers on the topic including Professor Ferdinand von

Campus Prondzynski, the former President of DCU and outspoken campaigner for third level education reform. Gary en-courages students to get involved in this discussion and indeed to attend all of the exciting talks over the course of what promises to be an informative and enlightening weekend.

35,800 34%irish people aged between 15–24 living abroad.

the number of youths employed in 2011 that have since emigrated.

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014 3

Credits

College Prevents Trinity Capital Hotel from Rebranding to ‘The Trinity Hotel’

News

T rinity College authorities recently met with those of the Trinity Capital Hotel,

Pearse Street to discuss its pro-posed rebranding to ‘The Trin-ity Hotel,’ The University Times has learned. College confirmed that a meeting took place with the Trinity Capital Hotel regard-ing the renaming of the 4-star hotel, stating: “Trinity Capital Hotel consulted with the Col-lege in relation to their rebrand-ing process where a number of suggestions were made, one of which was the Trinity Hotel.”

The move to rebrand comes just months after the sale of the Trinity Capital Hotel, widely re-ported in the national media to have been bought by a U.S. bil-lionaire for approximately €35 million. Notably, the hotel was offered for sale “unbranded,” meaning that the new owner can “decide whether to trade under its existing strong name or re-launch the hotel with a top international brand,” ac-cording to CBRE Ireland, who handled the sale.

CBRE Hotels Ireland was keen to emphasise Trinity Capital Hotel’s “high profile position opposite Trinity College” in the process of the sale last year. The hotel’s website also emphasises this connection, stating that the hotel “is situated beside the iconic Trinity College Dublin.” The proposed rebranding of the hotel to ‘The Trinity Hotel’ was possibly intended to suggest a closer identification with the nearby Trinity College.

During the recent consulta-tion process between the ho-tel and Trinity College, several names were put forward for the rebranded hotel. However, fol-lowing intervention by the col-lege concerning the proposed name ‘The Trinity Hotel’, the fi-nalised name for the rebrand is now confirmed to be the ‘Trin-ity City Hotel.’ Earlier this week a spokesperson for Trinity told The University Times that “fol-lowing discussions with the College, Trinity Capital Hotel subsequently decided to re-name the hotel the Trinity City Hotel to which the College has no objection.”

The name ‘Trinity’ is a reg-istered trademark and its use for commercial purposes is subject to approval by the Col-lege Secretary. Trinity College’s Licensing Programme specifies that “approval from the Secre-tary’s Office must be obtained for use of any of its trademarks and word-marks.” One of the objectives of the Licensing Pro-gramme is to “protect and en-hance the ‘brand’ of Trinity Col-lege Dublin”.

In recent months, there has been a keener focus by College authorities on the Trinity name and brand and on developing a clearer and more cohesive Col-lege identity for Irish and inter-national audiences. The renam-ing of the hotel is significant in the context of Trinity College’s new ‘identity initiative’ and the Strategic Plan 2014-19, to be launched this September, which highlights “the importance of a clear and distinctive brand” for the College and the importance of “a coherent identity” for an “external audience.”

The University Times Edi-tor, Leanna Byrne reported on the Trinity brand and the Col-lege’s ‘identity initiative’ in this newspaper late last year. Dur-ing that interview, Provost Pat-rick Prendergast highlighted

the central importance of the name ‘Trinity’ in any possible future rebranding of the col-lege. Director of Marketing and Communications, Bernard Mal-lee said that the name ‘Trinity’ “would remain, but a particular

Clare DroneystaFF wRiteR

variation of it would come from the consultation process.”

The issue of the Trinity name and brand recently came to the forefront in the controversy sur-rounding the ‘Trinity College Dublin War Memorial Project’,

in which Provost Patrick Pren-dergast demanded that the names Trinity, TCD, Trinity Col-lege and Trinity College Dublin be removed from the campaign. However, last November the Provost gave the campaigners

permission to use the names ‘TCD’ and ‘Trinity College Dub-lin’ for promotional purposes.

Trinity Capital Hotel had not responded to our request for comment on the rebranding at the time of print.

photo by LeaNNa byRNe FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

Despite Decision-making Process, Cuts Are Still on the Table

Union (SU), the Graduate Stu-dents’ Union (GSU), and Trinity Publications.

Professor Hogan reportedly made the suggestion to grant a concession due to the man-ner in which the original deci-sion was made. News of the cuts to College’s capitated bodies came in the form of an email last November, almost five months after they had allegedly been agreed upon by the Col-lege Board in July 2013. Senior Dean and Chair to the Commit-tee, Moray McGowan, who sent the email argued that while he “had been advised” in the last academic year that reductions might be imposed in 2013/2014, he received “no formal notifi-cation of this decision” until 14 November last.

This caused consternation among many, including TCDSU Education Officer Jack Leahy, who argued that “the influence of Planning Group, which oper-ates outside of defined Board and University Council struc-tures without student represen-tation” had led to a situation wherein the College Board did “not appear to have been given the opportunity to scrutinise the recommendation”. He went on to say that “This develop-ment in particular threatens the whole integrity of College gov-ernance.”

« coNtiNued FRoM page 1

Scholarship Fund At Risk of 10% CutAnother cut for students proposed by Planning Group.

C ollege is reportedly poised to reduce the amount of funding allocated to the Foundation

Scholarship by 10% within the next year. In a document submitted to the Col-lege Board for recommendation in June 2013, the Planning Group in College said it was deliberating op-tions for how to achieve a cutback of €222,500 on the cost of Scholar-ship for the 2014/15 academic year onwards. This document, Planning Group Report Number 9, also recom-mended the cuts to the College’s cap-

itated bodies, as well as reductions in the cost of the College Postgraduate Awards and the Entrance Exhibition Awards for incoming students.

According to the Planning Group Report, a number of options were considered for how to “meet the re-quired 10% reduction (€222,500) in the cost of Scholarship from 2014/15 onwards”, with the overall aim of achieving a targeted budget reduc-tion in the non-Faculty and non-Chief Operating Officer area of €2,002,500 per year. However, the Planning Group did not come to a consensus on which specific options for cost re-duction would be implemented.

Amy Worrall, Secretary to the Scholars, commented on the recom-mendation, saying that: “The Plan-ning Group Report Number 9 sug-gests that the Planning Group sought to find a 10% cut in the cost of Schol-arship, which to my knowledge was not taken any further as there was no

consensus on how the 10% cut could be achieved.” She added that: “Unless the issue has been re-opened then the Scholars’ Committee are unaware of the matter, but would hope that the Scholars would be consulted if measures to cut costs were to be con-sidered.”

When asked to comment, Bernard Mallee, Director of Communications and Marketing in Trinity, at first de-nied that any decision has been made to cut the scholarship fund. In further correspondence he was unwilling to give details on the options under con-sideration, but offered a quote from a Trinity spokesperson saying: “Trin-ity is examining a range of revenue-raising measures to continue fund-ing Scholarship which has long been integral to our academic mission”. Details of this spokesperson were not shared as “it is not university policy to directly comment on material cir-culated to members of the Board for

their consideration.”The issue of Scholarship benefits

has recently been under considerable scrutiny. At a meeting in May, schol-ars voiced concerns about the deci-sion to move the free accommoda-tion for students in their first month of Scholarship off-campus to Trinity Hall in Dartry, as a result in a shortage of campus-based accommodation.

Furthermore, in an interview with The University Times last Septem-ber, Dr. Patrick Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, claimed that although there was “nothing on the table” regarding reductions to Scholarship funding at the time, he did not rule out the pos-sibility of such cuts in the future.

Geoghegan, who was charged by the College Treasurer’s Office with the task of reducing the College Cen-tral Funds (Cista Communis) – part of which subsidises the Scholarship – by 10%, stated in the interview that there

was “no fair way” of cutting the Schol-arship fund, “especially for those al-ready elected, as promises were made to them”. He suggested that the an-nual salary of €253.95 would “not be the worst thing to lose” when assess-ing where to make cutbacks. Geoghe-gan also assured that there would be extensive consultation with Scholars, as well as meetings with the Scholar Committee, should there be any need for cutbacks in the future.

A number of cost-efficient meas-ures have already been taken by Col-lege concerning the Scholarship. A fine of €30 for students who register for the Scholarship examinations but do not sit them and fail to withdraw before the withdrawal deadline was agreed upon by the Undergraduate Studies Committee in April, and the entitlement to free Commons now extends to lunch on Friday instead of continuing to the Friday evening meal.

Paul GlynnstaFF wRiteR

Students’ Union Discuss Abolition of Communications Office

A t the Students’ Union Council meeting on Tuesday 14 Janu-ary, a set of motions was put

forward under a Constitutional Re-view, including a number of recom-mendations concerning the Commu-nications Office of the Union.

Most notable were the recommen-dations that the Office be abolished and a new sabbatical position, Edi-tor of The University Times, be estab-lished. The Communications Officer currently acts as Editor of the paper.

Recommendations I and II of the

Review advise the abolition of the Communications Office and the sub-sequent creation of Editor of The University Times as a paid, off-books position similar to the other offices. The proposal was designed so as not to infringe on the editorial independ-ence of the paper.

The editorship would involve a less-er salary, in reflection of the smaller workload of the brief in comparison to the other sabbatical positions and acknowledging that the Editor will not be representing the students of the university.

In line with the proposed removal of the position, the role of Commu-nications Officer would be redirected to the Entertainments Office. To re-

flect this new responsibility, Recom-mendation III proposes the renaming of the position to the Entertainments and Media Officer.

Finally, the Constitutional Review advises that the implementation of Recommendations Two and Three necessitate the appointment of a full-time Union staff member to assist the Entertainments and Media Officer in their added duties.

Trinity College Students’ Union President Tom Lenihan spoke at the Council meeting  against the aboli-tion of the Communications Office, suggesting instead that a Commu-nications and Marketing Office be introduced, which would oversee all social media and Union publications

except for The University Times.Speaking to this paper, Lenihan

said: “We will need to protect the newspaper’s interests, chiefly its editorial independence. In order to do that it is my view that we need a mechanism to arbitrate and limit in-terference from the Students’ Union in a scenario where the Communica-tions role is separated from the edi-torship of The University Times.”

Current Communications Officer Leanna Byrne also commented on the matter.

“When The University Times was established they had a handful of writers and a couple of issues a year. For the past few years, UT has grown and takes up a lot of the time of the

Communications Officer. Today we have over 300 writers, an editorial team of 25, and nine print runs that include a broadsheet, supplement and magazine.

“The question is that, to uphold this high standard, is the Editor’s time being spent more on UT than creatively engaging students in SU-only communication?”

However, Byrne does not support the transfer of the Communications Officer’s duties (bar the role of Edi-tor) to the Ents Office. “I feel like that was just putting the workload issue onto another role,” she said.

Any changes which are approved will not come into force until the 2015/16 academic year.

Fiona GribbenstaFF wRiteR

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

SUSI Suspends Grant for Dental Hygiene and Dental Nursing Students

S tudents of Dental Nurs-ing and Dental Hygiene courses in Trinity College

Dublin and University College Cork have had their grants withdrawn this week following a decision by Student Univer-sal Support Ireland (SUSI). In a statement to The Irish Inde-pendent, SUSI said that it has not yet made a decision as to whether students must repay grant money given between September and December of this academic year.

A letter sent by SUSI to the thirty-nine affected students stated that as the courses do not “lead to a major award at level 7 of the National Frame-work of Qualifications (NFQ)” they are ineligible for a grant. According to student support regulations published last May, grant-approved courses must be full-time and lead to a major award on the NFQ. Some Level 7 diplomas are not con-sidered major awards.

Head of Trinity’s School of Dental Science, June Nunn, stated that SUSI failed to in-form the university of its de-cision prior to withdrawing the grants. Eighteen students in second year of the college’s Dental Nursing course did not receive their monthly grant in-stallment this week, as well as first-year students of the same course, together with those enrolled in Trinity’s Dental Hy-giene diploma and students in the same courses in UCC.

Speaking on ‘The Joe Finne-gan Show’ on Northern Sound FM, the mother of one of the students, Brid Moyles, voiced

Aisling CurtisseNioR staFF wRiteR

4

News

fears that some affected stu-dents may have to drop out and apply for social welfare. The high workload of the two courses means maintaining a part-time job is very difficult.

SUSI has stated that the de-cision arose as a consequence of an internal audit review of awarded grants, which raised concerns about the two di-plomas. The grants have been suspended pending an inves-

tigation. SUSI have also made payments towards the €2,500 student contribution fee, but are now debating withdrawing these too.

According to Ms Nunn, there is still a “huge demand” for graduates of Dental Nursing and Dental Hygiene, despite heavy cuts in funding to the dental industry.

SUSI was the subject of con-troversy in the academic year

2012/13, with many students experiencing major delays in receiving their grant. 565 stu-dent grants were still awaiting processing in July 2013. How-ever, this year has seen an im-provement thus far with two-thirds of grants being awarded by December 2013.

Stephen Garry, Welfare Of-ficer for TCD’s Students’ Un-ion, stated that SUSI’s decision to stop grant payments is “an

absolute disgrace”, due to the enhanced financial strain this will inflict upon students and their families midway into the academic year. Following the grant suspension, the SU is now liaising with the Union of Students in Ireland in order to determine a plan of action in response to this event, with representatives expected to meet throughout the coming week.

this week in societies

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

In association with Enactus TCD, the EnviroSoc and FashionSoc are teaming up to sell and swap clothes that have been donated by Trinity students. A great way to kick off RAG week and hopefully get some decent clothes in the process.

Featuring Stephen Ryan, the Comedy Society continue with their “infamous” (their words) €2 Comedy nights, which are probably nice and suitable for some light pre-drinks enter-tainment.

VDP will again hold their now-annual quidditch tournament, where anyone can participate for €5 and onlookers can ex-pect such unfinished battles as “science vs arts,” “philo-sophical society vs meta-physical society,” and “fish soc vs The Frat.” Stand by.

Although the same hype hasn’t quite rolled over from last year’s inaugural Trinity Come Danc-ing event, it will undoubtedly still draw a reasonably large crowd, with “celebrities” from various areas of college life participating. Tickets are €12 on the door.

All day Friday and Saturday the Phil and the Hist will join togeth-er to host the Trinity Intervarsi-ty Debating tournament, with teams coming from America, the continent, Essex, Cork, etc. Lurk around to help to get involved in the societies and take advantage of the free food and continental debaters.

Environment Society and Fashion SocietySwapshop – 3PM, Atrium

Comedy SocietyComedy Night – 7.30pm, The Pav

VDPQuidditch Tournament – 1pm, Cricket Pitch

Dance SocietyTrinity Come Dancing – 7pm, The Academy

The Phil and The HistTrinity IV – The GMB

Anna Harrington

in the supplement

It’s rag week this week, and for an extended list of events check out our list of fundraisers to watch out for, RAG Week in numbers and our profiles of all eleven charities that the proceeds of the week go to.

