Quick update and officer report

I have been neglecting this blog recently, I plan to change this in the next couple of weeks. The primary reason for this is simply because I have been so damn busy since just before Xmas.
My final year lab project went on far longer than anticipated and the write up took away a LOT more of my time that I thought it was. Tis very difficult being a final year science student and a Union Officer at the same time. Hell of a workload.

I have a few Officer reports I want to put up here, there are two SU Councils this month, I had a report for both. Just tried to download the early January one but the file is corrupt. Guess I will wait for it to appear on the SU webpage then copy from there.

Here is the latest one anyway;
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Officer report, end January 2012-01-24                  Will O’Brien Equality Officer

Since the last class reps I have been busy with the following

• ·         Chasing up the buildings department regarding the new lift outside the library.
  It is faulty, of terrible quality and the maintenance contract is for 48 hours which is unacceptable.
  I am trying to get buildings to outsource the contract to a more reliable provider who can guarantee a 24 hour fixing period.  I am making this a priority for the next month.
  
• ·         Started planning and making a short documentary about students in NUI Galway who are living with disability to demonstrate the everyday difficulties faced by these students
  
• ·         Helped organise an open forum with FEE for the discussion of  tuition fees and to build a campaign against rises to fees.

• ·         Started organising another documentary featuring students/ex-students of NUIG who have been either forced to drop out or are likely to drop out because they cannot afford to pay their fees.
  
• ·         Attempting several times to put motions to class reps to clarify they position the students want to take on fees and how to go about combating them so that the Union can act collectivly and with coherence.
  
• ·         Met with GiG Soc and the regional action group of LGBT Diversity. This is to try and strengthen ties between local LGBT support groups and GiG Soc to as to maximise the effectiveness of LGBT Support groups in Galway city and to build new relations between campus organisations and local ones. There will be a monthly meeting like this for the rest of the year.
  
• ·         Guest speaker at a Lit&Deb debate in opposition of the motion “This house believes that civil disobedience is not the answer to Ireland’s problems
  
• ·         On the 2^nd of Feb I will be representing NUIG SU at a debate organised by the Irish Feminist Network on the topic of Slut walks.
  
• ·         In order to combat the lack of attendance at SU Council I set a target for the Education Officer and the 4 convenors to make sure that at least 100 reps attend the next council. I outlined the importance of means of communication other than emails as they have shown thus far to be of little effect.
  
• ·         Have offered a number of suggestions and positive criticisms to the Exec Officers whose duties it is to organise class reps to improve the running of the council.
  
• ·         Investigating a report of racist comments posted on Twitter by a NUI Galway student
  
• ·         Nominated myself as a SU Rep to sit on the planning board for Green Week (13-17^th Feb)
  
• ·         Working on a number of projects for Green Week including an opportunity for postgraduate students to display and talk about work they are doing currently on campus with regard to green technologies and climate change.
  
• ·         Pushed to get Exec meeting minutes published and up to date on the SU website, emphasis on accountability from the Exec.
  
• ·         Given out 250 donor cards so far as part of my campaign initiated earlier this month.

This is since my last report which was about 2 weeks ago, I have been very busy!
More updates soon I promise!

No Platform for Fascists ¡No pasarán! (SU Council)

SU Council.
Monday this week saw a very interesting SU Council. I put forward 2 motions to the Council to vote on and I am delighted that both of them passed!

We had "No Platform for Fascists" and a statement of support and solidarity from the SU with #Occupy Galway who I am very surprised I've not written a post here about yet. I think both of these are brilliant results and shows that the students here in NUIG are becoming more and more active in their attitudes to bettering society. It's great to see a student union taking a stance on things like this.

The motion is as follows:

That the the Students' Union and its officers be mandated to automatically oppose any invitation made to members of the listed organisations to speak at this university.

That SU Officers shall be prohibited from sharing a public platform with members of the listed organisations.

That organisations are able to be added and removed by ballot at SU council. Proposals will be submitted by class reps or executive officers.

The list of organisations under the No Platform Policy shall be reserved for organisations that are deemed to be fascist and/or racist by the SU council.

