UCC Express Issue 13 by University Express

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 18 | Issue 13

Know Offence campaign launched Page 8

SOUND OF MUSIC: The Orchestral Society playing during their debut concert in the Aula Maxima on Wednesday. Image by: Emmet Curtin

Campaign seeks to Break the Silence surrounding rape Barry Aldworth News Editor After a recent survey in UCC found that 1-in-7 students have been subjected to a non-consensual sexual experience, the UCC Students’ Union has launched the ‘Break the Silence’ campaign which seeks to get students, as well as wider society, talking about rape. The campaign, which was officially launched on March 23rd, aims to challenge the social stigma which surrounds rape and hopes that by initiating a conversation on the topic, victims will feel more comfortable seeking support. UCCSU Deputy President and Campaigns Officer Dick Murphy, who

organised the campaign, stated; “I really wanted to do a campaign which made real change and helped people. When the idea of a sexual violence campaign came to me, I quickly realised how uneducated and uninformed I was on the topic and thought a conversation definitely needs to be had. “With that in mind, the main goal was to challenge people to engage in conversation and ask questions, to feed off one another and to even challenge the campaign. The idea is that once people are talking about this issue, only good things can come from it. It’s designed get rid of the social stigmas, the shaming culture and ultimately to get people to work together to create a more comfortable environment for

victims.” The campaign comes shortly after the results of the Know Offence survey of students within UCC revealed that 15% of students have suffered a non-consensual sexual experience. Furthermore, the report also noted that over one-third have experienced unwanted physical contact in a university setting and that 82% of students do not know where or how to report a sexual offence to university authorities. In addition, the last edition of the Express reported that a complaint had been lodged with the SU after instances of sexual harassment at the election results night in Devere Hall.

Irish medic talks concussion in sport Page 16

While Break the Silence is still in its early days, Murphy highlighted that the campaign has already experienced support from other Irish colleges: “We are off to a great start and the conversation has been prompted. I would love to see, and have seen, other colleges around the country get onboard.” Following the support the campaign initially received on social media, the Deputy President highlighted that a significant amount of work still remains to be done: “I believe there is potential for a second wave to the campaign. To do that we need to keep the conversation going, broaden its reach and take in what’s coming up in those conversations.”

Interview with chart-topper Route 94 Verge

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Wholihane chosen as Guild President Elect

SoundBites “Together, I believe we can deliver on many of the ideas that have emerged from the ‘Education Is…’ campaign.” Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan addressing the annual USI Congress in Athlone.

“I can really focus on film now, without having to worry about funding my next project or worrying about where the money’s coming from.” Mark Griffin, a UCC Medicine graduate, reacting to winning the €50,000 prize in Budweiser’s Dream Job competition.

Inside Today: New USI President Page 5 Irish Drug Policy Page 7 Social Media Charity Page 9 Ranking Wars Page 12 Tour of Greenland Page 21 Courtney Smith Verge

The Number Cruncher

The number of tries scored by UCC Student Alison Miller as Ireland clocked up a 73-3 win over Scotland to secure their second ever 6 Nations title, a day after their male counterparts.

GILDED GOLD: Jerome Wholihane takes over the chain of office from Aaron O’Sullivan. Image by: Emmet Curtin Barry Aldworth News Editor After securing the support of 59 of the 81 Auditors in attendance, Jerome Wholihane was elected the Societies’ Guild President for the 2015/16 academic year last Thursday. Wholihane, who this year served as the Guild’s Policy and Sponsorship Officer, held off competition from Rob O’Sullivan and Aisling Ivers who received 11 votes apiece. Following the announcement of the results, Wholihane was over-joyed with the outcome: “I’m delighted to have been elected and can’t wait to work with the great team of OCMs [Ordinary Committee Members] and the Finance Officer that got elected as well. I’m excited to build on the great work that Aaron [O’Sullivan] and the outgoing Guild Exec have done this year.

“My main priorities once taking office will be working on the Student Hub project, developing a communications strategy and developing our plans around alumni links and showcasing society members’ employability. The number one thing, though, will be meeting with all the OCMs and working with them to see what their core goals for this year are as well.” In a change to previous Societies Guild AGMs, the Finance Officer position was directly voted upon by Auditors. The position, which was won by Kyle Malone in an uncontested race, was previously filled by one of the elected OCMs. Among Malone’s key aims is a desire to offer further support for societies who wish to travel abroad for noncompetitive purposes. Within his manifesto, the current Pharmacy Society Auditor outlined the need for a concrete policy to be introduced in

Editorial team

Editor-in-Chief: Stephen Barry

relation to these trips, in order to ensure smaller societies are not precluded. Whilst gender equality has been a longstanding issue for several bodies within UCC, the Guild will once again find itself at the fore in combating this problem. The addition of an eighth position has resulted in an exact 50/50 gender balance on next year’s Executive, although it has now been six years since a woman held the office of either Clubs or Societies President. The remaining six OCM positions were filled by Cliadhna Dineen, Pat McCarthy, Paidi Brady, Kelly Doherty, Cassie McElligott and Daniel O’Driscoll, with Anna Heverin narrowly missing out. Dineen earned the strongest backing from those in attendance, receiving a total of 72 votes. McCarthy and Brady received 64 and 63 votes respectively, while Doherty, McElligott and O’Driscoll each earned 61 votes.

Deputy Features Editor: Laura Flaherty

Deputy & News Editor: Barry Aldworth Sport Editor: Stephen Walsh Deputy News Editor: Brian Conmy

Photo Editor: Emmet Curtin

Fiction Editor: Ruth Lawlor

Photo Editor: Marc Moylan

Humour Editor: Roger O’Sullivan

Designer: Kevin Hosford

Features Editor: Conor Shearman

C&S UCC Demons became the first ever basketball team to go a full season unbeaten, after winning the Champions’ Trophy this weekend. Demons also won the Men’s Premier League and National Cup.

92%

The proportion of Cork IT staff in favour of industrial action over the planned merger between the Cork Institute and IT Tralee. The merger aims to achieve Technological University status but faces the potential opposition of a staff strike.

1,000 The number of jobs in the Cork region that depend on UCC’s success in attracting international students to the city, according to UCC President Dr. Michael Murphy, based on recent international studies.

UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

Library Hours may be adjusted in Response to Student Usage IR Soc hosts first ÉireMUN Conference

DEBATING COVEN: Simon Coveney, Minister for Defence, addressing ÉireMUN on Friday. Image by: Emmet Curtin Brian Conmy Deputy News Editor In light of the problems faced during UCC’s first semesterised winter exam period, Registrar and Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Professor Paul Giller admitted that changes have had to be made in preparation for the upcoming summer exams. The most glaring problem during the winter period was the struggle around library opening hours, which led to sustained protest action from the Students’ Union for longer opening hours. Giller believes the problem originated from disagreements between unions involved in the library’s operation and the university. “With the library, it was simply around opening hours and they’d been long standing challenges in terms of how the library opening hours are managed with lot of interactions between unions and the university. It was brought to a head and sufficient pressure was applied by the work of the SU that helped resolve a long standing problem.” However Giller described the resolution as a “temporary” one and, when asked if problems were likely to come up again, responded: “I hope not.

65-Credit

They should be [resolved] now. We’ll see if that’s true in the summer.” He also noted the possibility of libraryhour adjustments to student usage: “A lot will depend on how students use the library. There’s monitoring going on and if it’s found that for periods of time on a regular basis there’s no usage at all, it makes no sense to keep the library open. It could be adjusted in either direction depending how students are using it.”

“It could be adjusted in either direction depending how students are using it.”

When asked about the number of individual issues that arose in exam-time mix-ups and other more departmental issues, Giller admitted that; “There have been a few cases like that. When you think there are some 100,000 exam events – while it’s not acceptable that there are problems – I won’t say it’s not inevitable when there are so many things happening,

so many individual exam events taking place. It’s not easy to schedule exams when students have so many choices of modules.” This first year of semesterisation marks Giller’s final year as college Registrar as he’s set to depart the position during in the summer. The process to find his successor is ongoing and is “like the process for any senior member of the university; overseen by the governing body but it involves a large panel set up including external experts and advertising, probably involving recruitment agencies.” The next Registrar will be involved in the summer review of semesterisation, set to take place post the May exam period. When asked of possibilities for change in this review, Giller noted one specific problem: “One of the things, without a doubt, is that some academic units have got to look at the distribution of CA [continuous assessment] workload across the year. “There are some which have done a good job and some that hadn’t really looked at the program level. I think individuals were looking more at the module level and not the program level. That will be an important part of the review over the summer.”

The scheme, which was suggested for introduction by the Academic Development & Standards Committee, will originally be limited to first year students, before being made more widely available, if successful.

“These restrictions aim at helping students – the student has likely already failed the module twice so it may not be in their own interest to take on the heavier work load of 65 credits the following year.”

Barry Aldworth News Editor

The 65-credit format, however, will not be available in cases where the failed module is compulsory and students who wish to partake in the initiative must first receive the approval of their respective Head of Department.

A new initiative is to be trialled next year which would allow students who fail certain five-credit modules to advance to the next year of their course and undertake a 65-credit workload instead of repeating the year.

UCCSU Education Officer Joe Kennedy, who was involved in the development of the scheme, highlighted that these limitations were introduced to protect the best interests of any affected students:

Kennedy added, however, that this development may reduce the number of students who feel the need to drop out of college. “I hope this initiative will be of great benefit to students. At the moment we see situations where students are faced with spending an entire year repeating a single fivecredit module. Many are unable to do so for financial reasons.

Structure to tackle Student Dropouts

“This will make things a little more understanding and compassionate.”

Martha Ewence News Writer

the Irish consciousness.”

UCC International Relations Society made history last weekend when they hosted Ireland’s first ever Model United Nations conference, with delegates travelling from as far as Nigeria and Kabul to attend the event.

No time was wasted in getting the committees assembled so the debates could begin in topics as far-reaching and contentious as security in Afgahnistan, Ebola and even the Irish War of Independence. The committees themselves range from Historical Crisis to Security Council, UN Women and the IMF.

The conference began with two highlyacclaimed speakers, Mary Lawlor, founder of Front Line Defenders and former director of the Irish branch of Amnesty International, and Simon Coveney, TD and Minister for Defence, addressing delegates on issues such as Irish aid policy. Lawlor gave an engaging and moving speech about the stuggles humanitarian workers face globally and explained the work that Front Line Defenders do as a key human rights organisation. The second speaker, Minister Coveney, highlighted the importance of issues like global food security and spoke of the joint work of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Foreign Affairs in relation to this issue. Secretary General, Adam McClaren also addressed delegates and officially opened the conference, stating, “ÉireMUN will cement Model UN in

Conference Director, Aisling Ivers added that, “ÉireMUN was a long-held dream of ours that, through a lot of hard work, has finally come to fruition. We are proud to say that we are paving the way for Model United Nations in Ireland.” The closing ceremony on Sunday saw a host of delegates receive awards for their efforts in the Aula Maxima, with the general consensus among delegates being that it was a wonderful weekend. McClaren summed up by saying, “It’s been an incredible honour to be Secretary General of the first ever ÉireMUN. I feel so inspired by how much the delegates have progressed this weekend, which is a testament to the amazing work put in by the chairs and everyone else on the Secretariat.”

Funeral held for student killed on campus Barry Aldworth News Editor The funeral was held on Sunday for a student who died following an incident on campus on Thursday, March 26th.

to support each other at this time, saying, “A tragedy like this can affect us all in different ways so please look after yourself and your friends over the next few days.”