Rag Week in Detail

in the Magazine

“God is quite an important concept. But to talk about the ‘existence’ of God is a nonsense. God ‘exists’ only as a human idea.” — David Paterson, an Anglican priest M14

I Hear You’re an Atheist Now, Father?

Easpa tacaíochta an rialtais maidir leis an nGaeilge pléite ag cruinniú oscailte

T ugadh “cluas le fearg an phobail” ag cruin-niú oscailte eagraithe

ag Conradh na Gaeilge i Hall na Saoirse i mBaile Átha Cliath níos luaithe sa mhí maidir le cinneadh Sheáin Ó Cuirreáin, coimisinéir teanga na tíre, chun éirigh as a phost go luath. Bhí baill ó Chumann Gaelach an choláiste i láithair ag an gcruinniú agus ag agóid tao-bh amuigh den Dáil roimh an Nollaig. Éireoidh Ó Cuirreáin as a phost ar 24 Feabhra de bharr na heaspa éisteachta atá faighte aige ón Rialtas maidir le cearta teanga an phobail.

Pléadh roinnt éilimh ag an gcruinniú, ina measc: go

Fionn Ó DeástaFF wRiteR

leagfaí síos spriocdháta faoi-na mbeadh Gaeilge líofa ag fostaithe an Stáit ag freastal ar phobal na Gaeltachta, gan cheist, gan choinníoll; go n-ardófaí an líon earcaíochta san earnáil phoiblí ó dheas do dhaoine le hinniúlacht sa Ghaeilge ó 6% go 30% don ché-ad 10 mbliana eile; nach lean-faí leis an maolú ar stádas na Gaeilge mar theanga oifigiúil den Aontas Eorpach tar éis an 1 Eanáir 2017; agus go n-aithneo-faí an pobal Gaeilge agus Gael-tachta mar gheallsealbhóirí i gcur i bhfeidhm na Straitéise 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge ó dheas agus sa Straitéis don Ghaeilge ó thuaidh.

Dúirt Julian de Spáinn, Ard-Rúnaí an Chonartha, gur “comhartha” é éirí as an gCo-imisinéir Teanga ar atá ag tarlú leis an nGaeilge agus leis

an nGaeltacht, le cúpla bliain anuas: “Níor éirigh An Coimisi-néir Teanga as de bharr nach raibh an toil nó an cumas aige an post a dhéanamh - tá pobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta lánmhuiníneach as cumas an Choimisinéara agus tá rudaí iontacha bainte amach aige ina thréimhse mar Choimisi-néir - an fáth gur éirigh sé as, agus nach raibh an dara rogha aige, ná nach raibh an Rialtas ná ardbhainistíocht na stát-seirbhíse sásta éisteacht leis, ná na moltaí a chur sé chun cinn a thógáil ar bord.”

Anuas air sin, bhí an méid seo le rá ag Aodhán Ó Deá, Comhordaitheoir na Mac Lé-inn don Ghaeilge in Éirinn: “Is trua go bhfuil an Rialtas ó dheas ag tabhairt cluas bod-hair do mholtaí an Choimisi-néara agus do mholtaí phobal

na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta go leanúnach. Is gá struchtúr oifigiúil ceart a chur ar bun le héisteacht shásúil a thabhairt do phobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta amach anseo. Ní amháin sin, ach creideann muid go bhfuil na Rialtais ag

cailleadh amach ar an luach agus ar na buntáistí a thu-gann teanga na Gaeilge don tír, bíodh siad sin ina mbun-táistí geilleagair, oideachais, féiniúlachta, uathúlachta nó eile. Is féidir leis an nGaeilge ról tábhachtach a imirt i sárú fhadhbanna na tíre seo ach an tacaíocht cheart a chur ar fáil di.”

Tá Ó Cuirreáin sa phost aige ó 2004 agus le blianta anuas bhí sé i láithair ag traenáil na gCumann Gaelach triú leibhéal, cúrsa ag eagraíonn Conradh na Gaeilge ag tús gach scoilbliana chun cabhair a thabhairt d’eagraíochtaí Gaelacha i gcoláistí ar fud an oileáin. Bhí breis is 20 baill ón gCumann Gaelach i láthair ag agóid maidir le teip an rialtais tacaíocht a léiriú dó i Mí na No-llag.

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 20146

in Focus

How We Cope

F or arts students each college term seems to be split in two; the fi rst full of laugh-ter, cheer and ambitious plans to start that essay six

weeks early. Come the end of reading week, reality bites: none of the essays have been started. Calendars are fi lled with impending deadlines week af-ter week and lecture att endance col-lapses. This process is accepted as the norm amongst students and actively ignored by lecturers with an air of ignorance. Certainly this is my own experience for the past two and half years, and it seems unlikely to change. The system of intense periods of work is the result of both the ill preparation of students and a failure of lecturers and Schools to acknowledge that all modules wish to have their essays at the same time. The notion that con-tinuous assessment should be obliga-tory in every module only serves to in-crease this pressure. Time devoted to essay writing is not delineated by the mark the topic is worth, rather based upon the length of the word count.

The result is varied, some relying upon last minute splurges of excessive cramming, reading and writing, often resulting in doctored bibliographies citing obscure works, impossible for the TA to fi nd. While others, presum-ably as the Professors desire, devote a week at a time to continuous work, committ ing to lengthy stretches of hard work. What is universal however, is the human reaction to seek a reme-dy for this stress. The desire for a brief respite or a substance which helps ease the pressure, has established al-most ritualistic self-medication prac-tices. The term self-medication infers a negative connotation, yet the physi-cal aid is more often sought through the benefi ts of caff eine.

Caff eine is the world’s most widely used drug, alongside alcohol, it is un-questionably the most accepted. From energy drinks to cough syrup, it is syn-onymous with student living. While energy drinks are a staple of many late night cramming sessions, coff ee drinking is the more socially accept-able form. For many, the fi rst coff ee signifi es the moment the day begins,

How We CopeHow We Cope

photo by aNdRew MuRphy FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

Daire Collinsdeputy Features editor

yet it can also be used as a way to unwind and relax. Even in the 1970s, when Bewleys on Grafton Street was one of the few coff ee shops in the city, Trinity students fl ocked there in their droves. Its survival at the heart of stu-dent life is unparalleled, bar our pen-chant for excessive drinking. Coff ee consumption dramatically increases in quantity and reduces in quality as the levels of stress and pressure rise. The shortcoming of this is notorious amongst the student population, yet, sore stomachs and bad nights’ sleep are all willingly accepted in return for the immediate advantage coff ee of-fers.

Vivian, 20, who has a self-confessed coff ee dependency, averages two to three coff ees daily. As with most coff ee lovers, for Vivian it’s both a matt er of taste and an initiator of social events. Both the social aspect and the chemi-cal reaction become more desirable as the stress level and essay anxiety increase, thus the frequency of coff ee breaks too rises. Once or twice a term, as essay deadlines get worryingly close, a pot of coff ee becomes Vivian’s saviour, keeping her alert all night long to successfully fi nish within the deadline. This process has a prett y ob-vious setback and the morning after is usually grim. It takes a few days to properly recover. Despite this, cof-fee is the link tying some of Vivian’s best memories, sharing stories with friends or writing and reading on her own. She would vehemently disagree with the recent reports that coff ee inhibits the creative receptors in the brain.

Caff eine is not the only way to in-crease one’s levels of concentration, with an ever increasing amount of

horror stories of the drug enhanced rat race for grades in the US college system, the fear has spread to Europe. Illegal sale of Adderall, Modafi nil and their substitutes created a booming black market trade in US colleges, and is causing headaches for the establish-ment. This is the darker, rarely men-tioned side of self-medication in Ire-land. However, the reality in the US is not being replicated in Ireland; ADHD drugs haven’t gained much traction amongst Irish students. One of the primary reasons for this is the lower rates of diagnosis of att ention disor-ders. The number of ADD and ADHD diagnoses in the US has reached such

a high that the new American guide-lines have caused concern amongst European doctors. In Ireland, the lower levels of ADHD disorders has the eff ect of keeping the drug out of normalised student behaviour. It is unusual for a student to openly ad-mitt ing using, even amongst friends. That said, as in the UK where these drugs are growing in popularity with-in the top universities, it is possible to obtain them illegally.

Tom, a second year student, used ADHD medication once, when under stress from a looming essay deadline. There was no overwhelming feeling of focused att ention, although he suc-

ceeded under the tight deadline in gett ing the essay fi nished.

“I can’t say I felt more focussed than I would have. For the essay where I used the drug, I’m prett y sure the looming deadline was the primary motivator.”

The combination of Modafi nil, a lack of sleep and drinking large amounts of coff ee led to a groggy, de-pressed experience the following day. For Tom, it was a situation in which he was willing to take any help that was available, and this was one such aid. Despite any uncertainties as to the ef-fectiveness of the drug, Tom would be willing, under the same circumstanc-es to use again.

Stress, whether self-infl icted or an institutional fact, is a part of life. Yet the stress that students undergo is often overlooked. While there are nu-merous other coping measures, some natural, some chemical, both ADHD medication and caff eine are taken with the intention of coping with the level of work, to ensure that they can concentrate. The reality of student life is that the lack of contact hours, the freedom to drink and socialise any night of the week and a whole host of other problems creates a system which places enormous pressure on students. Most of them are willing to accept any advantage.

The desire for a brief respite or a substance which helps ease the pressure, has established almost ritualistic self-medication practices.

“

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014 7

in Focus

A tourist on Fifty-Seventh Street, Manhatt an stops Jascha Heifetz to ask him, “Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Yes,” replied the violinist as-suringly. “Practice!”

This gag was repeated by Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics at Princeton Univer-sity, in his acceptance address to the Phil. The Nobel Prize winner was discussing making economics accessible in his New York Times column.

Economists, it can be assumed, aren’t very funny. The biggest laugh I’ve ever experienced in a lecture was when Andrew Somerville mentioned heroin. He wasn’t even making a joke. Yoram Bauman, the self-claimed ‘the world’s fi rst and only stand-up economist’ has meshed the two trades of economics and comedy. He performs for colleges, corporate events and the military.

“There’s an idea in some academic circles that if you’re funny then you can’t be saying anything important, and that’s wrong,” the environmental economist tells me.

Dr. Bauman agrees with Krugman that hu-mour is one way of explaining things, publish-ing a Cartoon Introduction to Economics. But does he fi nd that some of his jokes exclude those with litt le knowledge of economics?

“In general, no, but of course there are some. I have an econ-only joke about how ‘thinking at the margin’ is ridiculous because nobody goes to the grocery store and says, “I’m going to buy an orange, I’m going to buy another or-ange, I’m going to buy another orange.” And I have a joke about “convex hulls” that only makes sense to econ PhDs. (That’s a math-ematical condition in micro models.)”

He’s even received economics-themed heck-les.

photo by aiFRicchRiodaiN

“I once had a fellow tell me that I wasn’t ready for Prime Time, and in fact I wasn’t even ready for sub-prime time.”

Dr. Bauman uses his talent for stand-up comedy as a unique selling point to increase demand for his real interest, carbon taxes. He explains them as, “a revenue-neutral tax shift involving lower taxes on the things we like (working, saving, investing) and higher taxes on things we don’t like (e.g. carbon)”. In 2008 a revenue-neutral carbon tax was introduced in British Columbia that many economists consider to be the best climate policy in the world. Bauman is part of the CarbonWa.org initiative to bring a similar policy to Wasth-

ington State. The organisation argues that the policy could reduce personal and corporate income taxes, boost economic growth and re-duce carbon emissions.

“Climate change has the potential to be a huge issue this century” and “economics has a lot to add to this discussion,” he says.

He jokes by off ering journalists the de-pressed comedian angle. As he’s requested it, let’s put it in. His mother is bipolar and he has face-blindness.

The goal of ‘reform[ing] economics edu-cation’ is an ambitious one, but strides have been made by others in that direction. Ste-ven Levitt and The New York Times’ Stephen

J. Dubner published Freakonomics - A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Every-thing, making economics more appealing by the theory to tackle issues from prostitution to gang violence.

According to them, “Most of us want to fi x or change the world in some fashion. But to change the world, you fi rst have to under-stand it.”

Bauman read mathematics at Reed college, where he was a contemporary of Steve Jobs. He may not be a multi-billionaire, but he does charge two thousand fi ve hundred Euro a show. Let’s hope the Phil will conclude the benefi ts exceed the costs, and they fork out for a worthwhile talk.

He jokes by off ering journalists the depressed comedian angle.

“ Paul Krugman at the Phil

Ludo DawnayFeatures editor

An Economist Walks into a BarAre economists boring? Ludo Dawnay explores the accessibility of economics to the average punter aft er Paul Krugman’s visit to the Phil.

The Inter-Erasmus Experience

S o last month I came back to Dublin after my fi rst semester in Scotland. Having just moved rooms – good-bye danger kitchen, hello party cor-ridor – and having just fi nished my

fi rst-ever (and last-ever) round of Christmas exams, I was looking forward to gett ing home and having an actual living room, a bath, and seeing everyone I hadn’t seen in months.

As you fi nd me, I am one month in, and I have not had a bath, or seen, well, anyone. Granted, I am currently utilising the living room that I will have for another two weeks, but as far as my social life goes, I am pretend-ing I am still on Erasmus. It’s cold, so therefore there is no need for me to leave the house. (Similar logic to last summer – hot, therefore no need to leave house.) I don’t have a televi-sion in Scotland, so therefore television must be watched, and often. I’m starting to have a weird issue with having to go and socialise with people, even those I have known well for a long time. I think I’m gett ing reclusive in my at-home state. Did Dorothy have att achment issues when she returned from Oz? That ques-tion isn’t to say that I’m wandering around St Andrews trying to fi nd a way home, but now that I’m at home, I just don’t feel like leaving the house. So much so that I think I need to go

back, and soon, just to make sure I remember how to say hello, goodbye, and other vaguely social things that people say to each other.

I do get out when I need to, though. I’ve been to a party or two, and have found my-self squarely placed in kitchens, rambling on about how weird it is being here and how no-one really ‘understands’. It’s all a cover – after all, what is there to understand? Not much, and even I know that. I think the reason I rant is because I have nothing else to talk about. What can I say to them that isn’t all about me? Maybe if I was in Chile or some other foreign outpost I’d have intriguing stories about that time I was on a bus for ten hours, or maybe I would have witt y anecdotes detailing culture shocks, but Scotland is hardly the Galapagos Islands, and no-one really fi nds much to en-tertain themselves in the story of that time we went to Edinburgh and I spent ages looking for my eyebrow pencil in the car.

