And this… #TakeBackTrinity pic.twitter.com/WRCxcY6S4O
— Ian Curran (@coodana) March 14, 2018
Latest reports from the #OccupyTCD: Students have been locked inside the Dining Hall. Access to toilets, water and food has been cut off. #TakeBackTrinity
— TCD Students’ Union (@tcdsu) March 14, 2018
Last night.
At Trinity College Dublin.
Students continued their protest against a €450 supplemental exam fee in the exam hall (above) while other students continued their occupation of the Dining Hall.
Those occupying the Dining Hall were locked in for a time last night, while up to 40 people are reported to have slept a second night in the hall.
TCD Students’ Union – who will be holding a rally and open-air concert in the front square of the college from 1pm today – write:
Together, we blocked the Book of Kells, we shut down Front Arch, and we occupied the Dining Hall. College interrupted their negotiations with us during our peaceful occupation, on our day of teach-ins, to lock us in. They blocked our access to food, blocked our toilet access, and only let us use the toilet again once we had rallied to temporarily occupy the Exam Hall.
Enough is enough.
We are simply asking that the welfare of students and staff in Trinity be put first. Join us for a rally and concert at 1pm, Thursday 15th March in support of those inside the Dining Hall and in support of our three asks:
1) No supplemental fees
2) No rent increases
3) No more increases of postgraduate and international student fees.This was a shameless escalation in the middle of negotiations and in total bad faith.
Meanwhile…
Last night, Trinity’s provost Patrick Prendergast, who is currently in Boston, tweeted the following…
Agreed with @tcdsu & @trinityGSU that we will seriously consider alternative proposals on supplemental exam fees, modular billing & PG/Non-EU fees at the next Board meeting, and that Trinity is a university that belongs to all of us who study and work here #TakeBackTrinity
— Patrick Prendergast (@pjprendergast) March 14, 2018
His tweet prompted this response…
Hi Patrick, why did your Comms department direct staff to delete students’ “negative comments” from social media? Seems incompatible with your previous stance on Freedom of Speech. pic.twitter.com/MHW1eTrwP9
— Stewdent (@stewdenttcd) March 14, 2018
Anyone?
Pic and video: Ian Curran
UPDATE:
#TakeBackTrinity pic.twitter.com/eKhHeQPU1p
— Hayley Halpin (@HayleyHalpin1) March 15, 2018
The occupation has ended.
It follows the comments made Trinity’s Provost Patrick Prendergast last night (above).
The Irish Examiner reports:
Sarah Meehan from the Take Back Trinity Campaign says these comments are not enough.
She said: “We are continuing with our direct action plan for the rest of the day, we are holding a rally and are encouraging all students to go.
“We feel it is enough to end the occupation, we have been here two days, people are getting tired“.
Students end their occupation at Trinity but say this isn’t the end of their fight (Irish Examiner)