www.thecollegeview.com
the 9 March 2010
Vol. XI Issue VIII
college view BRYAN DOBSON INTERVIEW » PAGE 18
An exclusive interview with one of RTE News' main presenters ers on his career so far, being directly affected by the story, and what's t's next...
66% admit to plagiarising College View survey also finds 30% it is necessary to plagiarise at some point By Samuel Hamilton News Editor Two out of every three DCU students have committed plagiarism in some form, according to the results of a survey carried out by the College View. These results come despite the fact that only 5% of respondents said they had actually been caught plagiarising – leading to questions over how accurately plagiarism is being detected.
John Murphy, the Students’ Union education and welfare officer, says it is “startling” that 66% of students admitted to plagiarising. He says, “It's hard to say why it's so high - there are more than likely numerous reasons. However, a big one I would suspect is the current downturn we are all in. Students are facing major problems – mainly financial – this year in comparison to other years. They under increasing pressure and stress and feel that plagiarism is the only way to cope
with their academic work.” The College View’s survey also discovered that 30% of students think it is necessary to plagiarise at some point during their time at university. According to Jim Dowling, the dean of engineering and computing, DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski on the results Analysis, P6
and one of the members of Academic Council which decides upon DCU’s plagiarism policy, this figure represents “a cop-out”. He says that there is never a need to plagiarise – a sentiment that the SU education and welfare officer agrees with. Murphy says, “Many students turn out fantastic, original pieces of work and I think that it would be unfair to tarnish university culture with the idea that students feel like they have continued on page 6 ••
IN THE PAPER Rag ball ticket sales hit by 'steep' prices Many students were forced to miss out on this year's Rag ball as a result of ticket prices – page 3
DCU president calls for third level minister DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has called for a separate Minister for third level education, given that Ministers for Education “have always favoured schools over universities and colleges" – page 5
Dates for this year's SU election announced The dates for this year’s Students’ Union elections have been announced with the count moving from straight after the polls closed to the morning after – page 7
INSIDE 09/03/10 | Issue 8 | Vol 1 Editor: Sean McTierna n
+ Burzum McSweeneys Kyle Kinane Telltale Games
Some Hootin g and How ling
Sean McTiernan stalks to Tom Beasts about pretention and Felming of rising stars Wild the revaluating Bushwick Bill our sound
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changed a good bit between records, was this a conscious change and were you hoping if so what to achieve? It was a logical album was years step. The first of frustration whereas this is more organised and fresh. We did restraint. Emotions go for more are much more powerful when they're suppressed. As much it was a symptom as anything of how we made it. We wanted a certain atmosphere but had limited time and resources. The minimalism comes from what we the room altogether. could play in to a lot of electronic We listened music, a lot of music made on synthesisers and beyond the surface. We stuff. Things that grew weren't human. up with lad-rock and britrock. We're trying to take that rhythmic Sexuality is completely Well I heard denied drive and add in that kind Ghetto dirt to it. of music. Its Boys before and not In a lot of your about romance it reviews there its about being all a bit too much. was always seems to be this caveat with your mates. And that's that stuff about All emptor, buyer how you're supposed beware, thing, to think.We're liking “faggots” not as as implicit if normal people . I'm in that as anyone, won't be able not into that. to being 4 process your Some of how do you skinny white music. Why do think your voices their songs are boys. We're you trying think that is? work together? really to break that powerful though. down That laidback a bit I think its shorthand though and hopefully Honestly, it gangta tempo was time. that we aninterroga we can and that soupy have a bit more tive voice against be wrote something he would If he sound definitely 'meat on the played a part bone', I hope that. and vice sing it Twin There's quite in that's what it means versa. We do write Dancers. a literary aspect different anyway. I do about think we're very to your band, do you It is hard to things though get around the worry sort accessible and and we're homophob of two different direct. It might about being seen as pretentious ia stuff but characters on not sound like ? the record. I mean Pretentious somethinglike something else is one of Mind Playing you have but we the I suppose, hope you try and most killer words in the not in sound Tricks on Me by the Ghetto world. obviously, check us out. People use it Boys is one of the to keep others but its a bit like saddest songs in their “place”. what right? ever, Any of our literary The XX have going on? It's that confessiona Oh, absolutely. thing your band l I know those has too. Tough guys and they really are amazing. men saying things they're Their anti-front not supposed to? person thing is brilliant. They Oh yeah, I mean have this girl/boy thing and this seen my neighbourslines like “I queer/straight. die with We try and his eyes open” play with that . Fuck. It comes too out of although less nowhere. I explicitly. mean like You're Bushwick Bill, one for all his Flava of those unfortunate bands who sound Flav tendencies, some of the unique enough stuff he comes that out with is really critics use writing lot of music heartbreaki ng. Once you about you to get past show of about their knowledge the songs with that cleanness of what they and the autotune, presume are once you can your a human influences. How hear hand do you feel that at work, that stuff affects you? pulls me in. Yeah some of You're eager the references to talk about are way way off and I really wish your infuences in your music, I could put some of them to bed/ are you conscious that you're Like I have no putting across idea the comparison where some of interviews? a certain image in s come from. Twin Dancers I always say the We are conscious is a very Associates. claustrophobic we have a references are Well, I'm acquainted sort of an image hard won. They're we album. Did you and honest there to with have their created music but I for ourselves. do some heavy consciously set hadn't heard But we did try lifting, out to achive that them be honest. to kind of feeling? not demonstrate our education. before we put the last Certainly when record out. It is quite We'd hate to They're pretty I was young, I wanted be a an intimate good though. album. The to know what We just use those 'clever band'. I meant But my favourite themes are the first album references as musicians were quite uncomfortable. people to. were saying in We try to tell a shorthand to tell stories And that was shit like Mika the truth. The awful bullshit and music. area we're poking create an image in peoples and that. I just realised minds at isn't talked one day a Mother of Christ... lot of what I was about so much. with as few words as possible. listening to was Everyone feels We want to tell those Yes, that certainly shite. Like when these things but stories but we're it's was an age I realised Alan not really talked of ignorance. Shearer liked about. Especially even more interested in Whitney Huston. glances not amongst and moments. I heard you That was the men. R'n'B is very talk about begining of hypersexual and How do you Scarface (the my glossy but never decide which rapper,not the disillusionment with the world. really penetrates, parts movie) you That's in excuse the pun, or Hayden a recent interview. when reality (Wild you Beasts' other began to Do crack for have any influences vocalist) sing you then? and wouldn't people Oh definitely. expect?
FLUX
"'yeah, I mean like: “I seen mylines neighbours die with his eyes open”. Fuck..."
A handful of the ballot papers from the equality officer election of October 2009, as modelled by a member of the College View team Orla Ryan
So much for electorial procedures - as ballot papers are discovered in an unlocked box By Fiona Sherlock Deputy News Editor Several hundred ballot papers from the equality officer election in October 2009 were uncovered by the College View within the Clubs and Societies office last week. Amongst the ballots were those that gave first preference to current equality officer, Aisling Fitzgerald, and another candidate,
Maeve McQuillan. A number of spoiled votes were also present in the boxes. Students’ Union president Alan Keegan told the College View that the ballots were “locked away” after the first count on October 14. However, the ballots were found in unlocked boxes in a corner of meeting room two. This room is used by a number of different societies for meetings and
is not usually locked. Current SU returning officer Roibeárd Ó Conchúir said the ballot had not been left in a secure location because of an “administrative error”. He also said that they should have been destroyed. The DCU Students' Union constitution requires that ballots be kept for two days following the election in case a recount is called for by a candidate.
The constitution also states that SU electoral procedures should follow Oireachtas procedures, whereby ballot papers are stored in a secure location for six months before being destroyed. After Dail elections, no one is allowed to view the ballot papers, apart from a small number of officials. The Students’ Union constitution is currently under review.
Flux, with an exclusive interview with up-andcoming Wild Beasts PLUS
In Features - an exclusive interview with Ireland's only Page 3 model Claire Tully
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THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
IN THE ISSUE The College View speaks to Ireland's first - and only - Page 3 model, Claire Tully Features » page 16
DCU win the Sigerson cup for the second time beating rivals UCC Sport » back cover
9 MARCH 2010
EDITORIAL
Serious questions must be asked about Campus Pages of Students' Union propaganda is not what this university needs nor wants
I
t is time for serious questions to be asked about the state of the Students’ Union publication, Campus, in DCU. In the last issue of the College View, we published two articles that were fully accurate in every word they said. One on how the SU received a 5% pay rise; another on how the constitutional review had become a farce. Two articles that saw the SU president, Alan Keegan taking to Campus, to “clear a few things up.” In Campus, he said, the sabbatical pay “did not rise last week, as reported.” Except it did. He called it a “percentage increase”. But what is a percentage increase, if not a pay rise?
We understand, and reported, the circumstances involving the pay rise. The pay had decreased because it was linked to the civil service wage – and they sought to bring it back up to the current levels. But when families all over the country are being faced with lower wages on which to live – if the SU is too and they choose not to accept it – the resultant is a pay rise. It might sound ugly, and might not be the good, smiley, happy news they want to portray – but it is a pay rise. That is the simple fact. The same with our story on the SU constitution. Keegan says he would “completely disagree” that the constitution has become a farce.
Except we didn’t say that, a source on the SU executive did. He explains that this year they want to “do this properly”. Well, maybe they should have started on it “properly” from the beginning, rather than attacking this newspaper when we take them to task on the constant problems the constitution has been besieged with from day one. It is not us who promised a finished constitution by now. It is not us who decided to change the plan halfway through and bring in consultants when the constitutional review disintegrated into farce. It is the SU. And to allude to the fact that we have been misleading in our reportage doesn’t sit well with
OPEN MIC: A RAG BALL SPECIAL
us, and it shouldn’t sit well with you. The fact is, Campus is not the publication it should be. To look for a good SU publication – look to Trinity College, or UCD. Both operate an editorially independent newspaper funded by the Students’ Union, which compete in both cases with a wholly independent newspaper. A magazine filled with in jokes, “holla” outs to Glee characters and pages of SU propaganda is not what this college wants nor needs. A change is needed. Campus at present is a waste of your and our money. The fact that no member of the College View is paid, and the Campus editor is should speak absolute volumes.
By Rosie McCormack and Eleanor Keegan
What have you enjoyed about Rag week?
Darragh Minogue IR4
We speak to Tom Felming from up-andcoming band The Wild Beasts Flux » cover
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The drinking is great craic and it's all about charity!
Stevi Russell CM3
How Barbie bie has helped ed the image e of modern n beauty as she turns 51 Features » page 15 5
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All the different stuff around campus - especially Strictly c Come Dancing C
Niamh Bicennton BT1
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The Rag ball and the drinking thing!
Michelle Colman CCS2
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The dunk tank was brilliant because all the lads stripped off!
Caitriona Earley CCS1
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Sarah Hutchinson ET2
The ball is the thing I've most enjoyed!
Daley McLoughlin BT1
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The ball has been great and the drinking thing!
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Drinking, and the fact that the ball was an all day affair. It's a great atmosphere!
Niall Hurley CES1
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The drink and the music during the week has been fantastic!
PRODUCED BY PRO Head E Editors & Production Editor: David Kearns | Deputy: Samuel Hamilton | Sub-Editor: Audrey Donohue News E Editor: Samuel Hamilton | Deputies: Sam Matthews, Fiona Sherlock, Ceile Varley Features Featu Editor: Trudi McDonald Irish Editor: Audrey Donohue Comment Editor: Helen Doyle Comme Sports Editor: Niall Farrell | Deputies: Dwayne Leavy, Sabrina Ryan Arts E Editor: Sean McTiernan | Deputies: Patrick Kavanagh, Paula Lyne, Rosie McCormack Images Editor: Eleanor Keegan | Deputy: Rada Moneva CVTV Editor: Michelle Stedman | Deputy: Stephen Mangan Printed By Mortons Print Ltd, with the DCU Journalism Society P Thanks To Sportsfile, SPC, Office of Student Life, DCU School of Communications, Sudoku-Puzzles.net
The College View is a full participating member of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. This scheme, in addition to defending the freedom of the press, offers readers a quick, fair and free method of dealing with complaints that they may have in relation to articles that appear on our pages. To contact the Office of the Press Ombudsman go to www. pressombudsman.ie or www.presscouncil.ie
THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
3
Rag ball ticket sales hit by 'steep' prices Complaints over strobe lights remaining despite no warnings for students with epilepsy By Rosie McCormack Staff Writer Many students were forced to miss out on this year's Rag ball as a result of ticket prices. While some considered €25 a bargain for a day of live music, many other students were angered by the price. One student who did not wish to be named said: “I had really been looking forward to the Rag Ball but €25 for a ticket was just far too steep, there's no way I could have afforded that and I know many other people that were in the same situation as me." They added: “The week is supposed to be about the student body coming together to raise money for charity. What's the point of it all when students couldn't even afford a ticket to the ball?” There were mixed reactions from students who did manage to attend the Rag week's main function. Accounting and Finance student Ian McGlynn thought the event was good overall but he acknowledged that it was clear the impact the current economic climate was having on students. “The bands themselves were very entertaining and I personally thought the whole festival worked well. It was also a good bonus that people could come and go throughout the day," he said. “The event organisers did their best and it was unfortunate due to the current economic climate that it wasn't as good as it probably could've been.” The event did not sell out this year and there was somewhere in the region of a thousand tickets left over, resulting in the festival having to lose the events planned for outside. Most of the old bar also remained shut for the festival, and some bands found themselves playing to crowds of barely a handful of students. However, The Coronas who drew one of the biggest crowds of the night were happy with the crowd numbers despite their early performance time. Danny O'Reilly, the lead vocalist of the band, told the College View: “It was really great we didn't think we'd get a big crowd cause we were on so early but we were delighted." A chemical and pharmaceutical science student expressed his disappointment to the College View over this year's event saying that, “last year's event was far better. The SU sought out more society activity and Moxegen kicked ass." They added: “This year really seemed thrown together at the last minute. I was not very impressed with it at all.” SU president Alan Keegan said it was clear that students were encountering financial difficulties this year. "It seems that students have less
While at the other colleges... By Samuel Hamilton UCD Students’ Union have announced that X Factor twins Jedward - who are also set to play the Helix in DCU next month - will be one of the three headline acts at the UCD ball. While the other headline acts for the event are yet to be announced, the UCDSU ents officer, Mike Pat O’Donoghue, told the University Observer that concertgoers have nothing to worry about. O’Donoghue says that the other two headline acts are “bigger than Jedward” and that he is “very happy with how things have gone and hopes to release more acts after the Easter break.” Taking place on April 23, the UCD ball will for the first time be Europe’s biggest private party with 8,000 tickets being sold – 500 more than the Trinity ball. Tickets are on sale now for €35. A UCD student can accompany up to three non-UCD students to the event. By Sorcha Jowitt
The Coronas playing in the Venue at the Rag Ball, and a very small number of students enjoying one of the bands on offer Eleanor Keegan money than even last semester and that was reflected in the ticket sales,” he said. Another issue at the ball for some students was the fact that strobe lighting remained despite students lobbying SU officials for its exclusion. A number of students were angered by the strobe lighting that was in place in the Venue and were forced to miss out on performances from many of the big names that performed there at the Life-Wired festival. One disgruntled student expressed their anger over the fact nothing has yet been done about this form of lighting. They told the College View: “There were no warnings that it was there
and after paying €25 to get in it was very disappointing not to be able to enjoy the bands.” For student sufferers of photosynthesis epilepsy it means missing out on most events during
the college year. It is not yet clear how much money has been raised from the week but it is not expected that the €15,000 target for this year's Rag week will end up being reached.
Tickets to the Trinity ball sold out in four hours last month, with queues stretching around campus from the early hours in a search for one of the 7,500 tickets despite the €78 price tag. Gracing the five stages - during the last week of lectures, known as Trinity Week, on April 16 - are acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Mystery Jets, Mr Hudson, Uffie, Jape and Digitalism. Over the years, the Trinity ball has seen many infamous acts enter into the university's cobbled courtyard, including The Script and Calvin Harris who headlined last year. The Trinity ball is a black tie affair, with a tuxedo or evening ess essential esse t a for o those t ose attending atte d g dress thee festival style night. According to a Trinity ws Talking Eds News dcast, while the podcast, ices of the prices kets is seen tickets as quite teep a steep ice for price udents students to pay st to see just ew bands a few ay, you pay play, for the whole ght not night cessarily just necessarily thee line up.
4
THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
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DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski Eleanor Keegan
Ferdinand calls for third level minister By Ceile Varley Deputy News Editor DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has called for a separate Minister for third level education, given that Ministers for Education “have always favoured schools over universities and colleges.� Von Prondzynski argues that universities would get more funding if detached from the primary and secondary school system. He says: “It is my absolutely consistant experience that when push comes to shove every Minister will, during a tight budget round, prioritise primary and secondary education over third level,� which he says is a particular problem when resources are tight and cuts have to be made. Von Prondzynski says: “Every year third level gets a smaller increase or bigger cut than the rest of education.� He suggests a reason for this is that every household with children has an interest in primary and secondary education, while higher education is still seen as elitist in many quarters, therefore it’s in the Minister for Education’s best interests to make higher concessions to school education. Brian Hayes TD, Fine Gael's education spokesperson, told the College View that he feels Von Prondzynski’s proposal isn't a good idea. “It makes no sense to split up education into two different departments. I really don’t think this is a good idea. Higher education is a part of the department of education and I don’t think that should be broken up,� he says. Hayes added: “We can’t have a
separate Minister just for higher education. The only way I could see it working is if you put higher education and science & research together, and primary and secondary education with something else but I still think it’s a bad idea.� Fine Gael's education spokesperson, Brian Hayes, says Ferdie's plan makes "no sense" The DCU president says that universities would have more support if they were the responsibility of a separate minister who would not have to worry about wider education issues. Von Prondzynski also makes the point that a separate minister for higher education would send a strong message to foreign investors about the importance of irish universities. “What universities and colleges have to offer the country at this time is enormous, and will tend to determine the pace of economic recovery based on the extent to which they can be a magnet for knowledgedriven foreign direct investment and domestic start-ups.� Von Prondzynski is backed up by the Irish Universities Association who have lobbied the Taoiseach to allocate higher education to a government department other than Education and Science. A system like this is already in place in Northern Ireland. The Department of Education is in charge of schools while the Department of Employment and Learning has responsibility for higher education.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
5
DCU's new paranormal society they ain't afraid of no ghosts
E&S set to discover if they survive
By Ruth Hogan
By Audrey Donohue Staff Writer
The Paranormal Society is the latest to join the ranks of clubs and societies in DCU. It is the first society of this kind in any Irish university and although it is just in its early days, it already has over fifty members. There was a visible interest and demand for a society of this type as a petition was signed by forty students in favour at the end of last semester. Chairperson of the society, Brian McDonald said that their aim is “to promote paranormal interest and study”. Such areas described on the society’s Facebook page include, “ghosts, psychic abilities, alien life and mythology” and much more. He revealed that a group of people Brian McDonald, the chair of the society says they will be promoting paranormal activity and study had shown an interest in setting up a society like this and the petition proved that it was something that was wanted by many students. Although the society has not yet been granted any money, it has successfully held a number of events. These included a psychic study as well as a study of how fake mediums operate. Brian McDonald is optimistic
Members of Paranormal Society will be visiting the most haunted castle in Ireland as one of their first investigations about the future of the Paranormal Society and hopes that those with an interest in the paranormal get involved. He revealed plans for further events involving paranormal study in the future.
The society plans to bring its members on a ghost bus trip, a visit to a haunted castle - the most haunted in Ireland, a talk by paranormal investigators and much more. The society also has long term plans to attend the Paranormal
conventions of Ireland and collaborate with other universities if possible in the future. Students can become fans of Parasoc on Facebook and as usual they can join through the Clubs and Societies Office.
Representives from every DCU society will vote tomorrow on the status of the Entreprenerial and Social Society (E&S). The Societies and Publications Committee (SPC) called an EGM to decide whether or not the society should be allowed to continue to function after recent accusations of funding misuse. The EGM was called after the E&S committee lodged an appeal with the SPC after the society was “deemed” defunct several weeks ago. The SPC claims that they were deliberately misled by the society over funding for a trip to Budapest last November and says that members on the trip failed to attend a mandatory conference during the trip which the SPC partly funded. Co-chairperson Ian Denham has refuted these claims within the College View saying that that the committee are “devastated with the decision.” SPC chairperson Jennifer Tweed says that the meeting is being held “to allow E&S to appeal the SPC decision made to disband the society.” “At this meeting, both the SPC's side and E&S's side of the story will be put to the societies. After this, there will be a vote on whether the society should be reinstated. Each society has one vote on the decision, including E&S themselves. Each member of the SPC also has a vote,” she says.
SU SKETCH
'Turnout was no higher than usual... They have now started putting out far less chairs' At the (unusually short) Union Council this week: less chairs, voting dates, glitz, glamour and the 'N Screw'
Ceile Varley Deputy News Editor A strongly worded email from Union Council chair David Doyle was sent around to all class reps before last week’s meeting. It told everyone the time and place and then went on to say: “Turnout has been disappointingly low so far this semester so I would strongly encourage you all to come along, as it is an extremely important aspect of the Class Rep job.” Did it work? Turnout was no higher then usual – that is to say, barely at the minimum needed – but Union Council certainly had learned in one aspect. They have now started putting out far less chairs. The meeting started with
Roibeárd Ó Conchúir announcing dates for the upcoming elections. Nominations will be taken in week seven. Week eight will be set aside for campaigning and then the elections will be held in week nine. The count will be done in the morning this year, in a shock departure from the tradition of making life as difficult as possible for everyone involved. Megan Kelly ran unopposed for the remaining position on electoral committee and was immediately elected. Next we learned that this Wednesday is a remarkably popular date, being both Careers and Disability Awareness Day. Disability Awareness Day is on in the Interfaith centre from 12-2pm while Careers Day is taking place in the Helix from 2-4pm. Both will feature information stands of some variety.
Later on the Wednesday, the SU are holding a Viva Las Vegas themed casino night in the Venue. There will be roulette and poker tables, show girls and a Vegas style wedding chapel. Tickets cost €7 and all money will go towards the Rag week charities. Speaking of which, week eight is road safety week and Melanie Farrell insists that it will be “bigger then Rag week”. Melanie and John Murphy have been working with the Road Safety Authority and promise some great events. I heard the words ‘freak bike’ mentioned. Melanie then went on to tell us briefly about the "Ents Crew". The Ents Crew seem to be a group that will be set up to help with SU events and put up posters and fliers. I however didn’t realise this until some time later, believing that she
was talking about something called the ‘N Screw,' whatever that might have been. Niall McClave then brought about a rare Union Council moment. For once, everyone agreed. He criticised the Old Bar as a venue, saying that it’s too noisy and that “the acoustics are terrible... We can’t have meetings in here.” Right after he said this someone (apparently from Game Soc) slid open the partition, peered through and shut it again. "Point made." Then the meeting ran out of steam. David Doyle pleaded with the room. “Is there just nothing left to discuss?,” he asked. “Is there no other business at all?” Union Council then finished after a record 18 minutes and 42 seconds. We all then adjourned for a meeting with our faculty conveners. There was a grand total of six from
Humanities – including two from journalism and two from Fiontar. So five courses were represented. There are 21 undergraduate and 23 postgraduate courses in the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. There were no issues. Mostly we talked about the upcoming programme board meetings. An unusually clean shaven Dara McGann gave us tips on how to behave at them. He offered to go through proposed changes to each course with the class reps before the programme board, useful for the two journalism reps, who had a programme board meeting that afternoon but not as useful for the 38 courses who had no representative at the meeting. “Any issues? No? Anything?” The meeting lasted less than five minutes.
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THE COLLEGE VIEW
PLAGIARISM INVESTIGATION
The key points our survey uncovered
9 MARCH 2010
30% 66% 38% 41% o people think it is of ne necessary to plagiarise at some point during university so
of students surveyed admitted plagiarising in some form
of people have made up statistics, code, quotations, fieldwork, or other work
of people have referenced a text without having looked at or consulted it
Two-thirds of students confess to plagiarising •• continued from front to plagiarise." He added: “Although students may feel like they have to plagiarise because of stress, there are always alternatives. There are many support mechanisms throughout the university that can help students overcome stress, thus preventing the need to plagiarise.” Other results the College View’s survey found are that: • 39% of students have copied and pasted something from the internet and passed it off as their own. • 38% of students have made up statistics, code, quotations, fieldwork, or other work for an assignment. • 12% of students have written or given someone else an essay to hand in as their own work. • 22% of students feel there is nothing wrong with using someone else’s ideas without acknowledging them as the source. • 41% of students have referenced a text without having looked at, or consulting it. A key contributor towards plagiarism may be the lack of understanding of how to properly reference academic material – with 40% of students saying that they don’t know how to. According to Mark O’Brien, a lecturer in the School of
Communications, this result is particularly “striking”. He says that referencing is, “not that difficult once you make yourself aware of the conventions.” Despite this however, there is some good news for DCU with the majority of students believing that the university’s policy on plagiarism is tough enough – only 16% feel the policy needs to be toughened. The majority of students also feel that the university is proactive enough at ensuring plagiarists are caught, with only 24% believing more needs to be done. Given that it has almost become DCUSU education and welfare officer John Murphy says there needs to be more awareness of Wikipedia a primary source for research, it was perhaps unsurprising that almost noone surveyed hadn’t used Wikipedia. Only 20% - or one in five students – hadn’t used Wikipedia while researching an assignment; 16% say they have used Wikipedia solely for academic research on an essay or project. Murphy, however says that there
But how strict is DCU's plagiarism policy? By Sam Matthews DCU’s plagiarism policy is constantly being updated and expanded in order to keep up with would-be offenders. Most recently, in June of last year, the university’s academic council approved a new version of the policy. A further paragraph was added later on in the month, at the council’s recommendation. The policy sets out a standard definition of what constitutes plagiarism. This includes everything from “absent references” to “selfplagiarism”. It also advises on how to avoid committing plagiarism, and then describes the process of the investigation and the potential sanctions for miscreants. DCU is very thorough when it
comes to combating plagiarism. For example, the policy stipulates that every course module must include an explanation of plagiarism when discussing assignments or exams. All students are required to sign a ‘University Declaration on Plagiarism’ project submission cover for every academic paper submitted. Many lecturers demand a number of copies of each assignment. The reason for this is that electronically submitted documents may be checked for possible plagiarism using specially developed software, such as ‘turnitin.com’. DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has spoken and written about plagiarism at length in the past. His belief is that the growth of the internet has resulted in plagiarism being turned into “an industry”.
