ContentsPage 6Educational Engineering: The Changing Face of College Admissions

Page 10Monetising the brand

Page 4-5How it all played outHannah Ryan recounts the news stories that defined the year.

Page 6-7The Changing Face of College AdmissionsLouise Duffy analyses the efforts made to diversify the student body.

Page 8-9Battle Lines Firmly Drawn in Abortion DebateSamuel Riggs outlines the changing dynamics of the abortion debate.

Page 10-11Monetising the BrandJack Leahy expounds College’s new commercial strategy.

Page 12-13The Articles you Cared Most AboutA countdown of the most popular articles on UT Online this year.

Page 14-16Were we Right to Trust the USI?How has the national student union performed after our referendum?

Page 18-19UT Person of the YearWe profile an individual who has made a huge mark on college life.

Page 20-21High SocietyShona McGarry picks her winners and losers on the societies scene.

Page 22-23Bountiful Year for College SportsSports editor Conor Bates remembers the important moments.

Page 24Double Success at Water Polo IntervarsitiesDaire O’Driscoll on the historic day for the Water Polo club.

Page 25-26The 1913 Lockout, 100 Years On.Donal Ó Fallúin reflects on the the unfinished business of the Lockout.

The University Times

EditorOwen Bennett

DesignCaelan RushOwen Bennett WordsHannah RyanLouise DuffyJack LeahySamuel RiggsEoghan O SullivanShona McGarryMatt TaylorConor BatesDaire O’DriscollDonal Ó FallúinNora Moroney PhotographyAndrew MurphyDargan Crowley LongCaitriona GallagherSarah SarsfieldTCD Alumni officePeter WolfeNadia Gativa

3

A time for reflection

THE 2012-2013 ACADEMIC year has provided us with much to ponder, with the rich fabric of Trinity life

throwing up a plethora of issues, trends and events. As is always the case, our clubs, societies and representative bodies man-aged to supplant our academic pursuits with a wide range of happenings and in the following pages, our writers will attempt to analyse and understand the broader sig-nificance of this year’s episode of the ‘Trin-ity experience’.

The past year will undoubtedly be re-membered as one defined by an ethos of social progress. Trinity has traditional-ly functioned as an outpost for liberalism, a social bubble which acts as an indica-tor of the direction broader society is des-tined to take. Over the years our students have championed a wide-range of progres-sive causes, and this year a heightened lev-el of activism in these areas revitalised the student movement. The tenacity of a num-ber of representative bodies in Trinity has contributed significantly to the reality that marriage equality is within grasp, the lib-eralisation of abortion laws is impending and social attitudes toward mental health

are shifting positively.Trinity students were on the frontline

to demand reform after the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar and led the charge during the March for Marriage and the Constitutional Convention discussions on marriage equality. Indeed, testament to the paramount nature of social activism this year in Trinity is the fact that the stu-dents’ union has, for the first time in its his-tory, adopted a pro-choice campaigning stance. The significance of this state of af-fairs is heightened by the reality that a pos-itive campaigning stance on such a con-tentious issue was considered politically

impossible until now. Moreover, the fact that the students’ union now has a cam-paigning stance on abortion but not on third level fees emphasises the changing priorities of the student community.

In this newspaper’s first editorial of the year, we implored students to seek out ex-tra-curricular challenges, to supplant lec-tures and tutorials with a broader learn-ing experience. It appears that we were not alone in this desire, with many of the col-lege’s 111 societies and 49 clubs recording great feats this year. Indeed, events such as Trinity Come Dancing, Trinty Jailbreak and the Players Co-op epitomise what makes the university great; unity and in-novation. These are just three examples of the many events which brought our community closer together, bound us in a common purpose and helped ensure our

college experience is one which will be re-membered fondly.

In this magazine we hope to capture the moments and themes which defined the 2012-2013 academic year. The contin-ued resurgance of feminism, the changing views on abortion, and the performance of USI are just some of the issues we have sought to tackle in these pages. We also unveil the inaugural UT Person of the Year award, an honour bestowed upon an indi-vidual we feel has left a consequential im-pact on the Trinity community.

This magazine is our attempt at under-standing and extracting the defining fea-tures of this year in Trinity. While such an exercise can never amount to an exact sci-ence, we hope you can identify with our conclusions in some small way.

Owen BennettEditor

‘This year will undoubtedly

be remembered as one of social

progress’

Photo: Dargan Crowley Long

The University Times

SOCIETY AND STUDENT politics is-sues dominated the pages of Trinity publications this year, particularly

with the Central Societies Committee’s re-peated ventures into contentious territory and a number of critical (p)referendums held by the SU. These, along with the forced resignation of the Hist auditor, the possibil-ity of a societal Code of Conduct, the evic-tion of the Science Fiction society from its established home in House 6, and the ban on DUGES’ political activism, include only a fraction of the notable goings-on in Trin-ity over the past seven months.

The year began with the SU’s referen-dum on disaffiliation from the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Voting opened on the first of October after a week of cam-paigning, with a debate hosted by The University Times and The Phil. Polling returned a result in favour of remaining af-filiated with the Union, with a resounding margin of 667 votes.

October also saw the resignation of the auditor of the College Historical So-ciety, John Engle – the second to do so in the space of one year, after over a centu-ry. The move came after it was discovered

that Engle, a United States citizen, took a wrongly-approved loan of €2,000 from the society last summer in order to meet visa requirements and to pay off rent costs. It had been assumed that the loan, which was sanctioned by former society treasur-er Emma Tobin, would later be authorised by the committee, but this never occurred. The discovery led to accusations of abuse of power on Engle’s part, impairing the so-ciety’s reputation, violation of trust and complaints about the secrecy surrounding the transaction. While some defended En-gle’s actions, citing the threat of deporta-tion and the difficulty in receiving a bank loan in such short notice, a vote of no confi-dence was eventually passed by the society committee, with ten of the fourteen voting members deciding that Engle should not retain the chair. This was followed short-ly by Engle’s resignation from the position on October 31st, replaced by Hannah Mc-Carthy.

At about the same time, it emerged that the Central Societies Committee (CSC) had been considering imposing mone-tary fines for the hosting of inaccessible events by student societies. The sugges-tion was made at a meeting of the Equal-ity Committee in May, by the Director of the College Disability Service, Declan Tre-anor, following complaints made by disa-bled students who felt excluded from so-ciety events. This proposal came despite a 2011/12 report stating that only 23% of col-lege buildings are fully compliant with ac-cessibility legislation, while 40% are ac-cessible at entrance level only and 37% are wholly inaccessible. Furthermore, most so-cieties are prohibited from holding events off-campus. However, Treanor denied that these figures are adequate grounds for so-cieties holding events that are difficult to get to, affirming that ‘with over 1100 disa-bled students studying in College, the need for inclusive clubs and societies is good for the whole community…if people want to be inclusive, they will try to be inclusive.’ It had also been proposed that the CSC draw up a Code of Conduct for student societies, with an emphasis on event accessibility. Joseph O’Gorman of the CSC denied that plans to institute any such code or fines for non-compliant societies were in place, and that ‘College is responsible for the accessi-bility of its buildings, not the CSC.’

The following month, the Committee became embroiled in further controversy

How it all played out Hannah Ryan reminds us of the major stories which defind this Trinity year.

Hugh Laurie entertains students in the exam hall duringFresher’s week. Photo: Andrew Murphy

4

when it announced plans to relocate the college Science Fiction society out of its much sought-after room in House 6, to a shared room with DU Gamers’ society in Goldsmith Hall. The decision was suppos-edly made by Ronan Hodson, honorary treasurer of the Committee, giving the offi-cial reason that the society were not taking full advantage of such a large space, and that it would be better used by three or four societies together. This came despite pro-testations by Gamers that their own room was not large enough to house more than one society. Claiming that the decision had long been covertly in the works, with the aim of transferring the room to Q Soc, Sci-Fi planned to challenge it. They maintained that the meeting at which the call had been

made was inquorate, and that the execu-tive had not voted. This claim was endorsed by a source from within the CSC. However, secretary of the CSC, David Doyle, asserted that it was ‘an exec decision’ and that ‘the space that Sci-Fi has currently allocated to it is NOT Sci-Fi’s space (emphasis retained), it is CSC space currently occupied by Sci-Fi at CSC’s decision.’

Treasurer of Sci-Fi, Sam Heavey, pub-licised his personal opposition to the ver-dict and outlined Sci-Fi’s alternative solu-tion simply to move several other societies into room 6.31 with them. An Extraordi-nary General Meeting (EGM) of the CSC was called in December to this end, but the meeting was one treasurer short of reach-ing the minimum required to address

motions. While Sci-Fi renewed their efforts for the Hilary Term General Meeting, they were unsuccessful, and were forced to relo-cate to Goldsmith Hall.

