The Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) has voted to lobby for no in-person exams, as well as more non-traditional forms of assessment going forward.
The motion, which passed at tonight’s virtual AGM, cited “very serious implications” for postgraduate exam invigilators if in-person exams were to go ahead in the RDS this semester.
GSU President Gisèle Scanlon, who proposed the motion, said: “We feel that even today’s news of the antigen testing is not really appropriate to keep our postgraduate invigilators [safe].”
Trinity has ordered 100,000 free antigen tests for students, which are due to arrive next week.
Scanlon added: “The passing around of paper and the in-person aspect to [exams] is extremely dangerous in light of the current numbers.”
Speaking in favour of the motion, GSU Environmental Officer Jamie Rohu said: “I think there is quite a risk for workers contracting COVID, and I know there’s people here on the line right now who are sick with it.”
“As someone who has worked as an invigilator … at the moment I am not working and I haven’t put myself forward for that out of fear of contracting COVID-19.”
Rohu asked voters to “be mindful of the safety of staff”.
Some 82.3 per cent of attendees voted in favour of the motion and 17.7 per cent voted against. There were 3 abstentions.
At the AGM, László Molnárfi, chair of Students4Change and second year PPES student, told attendees that undergraduates and postgraduates “all share the same anxiety around in-person exams”.
Last month, the GSU co-signed an open letter with Students4Change asking Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to force colleges to cancel all in-person exams.
Students4Change is an independent lobby group with a Marxist, anarchist ideology. It has a dozen members.
The letter, which has garnered over 5,000 signatures, raised similar concerns to the motion, noting a rise in coronavirus case numbers in Ireland.
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said that the government has “no intention” of introducing regulations for in-person exams, adding that a “one size fits all approach would not be appropriate”.
Instead, individual institutions will decide whether to hold examinations in person or not.
In their open letter, the GSU and Students4Change also described a “mental health crisis” among students.
“After 1.5 years of online learning”, it said, “a sudden return to in-person exams would be catastrophic for the mental health of students”.
Tonight, the GSU also voted on whether to adopt a “formal, committed stance in support of the Students4Change group and their demands”.