Typing away on a keyboard Ginny Austin needs to be a lot more awareness of how unreliable Wikipedia is. He says: “Students that rely on it are inevitably going to do worse in their studies. Lecturers are well able to notice when something has been taken from Wikipedia. The figure is quite alarming, hence why awareness needs to be raised that students can and do fail because of Wikipedia.” According to Dowling, the dean of engineering and computing, the amount of students admitting to using Wikipedia doesn't scare him. He says: "With more and more use being made of automated antiplagiarism procedures students who engage in such practices will be identified and sanctioned in line with the university’s plagiarism policy." A similar survey on plagiarism carried out at Cambridge University in London two years ago found that 49% of Cambridge students admitted to plagiarising in some form. This plagiarism survey was carried out on February 11 – with 389 students from faculties across the campus asked to anonymously fill out a survey form. The survey has a margin of error of 4.87%. Surveying help: Audrey Donohue, Patrick Kavanagh, Trudi McDonald, Sabrina Ryan and Ceile Varley.
The DCU plagiarism policy rism "Dublin City University defines plagia as follows: it is the deliberate act of work as taking and using another person’s ces, your own. It includes absent referen all reproducing the work (even with sm ks, changes) of another, taken from boo the journals, articles, TV programmes, also It Internet, lecture notes and so on. ting includes self plagiarism, i.e. submit ment, own work for more than one assess h or copying another person’s work, wit ed without his/her consent. Also includ is collusion where a group of people collaborate or collude to present an reof, assessment or a substantial part the ual when the examiner required individ work of research and outcome. Academic fused a poor standard should not be con sed with plagiarism and may be addres " through appropriate marking...
THE COLLEGE VIEW
PLAGIARISM INVESTIGATION
9 MARCH 2010
5%
of people have handed in someone else’s essay and passed it off as their own
14% 2% of people don't think it is wrong to plagiarise while at university
of people have paid money for someone to write an essay or complete a project
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35% 76% have used someone else’s ideas without acknowledging them as the source
think DCU is proactive enough at ensuring plagiarists are caught
LECTURER'S VIEW
Maybe plagiarism is a way out for those afraid of writing an essay? Mark O'Brien
F
PRESIDENT'S VIEW
Lack of understanding aids plagiarism Ferdinand von F Prondzynski
S
ome years ago I was an external examiner at another university. One of my tasks was to consider the evaluation by the university’s own examiners of the students’ final year project work. One student had written a lengthy dissertation about the impact of the common law on trade union organisation. As I read this, it seemed very familiar to me; and rightly so, as I had written it myself. The student in question had lifted a whole chapter from a book I had written a few years earlier and had presented it as his work. I had just been newly appointed as the external examiner, and the student probably had no idea that I would be reading his work. What amused me even more, though, was that the two internal examiners had not noticed the plagiarism and had given the student’s effort (in reality word for word my own work)
a mark of 58%. I was duly put in my place as regards the quality of my book; while the student was left to face the disciplinary process of the university. Plagiarism has been an issue for all academic institutions for a while, but in particular since the internet made access to materials so much easier, and also since continuous assessment has become much more common. In some cases students plagiarise where they don't fully understand what use of other materials is acceptable, and what use isn't. In discussions with students I have found a number who say they used materials inappropriately early on in their studies before they fully grasped all the different kinds of unacceptable plagiarism. It is however clear that there are also instances of deliberate cheating. Like all universities, we need to make sure we are adequately addressing this. Technology can provide some support for a solution, as there is now software that can detect plagiarism. However, much of
the debate about the phenomenon is at what I might call the technical level, addressing issues of detection in particular. Perhaps those are the wrong issues with which to begin. Plagiarism is in the first instance an indication of pedagogy gone wrong. Many who plagiarise do not do so in a spirit of fraudulent malice, but feel it is the educational counterpart to tax evasion: naughty, but almost heroic. But of course (like tax evasion) it is not heroic, and we need to ensure that this is understood and accepted by all. It is necessary now to recover a sense of the purpose and excitement of the educational mission. Or if we cannot do that, we need to go more with the flow and show students what they can legitimately do with materials they find: sometimes the difference between plagiarism and good research is merely the attribution, so that once students understand that finding fresh sources is actually good work if only they will credit it. At any rate, we need to be seen to be taking plagiarism seriously as a problem.
rom an academic’s perspective, some of the survey results are more striking than others. The fact that 86% of respondents believe that it is wrong to engage in plagiarism, that 84% believe the university’s plagiarism policy is tough enough, that 76% believe the university is sufficiently active on the issue and that only 16% believe the university is too harsh on offenders should be heartening to those tasked with combating the problem of plagiarism. So too should the fact that 78% of respondents believe it wrong to use other people’s ideas without attribution. Other results are not all that surprising. That 80% of respondents have used Wikipedia for academic research isn’t that odd. That 39% have engaged in cutting and pasting without attribution is regrettable but not all that surprising given the ease with which it can be carried out. That’s where plagiarism detection tools - such as ‘Turnitin’- come into play. Not all that surprising either is the finding that 41% of respondents have referenced a text without having consulted it. Unfortunately, this is sometimes all too glaringly obvious in essays. Other results prompt questions. That only 62% feel that plagiarism is defined in an understandable way is problematic, although it’s fair to say that there is also a responsibility on students to inform themselves. That only 60% feel that they know how to properly reference academic work is striking – it’s not that difficult once you make yourself aware of the conventions. Other results point, perhaps, to wider issues. That 35% admit to having used someone else’s ideas without attribution could well be put down to academic laziness. But how
does one explain the finding that 30% feel it necessary to plagiarise at some point during their university course? Given that plagiarism is cheating this figure seems rather high. Could there be a more mundane explanation than laziness and cheating for the belief that plagiarism is sometimes a necessary evil? Could it be that writing an essay sometimes terrifies students because they’re unsure about how to write an essay in the first place? The transition from second to third level is a huge leap and the difference in essay styles is enormous. In second level students are encouraged to write in the first person and express their opinions. In third level they have to write in a non-personal style and make arguments based on evidence derived from research and reading. And then there’s the referencing conventions to remember – not to mention the rules on plagiarism.
“
How does one explain the finding that 30% feel it necessary to plagiarise at some point during their university course? Mark O'Brien Lecturer
Some students acclimatise to ‘third-level writing’ quicker than others. To those left behind plagiarism might be a way out. Writing meaningful sentences that build into meaningful paragraphs that, in turn, make a logical argument is a skill that can, and should, be taught at third level. Like other skills, writing can be perfected through instruction, practice and feedback. We teach presentation skills; there’s no reason why writing skills shouldn’t receive the same level of attention in an attempt to combat plagiarism and up-skill students at the same time.
8
THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
Congratulations to DCU on winning the Sigerson Cup and O’Byrne Cup Bank of Ireland proud sponsor of the DCU Sports Academy
Bank of Ireland is regulated by the Financial Regulator.
9 MARCH 2010
Members of the '07/'08 uncontested Students' Union protesting Orla Ryan
SU election dates announced by returning officer Counting to move from straight after end of vote to morning after By Samuel Hamilton News Editor The dates for this year’s Students’ Union elections have been announced. The election is set to take place on Tuesday, April 6 and Wednesday, April 7 of week nine, with nominations accepted during week seven, starting March 22. Candidates will then officially be announced at 6pm on Friday, March 26. The week after that will then be available for candidates to campaign – during which the hustings, where all candidates will have a chance to put forward the reasons why they should be elected, will take place on the Wednesday afternoon. Roibeárd Ó Conchúir, the SU returning officer, says he is confident that all positions will be filled, and that there will be a competitive election unlike that which took place the year before last. During the election for the ‘07/’08 team, all sabbatical positions went uncontested. Ó Conchúir says: “I would say that this year's elections will be as competitive as ever. That being said, people certainly shouldn't be phased by the competition. The main thing people need to keep in mind is that anyone can get involved and run for election, provided they are willing to put in the work and follow the procedures.” For this year’s election, the vote counting will start on the Thursday morning, instead of straight after the
polls close and through the night as has been the policy in previous years. Ó Conchúir says that the change in vote counting procedures has been made to ensure that all counters are “well-rested and ready to perform admirably in this most gruelling of tasks.” SU returning officer Roibeárd Ó Conchúir says he is confident that all posts will be filled He says: “It's simply too physically exhausting for the counters and the nominees to have to stay up all night as has been done in previous elections.” Last year there was controversy at the count centre when during a recount tallies changed substantially, and there was a request from a candidate for a new counting team to be installed. At one point last year’s count was moved to the home of the then president-elect Alan Keegan after security had to close the Hub, where votes were being counted. Ó Conchúir says he would advise any prospective candidates to consider running. “The only advice I would offer beyond that is to make sure they do plenty of research in advance for the positions that they are considering. The best way to do that is to talk to the people that currently hold the positions.”
THE COLLEGE VIEW
DCU NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
Kidnapped BBC correspondent gives account of time in Gaza By Sorcha Jowitt
Colm O'Gorman, the head of Amnesty Ireland, says Johnston stands out with "courage"
There is no point going to the “last few lectures” in any subject, given that material “will probably never be examined” according to Mike Scott, the head of the School of Computing. In an article for the College View he says that because of the time pressures on lecturers that see them setting exam papers four to five weeks into a semester “so that the papers can go through elaborate administrative processing, moderation, checking and rechecking” there is no chance to modify an exam based
DCU set to host sexuality conference By Helen Doyle Staff Writer
Alan Johnston speaking to the DCU Journalism Society Orla Ryan
One of the free carparks available to students Samuel Hamilton
book. I thought ‘that sounds great!’" He also spoke of his experiences as a journalist in the area prior to his kidnapping. "The Afghanistan highway is run by utter bandits. You are threatened at the border with the release of the ‘human dog’ from the chains. That is,
Gardai to crack down on student parking
an unstable man who would attack you," Johnston said. He added: "War is misrepresented in many games, books and films. It does not show the way it feels to be in those situations.. It is not a third world but almost a fourth world with the Taliban presence there."
Final lecture material will 'probably never be examined' - Computing head By Samuel Hamilton News Editor
IN BRIEF
DCU will be hosting a sexuality conference called Self, Selves and Sexualities on the weekend of March 19 and 20. The conference has been co-organised by Dr Mel Duffy, from the School of Nursing (SON), and Jean-Philippe Imbert from the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS). The organisers have said their aim for the conference is to provide an open platform in which to discuss “the varied processes and variations in sexual cultures, sexual identities and gender role formation”. Speakers and contributors will be coming from all over the world to participate in the varied discussions that will be taking place. Over the two days, in the venue of the School of Nursing here in DCU, the conference will consist of 22 different discussion sessions, each chaired by an academic with specific interest or study in that field. Subjects up for discussion at some of these will be, the art of sex, the realm of abuse, the politics of the private versus the public, from sex to text and Latin lovers. There will also be two plenary speakers. Professor Diarmaid Ferriter from UCD will kick off proceedings on Friday morning and Mary Raftery of the Irish Independent will close out the conference with her speech on Saturday evening. For students it costs €25 and for DCU Delegates it’s €50.
Alan Johnston visited DCU the Tuesday before last to give a talk about his kidnapping ordeal in Gaza and his experience of reporting in war torn countries. The event was organised by the Journalism Society, the Amnesty International Society and the Model UN Society. The BBC correspondent was introduced by the executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland, Colm O'Gorman, who chaired the evening's discussion. Johnston "stands out with extraordinary courage and professionalism," O'Gorman said. When speaking, Johnson showed a great amount of understanding of the issues in the Middle East and a certain amount of sympathy towards the extremists.
He says: "I feel when extremists take the country, bringing it forward is entirely beyond them." He explained how his kidnapping was a nightmare scenario he had dreamt of which was then unfolded with him unable to do anything. Johnson spoke fondly of the radio programmes his captors allowed him to hear on the 17th day of his kidnapping, when he was allowed to listen to the BBC World Service on a transistor radio. He joked: "It is strange hearing a bulletin of your own death." He then spoke of the hope that emerged by talking to one of his captors. "He told me that one day I would go home, get married and write a
9
on student feedback. He says that if a lecturer, motivated through student feedback, gets a great idea halfway through the Head of School of Computing, Mike Scott's full article for the paper Comment, P22 course it is too late to introduce it into the course given that “you’ve set the exam already, and if you don’t teach to the exam there will be hell to pay.” He adds that even if lecturers get the idea for extra material, “when the
lecturer had to set the exam paper some two months earlier they could not be absolutely sure that they would have the time... to cover that final material.” However, Students’ Union education and welfare officer John Murphy says he would disagree. Murphy says: “A lot of lecturers would set the exam paper, knowing they still have a set amount to cover. In my experience, if a lecturer needed extra time, they would usually set an extra class or two. And whether it comes up in the exam or not is irrelevant - the student still needs to know it as part of the course.”
By Fiona Sherlock Deputy News Editor Gardai are launching a major clampdown on students parking in housing estates around the DCU campus. Shanowen Road, Shanowen Avenue, Shanowen Park, Shanowen Grove, Crestfield estate and Albert College estate will be the focus of the operation. Gardai from Whitehall and Santry Traffic Corps will be checking these areas on a daily basis. Anyone found parking without permission in these estates is liable to be fined between €40 and €80. Approximately 100 tickets have been issued to students so far in 2010. Labour Councillor for Whitehall, Andrew Montague, said that there was a lot of “bad parking” around the housing estates. Cars are being parked too far from the kerb and blocking the entrance to driveways. Residents in the area have been complaining about parking for a number of years, but the situation has become worse in the last 18 months, according to Cllr Montague. A spokesman for the Traffic Corps at Santry Garda station said that anyone with a license should be aware of the rules of the road. Blocking other road users is illegal. He also said sometimes the emergency services are unable to gain access to a house because cars are being parked on both sides of the road. He warned that no ‘no parking’ signs on display do not give drivers permission to park. Parking is available for free in two car parks in DCU and €7 a week in the multi-storey car park.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
10 DCU NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
First class degrees given by DCU rise 167% in 14 years By Trudi McDonald Features Editor
Weekly guide to entertainment
The number of first class honours undergraduate degrees awarded in DCU has risen by up to 167% between 1994 and 2008. According to statistics published in the Irish Independent, many Irish universities have had grade inflations of well over 150%. A number of reports, carried out by researchers in IT Tralee and by Trinity College have shown that in just over a decade, there have been increases of almost 900% in the number of first class degrees awarded by third level institutions. DCU had one of the lowest inflations at 167% while University College Cork averaged at an increase of almost 277% over the 14-year period. The report from Trinity College, prepared by the univeristy's academic secretary Patricia Callaghan, showed that the number of second class honour degrees awarded has also risen dramatically. UCC rose to 51.3%, TCD to 50.2%, while DCU remained at a constant of 41% of graduating students receiving 2:1 degrees. The reports, and the issue of grade inflation in general, has been met with both scepticism and support. While some people, including Callaghan, are saying the reason for the increase in high grade degrees is due to “improved teaching and learning, and more transparent assessment regulations” and that students are more driven towards
Masters degrees, others feel that third level education has been “dumbed down”. Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has called for a probe into the issue and a further government report is expected to be published in the near future. DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski addressed the report’s findings on his blog. “What we should be recognising is that society as a whole has changed quite dramatically over the period in question, and so have students. The profile of the student body is different from what it was, and so are the things that motivate them and drive them. This has an impact on their performance.” President von Prondzynski also commented on IT Tralee who said that the widening of availability of third level education was affecting overall grade standards. Von Prondzynski disagreed with this, saying: “In DCU for example, access students (who sometimes enter the university on slightly reduced points) on average perform better than their non-access peers and are less likely to drop out.” The issue has already sparked huge media interest and the Department of Education report is eagerly awaited. Von Prondzynski, however, fears this may all get blown out of proportion. He says: “Let us hope that the developing debate will be decisive, but also thoughtful rather than hysterical.”
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By Ceile Varley Deputy News Editor A Coventry University student has become the first disabled contestant to reach the semi finals of the Miss England competition. Kirstie Logan has severe rheumatoid arthritis, a condition which causes the immune system to attack the joints. She was first diagnosed with the condition three years ago. The 19-year old was crowned Miss Coventry on Febuary 27. She will go on to compete in the national semi finals of the beauty contest in June. Kirstie started as a plus size model. However after she became
ill she lost a lot of weight, going from a size 20 to a size 8. She relies on steroids and painkillers to treat joint and bone pain. Speaking to the Coventry Obsever, Kirstie said: “I never feel sorry for myself. I think I have this illness for a reason and I’m going to use it to help other people.” She added: “I hope to show that beautiful people can have a disability and it does not stop you from doing what you really want to. This year, I am going to show the nation that beauty is all inclusive.” A first year English and French student, Kirstie is currently the bookies' favourite to succeed in the contest.
NATIONAL NEWS 11
THE COLLEGE VIEW 9 MARCH 2010
Two SU presidents reject claims they are in talks to reaffiliate to USI as Maynooth rejoins Both University of Limerick and Cork Institute of Technology say no talks have taken place By Niall O'Connor Staff Reporter Two Students’ Union presidents have strongly rejected claims made by the Union of Students of Ireland that it is in constant talks with non-affiliated colleges on the issue of rejoining USI. The SU presidents of University of Limerick (UL) and Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) said this week that there had been no attempt made to persuade their unions to put the issue of rejoining USI to a student vote. This is despite the organisation’s president Peter Mannion stating in an interview with the College View last week that his executive “always talks with-non affiliates” about rejoining USI. Currently, DCU and UL are the only two universities that are not members of USI after the NUI Maynooth (NUIM) student body voted overwhelmingly to rejoin last month. All of Ireland’s institutes of technology are also members of USI with the exception of CIT. ULSU president Ruan Dillion Ruan Dillion McLoughlin, ULSU president says USI has made no effort to engage with them McLoughlin said that “no effort has been made by USI to engage in dialogue with us all year”. McLoughlin added that NUIM’S re-affiliation with USI “was not any major event” and that “if we saw an appetite for change in UL we would consider a referendum but at the moment, that appetite just is not there”. CITSU president Gearóid Buckley said that his union wanted to hold a referendum this year but no interest was shown by USI. “We contacted USI about having um and they didn’t come a referendum ... Peter Mannion has not back to us... consulted with us all year,” he said. Buckleyy strongly criticised ure of USI, going as far the structure est the organisation as to suggest band. should disband. “USI’s time iss up. Theree is so oblems many problems the with tion, organisation, it needs to start all over a g a i n . . . i t ’s it’s silly, sed, unorganised, it’s full of petty politics.”
ON THE GROUND IN MAYNOOTH
'A darkly clothed figure in a baseball cap was seen prowling around distributing leaflets alerting us the USI was nothing short of abortion-crazy maniacs' David Ryan Maynooth Reporter M Nothing says confidence de in your beliefs like b bold print bas and dodgy baseball caps. Amidst the fu furore of last Stude week’s Students' Union elections, the students Maynoo voted of NUI Maynooth overwhelming to rejoin overwhelmingly g USI. And given the i which the manner in respectiv campaigns respective run the result were run, came as no surprise to most. Y campaign The Yes began in earnest the week prior. They e had an earnest and informa informative approach, encoura encouraging students
to do their own research rather than believe them. Notable by their almost complete absence were the No campaigners. Indeed it was true that for the days leading up to the referendum, those few students who declared their intention to vote No based their opinion solely on not wanting to pay an extra €5 a year. The Yes campaigners were, throughout these proceedings, openly encouraging the prospect of debating their detractors, but a No campaign failed to publicly present itself. When it did, it came in a curiously covert manner. On the morning of the referendum itself, a mysterious darkly clothed figure in a baseball cap was seen prowling around our Common Room distributing leaflets that alerted us that the USI was nothing short of a crowd of abortion-crazy maniacs. This argument, which has presented
itself constantly since Ireland’s original bid for EEC membership, gets more and more tiresome as time goes on. The introduction of this argument was met largely with eye rolling and sarcastic laughter by Maynooth students. The passing of the USI referendum came as no surprise to most people in Maynooth. It’s been the feeling among a lot of students that our students are at nothing without national representation. Most feel that the decision to leave USI in the first place was ridiculous, that Maynooth and other colleges like us stand to gain more from being united under the USI banner than we do from being separate. The hope in our college following this result is that our example might begin a domino effect of sorts, and people are encouraged to look into the prospect of USI membership and its benefits.
NUI Maynooth, which has voted to reaffiliate to USI, and USI president Peter Mannion Kevin / USI However Peter Mannion told the College View that a lot of misinformation exists in colleges as to how USI operates and the organisation will be moving to counter this in the coming months. “During the last few months, we’ve found there was a lot of misinformation about what USI actually was amongst students. We’ll be making our own information available to students in DCU so that they can decide if they want to be part of our organisation.” He added: "Every student in the country should be debating the issue of joining USI and they should know what the organisation is and have a chance to have their say.” The USI president took a swipe at the Forum for University Students’ Unions (FUSU) and questioned whether the organisation will survive much longer. “FUSU doesn’t work, it doesn’t have an office, it doesn’t even have a postal address,” he said. “Given now that NUIM are back in USI, I think the other universities will be looking at FUSU wondering if it’s worth their time,” he added.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
12 NATIONAL NEWS
9 MARCH 2010
UCD votes to overturn its ban on Coca-Cola
Student increases to cost Govt €1bn By Fiona Sherlock Deputy News Editor The government will face having to pay an extra €1bn in higher education costs due to a huge increase in students. The Department of Education published revised projections for enrolment in third level education on its website in the past few weeks. They say that student numbers will rise steadily from 155,100 at present to 215,900 in 2021 and then to 268,100 ten years later. The Department of Finance has been advised of these revisions that indicate an increase of students far larger than previously anticipated. At present, the Government spends around €10,500 per student enrolled in higher education; a total of €1.8bn. The €1bn increase will put a massive burden on the higher education system and has put the reintroduction of tuition fees back on the political agenda, the Irish Independent reported last week. 73% of Leaving Certificate students are expected to progress to third level education. The number of mature students in the system is also likely to increase from the 13% of
now to 25% in 2022. The number of undergraduate and postgraduate students from outside the state is thought to rise at a faster level. The increase of births since the mid 1990s is one of the main factors the Department of Education have taken into account in their revisions. The unemployment that resulted from the recession and the demand for further education are also factors in the predicted enrolment boom. The competition for skills and higher-education graduates internationally as economies trade up the value chain is another pressure that will face the population over the next two decades. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) say they agree with the department’s predictions, given the population boom and increase in demand for further education. "Some of that demand could be met to a greater extent by flexible and part-time learning. However, there are huge resource implications of such dramatic growth," a spokesperson for the HEA said. The Department of Education announced a €52m cut in expenditure in the December 2009 Budget, as well as a 5% drop in maintenance grants.
By Emma Gill UCD students have voted yes to end the ban on the sale of Coca-Cola products in Students' Union shops, despite the fact that there was no formal Yes campaign. The Students' Union encouraged any students who wanted to represent the Yes or No side in the campaign to come forward, however no one came forward to represent the Yes campaign. Each side of the campaign was allocated 40 posters and 1,000 sheets of flyers by the Students' Union, but as there was nobody to represent the Yes side no posters in favour of ending the boycott were published. Despite this, the motion to end the ban was passed by a narrow margin of 51.9% to 48.1%. UCD were the first college to ban the products in 2003 following CocaCola’s alleged involvement in the murder of nine of its workers at a bottling plant in Columbia. The allegations were never proven, and the court case taken against Coca-Cola was dismissed. Members of the Union Council voted overwhelmingly last month to hold the referendum because the majority of current students in the college were not members of the Student Union when the ban was introduced. According to a survey carried out by UCD student newspaper The University Observer, many students weren’t aware of the reasons behind the boycott, and others didn’t even know that the ban was in place because Coca-Cola products are available in non SU shops around campus.
Saudi students set to arrive in Ireland By Aishling Phelan The Institutes of Technology in Galway, Athlone and Waterford have signed a deal worth €9m which will see more than 1,000 Saudi Arabian students enter Irish higher education over the next four years. The scheme will begin in September as 80 students will attend the institutes in Waterford and Galway and 110 students will attend in Athlone. The institutes signed a deal with the Technical Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is a government institution responsible for development of the workforce in technical and vocational education. The all-male group will begin their studies by undertaking one year of English language tuition and will then transfer to a variety of level seven, three year degree courses. The courses will vary from engineering, renewable energy, software, business, accounting, financial services and tourism studies. The students will be funded under the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme which sees the institutes receive €9m in fees and €1m taken in by the local economy. A similar intake of students will
happen in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The scholarship scheme also funds the wives of the students to attend the three institutes of technology where they will take English language classes in their first year. There is provision in the agreement for the contract to be extended for another four years if all parties are happy with achievements in the initial period. Athlone institute president Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin said the agreement was, "the result of several years' relationship-building in the Middle East by the three institutes of technology." He added: "AIT has prioritised the internationalisation of its college community, with the result that overseas students comprise more than 10% of full-time learners. We registered 25 Saudi students last September and their experience has been overwhelmingly positive." The Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia has denied that it intended to send hundreds of students to a new private college developed in Citywest Dublin despite the claims of its developer, businessman Jim Mansfield. The deal was denied by Saudi ministry deputy for scholarship, Dr. Abdullah Al Mosa.
