As 2016 finishes, we at The University Times can look back at a year that has seen significant changes and challenges both nationally and here in Trinity. Whether it’s been the election of a new government in March, and with it a new Minister for Education and Skills, or Trinity’s decision to divest from fossil fuels, The University Times has been there all year, reporting on some of the biggest issues and most interesting stories for students in Trinity and across Ireland.
The diversity of subjects in these articles proves the variety of interests that are held by students and academic staff in Ireland, whether it’s renewed interest in those events that take place every year, a breaking story about those elected to represent us or the work done by our societies and clubs. That these stories represent so many different areas is a testament to the work that is undertaken in this community, a community that The University Times is proud to be a part of.
The paper has gone to new lengths this year, with coverage of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) more ambitious and detailed than ever before – something clearly appreciated by students, with two election pieces making it into the top 15 most popular articles of the year. The University Times has also once again received international recognition for its work, whether it’s being placed as one of the best student editorial boards in the world or winning six international awards for design in April, with then-Editor, Edmund Heaphy, awarded designer of the year.
This has not gone unnoticed by our readers, who have consistently valued some our biggest and most important articles, from a funding clash between a student union and a college to the election of Lynn Ruane to the Seanad. For the second year in a row, The University Times has surpassed one million unique visitors to its website, or 1,108,612 readers and counting as this article was published. At a time when journalists around the world are re-evaluating how they do their job, these figures prove the healthy interest Trinity students have in good journalism.
Below is a list of our top 15 most read articles, whereby “most read” means that they received the most unique visitors over the course of the year.
Live: Seanad TCD Panel Count
Given that current students can’t vote in the elections and that the entire house could have been abolished in 2013, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the elections to Seanad Éireann wouldn’t generate much interest within Trinity’s walls. Thanks largely to the candidacy of then-Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President, Lynn Ruane, and what was a nail-biting conclusion to two days of counting, however, the elections received unprecedented attention within the College, with The University Times’s liveblog seeing over 23,000 unique visitors. With the liveblog, led by Edmund Heaphy and Dan O’Brien, providing updates on formal counts and tallies as well as images and quotes, much of that attention came from outside of Trinity. Data and infographics from The University Times were used by RTÉ and thejournal.ie in their coverage and David Cochrane, Social Media Editor of Irish Times ,tweeted that the paper’s “outstanding updates” made it “the ultimate winner” of the count. Live updates received hundreds of retweets on Twitter, with North Inner City Dublin Councillors Gary Gannon praising the paper’s “stellar work on keeping us updated” and one tweet adding that it was “wonderfully odd – first liveblog I’ve seen where the contributors have a debate with each other!”
After two long days of counting, that honour went to returning senators Ivana Bacik and David Norris alongside Ruane, who was elected on the 15th count after a neck-and-neck race with Sean Barrett, who was seeking re-election. Ruane’s victory was met with thunderous applause from students and campaigners in Trinity’s Public Theatre.
Evanna Lynch on Veganism, Luna Lovegood and Playing an Advocate for the Weird
In a year that saw famous faces such as Patti Smith, Prof Brian Cox and Bob Geldof both educating and entertaining the students of Trinity it is perhaps surprising that this actress topped the poll as our most popular visitor. Evanna Lynch’s experiences in the role of Luna Lovegood and her decision to lead a vegan life, however, caught the imagination of readers. The second most popular article of 2016, with over 22,000 unique views, Lynch has long been a person who ignited curiosity in those around her. She first found fame in the Harry Potter series playing the character of Luna Lovegood, a role which fitted so perfectly with her quirky nature that it seemed to be written for her. Speaking to the College Historical Society (the Hist) earlier this year, where she received the Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Discourse through the Art, she admitted that she’s happy to spread her characters message of “I’m weird and that’s ok”. The story was picked up by vegan and Harry Potter fans on social media who both look to Lynch as a spokesperson for their respective life passions.
