Motions to remove the positions of Environmental Officer and Off-Campus Officer were both defeated by wide margins at a council meeting of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union this evening.
Third-year environmental science class representative Karen McCord was subsequently elected Environmental Officer. No student ran for the position of Off-Campus Officer, and it will thus be elected at the next meeting of the council.
The motion to remove the position of Environmental Officer, proposed by Samuel Riggs, the former Communications Officer and current LGBT Rights Officer, argued that the “creation of an Environmental Officer infringes on the brief of the Citizenship Officer’s duties, as well as representing a step backwards from the well-discussed decision made during the constitutional review”.
The second motion, to remove the position of Off-Campus Officer, proposed by Jason Leonard, the Deputy Faculty Convenor of Engineering, Maths and Sciences, stated that the position was mandated “without any discussion, due to time constraints” and that the issues faced by off-campus students “are normally under the remit of the Faculty Convenor and Deputy Faculty Convenor of Health Science”.
Earlier today, The University Times reported that Ruane had expressed scepticism about the motivations of those bringing the motions to council. “You’d almost think it was personal, that the two motions I got passed before the summer break are the first two motions to be challenged as soon as we go back into Council”, she said.
The motions proposing the introduction of the positions were passed at the last council meeting, held in March. The creation of the Environmental Officer, who is mandated to campaign “actively for a greener campus and to raise awareness of the this campaign among the study body”, was the result of an emergency motion put forward by Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, last year’s TCDSU President. Ruane had advocated for the creation of the position.
Emphasising the importance of the position of an Environmental Officer for TCDSU, especially in regards to the upcoming campaign to call on Trinity to divest from fossil fuels, Ruane added that the role of an Environmental Officer in the coming years is “going to be extremely beneficial and important for sustainability within the College”.
In an email statement to The University Times last night, Riggs said: “This motion was borne of the need to address the constitutional conflict between the briefs of the proposed Environmental Officer, and the already existing Citizenship Officer – as it stands within the constitution, the Citizenship Officer already has remit over the environment and environmental campaigns, and for the two to co-exist in their current forms would be unconstitutional.”
While Riggs did not respond when The University Times asked if there was an agenda behind the motion, he opened his speech tonight by stating that “things had gotten out of hand”, and said that there was no agenda behind the motion.
Riggs also stated that, since submitting the motion, he now “fully acknowledged the need for an Environmental Officer”, and admitted that the topic should instead have been raised as a discussion item.
A subsequent amendment to the motion proposed by Leonard, which called for a referendum to remove the environmental duties from the Citizenship Officer’s role, was also defeated by a wide margin.
The Electoral Commission reiterated its position at the council meeting this evening that there was no constitutional issue relating to the roles of Environmental Officer and the Citizenship Officer.
Colm O’Halloran, who, as Chair of TCDSU’s Electoral Commission, also chairs the council, told The University Times by email last night that the Electoral Commission had agreed that there was no constitutional conflict.
“There is nothing in the constitution to prohibit overlap between positions”, he said. “This means a referendum is not necessary in order for the Environmental Officer position to exist within the Union.”
The Electoral Commission is responsible for interpreting the union’s constitution, but rulings can be overturned by a full vote of the council.
Speaking to The University Times by phone last night, Kieran McNulty, the Citizenship Officer of TCDSU, expressed his support for the creation of an Environmental Officer.
“I don’t think it’s unconstitutional. I don’t think it’s exclusive to my competence”, he said, adding that “there is interest for it, and there seems to be sufficient need for someone with additional competence for the environment”.
In his speech against the motion tonight, McNulty also told the council that he felt that the proposers should have discussed the motion with the parties involved in advance of submitting it to council.
Ruane and Molly Kenny, the union’s Education Officer, also spoke against the motion.
Speaking to The University Times by phone last night, Áine O’Gorman, the Chair of Trinity Environmental Society, emphasised that without a designated Environmental Officer, there was a real possibility that Trinity could lose its campus Green Flag.
Also speaking to The University Times last night regarding the motion to remove the position of Off-Campus Officer, Ruane stated: “Off-campus students are obviously extremely disadvantaged on so many levels, whether it be through integration, whether it be through events, or involvement with the SU”.
Pointing to the difficulties facing off-campus students, like the closure of cafes in D’Olier Street and the Biomedical Sciences Institute, Ruane emphasised that she could not understand why someone would want to remove the role.
Ruane revealed that, despite the problems faced by off-campus students since the start of the academic year, she has not been contacted by a single convenor: “If convenors feel that they can fulfil that role, why haven’t they fulfilled it to date?”
In an email statement to The University Times, Leonard had said: “The majority of Off-Campus students are Health Science students, and the issues they face are intended to be addressed by the system of Class Reps, School Convenors and Faculty Convenors”.
Leonard, who also seconded the motion to remove the Environmental Officer, added that an officer position that aims to represent all off-campus students, regardless of discipline, would be “too broad to be effective”. Leonard also did not respond to the suggestion that there was an agenda behind the motion in his email response to The University Times, and did not address it in his speech to council tonight.
Dale O’Faoilléacháin, the Faculty Convenor for Health Sciences, spoke in favour of the motion, whilst Stephen Carty, the Sports and Recreation Officer, spoke against the motion. A subsequent motion by O’Faoilléacháin introducing a working group focusing on off-campus student issues was passed.
Laura Killeen, School Convenor of Nursing and Midwifery, who seconded the motion, agreed with Leonard. Speaking to The University Times in a Facebook message yesterday, she stated: “I believe the convenors know these areas best and if problems arise can go to the relevant sabbat on their own prerogative.”
