Damn you Exams office, DAMN YOU!

Spectator#1

stolenwine wrote:

There's a letter in the Sunday Independent today (Sunday 13th) , a commerce student is sharing his joy concerning the admin debacle. He should forward his letter to Mary Hanafin she's not a big Hugh Brady fan.

Where is it? I looked and couldn't find it! It's not in letters to the editor!

Scraggs

Its on the Irish Independent Saturday May 12th [pg. 29]

Spectator#1

Saturday was the 12th! Do you have a URL for Unison?

Stepherunie

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=53&si=1828386&issue_id=15615

Scroll down a bit.

Spectator#1

Thanks Stepherunie! It's a great letter he wrote!

griffdaddy

That guy's letter wrote:

I and my fellow students have been experiencing....

Shocking grammar for a Third Level student writing in a national newspaper all the same.

hullaballoo

Spectator#1 wrote:

Thanks Stepherunie! It's a great letter he wrote!

Good last paragraph; the rest was inane drivel.

Where's your brother to give his €0.02 to the Indo?

Spectator#1

He's on it! Why don't we all send in letters to the papers? If they got loads they might follow up with a bit of the old investigative-outvestagive investigative-outvestigative my old droogy-woog. That would be a right horrorshow state of affairs. Not that the Times would print any of it if that interview with Hugh Brady was anything to go by, it looked like something off of page three or FHM.

Name: President Hugh "How Far Do You Want to Go" Brady MB BCh MD FRCPI PhD
Age: 48
Likes: You, John-Henry Newman and his views on education, interdisciplinary research, the benefits of the modular system, UCD, students, having street-smart decision making abilities, working out.
Dislikes: Bad colleges.

Yeah, he could have worded some of it better, looked a bit spoilt, I liked that 'scratch the surface' stuff though.

hullaballoo

Personally, I wouldn't credit the Indo with that kind of investigative prowess.

However, I still wouldn't mind seeing the result of a journalistic investigation (and the probable lawsuits that would follow).

Spectator#1

Yeah, 'twould be interesting alright! It'd be too late for them with lawsuits. Plus, lashing out like that would be the nail in the coffin for their new public image!

drdre

Just got this email regarding parking in rds, Its FREE now

Hi, Just forwarding this message from Brian Doyle, SU Education OfficerHi Everyone,Have been talking to Sinead Critchley (Director of Assessment) in the past hour. Students will now NOT have to pay to park in the RDS during the exams. An email is being sent to inform all students but will not go out until Monday sometime. Students wishing to avail of free parking must produce their student card to security at the entrance to the RDS.You can give your classmates a heads up via email so they know before their first exam on Monday.Best wishes,Brian DoyleEducation Vice PresidentUCD Students' Union01 716 3111087 7948018sueducation@ucd.ie

RJG

i just happened to be messing around on google and i put my own name into the search and this forum came up so i had a look round and i think i should say that the version of the letter posted in the indo was edited to some degree i had put a little more emphasis on the exam debacle then i did sandwiches.
i also understand that electronic free zones in the library are a nessesity but my query was why they would put them in an area that did not have plugs and internet cable sockets.
the most worrying thing about this situation has developed in the last week. i was contacted by liveline and asked to do an interview with joe duffy about my problems regarding ucd. its the middle of my exams but i still went around to alot of people asking them what problems they had been having as regards their exams. i gathered my information and prepared all week for the interview. i would also like to clarufy that they asked me to go on and i made no attempt to contact them. an hour before i was due to go on i got a phone call fromt he producer of the show saying that she had been in touch with ucd asking them to address the concerns set out in the letter. there response was staggering. they alleged that because i had been evicted from glenomena before christmas i had an agenda against the college and that this was my way of getting back at them. i acknowkedge that the incident was serious and i deserved to get kicked but i also assumed that my student records wouldnt be bandied about by the UCD adminastration in order to undermine legimate conerns which i had raised in a public forum. i never got to go on liveline they said because they ran out of time but i believe that the pressure exerted by UCD had some effect on their decision.
i find this response to be rather typical of UCD that they would engage in a character assasination rather then address the legimate concerns of the student body. that we have to deal with this pseudo-totalitarian regime is the worst possible part of the whole affair the fact that hey can dredge up information which i considered to be my private student records genuinely scares me i mean how else could they choose to use my information!

