Conor Reddy has “been around [Trinity] in loads of different ways”, having engaged with the College as a student, teaching assistant, and PhD researcher. He describes this experience as overwhelmingly positive: “I’ve had loads of critiques over the years as an activist, [but] I do think it’s a place like no other really in Ireland in terms of university.”
Citing the “campus culture” and “the fact that we’re right smack bang in the middle of town”, Reddy praises the “permanent kind of life” at Trinity. When asked about the biggest takeaway from his college days, he laughs and admits:
“It’s gonna sound a bit wanky, but the intellectual culture around Trinity, […] the being interested in ideas, […] and being more open-minded […] your ability to understand other people and where they’re coming from is a lot stronger than it otherwise would be.”
He also notes that, attending Trinity, “you’re disabused of any notion that these people are better than you. You see that there’s fucking idiots from Clongowes Woods College the same way that there’s fucking idiots from wherever people like me come from. So, you lose any sense of, like, these people being up here and you being down here. I think it gives you a lot of confidence, but it’s only from engagement that you get that confidence.”
Thinking about the highlights of his undergraduate days, Reddy reminisces on helping set up SciSoc in 2016. As a general sciences student, his massive course felt anonymous: “It was to kind of create a social life for people and a space for people like us.”
Still, he admits that he spent the biggest part of his time at Trinity as a student activist. He was actively involved with Students Against Fees and helped lead the successful BDS referendum campaign, which later gave birth to Trinity BDS “and everything that came from it”. He also co-founded the Postgrad Workers’ Alliance (now the PWO) and served as its national president. He sees his time at Trinity as an inspiration regarding “that sort of culture around student activism”, which gave him “the confidence to get involved in activism outside of campus and then to get involved in politics as a rep and an elected figure”.
One of his “proudest moments” was the student encampment back in 2024.
“Palestine’s been a through line from day one of coming to Trinity to kind of the very end of my journey. So, it was really special for me to see so many students engaged.” Reddy recalls the BDS movement being initially met with vacant stares, and defeated “really, really heavily” when first brought to the SU. “There are a few of us that were sanctioned and nearly expelled for a protest that we had […] to see the polar opposite of that now with students from all walks of life engaged and in strong solidarity with Palestine is really special for me.”
Thinking about advice he would give freshers, he talks about his own experience, coming from an all-boys, Catholic school: “There’s a definite way that you kind of see the world coming out of that, and as open-minded as you think you are, there’s still limitations you place on yourself. I think probably the advice I’d give myself now in retrospect would be to let go of those limitations earlier and try stuff that you’re probably not used to or familiar with.”
“There’s so much on offer in Trinity, so many different things you can be part of, so many different things that you can do. The boundaries really don’t stop at your course.” He underlines that getting to know people “from all sorts of walks of life, different schools, different faculties, different societies, different parts of the world” was probably one of the best parts of his Trinity journey.
However, he also notes that “there can be difficult times that you have through college”, citing his experience of repeating his final year: “I wasn’t very well.” He urges students not to be afraid to reach out or ask for help: “While I’d definitely like to see more money going into student counselling, student health services and welfare in the SU, there are services there, and they’ll always go above and beyond to help people.”
Reddy admits he believes “it’s probably a lot harder to be a fresher now […] a lot of students really struggle now to find the time to do the stuff that I’m telling them to do, whether that’s because they’re commuting ridiculous distances every day or because they’re working outside of college. There’s a challenge there, but what I’d say to that challenge is, don’t just accept it as normal.”
With that said, Reddy views the student experience as a source of amazing potential:
“When you have such big challenges [….] students need to kind of stand up and be counted and, I think radical activity is important, there as well, and you can kind of push the boat out as a student in a way that you can’t really at any other stage in your life.”