Maybe sometimes I feel like I would get more out of a day watching The Killing than

hanging out and trying to get with the pro-gram all over again. I’ve decided to leave that for when I’m actually back, even though I am back. So why am I fi nding it such a bind to ac-tually get back to Dublin in my head?

This problem is, gladly, all mine. Nobody else is to blame, and here is the proof.

I am the one who has forgott en faces. The other day I was waiting at the bus stop and I saw someone trying to catch my att ention. I looked up, looked at him, and looked around me. Did he mean me? My face gave it away – I had, in that moment, absolutely no idea who he was. He gave a shrug and walked on. Of course, minutes later, I placed him. By then it was too late. I had already given him that warm, fuzzy feeling of I have no idea who you are, unmemorable stranger. To him – sorry. And – I remember now. And – sorry.

I am the one who doesn’t want to talk to you. Earlier that day I had seen a friend from class on the bus and the fi rst thing that fl ashed into my mind was don’t sit beside me DON’T SIT BESIDE ME! Of course, she sat beside me. Of course, I panicked and abruptly embarked on some kind of story about a non-existent hiking club, like I had retained about 4% of al-ready poor social skills from last year. To her, I sincerely apologise. I am actually (usually) kind of OK, I just don’t have any stories and I don’t speak English well anymore.

I am the one who has forgott en where you live. Two days before that I had turned up out-side a house I had spent about three-quarters of my time in last year, only to end up ringing

the occupant asking if I had the right door number.

I am the one who’s just being weird. Every time I go near Trinity and see tourists I think, I’m like you, before actually slapping myself in the face and trying to get into the library, for which I have no student card. I don’t know why I’m trying to get in there. Maybe to sit next to the Classics section and silently weep into last year’s loathed collection of Terence’s plays. Then I remember that the Classics library is up on the sixth fl oor and I stare at myself in the much-missed Arts Block toilets and wonder why I feel like I have been away for twelve years on a space mission instead of for four months on the closest Erasmus you could possibly do.

It could be that I am just too att ached to be-ing in my own bed after being out of it for so long. Or that I actually like hanging out with my parents now, which is a weird and, frankly, unsett ling concept, even to someone as natu-rally reclusive as me. When I met some year-ago acquaintances in a nightclub the other week, I curled up into a nervous shell like a sea creature, afraid that they were going to eat me. I managed to get away with saying ‘hi’ at Barbie-ballerina level and then high-tailing it out to the smoking area.

To sum up: during my awkward inter-eras-mus, I have become a pariah. Ensure, for your own safety, that you don’t bump into me. Fi-nally, it can be concluded that yes, it is bett er for me to be in bed watching Danish people kill each other. Candlemas term cannot come quickly enough for me or everyone I know.

Shona McGarrystaff writer

While on Erasmus it takes a while to sett le in and fi nd your feet. Shona takes a look at how coming home for Christmas might be just as tough to get used to.

St. Andrews in Scotland

Did Dorothy have att achment issues when she returned from Oz?

“

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

Somebody Else’s Problems, Far Away

T o the alarm of my fellow passengers I inexplicably burst out laughing on the 145 home when I had sud-denly thought of that clas-

sic moment in Father Ted where Ted unsuccessfully demonstrates to Dou-gal the difference between some plas-tic toy cows (which are “small”) and the life-sized cows in the field outside (which are “far away”). Dougal can see no difference. Strangely, I believe that this gem of a scene is also a pro-found illustration of how humans really relate to each other. Nonethe-less, I reckon that among the most bemusing quirks of human nature is our apparent inability, like Dougal, to place our own immediate but gener-ally small tribulations in any kind of context with those distant but often much larger problems that do not happen to affect us.

For example: say there is a man, re-siding in an immensely uncomforta-ble jail cell, far away. You do not know him and nor do I, but let’s call him Dr. Ali Al Ekri. He is a Bahraini surgeon; he has done precisely nothing to de-serve such misery. He is only in jail be-cause he and some gutsy colleagues refused to cede to a demand from the ruling Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain not to treat injured or dying patients arriving to their Salmaniya hospital, in Manama. Unfortunately for these patients, their injuries were danger-ous evidence of the brutal, systematic crackdown inflicted on protesters who partook in their country’s exten-sion of the Arab Spring, in February 2011. Dr. Al Ekri’s and several others’

brave refusal to compromise on the fundamental principle of medical neutrality was rewarded with arrest, torture, beatings and their ongoing imprisonment.

And that’s Dr. Al Ekri. Out of the in-numerable problems that our brains happily consign to the irrelevance of the ‘far away’ file, his is but a random-ly plucked example. The preacher Thomas Fuller once revised a proverb that is so ubiquitous that it is rarely questioned: “Charity begins at home - but should not end there”.

AwarenessBefore Christmas, as part of our Glob-al Health module, my classmates and I were told a rather amazing story by a man named Professor Damian McCor-mack, an unassuming but eminent or-thopaedic paediatric surgeon based in Dublin’s Mater Hospital. In his lec-ture, Prof. McCormack spoke of how, at first, he only casually followed the reports of the historic wave of revolu-tions that turned the Arab world up-side down in early 2011. One can im-agine his alarm when he learned that a former Mater colleague - his friend Ali - had somehow become implicat-ed in the Spring, which had spread to the island nation of Bahrain. Along with senior hospital staff, Dr. Al Ekri - a graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) and an ap-parently apolitical man - had refused to obey orders not to treat victims of the crackdown that put a brutal end to the ‘February 14th Uprising’ in the capital, Manama.

A horrified Prof. McCormack im-mediately notified the Irish Medical

Organisation (IMO), the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) and Dr. Al Ekri’s alma mater, RSCI. Frustrated at the stagnant collective response to the news that ‘one of ours’ was in need, Prof McCormack was left with a sense of completely unsolicited re-sponsibility, yet equipped with little but his own initiative. Nearly three years later, he now heads the Irish delegation of BRAVO (Bahrain Reha-bilitation and Anti-Violence Organi-sation), in a complex campaign for the medics’ release, the fine details of which I am happy to confess I do not know. (For simplicity, just imagine Prof. McCormack as Erin Brockovich with a moustache and we’ll go from there.)

This was not the sort of lecture to which my classmates are accustomed; lids were placed back on highlighters. A hand was raised: but what can we do about this? “Make some noise”, he replied after a pause. “Nobody else is.”

A Tragedy Or A Statistic?One of the most influential authors I’ve encountered is an Australian phi-losopher named Peter Singer. Singer begins his confrontationally persua-sive “The Life You Can Save” just as he means to continue: “Do you have a bottle of water or a can of soda on the table beside you as you read this book? Around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less that what you paid for that drink.” Singer has written extensively on the origins of altruism (and selfishness), and describes the tribal nature of our allotment of moral resources. In the

Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne

Irish doctors show solidarity to Irish-trained doctors in Bahrain

One med student’s experience of being made aware of issues far from home.

8

in Focus

forest, we simply did not have enough to give to care both for our kin and for strangers. Evolution duly directed our finite generosity toward those car-rying our genes. If one’s genes were not made more likely to be carried on, there was no sense in assisting a stranger being mauled by a tiger. Zoos, of course, were a handy inven-tion, meaning that, nowadays, we no longer have to worry about tigers. Yet are we really all that more sophisti-cated than our ancestors?

Any charitable campaign you see will seek to manipulate this curious moral hierarchy we use to separate suffering into relevant and irrelevant: by instilling a sense of emotional im-mediacy. Be it via the doe-eyed little child on the Trócare box or a wet and sad-looking dog, our emotions must be stimulated before we are jolted - like Prof. McCormack - from cosy indifference into the much less pleas-ant sense of obligation to help. When I submitted a motion to SU Council suggesting a public statement of sup-port for these Bahraini doctors no-body had heard of, there were a few puzzled expressions. Why support this campaign, of all things?

I admit that by tugging at a “sense of duty” the issue becomes uncomfort-ably immediate. Dr. Al Ekri trained in Ireland - ‘one of ours’. I have read a poem written to him by his daughter. I have even seen a handwritten letter sent from his prison cell; there are a few misspelled words.

Mother Teresa herself lamented that “if I look at the mass, I never act; if I look at the one, I will”. In a similar vein, the morally more dubious Stalin rather bluntly stated that one death is a tragedy and a million deaths are a statistic. It appears that the more daunting and overwhelming is a tragedy, the easier it is to switch off. If a “mass” of suffering that feels ir-relevant to us (like the Arab Spring) is reduced to a single example (like Dr. Al Ekri), our conscience perks up. How very strange.

Too much to ask?Unfortunately, despite the best inten-

tions, dropping everything to help the Dr. Al Ekris of this world is inadvisa-ble, if not insane. I can think of three main reasons why the floodgates keeping the innumerable sources of ‘faraway’ suffering at bay are, perhaps, best left closed.

Firstly, perhaps leaving our nets is simply unfeasible. The website of celebrated not-for-profit Partners In Health is framed by some rather im-posing text, declaring that “the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world”. Perhaps, but acting on this is largely incompatible with a lifestyle in which one must complete a busy college course, or hold down a job, or support a family. While Bill Gates admirably abandoned his ‘nets’ - Microsoft - in search of meatier challenges (such as polio), this is rather easier if one hap-pens to be hilariously wealthy.

Secondly, we are inhibited by a sense of powerlessness. “What can we do?” asked my classmate. Like it or not, if tomorrow I spend my sav-ings on a flight to Bahrain and hand-delivered a strongly-worded letter to Señor Khalifa, the best assistance I am likely to provide our friend Ali is some company in his prison cell. The reason we often don’t vote, or don’t feel im-mediately compelled to stop burning fossil fuels, or don’t do something about human rights abuses, is the un-derstandable sensation that our con-

tribution would be futile, a negligible drop in the ocean (though Mr. Singer might wryly point out that the bottle of water on our table evidences other-wise).

This understandable sense of pow-erless to avert suffering farther away than the plastic toy cows in front of us produces a third obstacle: self-preser-vation. Unlike most of us, the founder of Partners In Health, Dr. Paul Farmer, found the obstacles of unfeasibility and powerless quite easy to bat aside. However, Farmer spends most of his year in Haiti, away from his family, or in Boston, teaching medical stu-dents. This means that he spends a rather unappetising nine months of the twelve away from his wife and in-fant child. Not great. Even if we can help Dr. Al Ekri and the other faraway cows, if doing so requires such a pro-hibitive sacrifice, perhaps not doing so is forgivable.

Anyway, for those who are inter-ested, the Bahrain ‘issue’ meanwhile shows signs of slow progress. ‘Do No Harm: A Call For Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients’, released by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) was instrumen-tal in compelling the US government to include Bahrain in a list of major human rights violators submitted to the UN Human Rights Council. PHR currently is working to introduce a ‘Medical Neutrality Protection Act of 2013’, which would allow the USA to end military aid to countries violat-ing neutrality and other substantial measures.

Optimism is tempered by the fact that Dr. Ali Al Ekri is still in his jail cell.

It would appear that a balance must be struck. Every day, the front page carries images of the latest faraway tragedy (a typhoon, a bomb, a fam-ine), to be replaced unresolved by an-other the next day; this itself implies that we are being morally pulled in all directions, too many directions. Unfortunately, before I could come up with an answer, my bus arrived in Bray. I forgot about Bahrain and went home to watch that episode of Father Ted.

Frustrated at the stagnant collective response to the news that ‘one of ours’ was in need

“

I admit that by tugging at a “sense of duty” the issue becomes uncomfortably immediate.

“ This understandable sense of powerless to avert suffering farther away than the plastic toy cows in front of us produces a third obstacle: self-preservation.

“

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

THE IRISH TIMESTHE STORY OF WHY

THE IRISH TIMES THE WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

SIMON CARSWELLSUZANNE LYNCH MARK HENNESSY

DEREK SCALLYLARA MARLOWE

MARY FITZGERALDCLIFFORD COONAN

PADDY AGNEW MICHAEL JANSEN TOM HENNIGANBILL CORCORANGUY HEDGECOE

PETER CLUSKEY RAHUL BEDI

DAVID MACNEILPADRAIG COLLINS

WASHINGTONBRUSSELSLONDONBERLINPARISDUBLINBEIJINGROMETHE MIDDLE EASTSAO PAOLOJOHANNESBURGMADRIDTHE HAGUENEW DELHITOKYOSYDNEY

The Essay Season

9

in Focus

The week of the 7th saw the secret installation of the now notorious “Dewey Decibel” sound system

“

W ith many deadlines looming, this particu-lar stretch

of January is often associated with essay related stress. As this period unfolds once again it remains diffi cult to gauge its eff ects on the student popula-tion. This could have something to do with the dynamic of the library, as it doesn’t readily lend itself to audible expressions of discomfort with many students only venting to their most trust-worthy companions. Despite this, one young BESS fresher recently felt the need to make it known to UT that the Ussher is a place where “the sesh goes to decompose.”

In this context, leaving aside the odd pile of quivering fl esh in the corner of the 24-hour room, the psychological strain of essay writing remains an abstraction. This has failed to divert the annual infl ux of goodwill from Trinity’s many

Conor O’DonovanResident satirist

societies, however. Following the revelation that the SU’s tea vat doubles up as a bath for busy executive offi cers, there has been a distinct increase in Society eff orts to reach out. “I’ve always found the idea of a think tank rather unsavoury” quipped one SF Hist Pol, before falling off their ‘gobbeting stool.’

At the turn of the year, per-haps hoping to capitalise on the additional schols contin-gent, Lit Soc made an att empt to capture the BLU’s imagina-tion. A female member of the society, roaming the Ussher dressed in period att ire, re-duced several students to tears with her disdainful remarks in an initiative named ‘Estella Search’. “Students oft wile away the hours searching for their favourite Dickensian characters in the Ussher, why not blow off steam by taking a more literal approach,” enthused a senior member of the society of a hearty stoop of ‘Vagrant’s Regret’ in the Gingermen. Unfortunately, a recent poll has demonstrated that the refer-ence was lost on 65% of those occupying even the Ussher’s most obtusely arranged seat-

ing.Fish Soc’s eff orts have proved

more aggravating towards BLU staff . The week of the 7th saw the secret installation of the now notorious “Dewey Deci-bel” sound system, intended to provide students with “beats fresh enough to criticise to”. For at least six hours, the expensive setup broadcasted a caché of obscure house demos recently recovered from the Mariana Trench and free form poetry contributed by mem-bers, known as “Haddock Rap”. Att empts to assuage disgrun-tled librarians have proved even more provocative: the proposed “Plaice for a Place” initiative, under which students could reserve seats with a fi llet of the popular white fi sh, was promptly shelved. Allegations have since been made that a rogue sect of Fish Soc quarter-masters has been fi lling popu-lar undergrad book hiding spots with spoiled Calamari.