Red Alert

In fact UCD may have been breaking data protection legislation by doing that. When you think about it, the number of people with access to Banner/SIS is just staggering - so if someone doens't like you in admin they can pretty much cause you no end of hassle.

griffdaddy

Red Alert wrote:

In fact UCD may have been breaking data protection legislation by doing that. When you think about it, the number of people with access to Banner/SIS is just staggering - so if someone doens't like you in admin they can pretty much cause you no end of hassle.

They didn't break any data protection legislation doing that, they can scream it from the rooftops if they want. I'm not so sure about SIS, I'd say that would be more of a grey area. Having said that, it was an absolutely bent and underhanded tactic to use against what were legitimate concerns.

Blush_01

RA, I can't see how they were, as once UCD has been given your information, UCD has your information. Glenomena is as much part of UCD as Admin or Quinn. It is never specified that your information will not be shared within the giant blob that is UCD, for whatever purposes.

As for Mr RJG... perhaps what he's saying is true, but I don't see how UCD could be blamed in light of his eviction, especially when Brady's trying to make UCD seem like the best place on earth. It's like Disneyland, but with degrees!

Stabshauptmann

RJG wrote:

i just happened to be messing around on google and i put my own name into the search

.........

and asked to do an interview with joe duffy about my problems regarding ucd.

The two of those quotes paint a certain image in my head.

I read your letter, I was amazed you would submit a letter like that without proof reading it. Personally I think the grammar nazi attack is childish, but there are times and places when you really should make more of an effort.

[UCD] alleged that because i had been evicted from glenomena before christmas i had an agenda against the college and that this was my way of getting back at them.

What a ridiculous conclusion to jump to:rolleyes:
I live in glenomena, and I like to have fun. You'd have to be a complete muppet to manage to get evicted.

Villaricos

you have to admit that was a brilliant way for UCD to discredit the letter and the author(and I mean brilliant in the underhanded sly sense of the word) and get out of addressing any issue.

although I would question whether the eviction is considered as public knowledge we know from incidents over the course of the year that UCD doesnt think much of the aul Data Protection lark anyways.

cast_iron

I agree. Full credit to UCD for their underhand tactics on this one.

The credibility of the letter rightly plummeted when we hear the background of the letter writer (even though the letter was largely correct in all it said).

It's a shame someone other than the letter writer hasn't gone on Liveline to explain the realities. Wouldn't the SU be the suitable body to put someone forward?

humbert

cast_iron wrote:

Wouldn't the SU be the suitable body to put someone forward?

What has that to do with shell to sea, heh heh?

hullaballoo

Hmm, well to the best of my knowledge (I've never really studied data protection too hard), data protection only comes into play with data (hence the name) is stored in a database on a computer or equivalent.

The idea is to protect you against unsolicited spam and that sort of thing.

Whereas, if you get evicted from your residences, then that's really not something that's your private business any more.

That said, I think it's absolutely disgraceful that UCD brought it in as a defence to the legitimate accusations levied. Then, what else would you expect?

Font22

no i think the letter writer could argue breach of the data protection act. doesnt only apply to databases, computers etc. can include appraisal forms filled out, reports etc. again, i havent studied it in depth so cud be wrong.

hullaballoo

What's the data that's being protected in this case, then?

Font22

the record of the letter writer being kicked out of UCD? like i said, i havent studied this in depth. it was a short part of my employment law course and cases did outline how data didnt apply solely to information stored on a database, computer etc.

cast_iron

hullaball&#250 wrote:

That said, I think it's absolutely disgraceful that UCD brought it in as a defence to the legitimate accusations levied.

Is it?
UCD is attacked for bad admin in a letter to a national paper. But the attack stems from a student evicted from on campus accommodation by UCD admin. That's adequate motive for writing a letter against UCD admin, regardless of how the maladministration was spun by the letter writer. It would be fair for a neutral observer to be aware of the history between both parties.

If these claims were made by an average student with no history of bad blood with the admin department, then it would be fair game.