Also in November, the CSC imposed re-strictions on the political activity of Dub-lin University Gender Equality society (DUGES), namely on the issue of abortion. The society was forbidden from involve-ment in pro-choice campaigning, which led to the cancellation of its plans to march in memory of Savita Halppanava – a wom-an who, while suffering from a miscarriage, had been denied an abortion by Galway University Hospital and subsequently died. The ban was based on an agreement made with the CSC on its recognition of the socie-ty in 2006, that the society ‘cannot espouse

a corporate opinion’ on issues. CSC Chair Cian McCarthy told Trinity News that soci-ety members are allowed to attend march-es as individuals, and to do so under a cor-porate banner, but not to express a group opinion on the issue of abortion. This stipu-lation is based on the opinion that societies which do adopt a collective stance on abor-tion issues might offer advice to women ex-periencing crisis or unplanned pregnan-cies, and that this could make such groups vulnerable to persecution. The Commit-tee had also refused to fund DUGES’ ‘Don’t Be That Guy’ anti-rape campaign for the same reasons. They declared that as the Students’ Union is the sole representative organisation for the entire student body, political advocacy is automatically their

responsibility.This was followed, in March, by the pro-

posal of a motion for Students’ Union officers to oppose these political con-straints. The motion was put forward by Mark O’Meara, a 5th year computer science class rep, TCD Young Fine Gael Secretary, and leader of the pro-disaffiliation side of the USI referendum. Citing the fact that many third-level institutions in Ireland not only allow student societies to take part in political activism, but also permit the ex-istence of societies solely for this purpose, O’Meara urged the President and Educa-tion Officer to petition the CSC for the re-versal of its decision forbidding societies from adopting political standpoints. This motion was ultimately withdrawn from the floor as not enough voting members of SU Council were present on the night.

In line with this, in February – tying-in with the sabbatical elections – a gender identity referendum and abortion ‘pref-erendum’ were held by the Student’s Un-ion. The former saw this question put to the student body: ‘Should the Students’ Union’s constitution be amended in section 1.3 of the Constitution to insert the words “gen-der identity, gender expression” after the words “sexual orientation”?’ After four days of voting, the motion was passed by a sub-stantial margin. The abortion preferendum asked students to vote on the SU’s stance on abortion, which the options: Abortion un-der certain circumstances, Abortion upon request of the woman, No abortion under any circumstances, Current Students’ Un-ion policy, and None of the above. The very slim majority of students (50.5%) select-ed ‘abortion upon request of the woman’ as their first preference, and the Students’ Union adopted a pro-choice position as a result. n

‘The CSC’s repeated ventures into contentious territory defined much

of the year’s news’

5

Trinity Orchestra’s hugely popular Queen rendition. Photo: Tara Thomas

Educational engineering: The changing face of college admissions

Photo: Dargan Crowley Long6

This year, three major initiatives that may cause significant changes to Trinity’s usual student demographic

were formulated or executed. These were the Pilot Scheme on Admissions Reform, the 2012-2015 Global Admissions Strategy and the Student County Ambassadors ini-tiative.

Pilot Scheme on AdmissionsThe first initiative, the Pilot Scheme on

Admissions, caught the attention of the na-tional as well student media on several oc-casions this year. The pilot scheme, which will see factors other than CAO points tak-en into account in admissions process-es, is planned to be rolled out on a limited basis in 2014. This year saw the launch of the high-profile scheme at an event in the

Mansion House attended by, among oth-ers, the Director of the CAO and the Dean of Harvard Admissions.

In order to understand why Trinity felt it was necessary to carry out such a scheme, it is helpful to look at the college’s admissions data. Trinity gets a huge chunk of its stu-dents from South Dublin’s private schools. The disproportionate intake from this one source leaves many wondering whether it’s plausible that these are in fact the best stu-dents in Ireland, or whether more diversity might better serve the college community.

The aspect of the scheme that will most directly target students who haven’t been able to convert their potential into top

Leaving Cert points is the ‘Relative Perfor-mance Rank’ (RPR). The RPR will see stu-dents whose Leaving Cert results were ex-ceptional in the context of their own school given priority over those who may have done better but whose scores were more normal compared to their classmates.

The aspect of the scheme that will help out those whose learning style didn’t lead to huge leaving cert success will be the con-textual information component. Students will be given a chance to say why they want to study their chosen course at Trinity, and will be given an opportunity to demon-strate ways in which they may have already been engaged in activities that show their dedication or flare for the subject. A exam-ple would be the success of a student in the

young scientist competition. This compo-nent of the decision making process gives recognition to the reality that the Leaving Cert is not in fact always the best indication of potential for success at university, with third level courses often demanding less rote-learning but a lot more critical think-ing.

The Pilot Scheme will in its first year in-volve 25 students across 3 courses: Law, History and Ancient and medieval History and Culture. However, if the scheme is suc-cessful, it may be rolled out on a much wid-er basis. Further, the scheme is being con-ducted on behalf of all the universities on the island, so a successful few years could

lead to a massive change in third level ad-missions all over Ireland.

County Ambassador InitiativeThis year also saw the introduction of

the student county ambassador scheme. The project involved at least one student from every county in Ireland making a vid-eo about their experiences of Trinity life, which were then uploaded onto the ‘Trinity Explore’ website.

While the idea seems at first glance to be a fairly general one promoting all kinds of admissions, the scheme is in fact more specifically targeted towards encouraging those from outside of Leinster to apply to for college places. Trinity has never consid-ered itself a regional university, but rather a ‘university for the whole island of Ireland’, and thus is courting a more geographically even intake of students. While Trinity does better than most in attracting an even in-take, there are consistently certain black spots. From example, the 2011/12 intake of first years contained just four students from Fermanagh and just one student from Armagh.

However, the rapid progress of the scheme (with every secondary school in Ireland now having been notified of its existence), doesn’t seem to be slowing. It looks likely that the concept will be ex-panded upon, with students being asked to put themselves forward as course ambas-sadors and even society ambassadors.

2012-2015 Global Relations StrategyTrinity’s efforts to diversify the student

population weren’t confined to recruiting a more even spread of students from the 32 counties; it was also looking outwards. On the 10th of September this academic year, while most of us were living out the last of our summer, Eamon Gilmore was launch-ing Trinity’s new Global relations strategy

The strategy is no doubt an ambitious one. One particular point of interest is that college is hoping to double the number of non-EU students. It is thought that the bulk of the increase will come from Asian coun-tries, in which the demand for high qual-ity education is growing rapidly. Trini-ty, already boasting a student population featuring individuals from 122 countries, is determined to be going only one way in terms of student diversity.

Looking ForwardAs the initiatives this year suggest, Trin-

ity is headed in a new direction as regards admissions. Given a few years and a bit of luck, the composition of the student body of Trinity College Dublin will be more di-verse, more international, and more inter-esting than ever.

In Ireland, students often spend a lot of time choosing which colleges they will list on their CAO form. What’s less common is colleges picking which students they’ll put in their classes. This is beginning to change. As Louise Duffy recounts, 2012-2013 was the year when Trinity decided passivity is not the only option when it comes to who they end up educating.

Photo: TCD Alumni office

7

This year, among other things, was the year of the abortion debate. Since we started term in Septem-

ber last year, the cacophony of voices sur-rounding the ongoing discussion as to whether or not abortion should be legalised in Ireland has gotten louder and louder. Abortion has always been a point of con-tention amongst the people of Ireland - it’s a word that, when mentioned around the dinner table, has the power to turn a fam-ily gathering into an all-out verbal brawl. It splits groups of friends down the middle, and many a tutorial has been sat through where tutor and student bicker back and

forth about the morality and after-effects of allowing the practice of abortion in this country. But it all kicked off this year, with big players getting involved on both sides, and everyone seeming to chip in with an opinion on the debate of the year.

It’s safe to say that one of the most im-portant dates in the abortion debate in this country was the 28th of October, 2012. This was the date that Savita Halappanavar died in University Hospital Galway after being refused an abortion on the grounds that the foetus was still alive, despite the fact that it was not viable for life. Arriving in hospital a few days earlier, Savita had

miscarried with her baby - she was told that she could not have an abortion, as Irish Law classified the foetus as still alive, and therefore it would go against proper legal practice in the country to grant an abortion, as is often required with miscar-ried foetus’ who have died in utero. Savita died a few days later in hospital, with sep-ticaemia and infection being the main con-tribution factors in her death, direct re-sults of her not being allowed to abort the foetus. Following the break of the story in the national media, a little later in Novem-ber, countrywide uproar was instant - calls for the immediate legalisation of abortion

Battle lines firmly drawn in fierce abortion debateThe tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Savita Halappanavar last October propelled the abortion debate into the national conversation. Samuel Riggs reflects on the progress of the debate to date and comments on the changing views on abortion within Trinity, a reality which have seen the students’ union adopt a pro-choice campaigning stance.

8

were widespread, and the photos from the candlelight vigil for Savita remain some of the most haunting and sorrowful pictures on the side of pro-choice. Marches were or-ganised throughout the country, the most well-attended of which marched to Merri-on Square in a force of, Gardaí estimated, well over 10,000. The television and media was flooded with debates and arguments in favour of the legalisation of abortion. It was everywhere. It seemed to take the pro-life side a moment to gather their forces, but soon they lashed back with equal force, arguing that their opposition shouldn’t be exploiting the death of Savita for the pur-poses of furthering their political cause. They argued not for the perpetuation of a Catholic ethos within the state, but rather argued on behalf of the rights of the child, the rights to life; to this end, Pro-Life cam-paigners congregated in numbers upwards

of 25,000 in Merrion Square for the “Unite for Life” campaign in January. The Savita case has still not been entirely solved, and investigations into her death and the prac-tices of the hospital are ongoing - for many, it brings back harrowing memories of the tragic ‘X-Case’ from two decades ago. But this incident was just the spark that lit the flame as to what would become a year-long battle.

