After three days, the Take Back Trinity movement’s occupation of the Dining Hall will come to an end. At 1pm today, occupiers will officially leave the Dining Hall and it will be re-opened for normal service.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Kevin Keane confirmed to The University Times that the occupation will end today.
The occupation began on Tuesday at 10am, with over 50 students setting up camp in the building in defiance of College’s decision to introduce a €450 flat fee for supplemental exams. After attracting international media attention, the occupation – and last night’s protests – were some of the most dramatic demonstrations of student anger to hit Trinity in years.
Trinity last night moved against the students occupying the Dining Hall, locking the doors and refusing access to the building to members of the campaign. With private security guards taking the lead, students were initially blocked from bathrooms and prevented from entering or leaving the building freely. The demonstration, that had been peaceable up to that point, suddenly turned angry. Over 100 students spilled onto the Dining Hall steps, chanting, cheering and booing in response to a drastic response from a College that before today had seemed ambivalent about the protests that were disrupting campus, while others took up residence in the Exam Hall and Regent’s House.
Last night, the Provost Patrick Prendergast, who had up until then been silent on the protests which have rocked campus, for the first time acknowledged the movement. In a tweet, he wrote that College will “seriously consider” alternative proposals on supplemental exam fees. He added that they would consider proposals on “modular billing & PG/Non-EU fees at the next Board meeting”, in addition to supplemental fees.
Today marks the fifth day of action against fees. Last week students protested outside House One in Front Square, during a meeting of Finance Committee. And, on Friday, students blocked off Front Arch and the entrance to the Book of Kells exhibition for several hours. Yesterday too, after a rally attended by hundreds of students, the group managed to shut off access to the Book of Kells, as well Front Gate and the Nassau St entrance for significant periods of time. The act was one of symbolic as well as literal defiance: students have constantly attacked Trinity as caring more about tourists than students themselves.
Last week, students trolled Trinity online by posting one-star ratings on the Trinity College Dublin Global Facebook page, causing College to delete all reviews and disable the review function altogether.