Trans Rights Activist Accuses DITSU Presidential Candidate of Transphobia and Homophobia
It’s clear that it’s not just Trinity’s elections that drum up some controversy. This year, the elections for Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) saw Boni Odoemene, a candidate running for president, accused by a prominent trans rights activist of being both transphobic and homophobic. Toryn Glavin, a founding member of the Irish Trans Student Alliance, as well as a former chairperson of DIT’s LGBT society, urged DIT students not to vote for him, telling her experience of sitting on a bus in front of Odoemene whilst “he decided to have a debate on the bus with a friend about whether I was a man, a woman or an it”. The claims were supported by a number of current and former DITSU officers. Odoemene denied the claims, sharing a picture of himself holding up a Yes Equality “I’m Ready to Vote” poster, and was elected as president. Proof that the national student community cares about LGBT issues, as well as being curious about election controversy beyond their own college walls, the piece received 10,092 unique views.
TCDSU Board of Trustees Meeting Held to Discuss Trinity Ball After Party and Following Editorial
It had seemed that the tide was turning for Trinity Ents. For years perceived by many as a something of a bastion of exclusivity, drugs and elitism, the first election of a female Ents officer in ten years had seemed to suggest that this image was changing. The news then in May, that the Board of Trustees of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) was convened in response to a private after party, organised by then-Ents Officer, Katie Cogan, and which saw Seth Troxler, a Trinity Ball act, play a live DJ set, with students charged €15 for entry, was always going to be popular. The initial piece, which revealed that then-TCDSU President, Lynn Ruane, had convened the Board of Trustees in response to the party, was ready by nearly 10,000 people, while the follow-up editorial by The University Times Editorial Board, which argued that the “after party represents a lot of what people hate about the perceived in-crew involved in ents”, received 9,312 unique views. Many readers were perhaps surprised by the decision to report on the after party, and used Facebook to make their opinions felt. Others wondered aloud why an ents officer hosting a party that involved drugs and alcohol was even news to begin with. Our editorial responded to these criticisms, emphasising that it was not the party in itself that was news, but Ruane’s decision to convene the Board of Trustees in response to the party, that made it newsworthy. Either way, the news of the “strictly invite only” and “extremely confidential party” was easily one of the most popular pieces of the year and remained one of the major talking points of 2016.
Maher Denies Handing Out Free Cans for Votes in Trinity Hall
The Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) sabbatical officer elections are rarely free from some kind of scandal and in 2016 The University Times revealed one of the biggest stories of recent years, which was read by over 9,200 people. With everything from mums playing beer pong to the presence of an identical twin brother, it’s not hard to see why the story that Caolán Maher, a candidate in the ents race, was seen handing out free cans in Trinity Hall, breaking Electoral Commission guidelines, was one of the most popular pieces of the year, even spawning its own hashtag “#cangate”. It’s unclear how much damage the revelation caused Maher, who strenuously denied the allegations, and was neck and neck with the eventual winner, Padraic Rowley, in the The University Times poll. Maher went on to finish second in the election, with 38.3 per cent of the vote.
After Lecturer Mocks Exam Answers on Facebook, German Department Apologises
Trinity lecturers must often get frustrated by the answers give by students, or their clear lack of revision. However, it is much rarer for a college school or department to have to apologise after these frustrations are aired publicly. Trinity’s Department of Germanic Studies was forced to apologise in May after Dr Clemens Ruthner, an assistant professor in the department, mocked the exam answers of students on Facebook. Listing some of the “most creative answers” he had received, with examples including students’ responses to questions on who was Wilhelm Tell, a question on Sigmund Freud and another on the nature of coming of age novels, known as Bildungsroman, his actions prompted an apology from the department. Ruthner apologised, expressing his frustration at some students’ lack of “basic knowledge”. Whether Ruther’s frustration was fair or not divided the article’s 8,592 unique readers, with some expressing sympathy for the lecturer’s response. Regardless, the matter was taken very seriously by the department, who promised an investigation into the posts.