Organisations like Youth Defence and Choice Ireland quickly began to grow in size and vocality - their voices have be-come two of the loudest in the abortion de-bate, with both coming under fire from the opposite side. Campaigners on the sides of both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life can be found all over the streets of the capital, and the other major cities in Ireland, often utiliz-ing upsetting images and vocal, forceful campaigning to get the attention of those around them. Accusations of church in-terference in hospitals, and questions of church-state relations have been brought up - many politicians and activists from or-ganisations like The Life Institute are quick to debunk these claims, stating that it was not a Catholic ethos prevented Savita from receiving proper treatment - they state the abortion was denied by the law, rather than by any religious body with its finger in state affairs. Internationally, Ireland has come under fire from human rights activists, saying that Savita’s death could have been

avoided if it weren’t for this glaring gap in the law that allowed her to slip through the cracks - there have been calls from politi-cians from the Rajya Sabha Parliament in India for people to be held responsible for the death of Savita. Amnesty Internation-al, especially the head of their Irish divi-sion Colm O’Gorman, has also called for a drastic change in the law, pointing to the fact that Ireland is a member of the UN Commission for Human Rights. Some Irish Bishops and members of Parliament, par-ticularly the Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, have called for the law to remain as it is - for abortion to remain il-legal in Ireland, in order to protect familial rights, and the rights of the unborn child. Both sides are unyielding in their argu-ments - there is no wiggle-room in terms of opinion from the hard-liners on either side. It quite simply boils down to the question;

yes or no to abortion. It was in to this debate that Trinity stu-

dents contributed heavily - this year, along with the annual Sabbat elections and is-sues surrounding gender recognition, the abortion debate was put to the student body about what stance the Student’s Un-ion should take in approaching the issue of abortion, and how to best represent the overall majority of the college with an offi-cial stance on this subject. There were five

options - Option B was the most preferred, receiving over 50% of the vote on the sec-ond count; ‘Abortion on the request of the woman’, followed closely by ‘Abortion un-der certain circumstances’. This is an im-portant figure when looking at the abor-tion debate - on one hand, and without making gross generalisations, the majori-ty of university students seem to be calling for abortion to be legalised in this country. Counteract this viewpoint with organisa-tions like Youth Defence, who call for the protection of both mothers and babies in their manifesto, and are aimed specifically

at young people fighting against abor-tion - there are conflicting sides in every demographic; through all ages, genders and from all backgrounds. It is a question which, while it may not necessarily effect everyone, everyone seems to have a strong opinion on it, ranging across the entire spectrum.

The question of abortion has gone from a tiny spark to a raging fire - it is calling into question the very fundamental ethos upon which the state was founded. The de-bate still goes back and forth, and neither side appears willing to give any leeway; it brings up not just questions of ethics, but questions surrounding church-state sep-aration, issues of adoption and surroga-cy, questions surrounding the morality of healthcare, and Ireland’s reputation on an international stage. Trinity, this year, played a hugely important part - our stu-dents have taken part in debates on both

sides, arguing their cases vehemently and with vigour and passion - there is no doubt that they will continue to play a large part in any debates or actions that take place on the issue. There is no doubt that the abor-tion debate transcends the idea that ‘it will all blow over’ - the impassioned arguments on either side will see to that. The real ques-tion is - which side will win out? Maybe by this time next year, we’ll have our answer.

‘The vast majority of university students appear to be calling for

the liberalisation of abortion laws in Ireland’

‘Organisations like Youth Defence and Choice Ireland have quickly

grown in terms of size and vocaility’

9

FIVE YEARS ON from the onset of the crisis of public finances, the funding of higher education remains a mat-

ter of heated debate in Ireland. As yet there is no political consensus about the scale, scope and delivery of public investment. At a time of austerity, governments face dif-ficult choices about investment priorities and questions are sometimes raised about the merits of educating more graduates.

The budgetary threat to the quality of higher education institutions in Ireland is high while more and more savings need to be found. But from where? According to developments in Trinity’s internal or-ganisation over the last number of years, the answer lies in a decreased reliance on state funding and dedicated investment in sourcing external funding through un-tapped revenue streams. This strategy is fast become an integral part of College’s vi-sion.

The steady decrease in the state grant

offered to universities in Ireland has seen institutions mirror their American and British counterparts in persuading former students to open up their wallets as the number of alumni making donations to higher education institutions continues to rise. Moreover, in the last number of years Trinity College has focused its appeal to the international market for the higher, non-state-subsidised fees paid by students from outside of the European Union.

Alumni appeals have long since been a core facet of a university’s efforts to in-crease its capitation through non-state sourcing; Boston-based Harvard Universi-ty receives over $2bn per annum in alum-ni funding, though its comprehensive fi-nancial assistance programme, regarded among the best in the world, is a significant beneficiary of this revenue.

In Trinity, students have been emloyed by the Alumni office for the last number of years in a quasi-call-centre environment

whereby cold-call appeals for funding are made to alumni. Alumni are offered the opportunity to contribute to ‘Priority Pro-jects’, namely developments in the Bio-medical Sciences Institute, the School of Business, the Creative Arts, the School of Engineering, Trinty College Library Dub-lin, Neuro-Enhancement for Independent Lives (NEIL), National Institute for Intel-lectual Disability, the Science Gallery, the Trinity Access Programme, and the TILDA study on ageing.

Potential contributors may also support the College’s ‘Legacies’ projects, and the website for such a project exhorts visitors to ‘remember the power of a legacy to Trin-ity’ and includes contact details for those who wish to fund teaching, access, or the previously mentioned projects, as part of an individual’s will. The necessarily strong relationship that College has fostered with its former students is reflected by the fact that a wide range of societies benefit from alumni grants to make purchases for which the Central Societies Committee has not of-fered funding in the society’s grant; in 2012 TrinityTV, a relatively new society with al-most no former members working profes-sionally, received over €2,000 towards the purchase of a new camera and at the March AGM became the first Trinity society to en-shrine the maintenance of good relations with the alumni office in its constitution.

Monetising the brandWith state funding falling and student numbers on the rise, Trinity is being forced to pursue alternative funding arrangements to maintain its position as a world-class higher education provider. Jack Leahy expounds College’s new commercial strategy.

Photo: TCD Alumni office

10

Trinity’s increased focus on external rev-enues is beginning to bear fruit; the total grant received from alumni in recent years has not seen much dramatic change, but the funds received are crucial to the oper-ations of the university against a backdrop of increasing sector pressure not distinct from direct budgetary cuts. The increased investment in external revenue sourcing is a product of need rather than greed, and for an institution of Trinity’s prestige and unique non-monetary resources, the task would appear to be significantly easier than that facing Ireland’s other universities and institutions of technology.

The ‘Trinity brand’ is one of the ma-jor tools available to the office of the Vice-Provost for Global Relations, established by Provost Patrick Prendergast upon his assumption of Provostial duties in August 2011. Professor Jane Ohlmeyer - who this writer once witnessed warn a meeting of the department of History that alumni funding might soon be needed to provide the ‘bread and butter’ of third-level educa-tion – was appointed to the role having fin-ished second to Prendergast in the Prov-ostial election.

The end of the 2010/11 academic year, during which this election was held, brought the announcement that College was planning to increase its quota for non-EU students from 9% to 15% of the overall student population, a definite precursor to the emphasis that Professor Ohlmeyer would place on international admissions and the lucrative cash-cow that they can represent.

The most obvious manifestation of this development in College funding strategy was announced in September when Ea-

monn Gilmore launched Trinity’s Global Relations Strategy, as part of which the Col-lege would offer a number of postgraduate and undergraduate scholarships to resi-dents of specifically-chosen non-EU coun-tries. The largest number of scholarships will be offered to students in Brazil and

India, a straightforward reflection of rising GDP in the BRIC nations and the potential recognised by College to attract students from these countries.

The project has a large budget number-ing tens of millions and boasts sixteen full-time staff, most of whom are ‘Regional Of-ficers’ with responsibility for developing relationships with schools, universities, and other organisations in their region of responsibility. The VP GR was a key stake-holder in negotiations that led to the an-nouncement that the University of Dublin Trinity College would confer, design, and teach degrees in Physiotherapy and Occu-pation Therapy in a strategic partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology. The project ran into controversy in late 2012 when The University Times learned that the Professor Ohlmeyer had promised accom-modation to prospective international stu-dents independent of College’s authorities on accommodation and despite an increas-ingly difficult rental environment for Irish students.

Finally, elements of College’s proposed

new commercialisation strategy were re-vealed in March after the publication of the minutes of a meeting of University Council at which the plan was outlined. Proposals include a greater focus on the development of a ‘Trinity brand’, expansion of the exhib-ited pages of the Book of Kells, and a devel-opment of sporting facilities in Santry.

The political message to College is clear: increasingly less money is available. Sector professionals have begun to suggest that the government ought to seek auditable evidence that individual institutions are taking action to improve efficiency, effec-tiveness, and output at all levels. And the sector needs to start thinking about sav-ings in terms of investments that enhance the student experience, help build new lab-oratories and recruit new professors. Until such a point where that message of incen-tive-based core funding is communicated clearly by someone acting on behalf of the executive government, College will have to continue to find funds elsewhere. 

