UCD Ball 2011

CMoonheadNo1

It would have involved closing the campus for a half a day, from 1 o'clock. If it was co-ordinated properly the lectures would have been re-assigned to another day by lecturers. Clearly this wasn't done. Lecturers were clearly never told this by UCD and clearly UCDSU were too lazy to make sure this was done. Joined up thinking in organising such an event is required.

And bnt I don't know what your issue with the Ball is. If you don't like it fair enough but behaviour at it has never been ott IMO and the atmosphere is far better than you would get at a lot of festivals, the very nature of it being a College thing means we all know someone who knows someone else who is there.

UCD is a University but re-scheduling hours should be no problem so we miss no lectures. Go to any College in the world and you will see allowances made for unique days within a college year. It's what builds character in an Institution.

Dwaegon

bnt wrote: »

Remind me again, what does the "U" stand for in "UCD"?

Unprepared?

JBoy!

http://www.collegetribune.ie/index.php/2011/04/ucd-ball-cancelled/

trib made the point of saying they have requested to see the agreement between the uni and the su. does this mean we shud be suspicious of the original agreement?

Jackmcg

Reckon there's something shneaky going on or its just pure coincidence that it got cancelled the day after elections?
Isn't Darcy pretty involved with this years ents crew? Perhaps he wouldn't have won the election for ents officer if this was announced before voting, along with others currently tied to the SU

Offside

Jackmcg wrote: »

Reckon there's something shneaky going on or its just pure coincidence that it got cancelled the day after elections?
Isn't Darcy pretty involved with this years ents crew? Perhaps he wouldn't have won the election for ents officer if this was announced before voting, along with others currently tied to the SU

Dont think he would have won if this was announced a day earlier, and it was most likely known at least within the last week, assume nothing will come with it (as per ****ing usual)

superLeetive

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

non-party according to the college tribune.

Deflected Fianna Fáil - was a member of Dublin South Ógra FF.

Fedup2011

The events don't stack up imo and we aren't being told the full story.

Why would UCD wait until after (Saturday) tickets were supposed to go on sale to tell the SU they were pulling the plug? UCD would surely have told them before they started publicizing and supposed to sell tickets that it was a no go.

[/QUOTE]

Do you not think that however big the union may be that UCD itself are a large enough organisation that IF the union were trying to pull the wool over our eyes that UCD could just come out with a press release saying "hey... we said it can go ahead..." ?! I know it's easy to jump to conclusions because the timeline of events isn't exactly favorable in the eyes of ents but if they were trying to hide something surely they're not gonna misquote a university and the university services??? Do you really think they wouldnt think this through? As disappointing as it is (and believe me Im devastated its not going ahead) I'm sure the last thing the union want/ need is a cancelled ball?! how does this not make sense to people!!

CMoonheadNo1

To the above;

The SU may not be telling lies. An agreement may well have been put in place in Dec to close down campus at 1 o'clock.

UCD didn't just decide to renage this week though. As I said I still had lectures timetables for after 1 on Thurs the 21st. How could our Union not be aware of that and moreover, how come after making an agreement in Dec, not have made sure all lectures were being rescheduled?

Deeluu

The kind of license that has to be cleared for an event like this takes months to iron out and has a specific time frame from when it is granted to when the event can take place.
It seems apparent to me that UCDSU were aware that it was a possibility that the Ball might not go ahead and this is why we had no headline acts (I fail still to believe that there were any) but decided to try up until the last minute to sort something out.
No organisation is going to come out and say, "hey, actually this may not happen but we'll do our best", but this seems to be what happened. At this point they should just admit that the agreement has been on the rocks for weeks now and try and save face.
All the students want at this stage is some sort of honesty. Stop insulting our intelligence. We all still had scheduled classes on that day, none of the academic staff had any notice or knowledge of the Ball, we can all add 2 + 2.
Yes the "authorities" probably did pull the ball but what the SU are failing to state is that they had a part in it too by not assuring that the proper procedures were in place.

Maybe if they all spent more time doing what they have been elected to do instead of pursuing campaigns outside and inside college (Lynam, de Brún, Ahearn).

ironclaw

I think its utter rubbish. Ticket sales were stopped hours before going on sale with a rescheduling to a week later, with another weak excuse of "Security issues". Its a weak excuse at best and belongs in the fiction section of Joyce. My belief is a major headliner pulled out and rather than cause a riot, it would be far easier to fabricate an excuse that they can't close the campus.

