Trinity’s student newspapers, The University Times and Trinity News, have announced the postponement of their next print issues – scheduled to come out next week – after the closure of the College yesterday.
The papers will no longer come out after the government yesterday announced that all colleges are to shut until March 29th.
In Trinity, student residents are permitted to remain on campus, while staff can enter and exit College with valid identification.
The University Times will publish its next print issue on March 31st, provided College has re-opened.
Donal MacNamee, the paper’s editor, said that “today’s decision wasn’t one I took lightly, and it was a gut punch to have to postpone the issue, but in the circumstances I’m confident it was the right call to hold off on publishing an issue”.
“Hopefully, students and staff will be back in a few weeks and able to read us in print again, but for now we’ll still be covering Trinity as comprehensively as ever online.”
Aisling Grace, the editor of Trinity News, told The University Times that “Trinity News will continue to provide coverage of college affairs and be a source of information for students”.
“Given the closure of campus, we have decided that the most appropriate way to achieve this goal is to prioritise online content and delay print for the immediate future”, she said. “We have made this decision with a heavy heart and although we take great pride in our print edition, we must adapt to circumstances that best serve our readership.”
Today’s decision follows an announcement today by Provost Patrick Prendergast that Trinity’s campus was to close to all students except residents, with identity cards required to enter the College.
In an email sent to staff and students today, Provost Patrick Prendergast wrote that students who are not residents will no longer have access to the campus until March 29th.
Staff will be able to enter and leave campus, while buildings will close to all except staff with up-to-date identity cards, after the government’s announcement today that colleges are to shut until March 29th.
This decision follows two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Trinity, one in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) and the second within the Health Science Faculty. This led to Trinity withdrawing all students that were on placement.
The Central Societies Committee (CSC) has also instructed all societies to suspend events and meetings for the next two weeks. An email sent to all societies today, signed by CSC officers, said that “all social activity (meetings, committee meetings, events external to College, etc) which have been planned for the period of the closure should be suspended”.
It also instructed societies to suspend all events – even beyond Trinity’s two-week closure period – which will expose them to “irrecoverable expense”. All AGMs should be suspended until after March 29th, the email said.
