Ban Rag Week

_Whimsical_

JIZZLORD wrote: »

lectures during rag week are odd. they run so efficiently, though early morning thermodynamics lectures and hangovers do not mix at all.

That is true. Rag week lectures are surreal. I remember one where 3 out of the usual 300 turned up and it still went ahead.

Blood-Martyr

Deleted User wrote: »

RAG week sucks. There was nothing really organised for GMIT. Glasan got destroyed Monday night; a taxi driver got assaulted and so did a pizza delivery man, apparently.

Yeah , I heard about that. I think 6 students living there got exspelled for that .... not 100% sure tho.

padi89

Loving this thread Seems like Race Week is mild in comparison.

kevmy

Ahh theres still an exaggeration going on though.

First off it's a bad idea to have GMIT and NUIG Rag Week on the same week cos that causes mayhem in town.
Also it's a bad idea to have it on near the Novena the less the auld wans see the better for everyone.
Having said that it has to be said that throughout the year the students are generally well behaved and bring a lot to Galway. So one week of something a bit crazy should be tolerated.
I also don't think they were really that bad - most of the stuff happens every Sat night - but because it happens earlier on when everyone else isn't drunk it changes things.
Also the campus isn't able to handle the amount of students around for the week apart from the college bar and Aras na Mac theres nowhere else for them to go. When the River Inn was on the go it provided somewhere else near campus but it's not doing it any more.
As for open air concerts good idea but where do you have them? The only place I can think of is the Presidents green.
But in the end people it won't change unless people make suggestions to the SU and maybe even organise stuff. That won't happen though cos people just prefer to bitch.

PopeBuckfastXVI

"So one week of something a bit crazy should be tolerated."

No problem with people unwinding, so long as they don't create trouble or cause damage.

"But in the end people it won't change unless people make suggestions to the SU"

I suggest that the SU can pay to have my car fixed, how about that?

The crazy thing is, if someone from the wrong part of town robbed 20 euros off me in the street they'd probably be sent to jail, but when students cause hundreds of euros of damage to my car, effectively robbing me of much much more, then I should just relax about it because it's all a bit of fun for them.

Double standards pushed to the extreme.

kevmy

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

"So one week of something a bit crazy should be tolerated."

No problem with people unwinding, so long as they don't create trouble or cause damage.

Obviously you can't condone anyone causing damage to any private property. When I said a bit crazy I don't include vandalism in that.

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

"But in the end people it won't change unless people make suggestions to the SU"

I suggest that the SU can pay to have my car fixed, how about that?

The SU didn't damage your car. People are always giving out about RAG week but no one ever does anything about it.

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

The crazy thing is, if someone from the wrong part of town robbed 20 euros off me in the street they'd probably be sent to jail, but when students cause hundreds of euros of damage to my car, effectively robbing me of much much more, then I should just relax about it because it's all a bit of fun for them.

Double standards pushed to the extreme.

No whoever caused damage to your car should be caught and punished. But I don't think there are double standards in Galway in the court pages of the advertiser you will see as much students brought up in court for silly things as you will skangers for serious stuff.
I'm just saying this moral outrage that goes on from most people over RAg week is a little tiresome. You have legitimate cause for complaint, most people are just a bit put out because the hippies are pushed of the streets for the week.

Wompa1

Won't someone pleeaaaaasssee think of the children!! Ah no now in fairness theres no excuse for the ****e went on and the colleges should probably do something to stop that kinda stuff going on again. It didn't seem too bad some of the nights though just Monday and Wednesday mostly I think...still down with that sort of thing!

cson

Ah lads don't stay at home for it, ye're great craic. :rolleyes:

Predalien

They used to have a marquee on the university grounds years ago, kept most of the mayhem away from the general population, don't understand why they don't do that again.

Toto Wolfcastle

kevmy wrote: »

As for open air concerts good idea but where do you have them? The only place I can think of is the Presidents green.

That's not really an excuse though. The UCC campus is smaller but they managed to fit 3 stages onto it and they all gathered a good crowd.

To be honest, anything that brought a bit of atmosphere to the place would be good, not just gigs.

Panthro

id ban the whole shaggin lot..

ahh no i wouldnt, i was just upset that i had to work all week long
(everybody "awwwwwww")

Jeapy

Firstly, really sorry to hear about your trouble OP. Was initially gonna suggest a line up outside the Novena to catch the fecker but i suppose thats not very helpful. Its annoying that a bunch of drunks can ruin all the fun for everybody but hey, isnt that the same St Stephens night, New Years, St Patricks Day, All bank hols, most sat nights. I think you were just really unlucky OP. As far as i know, the "assault" on the taxi driver in Glasan was that somebody (i heard there was loads of 1st years about at the time) threw a bottle of water in on top of the driver in the taxi and he rang the Guards and the college. I think its all just over rated! Packed pubs and clubs? Houseparty ftw!