Aideen Carberry of the No campaign says that she will be seeking a new vote next year
Coca-Cola products are now availble to buy from SU shops in UCD André Banyai
Over 4,000 students voted in the referendum, which took place on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 of March, alongside the SU elections. Coca-Cola products such as Coke and Sprite will now be sold in SU shops, and the SU will also now be eligible for Coca-Cola sponsorship. In 2007 the students of Trinity College held a vote on whether to uphold their ban on Coca-Cola products; 63% voted to keep the boycott in place. Official agent of the No campaign Aideen Carberry said to The University Observer that the campaign was not over, and that she would be seeking to have a vote taken to reintroduce the boycott next year.
ANALYSIS 13
THE COLLEGE VIEW 9 MARCH 2010
The private take over of education Sam Matthews looks at how we have all become 'customers' rather than students
T
he ongoing student and faculty demonstrations in the US and the UK are in large part a battle against the privatisation and commercialisation of the education system. Corporations, trade and industry are increasingly investing in the institutions of education systems. Many students are unhappy about the use of public infrastructure by private agendas. DCU Professor Helena Sheehan says that Ireland may not be far behind: “There’s a privatisation by stealth going on already, within our universities, within our whole public sector. There’s a lack of respect for the public sector and for doing things for the public good, as opposed to profit.” “There’s a problem with the private sector parasiting on the public sector, in a way that’s becoming increasingly objectionable. They give money to universities, they give grants – but they use a whole infrastructure that’s been publicly funded”. In 2003, the European Network of Education Councils (EUNEC) held a conference to discuss the desirability of the commercialisation of education. EUNEC subsequently published a report, which said: “In various countries substantial cuts in (higher) education budgets, have driven institutions for higher education to the market. By offering education services to the industry… they are trying to raise their budgets”. This is happening in our university. In a blog entry last month, DCU president von Prondzynski calculated that over the last ten years, state funding for each student (allowing for inflation) has declined by about 50%. He offered two possible solutions. The reintroduction of student fees, or increased commercialisation: “If the current refusal to face up to the issues continues, then universities will need to see education as only part of the core mission, and they will need to commercialise aggressively in order to open up other revenues." But the EUNEC conference report found that “the effects of market forces within education do not point unequivocally in the direction of the superiority or inferiority of educational systems in which market forces dominate." Professor Sheehan has warned of the dangers of the
€2m€?12bn? €29bn?
€9m?
€41m?
The Henry Grattan building in DCU Rada Moneva
€11m?
€77m?
commercialisation of universities in the past. In 2006, she publicly debated Von Prondzynski on the issue. But she says that while the debate served to provoke discussion and articulate concern, there has been little positive change. In the previous year (2005), the European University Association (EUA) carried out an institutional evaluation at DCU. The report noted that “the apparent lack of communication about the research strategy and ongoing developments of the Faculties (is) raising some concern among the academic community." “I think research is being driven too much by research funding”, says Sheehan. “It’s a normal part of any academic’s job to do research. But immediately if you talk about research these days, it’s judged by the amount of funding you’re bringing in." Von Prondzynski noted recently in a letter to the Phoenix, DCU has “topped the list for research income in Irish universities”. But part of the problem is that certain disciplines – generally the sciences – attract the preponderance of investments. Biotechnology, chemistry and physics are routinely the top schools for research income. Sheehan fears that the onset of market priorities has led to certain disciplines being de-emphasised or downgraded. She points to the lack of a history department, philosophy department, or literature department at
€81m?
DCU: “These areas of knowledge, globally, are under threat. They’re being drastically de-emphasised, and universities are being reduced to a series of market-oriented niche areas. The university agenda has become too narrowly aligned to the exact needs of the market.” She adds: “There’s a lot more funding for applied science than philosophy and history. But also, it’s the way the curriculum is devised. It’s right across every facet of academe that the emphasis on things like IT and Biotechnology is up and the emphasis on things like history and philosophy is down." The 2005 EUA report acknowledged “the recognized tradition in DCU of cooperation with industry” and the university’s “network of relations with industrial partners”. It also found that “the university appears to be considered by companies as willing to engage with industry, happy to collaborate and not trying to dictate the fields of research.” But who should dictate the public research agenda, if not the university? Private industry? Many students believe that private economic interests should have little or no role in dictating how universities operate. Few people aspire to a system where the quality of education would be determined by the perceived profitability of courses. There is a worry of a shift towards ‘assemblyline’ education, whereby degrees exist with the simple aim of producing new cogs for the marketplace. Modern discourse in Irish society stresses the need for a knowledge-
based economy, but students must be wary of becoming simply instruments of corporations. Our universities should have purposes beyond equipping people with the skills needed for the labour force. Were the market’s role in universities to increase significantly, what effect might it have on the quality and accessibility of education? Sheehan’s position is not absolutist – she sees a place for some degree of commercialization: “I’m not against any kind of role for the market – we want our students to be able to get real jobs. I just think there isn’t enough scrutiny about what is for the public good versus what will enhance private profit.” Marketisation manifests itself in other ways. For example, since the installation of the self-checkout machines in the library, students are issued with a docket for borrowed books. Printed on the docket where one might expect the word ‘student’ or ‘library member’, is instead, the word ‘customer’. This is likely a happenstance feature of the software, but it provokes some thought. Are we the students of our university or its customers? Are degree courses merely a bought-andpaid for service? Sheehan too recognises a modern tendency to “talk about students as though they were customers." “It’s a symptom of the marketisation that I really find objectionable. It commmodifies knowledge, it commodifies relationships between teachers and students, and between the institution as a whole."
“ There’s a privatisation by stealth going on already, within our universities, within our whole public sector
Helena Sheehan
14 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
THE COLLEGE VIEW
Thousands of US students take part in day of protest
Universities involved in China cyber attacks
By Sam Matthews Deputy News Editor
By David Kearns Editor
Thousands of university students across the United States walked out of classes and lectures last Thursday as part of a national day of action protesting cuts to public education. Students, academic staff and administrative staff from more than 40 campuses were voicing their opposition to tuition fee hikes and budget cuts. Demonstrations ranged from street rallies to teach-ins and the occupation of university buildings. Protestors blocked off entrances to a number of university campuses, effectively closing them for the day. Students also shut down highways and streets surrounding campus entrances. A number of people were injured after being hit by cars breaking the picket line. In one such incident, students in Oakland, California forced the closure of a freeway for over an hour, in both directions. Over 160 people were arrested in the process of reopening the road. It was one of a number of clashes with police throughout the day. Small numbers of students were arrested all
9 MARCH 2010
over the country at separate events. However, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, with few recorded incidents of property damage. In total, over 120 different actions took place by student movements across 39 states. Plans for a mass rally on March 4 had been in place since last November, when student strikes broke out over a 32% rise in undergraduate tuition fees. Budget cuts in California are responsible for cancelled classes, staff layoffs, and entire university departments closing. Thousands of students converged on downtown Los Angeles, and large numbers congregated at San Francisco’s City Hall. “I think students are frustrated,” said one California community college spokesperson. “And I think that they're recognizing that there are a lot of them, and that if they become active and organize, that they have a voice that will be heard”. Student groups argue that tuition fees have made education a luxury, only available to the upper middle class. They have also indicated that last Thursday’s events are only the beginning of the fightback.
US student fights filesharing demands By Caroline Leddy A federal appeals court in America is ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) $27,750 ($750 per track) for file sharing 37 songs when she was a high school cheerleader. The decision by the US Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a Texas federal judge who had ordered defendant Whitney Harper to pay $7,400, or $200 per song. The lower court had granted her an “innocent infringer’s” exemption to the Copyright Act’s minimum of $750 per track because she said she didn’t know she was violating copyrights and thought file sharing was “like internet radio streaming”. However, the appeals court said the woman was not eligible for such a defence, even if it was true that she was between 14-16 years old when the infringing activity occurred. Harper, now a 22-year old Texas Tech senior, said in a 2008 interview that she did not know what she did was wrong when she shared Eminem, the Police, Mariah Carey and others online as a teenager. “I knew I was listening to music," she said. "I didn’t have an understanding of file sharing.”
The woman’s lawyer, Scott Mackenzie, said that “she’s going to graduate with a federal judgement against her.” The RIAA, which has sued thousands of people for infringement, labelled Harper as “vexatious” when she refused to settle the case. Harper’s case moved up the judicial ladder without a trial. Mackenzie said he was considering Whitney Harper, a former chairleader, has been ordered to pay the RIAA $200 for each song an appeal to the US Supreme Court. Only two RIAA cases against individuals have gone to trial, earning the RIAA colossal verdicts. The first RIAA case to go to trial saw Minnesota jury order Jammie Thomas to pay $1.92 million for file sharing 24 songs. The judge in the case reduced the fine to $54,000, or $2,250 per song. The second case saw Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate, ordered to pay $675,000 for file sharing 30 songs last year.
Whether Chinese citizens will still be able to use Google is being decided Dullhunk
Students from two of China’s leading universities may have been involved in the recent cyber attacks on Google and several other American companies. The New York Times reported that while investigating the source of the attacks, US security experts traced a number of them back to Shanghai Jiatong University and Lanxiang Vocational School. Both universities have prominent computer science courses but have denied any knowledge of a US investigation. It is believed that Lanxiang has close links with the Chinese military, and its location corresponds with one of six regions in China that were recently identified as being major sources for cyber attacks. Students from Jiaotong have already been found guilty of hacking US based systems. In 2001 a hacker from the institution, identified by US experts as Peng Yinan, successfully attacked the White House website, taking it down for more than two hours. It was reported that this attack bore similarities to others against Yahoo and CNN the previous year. Last month, students from Jiaotong beat teams from some of the world’s top universities including Stanford in a programming competition sponsored by IBM. The winners of which are guarantee internships with the company when they graduate. China rejected the New York Times report, stating that: "[the] report that these attacks came from Chinese schools are groundless… [and that] any accusations of Chinese government involvement are irresponsible.” It has been more than a month since Google revealed that it had been subject to a series of sophisticated attacks against its network. According to the company, these assaults on its systems were aimed at uncovering personal details of Chinese human rights activists and stealing elements of its software. At the time the company threatened to stop censoring its Chinese search engine. "This information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech," said the company at the time. "These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China." The company has not yet acted on its threat to stop censoring its search results – a move which would be likely to result in its expulsion from China.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
FEATURES 15
9 MARCH 2010
A life in plastic, it's fantastic Megan Ecock on 51 years of Barbie and how she has shaped the image of female beautyy
'I
'm a Barbie Girl, In a Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic!" Lyrics to a pop song or er advertisement a clever smetic surgery? for cosmetic the lines Today en the two are between pping due to overlapping n's women's growing ion with the obsession "Body Beautiful". When American esswoman businesswoman Ruth Handler d created the Barbie doll in 1959 as a simple play toy forr young girls ould not have she could known the influence ll would have the doll on contemporary e. Barbie culture. dividess opinion which, for a doll, is pretty impressive. For he is a pretty doll some she ls to play dressfor girls ith while others up with would contend that she ponsible for an is responsible lthy obsession unhealthy with a female form that is not achievable ut the aid of the without tic surgeon. cosmetic rywhere we look today Everywhere there are subtle, yet noticeable hints that our world has become image obsessed. Turn on the radio or television and there are isements for cosmetic advertisements dures. Open up any magazine procedures. here are “celebrities” who and there omoting their Diet DVD’s or are promoting exercisee plans to help you the reader ve your perfect body”. “achieve The glossy pages of these ations are filled publications with iably attractive people, the undeniably ty of whom have gained majority om the touch of an airbrush help from or the liberal use of PhotoShop. This iss the environment that young children find themselves ng up in, believing that growing looks alone ensure your status in y. society. The battle is on to counter these istic expectations but with the unrealistic arity of reality TV shows, such popularity
as The Hills and The City and their casts of beau beautiful people, it is fair to say that this won’t be won any anytime soon. Heidi Montag, one o of the lead characters in The Hills has dominated the celebrity cele pages and blogs recently with the shocking revela revelations of undergoing 10 cosmetic surgery sur procedure procedures in one day. These procedures i n v o l v e d liposuction, ccheek i m p l a n t s and b a breast augmentation. Though in serious ser pain, Montag admitted after the surgery that she still wants m more, hoping to take her breast size to a size “H for Heidi”. Why a perfectly healthy he and attractive young woman w would choose to undertake such dr drastic measures to achieve the “per “perfect” look is beyond belief, but in the pressurised world of Hollywood such procedures are as common as getting ge a tooth pulled. In other related news, a 16-yea 16-year old girl has become Britain’s youngest youn Botox user. What’s more shocking shocki is that the injections were administered administ by her own mother. The girl’s mo mother, known as the "Human Barbie," Bar has made the headlines hersel herself for spending £500,000 on cosm cosmetic surgeries to get the perfect face and body. Just where is this unbelievable unbeliev craze going to stop if it has already alr lured teenagers into going unde under the knife? This is where Barbie come comes in. The Barbie Doll has been a very important and famous fas fashion
doll on the toy market for the last 51 years. However, there have been many controversies surrounding the doll and its ability to influence the young children who play with it. One of the most voiced criticisms is that the Barbie doll promotes a very unrealistic idea of body image for women and that young girls who try to emulate her will become anorexic. Barbie’s bodily statistics have been roughly worked out, estimating that she has a 36 inch chest, 18 inch waist and 33 inch hips. Using these statistics, the University Central Hospital in Helsinki carried out research which showed that any woman who matched them would lose the ability to menstruate and would have major health problems. It has also been proven in further studies that a human would not be able to stand upright with these proportions. This led Mattel, the creators of the doll, to re-design Barbie in 1997. They gave her a wider waist which would make her “better suited to contemporary fashion designs.” Controversy loomed when “Teen Talk Barbie” was introduced in 1992. This Barbie doll had preprogrammed phrases, allowing her to “speak”. These phrases included, “Will we have enough clothes?” and “Let’s have a Pizza Party!” It was not these phrases which shocked though. One of the 270 programmed phrases was Barbie saying, “Math class is tough!” which translated in some countries into “Math is hard.” A not-so-subtle reinforcement of maths being the preserve of the male population perhaps? This version of Barbie sparked outrage amongst
feminist organizations and groups as it was seen as being disrespectful and devaluing of women’s abilities. Can we blame Barbie for all the harsh and insulting “Blonde Jokes” which have been circulating for many years? Barbie with her love for girly, pretty pink accessories and her carefree, ditsy personality could well be the root of such sexist jokes. People’s views on different nationalities and different cultural body types may also have been affected by the Barbie Doll. For example, in 1967 “Coloured Francie” made her debut. Although she was described as being the first African American Barbie doll she was created using the same head moulds as the white Francie and lacked any traditional African American traits other than slightly darker skin. Young African American children wondered how her hair was long, sleek and straight and became influenced to look like her. Mattel became aware of this and so in September 2009 the “So-in-Style” range was introduced. This range was made to create a more realistic view of black people than the previous dolls. Fifty one years later and it is safe to say that the Barbie doll, although not alone, is still a very influential character on creating stereotypes and shaping women’s perceptions on looks and beauty. One can hope that in years to come we will not all be robotic clones of each other, having lost our individuality, natural beauty and ability to live life without our sole purpose being to look good. As the band Aqua sing in their famous song “Barbie Girl”, “Imagination, life is your creation.”
Barbie going crazy. It's been 51 years since she appeared on the market and was snapped up by young girls Lif
“ One of the most voiced criticisms is that the Barbie doll promotes a very unrealistic idea of body image for women and young girls
Megan Ecock
THE COLLEGE VIEW
16 FEATURES
9 MARCH 2010
On her own in the world of Page 3 Samuel Hamilton talks to Claire Tully, Ireland's first Page 3 model about reaction to her career, banning the iconic page, and beauty ideals
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n November 17 1970, the first in a series of photos was printed on page three of the Sun newspaper. Stephanie Rahn, a 20year old German model, became the newspaper’s first official Page 3 model – kicking off a tradition that, to this day, still remains strong, even if the models have been replaced. Names such as Samantha Fox, Melinda Messenger and Jordan all saw their careers begin by modelling topless on the iconic page. Until two years ago there was no Irish Page 3 girl. Claire Tully changed this when she became the first Irish Page 3 girl in March 2008 after the Sun – hot on the heels of an appearance in FHM’s annual High Street Honeys competition – contacted Tully to ask whether she would be interested in appearing on Page 3. At that moment she became, not just Ireland’s first Page 3 model but the “world’s brainiest Page 3 girl” to boot having gotten 600 points in her Leaving Certificate and a first in her degree in biochemistry with immunology from Trinity. She says that she wasn’t surprised that it took so long for Ireland to find its first Page 3 model in her. “We’re so prudish, and I think we’re getting worse,” she explains. “I think a lot of it is actually this recession and people just seem to be going backwards, there are huge numbers of people going back to mass and praying and things like that. As a scientist I wouldn’t sort of be backing that up.” Tully says that she feels the church’s dominant role in Ireland has a lot to answer for in regards to the public’s view of women, not just Page 3 girls in Ireland. “I remember my family would be quite Catholic, as in my grandparents would have been go-to-mass people all the time,” she says. “If I ever showed up in a jumper that was a round neck, or a v-neck jumper that might have shown a tiny, tiny bit of cleavage it would have been, ‘Oh, cover yourself up.’ This sort of thing. Be ashamed of your body. Cover yourself up. Have sex with the lights out sort of thing. I don’t think it’s healthy for people; I don’t think it’s healthy for people at all.” Tully says that most men she
meets have immense respect for what she is doing, but that her job does by its nature attract a type of unwanted attention. “There are a lot of trolls on the internet and things that could be quite abusive and say you’re this and you’re that and you’re nothing but a slapper and your family must be so proud of you and all this type of thing,” she explains. “I would check my Facebook page every morning and I would have messages from people just saying ‘Oh, you’re horrible’ or ‘You’re ugly’, or ‘You’re fat’, or ‘You have a big nose’ or this, that and the other and just being really cruel and horrible and just not seeing well, at the end of the day, I am actually a human being with feelings and I’m just trying to do my job which happens to be this.” She feels that a lot of the reaction towards her stems from jealousy – but for different reasons from males and females. “I think the men who take a dislike to you, I really can’t explain it, it’s almost like they just hate you. Like that’s how it would come across,” Tully explains. “Women would just be like ‘Oh, you’re a slapper’ or that sort of thing, and really from them it stems from an insecurity – maybe it’s the same with the men. I’m not too sure. But for example, I’ve had people that I’ve worked with, like say if I’ve had people working on my website that would be guys, their girlfriends insisted that they don’t work with me. And it’s sort of like, ‘This is actually a professional arrangement’. It’s just... paranoia because of this misconception they have of me.” It doesn’t just come from people who don’t know her though. Through her love of football, Tully has a lot of male friends, and the inability to be publicly associated with her because of what for her is simply a career choice – be it not a particularly well paid one despite the misnomer – goes as far as some of them. Some are afraid to tell their partners that they are friends with her, which
she admits to finding “hard and... hurtful.” “One guy in particular, with his exgirlfriend, would never have told her that we actually trained together,” she says. “We do a lot of running outside together, we’d meet up and go for a run, like my running buddy, and he’d be like ‘Oh, God, I couldn’t let her see me out running with you’ and it’s like ‘Why, we’re just out running. There is absolutely nothing else going on. We’re just out running.’” Tully feels that there is a lack of understanding of what Page 3 is. That some people think just because she is on Page 3 she has to be available. The problem for Tully is that there are a lot of models, she says, who are like that – making her job of convincing people that she is “very different from the image
that’s put out to sell Page 3” even tougher. “There’s no smoke without fire,” she explains. “Having met a lot of the English girls, a lot of them do... date footballers and sell stories and things like that – so I can understand where women are coming from.” She says that for a lot of women, they don’t understand how men can look at lads' magazines like Nuts and Zoo. “I suppose, a lot of women, especially the younger they are, the more they sort of hate the lads' mags and things like that because they don’t understand it really,” she says. “They sort of think ‘Oh, why are you looking at pictures of her when you have me.’ And, like really, it’s just the guy who has opened the picture because men are very visual, and they open a picture and see it, and they think ‘Oh, that’s nice, whatever’ and they sort of flick on. Whereas when women have a crush on somebody, it’s a much more in-depth. They can’t really equate that men just look at a
“ There's no smoke without fire. Having met a lot of the English girls a lot of them do... date footballers and sell stories and things like that
Claire Tully
09/03/10 | Issue 8 | Vol 1 Editor: Sean McTiernan
+ Burzum McSweeneys
Some Hooting and Howling
Sean McTiernan stalks to Tom Felming of rising stars Wild Beasts about pretention and the revaluating Bushwick Bill
Kyle Kinane Telltale Games
Y
our sound changed a good bit between records, was this a conscious change and if so what were you hoping to achieve? It was a logical step. The first album was years of frustration whereas this is more organised and fresh. We did go for more restraint. Emotions are much more powerful when they're suppressed. As much as anything it was a symptom of how we made it. We wanted a certain atmosphere but had limited time and resources. The minimalism comes from what we could play in the room altogether. We listened to a lot of electronic music, a lot of music made on synthesisers and stuff. Things that weren't human. We're trying to take that rhythmic drive and add dirt to it. In a lot of your reviews there always seems to be this caveat emptor, buyer beware, thing, as if normal people won't be able to process your music. Why do you think that is? I think its shorthand that we have a bit more 'meat on the bone,' I hope that's what it means anyway. I do think we're very accessible and direct. It might not sound like something else you have but we hope you try and check us out.
beyond the surface. We grew up with lad-rock and britrock. Sexuality is completely denied in that kind of music. Its not about romance its about being with your mates. And that's how you're supposed to think.We're as implicit in that as anyone, being 4 skinny white boys. We're trying to break that down a bit though and hopefully we can be aninterrogative voice against that. There's quite a literary aspect to your band, do you worry about being seen as pretentious? Pretentious is one of the most killer words in the world. People use it to keep others in their “place”. Any of our literary
Twin Dancers is a very claustrophobic and honest album. Did you consciously set out to achive that kind of feeling? It is quite an intimate album. The themes are quite uncomfortable. We try to tell the truth. The area we're poking at isn't talked about so much. Everyone feels these things but it's not really talked about. Especially not amongst men. R'n'B is very hypersexual and glossy but never really penetrates, excuse the pun,
references are hard won. They're there to do some heavy lifting, not demonstrate our education. We'd hate to be a 'clever band'. We just use those references as a shorthand to tell stories and create an image in peoples minds with as few words as possible. We want to tell those stories but we're even more interested in glances and moments. How do you decide which parts you or Hayden (Wild Beasts' other vocalist) sing and
"Yeah, I mean lines like: 'I seen my neighbours die with his eyes open'. Fuck..." how do you think your voices work together? Honestly, it was time. If he wrote something he would sing it and vice versa. We do write about different things though and we're sort of two different characters on the record. I suppose, not in sound obviously, but its a bit like what The XX have going on? Oh, absolutely. I know those guys and they really are amazing. Their anti-front person thing is brilliant. They have this girl/boy thing and this queer/straight. We try and play with that too although less explicitly. You're one of those unfortunate bands who sound unique enough that lot of music critics use writing about you to show of about their knowledge of what they presume are your influences. How do you feel that affects you? Yeah some of the references are way way off and I really wish I could put some of them to bed/ Like I have no idea where some of the comparisons come from. I always say the Associates. Well, I'm acquainted with their music but I hadn't heard them before we put the last record out. They're pretty good though. But I meant the first album people were saying shit like Mika and that. Mother of Christ... Yes, that certainly was an age of ignorance. I heard you talk about Scarface (the rapper,not the movie) in a recent interview. Do you have any influences people
wouldn't expect? Well I heard Ghetto Boys before and it was all a bit too much. All that stuff about not liking “faggots”. I'm not into that. Some of their songs are really powerful though. That laidback gangta tempo and that soupy sound definitely played a part in Twin Dancers. It is hard to get around the homophobia stuff but I mean somethinglike Mind Playing Tricks on Me by the Ghetto Boys is one of the saddest songs ever, right? It's that confessional thing your band has too. Tough men saying things they're not supposed to? Oh yeah, I mean lines like “I seen my neighbours die with his eyes open”. Fuck. It comes out of nowhere. I mean like Bushwick Bill, for all his Flava Flav tendencies, some of the stuff he comes out with is really heartbreaking. Once you get past the songs with that cleanness and the autotune, once you can hear a human hand at work, that stuff pulls me in. You're eager to talk about your infuences in your music, are you conscious that you're putting across a certain image in interviews? We are conscious we have a sort of an image we have created for ourselves. But we did try to be honest. Certainly when I was young, I wanted to know what my favourite musicians were in to. And that was awful bullshit music. I just realised one day a lot of what I was listening to was shite. Like when I realised Alan Shearer liked Whitney Huston. That was the begining of my disillusionment with the world. That's when reality began to crack for you then? Oh definitely.