‘Alumni appeals have long since

been a core facet of a university’s

efforts to increase funding’

Photo: Dargan Crowley Long

11

10. ‘A crash course in fine wine’, Hubie Pilkington, 24 October 2012.

Here Hubie Pilkington, the UT’s resident critic of the finer things in life, shares his experience and knowledge of wine in order to help students select the right wine for the right occasion. He describes various types of wine, as well as what foods best accom-pany them. The popularity of this article suggests that it was advice that was greatly appreciated by the UT’s wine-loving read-ership.

9. ‘Fear and Loathing in Coppers’, Paul Doyle, 24 January 2013.

This article is Paul Doyle’s humorous

account of a less then successful night in ‘Copper Face Jack’s’, a popular Dub-lin nightspot. Written in an acerbic tone and interspersed with light-hearted so-cial commentary, this article provoked a high level of comment on the website; with some readers criticising Paul’s writing style. Of course, it’s difficult to tell for cer-tain whether many agreed with these ob-servations, but the article’s popularity, and resulting place in this list, would suggest it didn’t put too many off.

8. ‘€10,600 raised as Jailbreak winners reach south Argentina’, Jack Leahy, 10 March 2013.

One of this year’s feel-good stories. Here Jack Leahy details the epic 7,020-mile jour-ney travelled by Matthew Hainbach and Claire Cullen to win a closely fought Jail-break competition, an event that gath-ered attention across campus, as well as further afield. As part of this competition, over thirty teams of students attempted to get as far away as possible from college in the space of thirty six hours; all with-out spending any of their own money. All teams sought sponsorship, with more than €14,000 being raised for charity.

7. ‘LIVE: March for Savita’, Hannah Jean Ryan & Leanna Byrne, 21 November

2012-2013: The articles you cared most aboutThe past college year was an exciting one for The University Times with many high quality articles generating notable levels of traffic on the UT website. But what were the articles which were most popular among UT readers? Here, Eoghan O’Sullivan counts down the ten most popular articles on the UT site since last September.

12

2012. Like everyone in Ireland this year, Trin-

ity students were shocked and saddened by news of the death of Savita Halappana-var. Hannah Jean Ryan and Leanna Byrne live-tweeted coverage of a protest march to government buildings organised a few days after news of Savita’s death broke. This coverage made it to the front page of Red-dit, crashing the UT website as a result. This was one of several occasions this year where the sheer volume of traffic generated by a popular story proved too much for our valiant servers.

6. ‘The Deep Web’, Tommy Gavin, 17 December 2012.

In this enlightening article, Tommy Gavin discusses the secret and murky world of the ‘Deep Web’ i.e. those parts of the internet not accessible via a search en-gine. He tells us of its legitimate applica-tions, but also of its more sinister and often disturbing aspects, including the purchas-ing of illegal items through untraceable black markets. A real eye-opener.

5. ‘A False Equivalency – Comparing Stalin to Hitler’, Conor Kenny, 8 March 2012.

The only article in this year’s top ten that wasn’t actually written during this aca-demic year. Here Conor Kenny argues that, although both committed reprehensible acts, Stalin’s conduct was less morally re-pugnant than that of Hitler. He bases this on what he describes as Hitler’s “inherent-ly evil” ideology, which led him to commit a deliberate and targeted genocide on the Jewish people.

4. ‘Spotted: CyberBullying’, Paul Doyle, 19 December 2013.

The only writer to make the top ten twice, here Paul Doyle discusses the dan-gerous nature of the, then widely popular, ‘Spotted’ Facebook pages, and the tenden-cy of such pages to facilitate cyber bullying. This piece was inspired by his own experi-ence of such pages, as well as a number of unpleasant interactions with some of their administrators.

3. ‘THEY TOOK OUR FLEGS!’, James Bennett, 23 January 2013.

A fascinating interview with Willie Fra-zier by James Bennett. Mr Frazier is a un-ionist activist involved in the recent Union Flag protests in Northern Ireland. Among the topics raised in the interview were the Union Flag protests, a planned unionist march in Dublin and, more bizarrely, Mr Frazier’s belief that there was IRA involve-ment in the recently discovered addition of horsemeat to beef products.

2. ‘SU Election Candidates Profiled’, News Team, 21 January 2013.

As part of the UT’s coverage of this year’s

SU elections, profiles for each of the candi-dates were assembled. Each profile includ-ed candidates’ experience, aims and vision for the SU. Essentially what it says on the tin.

1. ‘At the click of a button your reputa-tion is irreparably and irrevocably dam-aged’, Matthew Taylor, 4 January 2013.

And finally in the top spot, Matthew Tay-lor’s reflection on another of the internet’s darker sides: its ability to ruin lives. This article was inspired mainly by the online reaction to the viral video featuring the now infamous ‘KPMG Girl’. As well as be-

ing highly popular, this was one of the most commented on pieces on the UT website this past year. It strongly divided opinion, with commenters discussing both Mat-thew’s arguments and the contents of the video.

So there you have it, the most popular articles on the UT website this year. I think most would agree that they’re a varied and interesting collection of pieces. But, what does the popularity of these articles say about University Times readers? Well, that’s a separate matter entirely…

The first trend apparent from the above list is the prevalence of feature pieces in the

top ten. ‘A crash course in fine wine’, ‘The Deep Web’ and ‘THEY TOOK OUR FLEGS!’; all of these are pieces whose main aim is to provide information on topics that are less than entirely understood by most, and the interest in these pieces showcases both the breadth and depth of the curiosity pos-sessed by UT readers.

A second observation that can be made

from the list is an obvious interest in ar-gument and debate by UT readers. No less than four opinion pieces make the list: ‘Fear and Loathing in Coppers’, ‘A False Equivalency – Comparing Stalin to Hitler’, ‘Spotted: CyberBullying’ and ‘At the click of a button your reputation is irreparably and irrevocably damaged’. Reader engage-ment with these articles wasn’t limited to simply reading them; many offered their own comments, both on the website and on Facebook.

In terms of the news coverage that really grabbed the attention of the UT readership,

it all falls into the category of college and student related stories: ‘€10,600 raised as Jailbreak winners reach south Argentina’ and ‘SU Election Candidates Profiled’. Both of these stories suggest that UT readers love to see other students succeeding, as well as that, whatever some might say to the con-trary, people do seem to engage with the SU elections.

The final article on the list, ‘LIVE: March for Savita’, shows that UT readers were gripped as much as everyone else by pos-sibly the biggest news story of the past year. Arguably, this is no surprise, given the his-tory of student association with the issue of abortion, as well as the longstanding ‘liber-al’ label attached to the majority of Trinity’s student body.

What is surprising is how well these ar-ticles sum up a year’s worth of content of the UT; they offer a good overview of what students were interesting in writing about, and of what you were interested in reading. Hopefully next year’s articles will hold your attention just as well.

All articles referenced above can be found on our website, www.universitytimes.ie.

In recogntion of engagement with UT Online, The University Times was awarded Website of the Year at the National Student Achievement Awards.

‘The first trend apparent from the above list is

the prevalence of feature pieces in

the top ten’

‘Reader engagement with Opinion articles wasn’t simply limited to

reading them; many offered their own comments, both on the website

and on Facebook’

13

POLITICAL DIVISIONS OVER the fu-ture of the student movement have threatened to undermine the Union

of Students in Ireland for the last number of years. After a year in which discontent and satisfaction were rendered through a series of affiliation referendums and the student contribution charge continued to rise re-lentlessly in spite of a bold new campaign effort, the students of Ireland ought to be asking one pressing question: what comes next?

The question as to USI’s future organisa-tion has its roots in this year’s discourse on student politics. A year dominated at grass-roots level by referendums on membership has brought to the fore a number of ques-tions about USI’s internal organisation,

its engagement with the students it repre-sents, and its political agency. The comple-tion of the formal process of balloting and the affirmation of membership delivered by students in Trinity and Maynooth may offer a false sense of resolution, but in real-ity members will continue to agitate if the potential for reform advocated by pro-USI campaigners is not achieved. It seems ap-propriate, therefore, to render a review of the USI’s last twelve months against the

context of imperatives for progress.When John Logue took office as the pres-

ident of the USI in July, he did so with the member-led conviction that the annual protest march had lost whatever potency it may once have had. As has quickly be-come his hallmark, he thought anew about the challenges facing his organisation and USI announced a series of local events and protests aimed at harnessing resources lo-cally, within each member organisation’s electoral constituency, targeting the per-ceived vulnerability of particular political representatives.

The directive from students across the country has been that simply opposing cuts with no constructive alternative is pointless, and that such an approach has

hindered the progress of fees campaigns in the last few years. That alternative is being composed by a taskforce, whose remit is to conceive of a five-year strategy that outlines how fully exchequer-funded third-level ed-ucation might be achieved. The strategy is unseen to most so judgment ought to be re-served, though the likelihood of reversing Ruairí Quinn’s stubborn plans for rises in the student contribution level is slim, re-gardless of the level of professionalism or

economic insight the strategy may demon-strate.

Kate Acheson served this academic year as Deputy President with responsibility for campaigns and is widely and justifiably regarded as one of the best organisation-al brains ever to represent students in Ire-land. Under her direction, regional cam-paigns involved lobbying of local TDs and ‘town hall’-style meetings during which students were rallied by their representa-tives while, idealistically if improbably, the local TD watched on in dread of the elec-toral force prepared to unleash itself upon the ballot in 2016.