Pandemonium returned to the Ussher last week when Food & Drink’s clandestine canapé smuggling operation was uncovered. Before staff could intervene, Food & Drink members were set upon by the

Classics Society. Eyewitness accounts indicate Classics read the situation as an att empt on Food and Drink’s part to forge an illegitimate trade route with Scandanavian Soc, who are rumoured to be wintering on the fi fth fl oor. Many students mistook the outbreak of hostili-ties for a Trinity Communica-tions shoot, perhaps part of the recent rebranding process. “They were all fl inging hum-mus at each other and one lad was wearing a Bombay Bicycle Club tank-top, it doesn’t get much more unay than that,” remarked one JS TSMer, in between sucking tapenade out of their keyboard.

Special dispensation of the Dean’s Roll of Honour has been granted to several members of DUPA for their role in docu-menting the “foodshed”. The college was less vocal on the candid shots of dismayed Social Sciences students taken in the Arts Block lobby. The renova-tions to the Lecky’s primary entrance have been the source of much confusion; “Well like, I can’t get in,” concluded one SS Economics student. Most departments have held fi rm in their stance that deadlines will

not be extended. Those who have found their way into the Lecky have been reminded to read with the grain, as many surfaces remain unsanded.

With the “Leadership Race” beckoning, a key part of the vote may be secured in return-ing peace to the BLU. Fears that all hope for such a resolution down in the Hamilton was gone were confi rmed in the last few days when contact with the library was lost. It is now be-lieved to be under the control of Sci-Fi dissidents who may well be unwilling to facilitate a cease-fi . Representatives from the CSC are to travel to the Hamilton in the coming days to negotiate the release of certain key Players.

It could be argued that these events are, in fact, manifesta-tions of the individual’s inter-nal torment that comes with essay season. It is this reporter’s opinion, however, that this would be a failure to see the bigger picture. If one is to get to the core of the issue one must visit the libraries in order to get a sense of the outwardly calm atmosphere which has proved the catalyst for such unrest, both internal and external.

Eyewitness accounts indicate Classics read the situation as an att empt on Food and Drink’s part to forge an illegitimate trade route with Scandanavian Soc

“

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

The Personality Revolution

Redefi ning ‘Emigration’

I n the words of Jennifer Law-rence: “If anybody even tries to whisper the word ‘diet’, I’m like, you can go f- your-self”.

As the Internet’s darling, Jennifer Lawrence is celebrated not just for her acting talents but also for her frank and funny att itude towards fame, Hollywood, and the coveted institution of celebrity. In that world of stick-thin models and actresses who starve themselves for roles, Lawrence is the girl who trips over her own dress when try-ing to receive an Academy Award and orders McDonald’s on the red carpet, disregarding the unspoken rules that dictate the behaviour of both her famous and non-famous peers – rules that determine what a woman’s size should be, what she should eat in order to be that size, how any excess weight should be a woman’s small and secret shame.

In the face of this, Lawrence and her contemporaries – actresses like Zooey Deschanel and Mindy Kaling – shuck this longstanding norm in favour of something new. Lawrence is “never going to starve herself for a part”. Deschanel says her healthy weight is “weird” for Hollywood. As refreshing as it is to hear the thin obsession ac-knowledged, there’s something troubling about the fact that these girls are not exactly pushing the boundaries of the “ideal” weight. Sure, Lawrence isn’t a size zero, and – as she says – she may even be considered a “fat” actress in Holly-wood. But the weight of these girls is not a weight that is in any way unhealthy, or derogated by our society at large; the “normal” body type that they are portrayed with may be normal in terms of health standards, but it isn’t the norm for a large proportion of young girls. In fact, the obsession with these upcoming actresses fails in many ways to take into account that they don’t dare deviate far from Holly-wood’s strictest rules.

Except the point is that that’s not the point anymore. The discussion on whether their body weight is “normal” and what this emphasis means for girls misinterprets what this new wave of celebrity is push-ing for: though their body weight is as yet the topic of discussion, what these women are saying is that body weight is not what it’s all about. They aren’t defi ned by their

waist measurement, and their mes-sage is that the women who admire them shouldn’t be either.

It’s a revolution that’s been long-anticipated in Hollywood, this rise of a tangible personality within celebrity, an emphasis on the con-tents of your mind over the con-tents of your dinner. As the media still obsesses over fatness, as the magazines still crop and blend and photoshop to give the public what they think they should have instead of what they want, this new wave of celebrity is giving the public some-thing to talk about that isn’t what they wore. In interviews, Lawrence discusses being the “fastest pee-er ever”, her life mott o of not worry-ing about the bitches in school, and wanting colouring books on fi rst-class fl ights; she’s hilarious and honest, doesn’t censor her-self, lets her personality out when so many celebrities rein theirs in. And the fact that this is so new and refreshing and unexpected is why

“

she’s so widely adored. She’s not loved for her body, despite being gorgeous, and she’s not revered for being thin, even though she’s not overweight – she’s a new breed of celebrity, ringing true with her fans because the things she does are not constructed to create an ideal, but are the true actions of a an awkward, funny, real person.

Jennifer Lawrence refuses to be hungry to make other people hap-py, and she’s not alone. Many of the upcoming actresses are marketing this new-and-improved version of celebrity, eschewing the Barbie-perfect unrealistic proportions but making up for that in spades with larger-than-life personalities. As Mindy Kaling put it, “being called fat is not like being called stupid or unfunny”. Being fat is no longer the be-all and end-all insult for Hollywood’s women. These days, being able to hold a conversation, having actual interests and being a real person are the criteria celebri-

“.”

Upon browsing through some pieces writt en by Trinity students

one can often be left with a warm and contented feeling. The writer portrays the follies of their time in College, lacing the piece with anecdotes, both humorous and meaningful, but the same end re-sult often prevails. The writer had a marvellous, well-rounded experi-ence, the feelings of which they so endearingly pass onto the reader.

Ashamedly I have not had a bril-liant College life fi lled with new experiences. Does this make me a pariah? Reading the writings of my peers in College publications may suggest so. Now you may think: why is this bitt er idiot complaining about circumstances he created? If he didn’t jump into College life head fi rst then that’s his own fault.

And you would be correct. It took me three and a half long years to fi nally come to a realisation that the majority of students make on their fi rst day at Freshers’ Week: grab this opportunity by the pro-verbial… you know the rest.

I had an unusual start to Trinity life. A ready-made excuse which I used as a shield against integrat-ing into the College fold for two whole years. I started out as an arch rival of Trinity, as a UCD heathen. A CAO point anomaly, of which I was informed the day after my Debs, meant that I had been bumped up from Commerce to BESS, should I wish to make the switch. With my brain in a post-Debs vacuum, whereby all I could remember was the overwhelming swell of adoles-cent debauchery that prevailed the night before in the function room of a Meath hotel, and buoyed by my parents’ enthusiasm for me to take an opportunity that had not been aff orded to them, I answered yes.

Those two months in Belfi eld were my safeguard from ever hav-ing to interact meaningfully with anything or anyone. I missed Trin-ity Freshers’ Week. I rationalized in my head that everyone in BESS had obviously already become in-separable friends, forming an im-penetrable giant three hundred person clique, about which I could do nothing to gain access.

I dismissed Trinity in every way possible. I had a strong group of school friends, and being from Dublin it was easy to keep in regu-lar touch with them. I didn’t att end class nights out, or look to join a society. My warped logic had led me to believe that only students from outside Dublin would bother making friends in College! This same ill-informed logic closed off every single society to me. With no disrespect to the Phil, Hist, or any other debating society, I honestly believed every society social oc-casion comprised of att ending an endless number of debates. This was not something I had any in-terest in, especially coming from a school where fi rst year students were forced to sit through drudg-ing, predictable and poorly execut-ed lunchtime debates. Thinking that the rock-climbing or DJ soci-ety involved debating leaves me rather worried as to how I chose to use my brain faculty not so long ago!

Armed with my excuse and ready to swiftly silence any detractor who suggested I take an interest in College life, I existed among the Trinity eco-system as a background extra who rarely, if ever had any lines. I revelled in my anonymity. I

took pride in the fact that I wasn’t part of whatever Trinity was. I can only rationalise this as a form of late teenage rebellion; completely ill-informed ignorance and stub-bornness with not an ounce of logic used to determine my stance on the matt er.

My detachment from College life was compounded after I failed my second year exams. I then ceded from Trinity completely when I was doomed to repeat the entire year. This, I felt, was the ultimate injus-tice; to wear the conical dunce hat, to feel like Ralph Wiggum.

Entering a new class should have been my chance to assimilate, my ticket out of obscurity. Instead I chose to hold Trinity at fault for my failings. I resented having to repeat for two main reasons (other than the fact that it was a completely avoidable year taken from my working life). Firstly, being held back with students one, and some even two, years my junior. In my head, I was older and wiser. I felt I didn’t belong among these mere children. How in the world could I become friends with people whom I didn’t regard as my peers, as I had lived one insignifi cant year longer than they had! I mean, they were still planning their fi rst J1 … I was booking my second.

Reason number two was a whole lot more frustrating. Every day I was hearing miraculous but vague stories of how others in my situa-tion were able to somehow bend rules, fi nd obscure loopholes, or simply keep repeating till they passed. I was not among these miracles. The events leading to my repeat year were very blunt; do exams, get results, fail, do repeats, fail, repeat year. No arguments, no appeals, no year X.

This incident allowed me to fur-ther validate my stance towards Trinity; why should I bother with this place? After all it had chewed me up and spat me back out. I went through second year for the sec-ond time in a similar vein as my fi rst att empt.

By third year, I fi nally regained a semblance of sanity. My epiphany was gradual. There was no eureka moment. I started to realise things didn’t have to be this way. The rumblings of change began when I started to see less and less of the fi ve or so friends I had in Trinity as they were kept busy virtually non-stop with fi nal year study. Rest assured these were old school friends. I had not inexplicably made acquaint-ance in Trinity by mitosis.

When I realised the error of my ways, I set myself the task of chang-ing my att itude towards Trinity. Fearing I had come to the party not just too late, but on the wrong day altogether, I struggled to etch out a personal presence within Col-lege. However my determination to leave some mark behind, no matt er how insignifi cant, before I leave in four months’ time led me to write my thoughts down on a page. Those thoughts form this ar-ticle. And this article is my one man resistance to the stubborn me from the past. When I didn’t care about Trinity I thought I would leave the place with no regrets. Now that I do care for it, having realised how wrong I was, I will still leave with no regrets. I’m just relieved I fi g-ured it out while there was still time to do something about it.

So if you, the reader, feel like I once did, just re-member that it’s never too late to change.

ties are starting to have to meet. Lena Dunham, the star of Girls,

said recently that she’s going to live until 105 and show her thighs every day. The att itude is indicative of this new phenomenon in Holly-wood: the long-lost, near-mythical personality. Dunham is an award-winning fi lmmaker and actress; Lawrence is a celebrated actress and an Oscar-winner; Deschanel has starred in countless fi lms and tv shows; Kaling has writt en, pro-duced and acted for various high-profi le TV shows. They aren’t de-fi ned by their bodies, and this is the message they are sending out to women across the world.

The point is no longer how close-ly they adhere to the thin-body norm. Instead, refreshingly, the things that are becoming most im-portant – both in celebrity culture and the public sphere – are your smarts and your skills and your strength of character, and not the dress size you wear.

Wasting My Time in Trinity doing a BESS Degree

10

Michael Brutoncontributing writer

A s my fi nal term in Trinity College grows nearer I have discov-ered that I am more enthusiastic about

entering the tritely referenced ‘Big Bad World.’ I have developed an emerging eagerness towards leaving, not only university, but the Emerald Isle. This desire has arisen due to a growing indiff er-ence towards what has become the mundane. After spending years here the characteristics that de-fi ne this country as being Ireland have turned into dull traits. The regular surroundings of the city,

the repetitious commute into col-lege and the recurrent topics of conversation have left me with an appetite to experience other sur-roundings and cultures. I have be-gun to do what most individuals in my scenario would do: apply for everything that is available abroad – jobs, Masters programmes, in-ternships, etc.

As I prepare applications for my hopeful departure from this shore, I am struck by the fact that no-one has stated that I am planning to ‘emigrate’ but rather that they’re ‘going abroad’. Despite the identi-cal nature of the two acts, a nega-tive connotation has developed around Irish emigration.

The words ‘necessity’ and ‘em-ployment’ have been directly asso-ciated with Irish emigration. While this association may be deemed

reasonable given the nature of the Irish economy over the past centu-ry and the traditional foundation for the development of the Irish Diaspora, it is unhealthy for Irish people to label it negatively. Some Irish have had no alternative but to explore abroad for their career development, but it is important to remember that emigration pos-sesses an equally positive overtone as well.

While emigration is generally related to employment, there is also the wonder of experiencing the unknown that comes with liv-ing in a new environment. I am not suggesting that people do not re-alise the benefi ts of living abroad permanently or temporarily, but individuals never equate the posi-tive qualities of living abroad with the act of emigrating.

While articles in newspapers tend to review emigration statistics with a degree of pessimism, they should also view them as a signal of the international opportunities being taken up by individuals to further their knowledge. In some cases this can be seen as a loss to the Irish nation, but most intend to return with their international education and foreign knowledge. While the general media and the national statistics will defi ne us as ‘emigrants’, and thus, will insinu-ate that we are members of Ire-land’s lost generation, we will view ourselves as ‘emigrants’ and mem-bers of Ireland’s future generation.

A lyric from an American song has remained with me as I research and plan my voyage: “If you never leave home, never let go, you’ll nev-er make it to the great unknown.”

iLLustRatioN by MegaN McdeRMott FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

Aisling Curtissenior staff writer

Hugh O’Neillcontributing writer

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014 11

I t has recently been discovered that Trinity College will be making some sizable cuts to funding for its capitated bodies. Overall, it is rumoured that capitated bodies in Trinity will receive up to a €60,000 reduction in fund distribution. This means that Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC), the Central Societies

Committ ee (CSC), Trinity College Students’ Union (TCDSU), the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), and Trinity Publications will all suff er substantial losses in funding, with less money available to spend on maintaining these organisations.

The ultimate goal of any College administration should be to ensure a well rounded education for its students. Just last week the Vice Provost for Global Relations, Jane Ohlmeyer, welcomed a new host of interna-tional students to Trinity with the promise that the students are the sole raison d’être for our university. With these cuts, it feels like this is no longer the goal for Trinity. Education does not solely consist of academic learning – society life and involvement in extracurricular organisations is vital for making sure that students leave Trinity as well rounded people.

However, this is not the main problem with the decision. What is even more egregious is the fact that the reduction in funds is not explicitly mentioned in the minutes from the Board meeting – surely a reduction of €60,000, a thoroughly signifi cant amount of money, should have been publicly stated by the College, especially considering that it will aff ect a sizable amount of the student population? If you speak to any random student in Trinity, there is a high chance that they will be involved in at least one of the aforementioned organisations.