The 23-year-old, who was registered with the School of Science, Engineering and Food Sciences, died following a tragic fall in the Kane Building.

Gardaí have asked that anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact Anglesea Street Garda Station, if they have not already done so.

A remembrance mass was held on Friday evening in the Honan Chapel, with a book of condolences present to the public before and after the service, and will remain available all throughout this week.

For anyone affected by this incident, the Samaritans can be contacted on 1850 608 090, whilst UCC’s own counselling service is available at 021 490 3565.

In a statement released on Friday, UCC Students’ Union encouraged students

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Dramat recognised as Society of the Year Barry Aldworth News Editor

Following on from a significant trophy haul at the STARS Awards, Dramat and the International Relations Society rounded out a hugely successful year by being named Society of the Year and Best Small Society respectively. The final group of awards, announced at this year’s Clubs & Socs Ball, also brought great individual news for one of the International Relations Society’s most prominent members as Garett Mulrain, who served as Auditor this year, was awarded the title of Society Person of the Year. Cancer Society, whose Relay for Life event was once again in contention for Event of the Year, were honoured with the Societies’ Choice award, a prize voted upon by all UCC Societies and designed to recognise the group which has been among the most visible and active on campus. This year, the Best Event award went in a different direction, however, as Sci-Fi’s Kaizoku Con, an event in its second year, won the title. Meanwhile,

SÁMH Society, a group designed to raise awareness of suicide and mental health, were awarded the Best New Society title, beating Fermentation Society, Korean Society and Knitting Society, with the latter’s Daisy May Pemble scooping the Fresher of the Year award. On the sporting front, a hugely successful year for the Sailing Club was capped off by winning the Club of the Year title, with the Judo Club being recognised as the Most Improved Club.

In addition to honouring UCC’s best sporting groups, the Clubs’ Executive also recognised the people behind those successes with Niamh O Mahony (Rowing), Alison Murphy (Dance), Annie Walsh (Ladies Soccer), Emma Geary (Sailing), Finbarr Nyhan (Gaelic Football), Kayrin Ong (Table Tennis) and Niamh O’Neill (Ladies Hockey) all being awarded a Bene Merenti prize. Things only got better for O’Mahony who was recognised on the night as the Club Person of the Year, whilst Laura Meely of the Ladies Hockey team won the Fresher of the Year title.

Council Calls for Reversal of UCC Crest Changes

DRAMATIC EFFECT: Dramat celebrate receiving top honours at the Clubs & Socs Ball. Image by: Emmet Curtin

SÁMH Awareness Officer to be added Thai University to SU Equality Working Group cooperative

agreement established with UCC

Brian Conmy Deputy News Editor

Barry Aldworth News Editor Barry Aldworth News Editor An emergency motion calling for the Students’ Union to lobby against a change to the UCC crest, which has seen the ‘Where Finbarr taught let Munster learn’ motto replaced by ‘Tradition of Independent Thinking’ was passed at the final sitting of SU Council on March 18th. The motion, brought to Council by Mark Stanton and Barry Nevin, claimed that the SU had previously been told that the new version of the crest would only be used in external communications. However, the SU President and Comms Officer highlighted that this had not been the reality, pointing out to those in attendance that even the sign outside the SU’s building had been changed. After being accepted for discussion by the elected reps, the motion outlined that such a change to the logo “undermines the history of the University and the legacy of past students of UCC.” In addition, it was noted that the “motto does not exclude students or prospective students from outside of Munster.” Speaking in favour of the motion, Rob O’Sullivan, Equality Officer,

argued that “it is important to keep the heritage of the college,” something which would come under threat if the new crest was used more widely than had originally been planned. Despite receiving a minor level of opposition, council approved the motion by a majority. University guidelines on the use of the UCC crest acknowledge that the logo has been changed, stating that doing so allows the university to be more effective in advertising on a global scale. The crest has “been carefully redrawn to ensure it reproduces effectively ofﬂine and, more importantly, online to reach a global audience.” While UCC has previously argued that the motto was a later addition to the original crest, the university’s official historian, Prof. John A. Murphy, previously criticised the plans to remove the motto when they were originally announced. Murphy argued that the ‘Where Finbarr Taught’ motto was an “integral part” of UCC’s heritage and should not have been considered an “optional extra” when redesigning the logo.

A Suicide Awareness and Mental Health (SÁMH) Awareness Officer is to be introduced to the UCCSU Equality Working Group (EWG) for the first time this year, with the position taking effect on June 1st. The vote for the position, as well as the roles of Mature Students Rights Officer, LGBT*Q Rights Officer, Gender Equality Officer and Disability Rights Officer, will take place on March 31st. Robert O’Sullivan, the current UCCSU Equality Officer, stated that the new position will not be directly involved in case work, which will remain part of the Welfare Officer’s remit, but will instead focus on organising campaigns surrounding mental health. While O’Sullivan had investigated the possibility of introducing such a position earlier this year, the plan was scrapped as “others on Exec had concerns over whether students would confuse this Officer with the service provided by the Welfare Officer, as opposed to being purely concerned with raising awareness.” However, in recent months, the idea was reviewed with the Equality Officer adding that “mental health being the important issue that it is, I thought it would be beneficial to students to have

another officer dedicated to running campaigns, raising awareness and lobbying the University, for the same reasons we have the other Rights Officers.” The willingness of the UCCSU Executive to reinvestigate the introduction of a SÁMH Awareness Officer was just one example of the good relationship between the EWG and the sabbatical officers, which O’Sullivan highlighted as key to a number of this year’s successes: “I can’t speak for the individual Rights Officers but, from what I’ve seen, it’s been largely positive. I personally have had a fantastic working relationship with the Sabbats, part-timers and College Reps.” The outgoing chair of the EWG added, “We all received complaints or queries that called for the help of Mark [Stanton] or advice from Joe [Kennedy] and Cian [Power], or needed Barry [Nevin] to help advertise an event. Páidí [Brady] has been fantastic in ensuring that we had at least one accessible venue this year. I really can’t get over how beneficial the Sabbats have been to us this year.”

Following a delegation visit headed by UCC President Dr. Michael Murphy, an agreement has been reached between UCC and a number of Thai universities. The agreement will see cooperation in research, staff development and student exchange programs. The Thai universities involved include Mahidol University in Bangkok and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, both similar in size to UCC. Students from these universities will begin to attend UCC, while some engineering students may spend short periods on campus in Bangkok. All involved universities are members of the ASEAN University Network and are leading universities in South East Asia. This is not the first involvement UCC has had with Thailand, with three UCC graduates having attained Vice President positions and ten having held other professional posts across Thai universities. Ireland’s new ambassador to Thailand, Brendan Rogers, welcomed the announcement at a reception in the Foreign Ministry that marked 40 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Thailand. He stated his belief that this link would build a stronger relationship between the two nations during the reception, at which he met with Murphy and Thailand’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Thanasak Patimaprakorn.

UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

New Masters in Audiology launched

NUIG Graduate Kevin Donoghue elected USI President Barry Aldworth News Editor

Kevin Donoghue, the current Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Vice President for Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance, has been confirmed as the group’s new president following a vote by member organisations at the USI Congress. At the annual USI meeting, the NUIG Law and Philosophy graduate beat off competition from Glenn Fitzpatrick, the current USI Vice President for Campaigns, to win the position, after receiving the backing of 120 of the 211 delegates. Donoghue expressed his joy at winning the position, before acknowledging that the year ahead will be a challenging one for the USI: “I am delighted with the result. It was a close race and UCC played a huge role. There is a lot of work to do next year with a budget and a general election.” The President Elect added that the debates surrounding how to fund higher education will be a “central issue” during his term. The USI recently held a seminar on publicallyfunded higher education, where current

GOOD BOOKS: Kevin Donoghue was favoured by a majority of delegates to lead the USI. Image by: Conor McCabe Photography President Laura Harmon highlighted that “education is a public good and the bedrock of the development of a sustainable economy.” Upon taking over the position on June 1st, Donoghue will lead a team which will include three UCC graduates after Cian Power, Annie Hoey and Daniel Waugh were all successfully elected to the USI Officer Board. Hoey, the USI’s current Vice-President for Equality and Citizenship, was re-elected in the uncontested race for the same position after receiving the backing of 177 delegates. Meanwhile, Waugh, who was unopposed on the ballot to succeed Fitzpatrick, was supported by 182 voters, easily exceeding the quota of 106.

Power, the current UCCSU Welfare Officer, was successful in his bid to become the new USI Vice-President for the Southern Region, replacing Martin Lynch, after being backed by 50 of the 60 eligible delegates. However Lynch was unsuccessful in his effort to win Donoghue’s current position, losing out to Trinity College’s Jack Leahy by a margin of 144 votes to 66. The remainder of the Officer Board will consist of Aoife Ní Shúilleabháin, Feidhlim Seoighe and Aedrean O’Dubhghaill who were elected to the positions of Welfare Officer, Border, Midlands and West Region Representative and Vice-President for the Irish Language respectively.

NCAD Students Protest over College Overcrowding

SIT-IN: The Art and Design students pictured during their protest. Barry Aldworth News Editor Several hundred students at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) demonstrated against cuts and overcrowding at the college on Friday, March 20th. As part of the demonstrations, the students gathered in the office of Declan McGonagle, NCAD Director, to deliver signed letters which criticised recent decisions made by the college. The letter stated, “It has become evident that the administrations primary concern at present is the management of revenue rather than the education and welfare of students. “This shift in the college’s ideology has left current students abandoned and alumni disillusioned about the value of their degrees and the future of contemporary art in Ireland.” Despite public funding for NCAD falling by 23% and staff levels being reduced by 10%, student numbers at the college have increased by approximately 23%. The protesters called for the reversal of several “irresponsible decisions”

made by the NCAD Board of Management, and demanded that extra resources be provided to match the increase in numbers of first year students, for evidence that fees had been used to contribute to studio and material costs to be produced and for the fee increases in one MA offered to be reversed. Following the initial protest, McGonagle had arranged to meet with members of the Students’ Union last Tuesday to discuss the demands made by the protesters, who go under the name ‘NCAD See the Future’. However, shortly before the meeting was due to take place, the College Director pulled out, claiming that the discussions were being organised by another group and not the elected student reps. Whilst McGonagle did meet with members of the SU prior to the cancelled meeting, members of the NCAD See the Future group criticised the director’s decision to withdraw stating that in doing so he had shown an “outrageous disrespect for students.”

Brian Conmy Deputy News Editor Ireland’s first Masters degree in Audiology was launched last week in UCC by Deirdre Clune, MEP, who stated that the course “will come as a huge benefit to healthcare in Ireland, resulting in the provision of a worldclass service to Irish patients within the health care system.”

|5 The School of Clinical Therapies, as part of the College of Medicine and Health, will offer the two year duration MSc in the study of hearing, balance and related disorders. The Masters programme was developed following a national audiology review published in 2011, which found a need for further education and availability of clinicians in the field of audiology. Dr. Fiona Gibbon, Head of the School of Speech and Hearing Sciences, stated the Masters would bring about a fundamental change in the way audiology services are provided nationally by “ensuring a steady supply of competent practitioners within the health care service, providing a focus for service improvement, development of a research-led reﬂective culture and, most importantly, acting as a nursery for the future leaders of the service within the healthcare system.” Recruitment for the Masters which features both class-based theoretical learning as well as clinical placement and practice education is now open. The MSc Audiology Open Day is set to take place on April 18th in the Brookfield Health Sciences Complex.

