On October 29th, TCDSU/AMLCT installed a microwave in the Arts Block. Nicknamed “Micreathonnán an Phobail”, this microwave stood as the only place students could use to heat their meals in one of the most used buildings on campus. Within two weeks, the university removed the microwave, and despite many discussions, have so-far refused to investigate or seek an alternative location in the Arts Block for it. Within this building, a single dedicated social space (Zón Mac Léinn) exists to accommodate 11,800 students and researchers, leading to the common sight of students sitting on the floor on almost every storey. The additional seating around the building is almost always filled, creating a rat-race akin to holiday-makers trying to grab an early-morning sunbed in their foreign resorts. These scenes, in my experience, rarely ever provoke shock or dismay from the management of the (so-called) number one university in the country. This is no surprise, however, as addressing the real need for the likes of microwaves, social spaces and off-campus supports would not only bring a financial responsibility to the university, but a recognition of our place as part of a city that may also have people that need to rest.
So, why are microwaves important? There are other microwaves outside of the Arts Block. Including the Hamilton, the Teach a Sé Cistin, and the Players Building, there are at least fourteen across the various campuses. These facilities, though vital, will always fail in comparison to every barrier in place across the university to provide students and resources with the support they truly need. The failing to meet these meals is about how much the university actually values the students who pass through its halls. To have students attend this college means you will have students that need to heat up meals. If you cannot heat up a meal, or if you can, have to travel across multiple buildings to do so, you are being told by the design of your university that your needs, most basic and reasonable, are an inconvenience and additional. Staff are provided with multiple areas to heat up food and boil water, something we should expect of a university such as Trinity (However, I am sure Trinners would rip these kitchenettes out and create Book of Kells mini-kiosks equipped with a virtual kettle and microwave for tourists on every floor if they could). Why is this expectation not extended to the students, and where else does this problem show itself?
In 2017, 88% of students voted to contribute 30 euro per student for the construction of a students’ centre. In 2024, due to inflationary pressure, it was revealed to student representatives that they could no longer afford a new building that met the space needs required. The Science Gallery was thus proposed to the Student Centre Advisory Group, initially to great opposition. After many months of discussion and changes to the proposal, the group agreed to the plan that was approved by the Board on December 4th 2024. The opposition, however, must continue to be upheld and explained. The student representatives, including the Central Socieies Committee and the SU, were fundamentally focused on the control of the entire building. We have seen, whether it be in the Old Stone in St. James’ or the use of New Square for Trinity Ball, when it comes between student spaces and academic/college spaces … the students always lose. The moment the needs of students become an inconvenience to the university, they seek to remove the students entirely. When teaching spaces or a new stream of commercial revenue is needed … nevermind microwaves – the chairs and the literal kitchen sink will be thrown out. Almost every issue we face with student space is due to a purposeful neglectfulness by the university, and so it was and is the view of the students representatives that it is us who must control them. This was agreed to, however, it will still be a few years before this centre is in operation. It is essential that no financial or spatial need takes precedence over the creation and ownership of a student space run by students. In UCC, their student centre is home to multiple shops, an information desk, meeting rooms, a radio station and social spaces – all run by students. It is now run almost entirely by the university, with its multiple stories serving as a commercial opportunity rather than a much needed service. The responsibility is on both future student leaders and the university to provide appropriate space for students, meaning a space owned and run by them. This is the current agreement, but it must be upheld.
I am not trying to vilify the university, as much as it is fun to do so. Every decision made ultimately falls back onto one thing: money. The allocation of space and a few microwaves tend to be dealt with not by senior management, but by Estates and Facilities and the college’s fire marshal. Students are rarely ever discussed outside of their numbers and the money they provide through accommodation and fees at these higher-level meetings. This, naturally, creates the view of a student as just that: a vessel of income. If additional support for student counselling and healthcare services are rarely mentioned, often meetings about the “most pressing issues” in the universities can go without so much as a mention of students unless the representatives themselves bring it up. Even if (and there are!) very kind and caring people at the top who love students … it simply isn’t their job to prioritise them. This university is a for-profit tourist attraction with a strong real estate portfolio and a small academic sub-section. This is the reality, we cannot currently even bring the word microwave into the room if everyone there finds them to be irrelevant, despite the union’s Instagram receiving more messages about them than almost any single other issue. We should fight this, as well as recognising the reality of what it is. I still bring it up as it is important, but how far that voice carries (despite my musical theatre training) often isn’t very far. Your union will begin ramping up its supports like microwaves and acquiring additional spaces as you need them this Hilary term, not just because we care, but also because the university is fundamentally set up for us to be the only people that do care.
Yes, dismantle this university brick by brick. Hate this kip, get me out, gonna snap x. We should also take those bricks and build something with them for us, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Other universities have their problems, of course. But they also have student centres with cheap student bars, multiple dance studios, hundreds of seats, amphitheaters and more and that’s just the DCU U building (It is so glam). We need to look forward to a democratic university in which the voice of students is not only listened to, but valued as something more than its monetary worth. We also must look at our place as part of an entire city, as when it comes to the pecking order in Trinity, students are just above that of people who wish to use it as a public space and not as a space to spend. When I went into this job, I didn’t think I would become a “microwave boy” (the nickname I affectionately gave former SU President Eoin Hand, whose campaign focused on getting microwaves in the Hamilton) but my god do they represent something much bigger than just having some inconsistently warm pasta. We will and must keep fighting for existence without having to pay for it. The college has a responsibility to balance its books – but it has a responsibility to you just as much.