In a word, the effectiveness of the cam-paign was varied; in a sentence, contingent upon the effectiveness of the local unions. At the top end of things, 3,000 students from NUI Galway and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology attended a public meeting with Colm Keaveney TD, chair-person of the Parliamentary Labour Party. That Keaveney was the only sitting govern-ment TD to vote against the budget must not be written off as a coincidence as he would later justify his decision by reference to the human impact of the budget. At the bottom end of the scale, this own college’s students’ union managed to mobilise fewer

than ten students, including its sabbatical officers, to attend a demonstration outside of the Department of Education with the students’ unions of DIT and National Col-lege of Ireland.

The campaign won praise for its organ-isation and professional, lobby-driven ap-proach, but drew criticism in equal meas-ure for the ease with which particular TDs could refute students’ assessment of their standing among their electorate. When The

Were we right to trust the USI?At the beginning of this academic year, Trinity students voted to remain affiliated to USI by a margin of almost two to one. But have we seen the much-discussed internal reform of the national students’ union we were promised? Here, Jack Leahy evaluates the successes and failures of USI this year.

‘A year dominated at grassroots level by referendums on membership has brought

to the fore a number of questions about USI’s internal structures’

14

University Times  met Kevin Humprheys, the Labour Party TD for Dublin South-East elected on the final count in 2011, he ap-peared neither troubled by the claim that he was ‘politically vulnerable’ nor to en-gage on a deep intellectual level on mat-ters relating to third-level education when his party only looks to him on matters of fi-nance and the environment. He was enjoy-ing his time in the limelight, no doubt, but his empty platitudes and party-fed quips spoke of a man unperturbed by the lobby-ist approach.

That Humphreys did not attend the ‘town hall’ meeting hosted by TCDSU, DIT-SU and NCISU is often forgotten against the backdrop of the larger dramatic action of John Logue’s arrest later that evening. Turning his back on members of the Dáil as they voted against a Fianna Fáil motion to protect the maintenance grant and freeze the student contribution charge, Logue refused to sit at the request of Gardaí and was removed to Pearse Street Garda sta-tion. A  University Times  poll run on the next morning indicated comprehensive student support and a marked shift in per-ceptions of legitimate protest following a much-condemned sit-in staged in numer-ous government buildings following the

announcement of Budget 2011.Logue’s survival of an incident that

could easily have been the political death of his predecessors is, in part, a credit to the carefully-architectured presidential image that he maintains. He is a statesman – con-demning those forces which undermine the welfare of students but maintaining di-plomacy where possible. The thread that runs through his core values is the innate belief in the potential, worth, and expertise of the people that he represents. He is uni-versally respected by the students and of-ficials who have worked with him, but un-derstands that political favour is a fickle mistress and should be neither abused nor taken for granted.

Logue’s natural propensity to leader-ship, then, has acted as the foil for the work of a dedicated media and communica-tions executive hired on a permanent basis in July of last year to help USI compete in the pageantry aspect of the political game. USI’s media presence has increased by some 500% this year and been an undoubt-ed success for the organisation, with high-profile opportunities to appear in some of the country’s most-watched studios and most-read newspapers appearing regularly and ensuring a wider public sympathy for

‘In a word, the effectiveness

of the national

campaign was varied’

USI President John Logue addresses Trinity students during the referendum on USI affiliation. Photo: Andrew Murphy

15

students and their hardships than the or-ganisation has enjoyed for quite some time.

The USI has been about more than fees and grants on the campaigns stage during this academic year; under Vice-President for Equality & Citizenship Laura Harmon, students have been represented at high-profile marches calling for X-case legisla-tion, the March for Marriage, and the con-stitutional conventions debates on equali marriage rights. USI’s impressive organ-isation worked to their credit in three of the four affiliation referendums held on campuses in Ireland this year. TCDSU and Maynooth SU members voted to remain af-filiated by significant majorities, but it is the results of the plebiscites held in DCU and UCD that will cause the most con-cern. A tidal wave of negative assessment engulfed students in UCD and the collec-tive decision to vote in favour of disaffilia-tion was never in doubt from quite an early stage, despite the efforts of UCDSU presi-dent Rachel Breslin to intervene at a late stage.

The annulment of DCU students’ deci-sion to re-affiliate was controversial; DCU-SU president Paul Doherty cited a lack of information made available to students before they were asked to vote, though the provision of information is part of Do-herty’s brief. The battle continues as USI promises to fight for the enactment of the expressed democratic desire of DCU stu-dents.

The fractious relationship between the UCDSU and USI was subsequently acted out at USI’s annual congress, where UCD delegates walked out in protest on the final day having been denied the chance to de-bate on a motion by the need to end the de-bate session according to the event’s time-table. It had been revealed earlier in the week that UCDSU’s debt problems has left it unable to pay its USI affiliation fees and its debt to USI currently stands at €95,000.

The above analysis is but a microcos-mic reflection of the political climate in which the student movement is situat-ed: besieged by discord, unsettled by un-certainty and unsure what tomorrow will bring. Despite the obvious challenges that threaten the quality of our day-to-day lives, our progression in life and our prospects

for employment, students seem increas-ingly less interested in the political actions of their representatives or in taking part in their election. Students’ unions and the USI need more numbers than ever when the number of grassroot activists seems to be in freefall; their challenges are part of the larger set of problems facing this gen-eration, making a solution all the more in-tangible.

In this deep slump the numbers of suf-

ferers among even just the student popula-tion are so huge that they may pass us by. It’s hard to make the scale of suffering feel real. Opponents of this government said it would happen – and it’s all too easy to smirk with we-told-you-so glee. But those students still – yes, still – waiting on their grants have wretched tales to tell, so famil-iar by now that they risk becoming hum-drum. We appear now to have a situation in which the necessary representation of student hardship is so commonplace that emotive stories of suffering seem to have lost their agency. Public empathy is self-defensive; ‘so what about the student with no heating, I lost my house!’. Competing imperatives for public spending are con-tributing to an naturally-occurring divide and conquer that makes momentum and

solidarity a precious commodity.In some very depressing way, perhaps

this is why grassroots engagement with campaigns against fee increases and grant cuts has been so poor in Trinity and many other locations across the country this year; the prevailing economic orthodoxy of ‘sensible austerity’ looms too large to ap-pear conquerable, and there will always be a cohort who will try and silence those whose speak against the arithmetic sense

that fee increases represent. This happens regardless of whether the origin of the op-position is ideology or just dire need. Per-haps it’s just because the students’ union isn’t good at motivating students to care. It’s probably a bit of both.

Today, feelings of helplessness dominate much of the national landscape; a modern anomie. Yet, as students, we ought to con-sider a desire to conserve settled ways of thinking as hindering our own, or indeed humanity’s progress. The USI’s challenge going forward is to mobilise a generation who recognise their political agency and potential to enact change in insufficient numbers. In a sense the problem is age-old, but there couldn’t be a worse time to need to overhaul it.

In an attempt to realise a greater impact on its members around the country, USI has this year launched a number of member-focused initia-tives, including the National Student Achievement Awards. Photo: Conor McCabe

‘A tidal wave of negative assessment engulfied students in UCD and the collective decision to vote

in favour of disaffiliation was likely from quite an early stage’

16

I would imagine that in most socie-ties, as with most things, when someone beats you for a job you hate them forever. But then again, not everybody gets to run against Claire McCabe. I’ve served with Claire on the Trinity FM committee for an extraordinary four years, and in that time I can say that I have made one of the best friends I will ever have. She has steered Trinity FM from being a loose association of weirdos and music enthusiasts into be-ing the Trinity Society of the Year by unani-mous vote, a feat which I suspect would not have been achieved without her. She has made everyone feel welcome in her com-pany at all times, and her sheer kindness and fun make her one of those rare people you are unlikely to ever forget once you’ve met them.

   The first time I ever met Claire was in a first year committee meeting. We were both the youngest people on the commit-tee, fairly timid, though both with that of-ten irritating level of first year enthusi-asm. I was somewhat pensive, given that I didn’t know how much I might actually en-joy the society, but Claire was lounging on the couch chatting away in her Monaghan lilt, punctuating her conversation with her catchphrases of ‘ah sure...’ and ‘sure, this is it’. As soon as the meeting began, and in typical Claire fashion, she was all business, volunteering for any and every opportunity available. By the end of the year, everyone in the society knew her name and her natu-ral ability led her to the position of Ents of-ficer. In this position, she was nothing less

than transformative. I, the mere binman at the time, would often catch snippets of in-formation about people she had earmarked to perform in studio or around campus, and could never quite get my head around how she knew so many people, so many tal-ented performers in college, or how she had managed to coerce famous acts into com-ing in for us.

  The most clear memory of this time has to be when she convinced Frightened Rab-bit, the Scottish indie band, to take time out of their hectic Irish tour to come in and play in the Players Theatre. I, still the low-ly society binman, was given a simple task;

bring them from Lincoln Gate to the park-ing spaces behind the rugby pitch. A sim-ple task, one might argue, if one has never had to go toe-to-toe with the Lincoln secu-rity. No sooner had the van stopped than we were lighted upon by a High-Vis Mini-Hitler, demanding parking permits and talking about Junior Deans. The band, who

had been awake for forty-eight hours were not in the mood for negotiation, decided that their time would be better spent in bed, and so hopped into the van to make their getaway. My only recourse, in a frantic state of distress, was to literally jam between the driver door and the door column, so that he could not close it and thus could not leave, while simultaneously attempting to ring Claire. Two minutes later, she arrived with an expression of what could only be called serene calm. She put one arm around the band manager, one around the irate secu-rity guard, and a a mere two minutes later both the band and the security guard were enjoying tea and jam sandwiches in the Players kitchen, all anger dissipated. Such is the power of this remarkable woman.