And as for not paying acts, thats utter bull, major acts insist on a non refundable deposit up front. I believe Tiesto is something like $50,000 in the currency of his choice. Then half of the remaining before he goes on and half when he comes off. I'll see can I find a link for that, it came out when his concert in Bahrain was cancelled.

What I ask of the SU is, seeing as it doesn't matter anymore, who were the headliners? And the tickets must have been printed, so why not show them as some proof this was ever going ahead?

dyl10

The union and college admin are tied up up together, there's definitely more going on here than has been let out.

At €40 x 10,000 can we not just rent Marley park or something?

Also, if its a decision made by the college admin, people could just protest and it would be let go ahead. It is our University after all.

Killer Pigeon

superLeetive wrote: »

Deflected Fianna Fáil - was a member of Dublin South Ógra FF.

So the FF mindset has dominated the UCDSU for how long now? I know Redmond was in Ógra and it seems Lynam was once a member, what's De Brún's position?

Raphael

dyl10 wrote: »

Also, if its a decision made by the college admin, people could just protest and it would be let go ahead. It is our University after all.

Fuck protesting this, if the whole campus were getting shut down for the Ball, I'll be out protesting against the shutdown. It's the last fucking week of term, my last term personally, and I don't want the college closed for a day on account of a shitty music festival. This is a fucking University, we're here to study and learn, not get pissed on the grass.

dyl10

Raphael wrote: »

Fuck protesting this, if the whole campus were getting shut down for the Ball, I'll be out protesting against the shutdown. It's the last fucking week of term, my last term personally, and I don't want the college closed for a day on account of a shitty music festival. This is a fucking University, we're here to study and learn, not get pissed on the grass.

I work like a horse in college, all year round. I'd like to be able to go a big event in UCD with as many students as possible at the end of my final, fourth year in UCD before I start my thesis.

If you're that worried about losing 1 day before the exams, you must really be ****ed.

AIR-AUSSIE

dyl10 wrote: »

The union and college admin are tied up up together, there's definitely more going on here than has been let out.

At €40 x 10,000 can we not just rent Marley park or something?

Also, if its a decision made by the college admin, people could just protest and it would be let go ahead. It is our University after all.

Too late to, they'd need to make another planning application which would take weeks. Alternative locations were apparently already looked into.

Hopefully some attempt to make alternative arrangements on the day will be made.

misslt

It really is a bit suss to me, the announce the supporting line-up and there's ructions, the ticket sales are pushed back due to a 'security breach' then lo and behold the day after the elections the whole thing is cancelled.

Hmmmm...

Not closing the campus etc is a weak excuse, it's fine every other year. And this thing about lectures still happening is crap too IMO, I was meant to have lectures when I was at the ball last year....

parker kent

Raphael wrote: »

Fuck protesting this, if the whole campus were getting shut down for the Ball, I'll be out protesting against the shutdown. It's the last fucking week of term, my last term personally, and I don't want the college closed for a day on account of a shitty music festival. This is a fucking University, we're here to study and learn, not get pissed on the grass.

Library normally stays open. Well it has before anyway. Plus one day won't make or break you. Was my last day in UCD last year. I went to the library till 3. Then went and had a great day on the grass afterwards.

Raphael

I'm aware the library normally stays open, but what seems to be the case here was that the entire college was being shut down barring Ball related activity, which is horsecrap. I'm delighted the college authorities saw sense and didn't do it, but I am staggered that the SU waited so long to mention it. Really poor form.

parker kent

parker kent wrote: »

Library normally stays open. Well it has before anyway. Plus one day won't make or break you. Was my last day in UCD last year. I went to the library till 3. Then went and had a great day on the grass afterwards.

By the grass I mean the UCD Ball...not any mood altering substances :pac:

stop

Raphael wrote: »

Fuck protesting this, if the whole campus were getting shut down for the Ball, I'll be out protesting against the shutdown. It's the last fucking week of term, my last term personally, and I don't want the college closed for a day on account of a shitty music festival. This is a fucking University, we're here to study and learn, not get pissed on the grass.

