The welfare race is the most competitive race in this year’s Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) elections, with five candidates running for the position of welfare officer. In the week leading up to the election period, The University Times spoke to each candidate in order to look more in depth at their main manifesto points.
The role of the TCDSU welfare officer is clearly defined with the job focusing on looking after the general well-being of students. Candidates have chosen to highlight issues such as mental health, consent classes, accommodation and drugs policies as their main issues. A defining point of this race is the lack of deviation from these general themes by any candidate, with most instead honing in on the precise way they would implement changes, should they be elected.
Meabh Cullen
Third-year environmental science student Meabh Cullen chooses to highlight mental health, the disability service, gender-neutral bathrooms and drug education to focus on if she is successful in the upcoming elections.
Cullen’s experience with the Disability Service in Trinity shows in her manifesto. As current TCDSU Part-Time Officer for Students with Disabilities and a former Ambassador for the Disability Service for two years, she asserts that she wants to make sure that students registered with the service can get on-campus accommodation if they need it. Clarifying this, she says this would extend to “students who meet certain criteria in terms of what their disability is”. However, Cullen does not clarify what this criteria is. Currently, there are approximately 50 beds allocated to students with disabilities and, perhaps optimistically considering the current accommodation crisis, Cullen would like to see this number doubled calling her plan “ambitious” but “possible”.
While consent isn’t mentioned as one of her manifesto points, Cullen believes that “we need to open up a conversation” and keep building from this years success. She would seek to keep the classes mandatory to ensure that “we continue to get high numbers of students attending the classes”. Interestingly, Cullen also doesn’t mention the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment, a campaign that TCDSU are mandated to support.
Part of Cullen’s drugs policy is to introduce a forum where students can advise each other with regards to harmful substances which may be in circulation. When quizzed on whether she would introduce drug testing at Trinity Ents events, she believes “it’s important that there is something there for the safe use of drugs and harm reduction” but also admits that it may be hard to implement this at smaller events. Mentioning a Students for Sensible Drugs Policy (SSDP) motion, which suggested the implementation of drug testing at Trinity Ball, Cullen admits that there are creases that need to be ironed out with regards to it but that “those creases are small”. For personal use, a marquis reagent drug testing kit can be used to identify illegal substances in a dependable and easy manner.
Laura Grady
Second-year BESS student Laura Grady is running her campaign focusing on mental health, sexual health and engagement. She is looking to instigate day-long “mini campaigns” that would in turn only have a “mini reach”. However, she believes these are important as they will give students “that little bit extra engagement” with TCDSU. When questioned on whether these day-long campaigns are a lot of effort for the amount of people they reach, Grady insists that after two years on the Welfare Committee she knows “quite well whether something would be feasible or not”.
An interesting point of Grady’s manifesto is her wish to subsidise the €15 courier fee for Health Centre STI checks on SHIFT days. Subject to approval, she hopes that €5 would come from TCDSU, the Health Service would provide another €5 and the student getting the check would provide the final amount. With only two SHIFT days a year, Grady seems to believe it is feasible but as the union and the College are already struggling financially it has yet to be seen whether this promise is possible.
One point that Grady does not mention in her manifesto is a drugs policy. She admits that while drug testing is “quite controversial” she does believe that it is “a good idea”. Much like all the welfare candidates, she recognises the fact that “you can’t stop students doing drugs” and therefore believes it is important to focus her time and energy on providing information so that students can be as informed as possible regarding the drugs they are taking. As well as the drug testing, she would also like to see them implementation of “chill out zones” at Trinity Ents events for students who had taken drugs. Providing “blankets and tea”, Grady sees this space as somewhere that students can recover from possible side effects. While Trinity Ball already has a medical tent for such a purpose, Trinity Ents events currently do not. Although this idea might be welcomed by students it is important to recognise that the side effects of drugs can be severe and a “chill out zone” is not a replacement for genuine medical caregivers on site. Grady later clarified that she does not see these zones as a replacement for having medical practitioners at Trinity Ball.
On the issue of consent classes, Grady admits that “the complete opposite of consent is making them mandatory” but also believes that “you just have to take it really seriously, and that’s why they are mandatory, they can’t just be lackadaisy”. In dealing with possible criticism that has arisen around the classes, with some students feeling targeted by their mandatory status, Grady maintains that you have to focus on “what you believe is important” and take any criticism “in your stride”.
Damien McClean
Fourth-year mathematics student Damien McClean focuses on several issues and concerns himself particularly with the themes of accommodation, representation and providing support for students. When it comes to accommodation, McClean’s main emphasis is on “getting beds”, offering this as a solution to the ongoing crisis. Recognising that the current accommodation crisis is a long-term issue, he believes that “we can fight towards long-term, start planning towards long-term but at the same time alleviate, try and alleviate, some of the stress right now”. To alleviate this stress, he hopes to secure more beds with student residences like the Binary Hub specifically for Trinity students. With the College already having secured accommodation for students here, he believes that existing relationships can be built upon to further assist Trinity students. He has also been in discussion with the Accommodation Advisory Service around the possibility of setting up a review system for students which would look at what services makes certain accommodation stand out from others.
