Today, January 26th, saw the fifth meetings of the Students' Union council, and the first of this semester. Authors: Ben Sweeney, Adam Schmitz, Orla Mahon
AMLÉ
AMLÉ, the national union for third-level students in Ireland, was once again a hot topic of discussion at tonight’s council. Since UCD students voted to rejoin AMLÉ (then USI) last year, AMLÉ, its training, and the costs associated with it, have proved divisive. Wedge Egan, Production Officer, presented an item for discussion on AMLÉ, questioning that the national union’s calender has caused UCDSU to bring forward their executive election calender. Egan, who led the ‘No to USI’ last year, claims that during the rejoin campaign, AMLÉ was “unclear or uncommiciative about the process of naming delegates to comhdhail [AMLÉ’s yearly conference],” along with being, “uncommunciative on the high costs of sending delegates to comhdhail itself.” UCDSU, in line with the body of students it represents, is entitled to 36 delegates at comhdhail.
Egan also questioned how many students attended AMLÉ’s Pink Training, their annual training on LGBT inclusivty. Egan noted the the price for individual attendees was one hundred euro. UCDSU President Michael Roche commented that there were two attendees at the Pink Training, himself included - and while there was initially more interest expressed, it co-incided with the final weekend of term last semester. Roche also noted that the cost for association had been settled at five euro for each student, despite confusion since UCDSU has rejoined AMLÉ.
Members of the council shared their thoughts, concerns, and experiences related to AMLÉ. One member noted that AMLÉ’s events have often been during the college day, and thus they have found themselves unable to attend, with other members echoing similar sentiments. Another member, in response to a question posed by Egan on what AMLÉ has provided UCDSU with so far this year, stated, “What does AMLÉ do? I mean, nothing.” Regarding the price of attending comhdail, former UCDSU Welfare Officer Ciara Donohue noted, “My entire welfare budget was €8,000 - [comhdail attendance] would be a huge chunk of the budget.”
Members of the sabbatical team responded to some of the questions, with Roche noting that, “If AMLÉ didn’t exist, we’d be sitting around thinking of how to create a national union.” Campaigns and Engagement Officer Kelvyn Fields added that AMLÉ have been helpful in raising awareness for certain national campaigns. Roche also added that since UCDSU disaffiliated from AMLÉ in 2013, it has refilled its calender when the Union was out of AMLÉ, whereas for other unions, engagement with AMLÉ and alignment with its calender is “institutional.” In response to a question on how engagement will change with AMLÉ in the future, Roche noted that without students engaging in AMLÉ’s democratic structures, change in the relationship will be difficult.
Irish Language Motion Passed
At the fifth meeting of Council, UCDSU adopted a new Irish language policy. Oifigeach na Gaeilge Callan Ó Cléirigh proposed the motion, noting that, “The current Irish language policy is out-of-date, out-of-fashion, and far too vague to inspire the use of Irish language within our Union.” The new Polasaí Gaeilge Aontas na Mac Léinn COBÁC (Irish Language Policy for the Students Union of UCD) means that UCDSU will now be encouraging further use of the Irish language throughout its operations. Such changes include all publications of the Union henceforth being available both in Irish and English, and members of the executive team using Irish when greeting and signing off in emails, and throughout speeches. The sabbatical team have also pledged that they, “shall investigate the feasibility of implementing a full-time sabbatical Oifigeach an Gaeilge each year until this goal is reached,” alongside the Oifigeach na Gaeilge. President of UCDSU Michael Roche noted that over the last fortnight, UCDSU has already begun implementing bilingual posts on social media.
Connectivity Issue on Campus
A member of UCDSU brought the connectivity issues on campus to council. “It’s an education institution we run on this sort of technology, it should be pretty basic”. He cited “dead spots” on campus where the Eduroam internet which was rolled out earlier this year has not been working. This has been an issue faced by students since the rollout in Semester One. One attendee claimed “Pretty much everywhere around Ireland and even in the United States, eduroam works perfectly. It’s not Eduroam, It's UCD’s wifi”.
Disruptions to Christmas Exams
Briefly touching on the issue of UCD Christmas Exams taking place in an RDS exam hall surrounded by the Funderland Christmas fair, education officer Matt Mion said “I don’t want another student to walk through elftown on the way to their exams”. He claimed due to the fact UCD are planning to move exams to on campus in the next two years, the RDS has no incentive to accommodate UCD’s exams. You can read more about this issue, and hear more from Mion, in tomorrow’s edition of the University Observer.
S6/S8 Bus Route Frequency Confusion
Campaigns and Engagement Officer Kelvyn Fields reported on work to improve the frequency of the S6 and S8 bus routes. Fields contacted TD Ciarán Aherne and the National Transport Authority (NTA) regarding the S6 route, which stops at the UCD Village, and received correspondence suggesting the route would be moved to a ‘higher frequency’ timetable. However, Fields revealed that the NTA had “misled” the Union and that it was a “change in name only” - the route’s administration was moved to a ‘higher frequency’ office rather than a change in the number of buses run. Fields called the decision “incredibly disappointing”.
A council member questioned what actions the Union was taking regarding improving the route, suggesting that direct action may be more effective than sending emails. Commuter Campaign Co-ordinator Ryan Dolan later suggested that UCDSU would publish a survey to examine student opinion on the route.
Encampment
One attendee at council brought up the fact that the ‘Break the Chains of Zionism’ encampment from the N11 has been removed. The attendee asked if anything was being done and said that it is "embarrassing" to attend UCD given their academic links with Israel. In response, UCDSU President Michael Roche said that focus was on “rebuilding the student movement on campus” claiming that “it’s gone to the wayside”. He claimed “There was a lot of issues about how it communicated with students”, citing messages sent into group chats and incidents at the site itself.
Roche explained that UCDBDS made the decision to cut all ties with the camp earlier this year and that UCDSU, as an organisation mandated to support BDS, made the decision to also cut ties. He said that the camp had alienated a lot of students.
Module Costs
UCDSU has submitted a policy in which UCD will have to publish the total costs associated with each module ahead of the academic year. This would include all costs associated with the module including lab material, text books etc. as opposed to just the direct cost of taking the course. “From September, No undeclared costs can be contingent on a learning outcome”. Education Officer Matt Mion says this is this is the first time that UCDSU has successfully submitted a policy to UCD management since 2022/23, when Molly Greenough was President of the union.
Food Pantry
Roche said, “There’s been so many dates given for the launch of the food pantry” and said that he “will provisionally say that the food pantry will open in the next two months”. This comes at the end of a long battle to find a location for the food pantry, which will open in the Engineering building.