Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) will allocate €20,000 to a “T-Fund”, supporting trans students undergoing social transitioning.
The money will come from a Higher Education Authority fund given to the union, and will be distributed over the course of 10 years.
The fund will offer financial support to trans students telling others about their gender identity, changing their name or accessing resources that allow them to express themselves – also known as “social transitioning”.
The money will go towards items assisting social transition, such as a deed poll, a gender recognition certificate, makeup, clothing, jewelry and chest binders.
TCDSU Welfare Officer Leah Keogh brought the motion – which was seconded by Gender Equality Officer Sierra Muller-Owens – to council tonight.
Each student will be offered a maximum of €200, and applications for the money will be submitted to the welfare officer, who will anonymise the request and bring it to a panel consisting of the TCDSU LGBT+ Rights Officer, the QSoc Chair and QSoc Inclusions Officer.
The panel will review the fund after the first year, and then again every three years. Any of the money that is not used in a given year will be made available after the fund finishes up.
TCDSU also passed motions at council around getting grades back before subsequent assignments and to give students a vote on who TCDSU representatives on College Board and University Council vote for in the provost elections.
Provost Patrick Prendergast also spoke at council this evening, announcing that some 80 per cent of surveyed students in Trinity wanted more in-person activities under level-three restrictions next term.
