4
College Tribune | November 12th 2008
News News
News in Brief Compiled by Katie Godwin
■ Superfines return The library has re-introduced ‘Superfines’ in a bid to tackle the late return of books. It is claimed a recent library survey supports the increases, which will come into effect Monday the 24th of November. The extra charges will cease on Friday the 19th of December. Despite the measures being put in place, the Library will continue the tradition of waiving fines on short loan books if a student has an exam the same day the book is due to be returned. The additional charges apply to all items borrowed from all UCD branch libraries for the specified period of time.
■ Pink Training LGBT pink training took place as planned in Galway Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th November despite funding cuts. The total cost of the training this year was €30 per head with the remaining €50 paid for by an interim SU loan. Travel to and from Galway was also included. Training included modules and workshops designed both to obtain information about yourself and the gay community. Workshops included transgender issues, mental health issues and sexual health. Other events included a debate on the issue of gay male blood donation and a protest against the government’s constant delay in legalising gay marriage. The workshops were followed by dinner in a restaurant and socialising in Club LA in Galway city. Daniel Howard, 1st year member of LGBT and pink training attendee reported the event as a success “the workshops were really informative and it was very well organised by the auditor, Sean”. “The pink training is a good idea because you get to know more gay people” he said. Overall the event was enjoyable, informative and “definitely worth the 30euro” according to Howard.
Council attendance plummeting
October 1st
79
■ Class reps in danger off being struck off due to poor attendance
October 22nd
■ Tadgh Moriarty
Attendance at Students’ Union council has been steadily falling since the beginning of term, leading to many class reps leaving their classes and indeed constituents unrepresented. SU council is the designated time in which the President, Vice-Presidents and class reps report on their activities and address any issues within their field. When first council met back on October 8th there was an overall membership of 112. However, despite the fact this was the first time Council was to meet with all of its newly elected members, only 79 managed to attend. Of the remaining council members who failed to show up, 18 sent formal apologies. Attendance at second council (October 22nd) was even lower with 70 attending, and only six bothering to submit formal apologies. The most recent meeting on November 3rd demonstrated an all time low. According to the SU chairperson, Mr Gav Reilly, membership had
70 ■ A far from filled lecture theatre: Not necessarily a council meeting grown to 137 but despite this increase, there was no corresponding uptake of attendance. A stunning 54 members were seen to have attended. Although quorum was reached (the minimum number of members present in order for council to run), less than 40% of council members managed to attend. When quizzed about this low turnout, Students’ Union president, Aodhan O’Dea, replied that many members had “commitments to sports teams, midterms due and various other reasons”. It was further revealed that many class reps are in danger of being
thrown off for lack of attendance. According to the constitution, class reps who fail to attend Union three times may be struck off. This would suggest that those members have only managed to attend one of the three union meetings so far The makeup of UCD Students’ Union’s council meetings are governed by Article 8 of the Union’s Constitution, which dictates that council should be made up by the Students’ Union President and Vice-Presidents, Executive Officers, Programme Officers and Class Representatives among others.
November 3rd
54
Levy-paying students to be invited back ■ Jennifer Bray Students who have paid the specified levy fee for the new student centre but leave before its completion will now be invited back as alumni to use the facilities. However, the services will only be provided free of charge to the graduates for between six and nine months, depending on the length of time the student paid the fee for. Dominic O’Keeffe, Manager of the Students Centre further says that once the offer has expired, those students will be offered a “graduate package, considerably cheaper than the high street price.” The building of the centre, which is still unnamed, will commence in March. It is expected the project will take 22 months to complete, but according to O’Keeffe, “it has been indicated that this may be completed even quicker than the original 22 months.” 8 building firms will begin work on the project which has been described by O’Keeffe as “primarily for the existing students of UCD, and secondarily for the staff and other members of the college.” The new facility will be located between the current Student Centre and Sports Centre buildings, both of which will be incorporated into the new Centre.
■ The new student centre: A vision of the future