University College Dublin Students' Union

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University College Dublin Students' Union (UCDSU) is the Students' Union of University College Dublin, and has been an active part of campaigns run by its national equivalent, the Union of Students in Ireland. It was founded in 1974 as a natural successor of the Student Representative Council and began operations in 1975, under the presidency of Enda Connolly.

All students of UCD who are studying for a degree or postgraduate diploma of the National University of Ireland are, on registration at the University, members. The Union is funded by a membership fee paid at the same time as the student services levy (‘registration fee’) at the start of the academic year. In addition to its campaign work the Union also provides some services such as five Union-run shops; a photocopying bureau; the University Observer (newspaper – see below); Belfield FM (radio station); Welfare and Education services such as a second-hand bookshop and Niteline phoneline; and the provision of a full-time Accommodation and Employment Officer. UCDSU has offices in the Student Centre and Library Building in Belfield and in the University’s city centre building at Earlsfort Terrace.

The Union is a constituent organisation of, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

Contents

[edit] Structure

The main Governing Body of UCDSU, subject only to referenda and General Meetings of the members of the Union, is the Union Council, which meets every two weeks during term. The Union Council is comprised chiefly of the Class Representatives elected in their respective constituencies. These constituencies are now to be elected, following a Constitutional amendment passed in March 2006 with over 80 per-cent approval, at a flexible ratio far lower than the previously arbitrary ratio of one representative per 125 students. The power of Union Council is conferred in a de facto manner on the Union Executive outside of term. The Union Executive, composed of all elected Union sabbatical and non-sabbatical Officers as well as the Union Secretary, meets weekly during term and fortnightly outside of it. There are five Sabbatical Officers, who are involved in the day-to-day running of the Union. Usually the President, Education Vice-President and Welfare Vice-President are student representatives on the UCD Governing Authority. A Sabbatical term of office is twelve months in duration and commences on July 1st each year, although the incoming Officers are, in accordance with the UCDSU Constitution, given job training by the incumbents from 15 June. Sabbatical elections take place in late February/early March of each year. Sabbatical officers take a year out from academic studies and work full-time for the Union.

The composition of the Union's Council includes;

The full-time elected sabbatical officers.

The Class Representatives

Four nominees chosen by a general meeting of the Students' Consultative Forum

One nominee chosen by the Committee of The Students' Club

One nominee chosen by the committee of the student centre forum bar

One nominee of students with disabilities chosen amongst their number by students' registered with the College Disabilities Liaison Office, or such other body as may be recognised for this purpose by the Independent Appeals Board. (This element of positive discrimination has been a source of minor controversy in the past.)

The Postgraduate and Evening Students representative

Directly Elected Members of the Union Executive

Two Residence Representatives

The immediate outgoing Union Sabbatical Officers.

The Programme Officers


The President is the First Officer of the Union in accordance with the Union Constitution, and the other four Sabbatical Officers are equally ranking Vice-Presidents of the Union. The five Sabbatical positions are:

  • Union President
  • Deputy President Vice-President (whose main duties are campaigns, the recruitment of class representatives and publications)
  • Education Vice-President
  • Welfare Vice-President
  • Entertainments Vice-President

The constitutional referendum in 2006 has lead to the introduction of a sixth Sabbatical position, the Postgraduate, Evening and Mature Students' Vice-President; however, this particular amendment, one of three, appears to be have been poorly worded and is open to interpretation. It was believed by some that another constitutional referendum would have been held in October 2006 to correct these and other problems, but no such referendum has been called.