Organisations that currently fall under the No Platform policy are as follows.

BNP
Combat 18
Hizb ut-Tahrir
MPAC UK
MPAC Ireland
The National Front
Democratic Right Movement
MPAC Ireland
National Front parties from other EU countries and beyond
The Racial Volunteer Force
Blood and Honour
British Movement/British National Socialist Movement
Column 88.

What total win!
I'm delighted by this, obviously racism is something I have a slight problem with and I am really proud of this motion, I consider it a personal achievement :) After Trinity last month there is a very clear message being send out in Ireland that racism will simply not be tolerated in out universities.


I am working on a statement to send out to the media about occupy. Will post it up here when it's done. :)

There was also a vote on officer reports whether they should or should not be given.
It was decided that officers have the option to give a 2 min report. This is also flavoured of win, it's good that officers get to answer to the SU Council, I want to be accountable to people who voted for me, it's the least I can do.
This whole argument of emailling out officer reports just has no weight to it, I don't properly read half the emails I get, no one does. And at the end of the day nothing beats good old questions and answers from your reps and this should be encouraged.

End of month report, October

End of Month report                      October                               Will O’Brien Equality Officer

Successful from lobbying the City Council regarding the poor state of the pavements surrounding the University Campus, particularly Distillery road.
I received a letter from the Senior Engineer saying that the council has made an application to the Department of Transport for funding to undertake an “overall improvement project on Distillery road”. The decision for funding will be made in spring of next year.
Between now and then I will be lobbying the Department of Transport to further push the case to maximise access to the university via public infrastructure.

Equality week. Many events throughout the week, very well received. Full event schedule was available at the time.
Slutwalk – Huge media attention and money raised.
Natty Wailler gig and Jungle Boogie.  Bringing music onto campus. Also working with DJ soc and Rock to get more student/socs events on campus/ in College Bar.

I attended FEE national conference and formulated protest plan to compliment the USI’s strategy.
Organising an open education forum for students to come and give their opinions on fees and possible strategies to resist them.
Worked on increasing transparency within the SU when it comes to issues regarding USI our national representative union.

I took part in a well coordinated campaign with students from TCD and elsewhere to have an invitation to Nick Griffin to speak at TCD on the issue of immigration. Nick Griffin is head of the BNP, a far right extremist party with a long history of racially motivated violence and a clear racist agenda.
Through a massive letter writing campaign and gaining the support of many influential groups and individuals we managed to get the event cancelled, thus keepings racism out of Irish universities.
A bus was organised for NUIG students to travel up to TCD to protest by thankfully wasn’t needed.

I have been working on a no platform policy for the SU to be put to class reps with regards to far right groups who practice the politics of hate, e.g. BNP, DRM, national fronts etc.
This will allow no SU officer from engaging gin public debate with a group deemed racist or fascist by the SU Council. This will also insist that the Exec oppose any moves by societies or individuals from inviting people from fascist or racist organisations to speak at the college.

I have also been taking part in the #Occupy protests in both Dublin and Galway on a regular basis and am currently working on a statement of solidarity with the movement from the SU.

I formed part of the committee responsible for organising the 1 day festival to replace RAG week.
I hope to use all of my experience, contacts and resources to ensure that this will be the best event to take place in NUIG ever.
This is a huge commitment and project and I will have much more details in next month’s report.

I have lobbied hard in favour of SU officers having to give reports on their work at class reps council.
In the interest of democratic transparency and accountability I think that officers engaging with students is absolutely essential. I want to be held to account for everything I do and welcome criticism and suggestions so that I may represent the students of NUIG to the absolute best of my ability.  This is only possible through regular engagement with class reps and various officer have no opportunity to do this currently.

Have to the best of my ability ensured that class reps council meeting ballots are executed strictly according to the SU constitution where various other officers have attempted to do otherwise.
The SU constitution is very important and must be adhered to especially during democratic processes and cannot be allowed to be subverted for the sake of simplifying balloting.