It seems that there is a lack of respect towards the students here in failing to disclose the cuts. If College had made these plans public from the start, alongside some reasons for why the cuts are being made, there would have been mild discontent. But because College chose to att empt to sneak this decision past the students and the relevant bodies, there is now a lack of trust between the student community and the administra-tion of Trinity. This lack of trust and respect is far more damaging than a litt le bit of discontent from an honest statement would have been. The College will soon fi nd out that it is not in their interest to divide the com-munity by “us and them”.

Many students are disappointed in College’s decision to make cuts to organisations that make Trinity a more interesting place to study in – however, what is even more disappointing is the fact that College did not deem it necessary to announce their plans to the students. To repair the relationship between the College and their biggest stakeholder the administration needs to make sure that any further decisions of a similar nature are discussed openly, in a fair and honest way.

Mandela house, 6 trinity college, college green, dublin 2phone: (01) 646 8431 email: info@universitytimes.ie Credits

Leanna Byrne, editor

Vladimir Rakhmanin, deputy editor

Conor Murphy, online editorEdmund Heaphy, creative director

Colm O’Donnell, editor-at-LargeHannah Ryan, News editor

Ludovic Dawnay, Features editorSamuel Riggs, opinion editor

Conor Bates, sports editorJames Bennett , Magazine editor

Shauna Cleary, supplements editorMichelle O’Connor, copy editor

Cailan O’Connell, Multimedia editorAndrew Murphy, photo editor

CUTS MADE WORSE WITH LACK OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

www.universitytimes.ie

The Cart Before the Horse

I reland’s millennials are facing a crisis of employ-ment: roughly 30% are job-less without accounting for the hundreds of thousands

who have simply chosen to leave the country. It is natural for those hit hardest by the economy to call most audibly for a solution. Ire-land’s youth, however, should be wary of the calls for populist, pseu-do-economic remedies that are so popular with politicians and their constituents in the short-term (i.e. before the next election) yet equally detrimental to long-term economic health.

It may fi rst be helpful to put Ire-land’s youth unemployment situ-ation in a proper global context. The Germans face a youth unem-ployment rate of 8%. In America that rate is 15%, while in Spain and Greece it exceeds 50%. It should be clear that these numbers vary pri-marily in accordance with recent economic performance as well as with structural diff erences like minimum wage laws and tax sys-tems. More importantly the rate does not vary in any meaningful way with total or proportionate levels of spending on job training or similar programs that target youth unemployment. That is not to say that such spending has no place in the budget, but rather that it should be a purely supplemen-tary concern in the context of pro-moting economic growth.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI), apparently, has a far diff er-ent view on the issue. As part of its ten point plan for post-bailout Ire-land USI criticises the €14 million recently budgeted for the Youth Guarantee scheme as inadequate

and argues that an investment of almost twenty times that amount is necessary. While throwing almost €300 million at almost any prob-lem would make it go away, doing so presently would be short-sight-ed and entirely inconsistent with the goal of recovery. The biggest economic threat still facing the na-tion is a ballooning debt-to-GDP ratio: the result of taking on bad

debt from Irish banks combined with a decrease in consumption and output in the Irish economy. The current government literally cannot aff ord frivolous budgeting, but the need for responsible policy should not leave students without hope.

Ireland is clearly in a bett er situ-ation than its fellow bailout re-cipients. In the latt er half of 2013 its output grew at double the forecasted rate, with particularly promising growth coming from construction spending (up 15% on the year). The return of construc-tion jobs is particularly important for young Irish males, those who just half a decade ago looked for-ward to earning a desirable wage without third level education. Al-though such jobs have been rela-tively “gone” in recent years, there has been litt le underlying struc-tural change in the economy. The Celtic Tiger jobs are waiting for a new Celtic Tiger economy, and barring signifi cant changes at the European level that could hurt the country’s appeal for foreign inves-tors, the future is bright. Ireland still needs massive improvements to its infrastructure and its wages, workforce and tax structure re-

main att ractive for multinational fi rms targeting European expan-sion.

The levels of unemployment sustained during the fi nancial cri-sis are tragic on both a personal and a policy level, but the lessons taken from this tragedy should not be forgott en just as the nation appears poised for recovery. The government has had success with its austerity budgets, even if it may rightly be argued that those hurt most by austerity have not been those whose actions necessitated it. Regardless, the country should

move forward realistically within its present constraints and not be distracted by the panic and popu-list concerns that too often domi-nate Irish politics.

With policies that properly sup-port (or fail to unduly impede) an acceptable level of growth, unem-ployment can be addressed with-out undermining the budget. After all, Ireland’s youth do not need to be re-trained for some kind of “new” economy; they need the economy that benefi tt ed their par-ents to return and do likewise for them.

photo by siNÉad baKeR FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

The Fallacy of Irishness

Fionn Rogandeputy opinion editor

I ’m an Irish man. Twenty years old. But am I an Irish-man? By simply omitt ing that space between Irish and man one delves into what

Brendan Behan would describe as, the psychosis of Irishness. An Irish man is a modern creature who uses the word Irish merely as a classifi -cation tool. The word is stripped of its mythologies and becomes a clinical and simple geographical term like German or Sudanese. In a sense, Irish is dispossessed of its Irishness. Two distinct classes of Irishness are created.

The distinction between the two becomes more intriguing when it’s viewed from a more youthful per-spective. To be Irish or to subscribe to any sort of exclusive idea of na-tionality will soon be an outdated concept. As society becomes in-creasingly multicultural national-ity as a concept becomes obsolete. A large spectrum of young Irish people along with other young people from across the world are denizens of an Internet age. They

subscribe to a homogenous and pervasive culture that exists with-out nationality. To be Irish, Brit-ish or American on the Internet is defunct because for the most part there is no fundamental diff erence between our cultures. The idiosyn-crasies that defi ned us waste away as we all ‘lol’ at Jennifer Lawrence and Benedict Cumberbatch mak-ing ‘Doge’ references. It has a cer-tain vapid but peaceful harmony to it. To be Irish becomes a passive description and to a certain extent nationality is renounced in favour of joining this global network of people.

The fallacy of Irishness becomes glaringly apparent in this set-up. This unnerves me. It upsets me because I’ve grown accustomed to an outdated model that I use to identify myself. I consider myself an Irishman but what does that mean? Am I being exclusionary when I identify myself as such? Of course I am. Is that defensible? No, it isn’t because when I do so I am describing myself as Irish in a bid to distinguish myself from those of other nationalities. I am not English because I am Irish. By making that distinction I’m infer-ring that to be Irish is in some way superior to being English, which is plain, illogical racism. Nationality is a segregating device. However by this logic any demonstration of national pride becomes an inher-ently racist exhibition, which is an extreme notion. Therefore can national pride be considered the one example of defensible, or at

least, acceptable racism? Is being proud to be Irish an admission to being a benign racist, or is that an oxymoron?

Perhaps a means of tackling this is to ask is there a role for the Irish in a globalised world? What does it mean to be Irish or even young and Irish in the 21st Century? I can only speak for my own sense of Irishness, which is an ideologically confl icted minefi eld of contradic-tions. It refl ects the variety that ex-ists in contemporary Irish thought. I plan on living in London when I’m older yet I refuse to learn any of England’s geography because I maintain an immature animos-ity towards our former colonisers that has been engendered within me since primary school. I relish in the inoff ensive mischief that de-fi nes the Irish. I decry the feckless-ness of the Irish and in the same breath eulogize the numerous achievements of my country folk. I hail from Kildare, live in Dublin, pretend to be urbane and know that a year cannot be spent with-

out at least one visit to the West because it’s good for the spirit. I’m a twenty-six county national-ist whose misguided patriotism was founded primarily upon Neil Jordan’s hopelessly inaccurate Mi-chael Collins. I champion the local but abhor the incestuous and pry-ing nature of parish-pump poli-tics. I wish I spoke Irish and liked the GAA. I enjoy the informality of the Irish. I appreciate that we will always have an issue with account-ability. I don’t scoff when someone waxes lyrical about the Irish land-scape fl owing through their veins, because I know it does the same for me, three-bed semi-d’s and all. I’m obsessed with my Irishness.

To be Irish is to be constantly at odds with yourself and others and still feel completely intact. There’s a schizoid element to our distinctly Irish psychosis. However is there room for our contrary na-tional identity? Truthfully I don’t believe there is. To be Irish is to be directly opposed to globalisation. To be any nationality is. As a pro-cess globalisation requires its sub-jects to renounce the idiosyncratic identity that defi nes them so as to subscribe to a culture where every-one is one of the same. Nationality is a fallacy. It must be surrendered in order to achieve global harmony and peace through homogeneity.

World Peace is at stake and yet the notion of sacrifi cing my Irish-ness is too much for me. I know I never could. I’m an Irishman. Twenty years old. Who knows what he should do but doesn’t.

Why fi xing the economy helps Ireland’s youth – and not the other way around

“

To be Irish is to be at odds with yourself and others and still feel completely intact.

“

W ith the hype about the frat this year you would think that the students of Trinity didn’t vote against sup-porting a Trinity Fraternity two years ago at Student Union Council. As the rumours of a possible Trinity-based fraternity were being circulated many students

took necessary steps to make sure this would not be supported. Council mandated the SU to oppose them, while the Central Societies Committ ee (CSC) came out against them before they could even apply to become a society. Regardless of the CSC’s collective opinion on the fraternity, they cannot support a society that discriminates on the basis of gender.

In the run up to Trinity Come Dancing, arguably one of the biggest events of the year, Tobe Arize was chosen as a contestant. While Arize is very well known amongst his peers, the organisers of Trinity Come Dancing felt it was more important to highlight his Presidency of Zeta Psi Fraternity over his positions in Fashion Soc, Enactus and the Afro-Caribbean Society.

While Trinity Come Dancing believe that advertising the fact that the President of Zeta Psi is not an endorsement they are using his position to push their event, which in turn leads to promotion of Zeta Psi. Since the criteria for being chosen to participate in Trinity Come Dancing is to be a “Trinity celebrity”, claiming that being President of an organisation that does not and should not have anything to do with our university makes you a student of interest is actually endorsement. As mentioned before, it is not as if Arize has not been involved enough in college life for the event to make him a contestant without having to draw att ention to a sexist, elitist group. The question is, are members of this “Dublin Frater-nity” receiving as much att ention in other universities and ITs? The fact is that the only other people who care if you have a position in a fraternity that has been denied access to a university would be seedy nightclub promoters.

If Trinity Come Dancing does not have a stance on the fraternity then they should not treat its membership as something that interests the students of Trinity. When you’re advertising it’s about the way you shape the message. Being called a “Trinity celebrity” lends for embarrassing enough criteria without adding membership of a disgraceful group to the mix.

WHY ARE WE BEING FRAT FANATICAL?

Daniel O’Brienstaff writer

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014

The Edge of Joking

What Have We Learned from Nelson Mandela?

T he issue of free speech versus com-edy has reared its awkward head again under the guise of French “comedian” Dieudonné and his supporter, footballer Anelka. For

those who don’t follow international news he’s a wildly anti-semitic performer whose show includes lines like “I don’t have to choose between Jews and Nazis... I don’t know who stole from whom, but I have my suspicions”. His show also features a giant brick wall which he calls the ‘wailing wall’ and upon which he pisses during the show.

The story developed in a familiar patt ern. A comedian says something horrifi c. Subse-quently everyone agrees the comedian is an arse. Then some idiot celebrity indicates his support and a lot of people say something must be done. Furthermore, a good few peo-ple say the topic he/she was discussing was “out of bounds” for comedy etc.

Now this as a news story is distant and irrel-evant to the student population, but the con-versation on the limits of comedy is absolutely relevant and a constantly interesting debate. If you go to any comedy night of locals you’ll hear jokes that tread on the toes of race issues, child abuse, gender issues or sexual violence a litt le too heavily for people’s taste. You’ll hear a feed of jokes on these topics that are just ter-rible jokes; you’ll also hear an infi nite number of people (usually the kind who in normal situations hold so tightly to their coveted freedom of speech), state the rather extreme notion that one of these topics is untouchable by comedy because it’s too sensitive a topic. Be it race, gender issues, or Islam, there seems to be an infi nite amount of people ready to take up the sword on these political issues’ behalf and declare them sacrosanct, usually with the (sometimes true reasoning) that these topics are often causing far too much off ense and horror when discussed. There is an obvious varying in the nobility of each of these causes but they are all misled in the same. No topic can be sacrosanct to comedy.

Now this isn’t aff ording comedy some spe-cial place. This isn’t glorifying comedy at all. It’s just giving comedy its rightful place as an artform. Artforms need to tread on those sore

12

I n the wake of the 10 days mourning I fi nd it easy to believe that funerals are in fact not for the dead but for the liv-ing. Yes, we are honouring the memory of the recently deceased but this is in

fact an outlet for the living, rather than the dead. This same att itude was present dur-ing the ten days mourning for Nelson Man-dela. Yes, High profi le world leaders publicly mourned his passing and praised his legacy; but has his universal hero status consumed Mandela and moulded him into a caricature of a deity forever to be confi ned to the prover-bial pedestal, rather than the faithful legacy of the man himself?

To properly realise Mandela’s memory we need to remind ourselves of what he stood for. We need to remind ourselves of what he wanted to achieve, and whether he actually achieved it or not. Simply worshiping Man-dela will not evoke his memory in any kind of genuine way. Casting Morgan Freeman, a char-acter who has previously played the character of God, as the character of Nelson Mandela will not help achieve the egalitarian standard that he set for himself and for humanity.

Nelson Mandela wanted to end apartheid

in South Africa. Although it is recognised that apartheid ended in 1994 – largely with the help and infl uence of Mr Mandela – it is still the undeniable fact that the miserable life of the poor majority largely remains the same as under apartheid. The main change is that the old white ruling class has been joined by the new black elite.

Mandela preached a legacy of tolerance and forgiveness. He set an example of how apartheid was to be tackled in South Africa and worldwide. Dean Burnett of The Guard-ian keenly evaluated that praising this legacy of tolerance and forgiveness as an example to everyone, before slandering David Cameron for previously saying Mandela was a terrorist, or exclaiming that the US only took Mandela off the US Terrorism Watchlist in 2008, even if valid, demonstrates neither tolerance nor for-giveness.

The old African National Congress, of which Mandela was a part, promised not only the end of apartheid, but also more social justice, even a kind of socialism during his time in power. The rise of political and civil rights is counter-balanced by the growing insecurity, violence and crime. This has been well documented With the OSAC reporting that “Crime contin-ues to be a key strategic concern for the South African government…In general, crimes con-tinue to range throughout the full spectrum, from pett y muggings to ATM scams to armed residential home invasions. These crimes oc-

cur with great frequency and throughout eve-ry neighbourhood”.