McClean’s desire to make Trinity more accessible for students with disabilities stands out. Admitting that college is “quite good” in terms of accessibility, it is definitely far from perfect. He is quick to point out, however, that he is not proposing to “bulldoze House Six and put in an elevator”. Instead, he would like to see small changes made around college, such as students being allowed to use the lift in the Dining Hall to access the Cumann Gaelach room. McClean claims that students currently can’t use it because it passes a staff space, this is something that “annoys” McClean. McClean later clarified that a member of An Cumann Gaelach committee had told him that, while the room is technically accessible, people would have to go through the staff common room, something that involves a lot of bureaucracy. He would also hope to see this accessibility extended to accommodation. Despite looking for comparatively small changes such as providing suitable mattresses or extra heating for those with joint problems, McClean admits he doesn’t “know directly where this money will come from” but that ideally they would do as much as their budget allowed.
One of the more unique parts of McClean’s manifesto is his promise to bring rapid HIV testing to campus on a regular basis. Having been in contact with HIV Ireland and KnowNow who both provide free testing, McClean hopes to facilitate them in bringing their service onto campus. Accepting that this is an issue students may want to keep confidential, he believes there are “ways of making it discreet while promoting it as well”, such as introducing a text alert system for your appointment.
Emma Purser
Fourth-year world religions and theology student Emma Purser focuses on drug testing, mental health, students abroad and sexual health in her manifesto. One issue Purser is particularly strong on is the introduction of drug testing at Trinity Ball. Her emphasis on this point of her manifesto is interesting considering the contentious nature of drug testing. Questions have previously been raised at TCDSU Council surrounding the legality of testing and the potential repercussions should a student become ill. Purser maintains, however, that these will not be issues as it will be outside bodies, such as the HSE, conducting the testing. “At no point does it involve anyone in the SU,” she explains. The best way, in her opinion, to combat the current drugs crisis is on a “harm reduction basis” which recognises the fact that students do take drugs and is focused instead on equipping them with the necessary information rather than on reducing drug use. Purser’s manifesto promises to continue the work done by the “What’s in the Pill” campaign. She believes that, despite the campaign already being run, it can be as successful with a focus on different drugs, not just ecstasy.
As well as supporting students based in Dublin, Purser wants to reach out and support Trinity students who are abroad on Erasmus saying they are often forgotten about once they leave. This would include self-care workshops before they leave the country and office hours set aside specifically for Erasmus students as a “reminder that their SU is still there to help them”. With the Welfare Officer already often having a full schedule, it is unclear where the extra hours to facilitate such Skype sessions will be made available, especially considering the fact she will be contending with different time zones depending on the location of the student.
Purser also hopes to extend the supplies given out by the welfare officer to pregnancy tests. As to where the money for this will come from, Purser states that she sees “no problem with allocating another part of the budget received by welfare to that”. With an already tight budget, it has yet to be proven that would be possible to allocate the funds needed to provide this service.
Rachel Skelly
At the core of third-year geography student Rachel Skelly’s manifesto is a focus on the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment and consent. This is unsurprising, with Skelly having been a member of the group behind the consent campaign and a current member of the union’s committee to repeal the eighth amendment. Her manifesto also covers sex positivity alongside consent and gender-neutral bathrooms, which is a topic that has received numerous attention from all candidates. Skelly hopes to “get the conversation going” around these issues stating that “at the moment the two sides are so divided that we’re kind of in a stalemate and nothing is going to happen if we’re ignoring each other”.
Focusing on big campaigns such as repealing the eighth amendment and extending Trinity’s installation of gender-neutral bathrooms to businesses around Dublin is likely to be in line with the wishes of many students. One could question, however, the high number of national campaigns mentioned as opposed to those based within the College. When questioned on this, Skelly contended that “we don’t have a campus that people stay in constantly so we need to look at how people are being affected outside college as well”.
That said, with 12 points on her manifesto, she does cover a large number of internal and external issues, encouraging student involvement in both. Her plans to run a monthly poster campaign, with each poster designed by students focusing on issues they consider relevant, should boost engagement with the union. This coupled with a series of blogs and vlogs providing information such as how to use the health service would hopefully see increased engagement.
Noticeably missing from Skelly’s manifesto are policies on accommodation and drugs, two issues which are currently prevalent to the student body. Skelly admits that she is aware of the current housing situation in Dublin but points out that it is “a national housing crisis” and as a result “you can’t really click your fingers and solve the problem”. She does intend, however, to assist students to “use the services and use the kind loopholes within rental agreements” to their advantage.
When it comes to a drugs policy, Skelly believes that a recent SSDP motion brought to TCDSU’s council proposing the implementation of a drug testing tent at Trinity Ball is “a very reasonable and realistic approach”. She hopes to assist students manage stress levels, while also recognising that students “don’t need to be told they’re wrong and get prosecuted for what they’re doing” and therefore not come forward when they need help.
Correction: February 18th, 2017
An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated Seomra Na Gaeilge is inaccessible. In fact, the room can be accessed via a lift in the Atrium and going through the Staff Common Room.
Donal MacNamee and Philip McGuinness contributed reporting to this piece.