PREVIEWS - THAT WHICH IS 'RELEVANT'
Dave Simon on the re-up
C
HOW CHEAP IS TOO CHEAP? TESCO VALUE MEAT ALL YOU CAN EAT Why meat? Well, I was going to review something hilarious like Tesco condoms vs Durex but knowing my luck my mother in Wexford would somehow find a copy of this week's College View. So for this week's comparison I have decided to look at something most of us eat (when we can afford it!) and that is meat. I went to the Omni, as it usually our one stop grocery shop and tried chicken, pork and minced beef. Last week I bought my week's meat in Tesco and the week before I bought it in the butchers beside Tesco. Now first I will compare them on price, I was rather shocked as the meat that I bought in the butchers was far cheaper as this is an independent business so they have new deals every week. Example? In Tesco it costs €5 for two chicken fillets and I got four for a fiver in the Butchers. However I would recommend Tesco for buying rashers, sausages, etc as you have lots of brands so you're promised a great deal. What about quality? Now I must draw on past experiences and not just the last two weeks. Yes, both stores were very much the same in quality this time ve had to but farr too often in the past II've throw my meat out before cooking it. Thiss always happens when I buy my meat in Tesco and is alwayss within the sell by date nce I start cooking a but once d smell will emerge. putrid Thiss forces me to throw away uro of meat. I am quite five euro ous when buying my cautious meat in Tesco and I would mmend the Butchers recommend besidee Tesco in the Omni. Anyy other tips? Be sure to store the meat properly… er lesson I another earned the have learned hard way. Rosetta tta livan O'Sullivan
reator of the Wire, US crime drama revolutionary David Simon is back. This time he's set to wow us with his new drama: Treme. David Simon's launching pad The Wire revolutionised US crime drama and is considered by many critics to be one of the best television series ever. Set in Baltimore, unlike most other crime dramas the focus is not directly on the search for justice and tracking down the villains (the usual crime drama scenario we are subjected to most nights). The Wire is not quite the ordinary; good does not always overcome evil. It shows the dysfunctional side of the institutions we place our trust in and how we are committed to these. It is the unpredictability of the twists and turns that keep us glued to the screen. So should we expect great things from his newest drama? David Simon thinks so. Before we get excited about the possibility of a new crime drama, Treme is not that. Set in New Orleans, as David Simon said in an interview with The Guardian: “This is a story about culture and how American culture defines how we live...what makes us American.” The series will follow the lives of the residents of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as they attempt to rebuild their lives, their homes and their sense of identity. It's about finding who you are, well maybe not that cliched we hope. Either way one things for certain, we should expect good things from this man. Season one is set to start on April 11 on HBO. Rosie McCormack
Drunk History
R
emember in secondary sch school, everyone had one teacher who tthey all suspected of being a raging alcoholic? You kn know, the ones who trailed off into priv rants about their private lives in the middle of a class c about the First World War War? Well, someone obviously obvio does remember, si since they have made an online series of videos, Dr Drunk History, wh which cau has also caught atten the attention broadca of broadcaster
New Series? Sheeeeeeeeeit
Chopin giving the gangster stare
Cast of Drunk History. Status: Sober
HBO and will be screened on television. Only thankfully they have employed a host of wellknown celebrities in place of your gin-swilling history teacher. The idea is so simple; you wish you’d come up with it. Get a comedian sloshed off a bottle of wine or two, sit them down, turn on your camera and get them to narrate a particular historical event. Then, get some celebrities and have them re-enact and lipsync the drunk’s narration. Job done. And the results are sidesplittingly hilarious. The telling of Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity in the second volume of the series is, for example, interrupted by the narrator suddenly announcing that he’s “gonna throw up. But you can film it if you want.” So obviously, they do. In the third volume, the narrator slurs and hiccups her way through the story, which results in a particularly entertaining reenactment. The series was conceived by Derek Waters, who came up with idea after a drunken conversation about the circumstances of Otis Redding’s death. Jeremy Konner, a friend of
Waters’, directs the videos. “The more drunk you are, the more passionate you get and you mess up a story. That’s what I like about it,” Waters explains, “Everyone gets drunk and talks about music, but no one gets drunk and talks about history.” Michael Cera, Danny McBride, Paul Schneider, Will Ferrell, Don Cheadle, Crispin Glover, and John C. Reilly are among the celebrities who appear in the videos. Patrick Kavanagh
Chopin Who?
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his year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of classical composer Chopin. And naturally, everyone in his native country of Poland cares about this fact – or so you'd think. In a recent poll (excuse the pun) only 3% of Polish people surveyed declared interest in the fact that their native land is currently celebrating the government-dubbed Year of Chopin, with many immediately thinking of the Chopin brands of vodka and chocolates before
thinking of the composer. Polish tourism regards Chopin as a product - one of its most recognisable “brands” worldwide. Despite this, a quick poll of my friends revealed that they thought he was French - as if that crowd haven't enough already, what with the accent and the cheese. Perhaps this indicates that the heavy “Polish” branding of the composer has failed; or maybe it just shows I move in uncultured circles. Regardless, the Poles all seem a bit confused when it comes to Chopin. First of all there's confusion about his actual birth date – but we're not going to judge them for that, it was a long time ago after all. More pressingly, despite this survey claiming that as a nation Poles are indifferent to the composer's birthday, many Poles are staunch about his roots as France, Germany and the Russians all attempt to claim him as their own. This Polish possessiveness may stem in historic and political affairs, as Polish artists were forced into exile under a repressive Russian rulership at the time. Chopin himself was exiled and spent half of his life in France, and Polish people claim that his music expresses a deep and tragic longing to return to Poland and that his compositions use many elements of Polish folk music. However Germans say his music is traditional German Romanticism while Russians claim Slavic elements are what set him apart. Next we'll be saying that there are elements of Riverdance in his sonatas if you listen closely enough. We've caught the Chopin bug over here anyway, with a festival in Galway (How can Macnas drum to the Preludes? I hear you cry) and a concert planned for the National Concert Hall in April. But then again, we have a severe lack of extremely well known Romantic composers to our credit so we'll shamelessly latch onto any European anniversary really. Still, his beautiful and heartwrenching work deserves to be celebrated, so maybe I should stop with the cynicism already. Maybe in 200 years we'll be celebrating the life of some great Irish composer to boost tourism a Gerald Barry type perhaps? Yes, I just brought the Leaving Cert music curriculum into this. To be honest though, I was Chopin that'd happen. Audrey Donohue
Omar from The Wire 2
Flux 09/03/10
More Feeble Screams from forests Hanratty discovers, surprisingly, that black metal Unknown David isn't just all sweetness and light
F
ire up Google Image Search, punch in “black metal”, hit return and you’ll be confronted with imagery that should inspire a grin. Yup, your average black metaller resembles a particularly demonic brand of Live Action Role-Player, but make no mistake; it’s a genre that takes itself very seriously. (Then again I guess most LARPers do too, but I digress.) As ridiculous as the visual aspect of black metal is, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of a genre steeped in violence and bloodshed, with links to church burnings and National Socialism. In some respects, the music itself (machine gun guitars, pulsating drums and aggressive and often indecipherable vocals) takes a back seat to the controversies with which it is associated. Its origins lie with the English band Venom, but Norway is widely regarded as the capital of black metal. The country has seen both the positives and negatives of the genre, from its evolution and progression to the anti-Christian attacks and vandalism. In his 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Canadian filmmaker Sam Dunn travelled to Norway to focus on black metal. One memorable scene saw him sit down with former Gorgoroth singer Gaahl in what appeared to be a dungeon,
A dedication to black metal can make blending in a bit of a task
asking him to describe in detail what inspired him and his music. Gaahl paused solemnly for a good thirty seconds before simply replying “Satan” and proceeding to drink from the goblet (!) in front of him. The Norwegian black metal scene has produced many of the genre’s biggest names including Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor, but perhaps the most notable and notorious of
all is Burzum, better known as Varg Vikernes. Beginning his career in 1991, Vikernes founded his solo project Burzum before joining Mayhem, a band that had achieved notoriety thanks in part to the suicide of frontman Per Yngve Ohlin (aka “Dead”). In 1993 Vikernes murdered Mayhem bandmate Øystein Aarseth (aka “Euronymous”), stabbing him a
You shall know their velocity
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here must have been a strange feeling among the staff at McSweeney’s, literary guru Dave Eggers’ publishing company, when news filtered through of the death of Timothy McSweeney, an hugely influential enigma for Eggers. His company’s flagship literary quarterly, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and indeed the company itself, are of course named after this mysterious character. He first came to be known to a young Eggers when he began to send letters to the family home, adamant that he was an extended family member. Although his mother eventually stopped acknowledging these letters, Eggers collected and held onto them with a sense of fascination. According to a post from Eggers on the McSweeney’s site, he glorified this man’s name in his quarterly to “allude to this mysterious man and the sense of possibility and even wonder he'd brought to our suburban home.” Couple this with Flux 09/03/10
discovering he was a troubled artist, who suffered from mental illness and alcoholism, the name of the journal took on a new meaning that “threw melancholy shadows over the enterprise”. He passed on 24 January of this year. However, his name will remain enshrined in the title of what has become a fascinating and dynamic quarterly. Since its conception in 1998, the Quarterly Concern has taken many different forms, from dividing the publication into several booklets and packaging them in a box, to splitting the quarterly into three paperbacks and holding them together with a magnet. But possibly the most interesting of these unorthodox layouts/ presentations are the Made to Look
total of 23 times. Vikernes stated that he acted in self defence, claiming that Aarseth had planned to murder him, but was convicted of the murder and the arson of four churches. Vikernes famously smiled when his verdict was read out, providing an iconic image in the annals of black metal. While Vikernes served his time in prison, the book Lords Of Chaos:
The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground was released, focusing on the controversies associated with black metal in the early nineties. Vikernes was heavily focused on, much to his disdain. In a lengthy post on his website, he dismissed the book, describing it as “worthless”, claiming that statements attributed to him were fabricated and that the authors “failed miserably in unveiling the truth”. A film adaptation is currently in production. Like many of his contemporaries, Vikernes is strongly anti-Christian. In a 2005 interview he said; “I don't really see Christianity as a religion. It is more like a spiritual plague, a mass psychosis, and it should first and foremost be treated as a problem to be solved by the medical science. Christianity is a diagnosis. It's like Islam and the other Asian religions, a HIV/AIDS of the spirit and mind." After serving 16 years of his 21 year sentence, Vikernes was released in May 2009. Next month sees the release of Belus, the first Burzum album in 11 years. Whether it will add to or detract from his legacy remains to be seen, but Vikernes’ place in black metal history is assured. To his detractors he is little more than a racist murderer and arsonist, but to his disciples he is the misunderstood poster boy for a misunderstood scene; a pioneer and innovator of an underground genre.
The inspiration for a unique literary movement has just passed away, Conor Donohue elaborates
Like It Came in Your Mailbox and San Francisco Panorama issues. As the title of the first implies, the publication took the form of a bundle of mail, containing magazines, junk mail and other mailbox paraphernalia, all addressed, strangely, to a Maria Vasquez. Among the strange things included is a catalogue entitled Pantalaine, which advertises clothes such as three legged trousers for two people to wear simultaneously. The San Francisco Panorama incarnation (the most recent version), a newspaper, is, in design terms at least, probably the most heralded of all issues since publication began. With over three hundred pages of content, it contains barely believable delights such as coverage of the World Series
by Stephen King, of all people. Other well known contributors include Salman Rushdie, and Irish author Roddy Doyle. This version has won several design and literary awards since its publication. There seems to be a sense of huge pride among the writers when it comes to the Panorama, if testament by author Michael Chabon (author of the critically acclaimed The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) is anything to go by. “When I saw what I had written, nested deep within the spacious and radiant pages of the Panorama, I felt lucky not just to be holding it but to be held within it— and the world it maps.” But the Quarterly Concern is only one of the many projects that Dave Eggers involves himself with. Apart from authoring several books himself, including the novel Where the Wild Things Are based on the recent film adaptation, What Is The What (a book based on the life of a Sudanese refugee), You Shall Know Your Velocity and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, his own memoirs.
He founded the publishing company McSweeney’s, which apart from publishing the heralded quarterly of the same name, has also published work from writers such as King, and American writer George Saunders to name but a few. 826 National is also a project initiated, in part, by Eggers. It is a non-profit organisation which offers creative writing workshops to young writers, which has 8 chapters stretching across the USA. The teaching process culminates in a publication or collection of some description, encouraging the young writers to work as teams and get a real feel for the creative process. The organisation even offers $10,000 scholarships to outstanding students in the programme. The name Dave Eggers may not immediately come to the forefront of everybody’s mind when discussing major contributors to modern literature, but it’s clear he’s doing some fantastic work relatively hidden from the main media spotlight. Timothy McSweeney can be proud of his long lost relative. 3
Learning the basis of everything Diarmaid McCafferey joins Ronan Yourell of the Delorentos for some Idle Conversation about their story so far...
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he Delorentos have just come through a year of ups and downs, nearly calling it quits and then roaring back into life with a fresh record. I caught up with the very gentlemanly Ronan Yourell of the Delorentos, hot on the heels of their successful October release of the album You Can Make Sound, two nominations at the Meteor Music Awards and prior to their tour dates across Europe, to find out a bit more about the men behind the band. Obviously, the easiest thing was to start at the beginning, with the genesis of the group. “We’d all been playing in bands and were into music I suppose. The other three lads in the band had played together a little bit before I joined so I came along to play a gig for the craic and got on really well and it started from there.” The band shared some major influences, varying from Radiohead to the Clash, but the variety of opinions and experiences each member brought to the table has been important in shaping their creative processes. “We have lots of varying tastes which is good, the way we write everyone contributes and we all come from different places so you never know where you’re
Ronan Yourell jammin' out (right)
going to end up which is exciting.” It’s an organic process which allows the Delorentos to keep coming up with fresh ideas and continue evolving their sound. “We don’t have a hit factory! It’s always a bit of an exploration.” Early on in their career the band won the Student Music Awards which gave the band “a bit of self confidence.” It was useful exposure for a band that was cutting its teeth as a live act. “It may not be something that you get anything major out of, but they’re certainly
experiences that harden you or give you an idea of what it’s like to put yourself out there and getting used to the ups and downs of being a working band.” In terms of the current state of the band, they’ve been canny in using the internet as a promotional tool. Their official website has a thriving message board for fans to communicate with each other and the band and the title track of You Can Make Sound was made available for free download when the album was released. “Being an
independent act it’s key, because it’s not expensive. It’s more two way than TV and radio, you can get feedback straight away on the stuff you’re putting out.” The evolution of the band’s promotion online has followed the evolution of social networking sites, from Bebo to MySpace to Facebook, each of which you can find hosting a homepage for Delorentos. The band have supported some major names over the years (the Arctic Monkeys to name but one) and have used the opportunity to
David Kearns welcomes point and click back
play to audiences who would never have seen them and who may even have not particularly been interested in the Delorentos style. Part of the reward of these experiences has been the sense of having things in common with the bands they played with. “It doesn’t really matter what level of success you have, everyone’s very similar.” Last year the band went through a brief hiatus where it looked like they might be no more, but the break just brought them back stronger. “Time out was not an option the way we had been working because you want to work hard. The break gave us an opportunity to step back. It’s a pretty intense thing being in a band, committee meetings about everything!” They decided to record the songs they had been working on prior to the split and the enthusiasm and enjoyment of those sessions persuaded them to stay together. The Delorentos new album, released on DeloRecords in October 2009 and winner of an entertainment.ie award for best album, is available in shops now, and after two German dates and a gig in Den Haag for the annual St. Patrick’s Festival they will be playing the Ambassador on the 26th of March, check www.delorentos.net
Kyle Kinane in a State of Flux Sean McTiernan talks to an awesome comedian about, you know, jokes and shit...
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s stand up comedy how you imagined it? Not to sound pompous, but I never imagined it. One of the most attractive things about it is that it's never the same thing. Keeps it interesting and exciting that way. You always get to do something different every night, or the audience is different, or you've gone from a theater to a club to a bar to an Italian restaurant in one week. It's never stale. You changed from a dude who wrote jokes to a dude who tells stories. The first looks a lot easier than the second but I imagine it’s the other way around? I think you need to know the first part in order to get the second part to work, unless you're one of those blessed souls that just knows how to tell a tale. I'm not one of those. I needed the schooling and open mics to find out why certain words work well together and then I needed time and experience to put that knowledge into retelling events. You have this conversational way of doing comedy, how do you feel about dudes getting your album and then playing the jokes off as their own? If it's in good nature of a night full of drinks, then let it happen. I try 4
to remain true to who told me the story/lived it for themselves. If worse comes to worse, you should always start a boosted tale with, "I know a guy..." Tell me a bit about your blog “I’m dead and it’s all my fault” (aside from it being super awesome) I just wanted to cash in on the blog-into-book craze. Seriously. Give me the quick cash. Also I think it would be funny to write from the standpoint of a guy who is always dying by his own hand. Do you eventually want to work on TV? What do you think of the perceived notion that all stand ups eventually just want to get on tv? I think standups want to make whatever money they can when they can so that when all they're left with is working at a club for some minimal amount of money, they can still say yes because the money won't matter--it's what they want to do. I took time off from jobs to make less money at a standup gig because that's what I wanted. If TV wants to give me money, I'll take it. It's not an end point, it's an assist. You talk a lot about how impractial your college education was, do you have anything to say to those of us doing less hands-on degrees?
It's an easy target. Itt did get me ectly though. into comedy pretty directly It's imprtial financially, but I wasn't ke money. I going to college to make was going to learn. It seems most people look at college as a financial ometimes it investment, whereas sometimes sonal choice, can just be simply a personal like some sort of secularr effort. Man, ast sentence. I'm pretty proud of that last BA in Creative Writing! oing comedy Is there any one doing now you would take up arms to stop if you could? ctive that I Comedy is so subjective eal footing don't feel there's any real retentious to criticize. It's a pretentious ke music. comparison, but it's like There's so many different xpect a styles that you can't expect mbrace fan of one genre to embrace another just because it'ss under ame art the umbrella of the same et angry form. I'm not going to get that Larry the Cable Guy fans medy. It's not might not like my comedy. designed for them to like. They've got their crowds. The genre I try to operate within has its crowds. This ory, but I do might sound contradictory, medy. When dislike uneducated comedy. mant about some one is so adamant ve clearly a viewpoint that they've not researched, that's irritating. Larry the Cable Guy is very Kyle Kinane is not a lumberjack but he's still ok
Well...You fight like a cow!
educated about what his legions will consum but when someone thinks consume, "alter an "alternative" crowd will just eat up what the they're saying simply because they're taking cheap shots at the conserva conservative right or religion, it's upsettin Fake anger is such a shitty upsetting. f comedy. Fake outrage for excuse for the sake of winning over a crowd is garba garbage. The best gay horror movie: Nig Nightmare on Elm Street 2, or so something else? Cheerleader Massacre 2 I all tits and blood but I'm It's in there somewhere as a security guard. Still haven't seen it though. Best way to deal with a drunken room mate who wakes you up at 4am to “t “talk shit through”? Get deep with it. Will probably be mo interesting conversation the most you're going to have for a while. Mostly because I'm the one that wakes p people up wanting to talk. The worst thing about punk i music is...? Perfe Perfect mohawks. They're the op exact opposite of not giving a fuck. Wha your next big project? What’s Gettin a solid night's sleep with Getting sister codependent cat sleeping my sister's ch on my chest. Flux 09/03/10
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omeone once said that: "Dying is easy: comedy is hard." This old adage can certainly be applied to the medium of video games: for every game that gets it right, there are dozens more that fail to even get off the mark, their ‘humour’ reduced to tacky, juvenile antics that are smeared over tired game mechanics in the hopes that two negatives will somehow make a plus. Who do we blame for the medium's seemingly unfunny nature? Is it the developers for just not ‘getting it’, the audience failing to see the funny side, or are video games themselves unsuited to the task of making us laugh? This widespread comedic failure in gaming may be the reason why explicitly funny games are so disproportionately unpopular when compared to their contemporaries in other media. After all, Hollywood has its comedy blockbusters, TV’s got [adult swim] and books use to have Douglas Adams… but what about the video game? Who does the gamer turn to if they want a laugh? Enter Telltale Games and the modern day renaissance of the adventure game. It's no exaggeration to say the studio's history is interwoven into the rise, fall, and rebirth of the adventure game genre. Having reached their peak during the mid 90s, of t h e popularity adventure genre faded. The rise of 3D capabilities in the home c o n s o l e m a r k e t , dictated the nature of the games being
Flux 09/03/10
produced. The adventure genre with its two-dimensional style, story driven and puzzle solving mechanics held no interest to these new gamers. Until its recent revival by Telltale, it was widely held that Grim Fandango in 1998 was final chapter in the adventure gaming.
After Grim Fandango, the genre was pretty much forgotten. There were titles released, and while some were good, none were memorable. In 2004 Lucas Arts, once the biggest developer/publisher of adventure games, closed all its studios task with developing graphic based adventure games in favour of focusing on Darth Vader and the rest of its Star Wars franchise. This moved
seemingly marked the of the genre. But as is often the case with any good adventure game, first looks can be deceiving. As Lucas Arts shut it doors on the genre, other gaming companies stepped up to carry it forward. Telltale was one such group. Founded by former Lucas Arts employees who had been working on a sequel to the acclaimed game Sam & Max Hit the Road before its cancellation, the company soon began working on a number of original titles designed to test out the limits of their planned games engine designed to restart the adventure genre. After a shaky start, Telltale had their first big hit with an
update on an old classic - Sam & Max. A completely new game in the series, Season One was broken up with into a series of individual episodes. Telltale had explored this concept with their earlier work, but this was their first game that was released on tight monthly schedule - something that was to become a landmark in gaming history. In fact, Telltale is perhaps the only developer that’s successfully managed to produce true episodic gaming - many a fanboi is still waiting forBad
GAMES BEST TWISTS Valve's final chapter in the Half Life 2 series. It's interesting to note that originally Telltale had attempted to buy the rights to complete the planned sequel to the first Sam & Max game. Lucas Arts denied this initial request but having seen the success of Telltale’s updated take on an old classic, the company that had turned its back on the gamess that had helped make it madee Telltale an offer they couldn’tt refuse – the chance to resurrectt d one of Lucas Arts most beloved franchises, Monkey Island. One of the most successfull and revered adventure series,, n Monkey Island had been languishing in limbo for almostt a decade. This changed in 2009,, d when Lucas Arts announced that not only was it rereleasingg the original game Secret off d Monkey Island with updated o graphics, but that they'd also licensed Telltale, where most off d the series creators had ended n up, to produce a new game in the series, the episodic Tales off Monkey Island. The recent (mis)adventuress of Guybrush Threepwood, thee naïve, hapless yet surprisinglyy successful star of the Monkeyy o Island series, has proven to be a big commercial success for the company, and since its release Telltale has continued to produce games based on popular licenses (Wallace & Gromit and Homestar Runner being the latest) using their now standard monthly episodes format. How long before Telltale gets their hands on the Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, and the G r i m Fandango franchises? Hopefully not too long!
1. Would you kindly? 2. Oh that's a lady under that helmet 3. Foxdie 4. Darth Revan I presume? 5. Oh he's the Soul Reaver, right. 6. Sin is Jecht. 7. Precursors are Ottsels 8. Solid snake isn't the main character? You're joking right? 9. Aries Dies. 10. Ah Master Lei...why? 11. Janice Polito is dead 12. Alma mother? 13. A fish dreamed it 14. Cake is a lie 15. You killed Mary 16. Braid ect. 17. You are Kessler
Bad Ba B ad ad
BEST B EST B BOSS OSS FFIGHTS IGHTS 1. Nemisis - Resident Evil Three 2. The End- Metal Gear Solid 3 3. Hitler - Wolfstein 3D 4. Doctor Robotnik - Sonic 2 5. Hive Mind - Dead Space 6. Giygas - Earthbound 7. Bad Girl - No More Heroes 8. Emerald Weapon - FF VII 9. Ganondorf - Ocarina Of Time 10. All of Shadow of the Collossus 11. Mike Tyson - Punch Out 12. Link’s Shadow - Zelda 2 13. Magus - Chrono Trigger 14. Diablo - Diablo 15. Snake Man - Mega Man 3
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GAMES ANNOYING CHARACTERS 1. Tingle 2. Toad 3. Yuna 4. Gary motherfucking Oak 5. Tails 6. Raiden. Especially nude Raiden. 7. Natalya 8. Shaq. From Shaq-fu. Seriously? 9. Daxter 10. Waluigi 11. Dan. Art of Fighting my ass, Dan. 12. Slippy Toad 13. Odd Job. Good for multiplayer chearting though in fairness. 14. Gary Oak again 15. The Tetris Straight Line.
HARDEST GAMES. 1. I Want To Be The Guy. 2. Battle Toads 3. Ninja Gaiden 4. Ninja Turtles 5. That Peter bit in Earthworm Jim 6. Sin and Punishment 7. Final Fantasy VII (staying awake) 8. Ice Climber 9. Discworld (no walkthrough) 10. Double Dragon 11. Megaman (The first 9) 12. Contra (without konami code) 13. Rise of the Silver Surfer NES 14. Mount Moon (from Pokemon Red and Blue) 15. Streets of Rage (when your Da keeps calling the cops at the start of the level. Thanks Da. ) 16. Donkey Kong 17. Shinobi. Bad ass.
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Dedicated follower of fashion (blogs) Eimear Nolan looks net-ward
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ou may have noticed that, in trying to keep abreast of the tricky mistress that is fashion, magazines are hella expensive (unlike some fine periodicals I could mention...). Upwards of €7 in some cases. Maintaining this habit can quickly spiral out of control and before you know it you’re waiting outside Easons at 9 in the morning to get your monthly fix. A hefty stack of magazines can very quickly burn a €100 hole in your finances. Fear not though, you can still get your style bytes on a daily basis and all for free through the wonder and magic of the internet. Blogs are a great way to keep abreast of whatever it is you want to keep on top of in fashion. Plus they have the whole constant updates thing going for them, now more than ever news breaks fast and spreads like wildfire, often by the time a magazine gets to a story it’s already passé. While I don’t think that magazines are going to be replaced by blogs: they are a purse friendly, if less tactile, way to stay on top of things. One of the best things about blogs is that because there are so many of them it’s difficult to not find one that suits your taste. Into Lolita style? There’s a blog for that.
