The Inclusive Trinity Festival for 2022/23 was officially launched on October 10th. The festival spans 10 days and “will showcase many of Trinity’s Inclusive initiatives and activities as well as exploring, through input from our communities, how we can make Trinity more inclusive for all”.
The festival comprises forty-three events organised by the Trinity College Dublin Inclusive Curriculum Project (Trinity-INC), a project of the Office of the Associate Vice Provost for Diversity and Equality. The mandate of the project is “to embed principles of diversity, equality and inclusion across all curricula at Trinity College Dublin”.
Trinity-INC was set up in October 2020 and has Dr. Rachel Hoare, an Assistant Professor in the French department at Trinity and the recipient of the Registrar’s Civic Engagement Award for 2020, as its Director. Dr. Hoare introduced Provost Linda Doyle at the beginning of the launch event to give an introductory statement, which included some of her thoughts on what inclusivity means.
Provost Doyle expressed that diversity “by its very nature… makes everything stronger, leading to a more robust and resilient university”. She mentioned that “all of us have a role, all of us need to work together” and that “we are stronger by being inclusive”. As a result Trinity will be able to carry out “informed, evidence based actions”.
She then brought up an example of an issue currently facing the college community, namely the “very big divide between professional and academic staff”. Doyle admitted that academia can often be “hierarchical”. She stated that whilte conversations can bring some level of discomfort, “at Trinity, we need to be free to ask questions”.
Dr. Hoare then gave a summary of Trinity-INC’s overall mission – “to create an accessible curriculum, which takes different forms and supports all students”. At the project, they want to “establish Trinity College as a place of respect and belonging”.
Part of this process has been consulting with students in workshops and supporting academic initiatives, led by “student champions”.
She then began to put questions to the panel, which consisted of Provost Linda Doyle; Professor Sylvia Draper (Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)), Dr Katie O’Connor (who manages strategic projects in the STEM faculty); Dr Jo-Hanna Ivers (Associate Dean of Civic Engagement and Social Innovation), Ross Coleman, a Trinity-INC Graduate Intern, Alex Fay, a recent graduate who came through the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), and Aliyah Sy, another recent graduate who is contributing to a seminar during the festival, entitled ‘Let’s Talk about Race and Ethnicity’.
The first question was: “What does Inclusivity look like for you and how can we achieve it?”
Ross Coleman, living with a stammer and using a wheelchair himself, answered that it’s about “designing a world where everyone has a voice at the table and where they can see themselves in society”, a world “without any structural barriers”.
Coleman does a lot of work at Trinity-INC in helping raise awareness of Blackboard Ally, which helps Trinity’s digital content be more accessible, and he has held workshops for Trinity’s Disability Service in the past for social media accessibility.
Aliyah Sy stressed the importance of focussing on “diversity rather than difference”. To her, inclusivity means “just being like any other student, not being put on the spot in classes and asked to answer questions about a community you are a part of”. She is often asked where she is from, with the follow up response to her answer of “French” often being ‘but where are you really from?’
She made the point that “this undermines what I’m choosing to tell you, we don’t have to justify and explain ourselves just to be valued in your eyes”. Aliyah accepted that there may not always be bad intentions here, “but that it is more about how your intentions land on the person”.
Professor Draper, herself hearing impaired and having faced sexism in her chosen career, went on to encourage the idea that “inspiration can come from anybody”, and that to her “inclusion is the absence of assumption”.
Dr. Ivers made a similar point about recognising everybody’s talents, stating that “inclusion is about collective difference”. She went on to explain that “we have lots of diversity and perspectives that we can learn from”, and that inclusivity won’t be achieved “until we are able to recognise others’ [perspectives]”.
Dr. Hoare next asked the panel: “How can you and do you already promote inclusion?”
Ross Coleman revealed that he is involved in an organisation that promotes independent learning for the disabled, with an aim to give “disabled people a choice and freedom to be able to live the same life as their non-disabled peers”.
Ms Sy mentioned that in her personal life she tries “not to be reluctant in having uncomfortable conversations”. Professionally she says that she is running seminars as part of this festival and engages in english conversation classes for refugees at Trinity.
When asked about striving for an inclusive curriculum, Ms Sy highlighted the importance of the pastoral services at Trinity, encouraging more of a commitment “to helplines and student support”.
Ross stressed the importance of listening to students, saying that “they are ones that know and will eventually go out there and eventually be the doctors, lawyers and teachers of tomorrow…we have to pay attention to the student voice”.
Dr Katie O’Connor mentioned that the STEM Faculty have created scholarships “for anyone who identifies as a woman” in order to fund their undergraduate studies. There will be five of these per year over the next five years.
Responding to the questions “What are we doing right?” and “What can we do better?” Alex Fay said that he feels events like this “feel like a natural step” on the road to inclusivity.
Silvia Draper agreed with this, also adding that there is a need to “create an environment in which people feel comfortable to share”. She also mentioned that the STEM Faculty are “looking at the way we do exams and assess students” to make it more inclusive.
Dr Hoare then opened the floor to questions from the audience.
One audience member asked “How can you have conversations that make people feel uncomfortable but also be a teamplayer?”, in reference to working relationships.
Dr. O’Connor referenced her position as a member of Trinity’s professional staff as opposed to academic, saying that she “wish it were a safer space to say something”, expressing that “our voice is not always heard when it comes to big decisions”.
Alex Fay responded that there is unfortunately still a necessity “to rely on people with privilege to have a kind heart, to be good people”, also advising people who face this scenario to “constantly be loud about it”.
Asked by The University Times whether any of the graduates had confronted any issues with inclusivity during their time at Trinity, Ross responded that he had had a complaint upheld that the Irish Society meeting room was not accessible for him, but that four years later they still seem to be looking for an appropriate space. He stated that this was a “bittersweet experience” as he was unable to avail of the Irish Society room, but hoped that others may get the opportunity in the future because of him.
Sharon Casey, a member of the Mature Student Society, brought up her concerns about spaces that had been retrofitted to better access for people with mobility issues. She questioned whether it was anyone’s actual job to safeguard the University’s accessibility when a lift in a building had become blocked due to rearranged furniture.