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Goodbye, etc. Stephen Barry Editor-in-Chief In August I wrote a piece about the 18-year history of The UCC Express and, seven months later, I write my final contribution to this paper, hoping that the past 13 issues have added something to that teenage history and the college experience of the current batch of students, readers and writers alike. The Express has come on a lot in that timespan. Even in my four-year involvement, we have moved on a lot; taking in three-office moves, the arrival of a long-awaited working telephone and the re-foundation of a Media Executive, which offers an important guarantee of operational autonomy and editorial independence, with proper systems to deal with any issues that may arise. Not that there isn’t plenty further to go; we still operate out of a disused chemistry lab in the near-condemned Windle Building and, technology-wise, the office landline is about as cutting edge as we get. However the Student Hub project, which appears to be moving in an extremely promising direction, offers hope that gains made in recent years can be sustained and support a stronger student media into the future. It isn’t just office-space and phones that are required; we need more funds, more equipment and basic, essential software which is funded annually out of the

pocket of Designers. While Clubs and Societies can purchase keyrings and wristbands to promote their good services, we scrape together the means to fund printing each fortnight. Having read much of the archive volumes, it’s clear that we are much better off than previous editors in terms of structure but we still lag a great distance behind the facilities and funding of some Dublin colleges. Still, when the promised Hub comes to pass, the future of the student publications will hopefully be one where editors get more support, sleep and software, and the Express will be more sustainable too. But I wouldn’t just like to leave my 47th issue as an editor merely offering some assorted thoughts on the ‘State of the Media’; more importantly, I’d like to offer a few public acknowledgements to those who have put in tireless work in the year gone by. I should firstly remember my past Editors, who originally put their trust in the ability of myself and many of my current colleagues to hit deadlines: thanks to Byron Murphy, Kevin O’Neill and Audrey Ellard Walsh. I have to point out the huge effort put in by the news-team this year, making this year’s section more revealing and utterly better than previously: thanks to Barry Aldworth, Brian Conmy and anyone who attended a news-team

meeting. I owe much to the Features section editors and contributors, who magnificently handled my demands of an increased page count and more current affairs: thanks to Conor Shearman and Laura Flaherty. I am also indebted to those who added to the expansion, professionalisation and entertainment of the New Corker: thanks to Ruth Lawlor, Roger O’Sullivan and all contributors. I must recognise those who covered huge amounts of territory to create the most thorough photographic and

written account of events and matches held on UCC campus and further afield: thanks to Stephen Walsh, Marc Moylan and Emmet Curtin. I have to thank the Editors of Verge too; people who did Trojan work to source big interviews and worked wonderfully as a team: thanks to Claire Fox and her Avergers; Eoghan Scott, Molly Forsythe, Robbie Byrne, Steve Barry and Nicole Clinton. I am in awe of the talent of our Designer, who redesigned our website and paper, and had a Saint’s patience with all my last-minute changes: thanks to Kevin Hosford, and to Jordan Williams-Salter

too, for her excellent work as Online Editor. I owe sincere gratitude to the Students’ Union, who worked for the betterment of student media through all of our dealings this year: thanks to Barry Nevin and the rest of the team. And I couldn’t go without noting the support of UCC staff Denis McDonald and Kieran Hurley, as well as the phenomenal Motley Editor Ellen Desmond: thanks to all. Finally, thanks to everyone who gave us five minutes of their time; we all really appreciate it.

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Anxiety is a horrible emotion. Panic attacks are the central reason that I write this piece aboard an Expressway bus from Galway to Cork; cutting my cousin’s stag short by a day and attempting to distract my mind from the fear that overcame me since I was awoken from my slumber at 6am. For those of us who suffer with panic attacks, the familiar sting of your mind giving way to an irrational and overwhelming fear of the unknown, is an all too common unwelcome sensation. Yet even though the signals and

consequences of an onset remain the same, the thoughts that accompany these onsets always remain convincing: this time it’s not a panic attack, this time it’s something more serious! Countless articles have demonstrated a rise in anxiety levels amongst students and young people in particular. The consequences it has on young peoples’ lives cannot be understated. Worryingly, medicalization increasingly appears to be the way in which the treatment trend is heading. Reducing stress levels through talking therapies,

UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

Ending the war on drugs An urgent and frank rethink of Ireland’s drug policy is required, writes Stephen Goulding. The latest legal calamity of the Irish government bore all the hallmarks of a Hollywood ‘imagine-if’ film, where characters are be treated to 24 hours of anarchy and civil liberty before having order restored, always for the better. Yet instead of revelling in the wake of what tabloids have branded ‘E-dependence day’, we as a people should be spurred by the incompetence of our legislators, and finally face the proverbial elephant in the room— the elephant that has grown too systemic and cancerous to brush under the carpet any longer: Ireland’s ineffective drug policy. Much like a weed that continues to grow after having being cut back to size, drug policy faces a problem that can only be solved by addressing the root of the issue. Drug related deaths continue to rise, and addiction still has a visible presence in our society today. It has long been argued and proven that prohibitive measures against drugs do nothing to reduce the demand for drugs. Irish governments past and present are well aware of this as they continue to capitalize on addiction annually when the budget rolls around. The ‘old reliables’ of drink and tobacco are sure to see a hike in tax. Consistently legislators have walked a tightrope with regards to this issue, asking themselves how much can extra tax they can lob on before they begin to lose voters. And the one common factor that enabled them to do this was the addictive nature and demand of the

products.

“The drug market is like an unregulated stock exchange, where prices are set by dealers, and product quality and safety are all but irrelevant.” Previous Irish governments – including the current coalition, are guilty of a rather selective double standard. Alcohol is indisputably the most systemic drug problem Irish society faces, so much so that it has become associated with our national identity. Yet people and politicians alike are quite content to shove a pint of Guinness into Barack Obama’s hand when he visits as it benefits our economy. Let us look to the bottom rung of the ladder, to cannabis. Is it prudent, or good governance to continually

exercise and healthier lifestyles seem to have been replaced by this widespread submission to medicalisation. Forget underlying issues, we have a tablet to solve your problems. Recently I spoke with a group of teenage girls, who were either dabbling in drugs, or had more fundamental issues with them. Following our chat, something became all too evident: all these girls reported having crippling levels of anxiety since their early teens, a factor which led them to where they were today. Suicide figures amongst young people rightfully retain major headlines, however, lesser issues such as anxiety and the issues it creates for tens of thousands of young people--like these young girls--should never be too far from the public discourse either. There is a tendency to link anxiety to depression and consequently suicide, but the presumption that the two can’t be mutually exclusive is a ﬂawed one. Anxiety exists in those who never have experienced depression and it can be just as crippling. I am lucky. This latest panic attack is a blip, the first one I

fund Garda dawn raids on sheds that produce cannabis plants with grossly over-estimated street-values? Is it just to incarcerate the cultivator at the tax-payer’s expense for growing, what is indisputably a plant? Granted, most cases of this nature result in a substantial fine for the guilty party; but only after Garda resources and hours of the court-service’s time have been invested. Moving up the ladder to harder drugs, the common factors still remain the same. People use drugs recreationally, but become addicted due to underlying social and personal issues. A certain futility lies in the prohibition of drugs – where there’s a will there’s a way. And if someone is addicted they will undoubtedly stop at nothing to find a way to satisfy their addiction.

have experienced in quite a substantial period. I have the added advantage of being on the wrong side of my twenties, someone who is simply not bothered about what other people think about me anymore, comfortable in my own skin and not struggling to find an identity for myself, happy after settling for one as a crank. But what about those young people still struggling to find their identity, wrestling with the demons of anxiety and the horror show that rolls into town every time that familiar sting of panic takes hold? I was a teenager not so long ago, yet even in that small space of elapsed time, the pressure on young men and women has increased exponentially. Something has to give. As adults of this generation it is incumbent upon us to create a better society for future generations of our young, one where distortions of beauty and success are not pushed on young people. Desire has become a commodity to media and corporations, its presence in youth exploited for financial gain with no thought given to the longer term impact on mental health. It must stop.

Would money and resources not be better invested by tackling the socioeconomic issues that cause drug addiction in the first place? Surely improvements could be made in providing more support for addicts rather than relying on independent organisations, who, due to lack of government funding, have become territorial and over-stretched? Is it not be better to educate a drug user from an early age, then imprison them after they’re already addicted? Prohibition is much like pissing against the wind: it can only end nastily; going with the wind is always going to be much, much easier. One group of people who have recognised this point are dealers: the sole benefactors of prohibition. As it stands, the drug market is like an unregulated stock

exchange, where prices are set by dealers, and product quality and safety are all but irrelevant. All of the above point to the fact that we need to adopt a drug strategy whereby we decriminalise crimes such as possession and cultivation. Promote the education of drug awareness at all levels of society and crack down on the unregulated sale of toxic, poisonous products. We as a society, instead of laughing and jesting about the 30 or so hours where Meth, Ketamine and Ecstasy were legal, owe it to ourselves to begin the reformation of our drug laws. The future and welfare of the most vulnerable in our society depends on it.

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Think you know what rape is? Think again Know Offence addresses the lack of knowledge surrounding the issue of consent in cases of sexual assault, writes Lauren Foley. The Know Offence campaign was launched recently in UCC to combat sexual violence in a university setting. The launch – which included words from campaign director Lucy Jones, President of the Societies’ Guild Aaron O’Sullivan and Dr. Catherine O’Sullivan, a lecturer in Law with a particular interest in this area – aims to inform people about the definitions of sexual offences, access to justice for victims and counselling services for those affected by sexual violence. One of the most significant points addressed at the launch was the complete and utter lack of knowledge from both the perpetrator and the victim regarding what actually constitutes rape and sexual assault. Dr. O’Sullivan highlighted the results of a survey conducted by academics at the University of North Dakota and the North Dakota State University in 2014 regarding sexual offences. The study, which was aimed at white male Americans, found that 31.7% of those who took the survey said they would use force to obtain intercourse, yet when asked would they rape only 13.6% admitted they would. This percentage gap clearly displays a lack of knowledge regarding rape. The survey highlights the fact that white male Americans know rape is a bad thing but think using force to obtain sexual intercourse is acceptable.

Just to clarify, if you need to use force to obtain sexual intercourse, you obviously do not have a willing partner and therefore have no consent. If you do not have consent, it is rape – full stop. It highlights the lack of education and proper information that exists about rape and sexual assault, which is exactly why we need initiatives like Know Offence to educate students and individuals about these types of offences.

“Society allows these offences to occur with no repercussions for the perpetrator, simply because the victims do not know when a sexual offence is occurring.”

O’Sullivan’s speech also included statistics from a survey from a similar campaign, Say Something, conducted

by the USI in 2013. When participants were asked about a possible sexual offence occurring, a staggering 57% said that they did not think the incident was serious enough to report and an overwhelming 44% did not think what happened to them was a crime. Even in the Know Offence survey results, there was consistently a 7% proportion of participants who answered ‘not sure’ when asked had they experienced unwanted sexual contact or a non-consensual sexual experience during their time at UCC. It reﬂects a serious gap in awareness that needs to be addressed. Society allows these offences to occur with no repercussions

for the perpetrator, simply because the victims do not know when a sexual offence is occurring. This is clearly a global problem which the Know Offence campaign has recognised and one which it will attempt to combat by proactively spreading the word about the definitions of these offences. Rape is defined under Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act 1981 as the penile penetration of a woman’s vagina without her consent and where he knows that she does not consent or is reckless as to her lack of consent (rape under Section 2 can only be committed by a man and upon a woman). Sexual assault is defined under Section 2 of

the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 as unwanted sexual contact, or the threat of such contact, and the accused must have intended to commit the indecent assault. The problem with society not knowing that certain actions are crimes is that impunity of these offences will never come to an end. We need to strengthen criminal accountability, responsiveness to victims and judicial capacity if these offences are ever going to be truly recognised as serious crimes. Know Offence is just one movement taking the necessary steps to help make this become a reality.

UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

Gone in a ﬂash

Robbie Byrne investigates the mechanics behind the rise and fall of social media charity campaigns.

consider is masochism – that sudden rush provided by the Ice Bucket Challenge was worth it in the mind of the individual, as suffering equated to curative benefits for the poorly. As September opened its doors to autumn, Ice Bucket Challenge tagging had reached its peak, tripped and began a horrific plummet into oblivion. In less than ten days Google Trend levels had collapsed to pre August levels. Most observers dismissed this phenomenon as proof that the public simply got sick of the stunt, but the reality is a little more complex. A viral charity stunt resembles a virtual factory with a dwindling supply chain – the more people who complete the event, the smaller the pool of resources become to restock. Therefore, as the group of those who participated

From Kony 2012 to the No Make-up Selfie, there is yet to be a campaign in the brief lifespan of social media that sustains its participation rate from peak popularity to the present day. In a world where celebrities hold sustained trend rankings for perpetuity--despite not doing anything particularly interesting, viral charity campaigns seem more akin to Roswell ’47 – they land, create a big splash and vanish into the void of space. But why in a society entombed by social media and all genres of philanthropy would this be the case? The graphic [right] of last summer’s social media phenomenon, the Ice Bucket Challenge is a perfect means through which to illustrate this point. In red are United States’ searches for ALS, the condition that the Ice Bucket Challenge sought to raise money for. As expected, search hits remain consistent for the first seven months of 2014. Then, for three weeks in August the heat signature grows tenfold, followed by Ice Bucket Challenge searches, which lie below in purple. So what ignites these campaigns spontaneous virality? In the case of the Ice Bucket challenge, it appeared to be when television host, Matt Lauer, performed the challenge live on NBC’s Today Show, a programme that maintains one of American’s highest young audience demographics. Five million viewers were instantly exposed to the challenge, who in turn shared Lauer’s footage through social media platforms, while performing the challenge themselves without nomination. From here, social media and further celebrity endorsements took over from television – a 20th century media format. While a simple television show may seem extraneous, it became the Ice Bucket Challenge’s event horizon, one that acted as the crossover point from adult based, traditional communication forms to modern-day youth orientated social media forums. Novelty philanthropy became virality through the power of the humble hashtag as the power of social media lowered participation requirements through innate tagging processes, smartphones with social media integration and smooth online transaction processes. Video became the ultimate technology to facilitate reaction, while social media was the perfect medium through which to distribute.

Using information provided by twitter hashtag tracker CartoDB, it is possible to see that the first geotagged tweet of a homegrown Ice Bucket Challenge Video came from the UK on August 1st and Ireland (Co. Wexford) on August 5th before spreading across central Europe to Russia eight days later. Then as if the world’s subconscious was in perfect unison, the phenomenon peaked globally in the exact same time period: August 18th to 21st. This ease of creation and distribution allowed each participant of the challenge to whip up an intrinsic part of the human conscience – to show the best part of ourselves to the world. The Ice Bucket Challenge, likewise the No Makeup Selfie and Movember became social proof of our interaction with the world, eliminating a fear of exclusion in a physically hermetic society. The more creative the challenge, the further an interpretation would spread, therefore expanding the creator’s stamp on the world. As a social exercise, it is fascinating, one that evokes the ‘Hive Mentality Theory’ detailed by Dr. Thomas Seeley of Cornell University. Seeley argues that every decision in the beehive is essentially a committee act, where every individual act is decided by popular consensus. To explain this, Seeley details a time at the end of a hives lifespan when scout bees are sent out to determine a suitable location for a new hive. Upon return the bees perform the famed ‘waggle dance’ to champion their chosen sites, the swarm then unites by some primitive gestures as to their chosen location. Seeley’s theory provides us with most important insight into spontaneous virality of the Ice Bucket Challenge, allowing us to see the Challenge as more of an affirmation of us as a homogenous people who are intrinsically connected, albeit in a hierarchical form where the celebrity represents the bee scouts and us, the hive. However, is the popularity of such a challenge down to a single word – integration? In a sense, yes, but there are also tertiary factors to charity-spun social media phenomena. Pleasant summer temperatures allowed the Ice Bucket Challenge seem more attractive, while the cold November weather perfectly suits the growth of some stay warm facial whiskers in the form of Movember. Another factor to

“As September opened its doors to autumn, Ice Bucket Challenge tagging had reached its peak, tripped and began a horrific plummet into oblivion.”

gets beyond a certain point, while celebrities taking up the challenge dry up, it becomes no longer socially acceptable for the smaller group to perform the challenge, nominated. Think about it. Wouldn’t it seem odd if your friend carried out the challenge today, several months after the craze? So, in an inversion of sorts from the Hive Mentality, our willingness to seem socially homogenous plays a key role in the hastening of the challenge’s demise. This brings me on to the final part in the demise of a viral charity campaign: The rise of another. Using the Syria war as a stable news source for the year, statistics show the brevity of 2014’s social media charity participatory campaigns. No one campaign conﬂicts another. As one of 2014’s charity campaigns collapses, another takes its place as if a victorious empire rises from the ashes of the defeated. The attention span of the public conscience is thus shortened, encouraging another online charity campaign with a new, more innovative or wackier marketing trick up its sleeve to become viral once again in a relentless cycle. So what kills the viral charity campaign so fast? A heady mix of overprescribed volunteers, an unwillingness to stand out, some friendly rivalry, and of course public fatigue all appear to play their part in killing off even the most fervent charity stunt. The instantaneous virality and desertion of phenomenon such as the Ice Bucket Challenge, Kony 2012 and the No Make-Up Selfie are complex social matters intrinsically entwined in the digital realm of social media. Explanations of such lead to us to understand not only the phenomena themselves, but also the rapid pace in which humans adapt to new ideas and mould themselves to fit into society through the incorporeal world of social media.

Áras Uí Thuama 2015/16 Ionad Cónaithe Gaeilge, Gaeltacht UCC

Scoláireachtaí €500 Ar mhaith leat árasán a roinnt le mic léinn eile le Gaeilge? Tuilleadh Eolais: Ionad na Gaeilge Labhartha G02, Áras Uí Rathaille, UCC  021 – 4902314 http://www.ucc.ie/igl

DÁTA DEIREANACH

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Dé Céadaoin 29 Aibreán 2015

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UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

The Psychic Cost of Too Much and Not Enough

Mark Kelleher All along the perimeter wall of the town’s disused basketball court, the people of Yanty – men, women, many dazed children – were queuing in a single line, tickets with unique numbers �irmly clutched in their sweating hands. Nobody was saying anything because everything, they all had �igured, that needed to be said was said a long, long time ago. For now, they just stood still, some looking irritably at their watches, others looking in contemplation at the sky, as if something was going to suddenly emerge out of it and make this whole queuing business seem somehow pointless. But there was only the sun. So they stood around, listening out for a signal. They were all waiting to be shot.

To clarify: this wasn’t an unimaginably horri�ic, medieval act of public execution, or some hateful display of way over the top barbarism for crimes that didn’t warrant such a hasty punishment. It wasn’t a culling overseen by some primitive dictator salivating at the prospect of a self-governed holocaust, nor was it in any way linked to the type of religious fanaticism for which such atrocities are usually reserved. No. This was voluntary. A process that, as long as you were sound of body, could easily be enacted through a lengthy procedure of form-�illing, reason-stating and signature-giving. And while all of these bureaucratic necessities understandably inspired both much sighing and swearing among the generally good people of Yanty, they all, nevertheless, enthusiastically signed up to be killed. In the queue now people stirred and jittered and did all the things

people are likely to do in the event of their soon getting fatally shot – that is; pretty much nothing at all. Jimmy Burns, a young, el�in-faced boy who always walked with the gait of someone who has one leg just shorter than the other, stepped out of line to retrieve from the roadside a coin he had spied while waiting. Quite what the use of said coin would be to Jimmy in his soon to be rendered state of non-existence did not seem, at that moment, to occur to him. ‘Leave it, sonny,’ ordered a uniformed man twirling a truncheon between his thumb and middle and index �ingers. ‘Back in line.’

The uniformed man was one of 40 B.C.A. of�icials deployed to oversee the day’s proceedings. The B.C.A. – or the Boredom Control Agency – was made up of the town’s most convivial and reliable men and had been elected, with little fuss, in a poorly-attended meeting that, three months previously, had taken place in the soon-to-be defunct, only recently built, town hall. While they had engaged in some light training once fortnightly since their inception, this was to be the B.C.A.’s �irst and �inal mission. This actuality secretly engaged a sadness in each of the agency’s esteemed individuals but, being predisposed to an authoritative nature and feeling the pressure of their roles, naturally felt zero inclination to talk about it out loud. ‘But…,’ Jimmy Burns was beginning to protest.

‘Hey,’ said the uniformed of�icial, whose real name was Gary Parker Jnr. ‘Go to the back and, uh, swap your place and ticket with whoever’s

last in line. Go!’

Jimmy did go, and did so crying. He’d have to wait longer to die.

That was, after all, the strict and exclusive instruction the B.C.A. of�icials had agreed to enforce in the event/ potential event of some spontaneous outbreak of violence: ‘1) Disturbers should immediately be apprehended and will be punished by losing their execution queuing privileges.’ This sensible guideline, keenly approved by the other B.C.A. of�icials, was suggested by the most gregarious man in Yanty: Grant Low. Heaven forbid, after all, that a mass voluntary execution be interrupted by something as undesirable as indiscriminate violence. Grant Low was proud and had been made sole shooter by his fellow agency of�icials. Right now Grant Low was feeling quite swell.

The time struck 12. Out of a speaker mounted to one of the rusting basketball hoops came the eerie airraid siren that had, during wartimes, warned people that they were possibly going to be blown to pieces sometime very soon. A female voice: ‘Today’s event is brought to you by Yanty Getaways, your number one go-to travel agency for cheap, revitalising holidays. Number one – please now proceed to centre-court. Thank you.’ Kurt Jennings, singleton and parttime mechanic in Safebet Autorepairs, showed his #1 ticket to an of�icial at the entry-gate and strolled to centre-court. ‘Ah, Kurt!’ said Grant Low cheerfully, momentarily lowering his Colt CM901 assault ri�le. ‘So, um, this is all

pretty easy. Just state your name and reason, as outlined in your Execution Requirements Starter Pack and we’ll have you outta here buddy!’

Without thinking too much about anything at all, Kurt Jennings said his name was Kurt Jennings and his reason was that nothing on television was much good anymore. Before he knew it, he didn’t know anything anymore, and was dead and being removed, bleeding profusely from a coin-sized hole in his chest, in a wheelbarrow that tilted maddeningly left. Number two was requested to enter. ‘Oh, Sheena – what a delight!’ said Grant Low. ‘Just your name, sweetie, plus reason. When ready.’

‘Erm, Sheena Low,’ Sheena con�irmed. ‘Here because yo…’ ‘Ha ha! Try that again, honey,’ interjected Grant Low. ‘Come on now.’ Sheena sighed. ‘Sheena Low. People. Now shoot al…’ And with that, Sheena dropped and was wheeled off. ‘See, wasn’t that easy, my pumpkin?’ Grant Low called after her.