Attended USI activist training.
At this weekend I approached every USI officer and spoke to them about changing their public stance on the registration fee in the national campaign.
The proposed slogan for their protests this year is “freeze the fees, save the grant”.
I do not believe this is representative of students as many are being forced into serious financial difficulty because of the rises of the fee in the past few years.
In demanding a freeze in the fee, the USI were accepting the level it is at currently which is already acting as a barrier to education for those from working class families.
The USI should be campaigning for a reduction in the reg fee as this is more representative of students and in the interest of students. The current stance clearly indicates that USI are supporting a €2000 reg fee which is not acceptable.
Since speaking in person to the USI officers in Dublin and emailing them repeatedly the campaign slogan has since been changed to “Stop the fees, save the grant”.
I think this is much more representative of the student body as a whole and happy that USI took on my suggestions.

Nick Griffin's invitation to speak at TCD was revoked last week. This is fantastic news for Ireland who in the midst of a recession cannot afford to allow far right racist idealogies to be given any credit or lent any legitimate platforms. The group Trinity Against Fascism of whom I was a member issued the following statement. "Trinity Against Fascism opposed a platform being given to Nick Griffin and the organised racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and other forms of hatred he represents. We did not see Nick Griffin’s invitation as a free speech issue. Nick Griffin is free to travel to Ireland and to speak whenever or wherever he wants. The invitation for him to speak in a prestigious institution goes far beyond his right to free speech. It gave him a platform to use in the spread of organised hatred in Ireland. Gaining platforms in prestigious institutions is an established tactic of the far-right. They do not do it to sway the opinion of students. Nick Griffin is on-the-record as saying that “well-directed boots and fists” are of more importance than “rational debate” in the pursuit of his ideology. The BNP try to gain these platforms for two reasons. Firstly, to gain legitimacy for their hateful ideology. They want to associate themselves with institutions of standing, like Trinity College and The Phil, and thereby gain credibility. Through their invitation to The Phil they also sought to bring their ideas into the mainstream of the Irish debate on immigration. Immigration is a serious issue – playing an important role in economic and social policy. The BNP hope to insert into the conversation demagoguery and ‘white nationalism’, thereby distorting or destroying serious debate. Their second intention was to give encouragement to hateful and potentially violent racists in Irish society. They want these racists to sow division in our communities along racial, ethnic and national lines. They also want these racists to organise, as demonstrated by their previous association with the failed Irish National Party. The consequences of encouragement to Irish racists cannot be known. Nor can the effects of their organisation. In Britain organised racism has led to hate campaigns and violence. What is certain is that these consequences and effects would be felt by the most vulnerable and marginalised in Irish society. Trinity Against Fascism also asked was the invitation worth its potential consequences. The direct consequences were that someone would get hurt on the night. Evidence from forums demonstrated that far-right groups were organising to attend. Large protests were being co-ordinated also. This posed a risk to Trinity students and staff, minority and migrant groups and any of those invovled in security. The indirect consequences are less obvious. But our call to withdraw the invitation was endorsed by leading Irish anti-racist groups and civic organisations on the grounds that it was likely to contribute to the development of hateful racism in Irish society. We should be very clear about this: the result of an organised racist element in Irish society is real thugs making real people’s lives hell. It is the firework through the letterbox, the assault outside a pub or the hate call in the middle of the night to an immigrant family. These consequences would fall to people in much more vulnerable positions than the vast majority of Trinity students. We stand by our campaign. It broke no rules and resisted any engagement in personal animosities. It stood up for Ireland’s and Trinity's migrant and minority community. It opposed the use of our college as a hub for hate. We thank The Philosophical Society for the withdrawal of their invitation. We feel that it is a responsible course of action." :) Forward the revolution Peace and progress

Reply from the council

Well, after a few months of persistance I have finally seen some progess from the city council with regard to the paths, roads and kerbs around th ecollege that are completely inaccessible to the mobility impaired. I have posted up some of my previous letters on this blog and have finally received a responce form the Senior Engineer Billy Dunne who has informed me that the council have applied for a grant to completely renovate the area surrounding Distillery road and that he expects work to commence in March of next year. While this is a long time frame this is a fantastic result and I will look forward to seeing some progress in tis area. Bit by bit I can see this campus and its surrounding environs improve when it comes to the issue of access. I consider this a small victory for myself as access was one of the main points I made for my manifesto when I ran for this position along with the promise of bringing more music to campus which I am engaging in bigtime. Forward the revolution!