  Time went on, and Claire grew the soci-ety further and further from the Ents posi-

tion, often much to my irritation as Station Manager. Many is the time when I would arrive in studio to find it empty. I would call the committee member and show pre-senter, asking why they hadn’t showed up, ‘Oh,  we’re at the gig. How did you manage to get that act?’ Later, she would come up, I would give out to her and she would just smile and tell me to shut up, and I would forget why I had been annoyed in the first place.

    As chairperson, Claire’s strategy is simple; bombard people with calls, texts, emails and Facebook messages until you get what you want. It is potentially the most

brilliant innovation of non-confrontation-al leadership ever conceived by the minds of humans. Any of you reading this who have TFM shows will know that she is also the most adept user of Facebook ‘hype’, tagging and re-tagging photos until your wall is entirely defiled by radio propagan-da. Mark Zuckerberg attempted to thwart

her by limiting the number of tags for pho-tos, but he is no match for Claire, who sim-ply put up an identical photo and tagged all over again.

  When I came to my ill-fated decision to run for SU Communications officer, I set myself only one ultimatum; if I couldn’t get Claire to manage it, I wouldn’t run. But she said yes, and I did run. Ask any candi-date in this year’s elections who they think was the most incredible and hard-work-ing campaign manager, and they will say Claire. She is a force of nature, whose mot-to of ‘we’re winners, Matt’ kept me going everyday. A few days into the campaign I realised that as much as I wanted to win, I didn’t want to disappoint her, and the two were my tandem personal goals. When we unfortunately did lose, I had to drag Claire through the door to the area where the campaigners from all the teams were gathered, and the round of applause she received was as loud as any for a victorious candidate.

    It is clearly not without reason that Claire deserves to be the University Times Person of the Year. Trinity is filled with tal-ented, capable, beautiful, hilarious, kind, patient, honourable, extraordinary, im-pressive, hardworking, intelligent and charismatic people. Not many of them have all of these talents at once, but none of them have all of these talents in as great abun-dance as Claire McCabe. Whether she’s dancing on a table in the Conradh, robbing pints for her ejected friends at a Galway nightclub, commanding all attention at a debate, trekking across the Aran Islands, ruling the roost at a committee meeting, or just generally being, to borrow a phrase, ‘great’, Claire McCabe is the woman for all seasons. It is my great privilege to know her, call her my friend, and be permitted to write this profile in her honour.

Words by Matt TaylorIllustration by Colm Flannery

‘She has steered Trinity FM from being a loose association of weir-

dos and music enthusiasts into be-ing the Trinity Society of the Year

by unanimous vote’

‘Ask any candidate in this year’s SU elections who was the most

hardworking campaign manager, and they will say Claire’

19

I HOPE YOU’VE HAD fun reading about my various society-related exploits dur-ing the year. It’s certainly been interest-

ing. It’s also shown me how societies really do keep Trinity alive and breathing. But af-ter spending the past year as the Societies Editor of UT, what have I got to say about them? Burgeoning and established socie-ties vie for the attention of the student body and, this year, neither were disappointed. We saw stand-outs like DU Dance’s Trinity Come Dancing and watched TFM sweep-up at the CSC Awards. House Six said GAME OVER to Sci Fi (sorry), and Film made some of the prettiest posters on campus. I went to events, checked out rooms, chat-ted to PROs, and even learnt what a LARP was (thanks, Gamers!) in my quest to find the best parts of every society I profiled. I found out who was difficult to get a hold of, who wanted to be in the broadsheet, who was eager, and who publicised their events well (clue: not very many). Sure, it would have been helpful if you guys had sent me information about your upcoming events, but Sunday nights before publication just wouldn’t have been the same without the

old trawl through Facebook to seek you all out for myself.

Pleasantries out of the way, then, let’s use the overwrought metaphor of If This Place Were An Office to celebrate the class of 2013!

Good Day At The OfficeI think it’s fair to say that if they’re not

being kicked out of their room or holding an intersociety event, most societies have

a good day at the office. This year The Phil kept up their hard work as usual, attract-ing the likes of Hugh Laurie and Conan O’Brien to their hallowed halls. Players had their usual high-octane year, marred by

the disappearance of their publication The Player after just two issues and the depar-ture of not one but two Tech Managers, but they were finalists at the BICS and swept up at the ISDAs, so they had a year to remem-ber for the right reasons. Trinity Orchestra had a similarly steady year, as did Fish Soc, both having come off a blazing one in 2012. None of them took campus by storm, but they did their job (whatever it is Fish Soc do. That’s for next year) and kept their cli-entele happy. Smiley faces all around!

Employee of the MonthThere could only be one winner of star

employee this year, and that was Trini-ty FM. With CSC Best Individual nominee Claire McCabe at the helm, it was an explo-

sive year in the studio. Not only were they hailed as Best Overall Society, they also nabbed the gong for Best Improved, which says a lot about this year’s committee and their, well, commitment to GREAT RADIO.

High Society

2012-2013 was another great year for many of Trinity’s societies. Here, UT Societies editor Shona McGarry picks her winners, losers and try-hards from this year.

The Indian Society’s Holi festivities in Front square. Photo: Caitriona Gal-lagher

The Indian Society’s Holi festivities in Front square. Photo: Caitriona Gallagher

‘As usual, societies showed us that even if their finances are weak,

their PRO is crap, and their membership is wanting, they can

still throw a damn good party’

20

The Indian Society’s Holi festivities in Front square. Photo: Caitriona Gal-lagher

There were music shows and current af-fairs, and even some radio plays sweeten-ing our airwaves this year. And there were wildlife-themed posters. Quite liked that. Gold star.

PromotedIf you didn’t hear about DU Dance’s

megawatt event Trinity Come Dancing, then obviously you a) didn’t read my arti-cle about it (rude), b) live under a rock or c) don’t even go here. Taking place in the exclusive rooms of The Button Factory, Dance Soc did what everyone else want-ed to: took the Egos of campus, put them in shiny clothes, subjected them to weeks of (I’m told) rigorous training, and final-ly put them on the stage for us to guffaw at them. Because this sounded like such a good idea, it’s no wonder other societies were clamouring to get involved. Fashion Soc provided the looks, Trinity TV the pre-senter, Kate Finegan, and DUPA the pics. Still, it was Dance who put the energy and brains into it, and that’s why they’ve been promoted by me, the boss in this fictional office. Next!

Introverts of the YearI went to the events of many teeny so-

cieties this year, and they deserve a bit of recognition for their steady work catering for more specific markets than the wide-reaching tentacles of the bigger societies who tend to nab people of all persuasions with very little effort. Maybe give these guys a go next year. They’d like that.

Indian Society - Another year, another slew of popular movie nights, a sparkling Holi Festival, and just general all-round niceness from the Indian Society.

Gamers - Not just for nerds. Good for a round of Werewolves in the Science Gal-lery, if that’s what you’re into. And they’re friendly as fire.

Lit Soc - Steadily catering to bookish types and not-so-bookish types since 1985. This year they continued their trend of weekly events, buzzing coffee hours, and introduced not one, but two issues of their popular journal, The Attic.

Office PartyAs usual, societies showed us that even

if their finances are struggling, their PRO

is crap, and their membership is waning, they can still throw a damn good party. The first ball of the year was the first-ever overnight extravaganza that was Players’ Ball. With tickets just €25, the party didn’t

stop until everyone crawled out at 11am, still dressed in their fancy get-ups. Good job. Random spring snow didn’t stop the History Society’s Apollo Ball from going ahead, and go ahead it did, on a boat, with a bang. The Classical and the Archaeolog-ical Societies held their annual cosy bash at Clontarf Castle, and it was a traditional but charming affair. Law Ball employed the Trinitones way before Trinity Ball snapped them up, and the CSC Ball rounded it all off with a bar that definitely was not in any way free. At all.

On LeaveThese collectives were a bit damp this

year, but let’s hope that’s just because they’re planning a ginormous comeback.

DU Comedy - Cat got their tongue? With

‘It’s fair to say that if they’re not being kicked out of their room or

holding an intersociety event, most societies have a good day

at the office’

21

plans to resuscitate their old magazine and generally get on the publicity horse again, my money’s on a a comeback in 2014, be-cause with a slightly damp Fringe Festival this year, they need it.

Knit Soc - with a big win at the 2011 CSC Awards, Knit Soc haven’t done anything extraordinary since then. Time to come back from their two-year sabbatical.

FiredIt was a bad year for Sci Fi, a socie-

ty known for its varying degrees of in-fighting, its spacious room, and its giant flatscreens populated by creatures from Mario Kart. This year saw them lose their room, and subsequently move to Gold-smith, which didn’t make them very happy, and there was the impeachment of a com-mittee member to boot. Still, they picked themselves up and have been holding reg-ular events throughout like the troupers they are. Whether their membership de-clines from next year remains to be seen.