So it went for the afternoon, until all but one – the one being, of course, Grant Low – of Yanty’s population of 240 were lying shot and irretrievably dead in an untidy and excessively bloody heap in front of the never again to be used, highly ef�icient changing room facilities. Birds circled and cried.

Gee, thought Grant Low, that sure was tiring. And both his right-hand index �inger and right shoulder were sure hurting now. As, in fact, were

his upper arms and knees – a result, probably, of his having to wheel away the last of the of�icials whose turn it was to be shot – Barty Munch, an outstandingly big-bodied bouncer of German stock. And wow, it sure was damn quiet also, Grant noted, as he lowered himself and sat cross-legged now in centre-court. He took a list from his back pocket and began to read it. ● Claudia Munchausen: Bored of fearing she might be healthy.

● Raymond Barthelme: Bored by having too many options to choose from in the cereal aisle. ● Augustus Hooper: Literally bored to death by language misuse.

● Todd Dobbs: Bored by depression. (Note for future use: Individual arrived under false assumption ‘Mass Euthanasia’ referred to celebratory event of Sumatran youth culture in local Unitarian Church. Reason of ‘Depression’ stemmed from this) ● Jimmy Burns: Tired of Mom/ Dad/ Sally/ Grandma/ Spike/ JosKramer/ School/ Home/ Being awake/ coins.

● Sylvia Low: Bored by YOU, you motherfuc… Bored of her prematurely aging face of death. And her stinking mother’s visits! And so on, etc.

‘Huh’, said Grant to no one, folding the list, before beginning to rip it slowly in half and then in quarters. ‘This sure is pretty boring stuff.’ At which point Grant Low, now feeling pretty exhausted, very bored and too hot, raised his assault ri�le to the sky and �ired his last bullet right at the very epicentre of the annoying sun.

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NEWS HEADLINES POLITICS: Gerry to become Geraldine Adams in Mrs. Doubtﬁre-style attempt to connect with long estranged moderate voters.

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Ufologists descend upon UCC to investigate cases of ‘missing time’ Emily Smalling

LOCAL: Dripsey lose Guinness record for shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade – Local says “it’s only a small thing.” SPORT: MMA voted sport most likely to be mistaken for the embrace of two exhausted lovers. TV: Jeremy Clarkson to be replaced by a less controversial figure; BBC currently in talks with Nigel Farage. LITERATURE: George Boole Sudoku book to be released, entitled 00111011. HEALTH: Coke’s new ‘Life’ branded cola proves that the colour green makes everything

“April come she will, when streams are ripe and swelled with rain,” as Simon & Garfunkel once said, or rather sang in melodic harmony. With songs like this, it is often easy to take for granted the sequential passage of time in correlation to the Gregorian calendar. However, for a group of students in University College Cork, this 1966 folk hit offers little more than cold comfort. I am of course talking about the phenomenon of ‘missing time’. Incidents of ‘missing time’ or ‘calendar blindness’ first started popping up last week. The main symptoms of this bizarre afﬂiction seem to be a crushing fear of impending exams and little to no memory of February or March. One Amy O’Toole posted via the social media website Facebook: “I’ve no idea what happened to me lads, sure ‘twas only New Year’s the other day.” A similar statement was shared by one Tony Malone when he Snapchatted a picture of himself sitting on the toilet with an anthropomorphised calendar

Langdon Alger

SCIENCE: Astrologer predicts bad week for making decisions. Astronomer predicts eventual heat-death of the universe.

The UCC Express has long covered university global ranking announcements in our news section. These apparently weekly rankings may appear as easy write up, space-filler stories and, in all honesty, they are. Recently, though, these stories have taken a turn with the announcement that Trinity has become Ireland’s first six-star university. This follows on from the announcement a few years ago that UCC became a five-star university, a fact Dr. Michael Murphy has never, ever put into a conversation with the press.

RTÉ One Wednesday @ 7.57pm: Lottó. A French new-wave film about the romantic endeavours of a wild Parisian girl who unwittingly begins a relationship with her biological father. TG4 Dé Sathairn @ 4pm: nEachtrannach. Tá sé cluiche thar, fear! RTÉ One Thursday @ 6.00pm: The Angelus, with guest host Skrillex.

These are only two of a legion of similar incidents which seem to be plaguing the student body of UCC at the moment; but what could be the cause?

many students who have experienced this bizarre phenomenon as they can get their hands on. When asked to comment upon their activity, an official spokesperson stated, “up until now we have been regarded as fools by the general population; however we are now on the cusp of unveiling an incredible truth. This conspiracy goes all the way to the top.”

For one group of intrepid conspiracy theorists and ufologists, the answer is mass alien abductions. The Irish branch of the World Abnormal News Council of Research, or W.A.N.C.O.R., have been anxiously compiling data on as

When queried about the number of students who have subsequently defended their statements as mere use of the rhetorical function of hyperbole in a colloquial fashion, W.A.N.C.O.R. replied “that’s just what they want

There has long been suspicion surrounding UCC’s President Murphy given his enormous wage despite ever decreasing university ranking but could he really be a member of the reptilian elite? With strong evidence for and against, it is difficult to say at this point. We only hope that you have been unaffected by these occurrences, but also warn that experts anticipate an upsurge of time dilations during the coming month.

crowd sat, shocked at the news but only brieﬂy.

boasted that not only had his college became an infinity-star university, it had also won a Michelin Star, four Grammys and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Not to be outdone the president of CIT joined the fray to announce that CIT had become a fourstar pizza.

who stood already squaring up to one another in an apparent outbreak of a Hunger Games. So, it’s my pleasure to announce that, due to the ﬂeetfootedness and surprising ability to wield a medieval broadsword, Dr. Murphy has secured for UCC the title of Best University 5eva.

Angered by the hijacking of the conference and the admittance of plebs from outside the Pale, the Trinity Provost jumped from the podium to square up to the rest of the Presidents,

We’re unsure if this ranking system will replace the existing seven million other systems but keep an eye on the news section for more.

you to think! Dr. Michael Murphy is a member of the Illuminati and is using his powers of mind control in order to silence these courageous students!”

Ranking wars annex Trinity

seem healthier.

TV LISTINGS

crudely drawn besides him in purple print, accompanied by the caption “seems like I’ve ﬂushed the last two months away.”

This status upgrade for Trinity was met with much fanfare by three Trinity students studying Arts – sorry, Humanities – and embarrassment by the rest of the college who just know people will use this to take the piss out of them even further. At the press conference to announce the new ranking results, Trinity’s Provost was unceremoniously interrupted by the entrance of NUIG’s President to announce that his college had become Ireland’s first eight-star university. The

Next the Presidents of DCU and UCD entered to announce they had both become eleventy-star universities before realising that this fact would make the two colleges even less distinguishable to the public, shouting over one another with higher and higher numbers to impress the crowd. The two were separated by the entrance of the UL President who quickly

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Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Crossword

Sudoku Hard

Puzzle 1 (Very hard, difficulty rating 0.86)

1 10

13 14

17 18

Across

Down

6 Get number puzzle right (6)

1 Working by itself (9)

7 Just married (8)

2 Charitable society of optimism (4)

10 Logical and consistent (8)

3 Desk for currency change (6)

11 Crush opposition in this racket sport (6)

4 Set-up for use (7)

17 Head of a Club (7) 19 Club relies on navigational skills to search entire region (12)

13 Áras na Laoi school (9) 14 Ad selling communicated information (9)

23 Saleable when fit for rent (8)

16 Relating to long-term weather (8)

25 Study of old Greek and Roman literature (8)

18 Person employed to work on data (7)

8 4

6 4

24 (+22a) Home of UCC Presidents’ portraits (4,6)

7 6

21 Deans live here (4)

2 8

March 18th Answers

Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Sun Mar 29 20:35:29 2015 GMT. Enjoy!

C T L Y A E S T S

HARD

M D I T K T E D T G Y S S O N N

MEDIUM

H F A B R U P V E E A E R N N W I A T I O N S L S P L A U A L M M O D A A D Z O O L O I U R N R E A G S L

2 5

20 Get a smile from computer messages (6)

P T R I E M E

9 Michael Murphy’s seat is in this Wing (4)

I S U R S E A N E Q U I L O S S E R T O R C U R Y I U A C C O L K A I N S S A O T I C O K

8 Person who hasn’t gone rusty when below a certain age (9)

D C O C T R D I N M E S

Medium

5 Nazi emblem (8)

Ireland’s most frequently published college paper now availible on all your devices! uccexpress.ie

Puzzle 1 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.61) Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Sun Mar 29 20:35:26 2015 GMT. Enjoy!

22 See 24 down

26 Made calm (6)

7 9

15 I’d cover a break-up since 1995 referendum (7)

12 Site of Kampus Kitchen (4,8)

| 15

UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

The Irish debate: How should our national language be preserved?

Accept the marginality of Irish Conor Shearman Features Editor Irish is a wonderful language, it deserves to remain an active part of Irish culture today but that is not the issue at hand. Irish is a huge burden to the taxpayer: around €50 million alone is spent on TG4 and Radio na Gaeltachta in spite of their minute audiences, while rough estimates have put Government expenditure of teaching Irish at €1 billion. While such financial decisions should never form the sole means of forming policy on language preservation, however, such vast sums have done very little to instil a love of the language among the majority of the population. Let’s take the issue of mandatory Irish in education: one would expect the accumulation of 14 years of learning Irish in school would mean the majority of school leavers would be ﬂuent in the language – as European students are so often ﬂuent in English. The reality is a smattering of pidgin Irish, at best, for the majority of those in third-level and beyond. A realisation needs to occur that – like it or not – Ireland is an English speaking

The cornerstone of our nation was erected in Ballyferriter, mainly with the purpose of teaching Irish to Americans). And look at what we have gained: people employed in the translation services for the government; for books; for TG4; for radio; the list is endless.

nation. Irish remains part of the cultural identity of Ireland but it is a personal choice how far Irish people want to identify with their cultural heritage. If Irish really wants to survive, other any simply being an oddity relegated to the fringes of society, then Ireland needs to become a truly bilingual nation. The marginal role of Irish in society should be accepted – it is, after all, practically accepted already. Remove mandatory teaching of Irish from schools: if it hasn’t worked for past decades, it isn’t going to work now. Eliminate the needless expenses which Irish generates, such as in the courts system or other state bodies which offer the option of their services through Irish; allowing English to become the language of bureaucracy will do no further damage then what has already been achieved. Maintaining the current apathy towards Irish does not benefit anyone; it may only be a fear of losing their cultural identity that prompts people to stand up and reclaim their language.

Mairead Leen Features Writer ‘Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam’: ‘A country without a language is a country without a soul’. These words come to me as I broach the topic of the Irish language. A love for our language was first instilled in me as a young child in a tiny country primary school through debating in Irish, Gaeltacht visits and singing; Irish was everywhere I went. Nothing fills me with pride like speaking our national language or belting out Amhrán na bhFiann. It is only as I am on Erasmus this year

that I have realised how important it is, from being in a dodgy taxi and needing to escape, to that rude waitress you just want to have a chinwag about, the Irish language has been my saving grace. It was in Connemara whilst working as a ceannaire that I met a young child who babbled incessantly in Irish, is that not a culturally beautiful thing; that we, as a nation, have our own language that solely distinguishes us from all other countries? The naysayers claim that too much money is spent on maintaining this apparently ‘dying’ language (though as recently as this summer, a college

“It is only as I am on Erasmus this year that I have realised how important it is.” I loved learning Irish in school because it was in an interactive way. Going to the Gaeltacht, on a government subsidised grant which helps so many young people appreciate Irish, opened my eyes (and my ears!) to my love of the language. But how can we ever possibly ignore Irish for what it is: our language, our culture and the very founding corner stone of our nation? If we don’t fight for our language, if we don’t passionately try to preserve it, then our grandchildren will never know the magic of hearing a native Irish speaker; and that would be a terrible loss indeed.

