Samuel Riggs | Editor
The criteria for receiving on-campus accommodation was revealed last night at Students’ Union council in an Officer Report given by Ian Mooney, Welfare Officer. In his report, Mooney stated that “this is a stepping stone on the way to transparency for the whole process”. The report contains reference to correspondence between Mooney and the Registrar of Chambers, who outlines the accommodation allocation process and the various college bodies who receive a quota of rooms for select students.
The campus allocation process has long been a point of contention amongst students, with many complaining that it is an opaque process, and difficult to navigate when the criteria for receiving accommodation remain largely unclear to the student population. However, the report last night outlines the various ways in which students are likely to receive rooms on campus. The number of rooms allocated to each group for the coming academic year can also be found on the accommodation section of the College’s website. No figures are available for the year 2014/2015.
The process states that a number of rooms are ring-fenced for some college bodies before they become available for those who have applied under general circumstances. The report stated that rooms are given to “Global Relations who decide to whom the rooms should be allocated”. 120 rooms are made available to Global Relations in this instance. Rooms are also given to Sabbatical Officers for the Students’ Union and Graduate Students’ Union, currently numbering seven on the accommodation website, as well as the Scholars, who late last year, successfully postponed the movement of scholars to Trinity Hall until 2015. For the 2015/2016 academic year, 140 on-campus rooms and 100 rooms in Trinity Hall will be allocated to scholars.
A number of rooms are also allocated to CSC and DUCAC, who provide the names of students to whom they wish to allocate rooms, based on their involvement in society or sports club activity. The College’s Irish Language Office are also allocated a number of rooms for use in the Scéim Chonaithe, which are distributed amongst students following an interview to determine whether or not they will be able to participate fully in the scheme. The total number of rooms allocated to the Scéim, CSC and DUCAC numbers at 38 on-campus and 18 in Trinity Hall.
Five rooms will be reserved on-campus for the children of Fellows next year, and fifty rooms will be allocated based on those seeking special consideration for their application, and who may have special needs for their accommodation. These applications are reviewed by the College Safety Officer, the Accommodation Officer, the Directors of College Health, the Student Counselling Service, the Disability Service, and the Senior Tutor. Finally, fifty rooms are allocated for postgraduate students.
Once all rooms are allocated, 235 beds remain for general distribution. The report states that Senior Sophister students are given precedence over Senior Freshman and Junior Sophister students, unless they receive a room from one of the ways stated previously, such as being very involved with a society, or receiving a room as a Students’ Union Sabbatical Officer.
The factors that are taken into account when allocating the remaining rooms to students are their home addresses, whether the student has lived on-campus before, and the student’s personal statement and contribution to college life, which are reviewed by a committee who then proceed to decide whether or not to allocate a room to the student.
Finally, the report reveals that the Senior Dean is currently involved with a working group which will establish clear principles for the allocation of on-campus accommodation to students in the future. The College is also aiming to redevelop Oisín House on Pearse Street, which will provide an additional 200 rooms for students in a central, on-campus location.
Speaking to The University Times on the release of the information, Ian Mooney stated that he felt this was “a positive step on the road to the college being more forthcoming with information for its students.” He further stated that “we still have a long way to go until we achieve full transparency, and until we can fully combat the student accommodation crisis.”
Applications for on-campus accommodation are now open for the coming academic year.
Featured image courtesy of francesking.com
