Ronan Costello
Editor
The Union of Students in Ireland has launched a national campaign to promote an online vote on the issue of third level funding. The voting will take place from May 14th-20th on the website www.usivote.com. Students from colleges across the country are being asked to go to the website, review the options in the preferendum and then cast their vote in the HEAnet-secured poll.
The results from each institution will be delivered to the President of that institution’s Student Union and on May 23rd a special USI Congress will take place where a vote on USI’s policy on third level funding will be held.
Students will be asked to vote for their preferred method of funding for taught third level education. The options are the same as they were when Trinity students first answered this question:
- Graduate tax;
- Student loan scheme;
- 100% Exchequer funded
- 100% Upfront fees;
- Student contribution (Reg fee);
- None of the above
The decision to launch this campaign came at an emergency USI national council, held in Trinity on Thursday, April 12th, in the aftermath of the previous week’s USI Congress. Congress had voted to refer the issue of USI’s policy on third level funding back to National Council, with a majority holding the opinion that Congress could not vote on a new policy without further consultation of students. This decision was vehemently opposed by the Presidents of TCDSU, UCDSU and the President of USI, Gary Redmond. TCDSU President Ryan Bartlett was mandated to argue in favour of a student loan scheme, following the results of the preferendum held in Trinity.
At the emergency National Council which followed, it was Redmond who suggested that the matter could be resolved by running a national campaign which would promote an online vote. He said that an online poll would be easily promoted through social media and was the most effective way to get students engaged during the exam period.
Once the concept was approved by National Council, the sabbatical officers of TCDSU decided that Trinity students should have a chance to participate in the national vote. They reasoned that the vote was unprecedented in USI’s history and that Trinity students should contribute to the outcome. While a preferendum had been held in Trinity in late March, before USI Congress, the result of that preferendum was intended to inform the position of the Trinity delegation at that Congress. The opportunity for students to participate in an online vote creates significant potential for a larger turnout than was seen in the first preferendum.
