We at The University Observer stand with the students fighting for more.
There has been a deluge of courses and year groups asking for more recently, from Nurses and midwives seeking fair remuneration, Physiotherapy students calling for placements to Graduate Entry Medicine and Smurfit students demanding to have their excessive fees reduced.
We at The University Observer stand with the students who are struggling financially. As a student-run newspaper, we have keenly felt the pressure of finances and online college among all our staff and readership. It is cruel to discover that the University is not facing the same reality, and in turn that this extra money doesn’t seem to be tangibly trickling down through the system. When the figure of €11,000,000 is compared to the paltry €2 a postgraduate student receives to grade an exam paper, it is difficult not to feel disgusted. From the money poured into elitist and luxurious student accommodation and the proposed star-chitecture of the Fulcrum Centre for creativity, to the €7.5 million spent to renovate the office of the UCD President, this is just another example of the wealth of UCD as a corporation, funded by the everyday, struggling student.
We at The University Observer stand with students who have been stranded in Dublin based on false information. It was dreadful seeing students in private accommodation, forced to choose between paying to stay in a city they need not be in or lose their deposit. But, even worse, we now have learned that some Smurfit students were told that in-person classes were mandatory, despite module coordinators knowing they would be taught online. Despite the warnings from the trade unions, staff, and UCDSU, it was at one point still possible to believe UCD genuinely planned on teaching some things face-to-face. With these latest revelations concerning a faculty with a disproportionate number of international students and the recent financial reports, it is clear that government lockdowns are not responsible for all stranded students. UCD is.
We at The University Observer stand with the victims of the horrific image-based sexual abuse, a scandal which has rocked the notion of a progressive and feminist Ireland to its very core. We encourage all our friends and fellow students to support changes in social attitudes and the law to prevent this kind of violence from happening again, commend all those who have already fought so hard, trying and fighting to make their education and world a better place.
We at The University Observer stand with students.