+1
It's one thing to have an event on campus as was done before, it's another to shut down buildings, and put a stop to research so the undergrads can get pissed.
The request for the shutdown came from the Gardai, who would base their request on the last years event, and the behaviour of students during the year, including black mondays/fridays, late bars etc.

Also, the country is up in arms about public servants getting extra days off, why should ucd staff be given a half day off for the last day of term?

Timmaay

Alot of people here seem to think shutting down the campus just means cancelling lectures, there is so much more to UCD then just classes! There are about 6000 postgrad students (25% of all students), and as much as we like days off, we have work to do and deadlines to meet and just closing down campus for a what is just a big concert as such is very extreme! I didn't think there was too much hassle during last years Ball, certainly not enough to close the whole campus!

In terms of location, the athletics track is a terrible place to hold the ball, there is no option other then close the N11 main gate for the Ball. You can get away with closing one of the other gates but not that one, especially on a weekday.

Red Alert

To be honest it's a shame it hasn't gone ahead. I think both the SU and college authorities are to blame. The most sensible thing to have done would be for the college to declare "last lectures" at noon on Thursday. TCD has no problem dealing with this and closing off bits of the campus as appropriate for the Trinity Ball.

HavingCrack

Red Alert wrote: »

To be honest it's a shame it hasn't gone ahead. I think both the SU and college authorities are to blame. The most sensible thing to have done would be for the college to declare "last lectures" at noon on Thursday. TCD has no problem dealing with this and closing off bits of the campus as appropriate for the Trinity Ball.

The problem was more to do with where it was held on campus I think. The athletics track is right beside the main entrance to the N11. Closing off the main gate to UCD is just madness. The whole college can't just grind to a halt for a concert. The location last year was distant enough for the library and lake etc. to prevent this happening.

parker kent

Since last year on here a lot of us flagged the running track as a problematic location for the ball, why did the SU not realise it was an obvious issue?

CMoonheadNo1

HavingCrack wrote: »

The problem was more to do with where it was held on campus I think. The athletics track is right beside the main entrance to the N11. Closing off the main gate to UCD is just madness. The whole college can't just grind to a halt for a concert. The location last year was distant enough for the library and lake etc. to prevent this happening.

I don't really see why closing off the main gate is such a problem. With thousands who normally going about their college travels inside the concert there wouldn't be anywhere near the levels of traffic that there normally is. It would certainly be a minor inconvenience for staff and post grads but it is a half a day ffs. There obviously would have been issues with Dublin Bus as well with just one gate being open, they probably wouldn't have been able get into UCD. None off that seems insurpassable though.

It's all a moot point though. For whatever reason the Gardai wanted the whole place on lockdown.

It's very sad that it's not going ahead and I have levelled enough criticism on here already at people who I think deserve flack. The lack of joined up thinking between all the various parties and the SU playing us for fools really does dissapoint me. There is no proper reason why this can't go ahead.

delta_bravo

I think they should have put it in Thornfield. Far away from centre of campus. Alas it wasn't to be. The SU are having a meeting tomorrow, I hope they get plenty of flack about this but although they are blaming UCD authorities the blame will rest solely with the SU.

Tayto2000

HavingCrack wrote: »

The problem was more to do with where it was held on campus I think. The athletics track is right beside the main entrance to the N11. Closing off the main gate to UCD is just madness. The whole college can't just grind to a halt for a concert. The location last year was distant enough for the library and lake etc. to prevent this happening.

There's not really anywhere on campus that suits while it's business as usual. Trinity shuts down for the ball, no reason why UCD couldn't have done the same. It would have been massively inconvenient and I can only imagine the scenes at the front gate, but it's doable...

Real shame, the ball should be something UCD can be proud of. Next years Ents need their act together on this big time.

melekalikimaka

http://www.ucdents.com/site/view/606/

might stop the rumor mill a tad

LUPE

melekalikimaka wrote: »

http://www.ucdents.com/site/view/606/

might stop the rumor mill a tad

Not at all given that Ents has zero credibility at this stage

melekalikimaka

LUPE wrote: »

Not at all given that Ents has zero credibility at this stage

if you base your opinions on assumptions and hearsay...yes. if you go by facts and evidence and statements from firsthand sources over boards.ie...no