Trinity’s online sign-in system for overnight guests is down, according to the College’s Accommodation Office.
In an email, the Accommodation Office advised residents on campus to “sign guests in the Overnight Guestbook at Front Gate or in Goldsmith Hall before midnight each night”.
The online sign-in system was implemented in April of this year on a trial basis, allowing students to sign in their guests on a section of Trinity’s website.
Previously, students could only sign guests in at the security desk at Front Arch or in Goldsmith Hall.
The online system was introduced as Trinity sought to move its accommodation service online. In recent years, as Trinity has attempted to break into a lucrative market of summer tourists, the university has offered its beds and rooms to visitors to Dublin from June onwards.
At the start of every year, campus residents receive an hour-long lecture on safety on campus, including on the rules and regulations for overnight guests. The system made things more convenient for students, without altering the College’s rigorous approach to overnight guests.
Speaking to The University Times in 2016, Provost Patrick Prendergast discussed how living in Trinity’s Botany Bay in the mid-1980s contributed to his view that Trinity should remain a “residential university”. He discussed how “that’s the kind of university I have a vision for, a residential university. I think it’s very important we build student residences on the main campus”.
In recent years, accommodation prices on campus have increased steadily. In March, College backed down in the face of student opposition to an increase in on-campus accommodation costs.
