CIT Students’ Union Magazine Volume Ten - Issue Two Freshers Week New Student Photos Email Service THOUSANDS MARCH AGAINST FEES Top 10 Worst Competitions Movies Ever! & Great Prizes Editorial Opinion CIT Students’ Union Rossa Ave, Bishopstown Cork, Ireland. Telephone: 021 493 3120 Fax: 021 454 5343 Email: [email protected] expliCIT Staff Editor - Killian Hughes Design & Advertising - Philip O’Reilly Contributions Michael Loftus Séan F O’Leary Miriam Deasy Adam O’Brien Dan Collins David O’Riordan Gearóid Buckley Glynis Dennehy Killian Hughes Philip O’Reilly James O’Sullivan Shane Fitzgerald CIT Students’ Union President - Gearóid Buckley ([email protected]) Vice President Education - Adam O’Brien ([email protected]) Vice President Welfare - Thomas Lynch ([email protected]) Entertainments Officer - Rebecca Liston ([email protected]) Projects Officer - to be elected ([email protected]) Communications Officer - Killian Hughes ([email protected]) Print Barnaville Print & Graphics LTD Advertising Opportunities CIT has almost 17,000 full and part-time students with over 1,500 staff. Why not use expliCIT to pro- Freshers Week has come and gone and I hope everyone had a good time - I know I did - and from mote your business to this large audience? the photos I took, I think some people had a very good time. If you would like to see the collec- tion of pictures I have gathered you can view them on www.citsu.ie and www.bebo.com/citsu. Copy deadlines, advertising rates and technical specifications are available from our website Also, if you have photos that you would like to add to the sites please forward them to sucom- www.expliCIT.ie or upon request from the [email protected]. Publications Office. As you have seen and read in the news, it has finally been announced that Ireland is in an eco- expliCIT magazine is published monthly by CIT nomic recession and isn’t that just great! However, a piece of information that people might not Students’ Union. The views expressed in the maga- know and find interesting is that whenever there has been a recession in Ireland, there has been zine are those of their authors and are not necessar- a spike in alcohol sales! I believe that is because people lose their jobs and decide to hit the bot- ily those of CIT Students’ Union. All articles and pic- tle. So if any student wants a good idea for starting a business, opening a bar would be a good tures are the property of their respective owners place to start since the Irish have a reputation of being alcoholics and if history is correct there and should not be reproduced without their permis- will soon be an increase in alcohol sales so you better act fast. But the big R doesn’t just affect sion. drink, it has a major effect on other people too such as you and me college students. An exam- ple of this is the size of some of the classes and I can tell you this is a joke. As many of the first years would gave seen, myself and Adam O Brien (VP Education) have been going around col- lege getting class Reps and on entering two separate room’s I hit a person sitting on the floor in front of the door because of the lack of space in the room. Where rooms are built for 42 students these classes have an average of 52, if there was ever a fire, these people would be in serious trou- ble, well if this is the start of the recession I am dreading to think what the middle of a recession We Need You! looks like let alone the end of it. If you would like to contribute to expliCIT please contact Philip in the Publications Office, 1st Floor, Well peoples this is end of my little rant for this issue I hope that you will have fun over the next Student Centre or email: [email protected] few weeks and maybe some of you will even write an article or two about it so as to give some people something to read. Killian Hughes Communication’s Officer 2 Latest News Exclusive Thousands March in Cork Against Fees On the 9th October last, six thousand Students of Munster sent out a mes- would be a major deterrent to furthering their education. Cal continued sage to the Minister of Education. The message was loud and clear, Students “third level colleges are under funded…fact. According to the OECD, on of Munster will not lie down and let fees be reintroduced. CIT Students left average Irish colleges are under funded. Such funding should come from the Student Centre at 10.30am and gathered in UCC’s Quad at 12pm, before the public domain”. disembarking on their march through the city in protest, highlighting that if the government reintroduce fees in any format it would be to the detri- Monday 1st September; Students gathered at the Department Of Education ment of our knowledge economy. CIT students were joined