TRINITY NEWS
Tuesday 18th of September 2012
2
News
What They Said
“ “ “ “ “ My card has been blocked because I’ve been to five countries in the last month.
For the benefit of us dumb Americans, what’s a naggin?
Cormac Shine, Co-Editor, Piranha
Zane Shirley
Really disappointed with how registration and pre-orientation have gone so far in TCD. Very bad first impression for new students.
24486 Naggins... 10269 Condoms... 1857 Pizza Slices...
Trinity JCR prepare for Fresher’s Weekend
Education Officer, Jack Leahy
Fresher’s Week
@tcdphil this yours? “@SouthDublinGirl: My sister just got her welcome pack for #TCDFreshers: Skins box set, house CD and a bag of yokes.” @TcdLawSoc
Revelations of unpaid interns within German Department Continued from page one. Catherine Healy
In his statement, Professor McGowan went on to clarify that the Department’s interns are required to attend a two hour seminar on teaching and an hour-long team meeting, alongside three to five hours of teaching, with one to two hours of preparation per contact hour. This would suggest that interns work a maximum of eighteen hours per week. Continued on page two. However, one intern, who spent two academic terms working at the Department, told Trinity News, “It was not unusual to be more than 12 hours at work every day.” Another former intern supported this claim, writing in a communication to this reporter that, “On average, I worked about eight to 10 hours a day between Monday and Friday.” She added, “We were not able to do much besides our internship. We had little time for all those the things you think about when going abroad – like party, travelling, etc. – due to our long working hours and exhaustion.” For the entire time during which they worked, unpaid interns received no assistance from the Department with either accommodation or transport costs.
Instead, they are expected to apply for funding or an Erasmus grant from their home university or the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). One former intern who received financial assistance through the Erasmus exchange programme said it “barely covered [his] rent”. Though some interns felt they gained a valuable experience working at Trinity College, others were less impressed with the treatment of interns. According to another former intern, “It was clear that we were not really considered part of the department. We were not invited to any departmental events. I remember one incident, when one of the PhD students was celebrating her degree, or a publication or something, and everybody was drinking wine right outside our office. We didn’t dare go outside and join the staff, because nobody told us about it or asked if we wanted to join… I was surprised at this behaviour because we took over such a large amount of the classes and some interns had been there for nearly a full academic year, which in my opinion would have been long enough for other members of staff to at least know their names.” The HR Department did not respond to a request for a statement on the issue of
unpaid internship at Trinity College, Dublin. However, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), the union which represents the college’s lecturers, echoed SIPTU’s remarks. While reluctant to speak about the specific working conditions of interns at the Department of Germanic Studies, IFUT president, Mike Jennings, stated, “Internships have to be a genuine training opportunity. We would look unfavourably on any situation in which interns are asked to do on an unpaid basis what other people are usually paid to do.” Mr. Jennings added that it was the first instance he had heard of unpaid interns being used at a third-level language department.
who rose to fame with his portrayal as Ted Buckland in the ABC sitcom Scrubs. The Phil has bagged the Emmyaward winning impressionist and actor Will Ferrell, and will also be joined by the comedienne Catherine Tate, who briefly starred alongside David Tennant in Doctor Who. From the literary world, Man Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel CBE and prominent Marxist literary theorist Terry Eagleton will be dropping their quills to chat to the Hist. No postnominal letters denoting the status of a pseudo knight of the British realm for him. Award-winning crime writer Michael Connelly and world-famous travel writer Bill Bryson – who once mused upon my hometown’s “dogged commitment to ug-
liness” – have both accepted invitations to address the Phil, as has Julian Fellowes, a Conservative peer and author of none other than Downton Abbey. International rugby star John Eales has also indicated a willingness to chat to the Phil, and former Head of NATO James Stavridis will be doing the same for the Hist. From the world of political activism, sex columnist and gay rights campaigner Dan Savage will be addressing the Phil, and so too will feminist and LGBT activist and author Julie Bindel who will be speaking first to the Hist, before locking horns with “celebrity pimp” Dennis Hof in a Phil debate on pornography. From the world of science, the Hist will be bringing
you Mario Capecchi, whose genetics research co-won him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2007. Physics professor at the University of Manchester and BBC TV presenter Brian Cox will be talking to the Phil about his work with both organisations, and perhaps also his time as a rock musician in the 1980’s. Chimpanzee expert and conservationist Jane Goodall, and Steven Pinker, the noted Canadian linguist and psychologist, are also planning on dropping in. All of these events or debates are free to Hist and Phil members, so make sure to swing by their stalls on Front Square, if you’re interested. The stars will need your validation.
