Between the botched closure (or non closure) of the Science Gallery and the mooted Book of Kells exhibition in College Park, you have to ask: is there something in the water in House One at the moment?
On both fronts, Trinity’s bigwigs are not only communicating poorly – or not at all – but are also just plainly making poor decisions.
The Science Gallery is a jewel in Trinity’s crown, and while College’s concerns about its financial viability should be taken at face value, surely shutting it was a drastic decision, instead of slimming down on its “elaborate and expensive staff structure”.
And why on earth was Provost Linda Doyle taking an emergency phone call with Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris about the Science Gallery after the news leaked rather than long before it appeared in the Business Post?
It is still unclear what the status of the gallery is – is it going to close? Or is a governmental white knight going to save it? Was it ever going to close, or did the College Board always have the final say?
The gallery has run up a €1.65 million deficit in the past four years, which is a lot of money, but surely College ought to protect something this important.
The opacity of the whole debacle is problematic, but on top of that, the management and decision making is just poor. Trinity is lurching about and needs to get a grip on the Science Gallery situation and address the concerns of a distressed sports community in a serious way, instead of paying lip service to them.
The College community has gotten used to a lack of consultation and hard-nosed decision making from House One over the past decade. But Doyle’s predecessor’s trademark lack of regard for the on-the-ground effects of his decisions had a certain nobility to it. One may disagree with them, but at least there was no pretence of consensus building.
But the current Provost’s juggling of slash-and-burn decision making and pious proclamations of co-operation? Well, there’s no excuse for that.
