In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, many of Trinity’s societies committed to re-examining and reforming their structures in order to promote anti-racism and tackle the lack of diversity on their committees. And in recent weeks, both the Dublin University Philosophical Society (The Phil) and the College Historical Society (The Hist) introduced new subcommittees and working groups as part of ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity through institutional change.
Kate Maher, president of the Phil, recently established the Egbert Udo Udoma Subcommittee (The Udoma), to take “some positive steps” towards active anti-racism. The committee has been named after the society’s former president who later became the first black man to graduate from Oxford with a PHD in law and was one of Nigeria’s founding fathers.
The subcommittee’s aim is to “create space for ethnic and racial minorities on campus where their views specifically are heard and valued”, Maher said in an email to The University Times. The Udoma will run panel discussions, workshops and social events with a view to creating a welcoming and safe environment for ethnic and racial minorities on campus. Maher hopes that the subcommittee will allow students to “run fun and informative events, make friends and learn from one another”.
The Phil has also established a subcommittee exclusively dedicated to and run by women and non-binary people on campus – the Elizabethan Society (the Eliz). In 1981, the Eliz, a then female-only debating society, merged with the Phil. Since then, the highest ranking female member of the Phil has also held the title of President of the Eliz. In its new form, the Eliz will be an active subsection of the Phil that will run events specifically for women and non-binary people.
Trinity’s debating societies have come under intense scrutiny for their inaccessibility and elitism over the course of the past year. In June, the Hist issued an apology – as the Black Lives Matter movement sparked protest across America and Europe – in which it recognised that it had created an unwelcoming environment for black people, people of colour, and other minority groups on campus. It argued that its structure and framework had perpetrated “systemic racism” within the society and committed to disassembling these structures.
Three months later, and it seems that the society is making tangible moves to make good on its apology. The society has established an anti-racist working group which “will amplify and empower POC voices and their advocates”, Bríd O’Donnell, auditor of the Hist, wrote in an email to The University Times. All committee members of the society have been required to complete unconscious bias training online over the summer and the group has committed to running events with a more diverse range of speakers.
It must be said, however, that it will take more than the establishment of subcommittees to change deep-rooted attitudes within such traditional societies as these. Trinity debating societies may have started to take crucial steps towards fostering a more inclusive on-campus community – but it’s a long and vigilant process ahead.
