Charlie Collins | Contributing Writer
The organisers of the recent protests in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) are to address tomorrow’s meeting of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) council.
This discussion will be put forward in the context of the student charges that were recently approved by College Board, and the possibility of TCDSU taking direct action in response.
The organisers of the protests, who have organised under the name “NCAD Student Action” were invited to speak at council by Claire Donlon, Senior Sophister Microbiology class representative. Speaking to The University Times, Donlon said her belief that “council is a place for hearing out ideas” is what motivated her to invite the group to speak. She believes that TCDSU can benefit from “a unique opportunity to learn from a situation that is happening locally and in real time.”
The inclusion of the discussion item was seconded by TCDSU President-elect Lynn Ruane. The external speakers will have to be voted in by a simple majority in order to be able to speak.
Speaking to The University Times Niamh Moriarty, an organiser of NCAD Student Action, stated that she intended to outline what prompted the protests, the results of the groups’ actions and their plans for the future. She commented on why they felt it was important for their protests to be public, “there are serious problems around transparency and communication in NCAD that we feel render the usual channels for discussion stilted and unproductive so we needed to take action in a very public way in order to expose our concerns and our need for them to be addressed respectfully”.
The direct action taken by NCAD students comes in response to cuts to funding within the college which have impinged upon student resources and have resulted in new controversial charges to students. This, coupled with a large increase in student numbers and concerns about accounting practices, has lead to much discontent amongst the student body.
Students and alumni wrote an open letter to the Director of NCAD, Professor Declan McGonagle, on March 17th, to raise their concerns and to put forward a list of demands. The letter was circulated via social media and in print on campus in the following days. On March 20th, hundreds of students delivered this letter to the directors office. The director agreed to meet with students on Tuesday 24th March to discuss their concerns, however students subsequently decided to stage a sit-in on the college concourse and an emergency meeting in the college boardroom after the director cancelled this meeting. Protests in the college are ongoing, with the organisers stating that, if their demands are not met, “we will escalate our campaign throughout and beyond College”.
Photo: NCAD Student Action