If your society wasn’t featured here then GET ON YOUR HIGH HORSE AND GET SEEN! The Societies Section is there for you to use. Don’t hesitate to contact next year’s editor with every little event or rave or EGM you’re having and you never know, you might see some new faces. Shona out.

Societies@universitytimes.ie

23

IN THE FIVE-HUNDRED year exist-ence of Trinity College there are very few traditions that have encompassed

our students like our varied and renowned sporting accomplishments. Through dec-ades and centuries, sport on campus has grown and evolved. The college has pro-duced countless national and internation-al sports-stars, and as sporting technolo-gies, coaching and recruitment have all improved over the recent years, our athlet-ic success has flourished in tandem.

It is little wonder, therefore, that this ac-ademic year provided Trinity with some of its greatest sporting successes, and oth-er captivating storylines. The exposition

of Michaelmas term brought great specta-cle and ceremony as the US Naval Acade-my brought their American football team to play Notre Dame in the Aviva stadium. The American college travelled with their rugby and boxing clubs, also, and it was the latter who put on the performance of the weekend. Although the visiting side were too strong for Trinity’s boxers, they pro-vided a good test in what was a reasonably successful year for DUBC. Three wins from four against DIT in November, and some encouraging performances at the Junior Intervarsities gave Trinity cause for hope in their February Colours tournament. Un-fortunately this proved one step too much,

as they narrowly lost the evening to a pow-erful UCD outfit. Still a lot to be proud of for the squad.

After a long wait, Trinity’s senior Gael-ic football squad returned to the Siger-son Cup. A tough draw saw them take on UCD in the first round, where they were well beaten. However, victory in a playoff game against Maynooth earlier in the year saw them maintain their divisional status for another year, and ensure them re-entry to the pinnacle of college football tourna-ments. Next year could be better for Trini-ty, in all truth, as the fresher’s football team put on some fine displays throughout the season. With the mix of new talent entering the squad, progression through the cham-pionship is not inconceivable.

The men’s soccer team amassed one of the most impressive records of all the sports clubs this year. Led by captain

Sports editor Conor Bates recounts what has been by many measures a hugely successful year for sport in Trinity, with many individuals and clubs

Trinity Ladies Rugby team won the inaugural Bowen trophy after a hard-fought victory over UCC in December

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Bountiful year for Trinity sports clubs

Darren Burke, DUAFC’s defensive perfor-mances were something to behold this season. With only a few games remaining, Trinity sit atop the Sunday Major League, four points clear of their nearest compet-itors. To get there they have won eleven games and posted ten clean sheets, con-ceding only eight goals in total. A top three finish is all but guaranteed, and a 5-0 win against Fettercairn is sure to stand out as a crowning moment of the campaign.

The college’s ladies teams brought home an incredible haul of medals through-out the year, across many different dis-ciplines. Led by their talismanic cap-tain, Tara Deane, the ladies rugby team claimed the Kay Bowen Trophy, defeating UCC 10-0 in College Park in the final. Trin-ity’s ladies also won the college’s volleyball league, while their basketball counterparts reached the semi-final of the league play-offs. After competing in the modern pen-tathlon at the London Olympics, Natalya Coyle showed no signs of slowing down, and gave a great account at the Mixed Relay World Cup, in Palm Springs. Coyle brought home Ireland’s first medal in the event, and made the college community very proud with this wonderful achievement.

DUHAC’s ladies bridged a ten year gap in winning the Cross Country Intervarsities. National Intermediate Champion Maria O’Sullivan produced a silver medal on the day and guided the athletics club to one of

their many resounding successes this year. DUHAC’s performances throughout the year were of a similar calibre. Bronze med-als at the Intervarsity Road Relays for men’s and women’s teams started a great cam-paign for the club, who also saw Eamonn Fahey win a gold medal for long jump at the Indoors. Harrier’s captain Sam Mealy was also called up to the Irish cross-country squad in December. Most recently, Becky Woods, Laura Frey and O’Sullivan brought home four golds for DUHAC at the Track and Field IVs in Cork.

It was undoubtedly Trinity’s fencers who landed the college’s biggest win of the year in winning their sixth consecutive inter-varsity competition. Consistency appears to be the key for Trinity’s fencers, who have built themselves a winning team time and time again, despite the transient nature of college sport. It also seems that their suc-cess will carry forward for the foreseea-ble future, with their novice fencers mak-ing some waves earlier in the college year. With sublime skill, and an astounding ca-pacity to generate winning talents, it could be a long time before the intervarsity crown is taken away from DUFC.

Towards the end of Hilary term, the IV results were coming in thick and fast. Good campaigns for karate, judo, shooting and trampoline clubs brought triumphs across many varieties of sports. And of course, the year doesn’t end there, as some seasons are

only getting underway. After a disappoint-ing loss to UCD in the Dublin Boat Race, our rowers have the Trinity regatta to look forward to, later on in April. Similarly, the summer heralds the beginning of cricket season; the enjoyment of cricket by the Pav is an integral element of college life, and the team are looking at another strong season in the campus environs. Trinity’s American football team are one of the fastest grow-ing on campus, and have shown extraordi-nary growth over the last few years. Having made the playoffs for the first time last year, this year they are looking to go one better, and have laid own an early marker. With a big win in their first game against UL, a tra-ditionally strong outfit, and a resounding victory over UCD, the football team have set the tone for their season, which car-ries on through most of the summer. With many talented players, they could deliver a second trophy in three years.

A multiplicity of successes have graced the college sporting bodies this year, and have bolstered the sporting legacy of Trin-ity for years to come. With continued in-vestment from college bodies, further im-provement in recruiting practice, and the extension of our skill and desire to win, the tradition of sporting achievement that has framed our students will burn on, far beyond this most bountiful of calendars.

DUBC were outpunched in a thrilling battle against the US Navy in Septmeber. Photo: Nadia Gativa

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IT’S BEEN MORE than a year to remem-ber for Dublin University Swimming and Water Polo Club. The unlucky

number 13 has proved to be luckier than most for the Trinity side. The year began in earnest in Szeged, Hungary for the team. A training camp and test series against the University of Szeged team gave the Trinity team a much needed boost in confidence heading into the Intervarsity Tournament in Magherafelt a fortnight later. It was a boost that was very important as Trinity’s men hadn’t come away victorious from an intervarsities since 2001. A long twelve years had been made all the more difficult by the apparent curse hanging over the Trinity men. Trinity had made more finals in the twelve year period than any other club but had also lost each and every one of those finals including two in extra-time and one on penalties. The women of Trinity had won the competition in the interven-ing period with a dominant victory in Gal-way in 2009, but it was still four years with-out a win for them too.

Both Trinity teams had suffered from poor league form heading into the tourna-ment but the addition of the Trinity veter-ans Conor Dalton and Seán O’Reilly had a huge impact in the Trinity dressing room. The two stalwarts added an air of calm to the men’s team as well as the vast experi-ence that Trinity had been lacking in pre-vious years.

The men’s route to the final was not al-ways plain sailing. A dominant perfor-mance against UCC left the atop the group heading into their game with UCD. The UCD game was undoubtedly the best game

of the tournament for the spectator. Trin-ity came from two goals behind to go two goals ahead in the closing minutes through a series of goals from Barry Murphy, who would go on to represent Ireland in April on the University Team. The game eventu-ally finished 7-7. UCD were unable to bet-ter Trinity’s winning margin against UCC which set Trinity up for a semi-final with DCU. The DCU game never got away from Trinity, despite a driven DCU side Trinity came away 7-1 winners after an exception-al brace from Mark Murphy and a captain’s goal from Christian Wirtz.

The women’s route to the final was a far tougher one. The Trinity women could count themselves as one of the more ex-perienced teams in the tournament with players such as Deirdre Kindregan, Bre-anne Silver and Kathleen Gallagher but were also complemented by the fresh faces of Eva Banks and Aimee Louise Carton. The women faced two Ulster sides in the group stages defeating both University of Ulster and Queen’s in dominant style, thanks partly to the work of Fiona Fenton up front and Michaela Hogan in the goal. This set up a re-match with UU in a semi-final. The women displayed the same prowess they showed in the group stages defeating UU by 9 goals to 7. This put them through to their first final in four years against rivals UCD. The double was on for Trinity but as the men had learned painfully over the past twelve years, don’t count your prover-bial chickens.

The women took the stage first for their final showdown with UCD. The game was a tight one, UCD are a driven side with a wealth of experience and talent but it didn’t seem to faze the Trinity women who calm-ly responded through MVP Eva Banks, the

squad’s youngest member. Banks went from playing full back to scoring a scream-er with her back hand in the space of 30 sec-onds, which undoubtedly went some way in her MVP award. The game finished 9-6. It was now up to the men to keep up their side of the bargain.

One could understand the nerves that would surround any team that had lost four finals in as many years and hadn’t won since 2001. These nerves were nowhere to be seen in the Trinity men. The former All-Black Murray Mexted often talks about the “ebb and flow of psychic energy” determin-ing the outcomes of games. This ebb and flow was undoubtedly flowing with Trinity as the men seemed possessed to finally put the demons to rest. Following a tight first quarter, the men never looked in danger when Ryan Bartlett and Dan Dalicsek took the game by the lapels and launched Trin-ity into a lead they never relinquished. The buzzer cued scenes of joy as Trinity had fi-nally won the championship they so great-ly deserved. A double had been done for the first time by a Trinity side in this millenni-um.