In terms of the socialist position of Man-dela’s ANC in his time in power, Slavoj Zizek observes that “South Africa in this respect is just one version of the recurrent story of the contemporary left. A leader or party is elected with universal enthusiasm, promising a “new world” – but, then, sooner or later, they stum-ble upon the key dilemma: does one dare to touch the capitalist mechanisms, or does one decide to “play the game”? … in essence …Nel-

son Mandela was celebrated as a model of how to liberate a country from the colonial yoke without succumbing to the temptation of dic-tatorial power and anti-capitalist posturing. In short, Mandela was not Robert Mugabe, and South Africa remained a multiparty democ-racy with a free press and a vibrant economy well-integrated into the global market and immune to hasty socialist experiments.”

So we celebrate Mandela for transforming an apartheid judged by race to a racially di-verse apartheid with the masses still living on the margins of the wealth present in the coun-try, for creating a more dangerous and crime-ridden Africa without a strong leftist party, and for not becoming Mugabe.

But if we want to remain faithful to Man-dela’s legacy, we should forget about the cel-ebratory crocodile tears. We should focus on the unfulfi lled promises of his leadership and learn from them. To fully take this man seri-ously should we not criticise what he did so as to improve upon his legacy. In light of his moral and political greatness we can assume he came to the end of his life a bitt er man. His political triumph and elevation into a univer-sal hero was in fact the mask of a bitt er defeat. It could be noted, as it was by Slavoj Zizek that his universal glory may also be a sign that he didn’t really disturb the global order of power.

Could it thus be concluded for a political fi gure their greatest fear would be to be ac-cepted, not to be ignored?

photo by pauLiNe coNseiL

according to conor Murphy no topic can be sacrosanct to comedy. however, we need to realise when a joke is a joke and when hate is hate.

parts of society to really get at truth. Artforms need to raise a laugh to expose the sensitive underbelly of the issues.

Laughing at something isn’t automatically a lighthearted act. Sometimes it’s the bravest thing, an admission of the true nature of so-ciety and that there’s things to do on this is-sue. Even if you accept this there will remain a huge amount of the comedy done on these topics that is just awful lowballing low-witt ed lops of stupidity. There’s just not an awful amount you can do about bad comedians, and there’s a universal truth that most bad come-dians will rest on shock tactics and that will draw them inevitably to the usual suspects of real political issues.

When this happens we should try to just dismiss it as bad comedy, like bad fi lms, bad paintings or bad articles in newspapers [Ed note: Like this one]. If they’re too poor to do anything but cause off ence then deride them as nonsense and try not to draw giant complex social rules to prevent such poor creations rearing their head again, even if it’s terribly

common.By this dismissive nature, what I don’t mean

is that all att empts at comedy are permissible in society. Some of the att empts were never really comedy to begin with. If Enoch Powell threw a Knock Knock joke into his rivers of blood speech it wouldn’t have suddenly be-come permissible. Comedy can’t become a bunker for societal hate.

It might seem easier to culturally blanket ban a topic for comedians than try to vaguely develop some distinction, but this conversa-tion is just a distraction rather than the real issue. The “invisible” line is hate speech. Hate speech is something defi ned in many legal zones and has been used as a workable solu-tion for many things already, and if the com-edy, though edgy, is justifi ed true satire can be used as a defence against malicious claims of hate speech.

This comes back around to what happened with Dieudonné this past month. The issue isn’t that his comedy is dealing with a topic he should leave alone, or that he isn’t dealing

with it in exactly the right comedic fashion. His comedy isn’t comedy and that’s the prob-lem. It’s hate speech. It is incitement to hatred and thus to violence. There’s no need to weigh into “what is comedy” to help stop his shows, hate speech laws covers this clearly and in-deed that’s what Parisian police used to deal with him.

It’s the same with rape or gender jokes, the examples proff ered are always horrifi c “jokes” that come across much more as specifi c threats or general hatred. If jokes do approach this then deal with them as hate speech, not as comedy that needs to be ring fenced from society or sanitised.

There is the not-so-slight problem that hate speech (to my amateur Wikipedia-fed brain) doesn’t cover gender-based hate but that’s something for the law makers to work out. In societal terms there’s no real justifi cation for drawing batt le lines around certain issues. Deal with bad jokes as bad jokes and deal with hate as hate and let’s not sanitise one of the true remaining places of edgy conversation.

It was an egalitarian idea that my drunken friends and I needed to understand and help to achieve.

“ French Comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala

Ciar McCormickcontributing writer His political triumph

and elevation into a universal hero was in fact the mask of a bitt er defeat.

“

Conor Murphyonline editor

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014 13

Credits

Disappearing Academic Thought

ciar Mccormick argues that a private university shuns the notion of the common good in education.

O n 8 November Provost Patrick Prendergast an-nounced in a speech to alumni

on the future of Trinity College that he would consider privati-sation as an option for the uni-versity. This is not the fi rst time Prendergast has raised what he called the “key issue” of privati-sation. At a debate held by the Historical Society (Hist) and the Philosophical Society (Phil) this motion of privatising the Dublin University, which was keenly suggested by the Global Graduate Forum, was chaired by none other than Prendergast himself. The idea of privatising Trinity College is not an isolat-ed matt er but in fact part of a scheme spreading throughout Europe which has been built up over a number of years.

The Bologna Process is a se-ries of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries designed to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher educa-tion qualifi cations, in which a widespread reform of Europe-an higher education has been planned. The underlying idea of these spurious reforms is the urge to subordinate higher education to the needs of so-ciety, to make it useful for the solution of concrete problems we are facing, to produce ex-pert opinions meant to answer problems posed by society.

Through the Bologna Ac-cords, the process has created the European Higher Educa-tion Area (EHEA) who oversee these reforms. Ireland became a signatory and thus a member of the EHEA in 1999. In 2006 Ireland became the fi rst coun-try to verify the compatibility of its national framework with the overarching framework of qualifi cations for the EHEA in cooperation with the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA).

The Bologna Process has re-ceived much criticism from academics, one of whom is Professor Chris Lorenz of the VU University Amsterdam, who argues that: “the basic idea be-hind all educational EU-plans is economic: the basic idea is the enlargement of scale of the European systems of higher education, ... in order to en-hance its ‘competitiveness’ by cutt ing down costs. Therefore a Europe-wide standardization of the ‘values’ produced in each of the national higher educa-tional systems is called for.” A key goal of the Bologna pro-cess is to create a greater con-vergence between the U.S. and

Europe, therefore European higher education shall adopt aspects of the American system. A fundamental element of the American system is the method of public-private partnership. This illuminates the economic aspect of these plans, and the method of privatisation at the centre of this process.

In congruence with the dis-mantling of the welfare state all over Europe, in education, we are witnessing the gradual dismantling of the public uni-versity apparatus. The universi-ty system is becoming less and less the bearer of the enlight-ened values of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” at the behest of the new formula of “lower costs, higher effi ciency” which the public-private partnership sys-tem provides. But, what of this change in system? Is this just a change mantra? Why does it matt er?

The implication of this will be the disappearance of the true task of thinking, or think-ing in any authentic manner at a university level. In the words of philosopher and director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities in the University of London, Slavoj Zizek, the true task of thinking at an academic level is “not only to off er solu-tions to problems posed by “society” (which is defi ned by the conjunction of state and capital), but to refl ect on the very form of these ‘problems’ in the fi rst place, to re-formulate them, to discern the problem in the very way we perceive such problems.”

I n one sense, a University is not a proverbial sau-sage factory producing homogenous students programed to function

in society at whatever occupa-tion they have chosen, but in contrast, to create free think-ing intellectual human beings. This ability to speak your mind freely as a scholar, or what Im-manuel Kant called the “public use of reason”, is why the na-tional mott o of France is the unoffi cial ethos of any authen-tic University. Thought in the public sphere is essential to the rights we should possess as humans; it is part of our liberty, equality and brotherhood. The current student body of the col-lege appears to agree with this public ethos after the students’ outcry when the Provost came out in support of a student loan scheme in an RTÉ Radio 1 inter-view in August of last year.

Privatisation would be a neg-ative step for higher level edu-cation. The scholarly thought that should take place in a uni-versity cannot be lost by Trinity College. This University, with its long illustrious history and tra-dition, should remain a place that enables the public use of

reason. This University should remain a place where the arts and humanities are nurtured in an equal manner to the scienc-es and vocations such as medi-cine, nursing, architecture, etc.,

etc. This University should not abandon its values as an intel-lectual hub in favour of becom-ing ‘more competitive’.

This University should not be privatised.

The Cost of EducationIn 2012, Minister for Education & Skills, Deputy Ruairi Quinn, promised to increased the student contribution charge to €2,500 and to increase it by €250 each year thereaft er, until the 2015/16 academic year, when the contirbution will stand at €3000.

Lett er from the Editor

Leanna Byrneeditor

I f this were a country which valued its youth, when the Department of Social Protection was contact-ed by The University Times, the line they proceed-ed to take would not have been: “qualifi cations for JobBridge is at the discretion of the employ-

er”. A government department that valued education and decent wage for a decent day’s work would have removed the advertisement, or at the very least, asked the employer to change their criteria. I would even go as far to say that if Joan Burton and her department had any sense that a JobBridge advertisement seeking candi-dates with a PhD qualifi cation would not be up there in the fi rst place.

Is it right for a multinational corporation such as Cla-roChem Ltd to take advantage of an employment crisis so they can pay a highly educated individual a €50 top up a week? Even when the minimum wage is €8.65 per hour, the desperate individuals applying for the Process Chemist Internship are being promised 15% of what is owed. If you work 39 hours a week you should be receiv-ing at least €337.35 for that week. Instead, this JobBridge participant will get their social welfare and a bit of pock-et money for gett ing to and from their place of work. Of course the department are smart enough to admit that this is not a living wage.

The unfortunate thing is that this is just another extra instance where the government has showed their true colours in relation to the youth crisis. Back in Septem-ber when Minister Joan Burton was walking around the stand on Freshers’ Week beaming at students and shak-ing their hands asking them what they were studying (there’s a JobBridge for that!), I grabbed her for a quick interview. At the time it was emigration season for grad-uates who had failed to get jobs, so I asked her whether or not youth emigration was a matt er for concern. In re-sponse she told me a story about how she had worked in France for a few years and, well, look how that worked out! According to the Minister there is “no fear for a lost generation” and that sometimes gett ing out of Ireland can be character building. With a clear gaping hole of youths in the population I couldn’t believe how out of touch that statement was.

The ironic thing is that the minister of the department which promises to protect our well being even in its name, is doing anything but protecting us. What back-alley internship schemes such as JobBridge illustrate is a governmental mentality where the company is king.

While speaking in Dublin at the launch of an initia-tive called Feeding Ireland’s Future, in which the food and grocery industry is seeking to provide young unem-ployed people with advice and an understanding of the sector, Burton said that she had no problem with com-panies seeking PhD interns. Sure won’t it help them get back into the workforce? Yeah, maybe, but breaking a cycle of unemployment with a cycle of exploitation is hardly something to defend, let alone be proud of.

So thank you, Joan, message received. The young and educated of Ireland are no longer assets for our econ-omy, they are inexperienced burdens that employers must endure. Never mind a wage, a “top up” is all you need because experience is what we should value more than a wage that we can live on. And while we’re at it, three cheers for the fi rms taking in those worthless youths and giving them an opportunity to potentially be employed despite the fact that no economy can func-tion without them.

T erm is over, essays are done, stress is fi nished. Yet, as I sit on my bed franti-cally googling low-

budget backpacking destina-tions, simultaneously involved in a heated group conversation online debating a potential trip Greek island-hopping in August, it seems college com-petition hasn’t ended. Instead the indirect boasting, casual name-dropping and friendly rivalry continues long after the

end of college term. The dread-ed phrase of the moment for someone unsure of their plans is not the ‘Oh, you hadn’t stud-ied that?’ of exam season, but the old favourite ‘So, what are you doing this Summer?’.

As someone whose response to the question this year con-sists of vague and self-admit-tedly over-ambitious ideas, my reply is often met by a detailed description of their own trav-els abroad. The question is not why this person seems hell-bent on informing me of every minor aspect of their American dream, but why I feel some kind of fundamental need to have my own holidays so carefully prepared, planned and pack-

aged.Going on a J1, gett ing an in-

ternship and interrailing are amazing opportunities to gain both cultural and professional experiences, but us poor crea-tures who are remaining at home this summer should not be condemned to the ranks of the uncultured or unambitious. There seems to be this increas-ing pressure to really do some-thing with our precious three months as the inevitability of a ‘real job’ is right around the corner. Never before had this realisation hit me so hard as when a lecturer asked our class what our plans were and I was shocked to be the only one who was working here in Ireland.

Long gone are the days where we were content with a ‘holi-day’. As we grow older and ever more conscious of fi nancial, professional and social expec-tations and att empt to make the most of any time we have as carefree students. The cul-ture and experiences foreign destinations have to off er us have almost become currency in some social circles, stories of Thailand and San Diego replac-ing those of Coppers and D2s come September.

This anxiety about the lack of concrete plans for the summer months is entirely self-made and irrational; yet it increases with every Facebook check-in at Terminal 2. Like many other

students who yearn for a taste of the unfamiliar and exciting, I have a tendency to see Ireland’s lush green fi elds and extensive coastline only as obstacles to a foreign Other. My family home, treasured during the brief vis-its of term-time, becomes an unlikely prison and my chal-lenging and engaging job my keeper.

I’m not keeping up with the Joneses this time, neither will I have built up a substantial cata-logue of travelling anecdotes to pepper my conversation with throughout the year, but I am genuinely excited for what the summer has to bring. By pur-posefully staying at home this summer,I’m prett y much guar-

anteeing that I won’t have the best tan, tatt ered leather brace-lets or dodgy tatt oo come Fresh-ers’ Week, and certainly I won’t have been lucky enough to experience things that people who have travelled extensively have. Yet I realise that ‘living in the moment’ doesn’t have to be at a Full Moon party some-where in Indonesia, but exactly as described – living, right here, right now. So although I would love to be counting down the days until the ‘trip of a lifetime’, I never want to miss the unex-pected moments, those with old friends and family on lazy sunny afternoons, moments that can truly defi ne your sum-mer.

