TRINITY NEWS
Tuesday 10th February 2015
#LeadTCD Students head to polling stations across campus
Polling opened in Trinity Hall yesterday and will close at 4pm in the Hamilton and Arts Block on Thursday. Photo: Kevin OâRourke
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SU-hired entertainer âhypnotisedâ female students into lap dancing - claims âą Sabbatical officer among several male audience members to participate in performance at class rep training âą First-year student allegedly received mock award for âbest lap danceâ Conall Monaghan Staff Writer Trinity College Dublin Studentsâ Union (TCDSU) president, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, received a lap dance from one of several allegedly hypnotised female students at a class rep training weekend at the beginning of this academic year, Trinity News has learned. The incident occurred during a hypnosis show performed by entertainer James McCoy - who SU Ents officer, Finn Murphy, says was hired on the recommendation of sabbatical officers in other universities - on October 18th. Trinity News understands that the student in question, a 19-year-old class rep in her first year of college, brought McGlacken-Byrne to a chair in front of the function room stage in Crowne Plaza, Dundalk, where the training weekend was held, after she and other âhypnotisedâ female students were asked by the entertainer to pick a male observer out of the audience, sit on their knees and dance provocatively. The student told Trinity News that she was awarded the prize of âbest lap danceâ by SU education officer, Katie Byrne, during a mock award ceremony the
next morning, though this has been denied by both McGlacken-Byrne and Murphy, who say that the award was in fact for âDomhnallâs biggest fanâ. The student also told Trinity News that she did not feel fully lucid during the incident, which she said lasted for âabout a minuteâ. Unlike other hypnotised students, though, she said she clearly remembers her actions. âI knew that I was there, but I felt like I had to do what I was being asked to do [by the hypnotist],â she said. âI knew what I was doing, but I felt like I had to do these things.â However, she said that she found the episode âquite funnyâ and added that the SU sabbatical officers have always been âreally niceâ to her. McGlacken-Byrne, who some sources have said looked uncomfortable during the incident, this weekend confirmed that he took part in the performance. âPeople were laughing,â he said. âYour one and I laughed about it afterwards. I didnât really care.â He told Trinity News that he made sure to check up on the student after, but added that he felt she had enjoyed it and that the incident was one of several uncomfortable portions of the show. One segment that had particularly worried him, he said, involved the hypnotist asking
people to imagine that they were watching a film that he eventually tried to convince them was a pornographic video. Participants were then asked to convey their thoughts on the imagined film to the crowd. McGlacken-Byrne feared that someone was âgoing to reveal that they were gay, who hadnât perhaps done that [before].â He said he watched the event âwith a âworst case scenarioâ hat on from beginning to endâ because he understood that âitâs the sort of thing where everything is your fault if it goes wrong.â The hypnotist was also booked to perform at an event during TCDSU Mental Health Week the following week. He was asked to âtone downâ this routine after his performance at the class rep training weekend, however, according to McGlacken-Byrne, who claims to have told him: âYou didnât go there last week and it went well, but I felt like at times last week it could have gone wrong, so could you temper it a bit?â In a statement to Trinity News, Finn Murphy added: âThe problem at the end of the day was that the hypnosis seemed âtoo realâ and I think in general people are uncomfortable with the idea of another person having control over their actions, which is to-
ence membersâ physical appearances, which included inappropriate remarks about one class repâs weight. The hypnotist had allegedly said at the beginning of the show that audience members would still be in control of their actions when hypnotised. However, this has been disputed by several of the female students who participated in the set. One participant said: âThe only thing I can compare it to is sleep paralysis, where youâre aware of whatâs going on but you have no control over your body.â Two other sources have reported suffering memory loss immediately after allegedly being hypnotised. One class rep, who said she had âbarely touched a dropâ before the event, claimed to not remember âa single moment of [the show]â. The participant added: âMy initial feelings [after the event] were ones of anxiousness, then embarrassment as details of what âIâ had done emerged.â Another participant claiming to have suffered memory loss commented: âI do remember about 60% of things but I couldnât remember what order they came in. I could remember dancing on more than four or five boys during one song anyway, but I could only point out two at most.â
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tally fair. To be honest, before it started I didnât think it was going to work at all. Then when people started doing things it shocked us and we then had to tell the hypnotist to calm it down.â When contacted, James McCoy claimed that he has âno recollectionâ of many of the sections of that nightâs show that have come under criticism. He said that he had only asked female students to âsit on [male audience membersâ] kneesâ and that this segment was for âcomic valueâ. He denied that asking someone, allegedly under hypnosis, to dance provocatively on someoneâs knee amounted to inappropriate conduct. âSanta Claus asked people to sit on his knees - it doesnât get more family orientated than that,â he said. However, other attendees at the training weekend have since described being disturbed by the hypnotistâs set. âI think it was horrifically inappropriate,â one audience member told Trinity News. âHe didnât consider that there might be people of sexual orientations that werenât heterosexual among the crowd or that some of us may be in relationships. He also didnât make the male âvolunteersâ display any such openly sexual behaviour.â Others were more unsettled by the hypnotistsâ jokes about audi-
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Inside
IBEYI DISCUSS YORUBA CULTURE AND THEIR UPCOMING DEBUT, IRA SACHS TALKS ABOUT THE POWER OF MULTIGENERATIONAL STORYTELLING, AND WE EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE OCULUS RIFT.
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