February 2000 - announce-su@lists.redbrick.dcu.ie

Union Council Tuesday 29th of February
by suvp＠ccmail.dcu.ie 28 Feb '00

28 Feb '00

Folks, Union Council rears its ugly head again tomorrow in XG20 at 6pm and we will be Dáibhíless. Paul Sheehan, the Director of Library Services will be coming in to give a brief presentation regarding the new Library and he will also be looking for feedback in relation to the library service in general -good and bad! I will be looking for feedback on Rag week - again the good and the bad points. I will also be presenting the nurses situation - the only undergraduate course in the state not to have their fees paid for them. We will also be presenting the new and improved constitution that has been re written. So I'll see ye all tomorrow. Shane

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Various Bits and Bobs
by SUPRES 24 Feb '00

24 Feb '00

A chairde, No sooner do the Rag Week hangovers wear off than we are in to election time. Nominations for all the Students Union positions are now open. There are two full-time positions - President and Vice President / Education Officer; and six part-time positions - Clubs & Societies Officer, Rights Officer, Welfare Officer, Services Officer, Women's Rights Officer and PRO / Secretary. NOMINATIONS FOR THESE POSITIONS WILL CLOSE ON WEDNESDAY 15th MARCH AT 5PM. Nomination forms are available from outside the SU Offices and should be left in the appropriate envelope or given to Brendan Lawless (Returning Officer), Shane Derby or I. Yes you should run for election. It is a great experience, you will learn alot, you will have great craic and you will be able to get worthwhile things done. Yes first years can run. In fact 2nd year is probably the best year to spend doing a part-time position - in your final year you'll be quite busy doing exams etc and in third year you may have INTRA to do. You don't have to be a class rep to run for election - many of the best SU officers had absolutely nothing to do with the Union before they ran for election. You should have a good idea of what goes on in the college if you want to run for President though. You don't have to know everyone - you will have 2-3 weeks of a campaign during which you can go into classes, put up posters, write in An Tarbh and let people know who you are and what you stand for. The elections will take place on Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th March. We will be running a referendum in tandem with a referendum for a new constitution. The new constitution will be presented to the class reps at Union Council (XG21 at 6pm) this Tuesday. All class reps should make a special effort to attend to debate its provisions. The main changes we are proposing involve changing the Executive - bringing in a third sabbattical (full-time) officer for Welfare, and giving each faculty a Union Exec Officer. This should radically improvre the class rep system and the communication between the Union and the ordinary punter. It is also positioning us well to take advantage of future University moves in the direction of modularisation. We are also bringing in special representative structures for Post Graduates for the first time and resolving many outstanding issues regarding the move to Semesterisation (our constitution currently operates on the old term-based timetable). Our new constitution will enable the Union to radically improve the services we will provide to our members in years to come. Rag Week was a huge success. There are many many people that we have to thank. The entire college got behind us in an almost unprecedented fashion. The University authorities allowed us install a marquee and bar and games in the middle of campus, all the societies really got behind the Rag Week idea both in the charity collecting (where the socs raised about £3,500 for the Cancer Research Foundation - final figure not in yet) and in providing entertainments in the marquee. I'm afraid to thank individuals by name for fear I'll forget someone but Brian McLaughlin, Johnathan Lundenburg and Enda Lynch deserve special thanks. All the Ents Crew were brilliant - Steve Murray, our Ents Manager played a blinder and had everything working like clockwork, Seán O'Brien was his sexy self, all the crew were fantastic - especially Shane, Jeremy and Dermot. The girls selling tickets put in the hours, the bar staff worked every hour God gave them last week, Ronan had the bar organised brilliantly, Guinness, Heineken and AIB were great, there was not one single complaint about the door staff who were superb and the students kicked ass. DCU students got into the groove of Rag Week - packing the bar, selling out the two balls and Jets, dressing up in drag, taking part in everything, snogging the faces off one another - fair balls to you all. I visited Leinster House last Thursday where I met Róisín Shorthall, Pat Carey and Noel Aherne, the Dublin North-West TD's (Pronnsias de Rossa was in Europe but we'll hit him some other time). We hammered home the same issues we've been doing all year - accommodation, grants, the capitation charge, work visas for international students, childcare supports, increasing the pay in the Student Summer Jobs Scheme etc. We are planning to initiate a campaign shortly for free fees for Nursing Students and we may be calling on you to get behind this. By next Monday I will no longer have tonsils (hurray - they've been a pain in the arse). I'm getting them removed on Monday 29th, so don't expect to see me around for the next week or two. And do run for election. All of you. Let's have good, contested elections this year. Sin a bhfuil, Dáibhí.