The year hasn’t ended yet for the Inter-varsity champions. The annual Szeged In-ternational Water Polo festival in Hungary this coming August will see the side pit-ted against some of Europe’s premier wa-ter polo sides and some of the world’s best players. It’s an opportunity for the stu-dents to face current European Champi-ons League title holders Dynamo Moscow, a game which is to be televised across East-ern Europe. Undoubtedly, it’s been a year to remember for Dublin University Swim-ming and Water Polo club.

Double success for Water Polo at intervarsitiesDaire O’DriscollWater Polo correspondent

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THE 1913 LOCKOUT is a monumental event in the history of the Irish work-ing class. It marks the single great-

est confrontation between the forces of la-bour and capital in Irish history, and the six-month dispute which tore Dublin apart saw a new, militant spirit of trade unionism collide with the force of native capitalism in an unprecedented manner.

It was a dispute during which some workers would lose their lives, and during which international solidarity and the tac-tic of the sympathetic strike were central to the workers cause. Yet while 1913 features within the state ‘Decade of Centenaries’, as historian Brian Hanley has noted the real irony is that “the Lockout has been sani-tized beyond recognition and will be com-memorated this year by many who would prefer to ignore the reality of what took place in 1913.”

By the end of nineteenth century, only a small percentage of the Irish working class found themselves within trade un-ions. There was about ninety-three unions in Ireland, which represented only 17,476 workers. Still, the very foundation of an Irish Trade Union Congress in the 1890s

marked an important moment in the de-velopment of trade unionism in Ireland. While trade unions succeeded in estab-lishing themselves in the industrial heart of Belfast, Dublin was a different matter entirely. In Dublin, ‘craft unions’ did exist, but these lacked militancy and were often in cosy alliances with employers. Seeking to only organise workers within a particu-lar industry along the lines of the particular craft, these unions differed greatly from in-dustrial trade unionism, and the vast ma-jority of the Dublin working class remained outside of trade unions. It is crucially im-portant to note that bosses in Dublin were quite content with craft unions, but reject-ed more militant forms of working class or-ganisation.

Not alone was a huge percentage of the Dublin working class outside of any kind of trade union movement, but they lived in abject and today almost unimaginable conditions of poverty. The slums of Dub-lin, and the working conditions of the poor, were truly alarming. Charles A. Cameron, a Protestant Unionist and the Chief Medi-cal Officer for Dublin, wrote in 1913 that “in 1911 41.9 per cent of the deaths in the

Dublin Metropolitan area occurred in the workhouses, asylums, lunatic asylums, and other institutions” and he went on to note that “in the homes of the very poor the seeds of infective disease are nursed as if it were in a hothouse.”

The arrival of industrial unionism in Dublin and other Irish cities would give many of these people their first real sense of class consciousness. C. Desmond Greaves has written that ‘new unionism’ made its debut in England in 1889 “when the unskilled workers claimed their place in the sun.” By the early 1890s, “the trades-man had been organised, legally or illegal-ly, for over a century, at least in Dublin and Cork.” The beginnings of trade unionism among the mass of the working class how-ever in Ireland marked a significant turn-ing point, and the early twentieth century would bring significant confrontation be-tween workers and employers in Ireland, north and south. Strikes and lockouts be-came common place, ranging in scale from the great Belfast dispute of 1907 which saw Protestant and Catholic working class dockers down tools and equipment for four months, to the first attempts at working class militancy among precarious Dublin newspaper boys, who took strike action in 1911. Central to this period was Jim Larkin, a Liverpool born trade unionist who would bring a new type of unionism to Ireland in 1907.

The 1913 Lockout, 100 years onHistorian tor Donal Ó Fallúin examines the roots of, and dispels the myths about, the 1913 Lockout in Dublin as we mark its centenary

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There is a danger in history to over-em-phasise the roles of individuals at the ex-pense of mass movements. Jim Larkin has become an almost mythical character in the history of the Irish working class, his place in Dublin folk memory in particular well secured. Larkin was a difficult char-acter, with what Emmet O’Connor per-fectly described in his biography of him as a “brash personality”, which frequently brought him into confrontation with oth-ers within the union movement. Yet Larkin was an incredible organiser and orator, de-scribed by Countess Markievicz as almost “some great primeval force, rather than a man.” His effect on the Irish working class, in installing a confidence in them that was lacking before, was immeasurable.

The Dublin of the early twentieth cen-tury presented Jim Larkin with three im-portant employments he would have dear-ly liked to unionise. In the case of Dublin Corporation and building workers, these men enjoyed their own unions, albeit un-ions which were far from radical. Guin-ness, a huge powerhouse of industry in Dublin also appealed to Larkin as a po-tential base, although these workers en-joyed working conditions and benefits which made the workforce content, many argued. It was in the Dublin United Tram-ways Company that Larkin found his tar-get, as this was an industry which had seen off multiple attempts at unionisation, and which contained a hugely significant body of unorganised workers in the capital.

The trams were owned by William Mar-tin Murphy, one of the leading capitalists in the Dublin of the day, and an incred-ibly complex character. In Murphy alone one of the great contradictions of the pop-ular narrative that exists around the Lock-out is found. While some speak only of the event as a sort of ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Easter Rising, and a confrontation between ‘Irish workers’ and ‘British business’, Mur-phy himself was an Irish nationalist. In-deed, Murphy was even a former Irish na-tionalist MP, who had actually refused a Knighthood from King Edward VII, on the grounds that Home Rule was denied to Ire-land.

Murphy was a man of charity but also a ruthless businessman, who built a com-mercial empire on an almost unprece-dented scale in the city. Padraig Yeates

has estimated that at the time of his death “he had accumulated a fortune of over £250,000, had built railway and tramway systems in Britain, South America and West Africa, and owned or was a director of many Irish enterprises, including Clery’s department store, the Imperial Hotel and the Metropole Hotel.” Crucially important to the story of the Lockout however was Murphy’s press empire, which included the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald and the Irish Catholic.

When workers in Murphy’s tram com-pany demanded union recognition and waged industrial action, he responded by ‘locking out’ all workers across his business empire who were affiliated to Larkin’s un-ions, and other Dublin capitalists followed

in his footsteps. This is crucially impor-tant to the story of 1913. While slogans like ‘1913: Lockout – 2013: Sellout’ have become common place in this centenary year, it is important to stress that the industrial dis-pute in 1913 was a bosses offensive, and not something instigated by the workers. Murphy took aim at what his media empire termed ‘Larkinism’, and Larkin took aim at a man he believed embodied all that was wrong with the capitalist class.

Undoubtedly, the dispute which dragged into 1914 can only be described as a failure for the organised working class in Ireland. Yet there are lessons which can be learned from the dispute and the approach of the left to it. One aspect of the period and the struggle the left has tended to overlook is the role of media in the dispute. While the Irish Independent and Murphy’s other out-lets were able to attack Larkin and the un-ion movement, Larkin succeeded in bring-ing socialist politics to a very significant percentage of the Dublin working class through the Irish Worker. Established in 1911, C. Desmond Greaves has noted that while the huge circulation Larkin claimed this paper enjoyed is almost certainly not true, even very reasonable estimates from the time show us the mass audience the primary trade union paper reached. While Sinn Féin’s nationalist newspaper had a

circulation that fluctuated between 2,000 and 5,000, Larkin’s paper enjoyed a healthy readership, with up to 25,000 copies a week being sold during the dispute.

Early in 1914, huge chunks of the Dub-lin working class crawled back into em-ployment, even pledging to distance them-selves from ‘Larkinism’ in the future. As Greaves has noted though, one of the key effects of the Lockout “on the workers of all industries was to strengthen their con-sciousness of themselves as a class”. The incredible solidarity shown during the dispute, not only from other Dublin work-ers but also those further afield who sent crucial economic support, is an inspira-tional part of the story. The Irish working class would reassert themselves on sever-al occasions during what is broadly termed the ‘revolutionary period’ in Irish history. For example during the show of strength against conscription in 1918 when workers across the island downed tools and equip-ment in protest at imperialism and war.

Yet the state which emerged from inde-pendence did not honour any of the prom-ises that had been made to the Irish work-ing class by mainstream Irish nationalism during its years in revolt. The suppression of labour disputes in a newly independent Ireland demonstrated how for the working class in Ireland, little changed after 1922.

The Lockout must not be seen only as a part of the nationalist narrative of the 1912-23 period, but as the most significant con-frontation between labour and capital in Irish history. Whether that confrontation

occurred under a British flag, or the flag of an independent Ireland, is irrelevant to the class struggle that was central to the sto-ry. The spirit of Dubliners and others who fought back so bravely in 1913 should in-spire us today, but it must be remembered that in many ways 1913 is unfinished busi-ness, in an Ireland where some workers even lack the right to workplace union rec-ognition today.

Donal Ó Fallúin is part of an activist group called 1913 Unfinished Business who are organising a public meeting of young people against forced emigration on Mon-day, April 29th at 7PM in Wynn’s Hotel on Abbey Street. They can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/1913unfinishedbusiness.

‘The spirit of Dubliners and others who fought back so bravely

in 1913 should inspire us today’

‘In many ways 1913 is unfinished business’

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