by other and Science to stage a “sit-in” protest. The demonstration took place at Munster Colleges including UCC, LIT, UL, WIT, ITT. 1.00 pm inside the gates of the Department of Education and sent a clear message to Minister O’ Keefe – ‘students are saying no to the re-introduc- CITSU President, Gearóid Buckley explained, “This protest is just the begin- tion of college fees’. Tuesday 2nd September; Students gathered, outside ning of our anti-fee campaign. As a recession is upon us, the average stu- Leinster House to stage an overnight “Camp-Out”. The demonstration dent’s pocket is first to tighten. The grant is currently inadequate; fees will which commenced at 6.00 pm, was another prong of a multi-college cam- deter many students from pursuing a third level qualification. We as a paign against the reintroduction of college fees. nation must remember that not only does this affect every student in our second and third level education system, but also could be the spark to Cal Diolúin, President of UCC Students Union said, “This demonstration is ignite a serious of events that will destroy our knowledge economy. Brining the latest in a series of many protests which will take place around the in fees, whether it be in the form of tuition fees or increased registration country over the next few months. Local Students’ Unions will be staging fees, will close off free access to education and learning. Closing off such protests all around the country once students are back to college”. access to education would put Ireland back in the dark ages, and create a two tiered society of those who can and those who cannot pay for educa- Tuesday 9th September; Munster Students Against Fees (MSAF) was formed. tion. It is important that people are aware that this is not the end. We will The alliance’s main aim is to launch a provincial wide campaign against the fight to protect the interests of our students both present and future and reintroduction of fees. Caitríona McGrattan, representing Limerick colleges we will continue to campaign against the Minister’s Batty Policies. believes this new alliance is the only way full representation of the student body in the south can be achieved. Miss McGrattan stated, “This new The Story before the protest alliance between Munster colleges will mean students are represented not On Monday 11th of August; Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’ just in Dublin and Galway but also in Munster. It also reinforces the fact that Keeffe, raised the issue of the reintroduction of third level fees. Students the reintroduction of fees is a local issue and affects every local community from Cork reacted immediately to this and joined other colleges in Dublin in the country. and marched on the Department of Education Thursday 14th August; Student leaders gathered at the Department of Education and Science to CITSU President, Gearóid Buckley on behalf of MSAF met with Batt O’ protest over the proposed plan by the Minister for Education and Science, Keeffe as he attended an event in CIT. Gearóid proposed a meeting with Mr. Batt O’Keefe, to reintroduce third level fees. Over 100 students met at the O’ Keeffe and offered the Minister for Education a letter of protest. The spire and marched on the Department of Education. This demonstration Minister agreed that such a meeting was necessary and advised Gearóid to was described as a ‘statement of intent’ by UCC Students Union, President contact his office to make an appointment. However, on contacting his Cal Diolúin, who also added “that more protests are planned for when stu- office it transpired that he would not meet with student representatives. dents return to college in September. We are sending the message to the government that if they attempt to reintroduce fees they will have a major Monday 8th September; MSAF finally met the two faced Minister at his fight on their hands”. This demonstration coincided with the issuing of offices during clinic hours. A surprised Minister fobbed students off with Leaving Certificate results, thus left many school leavers wondering if a excuses and ambiguous rhetoric. third level education was still within their grasp, as the burden of fees 3 Latest News Refrigeration Success for Students at 2008 Roundup Euroskills Competition in Rotterdam Congratulations to Ian Walsh of Anglo Irish Refrigeration and Kevin Smith Training facilities and workshop preparation was co-ordinated by Euroskills’ of E&T Smith Electrical on their excellent achievements attained while par- team leader Mr. John Twohig, CIT, in conjunction with Andy Brown, techni- ticipating in the first Euroskills Competition held in Rotterdam between cian, and James McEnery , lecturer.