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The Big Interview:

Éanna Falvey

Stephen Barry chats to the Irish Rugby Team Doctor about concussion in sport. There are few greater signs of how en vogue discussion on concussion is on these shores than the person sitting in front of me on the bus, as I transcribe quotes from a conversation only hours earlier with Irish Rugby Team Doctor Éanna Falvey. She attacks academic papers with green and pink highlighters, passing headlines including ‘The NFL’s Concussion Culture’ and ‘A knockout blow for concussion?’

“The issue is that there isn’t a lot of evidence out there, but the protocols are as good as are available.” The latter piece is headed by an image which has become the face of the debate in many papers – Irish ﬂanker Sean O’Brien, disoriented and stumbling around the field after a concussive blow against England. O’Brien seems unaware of the man behind him, holding his arm back but the photo perfectly captures Falvey restraining the ‘Tullow Tank’, preventing the oddly frail-looking player from doing any further damage. Falvey certainly doesn’t seek the limelight, though; in fact he believes limelight is the wrong word altogether: “I’d rather you never saw me at all,” he contends. “If I’m coming to attention in and around the game, it’d be a bad sign of that particular game.” Falvey can be spotted during each game on the sideline, tracking players rather than the ball-watching: “What you’re trying to do is watch behind the play. The reality is you come off the pitch after the game and sometimes you don’t even remember what’s happened. When there’s a ruck you’re watching who gets up or who doesn’t get up; you’re not watching what happens to the play. “When you’re on the ground trying to spot stuff, that can be really difficult, because at pitch-level you don’t really see it, but the more eyes you have and the more aware you are, the better you can deal with it.” That is a lesson his Welsh counterparts had to learn the hard way after being embarrassed by the image of winger George North caught on camera with his lights out, something that has already triggered the introduction of medics in the Cardiff stand following the game on TV monitors.

Such a move was already taken in Dublin last August, since which Falvey has had a role in withdrawing the likes of Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Gordon D’Arcy and Rob Kearney, with all four undergoing Head Injury Assessments during a tit-for-tat autumn bout against Australia. Second Impact Syndrome is the key danger in such cases and, despite the watching world, Falvey has always felt that authority to remove players, having withdrawn a Munster player for three weeks in 2003, in only his second outing as Team Doctor. However concussion is an evolving field and one in which substantial debate is taking place over concussion protocols. Barry O’Driscoll, an uncle of Brian’s, has argued that the protocols aren’t sufficiently cautious since his resignation as World Rugby Medical Advisor. He believes that the ‘five-minute rule’ on suspected concussions, after which players may return to the field if they pass a short sideline assessment, is “totally discredited.” However Falvey frequently references the ‘evidence-base’, something he feels a critical mass of data has not yet been obtained for: “The issue is that there isn’t a lot of evidence out there, but the protocols are as good as are available. You must remember that the vast majority of people who are anti‘the protocols’ haven’t offered any other kind of a solution instead. It’s very easily to say ‘oh, the protocols are terrible.’ Well, tell us something better and I’ll gladly use it.” Falvey also disputes the validity of evidence that concussion rates are rising, noting that a study of the 2007 Rugby World Cup revealed that concussion was being underreported by 50%. So while the protocols are, Falvey admits, far from perfect, the ‘Recognise and Remove’ principle is having its positive effects, leading to incidents being reported properly, “because there’s a proper mechanism now of what to do and when to do it.” “If people who are suffering from concussion are honest, if the people looking after them are educated the best way possible for dealing with that and if there’s a protocol which is evidence-based and up to date in terms of management, then that’s the best you can do.” He also sees the growth in player body profiles as an overly simplistic way of explaining the prominence of concussion, although the average weight gain of 10kg per player since the game turned professional in the mid-nineties is a “scary figure to see.” Still, it is an issue too multifaceted for simplistic analysis with the evolution of the game also playing its part.

Defences are now more organised and centres are so well-versed in defensive duties that “collisions need to happen to make some holes.” Even criticisms of protein supplements don’t hold enough water on current evidence, with Falvey considering them, as the name suggests, supplementary to the major emphasis on strength and conditioning plans.

“The same facilities aren’t available for Junior rugby or Junior B football in West Cork.”

successful title defence.

to injury.”

As always, it was a case of knowing who would and wouldn’t make it by the Tuesday before a game, scoffing at the notion of last minute fitness tests: “I’m from a GAA background and you get guys doing fitness tests on the morning of a match – that’s daft. You can’t prepare a team like that. In a team sport like rugby everybody has to be in around the game plan, know who’s going to be executing the game plan and what their role in the game plan is going to be. So you can’t have any uncertainty after a Tuesday with regard

It will be an arduous year too, with autumn’s Rugby World Cup meaning that he will be away from home 22 weeks of the year. However the former Irish champion boxer is at home in the competitive environment, having always known the high and lows, the demands and sacrifices. Yet the carrot of huge rewards remains, with last Saturday week’s 6 Nations win the first in a line of potentially historic milestones.

It’s a part of the reason why the Sports Surgery Clinic, where Falvey is Director of Sports and Exercise Medicine, employs nine researchers, all seeking to expand that evidencebase for fashionable treatments. But while the professional player is now well looked after, the same resources and knowledge have yet to drip down to the grassroots. “The same facilities aren’t available for Junior rugby or Junior B football in West Cork. It’s about educating players, parents and coaches around the dangers of things like concussion, which is why the profile these injuries are getting is a good thing.” Although he is uncomfortable at times releasing too much information on players’ medical histories (“Would you like somebody telling the press corps about the colonoscopy you had last week?”), he was at least able to enjoy the build-up to the concluding weekend of the 6 Nations, with few injury headaches leading into Ireland’s

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UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

Giving, Giving, Gone. Laura Flaherty asks whether the cynicism regarding the finances of charitable organisations is warranted. In recent years various charitable organisations have come under fire for a multitude of reasons. Do charities deserve this level of criticism? Should people, especially students, still support charities by shopping in charity shops?

“When I tell people that I do receive a wage, they’re surprised – they don’t expect a charity to pay their staff members.” In a survey carried out by Broadsheet last year, over a thousand people were asked if their opinions on charitable organisations had changed after the recent scandal surrounding the Central Remedial Clinic. When asked if the news story, which involved a number of enormous pension top-ups and pay-outs to top executives, had changed their perception of charities,

a staggering 62% said it had, while only 19% retained the same faith in charitable organisations. When asked if the same scandal reduced their willingness to donate to charities, an overwhelming 55% agreed that it had, with only 27% happy to offer the same level of financial support. While the furore over where the money people are donating to charity is going may have triggered a change in attitudes towards charities, the vast majority of those who work for charities, do so on a voluntary basis or a relatively mediocre salary. A manager in a local charity shop in the city expressed frustration over what he viewed as a divide in the hierarchy of the organisational workings, particularly in the case of the CEO: “He doesn’t do enough for the money he earns, he’s just an ambassador. When he does decide to get involved, he doesn’t think of the lower people in the charity.” He points out that while people distrust the financial accountability of charitable organisations, the services that the charity offer and the staff on the ground are most often the ones that will feel the brunt of people’s anger: “People tend to ask me whether

or not I get paid, and which charity I work for. When I tell people that I do receive a wage, they’re surprised – they don’t expect a charity to pay their staff members. They assume it’s entirely voluntary. “I don’t get paid a manager’s wage. For the amount of work I do, 39 hours a week plus unpaid mandatory fundraising, I don’t think I get paid enough compared to other charities.” In the firestorm of media attention which arises from these news stories, it is pivotal to remember that these charities serve a vital purpose in aiding the most vulnerable in society; a point which the manager is keen to emphasise. “In the long run the money is doing what it needs to do. With the money from the shops we run, we are able to run local centres for people to go to. Without the charity shops, without the customers, this wouldn’t happen. “It doesn’t matter how much the CEO of any charity is getting, once the people who need help are getting it – that’s the bigger picture. Good is still at the heart of it all. The staff are hardworking people who care about the causes they support every day, even though it does little for their pocket.” While the positive work that charities undertake in helping the vulnerable is not forgotten, the debate will long continue surrounding their financial accountability.

Graduate Profile:

Theo Dorgan Theo Dorgan is an award-winning poet, editor and translator. He has written scripts for documentaries, including the acclaimed series Hidden Treasures, and worked as a presenter of literature programmes on radio and TV for over 25 years. He completed a BA and MA in English in UCC, after which he tutored and lectured in the college. What’s the most important thing you learned about yourself while in UCC? That I was capable of finding and choosing my own path in life. What’s your best memory of college?

What do you think is the main difference for this year’s graduates compared to yours?

Your partner is also a writer, how does her occupation inﬂuence your own work and life?

They seem, to me, far more constrained by career anxieties than we were. And for the most part far more conservative.

My partner is my best friend and my toughest, most merciless reader. I hope she can say the same of me. Dead handy, having a tough reader so close to hand. We mind each other; we mind the work – what more can I say?

What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to someone looking to start a career in writing? Read. Read everything. Read all the time. Be prepared to burn/ shred anything that isn’t the very best you can do. And, relax; if writing is to be your life, you’ll find your way.

Learning that learning is endless.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your work?

What’s the funniest story from your time in college that is fit for print?

Finding the silence in which to listen for the poems.

It would be deeply unwise to draw attention to the funniest things that happened — the social and legal implications don’t bear thinking about. That said, I remember dropping in on a 9 o’clock morning lecture on my way home one morning, falling alseep and waking to find that Prof. Lucy had moved the class to the front of the room to allow me to catch up on my sleep.

What traits do you least like in others?

What would you do differently if you had your time in UCC again? Nothing.

Pomposity, venality, untruthfulness…

selfishness,

What’s your worst vice? Laziness. What’s one rule that you think everyone should follow? Be kind, to yourself and to others — actively, creatively and relentlessly kind.

As a scholar of Irish, do you believe its study needs to remain mandatory in second-level education? Yes, but it needs to be taught as a source of joy, insight and affirmation. Conversation only for the first 5 years. Promoting the arts has been a large feature of your life. Is the current state of the Arts in Ireland a healthy one or does it require improvement? This is in many ways a golden age for all art forms in Ireland; we have never had so many first class musicians, poets, novelists and writers in all forms – playwrights, visual artists, filmmakers – all kinds of artists. And we have very large, well-educated arts audiences as well as a reasonably good arts provision sector. The tragedy is that investment in the arts is pathetic in the extreme. I am sometimes tempted to think that it’s a condition of entering formal political life that you must have a demonstrated level of hatred for and incomprehension of the arts.