[edit] Officers

[edit] Sabbatical Officers

Sabbatical Executive Officers (directly elected by the Union Membership)
1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
President John Nesbitt Carol Fahy Eamonn Ó Lionnain Aonghus Hourihane Aonghus Hourihane Paul Dillon Fergal Scully James Carroll Dan Hayden
Deputy President (no such office) Christian Hughes Ross Higgins Aidan Regan Ciarán Weafer Dave Curran Dave Curran
Education Charles McConlogue Eamonn Ó Lionnain Michael Shovlin Aisling Maguire Abraham Campbell Oisín Kelly James Carroll Jane Horgan-Jones Brian Doyle
Welfare John Moynes Alison Gibney JP Swain Róisín McKeon Séamus Ó Maonaigh Jennifer Allen Shane Hennelly Dan Hayden Barry Colfer
Entertainments Scott Millar Niall Donald Paul Burke Eoin Holohan Marc Ryberg David Sherry Gearóid Cashman Anthony Kelly Holly Irvine

[edit] Executive Officers (elected by the Union membership)

Executive Officers (directly elected by the Union Membership)
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
Irish Language Colman Mac Shealaigh Neasa Nic Shealaigh Sinéad Ní Mhaolmhicil Órla Ní Threasaigh Dónal Ó Suilleabháin
Finance Oisin O'Sullivan Donnachadh Woulfe Anthony Kelly Eugeniya Kazakova Stephen Quinlivan
Communications & IT Philip Gilsenan Brian O'Farrell Ciaran Melody Pierce Farrell Gary Redmond
Women’s Aoife Habenicht Aoife Mulqueen Tobie Marven/Louise Troy Michelle Killeen Carol-Anne Rushe
Postgraduate & Evening Students Representative Sinead Mac Bride Dan Finn James Redmond Patrick McKay Denis Ryan

[edit] Executive Officers elected by Union Council

Executive Officers (elected by the Union Council)
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
Environmental (no such office) Patrick Quinn Patrick Quinn Molly Walsh Luke O hEideain
LGB Rights (not on file) Tobie Marvin Sarah O’Sullivan David Gilsenan Angela Tuite
International Students Melanie Clune (not on file) Patrick Wall Niall Dolan Laurence Banville
Outlying Faculties (no such office) Peter Reynolds Peter Doris Colm Byrne Alison Ryan
Disabilities Rights Niamh Hayes Eamonn O'Raghallaigh Naoise Waldron Vivian Rath Jean Keating

[edit] Programme Officers

Inaugural Programme Officers (directly elected by the students in the associated Programmes)
2006/07
Arts, Celtic Studies & Human Sciences Paul Lynam & Chris Bond
Business & Law Patrick Rath
Science Jane Tiernan
Health Sciences Colm Byrne
Engineering & Architecture Jennifer Murphy
Agricultural Science & Veterinary Medicine Helen Keane
Nursing Anthony Pender

[edit] Staff Officers

Staff Officers (appointed by a panel headed by the President in accordance with Article 15 of the Union's constitution)
2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
Design & Communications Officer (no such position) James Redmond Patrick McKay Patrick McKay
Accommodation & Employment Officer Finbar Dwyer Enda Duffy Shaun Smyth Michael Pat O’Donoghue
Research & Development Officer (previously two separate positions) Dan Finn Peter Doris (position abolished)
Publications & Communications Officer (no such position) Eoghan O’Duinn

The position of Publications & Communications Officer is a newly-created one.

[edit] Recent History

There is a long history of a left/right divide in the Union. In 1999 the Left was composed primarily of the student branch of the Socialist Workers Party with a small number of Socialist Party members. In the SU Presidential election of March 1999 the SWP’s candidate had been narrowly defeated. The SWP were to run additional candidates in the SU Presidential elections of 2001, Thomas Kador and 2002, Dan Finn [1]and in both cases were unsuccessful. Thus, by April 2002, a Fianna Fail SU President had been narrowly re-elected.

This was all to change due to two events that took place over the summer of 2002. The most far-reaching was the then Minister of Education’s (Noel Dempsey, FF) placing of third level fees onto the political agenda. For the academic year 2002-03 the political grouping known as the Campaign for Free Education or more recognizably, the CFE came to the fore.

