Trinity’s societies are suspending events en masse amid ongoing concerns around the spread of the coronavirus.
At least 16 societies and student groups – including Trinity Musical Theatre (TMT), Trinity Vincent de Paul (VDP) and Trinity College Law Society (LawSoc) – have cancelled or postponed events at the time of publication, with more expected to be announced today.
As of now, societies have been advised by the Central Societies Committee (CSC) that events can continue as normal, but many are taking matters into their own hands and opting not to run them.
By the time of publication, the CSC had not responded to a request for comment. Its Society of the Year Awards will go ahead tonight, societies were told today.
TMT has postponed all performanced of its upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which was due to take place this week in the O’Reilly Theatre.
In an email statement to The University Times, Rua Barron, the society’s chair, wrote that “due to the ever evolving nature of the COVID-19 outbreak, this course of action was beyond our control”.
“I am heartbroken for the cast, crew and orchestra of this very special production. We look forward to re-staging the show at a later date with the same amount of love, passion and energy we have always had for this show and the society”, she said.
VDP has cancelled all activities “until further notice”, the society’s chair, Conall Keane, told The University Times this afternoon.
In a statement, Keane wrote that “as heartbreaking as it is to not be able to provide the help we usually do, avoiding any risk to our service users is the most important thing right now”.
The College’s S2S service has also postponed its awards ceremony and mentor training. An email sent to S2S mentors informed them of the suspended events.
DU History cancelled a trip to Rome scheduled for last week, and has been unable to offer refunds to those who were due to travel. In a statement to The University Times, DU History auditor Béibhinn Breathnach said: “DU History took the decision not to travel as a group [to] Rome, in light of the coronavirus situation, which was at that time very quickly developing in Italy. We had anticipated what has now transpired with regards to travel to Italy.”
“We made our members aware that they could travel as individuals but the group trip was cancelled”, Breathnach said. “As the hostel and flights had been paid for, and the DFA had not yet advised against travel to Italy (limiting it to certain regions), we were not able to offer refunds.”
Players, meanwhile, has told members that its PiPs showcase – a programme run by the society – has been postponed.
In an email, Em Ormonde, the director of festivals, wrote that “a frustrating but necessary decision has been made to postpone the Week 9 PiPs Showcase”, adding that “we have plans to see these shows up on their feet as soon as the university returns to something approaching normal”.
The Samuel Beckett theatre has shut down all public performances.
Trinity College Law Review, a student-run law journal published by the Law School, today postponed the launch of its 23rd volume – due to take place on March 20th – until September.
The publication was due to be launched by Lady Hale, formerly the president of Britain’s Supreme Court. On Facebook, the organisers wrote that “we are disappointed to inform everyone that due to recent developments regarding COVID-19 and the closure of the Long Room, and on the advice of the Trinity Law School, we have made the tough decision to postpone the Launch of Volume XXIII until September 2020”.
Trinity’s Arabesque Society announced on Instagram today that it will be “temporarily cancelling all future events” due to the cancellation of physical lectures in College and the “rapid increase of coronavirus cases in Ireland”.
DU Pirate Party postponed a lock-picking event scheduled this week, telling members in an email that the decision had been made “due to health and safety precautions taken by the college”.
LawSoc last night cancelled an information night ahead of its upcoming committee elections. A post on the society’s Facebook page said that the event was “cancelled due to the most recent updates in college regarding the outbreak of coronavirus”.
And Trinity’s Free Legal Aid Centre (FLAC) wrote on Facebook yesterday that a clinic due to take place last night on period poverty would “no longer be taking place” after the College’s decision to move lectures online. FLAC also cancelled a panel discussion on period poverty that was due to take place last night. A post on the society’s Facebook page said that the decision was made “in light of recent Trinity updates regarding lectures and campus accessibility”.
BioSoc has cancelled a talk with Dr Íde Delargy, the clinical lead behind Ireland’s first free independent treatment programme for health professionals. In a statement on Facebook, BioSoc said: “In light of the current situation, guidelines on social distancing and how best to contain the spread of the coronavirus, we’ll, unfortunately, have to cancel this event.”
“We hope that we can hold workshops like this in the future when everything settles down”, the statement said.
Trinity’s Korean Society announced on Facebook that a K-Pop dance class scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled. The society wrote that “upon conversing, our dance teacher and ourselves have agreed that safety must come first in relation to the COVID-19 incident on campus”. The society is holding all other events as normal for now.
The College’s Christian Union has cancelled a trip to Glendalough, scheduled to take place this Saturday, as a “precautionary measure”. The announcement was made on the society’s Instagram page.
Coffee mornings held by the College’s Geography Society have been suspended for the rest of term, according to an Instagram post, while the Japanese Society has cancelled a chocolate-making class due to take place on Friday. The society has also cancelled its weekly Japanese class.
SUAS Trinity, a student society that aims to bring about social change through education and activism, has cancelled an event about careers in human rights scheduled for next Wednesday, Caoimhe Landy, the society’s chair, confirmed to The University Times.
Eimear Finan, Ciaran Molloy, Aisling Marren, Aoife Kearins, Rachel O’Leary, Alex Connolly, Emma Donohoe, Imogen Redpath and Yasmine Tadjine also contributed reporting to this piece.