Ellen Finncontributing writer

The Summer Plans Rat Race

There seems to be this increasing pressure to really do something with our precious three months as the inevitability of a ‘real job’ is right around the corner

“

Provost Patrick Prendergast came out in favour of the Student Loan Scheme on RTÉ Radio 1 last year

I’m not keeping up with the Joneses this time, neither will I have built up a substantial catalogue of travelling anecdotes

“

Ciar McCormickcontributing writer

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The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 201414

SportSix Nations Preview

Conor Bates & Cathal Groome

Ireland 2013 fi nish: 5th Predicted 2014 fi nish: 4th

Ireland had a very mixed November Series with the disappointing low against Australia and the encourag-ing performance against New Zea-land, even with the heart breaking end to the match. Despite this positive performance Ireland are still adjust-ing to Joe Schmidt’s way of playing. It is unreasonable for people to expect that the players truly be comfortable with his style of play just yet. Often we have seen Ireland produce one-off world-class performances and then fail to back them up.

Ireland also have some selection is-sues to deal with due to the fact that Sean O’Brien is out injured for the vast majority, if not all, of the tournament. Chris Henry is the obvious replace-ment for O’Brien even if he’s a diff er-ent sort of player. The idea is that due to the fact that Henry is a more ste-reotypical openside, he will liberate Heaslip to become the primary ball carrier. Another option would be Jor-di Murphy who has been deputising for O’Brien at Leinster and perform-ing very well. There are decisions to be made in the midfi eld as well. This is Brian O’Driscoll’s fi nal Six Nations and as such, the very talented Rob-bie Henshaw from Connacht should be given at least one start to ease him into the Irish 13 jersey, as he ap-pears the heir apparent to O’Driscoll’s throne. Furthermore, at inside-centre, Luke Marshall must continue to be given opportunities given the fact that Gordon D’arcy is not far from re-tirement either.

Ireland have a lot of work to do in Six Nations rugby after last year’s per-formances. Poor play cost Declan Kid-ney his job last year, and Irish fans will be expecting a marked improvement from their nation. With trips to Paris and London, this year’s tournament will prove diffi cult for an Ireland team in transition. On top of this, the fi rst match against a more sett led Welsh side will be a tough task. However, Wales will be missing some crucial players and a victory against them could provide the team with great im-petus going on through the tourna-ment. If Ireland can replicate the per-formance against New Zealand on a consistent basis then there is a chance that Ireland could be champions. It is, however, hard to see this being the case.Key Players: Johnny Sexton (fl y-half), Paul O’Connell (lock forward), Robbie Henshaw (centre)

Wales2013 fi nish: 1st Predicted 2014 fi nish: 1st

Reigning champions, Wales, have a lot to look forward to this year.

Following an incredible 2013, in which they won the Six Nations, saw a great number of their players called up for the Lions tour to Australia and fi nished with some very solid autumn performances, it is safe to say that Wales can look forward to a bright 2014 as well.

They are also in receipt of a favour-able schedule for this year’s compe-tition, with their only away fi xtures being against England, and their only conquerors last year, Ireland.

One of the other major potential determining factors in this year’s tournament is the return of Warren Gatland to the fold. Although his ab-sence last year appeared to make litt le diff erence to the Welsh results, there are none as steely and ruthless in the game as Gatland, and his presence will surely bolster.

At this point in time, there are probably few more complete teams in the international game than Wales. Starting with their pack, Adam Jones and Alun Wyn Jones are among the marquee names who are not to be messed with. Wales are strong in the scrum and clever at the lineout. Eff ec-tive mauling has always been key to the Welsh game, and when they get pushing, it is very hard to stop them.

Similarly, their backs possess a fearsome quality. Jamie Roberts is deft and powerful at centre, while Alex Cuthbert and, in particular, George North, are among the fastest, strong-est, most brutish wingers in the game. Stature and pace are a potent combi-nation, as Wales have proven time and again.

Last, but absolutely not least, Leigh Halfpenny is a dynamo at fullback. Halfpenny epitomises the strength, speed and fl air that Wales possess, and he brings security in the form of his accurate kicking. Halfpenny’s boot is fairly near immaculate with the dead ball, and he will punish any team with penalties.

Wales are dangerous. Very danger-ous. Even with their current injury worries, they are not to be underes-timated. The last time they had a bad run of form was late 2012. Many people wrote them off for last year’s championship as a result. Look how that turned out.Key Players: Leigh Halfpenny (fullback), George North (wing), Alun Wyn Jones (lock forward)

England2013 fi nish: 2nd Predicted 2014 fi nish: 3rd

England are among the more consist-ent performers in the game. For the most part, they have turned out very solid contributions to recent Six Na-tions, World Cups and autumn inter-nationals, and are rightly regarded as a serious challenge to overcome on the path to glory. Last year’s champi-onship was very successful, with four wins for England, and only a hammer-ing at the hands of champions, Wales, bringing a negative to their fi nal standing. Their positive performances were refl ected in a good call-up rate for the Lions tour to Australia.

Similarly, England have maintained some semblance of momentum in winning two of their three autumn in-ternationals, including a victory over Australia, and only losing to the un-beaten All Blacks. The draw is also in their favour, with only a trip away to France seeming like a truly problem-atic fi xture.

England are very powerful in the pack. The majority of their call-ups to the Lions touring squad came from the front-row, and they have shown great depth in these positions in re-cent years. Throughout the pack, Tom Croft, Geoff Parling and captain Chris Robshaw have been standout per-formers.

Their talent is not confi ned to the pack, however, with Owen Farrell taking the placekicks for the side. Farrell is one of the brightest stars in the game, and big things should be expected from him. Manu Tuilagi is a force of nature at centre, and the tour-nament will surely not pass without a few moments of magic from him.

English rugby has drawn a large amount of criticismabout the devel-opment of homegrown players. The best part of England’s game for the last few years has been the aforemen-tioned scrum, which contains a con-siderable amount of players qualify-ing on the “Irish granny” style rule. Mako Vunipola, Dylan Hartley and Thomas Waldrom are mere examples of the extent of this practice. Similar-ly, Tuilagi is the prime example of for-eign-English athletes in the backline. While this is a problem for English rugby down the line, at the moment it leaves them with a very decent squad for the impending championships. They will do well, as always, but may-be not well enough.Key Players: Owen Farrell (fl y-half), Chris Robshaw (fl anker), Manu Tuilagi (centre)

France2013 fi nish: 6th Predicted 2014 fi nish: 2nd

France are an enigma that few rugby pundits can wrap their head around. Man for man they arguably have by far the best team in the northern hemisphere but are often unable to transfer their obvious talent onto the pitch. In last year’s tournament they fi nished last after a hugely impressive and positive autumn series. Freddie Michalak had seemed to have fi nally brought some consistency to his ob-vious talent however throughout the tournament his performances were so poor that they bordered on comedy.

What can you expect then after a largely disappointing November Se-ries? With France, form goes out the window. This year there is less pres-sure on the French. Perhaps this may liberate them and allow them to play some of the exhilarating rugby that they are known for. There is no ques-tion that they have the talent, led by the outstanding Wesley Fofana. Last year he was the best player for France and his outstanding solo try against England was without question one of the best tries the tournament has seen.

The greatest issue which faces the French is who plays at fl y-half. Over the years they have experimented with many diff erent options but to no avail. These issues can be seen that some of the biggest clubs in France have foreign players at fl y-half. Play-ing Michalak last year backfi red spec-tacularly and his chances are surely over. One of the options that the French coach, Philippe Saint-André, used in the November series was Remi Tales from Castres; hardly a house-hold name but perhaps in a team of individualistic stars this is who they need at the helm, dictating their play. Jules Plisson who has been keeping Morne Steyn out of the Stade Fran-cais team this season has also been drafted in and could be an exciting, if risky call. He is supremely talented but throwing him in against England in the fi rst round could be a fl op due to his complete inexperience at inter-national level.

If the French management get the fl y-half selection right then they are in with a chance especially considering French teams usually perform well af-ter a Lions tour. However, it is impos-sible to predict what type of French team will turn up on any given day.Key Players: Wesley Fofana (centre), Louis Picamoles (number 8), Jules Plis-son (fl y-half)

Scotland2013 fi nish: 3rd Predicted 2014 fi nish: 5th

Scotland built a very solid Six Nations campaign last year when no one ex-pected them to. Two wins may not seem like a lot, but given performanc-es of years gone by, it was certainly an improvement. Despite a remarkable third place fi nish last season, it is hard to see Scotland repeating their eff ort once more. Although dealt a favoura-ble schedule of France and England at home, their heroics of 2013 will likely be confi ned to yore.Their change of fortune was down to a grinding gameplan instituted by interim coach Scott Johnson. Previous coach Andy Robinson had done a lot of work on improving the Scott ish de-fence, without much return. Johnson seemed to make this hard-hitt ing de-fensive structure work, and through shoring up opposition att acks, Scot-land began to profi t. A weak pack, led by the contrastingly omnipotent Richie Gray and Euan Murray, made some unforeseen inroads. There were also improvements in at-tack, with the introduction of Sean Maitland, and the pacey Stuart Hogg, causing problems for defensive play-ers. Powerful ball carrying from Gray was also a feature of the Highland-ers forward movements. It says a lot about Scotland that these were the only three players called up to Warren Gatland’s original Lions squad. The only other player who may have deserved a nod was Greig Laidlaw. The scrumhalf was very eff ective with his boot, scoring sixty-one points for Scotland, and fi nishing second in the points scorers’ standings. Laidlaw is very consistent, and may be able to ease the Scots woes again this year.The reason that Scotland aren’t a threat this year is the same as every other year; the gulf in class that still exists. They beat two weak nations last year in Ireland and Italy, but failed at the other three hurdles, quite dramat-ically against England, proving their defence is still not quite there yet. This also proved to be the case in the au-tumn internationals, where Australia and South Africa dispatched them at home. Their back play is creative but not incisive enough. Their forwards, largely unchanged since last year, will struggle to deal with stronger packs.Scotland were the surprise package last year. Surprises are usually only ef-fective once.Key Players: Richie Gray (lock forward), Greig Laidlaw (scrumhalf), Stuart Hogg (fullback)

Italy2013 fi nish: 4th Predicted 2014 fi nish: 6th

Italy’s prospects for this tournament are not very good. They had a very disappointing November Series with a narrow victory over Fiji their only victory.

In addition to this poor form, Italy have been robbed of some of their bett er players due to injury; veteran centre Gonzalo Canale, fullback An-drea Masi and wing Giovanbatt ista Venditt i. Without this trio the Italian squad, especially the backline, is de-void of much needed creativity and experience.

The much heralded Italian pack is not what it used to be with the steady demise of the once great front-row. Italy can no longer rely on their pack to grind down teams in an eff ort to win a game.

Similarly to France, Italy have huge problems at fl y-half. Luciano Orquera is the current holder of the position, but he is a player scarcely capable of performing at club level, not to men-tion on the international stage. In his defence he does possess an average running game, but his inexplicable inability to defend his channel and his aimless kicking mean he is a huge-ly weak link in the Italian team and frankly, a liability.

It is evident that Italy must fi nd a so-lution to these problems and as such they have called up Tommaso Allan. Allan is a former Scott ish underage player but qualifi es to play for Italy due to his Italian mother. He currently is on the books at Perpignan and con-sidering his age he has seen a good deal of fi rst team action. He made his debut for Italy coming off the bench against Australia in November and perhaps it is time to give him a start-ing role. No doubt he will make mis-takes due to his inexperience but he is worth the gamble in a position of real issue for Italy.

Even with the inspirational Sergio Parisse driving the team on it is un-likely Italy will have a successful tour-nament this year. Parisse has been something of a man mountain for the side, but even he is aging.

However, Italy are in a period of change and this year’s tournament could give us a glimpse into the fu-ture of this team. Sometimes the very essence of seeing the old can make way for the new – be it in rugby or any-thing else, for that matt er.Key Players: Sergio Parisse (number 8), Tobias Botes (scrumhalf), Tommaso Al-lan (fl y-half)

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 2014 15

sport in brief

Equestrian

Soccer

Sailing

GAA

Athletics

Kayak

Cricket

Badminton

The 2014 Student Riders Nations Cup will see a strong Trinity representation on the Irish team. The Irish Uni-versities Riding Clubs Association has named Rachel Dowley, Sarah Dowley and scholarship student Melanie Young in its squad for the coming year’s competition. Young was also involved in the 2013 panel, which won team and individual honours at the Student Cup fi nals in Belgium, in late December.

2013 drew to a close with a 1-0 away loss to Portmarnock for DUAFC’s league team. The new year started with greater promise as the soccer team hammered CYM Ter-enure 4-0 in Terenure. Despite suff ering another, 1-2, loss to Portmarnock, DUAFC are in good position in the Divi-sion 1B table, with a number of games in hand on their rivals. The college team face NUI Galway at home in a CUFL quarter fi nal today.

The Collingwood Cup draw was made just before Christmas. This year’s competition is the hundredth edi-tion and will be held in UCD. Trinity received a bye in the fi rst round and will face UCC at the quarter fi nal stage. The draw for the fresher’s tournament, the Harding Cup, was made in early January. Trinity will face UL in the quar-ter fi nals on 7 February.

DUSC travelled to Leicestershire in December to com-pete in the Loughborough Lemming, hosted by Lough-borough University. The two-day event saw Trinity beat the majority of their opponents, cruising through the preliminary rounds against some of the UK’s top univer-sities. On the second day they beat Southampton in the quarter fi nal, before narrowly succumbing to eventual winners, Cambridge, in the semis. The team consisted of Alva McDermott , Charlott e Murphy, Iain Irvine, Peter Dun-can, Jack Hogan and scholarship student and Olympian, Scott Flanigan.

The draws for the GAA university championships were made in December. Trinity’s footballers will take on UCC in the Sigerson Cup, while the hurlers have been drawn with Queen’s, St. Patrick’s, Thurles, and NUI Maynooth in the Ryan Cup. The camógs have been drawn alongside St. Mary’s and IT Carlow in the Fr. Meachair Cup, while the ladies footballers will pit themselves against NUI May-nooth, Ulster Jordanstown and Mary Immaculate Limer-ick, in the Giles Cup.

Harriers captain and scholarship student, Maria O’Sullivan, led home the Irish U23’s at the IAAF Interna-tional Cross Country event in early January. The race, held in Greenmount, Antrim saw a world class fi eld taking part, including Irish ace Fionnuala Britt on, and recently crowned European cross country champion, Gemma Steel, from Great Britain. O’Sullivan, however, was not fazed by the standard on show, completing the 5.6km course in 19.28, fi nishing 12th place overall.

Aisling Smith took victory at her fi rst race of the new year. The eight kilometre course in Avonmore, Wicklow was the venue for the race, which scholarship student, Smith, completed in 22.55.

Ladies cricket captain Jennifer Gray and Amy Kenealy were called up to the Irish ladies squad for a Tri-Series match against Pakistan. Gray was one of the standout performers, taking three wickets for forty runs. Despite some good performances, Ireland were comfortably beaten on the day.

