UCDSU and Societies' Council to Update Websites
By Brían Donnelly | Oct 11 2017
Minutes from UCD Students’ Union Council meetings have not been published online since the 7th meeting of the previous Council, held on 27th February 2017. The minutes of the final two meetings, held on 27th March and 10th April, are missing from the UCDSU website, as are details of any forthcoming meetings to be held. The last two UCDSU Council budgets have not been published, with the latest available budget being that of the 2014/2015 Council under the direction of the SU President at the time, Fergal Hynes. The SU Council is composed of the the sabbatical officers, campaigns coordinators, and elected officers representing the various Schools and classes in UCD. The UCDSU Constitution states that the Council must meet at least once every 3 weeks of the ordinary teaching term. Issues affecting students, both in UCD and nationally, are discussed at these meetings, such as motions to support ‘UCD for PrEP,’ the SU position regarding students’ fees and university funding, and the cost of re-sitting and repeating exams. Furthermore, the UCDSU Policy Book, which details which officers and representatives are responsible for particular SU mandates, has not been published for the current academic year. Ongoing SU mandates and policies include establishing voting rights for students on erasmus and on placement, increasing the number of litter and recycling bins on campus, and campaigning for the repeal of the eighth amendment from the Irish Constitution. Similarly, the news section of the UCD Societies’ Council website was not updated for a period of two and a half months before the 3rd of October, a period including Freshers’ Week. The events section appears only to show events listed at this time last year. The UCD Societies’ Council is the representative body for the interests of all student societies in UCD. It is responsible for promoting, supporting, and funding over 80 societies in the university. The Societies Council have posted videos to their Facebook page promoting Freshers’ Week and societies through posts about ‘Society of the Week’ and ‘Fred’s Golden Tickets.’ More recently they uploaded interviews with comedian John Bishop and Reverend Al Sharpton. The Societies’ Council’s twitter account has been less active only posting the timetable of events for the Monday and Tuesday of Freshers’ Week. Many societies’ twitter posts were retweeted by the Societies’ Council account.