RIP RAG week

So it is decided. With 95% of class reps voting in favour of the RAG week replacement deal made with the University management I have to say I feel very pleased with the maturity of class reps. I was very worried we would see a block of people running for class reps for the sole purpose of voting down the deal. I have mixed feelings on the issue and the election in general. While I am no fan of public drunkeness and disorderly conduct I do feel that there could have been a lot done by the SU and the University in previous years to prevent the problem than RAG week became. To me it is apparent that the trouble associated with RAG week was a direct result of the lack of entertainment opportunities provided during this week to occupy students. I firmly believe that is a lot more effort went into the planning of the week in previous years we would have seen a lot less trouble. I am also very excited by the possibilities presented by the RAG week replacement 1 day festival. I think this has unlimited potential and could easily become one of the biggest music event in the west of Ireland next year. As part of the organisational commitee and the only one with significant experience, contacts and resources for organising festivals and events I feel I have a heel of a lot to offer that willl make previous RAG weeks pale in significance. We are already looking at using Fisheries Field as the venue which hosted the Galway Arts festival and are considering having 2 stages set up, one live stage and one dance stage. We are hoping to recreate a mini campus Oxygen or Electric picnic type event with sponsorship and hopefull attract some big acts. I am already pressing booking agents in the UK I have worked with previously for some major acts that will be touring around the projected time of the event and am excited as to the possibilities that are before us. Unfortunately I can't give away any details until we know exactly what our budget is and what we can work on but I would be very surprised if we didn;t attract some major DJs and bands for this. We have decided to run the event on a not for profit basis so this allows us to offer very competative ticket prices, especially if we gain good sponsors. More details are the unfold and watch this space :)

Equality week

Equality week, thus far has been a huge success. What has taken me so much time planning and worrying about seems to be going very well. The final line up for the week was as follows: Monday GiG Soc film screening – Milk 1pm – 3pm Large acoustic room The Kids aren’t alright 4pm Large Acoustic room Tuesday: GiG Soc film screening – 12.30 – 14.30 Brokeback Mountain in The Space FemSoc stormabout GiG Soc film screening – 15.30 – 17.30 Philadelphia in the Space GiG Soc film screenings 13.30 – 15.30 Swap shop event all day in Aras na Macleinn – Table set up, bring stuff to leave and take stuff you want!  Wednesday: Natty Wailer, FREE gig in college bar! Natty Wailer of Bob Marley and the Wailers! 9pm- 11.30 Equality parade 12pm Slutwalk 1pm Thursday: Same sex marriages, all day in Aras Na MacLeinn Brian Arkins – Lecture on Homosexuality in Ancient Greece (Classics soc) Lecture on Atheism and persecution in Ireland (Skeptic soc) TBC Blackboard Jungle free gig in college bar. Friday: Marriage Equality Lecture – Guest speaker – GiG Soc. TBC Throughout the week there was in place an open soap box for people to use to speak on any topic they wished. I myself used it a few times for various poetry recitals that were welcomed by many. Last night's gig in the College Bar was absolutely fantastic! Natty Wailler and the Reggae Vibes were electric from beginning to the end of the performance with greata crowd interaction and kept their set very relevent to the equality theme. Myself I was providing the front of house soundsystem with Sound System Solutions, which sounded fantastic, and spent the gig behind the sound desk which is exactly where I want to be all the time. There was a great crowd and smiles all round througout the evening. I have to say, in my experience that this was the best event I have ever seen in the college bar and I have had people who have been at NUI Galway a lot longer than I who told me the same. I feel very proud to have been a part of this magical evening. FEE Galway even got a shoutout from the man himself! In other news myself and Senan MacAoide were married today bytthe GiG Soc marriages overseen by Minister Royce. I am sure that the two of us will be very happy together. Right now I have to finish up, need to meet a guy with a soundsystem and some DJs and set up another stage for Blackboard Jungle in the college bar which starts at 9pm tonight.