Catherine Healy
perienced unwanted sexual contact in their current educational institutions. In over 60 per cent of cases, victims estimated that the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol, and the largest proportion of victims identified the perpetrators as being “acquaintances”. Of the 15 per cent of students who had been subject to physical mistreatment, 75 per cent of respondents described the person involved as not being known to them. The study also highlighted that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students were more likely to be victims of unwanted sexual contact. 1 in 4 LGBT respondents reported experiencing such behaviour, in comparison to 16 per cent of non-LGBT students. A further 22 per cent of Irish LGBT students have experienced non-sexual violence. Speaking at the launch, Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), said that the report’s findings “validates and vindicates the experiences we hear about in therapy rooms across the country.” She drew comparisons between the study and her organisation’s SAVI report, published in 2002, which found that 1 in 5 Irish women experienced sexual assault in their adult lives, stating that, “It has taken
us a long time to accept the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland.” Senator Ivana Bacik, who served as President of Trinity College Students’ Union (TCDSU) in the late 1980s, said that the survey’s findings were “depressing, but predicable”. Commenting on the rise of online sexual harassment, she added, “In my day, this abuse was carried out in the Piranha, but the substance was still the same.” The report, she said, was “timely”, given the launch this week by Women’s Aid of the “Don’t Be Afraid” campaign, which encourages women to speak up about their experiences of domestic violence.USI Vice President for Equality and Citizenship, Laura Harmon, called for further research into students’ experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and stated that the union will conduct training for college and SU staff to ensure they are equipped to help students in difficulty. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre 1800 777 788
News Editor
Big Guests lined up by Phil and Hist Politicians to movie stars to grace GMB James Wilson Staff Writer It’s not easy being famous. Fortunately, Trinity College’s two debating societies, the University Philosophical Society (Phil) and the College Historical Society (Hist), have found a way to ease the burden, by inviting politicians, academics and celebrities alike to give up their free time to address the societies’ members. Guests can speak at a
weekly debate or be made an Honorary Patron of the Society - whereby they give a speech detailing the highs and lows of their careers, followed by questions from the audience. The Phil will be firing the starting gun this year with a visit from the renowned Bray-born and bred folk musician Fionn Regan, who’ll be giving a live lunchtime performance this Tuesday in the Graduates’ Memorial Building (GMB). Other musicians who’ll be gracing the Phil with their
presence this year include Kele Okereke, the lead singer of the best-selling indie band Bloc Party, and Matt Bellamy who rose to fame as a guitarist and songwriter for Muse. Nile Rodgers of the American R&B Band Chic has also signalled his intention to visit. The Hist’s Correspondence Team have pulled something of a coup with two Heads of State planning on visiting the society; Ireland’s own President Michael D Higgins is due to visit this autumn, as is former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. Mr da Silva served two terms in office and retired in 2011
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The Phil has bagged the Emmy-award winning impressionist and actor Will Ferrell, and will also be joined by the comedienne Catherine Tate.
with an astounding approval rating of 80%. Perhaps hoping some of the magic will rub off, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny is also scheduled to address the society. Not to be outdone, the Phil will be hosting former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Von Rompuy, who was appointed the first full-time President of the European Council in 2009 after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Harper Reed, who served as Chief Technology Officer for Obama’s reelection campaign, will also be paying the society a visit. A few big acting names are also scheduled to make an appearance. Former Bond villain, Game of Thrones star and Lord of the Rings actor Sean Bean has confirmed his attendance with the Hist, as has Sam Lloyd,
25% of female students subjected to unwanted sexual contact according to Say Something report
News Editor Almost one-fifth of female students in Ireland have been subjected to unwanted sexual contact, according to a new study launched today by the USI and the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (Cosc) in Trinity College’s Long Room Hub. The “Say Something” survey is the first study of third-level students’ experiences of harassment, stalking and sexual assault to take place on a national level in Ireland. It was carried out in the form of an online questionnaire from January 10 to February 15 of this year, and drew responses from 2,752 students. The survey’s findings indicate that the vast majority of students who encountered unwanted sexual experiences – just over 97 per cent of victims - did not report these incidents. Nearly 1 in 3 victims said that they did not report cases of unwanted sexual contact because they felt “ashamed and embarrassed”, while 57 per cent believed the incident was not serious enough to report. The majority of victims, 15 per cent of students, reported that they had ex-