The CFE was a near unprecedented umbrella group that arose out of a series of public meetings organized by left activists, mainly from former SWP members, Socialist Party members, anarchists and other lefts. These meetings were attended by “the usual crusty old lefties” as one of their Science Programme members put it. For the duration of the year the CFE had between 120 and 200 members making it an organization of semi-mass-participation. This was the first time in students’ memories that a left-wing organization was both predominantly student focused and successful in being so. The CFE grew largely because there was a single issue to focus on: the threatened return of third level tuition fees. Another key to its successes that year was that the Students’ Union-the body that should have been the properly functioning channel for students’ concerns and action-was utterly out of touch.

The then SU President and Honorary Lifetime member of the Kevin Barry Cumann of the Fianna Fáil party, Aonghus Hourihane was by and large co-operating with his party colleague-the then Education Minister. Hourihane ran a short-lived and poorly executed poster campaign calling for submissions on the re-introduction of fees; four submissions were received. In conversation he pushed a 'tax-and-spend' policy whereby revenue from third level fees would be used to help “the disadvantaged”. For months none of the other five full-time sabbatical officers of the Union publicly challenged or dissented from this position. After demonstrating such a lack of confrontation with one of their peers it would be later shown that the student population put little faith in their ability to confront the government. In contrast, two events in the first semester were to simultaneously show the disconnect between the full-time officers of the Union and its membership while aiding the CFE in the development of their canvassing and campaigning skills.

In October 2002 the CFE organized a protest at the official opening of the Veterinary Building. The Minister of Education was conducting the opening and the protesters sought to blockade him into the building. This action had the aims of sending a direct message to and securing answers from the Minister. Of the two full-time Union officers who made an appearance at the protest the SU President walked right past the protest wearing a suit in order to ‘negotiate’ with the minister while the then Education Vice President, former Fine Gael member Abraham Campbell[2], briefly held a placard and then returned to work in his office. The minister eventually left in a jeep through an unwatched and previously unknown exit. The protesters moved to the Student Centre to confront the Union President. In response to an alleged assault by one of the protesters the Union President called the University security services and the corridor of Students’ Union offices in the Student Centre was cleared of all students. The CFE received only one piece of negative feedback from these events. The Students’ Union Council, at the recommendation of the first&second year Veterinary Class Rep, passed a motion to condemn the protest. The second event of the semester was the USI disaffiliation referendum initiated by the SU President. Responsibility for the campaign was given to the Deputy President, and then Fine Gael member, Ross Higgins who ironically, was widely touted as having ambitions to be elected to the post of USI Equality Officer. The CFE ran the anti-disaffiliation side and achieved a 73% margin of victory. The CFE, composed largely of ordinary students becoming politically active for the first time in their lives, had proved they could do more than march, chant and conduct sit-down protests outside campus buildings. They had engaged with several thousand of their fellow students and won the day. Whatever opinion of USI some of the CFE would subsequently hold, the referendum victory was most important for the experience in organizational and canvassing skills CFE members gained. The stage was now set for the next big event in the Students’ Union political calendar-the Union sabbatical elections the following spring.

Prior to and during January 2003 the then favourite to win the SU Presidency was the then Education- Vice-President Abraham Campbell. This was with good reason. He had secured over 2,100 out of 3,800 votes cast the previous year, dealt with several hundred personal cases over his first seven months in office and had the seemingly trump card of being a sitting sabbatical officer. Yet it was this last trait that turned out to be his major electoral weakness. His time in office had been largely that; engaged in office work so by the occasion of the elections. In early February 2003, at a USI organised Protest Abraham Campbell stated to a friend that “Fees don’t matter.” His judgement was based on the numbers from UCD who turned out to participate in the protest. Out of a student population of 22,000 approximately 150-200 attended USI’s protest. What he failed to consider was that a vast proportion of these same UCD students could and indeed did go on to campaign for his rivals, CFE activists Paul Dillon and Paul Murphy. Abraham Campbell, who made the mistake of taking the central emphasis in his manifesto off fees secured only 25% of all 4,400 first preferences. Paul Dillon secured 42% and Paul Murphy secured 10%. Most glaringly for the Union and its claims to be a representative of UCD students, Paul Dillon was the clear winner in the Veterinary School. Other CFE candidates elected were Aidan Regan as Deputy President and Oisín Kelly, Socialist Party member as Education Vice President. This was partially repeated in the 2004 elections with the victories of Fergal Scully as President and Ciarán Weafer as Deputy President, both were perceived as left-wing. However, the Education Vice-Presidency that year went to James Carroll of Fianna Fáil[3] at a margin of almost 2 to 1.