Squeeonline

In a surprise reversal, Rag week was the first week I went to all my lectures. Yes, all including chemistry. As someone already said, banning rag week will not work as the pubs/clubs will organise their own. I cant think of any solution to the problem except some how changing the attitudes that are ingrained in Irish culture at the moment.

On wednesday lunch time I went around the college with a bucket and and in one hour I raised over 300€. That is the spirit of rag week.*There need to be more events organised that keep people in the college where they cant drink during the day. Maybe having important exams during rag week would stop people going mad?

spinandscribble

Beerlao wrote: »

RAG stands for Raising And Giving. Maybe he was giving your aerial to charity.

and kickoutthejams, it won't learn them, but it might teach them

no it doesnt it means Raise A Grand, back in the days when that way alot of money.

oh and the SU should in no way pay to fix your car. oh pities sake they are the ones actually doing the week justice they arnt responsible for every student.

i actually was fundraising, got shoved by lads for a joke, then later screamed at by some lads because they gave money and thought we'd end up buying them drinks all night (they werent that drunk they just saw the money we raised and figured it was worth a shot to harass a girl).
i hate rag week but then i think of where the moneys going. tbh its never ppl actually involved in rag week that goes around drunk as a skunk destroying things, its the idiots who dont make it into college all year except rag week to get pissed and throw stones at the reading room windows.

one of the problems in town was pubs running "offical rag week event'' which were anything but... sends the wrong message out.

something needs to be done and as usual it'll be the same ppl in college trying to help to change things and will get dishearted by it all again. *sigh*

JIZZLORD

spinandscribble wrote: »

no it doesnt it means Raise A Grand, back in the days when that way alot of money.

Raise a grand is a backronym. ie it's an explaination made up so as to fit into abreviations.
kinda like how people joke that fiat stands for fix it again tomorrow

wikipedia wrote:

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the origin of the word from "An act of ragging; esp. an extensive display of noisy disorderly conduct, carried on in defiance of authority or discipline", and provides a citation from 1864, noting that the word was known in Oxford before this date.[1]

It is not known where the term "Rag" originates, but it is thought to be from the Victorian era when students took time out of their studies to collect rags to clothe the poor.[citation needed] The verb "rag" means to badger or pester someone, and early Rags collecters may have "ragged" passers-by until they made a donation.[citation needed] Much more recently "RAG" has come to stand for "Raise and Give", "Raise A Grand" or "Raising and Giving", although this is a backronym. One story has it that the backronym was coined to convince a manager in a large charity of the value of working with student fundraisers.[citation needed] The first Rag in South Africa was started at the University of Stellenbosch by the male residence Helderberg. In South Africa the name RAG is sometimes thought to stand for "Remember and Give".

Toto Wolfcastle

JIZZLORD wrote: »

Raise a grand is a backronym. ie it's an explaination made up so as to fit into abreviations.
kinda like how people joke that fiat stands for fix it again tomorrow

That's actually really interesting. I always wondered why there were different explanations within the same college.

Robbo

According to the City Tribune, the Gardai were pretty satisfied with Rag Week. I believe around €16k was raised in NUI, G.

JIZZLORD

janeybabe wrote: »

That's actually really interesting. I always wondered why there were different explanations within the same college.

what?
Ride And Grope Week?

Mrs OBumble

Robbo wrote: »

According to the City Tribune, the Gardai were pretty satisfied with Rag Week.

I bet they were: I'd say that 90% of them were on annual leave for the week, given the amount of petty crime and public drinking, and almost total absence of guards on the streets.

I live right in town, and can assure you that what went on was far worse than any Saturday night.

In an even vaguely organised country, extra guards would have been brought in from other cities, all in uniform and on the streets, there would have been well-publicised "have a good time, but do it sensibly, we will catch you if you behave like a d*&$head" messages (better worded than that!), and a few ring-leaders would have been arrested just to make the point.

Here, last week holds the record for the lowest number of sightings of 'em ...

Robbo

JustMary wrote: »

I bet they were: I'd say that 90% of them were on annual leave for the week, given the amount of petty crime and public drinking, and almost total absence of guards on the streets.

I live right in town, and can assure you that what went on was far worse than any Saturday night.

In an even vaguely organised country, extra guards would have been brought in from other cities, all in uniform and on the streets, there would have been well-publicised "have a good time, but do it sensibly, we will catch you if you behave like a d*&$head" messages (better worded than that!), and a few ring-leaders would have been arrested just to make the point.

Here, last week holds the record for the lowest number of sightings of 'em ...

Also mentioned in the same piece in the Tribune; extra Gardai were brought in and messages from the Gardai were placed in the Rag Week newsletters stating that there was to be no tolerance of public order offences.

Perhaps some summary executions are the way forward?

ZorbaTehZ

Robbo wrote: »

Perhaps some summary executions are the way forward?

QFT and I'll happily supply any stones/ropes necessary.