CEO salaries from some of Ireland's leading charities Fionnuala O’Donovan (Enable Ireland) €145,679 John McCormack (Irish Cancer Society) €145,000 Collette Kelleher (Cope Foundation) €121,600 Ray Jordan (Self Help Africa) €112,750 Colm O'Gorman (Amnesty International) €110,099 Dominic McSorley (Concern) €99,000 Barry Andrews (GOAL) €95,000 Jonathon Irwin (Jack and Jill Foundation) €89,616 Des Kenny (NCBI) €74,326 Rosamond Bennett (Christian Aid Ireland) €70,116 *as of 2013

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Ladies provide

Back-to-back 6 Nations success only the start for 2015

UCC with home-field success

Gregg Frost Sport Writer The 2015 RBS 6 Nations produced a spectacular final round of free ﬂowing rugby for the ages, culminating in Paul O’Connell lifting the trophy for a second successive year. This achievement lifted O’Connell, who was already viewed as a legend of Irish rugby, into the stratosphere of the world’s best, amongst the likes of Richie McCaw and Kieran Read. This was only the third time in the history of Irish rugby that an Ireland captain has won consecutive 6 Nations Championships, with Karl Mullen (1948 and 1949) and Ciaran Fitzgerald (1982 and 1985) joined by the 2015 Player of the Tournament. There is no question that the biggest improvement Joe Schmidt has made to the Ireland Rugby squad has been the installation of self-belief. The mentality of the players is completely different and you can hear this when they speak. Under Schmidt’s leadership, they go into every game expecting to win regardless of the opposition.

Shane Doyle Sport Writer

However if Ireland plan on being a serious threat in the upcoming World Cup, they will need to address a few issues. In the last number of years, with the rise of Conor Murray, we have seen an improvement with regard to box kicking but when we kick poorly, we tend to kick too far and hand the impetus to the opposition. We also need to improve our kick chase. This was very evident in the loss to Wales where, on far too many occasions, Sexton produced a Garryowen only for Leigh Halfpenny to pluck the ball out of the air unchallenged and put Wales back on the front foot.

Payne playing at outside centre for Ulster and Robbie Henshaw playing in the centre for Connacht. It would also be beneficial to see either Luke Fitzgerald or Keith Earls playing at centre for one of Ireland’s three warm up games before the World Cup.

It’s important that for the remainder of the Pro12 season that we see Jared

Roll on the World Cup and expect to reach the semi-finals!

However, on a historic weekend, a special mention must also go to the women’s team who won their second Championship in three years by humiliating Scotland by a score of 733. It wrapped up what was a fantastic weekend, not only for Irish rugby, but for the sport as a whole.

On a weekend in which UCC teams took away first, third and a spirit award, there is no doubt that the UCC dominion over ladies Ultimate is set to continue in to the future. The annual Ladies Intervarsities were held alongside the Open Developmentals tournament in The Farm on Saturday, March 21st, with 16 teams competed across the two divisions on what was one of the sunniest days one could wish for in springtime. In total, four teams wore the UCC colours, three in the ladies division and one stacked men’s developmental team. The day started on a high with both the first ladies team beating the thirds and the guys securing a tough win over NUIG. Next up were the seconds who faced forth seeds, UL. Despite going

three points down, they pulled it back and ended up winning by one, securing a guaranteed top-four finish. Just as the girls were finding their stride, the men’s team started to crumble, losing two consecutive matches against DCU and UCD, due to a mixture of bad luck and poor decision-making. The lads now faced a 5th/6th-place decider against DIT. After a tough match, DIT eventually pulled away and the open team lost the Developmental’s trophy for the first time in four years. Luckily it was not all bad news; the ladies were dominating their division, with the first team only conceding a single point all day and the seconds competing for third place against Trinity College. Although TCD put in a good performance, it wasn’t enough to stop a very fit UCC side coming out on top. With a third place finish guaranteed, the firsts came out gunning for the title in the final, in which they faced a strong UCD side. The girls once again showed why they are the best team in Ireland, winning the match outright, 13-1, in an extremely one-sided affair. The final two tournaments of the year are Ladies Developmentals, which will be held in the Mardyke Arena on April 11th, and Open Intervarsities in Santry on the same weekend.

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UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

A Greenland adventure Stephen Walsh Sport Editor Adam Pasik is a first year arts mature student in UCC, originally from Poland but now living in Deerpark. This summer the 25-year-old will engage in a trip of a lifetime, going to Greenland for the ‘North of Disko’ expedition, along with a group of Irish adventurers lead by the head of Killary Adventures Jamie Young. This entire trip will begin at the end of May and go all the way to August and will be covered by blog posts on the North of Disko website. Pasik, who outside of preparing for this trip, is a very active participant in a host of UCC clubs ranging from Canoeing to Climbing and even the martial arts sport Capoeira, where he is the current Club Captain: “I find the clubs very good to be around as they’re great fun to be involved with and there is always a good atmosphere.” He found out about the trip last year where he went to Connemara to meet up with a group of friends. A few days later he was out sailing in the Azores and Morocco for three months. This helped foster his interest in more challenging trips abroad: “I enjoyed my time sailing around the Azores and Morocco, even covering the Bay of Biscay, but I decided that I wanted a new challenge. After a period of time searching the net I found this trip and it appealed to me straight away. “I knew only the best went to Greenland and this was going to be an adventure that would push me to the limit, while being enjoyable at the same time.” Growing up as a youngster, Greenland was a place that always fascinated Pasik, as he explains, “To visit Greenland has always been a dream of mine; northern lights, whales, polar

bears, icebergs and isolated settlements in amazing scenery just like reading a Jack London tale. I always imagined myself sailing around the icebergs up there but I wasn’t sure how to make it a reality.” Busily preparing for the trip which is less than eight weeks, Pasik is doing as many courses as he can before departing in order to build up skills for the trip: “I’m currently acquiring qualifications to drive powerboats, operate VHF radio and renewing my first aid certificate. Of course maps need to be sourced, and food and equipment lists written up, while also seeking sponsorship to help pay for this trip.”

“I knew only the best went to Greenland and this was going to be an adventure that would push me to the limit.” The expedition will depart the west of Ireland for Greenland in May, taking three months to complete. “The aim of this expedition is to tread lightly on the environment and leave no trace of our passage, except enduring friendships with local communities in Greenland. The expedition hopes to explore the ice-cap with a new innovation, the kite buggy, along with sea-kayaking, hiking, underwater photography and film making during the adventure. We will visit many fjords throughout our trip and hopefully I will have a lot of good memories for when I go back to college next September.”

Archery Club helping final year students Shane Lordan reﬂects on the Club’s interaction with final-year projects. This year the UCC Archery Club wanted to get more involved with final year projects that had a physical aspect to their study. The Club got in contact with the Department of Physiology and were put in touch with two final year students, Kieran Moynihan and Daniel Foran. They were investigating the effects of a beetroot juice supplement on a person’s breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and cardio-respiratory responses to various challenges. Final year physiology students in UCC have had a notable track record in carrying out ground-breaking research into nutrition and food supplementation, a standard Moynihan and Foran proudly stepped up to meet. To help with this, the young scientists were looking for volunteers to participate in a two-week-long study by taking daily doses of their carefullycrafted cordial. This would be followed by exercise tests to assess the subjects’ cardiovascular responses and determine any improvement. Student

participation is vital for these kinds of studies, as investigators require a good number of participants from various backgrounds. So, always game to lend a helping hand, our archers weren’t shy about trying something that might turn the stomachs of many! Each volunteer was given an overview of the project, its aims and the trial procedure. They were given a week’s worth of beetroot supplement and asked to consume one portion each day. Like all quality scientific studies, there was a control dose and the archery squad members were not aware if they were consuming the super-nutritious beetroot extract on the first week or if they were being subjected to the control. Upon finishing each week, they would return to the lab for their first exercise test and a week’s batch of the opposite supplement. The physical test consisted of three parts: first, a simple monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory output (using a sophisticated

gaseous analysis machine) when the volunteer was lying at rest on a bed in the darkened lab. This allowed the researchers to get a good baseline for each of the volunteers and ensure accurate scientific comparison between the different types of people in the study. Following this, the volunteer was asked to sit up on the bed and remain in a restful position for a similar period of time before hopping onto an exercise bike. The final stage of the analysis was to raise the volunteer’s heart rate by about 70% of their resting rate and maintain this for 20 minutes while cycling. At the end of the two weeks, several of our members reported an increase in energy, sounder sleep, and increased cardiovascular capacity – which was reﬂected in the exercise tests carried out. It seems that the humble beetroot has a lot more to offer than you might think. So keep an eye out for this miracle munchie, and remember that you heard it first here!

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Mochta’s progress after 210 minutes and 12 penalties St Mochta’s 0 St Mochta’s win 5-4 on pens Brian Sheridan Sport Writer There was very little to separate UCC and St Mochta’s in the quarter-final replay of the FAI Intermediate Cup, as another stalemate was followed by success on penalties for the Dubliners. Mochta’s had come to Cork two weeks ago with a big following and hope of becoming the fourth Leinster Senior League club to make it through to the last-four. However, in a game played in very difficult conditions, both teams lived to fight another day following a scoreless draw. In the replay at Porterstown Road both teams were within 180 minutes of walking out at the Aviva Stadium, so there was much to play for. As is often the case in the final stages of a tournament, chances were hard to come by and both defences were getting the better of the battle. On the whole, a draw was a fair result and both teams got ready for an extra

UCC 0 AET 30 minutes. The game continued to be very tight and the first clear-cut chance came from a very controversial penalty, which was awarded in the first period of extra-time against UCC. However the game was to have another twist as Charlie Bourneman made a great stop from David Somers to keep the game scoreless. The game then moved towards the inevitable penalty shoot-out. It is never the best way to decide a game but it was the only way to separate UCC and St Mochta’s. Charlie Bourneman would play a starring role in the penalty shoot-out, getting UCC off to a great start when he saved the first of the Mochta’s penalty kicks. This was followed by four successful kicks in a row by UCC before Mochta’s drew level when the last of the five UCC penalties was saved. There was to be one more kick for each team as St Mochta’s confidently dispatched their sixth penalty before Warren Fee made a great stop to send UCC out of the Cup. St Mochta’s: Warren Fee; Brian Kelly, Brian Fitzpatrick, Craig Sheridan, Luke Harrison, Stephen Deegan,

OUT FOR A DUCK: Cathal Lordan gets above his Mochta's counterpart during a second 0-0 draw. Carl Somers, Martin O’Neill, David Somers, Jordan Lancaster, John Reilly. Subs: Glen Crowe for O’Neill (72), John Lyons for Lancaster (72), Gavin Smith for C Somers (114).

UCC: Charlie Bourneman; Andy Gannon, Cian Murphy, Sean O’Mahony, Cian Hill, Jason Abbott, Brian Murphy, Cathal Lordan, Calvin O’Callaghan, Sean O’Callaghan, Conor Barry.

Subs: Ian Mylod for Barry (76), Jeremy Bridgeman for O’Mahony (118).

