Note: This article discusses sexual violence
University College Dublin (UCD) is under mounting political and student pressure, following claims in the Dáil that a UCD medical student was not allowed to resit exams missed while attending an abortion procedure required after she became pregnant as a result of rape by another UCD student.
On Wednesday, February 25th, People Before Profit–Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger told the Dáil that the student missed medical exams because she had to schedule a termination, and that the university had “said no” when she sought to resit the exams over the summer. At UCD, whether a resit is available is usually determined based on the university’s module-by-module remediation system, in some cases the only option available is to repeat the module.
Coppinger also alleged that UCD advised the student to repeat a year, an outcome she said would have placed the student in the same academic year as her alleged assailant.
According to reporting on the Dáil exchange, Coppinger said the student pursued a High Court case in an effort to avoid repeating the year and to secure the ability to complete assessments without returning to the same cohort, but that the student lost the action.
Coppinger further claimed that after the case was lost, UCD sought legal action against the student, described as “a couple of hundred thousands”, in the weeks after a further incident involving the circulation of an image of the student.
Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, responded that he was “shocked” by what had been reported and said third-level institutions should operate in a way that allows a student who has experienced such circumstances to finish their studies. He added that he would “call on UCD to work with the student to allow her to complete her studies”.
A statement published via the University Observer and attributed to the student said she felt UCD’s support had been inadequate and objected to public communications issued before direct engagement with her. In the statement, she said:
“I am not a reputational issue to be managed by UCD — I am a young student whose life has been shattered and whose dream of becoming a doctor has been destroyed. I hope that it is remembered that on the other side of all this is a young girl who was just trying to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor.”
The case has also drawn attention due to reports that an intimate image of the student, described by the victim as showing her “naked, bruised, and lifeless” and accompanied by further graphic threats, was circulated to UCD students and staff, and later resurfaced.
In a university-wide email circulated on Friday, February 20th, UCD President Orla Feely acknowledged “the deep distress and anguish” caused by “shocking and abhorrent activity from an unknown source”, and said the incident had been reported to An Garda Síochána.
Irish Times reporting around the same period stated that UCD was reviewing its handling of cases related to dignity and respect after the image was circulated.
On February 27th, an open letter from a group of 48 doctors to the UCD School of Medicine was posted to Coppinger’s Instagram account in collaboration with ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement. In the statement, the doctors express that they “have grave concerns regarding the morals of a cohort who willingly and recklessly shared this image, alongside those who commented or viewed it and did not report it”.
“As well as demonstrating a blatant disregard for this student’s safety, right to privacy and any psychological stress that this act may cause, the perpetrator has shown themself to be of a character that is wholly unfit to practice medicine.”
The doctors criticise UCD School of Medicine for its “failure to address this case, both in its apparent disregard for the victim and its willingness to ignore the overarching issue of misogyny and gender-based violence”, and emphasise that failing to hold their medical students accountable for their actions and words “erodes public trust in the entire medical profession”.
The University Observer, which first reported details of the case, said it faced legal uncertainty while pursuing the story. In a statement to the University Times, the publication’s Deputy Editor, Orla Mahon, one of the journalists who broke the story, said:
“We stand in complete solidarity with the student involved and have worked with her in every step of the way in getting this story out there. After months of legal uncertainty in our ability to report, we are relieved that we have finally been able to bring light to the situation. The treatment of the student has been utterly unacceptable and we sincerely hope that the university makes things right.”