Prefer high fashion and couture gowns? Blog for that. Street style more your thing? There are literally so many blogs for that you’d need to convince someone to grant you immortality and still, the prospect of seeing them all is highly doubtful. But you get my point, fashion blogs cater to every whim on the planet so finding one that caters towards your interests is a walk in the park. So, a quick run through of the types of blogs there are out there. • First you’ve got the street style blogs. Basically these consist of pictures taken of stylish folk wandering about in their natural habitat. Quality can vary but these are good for just getting ideas and looking at pictures of people that are more stylish than you are. Don’t feel bad though, they’re probably really pretentious and annoying. Yeah. The most famous is probably The Sartorialist (thesartorialist. blogspot.com) who’s even gotten a book deal out of his blog. For more adventurous people have a look at the Facehunter (facehunter.blogspot.com) who although based in London travels pretty extensively and though some can look ridiculous is always good for a perv. Finally, even Ireland has one. Admittedly it’s rarely updated and some of those featured aren’t great. It
The Satorialist on the prowl (you can't see it here but he is real short)
grand for a gander until someone gets around to setting up a better one, obviously featuring the immaculately put together DCU student body (dublinstreets. blogspot.com). • Secondly are the personal fashion blogs, these are very much centred on whoever is writing the blog and their life. This, if you like whoever is writing the blog, can be endearing and for some give a voyeurs peek into someone else’s life. However if you don’t like ‘em it’s enraging so choose who makes it onto your blogroll wisely. Some to get you started are Tavi, pretty famous due to her miniscule age (13) and blue hair, while she can seem a bit preachy there’s no denying she knows her shit (tavithenewgirlintown.blogspot.com). Rumi’s another I’ve been reading for longer than I care to mention,
her blog is laid back and while her life seems pretty envy inducing it’s nice to look at (fashiontoast. com). • Thirdly is what I call the image blogs, less about personal views or opinions, more just bombing with pretty pictures which can be nice if all you wanted was to see nice things. Text is sparse on these so I wouldn’t go on looking for any major intellectual stimulation. A good example is Knight Cat (knighttcat.com). A mix of wish lists and editorial photo shoots you can easily lose hours clicking through the archives. Especially good if you’re missing the photo shoots from magazines as many are featured on here. These however, are personal likes. Get clicking around and find the blog for you, I promise there is, at the very least, ten.
"YOU SEEN THAT STAR WARS MOVIE?" - THE CLASSIC FILM REVIEW
#8
Glengarry Glen Ross: Professional Bastards
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ften in film, the best characters can be extremely unlikeable people who do very bad things. Quentin Tarantino’s recent Nazi-flavoured Inglourious Basterds unleashed the destined-for-cult-status Hans Landa, a ruthless and murderous villain, but an undeniably charming one. However Landa pales in comparison when placed alongside the desperate salesmen of Rio Rancho Properties. If you want to see a real collection of bastards at work, look no further than 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Rarely do you see such an impressive group of backstabbing scumbags assembled for your viewing pleasure, but here we get a veritable rogue’s gallery.
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play by David Mamet, the plot (salesmen attempt to sell worthless land to worthless customers) is essentially a backdrop to wave after wave of verbal battles played out by actors at the top of their game. It’s a constant game of oneupmanship between a pack of rabid wolves. Al Pacino’s Ricky Roma is the leader of the pack, flipping between subtly manipulating impressionable fools out of their money and verbally destroying those around him with particular bite, while Jack Lemmon’s slimy veteran Shelley “The Machine” Levene is the very personification of
desperate greed, pissing away all goodwill by the film’s climax. Mamet’s script is an actor’s
dream, throwing out vicious barbs like machine gun fire (“Let me buy you a pack of gum, I’ll show you how to chew it”) and slowly turning the screws on everyone involved. The acting is stunning, the tension often unbearable and the lesson ignored time and time again by clueless corporate ladder climbers the world over. Roma laments that “it’s not a world of men” by the film’s climax. He’s right. Not men, but numbers as disposable and interchangeable as the protagonists at the heart of Glengarry Glen Ross. David Hanratty Flux 09/03/10
"OH ANYTHING BUT RAP OR COUNTRY..." - REVIEWS
Grinding the dregs of song again Joanna Newsom Have One On Me 3/5
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ave One Me, Newsom's third album is a beguiling, contrary behemoth of two hours of music spread over three cds. Newsom manages to insert her own brand of kookiness into every facet of the album, starting with her instrument of choice, the pedal harp which when combined with her unique voice, leads to a harmonious yet slightly otherworldly result. Clarity and space are priorities on this album with some tracks just featuring her with harp or piano while other track feature a full brass section, strings and percussion. The arrangements are judicious and complement her voice wonderfully, without being too overpowering. The theme running through the album is love, sometimes-romantic love, sometimes the love for friends and family, and sometimes how love for women, can both be the beginning and end of possibility. However all these different types are dealt with lightly and with care. Her vulnerability and heartache spill out of every one of her carefully crafted folk melodies. Compared to her previous albums, Have One On Me, despite it’s length, is much more accessible to the uninitiated listener
Easy the first track, is about the wish for the kind of life the title suggests and is a delightfully ethereal song with a beautiful melody line and complimenting accompaniment from violins and piano., On the almost ten minute long Baby Birch, her voice soars like a bird over a delicate and hypnotic harp line, as her intricate lyrics pull at the listeners heartstrings. Inevitably, an album as long as this does become a bit belabored, Many of the songs fall into similar
loping, slow patterns, and song structure is often elusive, you’re never sure whether you’re listening to a verse, chorus or bridge. All in all, this album is not for lovers of pop music, but it has some wonderfully esoteric gems on it and is in general a delightful if lengthy listen. The best idea is probably to treat the album like a box of chocolates, dip in for a few tracks and then return again later for another treat or two. Beccy Fitzpatrick
Alice in Scissorhands (of The Apes) Alice In Wonderland 3/5
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im Burton’s 3D Alice in Wonderland was released on 5 March, and is a stunning revamp of a story that has been rejigged and remade too many times to mention. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has aged 13 years since her first trip to Wonderland, and is now back in England, in danger of being married off to a snooty Lord of the Manor with a “delicate digestive system”. The completely satirical version of a stiff-upper-lip English society in which Alice lives is probably the closest Burton gets to staying faithful to Lewis Carroll’s original book and the inspiration behind it. The entire Wonderland story has been completely revamped, Burton-ised and loaded with CGI. Alice is drafted back to Wonderland for a second time by the White Rabbit and co, who believe it is her destiny to slay the mighty Jabberwock and restore peace. It might be a different story, but this is Wonderland at its finest. From the insects (Horseflies? No. Tiny rocking horses with wings? Yes) to the Red Queen’s palace (manned by frog footmen), every scene is crammed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is just as haphazard as in previous incarnations of the story, but the Flux 09/03/10
whole scene is darker and a bit more unnerving than what Disney presented us with last time. The whole thing looks like a Salvador Dali painting that has been slightly washed out to make everything a bit more muted. At the head of the table is Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter, who is the true star of the film. Depp has created a character that shifts from mad to caring to tragic and then right back to mad again, just to confuse us. Helena Bonham Carter is perfect as the Red Queen. Even with a hideously swollen forehead and a pwoblem pwonouncing her aw’s, she is a steely and terrifying ruler who has the whole of Wonderland at her beck
o and call. Her servants (the ones who h aren’t frogs, that is) all secretly attach ms oversized prosthetic addendums onto various body parts so that thee ot Red Queen’s huge cranium does not look out of place. There’s a lot to bee said for loyalty. Though the CGI throughout thee d film doesn’t quite reach the standard d set by Avatar, Burton’s Wonderland was not intended to look anythingg like real life, and so the jarringg colours and the crudeness of somee s, of the animation work perfectly. Yes, I felt like I may have unknowinglyy ingested some hallucinogens before commencing viewing, but is that such a bad thing? Paula Lyne
High On Fire Snakes For The Divine 3/5 With an album title like Snakes For The Divine, it probably comes as no surprise to learn that High On Fire play loud and thundering heavy metal. Despite the ridiculously over the top name, the Californian trio’s fifth studio album manages to avoid the pomposity and self-indulgence that is so often prevalent within the genre. Okay, so there is still the occasional eight minute track amongst the album’s eight songs and some of the song titles are just as ludicrous as Snakes For The Divine (Holy Flame Of The Fire Spitter, anyone?) but, frankly, who cares about that when an album sounds as ferocious and exciting as this. Guitarist Matt Pike can really play and his multiple-riffsper-song technique drive every track on this record, while Des Kensel’s brutal drums complement Pike’s playing by making it sound even more menacing than perhaps it should be. The vocals can - from time to time - begin to grate, with Pike seemingly doing his best impersonation of a dog impersonating Lemmy. But that’s a small gripe with an album that has re-established my faith in heavy metal music by avoiding the overindulgent pitfalls that many of the genre’s bigger names dive headfirst into. David Clarke
originality reveals itself in (strangely enough) Lynyrd Skynyrd influenced track FU a clever combination of howls, acoustic guitar and piano. However with the real Slim Shady returning this summer, the chances of Yelawolf becoming the name on everyone lips is pretty unlikely. Maire Rowland
Titus Andronicus The Monitor 3/5 The Monitor is the second studio album from the New Jersey band Titus Andronicus. Their debut album, Airing of Grievances, was released in 2008 and received mixed reviews. As a concept album about the American Civil War, The Monitor deals with a lot of the issues surrounding that time. It was an ambitious undertaking for such a young band and in many ways it is a success. The lyrics are clever, often humorous and offer insight into that turbulent time in American History and the effects it had on the nation. Most of the songs tend to become very repetitive. The song …And Ever is a perfect example of this with “the enemy is everywhere” repeated for almost half of the song. The lyrics are strong and the actual music is very good, it is almost a good album, but not quite there as the vocals are hugely disappointing and often painful. Sinead Brennan
Trunk Muzik Yelawolf 3/5
Zola Jesus Stridulum 4/5
With Eminem enjoying a prolonged hiatus Alabama-born, tattooed white boy rapper Yelawolf provides us with an entertaining if mediocre substitution. His debut LP Trunk Muzik is packed to the brim with catchy choruses (Good to Go, Pop the Trunk) and decent beats but it is all just a little too familiar, the phrase painfully predictable springs to mind. Sex, sex and well amazingly more sex appear to inspire more than a couple of tracks, Speak Her Sex begins with a female voice expressing her …eh… pleasure moaning “Uhh huh that’s my spot” and Lick the Cat… well I don’t think that needs any further explanation. A hint of
Hey remaining Goths, I've got some good news for both of you. You finally have an awesome album to listen to. Sadly it's got a grip of hype from the internet so you'll have to say you hate it or you' ll be thrown out of your Nick Cave Club .This is fully an awesome and atmospheric record. She has the voice of a million year old alien who has had to live on a rock for of thousands years and really think shit out. music The all darkwave synths and d o o m y drones too. This is pop sadness at the best really. Black at lipstick the ready dour you fuckers. Sean Mc Tiernan
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THIS IS NOT AN EXIT
Isolated and destroyed Sean McTiernan
I
’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. Like Hellraiser 7: Deader, for example. I’ve also seen Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell. Any time see you see a really stupid looking horror movie and wonder: “who watches shit like that?” Well it’s me. I sort of started horror movies all at once. I had zero interest for years and then things got particularly weird for me I made a decision. That decision was the Nightmare On Elm Street box set. I watched them all in one weekend. And I really liked them all. Just as friends though, I don’t want to give them the wrong idea. So then I started watching a lot of horror movies. Thanks to the internet, I would estimate I watched about one a day for a least the past two years. For a while I couldn’t really figure out what was compelling me to watch stuff like Evil Bong 2: King Bong and Castle Freak at 1am when I should be asleep. I’m still not really much for gore. I enjoy when it’s done well and especially when it’s funny but I don’t rate movies solely on their gore content (there are a couple of websites that do that.) I don’t really like the ultra nasty stuff, I had to turn off that Korean movie The Butcher off halfway through for instance. Um, please don’t Google that, even the poster was banned. And if you’re my mother and reading this (and judging by my calculations there’s a 25% likelihood you are) :I’m really sorry and I’m running out of my inhaler. I guess the reason I love horror movies is that, more than any other genre, it seems to attract the craziest, the most earnest and the weirdest bastards around. Partly because it is commonly understood that no matter how shitty a horror movie is, somebody will watch it and it will make money. This is known as the I-have-heardthe-Evil-Dead-director y’scommentary strategy. The other
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reason for this is if you’re going to potentially put yourself in debt for years making a movie are you going to make one where three hipsters learn something about themselves? Or are you going to man up and make when where you get to paint nude women with fake blood and make chests that rip open and stuff? You’re goddamned right bro, better start making those props. I don’t really get competitive sport in any real way. I don’t class prowrestling as a sport by the way, that shit is poetic expression to me. Try looking into the Iron Sheik’s glazed eyes and tell me different, friend. This might lead you to imagine I never really get to cheer for anything. You better tell your imagination to suck it because it’s wrong again. I cheer for the movies. There’s no condescension in this either, I just love when you know that a moviemaker tried so hard to make their product as awesome as possible. Succeeding with huge amount of money is fine and everything, and movies like that Dom Dohler in his element can be good too. I’m not that guy (I’m totally that guy). But when you know someone has a crew of half mad bastards, delusional crazies who can’t work their equipment and that at their imagination is only limited by budget, it can be pretty inspiring to see them pull of something incredible. For a good taste of how crazy horror directors can get check out the seminal documentary American Movie. But the best documentary to check out on this subject is definitely Blood Breasts and Beasts. It is about sadly departed schlock director Dom Dohler and how he made movies. The man was nearly shot dead in a stick up when he was 30 and resolutely decided to leave a legacy of some films. He was a really squeamish and traditional dude but his friends had him convinced he had to put heavy gore and naked women in there to turn a profit. This lead to crazy instances where a terminally shy and mortified man had to direct a camera at nude women in a bathtub full of blood which was placed in his back garden. The price one pays for art. His movies are full of such weird casting and offbeat moments and his documentary portrays him as so under-appreciated you know he made movies out of love. And for me: that’s the best thing. If people are going to put their heart and soul into creating strange movies then justice decrees someone should watch them and appreciate the magic enthusiasm found within them. I want to be that guy. You should be that guy sometimes too. Otherwise all those movies will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time to die.
INNER FETCHINGS John Harrington
Paint a vulgar picture Orla Ryan
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igh fiving is great - it really is amazing how such a simple gesture can be so self-affirming and positive. I now feel obliged to inform you that, despite the (perhaps slightly misleading) opening statement, the remainder of this article will revolve primarily around vomit. And to anyone who has ever revolved around vomit - primarily or otherwise - they'll know it is a less than pleasurable experience. The last time I myself was a high-fived I'm not entirely sure I deserved it. You see, it wasn't preceded by any heroic act or even a vague minor achievement. Rather, I had just vomited all over myself on public transport. Now I know what you're thinking - smooth, Orla, real fucking smooth. Before you judge, let me put it in context. It was on a bus.
OK, that's the context. As I single-handedly attempted to redecorate Bus Eireann's dated seat cover decor, the world began to move in slow motion. I believe shouts of "legend" were to be heard from my peers - most of whom I'd never met before. Yes, this is what I want to be remembered for - my weak stomach and projectile abilities. Finally something I'm good at. As I sat there in my own vomit, I was overcome by a warm, fuzzy feeling. No, it wasn’t the sick seeping into my clothes but rather a profound sense of pride to be Irish. This truly was the type of freedom Michael Collins fought for - a society that not only accepts hungover messes but embraces and celebrates their existence. My patriotism was short-lived, however, as I began to wonder what had caused the contents of my stomach to leave home and crash the party. It may have been the two-day old ketchuptopped pizza I had for breakfast, the bumpy bus journey through the worst back roads in western Ireland, or the copious amounts of alcohol consumed in the hours proceeding 'the incident'. It was undeniably an expression of excess in some sense but I'm not one to finger-point. And what do I care? I'm a fucking legend, for god's sake - way too important to worry about trivialities such as facts. Ah yes, the Irish love affair with vomit shows no signs of abating - and would we have it any other way? Happy St Patrick's Day, everyone. And remember kids, look after your livers - they'd look after you if they could. Flux 09/03/10
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picture and think it’s nice and move on. They’re not really thinking that’s the person I want to be with forever and ever and ever, they don’t see it as that.” At one point during Page 3’s time in the Sun, a short lived Page 7, topless male was introduced as a means of trying to offer something to both sexes. Does Tully think that if a women’s magazine offered up a similar sexualised take on males, alike that of females in Nuts or Zoo, that there would be an appetite for it? “No, I don’t think so,” she states matter-of-factly.“ I don’t think women would buy them. I don’t think they’d be into that – because women aren’t purely wanting to see things that are sexual without having the emotional attachment to it; women are sort of like that, they need to have that emotional attachment with something. You don’t get that from the pages of a magazine, whereas men can look at a magazine and they see it for what it is, and that’s it and it goes.” Tully says that for females there are horribly mixed signals about what is beautiful. Is beauty the skinny, perfectly symmetrical, flat-chested catwalk model? Or the big breasted, platinum hair Page 3 model? Tully though refuses to pigeon hole beauty. “I like people for what they are, I like their character,” she explains. “I would have, say, one of my teeth slightly crooked and people, like my younger brother, would always sort of tease me about it and be like ‘Are you not going to get that fixed’, and I’m like, ‘Well no, because that’s me.’ It’s a little quirk that I have and I like it, and it’s cute, and that’s what it’s there for. And it’s this thing of people wanting perfectly straight white teeth, perfectly groomed eyebrows, hair extensions, big hair, fake nails, perfect tan, this, that and the other. I’m like, you’re losing what you are, you’re losing the character. That’s what makes us interesting as humans, is the differences that we have.” But surely, there’s no way a picture on Page 3 can show these quirks? “There isn’t, but you’re going to get that with any type of modelling and anything like that, I don’t think it’s specifically to Page 3,” she says. By promoting Tully as the “world’s brainiest Page 3 girl” it was inevitable that there would be some people who would question whether topless modelling was beneath her intelligence. Does she think it is? “I don’t think it’s beneath me,” she says, “because it is what I am. I am a woman, and when you go on Page 3 you’re going on Page 3 being a woman and showing what... you know, makes you a woman in some aspects, I don’t think that it’s beneath you. I think that the only way that Page 3 can ever be justified is the way that News International have always justified it, is the girls are looked after. I think the day when that stops is the day that people come out and say, actually, I think this is exploitation.” With recent calls in Britain for lads' magazines to be placed on the top shelf in newsagents, given their current placement can see them placed at present beside children’s
Claire Tully, Ireland's first Page 3 model in a more private setting Adam Wolynszczak and in the Sun newspaper on St Patrick's Day (left)
magazines, allowing a 12-year old the ability to buy a copy of Nuts or Zoo if they so wanted, does Tully think that these magazines are simply soft-core pornography? “It depends on what your definition of pornography is. If people get ‘off ’ so to speak looking at page three pictures then you could say, yes, that that is pornography. If you’re looking at pornography as something that is, in many ways, vile and has very much negative connotations to it, well then I wouldn’t say that it is because I don’t think that Page 3 is that. But, I mean, the modelling industry, the ideas that people have of it, that it’s horrible, it’s this and it’s that, they’re true. It is.” But what is her specific view? Would she class Nuts as being pornographic in its nature? “My view of what pornography is basically, like, porn films,” she explains. “That’s what I’d sort of consider as porn, or very suggestive pictures... I have done the likes of Zoo and Nuts and the lads mags, the weekly ones in the UK, and I would consider them to be soft-
core because they would be very suggestive pictures. They would be pictures where you’re pulling your knickers slightly down, which implies that you want to take them off and have sex with the reader. You can’t do pictures on Page 3 where you’re doing that, you’ll actually do a picture where you’re just standing there, you just don’t have your top on, so you’re just standing there smiling. You might have your hand on your hips, one hand in your hair. It’s supposed to be the girl next door, just smiling without a top on. I wouldn’t consider it sexually suggestive. If some people find it sexually stimulating, well, that’s their issue.” With the advent of lads' magazines, there are more females than ever looking to make their break into topless modelling. Nuts even offers a column for readers’ girlfriends to send in pictures of their breasts, and a double page spread of a ‘real girl’ at home in her flat. According to Tully this influx of women who think Page 3 will make them rich is leading the way towards exploitation. “What’s happening now,
“ I have done the likes of Zoo and Nuts... and I would consider them to be soft-core pornography because they would be very suggestive pictures
Claire Tully
especially with this recession is that a lot of people just want to get rich quick and there’s – certainly in the UK – of this trend towards, ‘Oh, if I just take my top off, I’ll be a glamour model. I’ll automatically date a footballer and have lots of money.’ And that’s why I think a lot of girls do it,” she explains. “But what has happened is because there’s so many in the market, it’s absolutely saturated. The magazines have brought it upon themselves – because gone are the days where there were one or two top models who were really respected. It’s now sort of, in the magazines, there’s a new girl every week and it’s like, we’ll pay you a measly amount for a shoot and this’ll be your big break. And of course the girls think this is brilliant, and then nothing ever comes from it. And that’s where it is getting to the point of what I would consider exploitation in magazines, certainly.” Should there be curbs on the magazines then? “I don’t think that it could be done,” Tully says. “I don’t think it would ever be done. I don’t know in what way people would ever be able to do that, because the argument the editors in the magazines would say is ‘Oh, we just need to sell magazines, this is our job, these girls are over 18, they’re willing to do it. What’s the problem? They’re being paid.’” When asked whether Tully would recommend her career, there’s almost an expectation of a twelve cannon affirmative salute coming straight behind. Not so. “I wouldn’t recommend it,” she says. “I wouldn’t tell people to go out and do it, because I think that would be to gloss over any of the negative aspects of the job. I think it’s something that people would need to seriously consider, the repercussions that it has on your personal life, your family life, your relationships with men, your own mental well being, the abuse that can go on in the job, the exploitation that can go on, the attitude that people will have towards you for your job. So from that respect I wouldn’t have it on my conscience that I’m actually going out telling people to go an actively pursue this because I never had to actively pursue it myself – it just sort of landed on my lap and I was given the choice, do I want to do it or do I not. I think it’s a lot harder and it’s a lot worse on people’s self esteem who try and break into it and never get there.” For those who do want to get into topless modelling, Tully is frank, you need to look after yourself. “You have to make sure that you’re not taken advantage of, that you’re not sucked in,” she says, “because most of the people that will try to help you really only want to sleep with you and then that sort of thing comes into play... It’s something you really need to have your wits about, and realistically you need to have your family back you up completely. I don’t. Most of my family don’t speak to me, because I’ve done it. I happen to be a incredibly strong willed person though, I’m happy to get through it. But it’s tough, especially in Ireland because it’s not accepted; I know it’s not accepted by people yet.”
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The Bryan in whom we trust Trudi McDonald speaks to RTE newscaster Bryan Dobson about getting started in pirate radio, his ideal story to cover, and being directly affected by the news
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ery few members of the Irish media have succeeded in becoming household names. RTE newscaster Bryan Dobson is one of Ireland’s few well-known broadcasters, and after 14 years as one of the readers of the main evening news on RTE, is one of the most recognised faces in the country. Dobson, a native of south Dublin, has been working in media for almost three decades and has covered hundreds of stories, from the 9/11 bombings to the South East Asian Tsunami. Growing up in the 1970s, opportunities were scarce for budding journalists. “There was only one place in the country that did journalism in my time, Rathmines College of Commerce. You needed two honours in your leaving to do it, one of which had to be in English and even though I tried twice, I couldn’t get an honour in English. It’s probably because my spelling is really bad; I kept getting these D’s or E’s. I tried twice and failed twice so I went into the communications course in the college. It was a great course, but I didn’t actually finish it. I went off to work in pirate radio after two years there so I never actually graduated. I’m a college dropout.” Dobson began his broadcasting career on a small pirate radio station called Radio Southside, and this was the beginning of his passion for radio. “Radio Southside was this tiny little radio station that broadcast from a shed beside a hotel in Dun Laoghaire. I worked for a summer in the station. I was actually sent along by my tutor, a person from the station rang up the college and asked if there was anyone there that could read the news, so myself and one other guy were sent along, they auditioned d everything and I got the job. us and At thee time there was no other way off getting on air, other that RTE so it’s very ent now. There is different much more opportunity, with commercial radio, to gett on the air and xperience. In those get experience. days, if RTE didn’t give you a job, you n’t going weren’t here.” anywhere.” A f t e r w o rk i ng with Radio Southside
and another pirate station, Radio Nova, Dobson decided that it was time to settle down into a steady career path. “Pirate radio was a great start for me, and even now are people working in RTE who cut their teeth in pirate radio but I wanted to get out of it because it was a pretty chaotic living. Dobson’s big break came when he was approached by BBC Northern Ireland after they heard him on air. “The BBC in Belfast was looking for reporters at the time. I worked there for three or four years and it was great. I was out on the road day after day reporting on every sort of story from flower shows to bombings and riots and it was extraordinary. If you were working for local media in Northern Ireland during the 1980s, there was this incredible spectrum of stories to cover. You had the usual local humdrum, council meeting and waste collection and then you could be covering a riot or a murder in the same day. It was so unique and exciting because you never knew what was next.” Dobson’s career progressed in the BBC and he was soon offered a position presenting the station’s breakfast news show but it wasn’t for him. “I hated getting up early in the mornings. I stuck it for six months and it did my head in so I threw in the towel. Then I came back to Dublin to work for RTE as a radio presenter.” “At one stage I was tempted to move to the UK and I had some job offers but my wife didn’t want to move to London with our small kids so we stayed. I don’t think that moving abroad really furthers you that much. You are essentially doing the same job, maybe to a bigger audience and you have a bit more celebrity. At the end of the day you are still are sitting a studio, talking to people, interviewing people, reading the news. I think if anything, I would like to get back on the road roa again, be a reporter. I love doing it when I get the chanc chance, when we get out of the studio stu and bring the story live. live I love that: talking to pe people on the scene, finding ou out what it going on, assembling ass the ffacts, I love all that kin kind of thin thing and I’m sure I’ll go back to it at
Bryan Dobson speaking to Trudi McDonald last week in Dublin Eleanor Keegan
“ At one stage I was tempted to move to the UK and I had some job offers but my wife didn't want to move to London with our small kids...