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USI National Council & Next Union Council
by SUPRES 18 Feb '00

18 Feb '00

A chairde, A reminder that the next Union Council will take place on Tuesday 29th February. We will be presenting a draft new constitution at that meeting (although I personally won't be there because I'm getting my tonsils removed on the 28th). Last semester we said that we would try to bring one representative of Union Council to every USI National Council. The next USI National Council takes place in Sligo next weekend (25th & 26th February). We forgot to put the election of a Council rep on the agenda the last time around. If anyone would like to come to USI National Council email me. The person who sends me the first email can go. Cheers, Dáibhí.

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Exam Results
by SUVP 16 Feb '00

16 Feb '00

Folks, Just thought i'd pass this on Shane ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: Author: NOELEEN SMULLEN at HENRY_GRATTAN Date: 16/02/00 09:47 Semester 1 exam results will be available on the Web at 11.00 a.m. on Monday 21st February. Regards Noeleen Smullen Student Records

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Exam Results
by SUVP 15 Feb '00

15 Feb '00

Folks, Could you let your repective classes know that the results will be up on the web on Monday the 21st of February. I have been on to the registrars office at least four times this week and this is what has been repeated to me every time I ring, don't listen to any of those rumours that are being bandied about. Cheers Shane

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Access Programmes
by SUPRES 15 Feb '00

15 Feb '00

A Chairde, You may recall that Maeve O'Byrne, DCU Access Officer, came in to Union Concil early in Semester 1 to ask for our help in organising 5th Year Shadowing and Tuition. In particular, Maeve needs about 150 first year volunteers for the 5th year shadowing on March 9th. All that is required is to bring a 5th year student around college for a day. Do exactly what you do all day - if you're in labs all day, go to labs, if you're hanging around in Res all day, hang around in Res. Anyway here's her mail. Cheers, Dáibhí. ************************************************************** The success of many of the initiatives of the North Dublin Access Programme depends on the involvement of the whole university community, and the student body in particular. We need your help to run two forthcoming programmes: Student Shadowing Day Thursday March 9th - First Year DCU Students What Is It? The idea behind the scheme is to give Fifth students from participating schools a taste of First Year Undergraduate life in DCU in order to encourage them to consider applying for places specifically in DCU, and to encourage an aspiration to third level education in general A secondary, and equally important objective is to introduce these student to positive role models in the form of First Year Undergraduates, near enough to them in age, and to familiarise them with the physical college campus, and the whole college experience: library, lectures, canteen, sports complex, labs etc. How Does It Work? Fifth Year students who have expressed an interest in a particular course are paired with a First Year DCU student whom they 'shadow' for a day. The 'shadow' accompanies the undergraduate to lectures, the restaurant, sports complex, coffee breaks, labs, the library - anywhere the undergraduate would normally go on that particular day. There is an information session held before Shadowing Day to give students and their shadows a chance to get to know each other and to make arrangements for the day itself. Lunch vouchers are provided Student Tuition Scheme - Beginning Wednesday March 1st - All DCU Students What Is It? Under the scheme DCU students visit second level students in their school and deliver grinds to small groups of 2 - 3 students in specific subject areas. The idea is to provide extra tuition to students who may not have access to it, and also to put students in touch with undergraduates. The next Tuition Programme is due to start on Wednesday March 1st. We are looking for DCU students to give tuition in Maths and Continental Languages to Fifth Year second level students. Transport is provided to and from the schools. The commitment is for a six-week period for 1 hour on a Wednesday afternoon. Students received training and certification at the end of the six-week period. Why Get Involved? As well as the satisfaction of helping a potential college student these programmes allow you to develop your own communication skills and give you something very positive to put on your CV. For More Information: Please contact Maeve O'Byrne Access Officer, Room PG09, Student Affairs in the Pavilion Building (beside the Restaurant). Tel: 5493; e-mail: maeve.obyrne(a)dcu.ie OR Julia McDonald Room PG02 (Main Student Affairs Office) Tel: 5927. Many thanks, Maeve.

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Reminder - Time Management
by SUPRES 15 Feb '00

15 Feb '00

A chairde, Just to remind you all that a Time Management workshop will take place this Thursday (17th) at 6.00 pm in CG29. This should be a valuable workshop which will give you some useful pointers as to how to juggle the conflicting demands placed on your time. Please attend. Tóg é go bog é, Glac é go réidh, Dáibhí.