Sports scholarship student, Prakash Vijayanath, reached the semi-fi nal stage of both the Botswana Badminton International and the South Africa Badminton Interna-tional in December. Vijayanath was seeded highly in both events but was beaten on both occasions by Slovenian, Roj Alen. With these performances, Prakash has im-proved his standing in the African rankings to third place.

Conor Bates

Sport

A Knight’s Tale

A s everyone who has set foot in Front Square during Freshers’ Week

knows, Trinity is a college rich in sporting history and tradi-tions. What fewer people know is sev-eral of the university’s sports clubs are the oldest in the country. Bearing that in mind, the Society of the Knights of the Campanile is a relatively recent addition to the long and varied story of Trinity sport, and the society has had its ups and downs like any other.

The society was formed in 1926 to mirror already exist-ing societies in Oxford and Cambridge. The Vincent’s and the Hawks’ clubs subscribe to largely the same ethos as the Knights do: to further sport in the university and to fos-ter sporting excellence. All of these societies are fraternal and have sororal equivalents, the Heraens being the counter-part to the Knights in Trinity. Since its foundation, member-ship of the Knights has been a source of pride and a badge of honour for Trinity’s most de-voted sportsmen. By that, I do not mean that every Knight is an absolutely outstanding ath-lete, singlemindedly pursuing personal achievement or glory. Rather, a Knight should be a devoted Trinity sportsman, with a passion for the universi-ty and its sports clubs at heart. However, there have been lean periods in the society’s his-tory, with years of litt le alumni activity and declining under-graduate membership. It is not so long ago that these were the prevailing circumstances, and it is only very recently that the society has begun returning to what might be called full strength.

On the other hand, while the society might be on its way back to more solid footing, the level of positive feeling to-wards it on campus is maybe not at an all time high. This is not always without reason, and there have certainly been mis-demeanors in the past which would not endear the society to the college authorities or its student body and do not do

justice to the many excellent people who are proud to wear their Knights tie.

The Knights are often la-belled elitist, and it would be churlish to suggest otherwise, but I don’t think that is a nec-essarily a bad thing. Sport in College is an excellent thing to be involved in, and the more that can be done to encour-age students to participate the bett er. A group of individu-als who are brought together without politics by virtue of their commitment to Trinity sport has the potential to do a lot of good for the college community. This potential has been tapped in the recent past, when the Knights and Hereans came together to hold a char-ity “Try-a-Sport” day which co-incided with the College races in Trinity Week, raising €2000

for Goal. Then-president, Mark Raftery-Skehan, said at the time: “It is important that sport be given its proper place in College life, particularly giv-en Trinity’s proud traditions in the fi eld. The Knights of the Campanile and the Heraens can play an important role in raising student participation in sport as well as in improving upon Trinity’s reputation as a sporting university.” That is a sentiment I echo.

From my perspective, this gathering momentum of the Knights represents an oppor-tunity for the its members to return to the core values of the society and begin to make a more concerted eff ort to have a positive impact in College and more actively promote sport. I hope that the increasing sta-bility of the society’s alumni

network, which is now almost 1300 strong, will off er a frame-work for continuity which would lead to undergrad run events like this achieving perpetuity in time. In addi-tion, I would like to see the society looking to highlight the individual achievements of its members to further en-hance and encourage sporting achievement and participation in college.

Mark Pollock is a Knight and an excellent example for us all. His sporting achievements in rowing and endurance events are immense, and his drive and ambition in the face of both blindness and paralysis are an inspiration to all those who hear his story. I believe that events like the ‘Run in the Dark’ are an ideal opportunity for the Knights to both support

a great cause and highlight the shining example that Mark is, in an eff ort to encourage stu-dents to follow his lead and keep challenging themselves in every way. These are oppor-tunities we intend to get the most from in the coming years.

For me, this is what being a Knight is about. College sport has been a wonderful infl u-ence on my life, and I would love to see the unique poten-tial of the Knights exploited to encourage as many Trinity students as possible to get in-volved and to push themselves to achieve bett er things for themselves and their club. The Knights are an important part of Trinity sport and the more we can do to encourage its con-tinued success, participation and struggle for excellence the bett er.

the winter olympic snow storm

I t’s been nearly thirty years since Russia last hosted an Olympic Games. The sum-

mer edition of the Games of 1980 was to be the showpiece for the preeminent Commu-nist country in the world. That Olympics brought us the ri-valry of Ovett and Coe on the track, the fl awless performanc-es of Nadia Comaneci on the gymnastics beam and the USSR and East Germany teams com-bining to win more gold med-als than the rest of the compe-tition combined. Despite this, the Games were remembered not for the prowess shown in the sporting arena, but rather because of the political rami-fi cations of a Cold War spat. Sport at the end of the day was made to feel like a loser, a casualty of a greater confl ict of capitalism and communism.

Turning to the modern day and it is once again the colos-sal country in Eastern Europe which takes centre stage in the sporting context, this time

Conor WalshstaFF wRiteR

for the winter edition of the world’s biggest multi-sport event. For the second time Rus-sia is embroiled in a cloud of controversy and scandal, this time for a myriad of other rea-sons.

The decision last year of the Russian Duma to pass legisla-tion banning of the distribu-tion of ‘’propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’’, known in popular culture as the anti-LGBT laws, have prompted a wave of criticism of the Putin administration both on a national and inter-national level. World lead-ers have refused to att end the Opening Ceremony on account of Russia’s ultra-conservative policy on the matt er. The true extent of these archaic laws is seen in the fact that even a Pride House – a temporary lo-cation in the Olympic village celebrating LGBT athletes and their achievements – was out-lawed by the Russian Justice Ministry on the grounds that it promoted ‘non-traditional’ relationships to minors. Such is the impact of these laws that even our own Students’ Union has banned the sale of

Coca-Cola and P&G products in their shops for the duration of the Games, noting their role in sponsoring the Games. In Russia itself, protests are such a regular occurrence that the media exposure surrounding it is diminishing quickly.

It essentially has been one debacle after another for the organisers of these Olympic Games. Aside from the gross human rights abuses at the centre of the Games the organ-isers have come under scrutiny for their haphazard dealings of economic and environmen-tal matt ers associated with construction. The Olympic Zero Waste Pledge was broken last year when it was discov-ered that lorries from Olympic event centres were offl oading waste material into a huge landfi ll site in a water protec-tion zone. Other environmen-tal concerns include the con-struction of sites in the middle of the protected Caucasus Bio-sphere Reserve.

Sochi itself is unfortunate enough to also be located in one of the most politically un-stable areas in the world. The threat of terrorism is a real one

with the provinces of South Os-setia and Chechnya lying just to the east of the city and the region, being a melting pot of cultures and a hotbed of politi-cal activity since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is frequently im-mersed in confl ict. Security for the Games is a major concern, particularly since the Volgo-grad bombings of December.

With all this activity in the background, it would be hard to imagine the major winter sporting event of 2014 tak-ing place at all in Russia, let alone a summertime retreat for wealthy oligarchs. The fact re-mains, however, that on Friday 7 February the very best that the world of winter sports has to off er will converge on this litt le known metropolis on the Black Sea shore. So far, none of the major countries have boy-cott ed a contentious Games, though don’t expect the dra-ma to end there. It is expected that protests of wearing Pride-themed att ire and the painting of rainbow coloured nails will feature prominently among the Western nations opposed to Russia’s domestic policy; these actions are a breach of

the Olympic Charter which prohibits any form of politi-cal protest. If these Games are to be remembered at all, it is hoped that the quality of the sport on show will overshadow the lingering controversy sur-rounding it.

At the end of the day, in this arena, sport should conquer all, bridging the chasms that divide opinion and provid-ing a platform with which to sett le scores of physical and mental combat. The fi rst vic-tory of these Games is the lack of a boycott , and with that one hopes that the athletes of the winter sporting world, re-gardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or any discrimi-natory factor, can transcend the sequences of events which have unfolded since Sochi was awarded the Olympics and thrill us with their athletic endeavours. Hopefully, then, by the time these wonderful sports and sportspeople have concluded entertaining us on the last Sunday in February we can conclusively say that the 2014 Olympic Winter Games were memorable for the right reasons.

President of the Knights of the Campanile, Danny Johnston, speaks exclusively to The University Times.

photo by aNdRew MuRphy FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

The University Times | Tuesday 21st January 201416

SportTrinity 1

Oxford 3

Visitors Prove Too Strong for Trinityphoto by gabRieL NicoLi FoR the uNiVeRsity tiMes

D espite the gener-ally poor weather, a decent crowd gath-

ered to watch DUAFC play in a mid-season friendly. This was not an ordinary game for the Trinity foot-ball side, as they welcomed Oxford University to Col-lege Park for something of an ‘international colours’ match. With the team do-ing well in their league and cup competitions, they would aim to give their il-lustrious visitors a good run and maintain their pos-itive momentum into their forthcoming games. The recent tumults of rain had made the pitch very heavy and conditions somewhat tricky for both sides.

Club captain, Conor Bob-bett , refl ected on the mid-season challenge as part of their productive season so far. “All in all, the season has been going well. Our second team is competing well in a very tough divi-sion while our fi rst team are fi ghting for promotion. The college team topped our CUFL group and have a quarter fi nal to look for-ward to.”

Oxford made the best of early possession, pressing forward into the Trinity half. As an unknown quan-tity, the Trinity defence dealt with them well. Trin-ity responded with their own forward play, and made an unlikely break-through in the seventh minute. Against the run of play, winger Farhad Patel made a darting run down the left fl ank. Patel played a speculative ball into the box which was met by a fl icked header from striker Ruadhan Stokes. Stokes’ connection looped tamely over to the near post, and beat the goalkeeper, who was left with egg on his face.

Even with a one goal lead, Trinity failed to gain any de-cisive impetus and Oxford put the pressure back on. Perhaps some cobwebs still remained from the Christ-mas break, but whatever the reason, Trinity struggled with gett ing back on top. Conditions also made the

Conor BatesspoRts editoR

game quite scrappy as the ball was tough to control for both sides on occasion. Nonetheless, Oxford began to march forward forcing a number of corners for their eff orts. Notable att empts saw a header fl y just over the bar from the six-yard box and three shots blazed wide from close range, as the half wore on.

Trinity were not without positives however. Creative play from Patel has been a hallmark of the DUAFC at-tack this year and his pace down the wing was on display once again. Simi-

larly central midfi elder, Gus Shaw Stewart, was dy-namic on the ball, bursting forward on a number of occasions with great fl air. Clever footwork from Shaw Stewart was utilised well as he made some electric runs into the opposition terri-tory. His ability to weave around oncoming tacklers came in handy, and he had a few chances to convert, but his shots ultimately came to nothing. Others chipped in as well, with crosses and shots falling into the ‘keeper’s hands, or missing the target.

Trinity’s defence held fi rm through the half, showing strong resolution in the face of deft, skilful Oxford play. The visitors were experiencing a similar inability to convert goals, missing the target more often than not. Consider-ing the game was a friendly, both sides put in some hard but fair tackles in a very challenging game. Again with a heavy, wet pitch, this is not untypical.

Oxford continued to build their game after the change of ends, troubling the home defence in the

second half. Trinity sett led a bit more in the second half, but were still just missing something in their link up play to stretch their advan-tage. Ultimately, their in-ability to make any more inroads proved to be their downfall. After holding out for seventy minutes, the Trinity defence could guard the fl oodgates no longer. The game got away from Trinity as Oxford fi nally made their dominance count where it matt ered, on the scoreboard. Three goals in the closing stages gave the away side the win,

and shellshocked the Trin-ity students. While it would be hard to argue against an Oxford win being deserved, the scoreline defi nitely fl at-tered Oxford.

Although the game counts for nothing signifi -cant, Trinity would rather have captured the bragging rights over their friendly international rivals. After the game, Conor Bobbett , spoke to The University Times: “We were all very disappointed after. To be honest, we felt that we made Oxford look good by not performing to our usu-

al standards and we know we’re capable of a lot more. Some rustiness would have been expected but to con-cede three goals in the last twenty minutes is always very disappointing.”

The game drew a good crowd to College Park, and will have provided a positive distraction for the team, as their league and cup campaigns recom-mence. A tricky game in less than favourable weath-er conditions turned out to be the most adequate description for the match. The most promising part

of Trinity’s play was defi -nitely their solid defend-ing, which held tight for the majority of the game. At-tacking fi nesse made some appearances in spots, but DUAFC will need to shake of the cobwebs to ensure this kind of blip doesn’t happen again. Oxford were a strong and interesting side; good all round play and some very neat skills to report. Trinity’s season to date has been positive, there is no doubt that this will be a singular negative punctuation on their road to success this year.

DUFC Top Novice Epee League Table

D ublin University Fencing Club’s in-termediate team

have had a great season so far, ending 2013 at the top of the Leinster Epee Novice League.

The league was estab-lished in September, fea-turing six teams: DUFC, Pembroke, FenceFit, May-nooth, Griffi th College, and

David ByrneFeNciNg coRRespoNdeNt

Blessington. The fencers from each team have two or less years of experience in fencing, and as such it is an excellent platform provid-ing fencers of similar levels competitive match experi-ence. From September to December these six teams batt led it out for a place in January’s fi nal.

DUFC’s fencers have ac-quitt ed themselves bril-liantly. They are unbeaten, having impressively won all fi ve of their matches and were able to ring in the New Year as league leaders. The team was made up of novices Camille Hindsgaul, Fionn O’Connor, and David Byrne. In addition, begin-ner Tim Porter fenced in the fi nal league match, the vic-tory which ensured DUFC’s top of the table position

and spot in January’s fi nal against second placed Pem-broke.

DUFC should have the psychological advantage going into the fi nal in January, having already de-feated Pembroke earlier in the season. The fi nal was originally scheduled for 17 January, but has been post-poned until a later date.

Confi dence must not turn to complacency, however, as previous results have no bearing on the outcome of the fi nal. It is bound to be a thrilling encounter, as both teams are made up of confi -dent, promising and hard-working fencers. Although the outcome of the fi nal is yet to be determined, one thing that is obvious is that DUFC is developing a team of promising fencers,

whose growth and progress is evident with each compe-tition in which they com-pete.

With such a strong fo-cus on beginner training, development and progres-sion, with the high quality of coaching, and with the hard work and determi-nation of each individual novice fencer, the future is bright for DUFC.

In other fencing news, DUFC made waves at the Aldershot Open, as club captain, Maxton Milner, claimed gold in the men’s foil. Milner was 5-0 down in the fi nal against Mark Sut-ton, before fi ghting back to win 15-11. Former cap-tain Edward Mitchell also fenced in the foil, fi nishing 15th. Milner placed 19th in the epee competition.

Trinity’s novice fencing team tops six-team intermediate league.

photo by ciaRa o’coNNoR