Bryan Dobson
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some point.” Some of the highlights of Dobson’s broadcasting career have happened during his time in the Irish media. As one of the most respected reporters in RTE, he has covered some of the biggest international stories of the past two decades. “The South African election in 1994 is still one of my favourite stories because it was such an extraordinary moment. Another memorable one is of course 9/11. I was in studio for that and we were on air all day. More recently, the death of Pope John Paul II was extraordinary. It was such a rare moment in history and we had these ring side seats on a rooftop overlooking the Vatican waiting for the white smoke to come up. It’s moments like that that are privileged to journalists – not many people can say they saw that.” Reporting on international events can have its downside, as Dobson knows, because a lot of the news that we consume concerns negative events like war and natural disasters. “Generally it’s not too depressing, because it’s removed from you and not affecting you directly. On a few occasions, it has affected me. There was a terrible school massacre in Dunblane in Scotland, in the midnineties when a junior infants class was just wiped out, it was carnage. They were the most innocent little children and I had a child the same age myself. It was one of those occasions where it all hit you. Recently thought, the economic situation is certainly depressing because it’s affecting us directly. It’s very personal and it never stops. I’ve started rationing myself on that kind of news. I take a day off at the weekend; I don’t want to read any more about how we are going down the tubes.” There are many who think that reading the news is as simple as sitting in front of a camera and reading the words that appear in front of you. “But there is more to it than just looking at an autocue,” says Dobson. “There is a team, and because I work with them every day, I am part of that team. We decide the stories, and I'm not shy about telling them what should be our main story, or how we should be approaching it. If there is an argument over something, it’s the editors that have to call it at the end of the day. But the newscasters are very involved with the preparation and execution of the program.” Journalism by its nature covers every subject imaginable. As current affairs and politics play a pivotal role in daily news, most people have opinions on what they like or dislike in the news. Dobson says personal choice can’t come into play as a reporter. “I’ve never said no to a story and I wouldn’t either, because our job is about being fair and objective no
The economic situation is certainly depressing because it's affecting us directly. It's very personal and it never stops...
Bryan Dobson
matter what story comes our way. I don’t think I have a problem being objective. There are people who ring up and complain from all sides of the political spectrum, saying that I got it wrong or gave so-and-so an easy ride in an interview, or that I got stuck into so-and-so. I’m sure there are times when I get it wrong but that’s part of the human activity. We all have our own political prejudices and at times, this can probably creep into your reporting, but if you are in a news organisation like RTE, its not just down to you. There are editors to answer to, which brings in checks and balances and allows for objectivity.” As well as being a newscaster, Dobson is one of RTE’s main interviewers, and a large part of his job is to conduct interviews both in and out of studio, which he says is never easy. “Interviewing is quite challenging, no matter how many times you do it. Ten minutes after every interview, I think of the perfect comeback or a great question. I don’t tend to watch things back very often but if I do I always think “Why didn’t I pick up on that?” One of the hardest things to do in an interview is to listen to what the person is saying. If you can crack that, you are 80% there. Even after all these years, there will be times when someone says something really interesting and I haven’t even
heard it because I am thinking about my next question. It can be quite embarrassing.” “I don’t get called up on things I’ve said in interviews very often,” Dobson says. “Most of the time, when people speak to you in public, it’s to say well done. Although I had a phone call the other day from a man who was outraged at an interview I had done with Brian Lenihan. He said I was interrupting and hassling him. Immediately after Lenihan, we had Richard Bruton on and the caller said I just let him off the hook, and that the whole thing was a party political broadcast. He was perfectly reasonable and civil about it, but he was very clear that I wasn’t up to his standards. I interviewed Bertie Ahern a couple of years ago and there were a lot of different views about that. I still get a lot of comments about that one.” Dobson has had the opportunity to interview some well known figures, both on Irish soil and internationally. But he says he’s still on the lookout for that perfect interviewee. “Well, to interview Obama would be a dream come true. I know it’s so predictable but what a fascinating guy.” “I don’t really have a dream story though,” says Dobson. “The best thing about news is the unexpectedness, the 'who’d have thought' element. That said, I think a female Taoiseach would be a fantastic story if we had one here some day. A Royal visit to Ireland would be a great story too, say if Queen Elizabeth II came here. I know it is one of the things that the government and Áras an Uachtarán are working on, but that would be an amazing story to cover.” Since joining RTE, Dobson has worked as a reporter, a newcaster and an interviewer. He thinks that,
given the opportunity, he would like to turn his hand at something a little different. “I would quite like to have the chance to branch out into some sort of current affairs presenting. Not necessarily something like Prime Time though, as the format is still quite close to what we do on the Six One. I’d love to have the freedom to sit down with a panel of people for a discussion and just go wherever the conversation goes. I think it’s just wonderful. It can be very liberating. If the opportunity came along, I would definitely have a go. There isn’t anything in pipeline for RTE at the minute. We have been joking that they should get George Lee and Charlie Bird together for something like that. You never know!” Since he was 16, Dobson had a passion for journalism, something that started during his secondary school years. “I have no idea what I would be doing if I wasn’t a journalist. I think I might have liked to have studied law and maybe would have if I had applied myself more in school and gotten the grades," he explains. "But I’ve really wanted to do this job since I was in my mid teens. I got bitten by the bug doing Transition Year radio so that’s probably why I stuck at it. I always thought it was a great job. We brought in the principal of the school and sat him down and the guy who was presenting grilled the teacher on how he was running the school and it was permissible because radio is a forum that creates accountability. I still see it that way. If I am interviewing the Taoiseach or a minister, I have permission and a license to hopefully hold them to account. Nobody else really has that opportunity.”
Bryan Dobson with co-presenter of the Six One News, Sharon Ní Bheoláin, and (left) during his earlier days with RTE News RTE
THE COLLEGE VIEW
20 GAEILGE
9 MÁRTA 2010
Boilsciú ghráid ag cruthú imní Léiríonn tuairisc go bhfuil fostóirí míshásta le caighdeán céimithe
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e déanaí, tá ceist i mbéal an phobail faoin gcaighdeán céimithe ollscoile agus ar chaighdeán na hArdteiste. Cuireadh béim ar an gceist seo nuair a bhí cruinniú ag figiúirí sinsearacha Google agus Intel leis an Aire Oideachais Batt O’Keeffe chun an fhadhb seo a phlé. Léiríonn imscrúdú ón Roinn Oideachais a bhí foilsithe an tseachtain seo caite go bhfuil triarach an méid mac léinn ag baint céimeanna céad ghrád onóracha amach anois ná mar a bhí 15 bliain ó shin. Dar leis an tuairisc, tháinig méadú 174% ar an bhfigiúr seo i UCC; i gColáiste na Tríonóide tháinig méadú 126% air; i NUI Gaillimh tháinig 115% agus in Ollscoil Luimnigh tháinig méadú 107%. Tá fianaise ann chomh maith gur tháinig méadú níos mó ná 700% ar chéimeanna den chéad ghrád onóracha atá bronnta anois i Ollscoil na hÉireann, Maigh Nuad. Rinneadh staidéar inmheánach le haghaidh Aontas Choláiste na Tríonóide ar an líon céimeanna gnáthleibhéal a bhronnaítear faoi láthair. Deir an staidéar sin go bhfuil meathlúchán de 180% tar éis teacht ar an méid chéimeanna gnáthleibhéal. D’iarr an tAire O’Keeffe ar Choimisiúin na Scrúdaithe Stáit athbhreithniúchán a dhéanamh ar an Ardteist agus d’iarr sé ar Udarás um Ard-Oideachais torthaí tríú leibhéil a athbhreithniú. Díreach tar éis foilsiú na tuairisce an tseachtain seo caite, dúirt urlabhraí oideachais Fine Gael Brian Hayes i ráiteas gur féidir leis “An meathlú atá tar éis tagtha ar chaighdeán oideachais agus ar an ‘mboilsciú ghráid’... dochair a dhéanamh don athghabháil eacnamaíocht Éireann agus don ábaltacht céimithe poist a bhaint amach.” Dúirt na comhlachtaí idirnáisiúnta Google agus Intel go bhfostaíonn siad céimithe ó gach cheann de na 7 n-ollscoileanna - ach go mbíonn na céimithe ó TCD, UCD agus UCC ar sárchaighdeáin trasna an bhoird. Bhí tagairtí sa tuairisc nach raibh ardchaighdeán céimeanna ar fáil in institiúidí teicneolaíochta éagsúla ach diúltaigh an tAire chun aon institiúid nó coláiste a lua. Dúirt an tAire O’Keeffe nach bhfuil suim aige na hollscoileanna gan caighdeán inghlactha a ainmniú ach go bhfuil sé chun caighdeáin níos airde in ollscoileanna a spreagadh. Tá sé tuigthe freisin go raibh a fhios ag príomhfheidhmeannach an Udarás um Ard-Oideachais, Tom Boland, nach raibh Google agus Intel sásta leis an gcaighdeán a bhí ag cuid
An mbeidh fostóirí sásta ár gcéimithe a fhostú amach anseo? Laura Muresan de na hollscoileanna agus caighdeán an chóras oideachais, go háraithe an Ardteist, mar gheall ar an gcruinniú a bhí aige leo 6 mhí ó shin. Bhí Tom Boland práinneach faoin gceist seo an bhliain seo caite freisin - ceapann sé go bhfuil an iomarca cabhrach tugtha do mhic léinn agus iad i gcoimhlint san ollscoil. Tá níos mó mic léinn ag fáil grád 1.1 ina mbunchéimithe Phil Moore I gcómhra leis an College View, dúirt Uachtarán DCU Ferdinand Von Prondzynski, “...gur mearú í an cheist seo faoi ‘bhoilsciú grád’. Go dtí le déanaí níor bhronnadh go leor ghráid arda i gcomparáid leis an gcaighdeán idirnáisiúnta agus rinne trácht air go rialta le scrúdaitheoirí eachtracha trasna an chórais.” “Tar éis tréimhse, tá athrú tar éis tagtha... ach fiú anois go ginearálta tá níos lú ghráid airde á bhronnadh i gcomparáid le Sasana agus na Stáit Aontaithe. Bíonn ar mhic léinn a bheith níos mó dírithe chun gráid arda a bhaint amach.” D’admhaigh sé go bhfuil gá ann chun eisiúintí eile a phlé i gceart faoi láthair, mar shampla cúrsaí oideachas dara-léibhéal, curaclam na hArdteiste, an easpa mac léinn i réimsí bogearraí agus innealtóireachta, agus cistiú ardoideachais. Ach thar aon rud eile, léiríonn an tuairisc nua seo an dabht atá ag fostóirí tábhachtacha domhanda ar nós Google faoi bhunchéimithe na tíre seo – agus ba chóir dúinn go léir a bheith buartha faoin dabht seo.
Éifeachtaí an bhuiséid le le Audrey Ní Dhonnchadha Cé go gceapaimid go seanscéal é an Buiséad, tá fearg fós le brath i measc grúpaí a oibríonn le daoine míchumais mar gheall ar ghiorraithe sa cháinaisnéis. I mí na Nollag, laghdaigh an rialtas liúntas le haghaidh daoine míchumais agus a gcuid cúramóirí i gcinneadh conspóideach agus tá éifeachtaí an chinneadh seo le brath anois ag dóibh siúd atá bainteach le cúram. Chaill siad 4.1% dena liúntais mar abhí - sin €8.50 imithe gach seachtain ar liúntas do chúramóirí nó caillteanas de €442 gach bliain. Dar le Catherine Cox, an t-oifigeach cumarsáide den Chumann Cúramóirí na hÉireann, chuir na giorraithe liúntas cúramóirí brú ar chlainne timpeall na tíre. “Faighimid mórán glaochanna ó chúramóirí atá trína chéile faoin ngearradh seo. Caithfidh tú a chuimhniú nach é seo an chéad gearradh ar chúramóirí le déánaí– chaill siad 2% bónas na Nollag cheana féin. Sin gearradh 6% ar dhaoine atá ar tairseach na bochtaineachta cheana féin.” Ciallaíonn na giorraithe gur thit an liúntas cúramóirí ó €11,400 go níos lú ná €11,000 gach bliain. Dar le Cox, is é seo an t-aon slí beatha atá ag daoine a thugann aire do dhaoine tinn nó daoine míchumasaithe. “Caithfidh an rialtas a chuimhniú go laghdaíonn na cúramóirí seo costais cúraimí an Stáit le €2.5 billiún chuile bliain. Tugann cúramóirí 3.5 milliún uair an chloig gach bliain i gcúram.” Deir Cox go bhfuil costais “folaithe” ag cúramóirí, costais nach bhfuil tugtha faoi dheara ag an rialtas go fóill. Sampla dena costais seo ná teas agus leictreachas breise. Chomh maith leis sin, deir sí gur mór an éifeacht a bheadh ar chúramóirí ó thaobh costais nua oideas. “Fuair mé glaoch ó chúramóir ar an maidin a tharla an cinneadh agus níl a fhios aici cad gur chóir di a dhéanamh a thuilleadh. Dúirt sí nach raibh sí in ann bronntanais a cheannach don Nollaig agus go raibh sí ag déanamh iarrachta chun costas dinnéar na Nollag a ghearradh siar chomh maith.” Is cúramóir í Sandra Dillon, a
Is mór an téifeacht atá ag an ngearradh siar a bhí socraithe i mí na Nollag ar chúramóirí faoi láthair Dominik Golenia Mary Hanafin, a fuair cáineadh mar gheall ar an ngearradh siar (thíos)
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thugann cúram lánaimseartha dá mac, Nicholas (12). Tá siondróm Asperger aige agus dar le Sandra, tá “fearg agus ionadh an domhain” fós uirthi mar gheall ar an ngearradh is déanaí. “Bhí mé ag éisteacht le Mary Hanifin ar an lá a tharla an gearradh agus bhí sí ag rá go raibh uirthi an gearradh seo a dhéanamh chun seirbhísí a chóiméad,” a deir sí. “Níl a fhios agam sa diabhal cén sórt seirbhísí atá sí ag labhairt faoi mar ní fuair mo mhac dada in am an Tíogar Cheiltigh ach an oiread. Dúirt an rialtas go n-íocfadh sé as teiripe shaothair, as teiripe urlabhra, as te ipe shóisialta... s ó s a ta... as gach gac rud. ud. Ach c teiripe thógadh sé ón liosta fanachta mar bhí ‘daoine níos measa’ ná eisean ag iarraidh an teiripe seo. “Níor íoc an rialtas agus ní fuair mé míniú ó aon duine, cé gur sheol mé litreacha chuig na Teachtaí Dála go léir i mo cheantair ar feadh na blianta. Níl sé cothrom,” a deir sí. "Is targaid éasca é mo mhac agus
Níl sé cothrom. Is targaid éasca é mo mhac agus daoine cosúil leis
Sandra Dillon Cúramóir
THE COLLEGE VIEW
GAEILGE 21
9 MÁRTA 2010
brath
Is í Gráinne Seoige duine ar na pearsantachtaí teilifíse is aitheantha sa tír. Chaith tuairisceoir Míchéal Mac Giolla Chearr tréimhse léi le déanaí agus seo é cad a tharla
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daoine cosúil leis mar ní féidir leo iad féin a chosaint.” Dar le Catherine Cox: “Tá fearg, brón agus díomá searbh le brath go fóill i measc cúramóirí. Chuir cúramóir amháin glaoch orm agus dúirt sé, ‘Bhuel, cathain a bheidh muid ag agóid?’ Ach ar an drochuair, le nádúr ról an chúramóra, ní minic go bhfuil sé féideartha dóibh súid atá ag fulaingt a bheith ag agóid.” Dar le John Dolan, an CEO den Chónaidhm na hÉireann um Míchumas, go dtéann na giorraithe i gcoinne polasaithe rialtas chun daoine míchumais a chosaint. “Tá costas maireachtála i bhfad níos airde do dhaoine le míchumais agus ní fheiceann an rialtas é seo ar chor ar bith,” a deir sé. “Tá an-díoma orainn maidir leis an gcinneadh.” Is cuimhin le gach cúramóir nuair a labhair an t-Aire Airgeadais Brian Lenihan ar RTÉ Raidió 1 ag rá nach raibh cinntí éasca déanta sa bhuiséid ach ba cinntí riachtanacha iad le haghaidh fás eacnamaíochta. Ach ní chiallaíonn sé mórán le haghaidh an ghnáthduine. Deir Sandra Dillon go bhfuil sí fiorbuartha faoi cad atá i ndán dá clann sa todhchaí mar gheall ar an méid fiachais atá acu cheana féin. Tá beirt pháiste eile aici ar ollscoil. “Bhí orainn iasacht eile a thogáil amach ón gComhar Creidmheasa i mbliana. Tá fiachas €4,000 againn ar charta creidmheasa cheana féin. Tá an strus sa teach dochreidte. “Nílimid ag goid ón Stát – oibríonn mo fhear céile go lán-aimsearach agus tugaim gach soicind an lae do chúram Nicholas. Níl a fhios agam cén fáth go gcuireann an rialtas pionós orainn arís.”
á Seachtain na Gaeilge ar in seo. An siúl an tseachtain namh aon bhfuil tú ag déanamh eachtain a rud chun an tseachtain cheiliúradh? o mbíonn Bhuel is dóigh liom go eilge gach ceiliúradh leis an nGaeilge m Gaeilge i uile lá agam mar labhraím gcónaí. Déanaim iarracht nuair atá lge a chur mé ar an teilifís an Ghaeilge iom. Nílim isteach gach uair is féidir liom. isialta mar ag déanamh aon rud speisialta tá sé cosúil le gach lá eile. a dhúchais Tá Gaeilge mar theanga agat, an bhfuil sé deacair duitse an o i mBaile Ghaeilge a labhairt anseo Átha Cliath? Ó níl, tá Síle (a deirfiúr)) ina cónaí liath agus anseo i mBaile Átha Cliath bíonn muid i gcónaí ag labhairt le chéile as Gaeilge. Bíonn mé ag caint le mo mháthair agus m’athair ar an bhfón agus Gaeilge a bhíonn á hb ar bith labhairt agam leo. Níl fadhb le cleachtadh Gaeilge. Tá Gaeilge Baile Átha ag go leor daoine i mBaile Cliath freisin. Tá go leor Gaeilge ar w – tá sí ag an All Ireland Talent Show gus Dáithí Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh agus Ó Sé, agus tá fiú Shane Lynch ag thair. foghlaim na Gaeilge faoi láthair. o bhfuil An gceapann tú go athruithe suntasacha déanta leis an nGaeilge sa tír seo?? Níl dabht ar bith faoi há go bhfuil athrú íomhá n thar cuimse tagtha ar an a nGaeilge. Mar shampla bunaíodh TnaG/ TG4 aguss d déanann daoine dearmad n anois cé nach raibh an rt Ghaeilge acu atá ag labhairt úil anois. Táim an-bhródúil go raibh mé páirteach sna hathruithe sin. th ag An bhfuil tú sásta bheith obair ar an All Ireland Talent Show? Ó táim an-sásta. Is é an All Ireland Talent Show an dara seó is mó sa tír. Níl muid ach cúpla míle daoine taobh thiar den lucht féachana an Late Late atá ar an aer le ch sa dara tamall anuas - níl muid ach ach an rud séasúr faoi láthair. Is iontach é sin. Caithfidh mé a rá go bhfuil mé an-sásta leis an seó. An raibh brón ort nuairr a chuala idh leis an tú go raibh RTÉ ag fáil réidh Seoige Show? ne a rá bhí Bhuel, chun an fhírinne namh i lár conradh agam seó a dhéanamh liana agus an lae le haghaidh trí bliana ó thar barr. b’shin deireadh. Bhí an seó e. Bhí níos Thaitin sé le mórán daoine. mó na 120,000 ag féachaintt ar an seó ck” ann ar gach lá. Bhí saghas “shock” dtús ach ag an am céanna bíonn cúis taobh thiar de gach rud. Bhí mé anharla rudaí sásta leis an gcaoi inar tharla h an rud é amach i ndáiríre. Is iontach an t-am a bhí agam le Síle freisin. An raibh sé deacair a bheith ag obair le Síle? Bhí sé an-deacair ach chuir muid hí muid ar aithne ar a céile arís. Bhí ndóigh deirfiúracha ach anois tá
muid cosúil le cairde. Bhí muid neirbhíseach ag teacht le céile ach d’oibrigh sé amach thar cionn agus ní athróinn é ar óir nó airgead. Conas a bhfuil Síle anois? Tá sí iontach anois, níl sí ach díreach tar éis teacht ar ais ón Téalainn tar éis obair a dhéanamh don chlár No Frontiers, agus tá na píosaí sin ag dul amach anois. Is í an glór Gaelach do Meteor freisin. Tá sí ag éirí go maith. Cé á ceapann tú go mbeidh buach san All Ireland Talent Show i mbliana? Tá sé an-deacair a rá agus níl a fhios agam céard atá tar éis teacht ar mhuintir an Iarthair - tá tallann an-ard acu. Chun an teideal agus an t-airgead a bhuachan caithfidh an lucht féachana a bheith taobh thiar duit. Ar bhealach mar láithreoir
níl ceart agam a rá. Caithfidh mé cineáil fanacht as. Ach tá sé deacair an tIarthar a bhualadh. Tá duine nó beirt ag Bláthnaid freisin atá an-mhaith, ach braitheann sé. An bhfuil suim agat aon rud aisteach a dhéanamh amach anseo? Níl i ndáiríre. Is máthair mé agus mar sin caithfidh mé aire a thabhairt dom féin. Mar sin ní bheidh mé ag léim amach as eitleáin nó dada mar sin - caithfidh mé mé féin a choinneáil sláintiúil agus an dinnéar a réiteach do mo mhac.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
22 COMMENT
9 MARCH 2010
We need more teaching, less testing Is the focus on exams in higher level institutions in Ireland a failure of the system? Michael Scott Lecturer's View
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ecently I attended a presentation on the university calendar. There was some discussion about it that I wasn’t particularly interested in. What caught my attention was a diagram indicating how much time we, as an institution, spend on teaching, and how much time we spend on exam processing. The former was marked in green, the latter in purple, and there was nearly as much purple as green. How did we get to the stage in this country where the “exam” is emphasised to the extent that it is? Is there any other country in the world where major newspapers pore over the equivalent of a leaving certificate exam paper the next day, and editorialise on its relative difficulty compared with other exams in other years? Dr Craig Barrett, former Intel chief executive, recently criticised the Irish education system
In the universities while we sometimes tut-tut and feel superior about it, in truth we are equally affected by leaving-cert-itus. The whole exam process has been incrementally over-elaborated to an extraordinary extent over the years, what with prolonged pre-exam study periods, anonymous marking, the scary big hall environment, and the close invigilation. In fact just like the leaving cert! And we typically do this to you twice a year. I promise that by the time we have finished with you, you will have lost count of the number of times that we will have examined you. There is a cost associated with it. For a start we spend a lot less time teaching (and you spend less time learning) because of it. Students interact less in lectures, if they attend them at all, as they can always download the lecture notes and cram in the generous period provided between the end of teaching and the start of exams. Lecturers have to set exam papers about four to five weekss into the pers can go semester so that the papers nistrative through elaborate administrative n, checking processing, moderation, and rechecking – so no chance then ed on student to modify the exam based feedback in class. ted by As a lecturer, motivated et a student feedback, you get ugh great idea halfway through ucing the semester for introducing new material into the course. Too late – you’ve set the exam already, and if you don’t teach to the
Has too much emphasis been placed on the exam? Chéri Malooka
exam there will be hell to pay. And here is a useful tip which will have made it worth your while to read this far – the material covered in the last few lectures will probably never be examined, because when the lecturer had to set the exam paper some two months earlier they could not be absolutely sure that they wou would have the time (what with possible illness, i whatever) to cover that final material. m Believe it or not there is an alternative. I have taught third level courses in America and Africa - widely m differing experiences in so many c ways - but in both cases I simply set an ex exam in the classroom during Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe recently said that a greater focus on exams has increase top level results
my last scheduled lecture. I wrote the exam paper maybe a week before and I invigilated it myself and answered questions during it. I marked it during the next week, and the students had their marks there and then. Amazing to think that it could all be so simple. But wait a minute – what’s the downside for the student? No anonymous marking, no external examination, no exam board meetings, no PABs (Progression and Awards Boards) and PBERCs (Programme Board Examination Review Committee), no compensation mechanism, no appeals mechanism. I would suggest that none of that makes an iota of difference. Despite all the elaboration I always end up marking my own exam papers, and in thirty years no external examiner or any other process has changed the outcome for a student in a way that I wouldn’t have done myself anyway.
“ Lecturers have to set exam papers about four to five weeks into the semester...
Michael Scott School of Computing
And the lightweight process I describe above does not preclude the possibility of external examination of papers and scripts after the exam has taken place. Examination is only a minor part of what we should be about. An employer ultimately will be more interested in what a graduate can do, and the skills that they have learned. Yet we have made the exam absolutely central to the student experience. And it’s interesting to observe that our current elaborate exam systems have not protected us from accusations from employers of “dumbing down” and “grade inflation”. Did I say that there was a cost associated with it? To catch the attention of this audience, I should point out that a part of the student registration fee goes towards paying for exam processing. So you are paying for this!
THE COLLEGE VIEW
COMMENT 23
9 MARCH 2010
Do we really need another government minister? Emma Gill Opinion
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CU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski recently made a suggestion in his blog that I think will make sense to many; the creation of a new ministerial position, which would deal solely with higher education. Ferdie makes the point that the current minister for education is responsible for primary, secondary and third level education. Everybody has to go to primary and secondary school, but not everybody goes further, which means that the majority of the focus, and more importantly the education budget, goes to primary and secondary education. Northern Ireland has a separate department of education, in charge of schools, and a department of employment and learning, which deals with higher education. Britain also deals with higher education separately. If this works in the UK then there’s no reason it can’t work here.