50 Scholars, 24 Fellows and Two Honorary Fellows Elected
Part of a long-standing tradition and one of the things that makes Trinity unique, Provost Patrick Prendergast announced the election of 50 Scholars, 14 Professorial Fellows and two Honorary Fellows during Trinity week. This year’s election saw the number of scholars decline again, with 67 new scholars elected in 2015 and 99 elected the previous year. While the election takes place every year, it always draws huge attention from the Trinity community, who are often looking to support their friends and classmates, or are just generally curious. A testament to how students, staff and those outside its walls enjoy those unique things about the College, the article is one of our top pieces every year, seeing 7,205 unique views this year, and with the election also featuring in RTÉ’s Inside Trinity documentary as one of Trinity’s defining events.
The Trinity Twenty
The perennially popular list of Trinity’s best and brightest was as popular as ever, with students once again proving their desire to see their friends and colleagues ranked in order of how important and significant a name they are on campus. In a first for the list, Lynn Ruane, former TCDSU President and Senator, secured the number one spot for the second year in a row, ensuring that, as her profile says, “her focus will remain firmly undiverted from issues taking place outside of the Trinity bubble”. Apart from this small bit of history, the list remained roughly similar to previous years, dominated by TCDSU sabbatical officers, heads of societies and the editors of the College’s various publications. The list, which often blurs the line between parody and praise, was no different this year, referencing everything from the “dying animal of Irish culture” to comparing the “hackiest of hacks”, Carla King-Molina, to a vampire. As always, it makes us question why people keep returning year after year.
Live Blog: TCDSU Sabbatical Officer Elections 2016
As the country was obsessing over the general election, Trinity was following the fortunes of the candidates in the presidential, welfare, education, ents and The University Times editor races. With little real scandal involved during the two week-campaign (with perhaps the exception of Caolán Maher’s run-in with the Electoral Commission) most candidates focused on policy, with the themes of consent, gender neutral bathrooms and higher education funding taking a central role. While most of the student population only have a passing interest in the election season, the elections still dominated much of The University Times coverage over the two-week campaign. This culminated in a live-blog on election night, which proved highly popular among readers – nearly 7,000 people read it to find out who the 2016/17 sabbatical officer team would be. And, despite the sense that students like to claim that they don’t care who is elected TCDSU President, there was a significant spike in readership in February, with The University Times articles receiving 131,000 unique views, perhaps as a result of the paper’s combined coverage of the TCDSU election and general election.
How My Crisis Pregnancy Changed My View on Abortion
2016 saw women’s reproductive rights firmly take their place on the national stage. Every second person you pass in the Arts Block is wearing a Repeal jumper and there isn’t one lecture hall that hasn’t seen arguments surrounding the pros and cons of repealing the eighth amendment. The debate surrounding whether we, as a nation, should repeal is alive and the pages of The University Times is no exception. In October, Anna Murray added her voice to the countless others looking to share their stories. Speaking from her own experience, she recounted the struggles she faced when discovering she was pregnant during her first year in college. Speaking with brutal honesty, she shed a light on how far we are from living in the progressive society we often applaud ourselves for. She highlighted the importance of giving each woman a choice. That, at the end of the day, we need to focus on the women at the centre of this issue. These vulnerable women who are “entirely responsible and quite literally all alone”. It’s rare for an opinion piece to make it to our most-read list, but this piece secured over 6,200 unique views, proving that the Trinity community is more than willing to participate in national debates.