The 2004 set of Union sabbatical elections were also marked by the controversy of the Re-Open Nominations or R.O.N campaign against the sole candidate for the Welfare Vice-Presidency, Shane Hennelly. Shane Hennelly was a second year Social Science student who produced a very poor quality manifesto and poster with both of these being produced in small numbers. The R.O.N Campaign team was composed largely of other second year Social Science students who produced material off their own initiative and expense. Their material stated that Hennelly offered no original strategies to tackle existing problems with most of his stated goals already being implemented; no mention of student grants or the 30% cut of the Back To Education Allawance or of the accommodation crisis across Dublin city; no sign of experience dealing with people in crisis and included the statement of "Many student may panic if they become pregnant." in the "Crisis Pregnancy" section of his manifesto. His material also lacked any mention of the inadequate S.T.I. clinic, the age restriction on Cervical smear testing or of the problemn with medical card holders obtaining prescriptions and contained no long-term strategies or solutions to the overburdened councelling servece. Most farcically he stated that "the campus is a relatively safe place" while showing no knowledge of the fact that there are an average of 4 rapes per year occurring on campus. Shane Hennelly had the sole advantage in that some members of the R.O.N. team had signed his nomination form. Their failure to argue that they had every right to change their minds resulted in their losing the edge to their moral as opposed to their factual superiority.

In 2006 the movement away from the Left that began prior to the 2005 Class Representative elections was maintained, with the President for the 2005-2006 year and Honorary Lifetime member of the Kevin Barry Cumann of Fianna Fáil, James Carroll being succeeded by unaffiliated centrist and sitting Welfare Vice-President, Dan Hayden. (http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74638)

[edit] Recent Controversies

The Union has taken stances on international issues, such as being the first institution in the world to introduce a ban on the sale of Coca-Cola products in its establishments, in protest against alleged human and trade union rights infringements in a Coca-Cola bottle facility in Colombia (see Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola). This was passed by two referenda of the student body in 2003. The Coca-Cola referenda sharply divided the left and right wings in the Union. After a referendum was passed in October 2003 to initially introduce the boycott, those opposing the ban petitioned successfully for a second referendum in November, contending that the first ballot had gone without adequate time for either side to campaign properly or for several hundred postgraduate students to register and obtain Union membership, and that the ballot had been passed by too thin a margin to be treated as a definitive opinion of the membership. The ban, however, was upheld with a higher turnout and higher margin of victory in the second polling. The Union's shops have also maintained a ban on Nestlé products since a similar referendum in 1989.

The Union has taken part in several protests on national and international issues, such as protests against the War in Iraq, immigration policy, the jailing of anti-bin tax protesters and the Rossport Five, as well as more general protests against racism and sexism. In November 2003, Class Rep and Socialist Party member David Murphy was jailed for his opposition to bin tax and was subsequently elected to the UCD Academic Council, topping the poll with an overwhelming tally. Since then the Union has had campaigns on campus-specific issues such as pushing for more democracy in the University, for the payment of expenses to Health Science students on work placement, and for lower prices in the Campus Bookshop and Arts Café.

Some students dislike the Union taking stances on some of these issues, claiming that the Students' Union should concern itself only with issues that directly affect UCD students. Some students think the Union is being misused, either to further the political career of officers - an allegation most often made against those who are perceived as right-wing - or as a platform for an officer's own political view points, an allegation more usually pointed against the left-wing Class Representatives. They argue that events in the outside world which may not be directly related to education still affect students throughout their daily lives and that it is in the interest of students to take a stance on such issues and show solidarity with the PAYE sector.