Higher education is vital to economic recovery. We need an educated workforce to attract international corporations and encourage them to invest in Ireland. We should be pumping more money into higher education not taking away from it. Last December’s budget aimed to reduce education spending in 2010 by over €600m. As many of you are no doubt aware; student grants have been cut by 5%. This reduction, coupled with the delays in receiving the grants has had a catastrophic effect on cashstrapped students, some of whom found themselves unable to pay their registration fee and to meet basic living costs while at college. A number of students have even been forced to drop out of college. If you want a well paid job in today’s market then a degree is practically a necessity. Even if you don’t go to college the chances are you’ll need some form of post-leaving certificate qualification. The government is cutting funding for the people who provide the best chance for this country’s economic
YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR CALL
It's time for national pride By Derwin Brennan
Ferdinand has called for a revision in how third level is looked at DCU Media recovery. We need to be encouraging people to develop their skills, not make it even harder for them. The post of minister for education was created at a time when a college education was a rare thing, you were doing well if you got as far as secondary school. Times have changed, and as usual the government is a few steps behind. The establishment of a separate minister for higher education wouldn’t magically make more money available for higher education, but it would mean that there was a department fully dedicated to it and willing to make it a priority - something that is not happening at present.
To cheat or not to cheat...
Ireland has been hit by a crisis of confidence. The recession is not just fiscal, it's also a blow to the nation's confidence. The Tiger may be dead but our confidence isn't. We may feel powerless or feel like throwing ourselves on the illusory largesse of the international markets but there may be another way. The Irish people have spent this recession looking to their elected representatives to light a candle and guide us out of the national malaise that we find ourselves in. But instead of providing inspiration our Dáil has descended into a farcical he-said-she-said back and forth see-saw. What the McAleese programme, “Your Ireland Your Call” offers is an incentive to the ordinary person to contribute to the national debate and see their ideas become something of worth beyond a publication on the letters page of the Irish Times. Of course it's entirely possible that the winning idea in this competition may not be the panacea to the recession we all seek. But that’s if you see a national recession just in terms of GDP and accounting figures. What we have suffered is a blow to the self esteem we feel as a people. A feeling of hopelessness that we can’t contribute to or do anything about this problem except to sit and wait for a general election and exact electoral venegance on those who got us into this problem. Instead, by giving motivation and hope back to the ordinary person and by making us realise we can help and we can progress, this initiative gives us the realisation that we all have the potential to do it. It's too easy to be cynical in this country, too easy to deride those who would encourage us and tell us to believe in ourselves as peddlers of naivety. It's too easy to blame the system we are all a part of. This programmme calls those who would listen to arms. It tells us to have the self-belief that defines us as a people much more than our bank balances. Where is the harm? The system has failed, why can't we innovate ourselves and maybe feel our ideas are of some worth?
It smacks of Irish inferiority By Sean Carroll
Brian Casey Opinion
I
t is cheating when caught, and a resourceful shortcut when unnoticed. If the failing of the leaving certificate is that it’s become a glorified memory test, then the flaw of university education lies in the time spent proving or avoiding originality of thought. Universities may be among the few battlegrounds in which plagiarism is still being restrained today. But at what price? What effect, if any, do the measures taken by universities to combat plagiarism have on our education? In a survey conducted for this paper it was shown that nearly 70% of students in DCU have admitted plagiarising during their time here. What do these figures tell us about our attitude or our need to copy someone else’s ideas? It is possible that the rules of established academia that set out to discourage plagiarism with standard systems for citing and referencing may only encourage more inventive methods of cheating, ultimately degrading the learning experience. Simply type in the words “write my paper” into any internet search engine and a whole range of professional essay, thesis and term paper writing services will appear. Beginning on the presumption
Is cheating in an exam ever justifiable? Jared Stein that these professional operations can produce original work to the standards they claim, any student willing to forego a month’s drinking budget can easily cheat their way to a good grade in their least favourite modules. Crucially, the point is not that there are any number of ways to plagiarise and get away with it, instead it is more important to look at what can be done to ensure cheating isn’t even an option. Increasing the demands on students to follow more elaborate referencing systems will only mean the time spent proving the work is original thought will serve to reduce time spent producing innovative, educationally beneficial papers. We
must address the flaws in the system that lead students to believe it is faster and more beneficial to cheat than produce good original work. The formalities of academic research and paper writing are producing students that are either very good at plagiarising, or very good at "looking stuff up". Why not readjust the system to increase informal practicality so time is spent arguing and sharing opinions – challenging applications of knowledge instead of questioning sources. In a face-to-face interview or in a work environment there will be no referencing systems, and there will be no illusions as to who the pretenders are.
Before I read the details of the “Your Country, Your Call” campaign I really didn’t comprehend just how dire this country’s situation is. Sure, businesses are folding daily, the unemployment rate is rising ever higher and the answer to the recession seems more than elusive, like it may not actually exist at all. But at least the country’s mindset remains strong. Despite its grave problems, Ireland still manages to retain some of the Celtic Tiger swagger. The inferiority complex of the 80s is gone. Ireland isn’t some third-world backwater anymore; it's a modern European nation. Reading Your Country, Your Call it seems that this confidence is completely gone. We’re back to the myopic, parochial thinking of old. The campaign invites you to submit “Your Ireland Moment”. According to the website, “It could be a great memory of time spent here as a visitor, or a time when you felt really proud to be Irish, an occasion when you thought, 'Wow, I didn't think we could do that!' or when we took the lead and surprised the world!” Imagine the USA or France proposing something similar. The whole notion smacks of Irish inferiority. The idea that the government yelling, “Remember the time we won the Grand Slam!” is enough to incite pride in the country is an embarrassment. You can’t force feed pride – it’s a mindset. This campaign is evidence of how easily manipulated the government thinks the people are; how they really do view this country as just a little island off the coast of Britain. The main thrust of the campaign however is about proposing an idea to get us out of the recession. If you do, you could win a cash prize. That’s how hard up the government is for ideas – it’s begging the public to have a go, enticing them with the prospect of winning €100,000. The campaign aims to restore confidence in the country. By approaching that task in such a patronising manner it has achieved the opposite.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
24 COMMENT POLITIKEN APOLOGISE OVER CARTOON
How much should free speech cost? By James English The right to free speech is upheld in modern western society as a fundamental human right. This right also applies to the press. Free speech is a great power. But with this power comes a great responsibility; to not abuse this right. The boundaries between the right to freedom of press and downright piss-taking can sometimes be blurred. This complex conundrum is perfectly exemplified by the risqué cartoons first published by the Danish newspaper (JyllandsPosten) back in 2005. Depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, the cartoons led to outrage among the Muslim community. The cartoon was reprinted by several newspapers but the paper Politiken is the only one to have issued an apology following the groups' demand. The paper admitted that they should not have published what was clearly insulting. While the demand for an apology and its subsequent arrival may seem like a challenge to the freedom of the press, it really was the right thing to do. The press needs to be careful about what it prints. Material which directly singles out a particular ethnic group or religion and mocks something that is sacred to them is just plain wrong. No media should expect the target of their taunting to take the abuse lying down. Yes the media have the duty to report goings on but this does not necessarily mean open season. The papers should consider people’s feelings, especially considering the storm of outrage that erupted in the wake of the publication. Widespread violence across many countries, both in the Middle East and Europe is a good enough reason not to tick any major ethnic groups off, if you ask me. Add this to the fact that an assassination attempt was made on the life of the artist who drew said cartoons. The media should stick to the delivering of facts, and while they may convey information in whatever tone or slant they desire, it is important that they avoid insulting anyone directly. This is its duty, its responsibility, and its job.
Apologising for what? By Sam Matthews The decision by the Danish newspaper Politiken to apologise for the Mohammed cartoons saga may be the end of that particular incident, but it represents a serious blow to press freedom in the long term. Politiken insists that the apology was for the offence caused, and not for the decision to publish the cartoons. But the damage is done. The rules have changed for everyone. To have apologised out of fear of repercussions was to give in to a climate of intimidation. All it took was a small group of individuals fomenting unrest in a number of Muslim communities, and the threat was sufficient to bully the media into capitulation. There is no doubt: the cartoons were crude, but if Islam cannot be satirised than neither can anything else. The journalist who commissioned the original cartoons of Mohammed, Flemming Rose said that one religion should not have “special consideration”. He maintains that this idea is incompatible with contemporary democracy, of which ridicule and criticism are part and parcel: “By treating a Muslim figure the same wayy I ant would a Christian or Jewish icon, I was sending an important message: You are not strangers, you are here to stay, and we accept you as an integrated part of our life.” In a free society, the media cannot allow violence, or thee threat thereof, to influence its content or it will be totally compromised. “Politiken’s pathetic prostrating before a Saudi lawyer takes the first prize in stupidity. It is a sad day for Danish media, [and] it is sad for freedom of expression,” said Jorn Mikelson, the editor-in-chief of the original offending paper. Those who value free speech have an obligation to stand up and exercise that right, and not just in the media. Bertrand Russell famously said: “In a democracy, it is necessary that people should learn to endure having their t, sentiments outraged”. If we lose sight of that important fact, society’s differences will continue to divide us and hold us
9 MARCH 2010
Why are they all leaving for St Patrick's Day? Helen Doyle
S
Comment Editor
o as our national day draws near again, we set about the task of inspecting what government ministers are going where in order to celebrate their St. Patrick’s Day. Each ministers trip will no doubt be scrutinised to see who hired the limos, what first class airline tickets were booked and what fabulous hotel suites were used in this yearly pr extravaganza. Even with the assurances by Brian Cowen that this year’s travel expenses are to be scrutinised, it doesn’t leave you with the most confident feeling that some abuses won’t occur. These are politicians after all. Still 23 ministers in total will be celebrating March 17 abroad this year, which is up on the 17 who travelled abroad last year. The Taoiseach has said that the main purpose of these trips is to promote jobs or in his words the Irish dignitaries will be “promoting the positives of Ireland”. Considering the state of the country at the moment, that really is going to be a hard sell. Brian Cowen will be going to meet Obama in the Whitehouse, bowl of shamrock in hand, to try and bend the Presidents ear about how great Ireland is and how we are ready and willing to take some American investment. He might also mention the thousands of undocumented Irish that still live there and who’s plight has been firmly put on the back burner since we lost our greatest champion in the US Senate, Edward Kennedy. But whose numbers have swelled in the last couple of years as Ireland has returned to its economic slump position of the 1980’s. If we are going to sell Ireland around the world then we can’t forget about the thousands who have left here to work abroad. A lot of who are living in precarious positions in the States at the moment. One moment of being in the wrong place at the wrong time can land you on a plane back home (after having spent some time at the US Justice systems expense) and without any comeback on the life you may have built there. Mary Harney is off to New Zealand, Batt O’Keeffe will be big in Japan and Mary Coughlan
Every St Patrick's Day, Chicago dyes its river green in celebration Jennifer Roche is going to Germany. Brian Lenihan is the only one sticking around for the celebrations here in Ireland. The argument is that we need to promote ourselves and that we can’t be seen to be scrimping and saving when it comes to how our ministers are perceived around the globe. But it’s a hard pill to swallow in the week that we’re told we’ll have to work longer before we can get a pension, we g of our social see yet again the failings re told that NAMA is care system, we’re actually going to prolong this recession ants give strike notice. and the civil servants The question is why aren’t we all leaving here? We’r lucky as a nation to have We’re a day th that is so wholely celebrated ld. There are St. across the world. Patrick s Day parades rades held in major Patrick’ er cities all over the t English h globe, the o are ggoing to th London n turn the Eye gr green for us pera and S Sydney Opera Hous House is going l.Here green as well.Here Ire in Ireland it’s no longer on day. We’ve turned it just one ick’s Festival, into th the St. Patrick’ ating its 15which is celebrating year an anniversary this year.
Six days of “Cultúr + Craic” as the festivals web page explains which culminates in the parade on March 17. And they really have gone all out this year. There are events on literally everywhere you can think of. This day attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year; tourists literally beat down the door to get here for St. Patrick’s Day so why don’t the politicians stick around? Lets invite Barack, Michelle and ov from the kids, Gordon can pop over Downing Street and Monsieur Sarkozy can bring Carla aand her guitar to the Á Áras.We’ll install a Guinnes Guinness pump, some fiddle playing leprechauns aand run M the Quiet Man on rotation to try and give our guests fe some feeling of it s like to what it’ Irish be Irish. We’ll have the worlds press camped str on our streets and will have given Ireland a p pr coup even Max Clifford mu couldn’t muster. th Just a thought
THE COLLEGE VIEW
COMMENT 25
9 MARCH 2010
Please sir, can I have some more… rights that is Steve Conlon
T
Opinion
here is a storm coming. I’m not referring to our thunderous march towards socialism and the inevitable political and fiscal turmoil that will bring. Nor am I speculating about further shocking revelations that will unearth the depths to which our social institutions are morally bankrupt. No. There’s a referendum a coming, and this one is relentless, dangerous and may blight Irish society for generations. This referendum is not the endorsing of an international treaty that will sign away sovereignty and ensure the creation of jobs (not my words, lest we forget). It is not a referendum to introduce abortion, which let’s face it Ireland still hasn’t grown up enough to debate that one like adults – I am still reeling over being told by some femi-nazi from the UCD School of ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ that “women owned the word rape”. No. It’s the inexorable inevitability of the Children’s Rights referendum. Eight hundred years of British rule coupled with the equally vicious tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church has produced a society that empathises with every injustice inflicted upon the helpless and vulnerable. This is a positive, don’t get me wrong. However we do not do ‘identity politics’ well in this country,
Is the North once again on the brink? Katy Lawlor
T
Opinion
he peace process in the North is under serious threat. As the British, Irish and the Northern executive struggle to push our nation toward a fairer, more harmonised society, dissidents have been using violence to ignite old hatred and conflict. Bombs and shootings in the past few months have littered the country with bitterness and death, reflecting the dark days of the troubles. Last week the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the shooting of Kieran Doherty, a 31-year old from Derry. A Catholic police officer was seriously injured in a car bomb attack last month, while in September army experts defused a roadside bomb in South Armagh.
unless it involves a balaclava or a crucifix, and now we blindly want to bestow rights to a group that has no concept of those rights. We are introducing this referendum because we feel guilty. It stems from the 1993 McGuinness Report into the Kikenny incest case. The 2005 Ferns Report is actually cited in the preamble and is championed as one of the main reasons we need this amendment. Of course Irish society owes a debt to all those who have suffered from state culpability in the systemic abuse and horrors inflicted upon them since its foundation. Hiring more Social Workers, funding them appropriately, root and branch reform of our education system and prosecutions are all appropriate memorials and legacies for the suffering of child victims. The constitutional amendment is not. So why am I so hung up about the rights proposed by the amendment? I admit it. I have trust issues. I don’t trust any government. I don’t trust our curtain-twitching neighbours, I don’t trust do-gooder ‘someone please think of the children’ groups. I don’t trust quazi-religious groups, and I certainly don’t trust the legal profession. All of the above are the only ones who will benefit from this amendment. The child will simply become an object, a pawn. A child cannot represent him/herself in court – they have no concept of the legal system. Instead our courts will become a soap box where groups and the state will fight it
out to decide whether a parent is abusing their child because the child is obese. Will home-schooling be considered an abuse because the parent has decided not to teach their child that homosexuality is okay or that evolution is the devils work? Who is in a better position to decide for children. A parent or the state? This referendum has the potential to decide by the gavel instead of a real referendum that same-sex couples are not capable of raising kids and that same-sex couples should have their children torn from their arms. This referendum could see the rise of Coír as a political force – it gives them the ultimate platform. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton our constitution is meant to be a document with a few big rules, not an encyclopedia of little rules. These little rules could leave us with a legacy of court judgements that could take years to repeal. Our children are not asking for more rights, they just want to grow up in a safe environment that promotes growth and personal development. Don’t we already afford these rights to our young? This referendum is failing our young, not protecting them. It will only succeed in taking the limelight of the corrupt institutions and their reform. That is why it is receiving so much support from all corners. They have no changes to make themselves. The amendment does not require this. Children need more well funded supports not the gruel of a constitutional amendment.
The most recent car bomb, weighing 250 pounds, exploded near a courthouse in Newry just weeks after political leaders had settled a deal on transferring police and justice powers to the Northern government. These attacks come during a fragile time in the talks. There was a near-breakdown in relations after the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) refused to make any commitment in supporting the transfer of justice powers from London to Stormont. Without the UUP’s approval, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has in turn claimed they cannot proceed with devolution of justice powers. The North is now holding its breath in anticipation ahead of the Assembly vote on March 9, as UUP leader, Sir Reg Empey, must decide whether or not he’ll support the DUP. Cracks have begun to appear in vital negotiations and the violence of these splinter groups may gain a foothold and worsen if politicians continue bickering. The Hillsborough agreement has taken a big step forward with the proposed introduction of fair
policing and a department of justice. If politicians can together support these developments, they may provide a stronger, fairer rule in the North - one that doesn’t provide an atmosphere for further violence. Although First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness united to condemn the recent murder of Kieran Doherty, Northern Irish politicians also need to become united on all fronts of policy. The people of Ireland, north and south, have voted in a staggering majority for a successful constitutional arrangement. Years of hard work have left the Irish determined that nothing should unravel it, and they deserve nothing less. Despite anxiety that the dissidents will turn Northern Ireland into a war zone once again, we must be stronger then before. The Stormont government has recently reached unprecedented agreements. If its politicians can see the dissidents' actions, and stand united against this brutal minority, then it will send a clear signal that Northern Ireland has finally behind its bloodsoaked past
CONTACT US Letters which may be edited, should include a full name and email address and should be sent to The College View, Clubs and Socs Office, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. All letters for the next issue should be recieved by Friday March 5. Letters may also be emailed to editor@thecollegeview.com.
ON CVTV THIS WEEK
The full recording of BBC journalist Alan Johnston addressing DCU. He talks about his kidnapping by the Army of Islam and what it was like being held captive for 114 days. And coming next week, Richard Waghorne, Chief Political Commentator for the Daily Mail, on why Ireland lacks a strong conservative voice in the media, as well as Mark Little discussing Journalism in the Digital Age - only at thecollegeview.com/cvtv
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS In the last issue of the College View, Vol. XI Issue VII, we feel the article entitled "SPC and OSL deny DCUfm hampering claims" was somewhat misleading in its headline. The article was about the resignation of DCUfm's former news director Steve Conlon, and any claims made by him towards the SPC or OSL were not on behalf of DCUfm, as the headline might have suggested, given he had already stepped down as the station's news director. We are happy to clarify this. In the last edition of Flux, the College View's arts supplement, an album review of Sisterworld by Liars was incorrectly credited to Kevin Coyle. The album was in fact reviewed by Dairmiad MCCaffrey. We apologise for this inaccuracy. In the February 10 edition, Vol. XI Issue VI, of the College View, we published an article entitled "DCU president: grant delays are forcing students to drop out". With regards to this article, the College View have been asked by the DCU Registry to highlight the below as it was absent from the article in question but may be of use to DCU students: In January this year, the Registry introduced a new facility on the student portal pages to allow students, in receipt of a grant, to check if their Grant Authority had forwarded the grant cheques to Registry. This new facility means that a student can access their portal page from any pc to check if the grant has arrived. Registry introduced this facility to improve our service and to remove the need for students to queue in Registry to check if their grant is available. An email was forwarded to all registered students at the end of January to advise them of this new facility. In the February 10 edition, Vol. XI Issue VI, of the College View, an article entitled "DCU debaters hope to win Times contest" was wrongly written on the presumption that members of the DCU debating society would be taking part in the finals of the The Irish Times Debating Competition. While the society helped to organise the event, no member of the DCU debating society was involved in the competition itself. We are happy to clarify this. In the February 10 edition, Vol. XI Issue VI, of the College View, an article entitled "Better decisions need to be made with DCU funds" incorrectly named Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) secretary Mike Jennings as Brian Jennings. Also, in the same article, the IFUT was incorrectly labeled as the IFTU. We apologise for both of these inaccuracies. In the February 10 edition, Vol. XI Issue VI, of the College View, an article entitled "This 3D genius is worth every penny". incorrectly quoted the cost of the film Avatar as $500 billion. The intended figure was $500 million, we are happy to clarify this.
Your Country, Your Call is a competition to find two proposals that will help transform our economy by creating job opportunities and prosperity for Ireland. The two winning proposals will each win a cash prize of one hundred thousand euro. But that’s just the half of it. Real success will come from the participation of everyone in a new movement of optimism. So let’s get thinking.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
SPORTS 27
9 MARCH 2010
Success for DCU Judo at All-Ireland intervarsities competition
It's good to be back... Niall Farrell Load of Balls
A
nd so it begins. The new domestic season kicked off with a few shocks, a few teams getting used to new surroundings and a new title sponsor for the league. Who are the players to look out for in the Airtricity League this season? Here are six players with points to prove and names to make.
By Devin Anderson
Barry Murphy – Bohemians Players don’t often make the switch directly between Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians, so the expectation is that Murphy will have to live up to added pressure in goal for champions Bohemians this season. Added to this the pressure Barry will have in replacing another Murphy (the recently departed Brian Murphy, who earned an Ireland callup after his outstanding season with Bohs) and the goalkeeper will need to impress early on at Dalymount Park. Fahrudin Kudozovic – Dundalk This could be a make-or-break season for the one time Bosnian international. After a few mediocre seasons at Drogheda United and Cork City, Faz needs to reclaim the form that saw him become a cult hero with Sligo Rovers. Brought in to Oriel Park by new boss Ian Foster, Kudozovic should be the attacking fulcrum of a Dundalk side that seems relatively lacking in depth. Whether he fulfills his potential remains to be seen. Craig Walsh – Shamrock Rovers Regardless of whether he is a regular or a bit-part player, many people will be anxious to see how Craig Walsh fares this year in the Airtricity League with Shamrock Rovers. Walsh was ‘discovered’ through the Football’s Next Star reality series on Sky One. While Jose Mourinho didn’t offer him a contract
“ Faz needs to reclaim the form that saw him become a cult hero with Sligo Rovers
Niall Farrell
with Inter Milan, Shamrock Rovers snapped the talented youngster up. The former Cherry Orchard schoolboy has already appeared for Ireland at under-17 level and many are tipping him to make the breakthrough at Rovers. Stephen O’Donnell – Galway United At Bohemians, O’Donnell was the centre of a title-winning side. Many people were shocked when he opted to move to Leeside last year. At Cork City, O’Donnell seemed to lose his edge a bit as the debacle surrounding the club engulfed the playing staff. O’Donnell will now look to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes of Cork City into a starring role at Sean Connor’s strengthened Galway United. Marc Hughes – Shelbourne The second-year DCU business
student will look to emulate Paddy Madden by cementing his place in the first team at Bohemians with a loan spell with Shelbourne. Hughes enjoyed a solid debut as he came on as a substitute in Shelbourne’s 1-1 draw with Monaghan United last Friday. Along with fellow new signings Phily Gorman and Darren Forsyth, Hughes will at the forefront of Shelbourne’s quest for promotion.
Irish stadiums will again host matches with the dawn of the new season Gavin Golden
Liam Kearney – Waterford United Waterford United are favourites to win promotion from the First Division this year and they will need players like Liam Kearney to perform if they are to fulfil this expectation. Kearney has tasted success before with Cork City and had a solid season with Derry last year. His skill on the wing will be one of Waterford’s most potent attacking tools if they are to go up this year.
The women's Judo team won the team event for the second time in the club's history at the All-Ireland intervarsities held in NUI Galway last month. Fielding entrants in almost every category, DCU took home more medals than any other team. Alina Sirbu took gold in the women's novice category with Kaylee Cherry taking gold and silver in the upper kyu and -63kg competition. Cormac O’Sullivan claimed gold in -73kg, and bronze in the Open Weight category. Jeremy Galineau picked up bronze in the under -73kg and quickly followed this up with a gold in the upper kyu – a highly sought after prize by any long-time practicing judoka. DCU women's Judo club that won in NUI Galway DCU Judo Captain Anthony Guinan took bronze in the middle kyu category. Guinan and fellow teammate Andrew Monaghan later placed second and third, respectively, in the under 90kg. Devin Anderson and Gary Livie made away with the Gold and Bronze from the under 60kg weight division. Although injury and illness kept Susan Phelan and Heather Murphy off the mats this year, both were immensely proud to see the women's team taking the gold. Next year's intervarsity will take place in DCU.
DCU Handballers on top of the world after championship win By Brian O'Sullivan DCU handball club continued its unprecedented success of 2009/10 at the inaugural World Inter-Collegiate handball championships held in Arizona State University Phoenix from February 17-21. The club brought three World singles championships, one runner up, second in the overall team category and the top Irish handball college accolades back to DCU. In total eight DCU players competed, with second-year business student Ciaran Neary claiming his second World title in the space of five months by taking the Men’s B title with a 21-16, 1821, 11-1 victory over Brian Burke (Minnesota). Colm ‘Ducksy’ Grace and Brian
O’Sullivan brought Division Two titles over the Rocky Mountains and across the Atlantic with Grace getting the better of UL’s Fiachra Hayes 2114, 21-7 and O’Sullivan having the upper hand over Florida’s Jonathan Tesse winning 21-7, 21-4. UCC’s John Kearney deprived DCU a clean sweep of Division Two titles by defeating Shane Mahon in the decider 21-9, 21-7. Mahon and Shane Broidy reached the semi-final of the B Doubles, while Aileen Quinn, Marina Kilduff and Connor O’Gorman also competed reaching the Quarter finals of their respective grades. 160 players competed in the championships from Ireland, Mexico, Canada and the US. DCU were by far the most superior Irish team and ran Missouri, who have
The victorious DCU Handball team during their time in the US DCU Handball
The DCU Men's Handball at the World Inter-collegiate championships DCU Handball
dominated the USHA and American university nationals for over two decades. DCU came second in the team event - a unique achievement from a college outside of the United States to finish so high. DCU Handball club now lays claim to six World Champions and seven World titles (with Ciaran Neary having two), three All-Ireland Intervarsity Team championships, four All-Ireland Intervarsity singles championships and an array of Dublin, personal and tournament awards.
