COLLEGE TRIBUNE CELEBRATING 25 VOLUMES
Volume XXV 25th October 2011
INDEPENDENT STUDENT MEDIA SINCE 1989
CHRIS O’ DOWD talks to
Candidates interviews and profiles inside
UCD Students’ Union anger Mental Health charity SOPHIE KELLY
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ental Health group First Fortnight has blamed the UCD Students’ Union for badly promoting an awareness event and wasting thousands of euro in the process. Sources close to the charity have told the College Tribune that the organisation had been “really let down” by the SU, who have yet to issue a formal apology. The arts-based mental health awareness group are furious at what they see as a “complete failure” of the Union to promote an awareness concert featuring The Republic of Loose, held in conjunction with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), on Monday 10th of October as part of World Mental Health Day. The UCD Student Bar gig was the finale of a day of events organised by the SU Welfare and Entertainment officers to promote awareness of mental health issues. The concert, priced at €6 but with many free admissions,
failed to attract more than seventy attendees. Volunteers involved in the project are said to be “shocked and angry” at the lack of work done by the union to promote the event, calling it a “€4,000 fiasco” and declaring that the charity “won’t be going back [to UCD]”. Similar events were held in Galway/Mayo IT and Waterford IT, where tickets for the event sold out. First Fortnight believe this reflects the hard work of Waterford’s welfare officer who “got right behind” the project. Volunteers from the charity conducted almost all preparations, including publicising the event in national and student media. UCDSU were responsible for paying the band’s fee, putting up posters and promoting the event on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Welfare Officer Rachel Breslin commented that “… other than lecture addressing, we circulated 2,000 A6 Continued on page 3
Issue 4 collegetribune.ie
Fiona Daly discusses pro-anorexia websites Page 10
USI "willing to take it to the next level" as FEE threaten breakaway DONIE O'SULLIVAN
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he Union of Students in Ireland have decided to change the focus of their national campaign after the orgamisation came under fire when they announced provisional plans for a "Freeze the Fees" demonstration. The orgamisation have changed the name of the campaign to "Stop Fees." The Free Education for
Everyone (FEE) campaign has hinted at plans to break away from the USI’s protest march next month. The name change was made after a number of students raised concerns about the protest. Gary Redmond, USI President, told the College Tribune last week that the campaign would focus on freezing the student contribution at its current level, which prompted a number of
students and USI delegates to point out that the USI's stated objective was to prevent fees in any form. As a result, the title of the campaign was changed. The protest march, which will begin at 3pm on Wednesday 16th November, will follow the same route as last year's "Education not Emigration" demonstration from Parnell Square to Government Buildings. Many
students are also expected to camp out on Merrion Square outside government buildings that night. When asked if alcohol use could be cause of concern on the night of the sleep out Pat de Brún, UCDSU President said, "It was heavily addressed [at USI Council] and Continued on page 2