An information meeting was held by the Students Against Fees organisation in the Arts block of Trinity College last Thursday evening, ahead of the upcoming Union of Students in Ireland protest against third level fees being held this month.
The meeting was led by committee member Sean Egan of the Students Against Fees group who outlined their agenda for the coming months and who wishes to continue to build on the support and momentum that they gathered last year.
Egan was also hopeful about gathering more support from other colleges who have already expressed an interest in establishing their own Students Against Fees movement.
He said, “UCD and UL have contacted us with overtures to set up their own Students Against Fees group so obviously there’s some desperate need for campus activism.”
Egan also criticised how students, who are being heavily affected by the registration fees of college, do not want to mobilise and protest against the Government.
He said that “the situation for a lot of students is very difficult but there isn’t a culture of student radicalism anymore”.
Egan also criticised the efforts made so far by the USI to lobby against the fees being imposed saying that “the USI’s appealing to the good nature of politicians hasn’t really worked”.
There was a strong unanimous agreement by the people in attendance that this was a critical time to try and make an impact ahead of the upcoming budget.
Also in attendance at the meeting was president of Trinity College’s Students’ Union, Kieran McNulty, who said that he wants to raise awareness and visibility of the campaign against fees through social media and other college newspapers.
“We have promoted it heavily since Fresher’s Week and we need to gather support for the cause through more social media activity and by having articles written in college newspapers,” McNulty said.
The USI march for publicly funded education and against debt is set to take place on the 19th of October starting at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.
Paul Dwyer
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