Two motions were brought to the third council meeting of UCD Students’ Union on November 4, with one rejected and one passed by council.
Motion to relocate the Smurfit Graduate Business School to Belfield Campus
The first motion was brought to council by Finance PG Class Rep Hemanand Chandrasekaran, and seconded by Finance MSc Class Rep Rahul Priyadarshi, to mandate the SU President and the Education, Graduate, and Business College Officers to lobby UCD to move the Smurfit Graduate Business School from the current campus in Blackrock to the Belfield campus, and repurpose the Blackrock campus “for more suitable faculties that can benefit from the peaceful environment it offers.” The motion further states that one of the primary goals of any business school is “to network and acquire essential skills that contribute to success in the workplace”, which is currently being undermined for Smurfit students.
There are approximately 1,500 students in Smurfit, half of which are international students. Students at the Smurfit Graduate Business School have repeatedly voiced their concerns to council about the lack of services, facilities and social events available to them, and the disconnect they feel with the Belfield campus community. This issue had been raised by Chandrasekaran at an earlier council, where he noted the discontinuation of the Smurfit-Belfield Shuttle Bus. The Students’ Union at the time stated that they have been actively working to improve the Smurfit student experience.
Speakers ‘Against’ this motion mentioned the high cost that would be incurred by UCD, and questioned the likelihood of UCD agreeing to such a demand. Speakers also noted that the implementation of this move would be difficult as the Belfield campus already suffers from student overcrowding. Another point was made that before this motion is passed, a poll should be brought to Smurfit students to see if the move to Belfield is representative of student wishes, and that the SU time would be better spent improving Smufit services, rather than lobbying for the move. Furthermore, since the motion essentially proposes a swap of which faculties occupy Smurfit, speakers ‘Against’ noted that this would only shift the existing problems in Smurfit to other faculties, and not solve them.
Speakers ‘For’ the motion focused on the importance of networking for Business students, which would be improved by the move to Belfield campus. They further noted that Smurfit students generally pay high-fees of up to €30,000, yet they feel UCD is ‘cheating people in Smurfit’ as they do not have access to the services which these fees are supposed to provide. Speakers elaborated that the move would be beneficial for students who often feel isolated in Smurfit, and that any discussion on the ‘cost for UCD’ of the move should also consider the costs currently incurred by Smurfit students.
The motion to lobby for the relocation of the Smurfit Graduate Business School to Belfield campus was overwhelmingly rejected by council.
Motion to make Consent Training Mandatory for all Students
UCDSU Welfare Officer Ciara Donohue spoke for her proposed motion that would mandate the Welfare Officer to lobby the university to make consent training mandatory for all students. The motion, which had previously passed a number of years ago but had expired, was resubmitted with a brief speech.
UCD currently offers consent training to first year students through the ‘Be an Active Bystander’ training on Brightspace and through facilitated courses during stage 1. Council noted in the document attached to the motion prior to the meeting that in the academic year 2023/24 only 52.4% of first year undergraduate students and just 11% of first year postgraduate students completed the training.
Furthering the reasoning for putting this motion forward, the council acknowledged a 2018 survey ran by Active Consent, University of Galway, that 71.2% of female secondary school students and 62.7% of male secondary school students disagreed with the statement “I am satisfied with the sex education I have received in the school system.”
The proposal believes that consent education training should be mandatory in universities. The belief is that mandatory training would be necessary to “create an informed student body with a zero tolerance approach to sexual violence”.
During the meeting, a member of council questioned whether there would be an option for students to ‘opt out’ of the training due to the possibility of triggering content. Donohue accepted the point and said she could bring it up when an implementation plan is put in place. Another member of the council questioned the extent to which the training could be ‘enforced’ as mandatory, to which the Welfare Officer confirmed that it is a possibility that students would not be able to receive their Stage One grades before completing the training.
The proposal, which was seconded by Engineering College Officer Siobhan Black, was clearly passed by council, with no speakers against.