One long running controversy within the Union has been the nepotism in relation to the staff positions that are expected to work most closely with the elected Officers. While this goes largely unnoticed and undiscussed by the Union membership - indicative of the low profile of these positions - many members of successive Union Councils have spoken and written unfavourably of how incoming Union Presidents have appointed their friends, election campaign managers and volunteers or political allies to these positions. This has not been the case under the presidency of Dan Hayden, with the exception of the appointment of Shaun Smith to the position of Union PA on a temporary basis.

[edit] The University Observer

The University Observer[4] is the newspaper funded by UCD Students' Union. It has a standard print run of ten thousand copies and has won the Newspaper of the Year award at the National Student Media Awards (or "Smedias") on many occasions, most recently in April 2006 - an accolade it has achieved more than any other student newspaper in Ireland. Founded in 1995, one of its co-founders and first co-editors was comedian and former Literary and Historical Society Auditor, Dara Ó Briain. Many high-profile figures in Irish journalism have since held the position of Editor, including current deputy news editor of The Irish Times Roddy O'Sullivan, Sunday Business Post journalist Pat Leahy, AFP business reporter Enda Curran, Sunday Independent journalist Daniel McConnell, RTÉ News reporter Samantha Libreri and TV researcher Alan Torney. The efforts of its staff were noted by the prestigious Guardian Student Media Awards with a nomination for "Best Newspaper", the first Irish student publication to receive such recognition. In 2001, in addition to several Irish National Student Media Awards, the University Observer took the runner up prize for "Best Publication" at the Guardian Student Media Awards in London. To date, the Observer has won no fewer than 18 Irish Student Media Awards.

The main sections within the paper are frequently segmented into categories based on campus news, national and international news, comment, features, opinion pieces and sports news (at varsity, national and international levels). In addition, each edition includes a pullout arts and culture supplement called O2. While the Observer is funded by the Students' Union, its content remains editorially independent, with the exception of one 'Union Page' per issue, which is compiled by the Union's staff Design & Communications Officer under the supervision of the Sabbatical Officers.

Roll call of former editors of The University Observer
1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
Editors Edward Melvin & Katherine O'Callaghan Lucy Michael & Sarah Egan Daniel McConnell Daniel McConnell Enda Curran*/ Steve Cummins Samantha Libreri Eoghan Casey Sorcha Nic Mhathuna Stephen Carroll
Deputy Editors (no such office) Juno McEnroe Colm Maguire Steve Cummins Emmet Ryan Eoghan de Bhulbh Nathalie Márquez Courtney Michelle McCormick

[edit] Other Offices and Administrators

The key office within the Union is the Independent Appeals Board as detailed in Article 18 of the Union's constitution.

The individual who has been the longest involved and longest associated with the Union is Patrick J. O'Flynn who is the Union's Chief Returning Officer. Most of the ground-work involved in Union elections and referenda is performed by the Union Returning Officer, currently Morgan Shelley. Both of these office holders sit on the Independent Appeals Board.

Another position on the Independent Appeals Board is the Chairperson of Council. The Chair of Union Council for the 2006-2007 academic year is Michael D. Clark, the former Union Returning Officer, and the Vice-Chair is the current Communications & IT Officer, Gary Redmond. The Union Secretary is Colin Scally. The Vice Secretary is Isobel O'Connor. These positions are incumbent until the election of their successors at the first Council meeting following Council elections each October.

The Union Financial Administrator, Dave Carmody, is not a Union employee, but is permanently seconded to the Union by the University. He is the only other University employee who sits on the Independent Appeals Board.

The Union Legal Advisor is Leo Mangan of Mangan O’Beirne Solicitors.

A full-time PA or Operations Manager is employed by the Union. This position is currently vacant, and is currently been filled on a temporary basis.

[edit] External links

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