The Calendar Clash Brian Sheridan investigates the crowded diary for young GAA players this spring. There is a serious issue with the number and timing of the various GAA football competitions. Many run at the same time with the result that players, or more often managers, have to decide when and in which competition they will play. Over the course of the last three months, we have seen at least five competitions take place. On the second last weekend of a cold February, the Sigerson Cup came to a conclusion in Cork. This was a weekend which saw the semi-finals and final of the tournament ran off in two days and was the finale of several weeks of matches which began on January 27th. At the same time, counties were playing a variety of competitions such as the FBD League, the O’Byrne Cup, the McGrath Cup and the Dr McKenna Cup, all of which ran throughout January. At the same time, the Allianz Football Leagues started on January 31st. Meanwhile several teams were still involved in the All-Ireland Club Championship, not to mention the U21 provincial championships which have been running over the last month and which will reach a conclusion over the next two weekends. If it were the case that each competition catered for a different set of players, then there would be no problem. Yet that is not the case. Niall Kelly of Kildare, for example, has played Allianz League, O’Byrne Cup, U21 Leinster and Sigerson Cups in the past months. Where is the sense in this? To take an example nearer to home, UCC reached

Image by: Marc Moylan the final of the McGrath Cup where they played Waterford on January 24th before playing Cork IT in the first round of the Sigerson on January 27th. As a result they rested a number of players for the final of the McGrath Cup, which they subsequently lost giving Waterford their first victory in the competition in over 30 years. Meanwhile Fearghal McNamara couldn’t play a Sigerson quarter-final for UCC due to club commitments with Austin Stacks in the AllIreland Club semi-final. All of this raises a number of questions, starting with the purpose of these tournaments. What benefit do Waterford get from beating a weakened UCC? Kildare played two college teams in the O’Byrne Cup and won both without breaking into a sweat. Kildare gain nothing from the exercise while DCU and UCD use it to warm up for the Sigerson. The GAA needs to figure what is the purpose of these tournaments and schedule the fixtures accordingly. In particular, the GAA need to realise that the Sigerson is one of the most important tournaments in their calendar. It is a chance to see top quality GAA played at a very competitive level. It is also played by students who have the opportunity to prepare for the competitions and who are committed to the cause of their colleges. Hopefully, in future years and in tandem with a general reorganisation of the calendar, the Sigerson will be given a prime spot and the GAA public will all be able to enjoy the spectacle.

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UCC EXPRESS | Tuesday, March 31st 2015

Demons create treble basketball history C&S UCC Demons 85 Ross O’Donoghue Sport Writer C&S UCC Demons created history in Irish basketball by becoming the first side ever to remain undefeated for an entire season. The Cork side claimed the end-of-season Champions’ Trophy on Sunday to add to their League and Cup haul in a campaign that saw them win 24 games in a row. In a thrilling finale in Galway, Demons saw off Templeogue by 12 points. Templeogue looked to spoil the party and it was a cagey opening to the game as Conor Grace and Ciaran O’Sullivan traded three-pointers before Isaac Gordon gave Templeogue a lead they took all the way to the end of the quarter. Much of the second quarter was dictated by turnovers as Demons stole the ball five times in six minutes to open up an 11-point lead. There was guile too as Lehmon Colbert used Colin O’Reilly as a decoy to turn and take a clear route to basket. Templeogue responded through Baolach Morrison and Conor Grace but there was still four points between the sides at half time. Templeogue’s aggressive man-toman defence prevented Demons from

Digest

Black Amber Templeogue 73 slinging the ball around after the restart. It was costing them in personal fouls as the Dubliners backed off Kyle Hosford went coast to coast for an eight-point lead. It got worse for Mark Keenan’s side when Niall O’Reilly drained a triple to beat the buzzer to end the third quarter.

“Everyone questioned if we’d have the character in the tight games.”

Templeogue boast some of the best ‘above the rim’ players in the league and the crowd exploded when Lorcan Murphy nailed a reverse dunk and Isaac Gordon followed up with a onehanded jam. There was a point between the sides when Conor Grace dropped a three with four minutes left. “Everyone questioned if we’d have the character in the tight games,” said

Basketball Men’s Champions’ Trophy Semi-final: C&S UCC Demons 73 Killester 71 (Lehmon Colbert 21, Colin O’Reilly 14, Kyle Hosford 13); Final: C&S UCC Demons 85 Black Amber Templeogue 73 (Colin O’Reilly 25, Lehmon Colbert 23, Kyle Hosford 14). Gaelic Football Cork County Senior Football Championship 1st round: Wed 8th Apr: Carbery vs UCC @ 7pm in Macroom. Hockey (Mens) Irish Hockey League Pool A: Cookstown 3 UCC 2 (Peter Catchpole, Wesley Brownlow). Hockey (Ladies) Munster League Division 1: UCC 1 Church of Ireland 1 (AmyKate Trevor); Harlequins 1 UCC 0. Munster Senior Plate Final: UCC 1 Bandon 0 (Holly Lehane). Hurling Cork County Senior Hurling Championship 1st round: Wed 15th Apr: UCC vs CIT @ 7pm in Páirc Uí Rinn. Ladies Football O’Connor Cup Semi-final: UCC 1-15 DCU 2-16. Rugby (Mens) Ulster Bank League Division 2A: City of Derry 20 UCC 21 (Cillian Ansbobo 2 tries; Brian Vaughan try; Kevin Kidney 3 cons); Sat 11th Apr: UCC vs Blackrock College @ 2.30pm in the Mardyke. Soccer (Mens) FAI Intermediate Cup Quarter-final Replay: St Mochta’s 0 UCC 0 AET, St Mochta’s won 5-4 on pens. Munster Senior League Premier Division: St Mary’s L UCC L; Thu 2nd Apr: Castleview vs UCC @ 8pm in O’Sullivan Park. EA Sports Cup 2nd round: Tue 7th Apr: UCC vs Cobh Ramblers @ 8pm in the Mardyke.

TROPHY HUNTERS: Demons have now won all three national trophies. Colin O’Reilly. “Everyone put it up to use this weekend. We proved a few doubters wrong.” Demons responded with an 11-0 run from four different players. It was the perfect end to a perfect season. Demons had previously come through their toughest test of the season to squeeze past Killester in Saturday’s semi-final. Killester looked the more potent side for most of the game but two contributions from Colbert proved telling - The first was a buzzer beater from 55 feet that put Demons back in front when Killester looked on top; the second was a last second tip in that

UCC win Intermediate Hurling title Muiris de Paor Sport Writer UCC Intermediate hurlers had an impressive victory in the All-Ireland Third Level Colleges Intermediate final last week as they defeated IT Carlow in the final. Played in Fraher Field in Dungarvan, UCC opened in style as a succession of points scored by Jamie Nagle and Cian Spriggs, and a fine Brendan Phelan goal helped College in to a 1-8 to 0-2 lead at half-time. Aided by strong play from Alan Gould, who converted some excellent long range points from frees, UCC never let the Carlow team back in to the game in the second half. Some outstanding defensive play by Diarmuid Lester and Shane Hegarty thwarted the IT Carlow attack and the contributions of Barry O’Sullivan and Frank Melody ensured that College always held the upper hand. Coach Martin ‘Gatchy’ Walsh was very satisfied at the final whistle as his team showed a high variety of skill to capture the title, by a scoreline of 2-17 to 0-7. Afterwards the cup was presented to the winning captain and team goalkeeper, PJ Hall by Michael Hyland of Comhairle ArdOideachais. UCC (Cork unless stated): PJ Hall (Limerick); Shane Hegarthy, Diarmuid Lester, Alan Bell; Kieran Morrison, Alan Gould, Rickard Cahalane; Daniel Nyhan, Niall Motherway; John Morrissey, Jamie Nagle, Brendan Phelan (Waterford); Frank Melody (Clare), Cian Spriggs, Barry O’Sullivan (Waterford).

gave the Cork side the win in a gripping encounter. “We missed two free throws and they made that three so it was a five point swing,” said Killester Coach Jonathan Grennell of Colbert’s third quarter show-stopper. “He’s been the best player all year and the difference in the game. “We’ve been preparing for this game for four weeks because we’d nothing to play for in the league. It was good that we were able to execute to a certain extent. They’re champions for a reason though. They kept playing till the end, dealt with the pressure and came up

with a big play.” Black Amber Templeogue: Isaac Gordon, Conor Grace, Stephen James, Baolach Morrison, Jason Killeen. Interchange: Ronan McLoughlin, Shane Homan, Lorcan Murphy, Eoghain Kiernan. C&S UCC Demons: Adrian O’Sullivan, Kyle Hosford, Lehmon Colbert, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Colin O’Reilly. Interchange: Shane Coughlan, Niall O’Reilly, Niall Murphy.

UCC

SPORT

Tuesday, March 31st 2015 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 18 | Issue 13

Academicals complete collection of college cups

POT LUCK: Jordan Philpott receives the Crowley Cup from Terry McAuley (IUFU), alongside Liam Corbett of the UCC management.

UCC Academicals 1 John Hudson Sport Writer UCC completed a clean sweep of this season’s Irish Universities cup competitions when their Academicals side edged out Queen’s University by a single goal in a closely fought final tie to take the Crowley Cup at DCU Sports Complex. The narrow victory means that UCC can add the Crowley to the Harding and Collingwood Cups which they had captured over the past two months. This unique achievement has only ever been achieved by one other college, with UCD the others to claim a clean sweep of all three university trophies in recent years. The Academicals were the Cork university’s second entry in the cup and they excelled in the three days of the competition with wins over Maynooth University and UL on their way to the final. However the lone goal that proved to be the decisive score for UCC

Queen’s University 0 was one that Queens’s full back Robin Renwick will certainly want to quickly forget. It came five minutes into the game when dangerous Queen’s attacker Conor Campbell appeared to be fouled just inside the UCC area as he was about to fire in a shot. Referee James Keating waved away the strong penalty claims and the ball was cleared into the Queen’s half. Renwick collected it and, under no pressure, turned to face his own goal and then fired in what appeared to be a ill-judged back pass to his ‘keeper Sam Jones from all of 40 yards. The full-back got far too much power on his effort and, with Jones off his line and keeping an eye on the advancing UCC striker Arno Tchoubane, the ball sailed high over the goalie’s head and dropped into the unguarded net. Queen’s were stunned by this totally unexpected setback and struggled from then on to hit anything like the form they had shown on their way to the final. Renwick overcame his embarrassment,

went on to give a solid display and kept the UCC danger man Jordan Philpott well under wraps for the remainder of the game. UCC skipper Philpott, a former Blackburn Rovers trainee and underage international, tried to improve on the UCC total but was unable to get the better of the Queen’s defender. All he could muster was a couple of efforts that went the wrong side of Jones’s post. Queen’s were having difficulty dealing with Tchoubane in his role as a lone striker but, for all his running and closing down, he too failed to test Jones. At the other end Patrick Stuart forced a brilliant stop from goalkeeper Diarmuid Long with a 25-yard free and Eoghan Maguire hit two drives that were easily dealt with by Long. Queen’s came close to an equaliser midway into the second half but Eduardo Novella’s free kick was headed clear by Tadgh O’Mahony and, with time nearly finished, Queen’s had a goal disallowed. The Northerners did have the ball in the Cork net from another free kick but referee Keating ruled the score out as he hadn’t blown for the free kick to be taken.

UCC held on and went on to complete a famous cup treble. That string of results can even be built upon even more as the Senior side face into an EA Sports Cup second round tie with Airtricity League First Division outfit, Cobh Ramblers next Tuesday in the Mardyke.

Inside Sport Page 22

It is the furthest the university has ever progressed in the national competition. Queen’s University: Sam Jones; Robin Renwick, Eoin Watts, Ed Parker, Conor O’Toole; Eduardo Novella, Eoghan Maguire, Patrick Stuart, David Kennedy; Conor Campbell, Jason McDermott. Subs: Hugh Maguire for Parker and Niall Boyd for Campbell (46), Jack Meegan for Kennedy (68), Niall McCourt for Meegan (80). UCC Academicals: Diamuid Long; Rory O’Leary, Dan Coffey, Daithi Curtin, Killian Murphy; David Hooley, Conor O’Reilly, Brian Nolan, Tadgh O’Mahony, Jordan Philpott; Arno Tchoubane. Sub: Gonaglo Vidal for O’Reilly (88).

MOCK TRIAL: St Mochta’s eliminated UCC from the FAI Intermediate Cup quarter-finals, after their replay was decided by penalties.