RAG Week is being reintroduced on UCD campus for the first time since it was originally banned five years ago by their student’s union, after they received a number of complaints from local authorities over students unruly behavior while the event was being held
RAG Week, which is infamously known for students over indulging in alcohol and participating in anti-social behavior, lost its student’s union support in 2011 after a number of students were involved in actions that resulted in damaged property and endangered a number of student’s safety; However, it continued to be held without their SU’s support as the “Unofficial RAG Week” in previous years.
The RAG Week event was adopted by many other colleges around Ireland such as the University of Limerick, Carlow I.T. and NUI Galway. The original aim of RAG week was to try and raise much needed funds for a number of different charities.
However, the event gained the colleges involved unwanted publicity with 42 students being arrested during Galway’s last official RAG Week and six men were arrested during Waterford I.T.’s RAG Week last year.
2nd year UCD arts student, John Gorman, who is a pioneer, said that this year’s RAG Week has not just been about students drinking excessively and instead the Student Union are hosting a number of events that are non-alcoholic.
He said that, “It hasn’t been just a mad drinking session which is often seen during other colleges’ RAG week. Instead there has been organised events such as Battle of the bands, which is non-alcoholic and the SU also organised Mark McCabe’s appearance in Palace.”
UCD’s SU have encouraged students to drink responsibly and they are hoping that this year’s RAG Week will be a success.
So far there have been no incidents involving UCD students in any form of anti-social behavior during the return of the event.
Paul Dwyer
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