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Union Council Meeting Tomorrow
by SUPRES 07 Feb '00

07 Feb '00

A chairde Gaeil, Please note that tomorrow's meeting will be one of the more important ones of this year. The agenda items we will discuss are: EXAMS, APPEALS ETC ETC The Registrar will come in to tomorrow's meeting to brief you on what caused some of the problems in the recent exams. He will also go through the appeals process. TD LOBBYING Julian de Spáinn will explain the TD lobbying campaign USI wishes to conduct this semester to follow on from the march and campaign last term. STUDENT CENTRE We have a very important decision to make regarding the Student Centre. There is a funding shortfall in the project which we hope to make good by using some of the uncollected damage deposits from years back to help pay for the centre. Full details will be provided at the meeting. Cheers, Dáibhí.

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Framework of Good Practice adopted by T&L Committee
by SUPRES 07 Feb '00

07 Feb '00

A chairde, You may recall that we submitted a document to Academic Council back in October outlining some simple steps we felt could be implemented to relieve the pressure on students. We called it a "Framework for Good Practice". The document was sent to the new Teaching & Learning Committee for its adoption. Although we were initially afraid that this would effectively "bury" our Framework, the committee has today adopted an amended version of our proposals. It is not perfect but if passed (as we would expect) by Academic Council on Wednesday, it will bring significant benefits to students. These include * Some legislation on timetabling for the first time - An hour off between 12-2 - Wednesday afternoons free from 2 - No more than 3 hours consecutive lectures / tutorials - A commitment to providing for learning missed through the abscence of a lecturer. * On workloads there will be - Designated people responsible for ensuring that there are no project clashes in a class group. - Limits to the number of assignments allowed on the same day / week. - A commitment to give all students their full workload schedule on the first week of term. * The document also includes - Better SU/College communication in the class rep allocation/election process. A member of academic staff will brief incoming class reps. - Each Module will have a minimum one hour period where students can informally chat to the lecturer. - Exam papers will be posted on the web. - No new module will be accredited without a sample paper being made available. The bright eyed and bushy tailed among you will notice that most of these practices are already in place in most courses. However class reps now have a checklist they can run through and a big stick to beat Programme Board chairs with when the provisions of the document aren't implemented. The full text is available at http://odtl.dcu.ie/wp/2000/odtl-2000-01.html We have (hopefully!!) done our bit in getting the college to agree to these rules. It is up to the class reps to make sure that these rules are implemented. There is no point in having a document enunciating fine principles if it isn't monitored (by you) to ensure that the punter on the ground isn't getting fucked over. Cheers, Dáibhí.

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[Announce-su] Union Council Tuesday 8th February
by SUPRES 02 Feb '00

02 Feb '00

A chairde, We have finally managed to get an email list together for all the class reps, so we will be contacting you every week or so with various bits of information. If you know of anyone who is not receiving the messages sent to this group (or indeed if you are receiving these messages and would rather not), please contact me - supres(a)dcu.ie. The next Union Council meeting will take place in XG21 next Tuesday, 8th February. There are a number of important items on the agenda so we would urge you all to attend. We are fortunate in that Prof. John Carroll, the Registrar (the most senior academic in the college) will attend Tuesday's meeting. The Registrar's office is responsible for the administration of all exams in DCU, so you will be able to bring any queries your class has regarding the administration of the Semester 1 exams to his attention. He will also brief you on the appeals process and it would be important that you would attend on Tuesday in order to be able to field questions that class members may have regarding appeals or rechecks competently. Prof. Carroll must leave by half six so it is particularily imperative that everyone attend on time. Julian de Spáinn, Campaigns Officer of USI will give a quick presentation on how the national campaign has progressed since the march in October - in particular he will discuss the proposed TD lobbying campaign. The idea is that students would begin attending their local TD clinics and outline some of the problems they, as students, are experiencing - in particular in regard to accommodation problems, the inadequacy of student financial support and the pain in the arse of the capitation charge going up and up every year. It is hoped that if enough students visit TD's (making it look spontaneous of course !!) that they will eventually come to regard these issues as serious matters deserving of government attention. It is likely that the Teaching & Learning Committee will substantially endorse our Framework of Good Practice and we are hopeful that Academic Council will back it next Wednesday (9th February). There will be a meeting of the Constitutional Review Group immediately after Union Council next Tuesday. Rag Week will take place on the week of the 21st-25th February. We contacted all the lecturers early in January to inform them of these dates and implicitly asking them not to schedule assessments during that week. It is up to every class rep to ensure that (s)he speaks to all the lecturers in his/her class to try and ensure that all students are as free as possible to indulge in that weeks activities. More details will be given in next weeks An Tarbh and at the meeting on Tuesday but suffice to say that Rag Week looks shit hot. There will be a workshop on Time Management for all class reps (and people involved in clubs & socs) on Thursday 17th February at six o'clock. Sin a bhfuil uaimse faoi láthair, Dáibhí.

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