As Food Delivery Jobs Go, Deliveroo is One of The Worst
Finding a part-time job in the current climate can, at times, seem impossible. Deliveroo appears to offer the perfect solution: flexible working hours, no boss breathing down your neck and some pretty slick gear for cycling around town in. As consumer demand for the service increased, however, so did complaints from workers about their treatment. Flaws in the system such as paying couriers the same amount for cycling 400m and 4km and the lack of insurance prompted Trinity student and former courier, Phoebe Eddlestone, to write about her own experience. With countless students employed by Deliveroo and even more making use of their service, the comments on this piece revolved around varying experiences with the company. Many sympathised with the courier’s position, while others told of their predominantly good experiences of the company. Others suggested that workers with such flexible hours shouldn’t expect certain bonuses. Receiving over 5,500 unique views, this piece illustrates how important it is that the student body has a platform to air their concerns, not just those about college issues but issues that affect their day-to-day living too.
Michael O’Leary on How Ryanair is Going to Take Over the World
Despite the event starting at 7.30am on a Friday, the visit of Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, to Trinity Entrepreneurial Society (TES) managed to pack out the Edmund Burke Theatre and provide one of our most popular articles of the year, receiving 5,539 unique views. Those present wouldn’t have regretted rising so early, with O’Leary providing enough energy to keep the theatre awake as he promised the airline would “spread like a disease all over Europe” and threw out free flights to those asking questions. Never one to shy away from controversy, O’Leary boldly stated that he would “do anything I can think of to generate PR for Ryanair”, promising that the airline would “double in size in the next eight to 10 years” – growing from 100 million passengers to about 200 million passengers – as well as undercut other platforms like Tripadvisor. O’Leary urged the crowd to develop the IT skills that would let them disrupt any industry, urging students present to remain ambitious: “You have the brains and the ability to conquer the world.”
First Three Acts of Trinity Ball 2016 Revealed
The Trinity Ball line-up is always hotly anticipated, and this year proved no different, with nearly 5,000 individuals clicking on the article that revealed All Tvvins, Horse Meat Disco and Blonde as the first three acts. Greeted with a mixture of excitement and confusion, the popularity of the article suggests that the interest and frenzy associated with Trinity Ball shows no sign of abating. The eventual line-up proved to be immensely popular, with acts like Stormzy, the Kooks and Gorgon City eventually joining the bill and tickets for the ball selling out in less than a day. It’ll be interesting to see, as the next Trinity Ball edges closer, whether the same interest and curiosity can be generated.
The Church’s Lingering Shadows On Sex Work in Ireland
The world of sex and sexual education is something that remains largely foreign to many Irish citizens. Most of us have grown up in a country where school education surrounding the subject focused largely on a one dimensional, Catholic view of the subject. In a bid to shed some light on the intriguing world of sex work in this country, Julianne Flynn spoke to sex worker Kate McGrew and members of Ruhama, a Dublin-based NGO that works with women affected by prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. Digging into Ruhama’s history, links to the Magdalene Laundries arose and further questions were raised by the organisations apparent paranoia at revealing funding details and their links to the Catholic Church. Email correspondence between the Communications and Policy Officer the CEO of Ruhama were inadvertently forwarded to The University Times Magazine, including the line: “I reckon once it goes to print we can criticise such attacks as ‘pimp-thinking’”, something that received particular attention on Twitter. One of the aims of The University Times is to inform students not just about what is happening under their noses in College but also what is happening in a larger national context. The experiences of McGrew and others are essential to changing the way our society operates and creating a world where sex can be openly discussed in a healthy manner.
After “Unacceptable” Demands From College, DIT Students’ Union Left Without Funding
The news that was Dublin Institute of Technology Students’ Union (DITSU) was left without expected funding for months after rejecting a new funding proposal put forward by the College was met with outcry not only from students within DIT but on a national level, with our peace seeing 4,323 unique views. The new funding structure would have allowed DIT to internally audit the union, something that the President of DITSU, Boni Odoemene, said “we could not accept. We just could not”, adding that such a move “goes completely against our independence”. The College’s actions were condemned in the Seanad, with the union receiving the support of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and a host of senators. Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell stated in the Oireachtas that it was “an attempt by an institution to try and use the pressure of funding to manage a union”, something which he stated was “repugnant to the entire system”.
