Singalong Rebellion at the L&H
By The University Observer Archives | Jul 25 2018
Originally published in Volume II, Issue 3 on 25th October 1995 by Observer Reporter. Six hundred students crammed into Theatre M and sang their hearts out in defiance of Services on Friday when the Arts Block authorities attempted to cancel that night’s colours debate. Services changed their mind about attempting to prematurely end the annual Trinity-UCD confrontation when the students began chanting and singing. If a full blooded, slightly aggressive rendition of the national anthem wasn’t enough to dissuade the skeleton staff, their minds were quickly made up when six hundred impatient students began banging the tables and roaring “Services are Wankers, Services are Wankers”. It is believed that that Services refused to allow the L&H to use Theatre L, for fear that the newly refurbished seats and carpets might be stained. Committee members were outraged by the fact that the safety authorities has seen fit to dramatically scale down the Fresher’s Week to avoid any fire risk, yet Services allowed hundreds of students to block the stairs and the emergency exits in M rather than permit the debate to be transferred to the larger capacity Theatre L. At 7.30, L&H committee members, told the capacity audience to move to Theatre L. While the crowd waited outside the locked doors of the Head of Services, Peter McElroy, informed Ian Walsh that he couldn’t allow the debate to take place in M and that the evening would have to be cancelled. In the meantime, Michael McNicholas, John Gallagher and Alaistar McMenamin led the audience, which has by this time occupied Theatre M, in a rendition of Do they Know it’s Christmas Time, during which the crowd swayed their arms in unison. It would appear that Services began to back down on their insistence that the debate be cancelled when the crowd stood to sing the national anthem. Throughout the debate, two rather impotent looking security men watched from the camera room at the back of the theatre. The debate itself was the usual colours mix of ancient debating jokes, virulent anti-Trinity sentiment and homophobia. Most of the entertainment was provided by excellent heckling from the audience. The motion, “That this House would Carry Out Nuclear Testing on Trinity Students” was unsurprisingly passed by a substantial margin.