THE COLLEGE VIEW
28 SIGERSON SPECIAL
9 MARCH 2010
Cup win caps succesful year for DCU After the success enjoyed in the Sigerson Cup, Niall Farrell looks at the implications for DCU GAA
D
CU’s win in the Sigerson Cup is just the latest in a string of successes for GAA in the university this season. Wins against UCD, CIT and NUI Maynooth saw the early favourites for the trophy reach the final aginst UCC. For only the second time in DCU history, the university brought home the most coveted third level GAA trophy. Earlier this season, the DCU hurlers won the university’s first ever senior hurling league, which means they will compete in the Fitzgibbon Cup next year. Having the hurlers competing at an equivalent level to the footballers can only be good for DCU GAA. When DCU last won the Sigerson Cup in 2005, the feeling was that the university would go on to become the major power in intervarsity football. While this didn’t materialise in the intervening years, this year’s victory hopefully signals a return to the promise offered by the 2005 win. A key factor in the Sigerson Cup was the calibre of players like Brian Cullen, Paddy Andrews and Brian Sheridan. The coaching of Niall Moyna can also not be underestimated in the search for the ingredients of Sigerson Cup success. The ability to take a squad of players, mostly from different counties and clubs, and make them work as a team is something that
is not often found in a coach at this level. As a pre-national league warmup tournament, the O’Byrne Cup is often criticised. Many detractors say that the inclusion of third-level teams is unfair as they are midway through their season while the county sides are only beginning their seasons. DCU showed this year that the O’Byrne Cup can act as a warm-up for university teams too. In winning in the O’Byrne Cup final aginst Louth, DCU layed down a marker for all the other university teams. The extended O’Byrne Cup run also allowed Niall Moyna to try out different players, something which his Sigerson Cup rivals did not have the chance to do. For a university like DCU, two Sigerson Cup wins in history is not enough. The buoyancy in the university’s Fresher teams bodes well for future victories. Players like GAA Young Player of the Year Michael Murphy of Donegal are likely to be at the heart of the future DCU senior lineups in the Sigerson Cup. The elite sportpersons scheme in DCU is beginning to bear fruit for the DCU GAA clubs. The chance to cement DCU's position as among the premier GAA university is there for the taking, if someone has the ambition to take it.
DCU and UCC players clash for possesion of the ball during Sigerson final Pat Murphy/Sportsfile
Footballers make history with confident display •• continued from back However the turning point came between these two scores as Brian Sheridan emphatically buried the ball in the back of the UUC net following a terrific run from Gregg who was growing in prominence as the game wore on. The score gave DCU a six point advantage that they would never look like relinquishing. Caey added a superb score with the outside of his foot as UCC tried in vain to reel in DCU. However Paul Flynn the pounced on a loose hand pass in the UCC halfback line to score his second of the day. Michael Collins added two quick points as UUC poured forward. To their credit the DCU defence
held firm with Darrach Mooney epitomising this when he harried and hassled Hayes before stripping him of possession. DCU were content to keep possession and slow the tempo down by finding each other with short quick hand passes. As the Cork side attacked in numbers, DCU were able to exploit the gaps at the back and with two minutes to go were awarded a penalty after a trip on Brian Sheridan who went for his point to ensure there was two scores in the game. With time winding down, Michael Boyle made a terrific stop to tip over The Sigerson Cup makes its way Northside Colm Maher
a goal bound effort from Michael Collins before David Kelly, the hero of the semi final victory sealed the win with his first score of the day in injury time. The final whistle was greeted with scenes of jubilation from players, management and supporters alike as DCU claimed their second Sigerson Cup in the last five years. Scorers -DCU: B Sheridan 1-5(0-4) f (0-1)p, P Flynn (0-2) , R Flanagan (01f ), D Kelly, C Gregg and P Andrews (0-1) each. UCC: D Goold, M Collins, D Casey and B O’Driscoll (0-2f ) 0-2 each, K O’Driscoll and S Hayes (0-1) each.
DCU: M Boyle ; P McMahon, K Gavin, K Nolan; D Mooney, B Cullen J Copper; D Sheridan, Hugh McGrillen; C Gregg, R Flanagan, P Flynn; D Kelly, B Sheridan, P Andrews. Subs: H Gill for Cooper (33), R Cullivan for Flynn (38), M Lyng for Gregg(53), D Shine for Gavin(60). UCC: K O’Halloran ; E Cotter, E Hegarty, S Enright; D Limrick, A Greaney, P Corrigan; M Shields, J Buckley; D Casey, S Kiely, K O’Driscoll; B O’Driscoll, S Hayes, D Kearney. Subs: D Goold for Kiely (38), M Collins for K O’Driscoll(46), B Daly for Corrigan(50), P Hoonahan for Kearney(56).
THE COLLEGE VIEW
SIGERSON SPECIAL 29
9 MARCH 2010
Manager and players laud DCU success Dwayne Leavy
I
n his post game reaction, DCU manager Niall Moyna heaped praise upon his players for the effort that they had put in throughout their time in DCU. “I’m absolutely delighted for the lads, a lot of these players came in as undergraduate students and hadn’t played inter-county football, and [now] leave us as inter-county footballers. TG4 described us as the Real Madrid of Sigerson football which is very very unfair to the players.” Moyna was thrilled with his players' intensity saying "they [UCC] found it difficult to handle and we got a headstart which made it very difficult for them." Moyna said of his team that "you know when there is a winning mentality and today the players were awesome." Full back Kieran Gavin said that
the players' determination and willingness to help each other out was the basis for their victory. “From 15 back to one we have defended so hard and worked so hard as a unit all year and that was the basis for us today." Paul Flynn also paid respect to the teams work ethic. “We’ve worked hard over the last few weeks and it paid off. We knew on our day that we could beat anyone but we went the hard route. But we deserved the victory in the end." Both Brian Cullen and Moyna paid tribute to the performance against Maynooth and believed that it was the ideal preparation for the Sigerson final. Cullen said: "Maynooth gave us a great tough game coming into the final and anytime you win a competition of this calibre you’re delighted."
DCU after the cup win Colm Maher
Moyna said that "Maynooth were just fantastic and the intensity just carried over from that game to today." Darrach Mooney also lavished praise on the DCU squad as a whole. “The fitness work we put in, it’s great. Everybody involved with us, not just the 15 players but the whole panel, we hope we’ve made the college proud and we feel we proved people who questioned us in the last few years wrong." Official Man of the Match Brian Sheridan said: "We got our win, we’re delighted with our performance and our year." Moyna, who said it was impossible to describe his feelings, summed it all up nicely when he said: "Today was the first day since the Sigerson started that I woke up with a good feeling." How right he proved to be.
DCU cruise into Sigerson Cup final Despite the best efforts of NUI Maynooth, DCU got their Sigerson Cup final place Colm Maher
By Dwayne Leavy
DCU players congratulate each other on winning the Sigerson Cup Colm Maher
DCU booked their place in the Sigerson Cup final with a hard fought 1-12 to 1-06 victory over hosts NUI Maynooth. In a tight game which was keenly contested it was DCU’s greater strength in depth which ultimately allowed them to pull away from NUIM in the closing stages and secure victory. The match started at a frantic pace with Maynooth’s corner forward, Niall Dunne opening the scoring from a 30 metre free after only 30 seconds. Within a minute Brian Sheridan had DCU level after he converted an excellent free from the left hand sideline after a foul on David Kelly. Kelly was involved in the third minute again as he flashed a shot across the face of the NUIM goal which went agonisingly wide. NUIM, who entered the game as underdogs, were not over-awed by DCU and continued to attack the heart of the DCU defence. Their play was rewarded when Paul Cashin capitalised on a poor Darrach Mooney hand pass to regain the lead for his side. DCU restored parity within a minute when a flowing move involving Paul Flynn, Paddy Andrews and Michael Lyng resulted in Lyng fisting over a fine score. Flynn and Andrews were then guilty of wasting good chances as DCU failed to capitalise on a good spell of possession. Maynooth took the lead again after 13 minutes when Dunne converted a '45 after a vital Kieran Gavin interception prevented an almost certain Maynooth score. That score was immediately cancelled by a surging Dermot Sheridan run and finish for his side's third score of the day.
upright. Although Dunne tapped over a simple free with 15 minutes remaining for the home side, it was to prove his side's last score. Further points from Andrews, Sheridan and a ‘45 from Donal Shine sealed victory for DCU. Although Maynooth battled bravely to the end there was to be no fairytale for them as DCU’s defence held firm until the end of the game. When they dominated territory in the final quarter, it was the lack of creativity and guile in their forward line that proved their undoing as DCU punished them relentlessly on the counter attack in the final few minutes of this tight semi-final.
DCU 1 - 12 NUIM retook the lead from the resulting kick out as Dunne beat Mooney and Kevin Nolan to slot over his side's fourth of the day. However Maynooth would not score for the remainder of the half as points from Andrews and Cathal Gregg gave DCU the lead for the first time in the 20th minute. The latter score came after Brian Sheridan won a terrific Lyng ball in the air and laid it off for Gregg to finish. Kelly then added his second score of the game following a superb Brian Cullen pass to give DCU a two point advantage. Sheridan then missed a glorious opportunity to give his side a five point lead but his penalty was dreadful as he scuffed it five yards wide. Sheridan had himself won the penalty after good initial play by Andrews. Despite the miss DCU led NUIM by six points to four at half
1-06 NUIM time. Sheridan slightly redeemed himself by opening the scoring in the second half from a free following a foul on Kelly. Within a minute NUIM cancelled the lead when corner forward David Quinn’s shot went between Michael Boyle’s legs in the DCU net for a deserved goal. Michael Hanratty and Andrew then traded points before the livewire Kelly scored his third point of the day to give DCU a slender advantage. Then the turning point of the game arrived. Ronan Flanagan who had come on only three minutes previously delivered a superb crossfield ball to Kelly who skinned the corner back before clinically placing the ball beyond the reach of the Maynooth net minder. NUIM struggled to deal with this blow and Andrews then wasted a great opportunity to extend the lead when his effort skinned the
Scorers- DCU: D Kelly 1-3, B Sheridan 0-3(3f ), P Andrews 0-2, C Gregg, D Shine(‘45), M Lyng and D Sheridan 0-1 each. NUIM: N Dunne 0-4(2f ‘45), D Quinn 1-0, P Cashin and M Hanratty 0-1 each. DCU: M Boyle; P McMahon, K Gavin, K Nolan; J Cooper, B Cullen, D Mooney; D Sheridan, H McGrillen; P Flynn, M Lyng, C Gregg; P Andrews, B Sheridan, D Kelly. Subs: H Gill for Mooney(28) R Flanagan for Gregg(39), D Shine for Lyng(41), R Cullivan for Flynn(50), S Roche for B Sheridan(55). NUIM: S Connolly; K Lynch, B Kinahan, C Freeman; P Cashin, N Coyne, T Johnson; G McArdle, C Mullins; D Quinn, M Hanratty, G Brennan; D Quinn, M Newman, N Dunne. Subs: A Walsh for Hanratty (42), T Gallagher for Freeman(45), J Califf for McArdle(53), F Barry for Mullins(56).
THE COLLEGE VIEW
30 SPORTS
Weightlifting makes its DCU debut
9 MARCH 2010
'Stamp out the stamping' Micil Glennon Over The Lateral
David Attoub's gouge on Stephen Ferris during a Heineken Cup tie European Club Rugby
Tommy Hayden, IAWLA president and 1960 Olympian IAWLA By Niall Farrell Sports Editor DCU’s new weightlifting club was launched last week with the help of representatives from the Irish Sports Council, Irish Amateur Weightlifting Association and Coaching Ireland. The club is one of the first thirdlevel weightlifting clubs in the country and is the first to have a fully accredited coach to train with. Already some members of the club have their eye on competing in the National Championships next month, with club chairperson Alan Armstrong stating that although most of the members were beginners, there were some members showing real promise. “We have one established guy going to the nationals and another one or two coming up who hope to compete,” said Armstrong. “There has been a big interest so far... we have people from GAA and Rugby as well as people who are just interested in staying fit and have no previous experience." Armstrong was keen to thank the School of Health and Human Performance, particularly Professor Giles Warrington, for the help they gave in establishing the club. “There wasn’t enough space [in the DCU gym]. We now have our own gym upstairs in the Albert College.” The club offers members the chance to partake in an accredited level one coaching course, coached by Colin Buckley. Twenty-nine people completed the course last year through the club which was running on an interim basis. This semester saw the club kick off in earnest, with thirty members joining the club so far.
R
ugby is way ahead of soccer when it comes to player behaviour. For every one Henrik Larsson there are a dozen Bartons, Bellamys and Bowyers. If the rugby boys are out cheating and hooring at least they have some discretion or their misdemeanors are better managed. On the whole rugby players serve as fine examples for children beginning their sporting lives. Brian O’Driscoll and most of his teammates are rightly exalted for their fair play and attitude, and also their behaviour off the pitch. Compare this with the shenanigans of the Chelsea defence: only Gary Glitter has made worse decisions (rememberr that? Think ning a bit slow, my computer is running better leave it in for repair). Is it ok to point to Terry and Cole and tell a youngster that it’s okay to behave ou’re good at like that as long as you’re ball? But this is where rugby players need to take heed. Resting on laurels because it’s way ahead of other comparable sports in discipline is a recipe for problems in the future. me Unfortunately some
“ Some of the worst elements of soccer are creeping into rugby
Micil Glennon
David Attoub, playing for Fench club Stade Francais
P
W
St.Itas FC Vintage Docklands Farm United Peamount United DCU FC Blackrock College Knocklyon United DAA FC Parkvale FC Earl Celtic Manortown United Shielton Athletic
17 17 16 16 13 10 8 17 13 12 13 10
17 17 16 16 13 10 8 17 13 12 13 10
D 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 2 1 1 1
L 2 4 4 6 5 3 3 12 8 9 10 8
too hard on the French (why not?). We’re no angels either. When Munster played Leinster in the Magners League in October, John Hayes did something that, if you saw it outside a niteclub on a Saturday night, would sicken your stomach. The Ireland prop appealed his ban for a stamp on Cian Healy’s head and served five weeks on the sidelines. During the Ireland France game in February Jerry Flannery tried to dropkick a French player over the bar and received a six-week ban. Last week he appealed the decision. The problem here is that his ban should have been lenghtened to serve as a warning to others to accept their due punishment without the whinge. Recently, and more ominously, a schools player was sent off in a Senior Cup semi-final for eye gouging. Is this because this particular form of assault is becoming a little too common these days and seeping into the underage ranks? So, the warning signs are there. Failure to stamp out the stamping and gouging and bitching at the referee like soccer players will do long-term damage to this honourable sport.
NORTH CONFERENCE WOMEN'S SUPERLEAGUE
SOCCER LSL SAT PREMIER 1 TEAMS
of the worst elements of soccer are creeping into rugby. Take Ireland’s recent victory over England: wonderful as it was, the Irish players screaming “RELEASE, RELEASE!” at the referee at almost every breakdown was embarrassing. O’Connell and O’Gara were the main culprits. This baiting is a new phenomenon and it seems to be more and more common. The rugby fields of Ireland will be full of kids screaming at the referee this weekend whenever a ruck forms. Another worrying trend is the amount of appeals. It’s one thing to try something and get caught and another thing to get caught and then try to avoid your medicine. The French prop p David Attoub appealed against agains his 70-week ban even though one of the officers said that that the incident inci was "the worst act of conta contact with the eyes I have had to deal with." His teammate Julian Depu Depuy also appealed aga against his 24-week ban fo for a similar offence – aare they serious? But let’s not go
F 63 45 54 36 30 21 26 26 28 22 21 16
A
Pts
TEAMS
P
W
L
Pts
F
A
Dif
23 33 26 34 25 18 20 41 31 45 49 43
39 35 34 30 24 17 15 13 11 7 7 4
Montenotte UL DCU Mercy Killester Meteors Tolka Rovers B&L Wildcats Sligo All-Stars
13 14 12 14 14 13 13 13
13 10 10 8 5 4 2 1
0 4 2 6 9 9 11 12
39 34 32 30 24 21 17 15
900 1053 830 775 858 673 757 663
623 797 607 778 950 871 896 987
277 256 223 -3 -92 -198 -139 -324
THE COLLEGE VIEW
SPORTS 31
9 MARCH 2010
DCU lose out to IT Carlow in a close Ryan Cup final
College View Sudoku No.3
1 6
By Sabrina Ryan Deputy Sports Editor
5
UL UCC DCU NUIG
4 3 0 0
2
5
D 0 0 0 0
PF 141 37 5 20
PA 5 53 105 20
8 7
3
6 9
2
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7
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College View Crossword No.2
DCU Hurlers facing off against GMIT earlier in the season Niall Farrell
DCU 0 - 13
1-12 ITC
with a point coming from a superb passage of play. The side showed what they were capable of with Emmet Kent and Joe Cullen working well together to allow Cullen to knock the ball over the bar. Midway through the second half Carlow midfielder Darren Kehoe was shown a yellow card after a tackle with Tadgh O Uallachain. A better display of hurling came through in the second half with a steadier flow of play and fewer frees conceded by both sides. The 17th minute saw DCU take the lead for the first time in the game with a point from a penalty from Colm Coughlan and another from Donnacha Kinsella a minute later. Kinsella entered the game three minutes earlier to replace Joe Cullen. With only five minutes left in the game both sides brought in subs with O hUallachain leaving the pitch for DCU and Mark Egan entering the play for Carlow. A further Carlow substitution came in the second last minute with
Patrick Brannigan seeing the game to the finish instead of PJ Ryan. With a two point advantage, DCU looked like they were about to claim the title when pressure mounted from the Carlow forwards. McCormack’s impeccable performance up to this was no match for the sudden strength of the opposition. An groan of disappointment rose from the DCU team, squad and supporters. A further point was added by the Carlow side springing from the half forward line. It proved to be merely cosmetic as the goal had rattled the DCU defence and attack adding only a wide to their day. After the match, Carlow captain Des Shaw said he was ecstatic when he saw the winning goal. “We are delighted with the win. It was a long year for us and we have trained fierce hard for this competition. We knew it was going to be a tough game but we are just delighted," he said. When asked what was the next step for Carlow IT hurling he said it was to celebrate this victory.
NORTH CONFERENCE MEN'S SUPERLEAGUE
P 4 5 3 2
8
3
4
CUSAI WOMEN'S DIVISION 1 W
5
3
DCU narrowly missed out on winning the Ryan Cup in Galway last Saturday due to a last minute goal from Carlow IT. The DCU hurlers held a two point advantage going into the final minute of the game when Enda Fitzpatrick managed to outwit goalie Bill McCormack to secure a one point advantage. Another point was added to the board before the final whistle to finish with a scoreline of Carlow 1-12 to DCU 0-13. DCU led the scoring only once in the game and looked set to emerge as champions until Fitzpatrick, brother of Kilkenny star James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick, secured the lead and the win for the Carlow side. Playing in ideal conditions with no breeze the sides were set to play a game of wit and skill. It was Carlow that opened the scoring in the first half with a point from play in the third minute. Two strong goal opportunities presented themselves in the first thirty minutes to both sides with Thomas Clince of DCU clearing it from the goal mouth to deny Carlow. In the 20th minute, DCU lost their goal chance when Diarmuid Horan went one on one with goalie Aaron Kavanagh. Carlow captain Des Shaw scored an impressive point from a line ball in the 25th minute with Colm Coughlan making the scores even two minutes later with a high ball which landed in the terrace. The teams went into half time with 7 points apiece. With both sides conceding several frees and more wides than points, it was poor marking ability and lack of team coordination that stopped DCU taking the lead. The second half got off to a poor start with a collision in midfield saw DCU’s Tadhg O hUallachain sustain a heavy blow. He was later substituted by JJ Lennon to finish the game. In the third minute of the second half a serious double chance appeared for Carlow with goalie McCormack clearing the threat. It was followed up with a point for Carlow’s Martin Howley to make the first mark on the scoreboard in the second half. A free in to DCU saw the first score of the half for the Dublin side come from Colm Coughlan. DCU looked stronger in this half
TEAMS
9
Pts 20 12 1 0
Teams Killester Belfast Star DCU Saints Ulster Elks UCD/Marian
P 17 17 18 17 17
W 12 10 8 5 4
L 5 7 10 12 13
Pts 41 37 33 27 25
F 1497 1456 1325 1436 1257
A 1308 1474 1352 1555 137
Dif 189 -18 -27 -119 -113
1) Where would you find Misty, a midriff-bearing
12) Caedmon is regarded as the earliest English
teenager?
what?
2) What is the name given to the beam placed
13) What is the most common surname in U.S.A.?
above a window or door?
14) Which fruit is also known by the scientific name
3) Which which religion is the book the Koran
of `Malus pumila`?
associated?
15) Who is Liverpool Airport named after?
4) Who did Iain Duncan Smith beat in September
(Surname)
2001 to become the leader of the Conservative
16) How many fish did Jesus use to feed 5,000?
Party? (Surname)
17) Ailurophobia is the fear of which type of animal?
5) Gorgonzola cheese comes from which country?
18) Which comedian has the real name of Royston
6) What is the main ingredient in a Molotov
Vasey? (Surname)
Cocktail?
19) The month of January is named after which
7) In the nursery rhyme. what was old Mother Hub-
Roman God?
bard looking for in her cupboard?
20) What is the top colour on a rainbow?
8) What is ornithology the study of?
21) How many American cents make up a dime?
9) Miracle, Kelvedon Wonder, and Meteor are all
22) Where in your body would you find the anvil and
types of which vegetable?
the stirrup?
10) In which city in England is the National Railway
23) What type of animal is a natterjack?
Museum?
24) What does the letter `C` stand for in `UNICEF`?
11) What is the main alcoholic spirit used to make
25) The Ivor Novello awards are presented in what
a Daiquiri cocktail?
field?
Send your completed entries to The College View, Clubs & Socs Office, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, D9. The first correct entry will win a special prize.
Sports
www.thecollegeview.com
9 March 2009
SIGERSON CUP SPECIAL
A two page spread looking at DCU's remarkable able victory in the Sigerson Cup Page 26 & 27
Vol. XI Issue VIII
OVER THE AL » LATERAL
Micil Glennon on the growing ng trend age 30 of eye gouging in rugby Page
Historic Sigerson win for DCU
The DCU team celebrating with the Sigerson Cup. The competition is the top division of Higher Education Gaelic football in Ireland Pat Murhpy/Sportsfile By Dwayne Leavy Deputy Sports Editor DCU won their second ever Sigerson Cup after a four point win over UCC in Leixlip GAA Grounds on February 27. The final score was DCU 1-11 UCC 0-10. With less than 24 hours rest following a gruelling semi-final against NUIM, DCU showed tremendous fitness and work-rate to wear down their Cork opponents and claim the title. Indeed it was DCU who started the brighter and after 13 minutes had raced out into a four point lead. Paul Flynn opened the scoring after only two minutes of play when his left footed effort from a difficult angle sailed between the posts. Soon after Brian Sheridan scored his first of the day from a free 40 metres out. DCU were playing at
DCU 1 - 11 a much higher intensity than in previous games with their half back line in particular playing well, and were forcing UCC to shoot from distance which resulted in little success. In the first ten it seemed that DCU would run riot as they created numerous chances. Sheridan soon added another free following a pull on his jersey. Paddy Andrews then capped off a swift counter attack after Kieran Gavin broke up a promising UCC attack to give DCU a four point advantage. UCC finally opened their advantage in the 15th minute when Kevin O’Driscoll scored after good play by Barry O’Driscoll. Five minutes later Barry O’Driscoll reduced the deficit to two when
0-10 UCC he landed a magnificent free form distance following a push on David Kearney. DCU were denied a goal when UCC full back Eoin Hegarty tipped a Cullen pass intended for Sheridan behind for a ‘45. This was after good work by David Kelly and Kevin Nolan who had started the attack in his own full back line. Sigerson win: Niall Farrell looks at what this means for DCU GAA Analysis, P 26 At the other end Michael Boyle had to be alert to keep out a Seamus Hayes effort, while Kieran Gavin did
extremely well to divert a superb cross field ball from O’Driscoll which was intended for Hayes in a dangerous position. DCU then scored from two quick frees to extend their advantage to four once again. The first came courtesy of Brian Sheridan while Ronan Flanagan converted the other from a tricky angle. Daithí Casey then landed a super score from over 45 yards out for UUC. UUC were still struggling to get to grips with DCU’s high tempo and this was a rare score for UCC who could find no way past DCU’s rearguard. With Brian Cullen in particular standing out, DCU were displaying a tremendous work rate with Paul Flynn and Cathal Gregg winning ball in their own half back line numerous times. DCU entered half time with a six points to three advantage over UCC
following a high intensity first half from the pre-game favourites. DCU opened their account in the second half after only 40 seconds. A Kieran Gavin long ball found its way to Kelly who was fouled and Sheridan tacked on the free. However a similar foul from Kevin Nolan gave Barry O’Driscoll an immediate chance to cut the lead and he obliged with another sweetly struck free off the ground. Both sides then missed frees with O’Driscoll and Flanagan the culprits. After seven minutes of the second half, Gregg scored a fine individual point to widen the lead to four before Andrews missed a golden opportunity when the keeper stood firm to deny him when 1-v-1. Within three minute of coming on as a sub Daniel Goold scored two points for UCC. continued on page 26 ••