There is nothing scandalous or obscene about the details of the Provost’s travel costs or expenses, which The University Times published on Tuesday. Yes, in the week that was in it – with students creating an altogether justified rumpus about the introduction of supplemental fees – the overall figures were jarring, if not a little high. But that’s not the point: how much the president of a publicly funded university spends shouldn’t be a secret. It’s also amusing to know he went to the trouble of claiming back a single €1.90 toll charge.
Students for Justice in Palestine’s successful bid to hold a referendum is impressive, but it could be mistimed. The fight against supplemental exam fees has refocused the attention of Trinity students on local, domestic issues, after an election season that seemed to repudiate TCDSU’s outward-facing focus. Yet things might be more worrying for SUOOP: a months-long struggle to even get enough signatures for a referendum hardly suggests Trinity students are chomping at the bit to escape TCDSU.
If you weren’t paying attention, you might not have noticed. But this week, Trinity Hall elected a majority male JCR, despite numerous female candidates putting themselves up for election. To ask why takes us back to Trinity’s vexed issue of women and elections, but it’s telling that out of eight elected positions, only one woman won. Elections – not to mention student ones – are complicated things, as is the likely explanation for why so few women won. But it should still give us cause to re-think our approach to women in leadership.
