RAG - Raise and Give- really?

Student49

With RAG Week coming up once more isn't it time that we faced the reality; its lost it's purpose and now is nothing more than a glorified week of drinking? :mad:

mairead1955

I live in the area around UCC and I couldn't agree more, its such a disgrace to see all the students destroy the areas atmosphere every year. I know I'm not alone feeling that living around UCC during RAG-week has become quite a pain

AwayWithFaries

As a former student I know it can be loud and messy but it actually does raise a lot of money for worthwhile causes. Sorry I don't have figures to hand but I'm sure they can be got.

The SU has been trying to calm things down in previous years but people are idiots so it'll take a big change to actually make the week comfortable for residents of the area.

So long story short I think it is a good money raiser and should not be abandoned but students need to act like adults not animals.

x43r0

Student49 wrote: »

With RAG Week coming up once more isn't it time that we faced the reality; its lost it's purpose and now is nothing more than a glorified week of drinking? :mad:

A week of drinking that raises thousands for local charities

Student49

x43r0 wrote: »

A week of drinking that raises thousands for local charities

But at what cost for local residents, never mind the risk to student safety? I totally respect your point, but I just think there's a number of issues to be considered here.

sidewaysdrivin

as a student in DIT, ragweek lastyear had to be postponed halfway through due to lack of interest from what i could see, in college at 9am every morning and assignments ect all seemed to be focused on that week, so pretty much totalling any plans for anything other than lectures, and assignments... second go at rag week passed over like it never happened right before exams....
so to answer your question in my opinion in the campus im in no not really, we dont have time for anything but coursework......... but in other colleges for instance galway, nui & gmit does be quite good for the drinking sessions i hear

Parsley

Student49 wrote: »

But at what cost for local residents, never mind the risk to student safety? I totally respect your point, but I just think there's a number of issues to be considered here.

yeah, what cost for local residents? a bit of noise? a few cans around the place? risk to student safety..?! you could do with expanding these points instead of just these wishy-washy phrases...

spagboll

UCC rag week is the envy of other colleges

EyeSight

sidewaysdrivin wrote: »

as a student in DIT, ragweek lastyear had to be postponed halfway through due to lack of interest from what i could see, in college at 9am every morning and assignments ect all seemed to be focused on that week, so pretty much totalling any plans for anything other than lectures, and assignments... second go at rag week passed over like it never happened right before exams....
so to answer your question in my opinion in the campus im in no not really, we dont have time for anything but coursework......... but in other colleges for instance galway, nui & gmit does be quite good for the drinking sessions i hear

NUIGs student union has given it up. the college offered them better medical center hours and stuff like that in order for them to cancel it

As a student i do think the stories are exaggerated in the the evening echo. sure there are some idiots who piss in peoples gardens, but they are the minority. during the days there's plenty of fun charity events. at night there's a major gardai presence, which is one of the main reasons that arrests go up during rag week, i'm sure if those guards were around the rest of the year, the number of arrests would be similar.
last year i remember walking to the shop and back on the monday around 9pm(a 2 minute walk on college road) and i must have seen about 10 people getting cautioned or arrested by gardai for drinking on the street

Mikel91

spagboll wrote: »

UCC rag week is the envy of other colleges

Oh boy...How wrong you are on so many levels.

quietsailor

There is something very strange in this thread in that the first two people to post in here have a grand total of 4 posts between them - all in this thread. Apologies student49 has one post in the UL forum talking about, funnily enough, how RAG week should be ended as NUIG have cancelled theirs! & I quote "RAG week was cancelled in Galway :O It is totally spiraling out of control at this point, what do people think?

Are the two of you residents trying to make some sort of a point rather than students -- if you are just say so, most people here will agree with you anyway about the stupidity that goes on over RAG week.

IHeartChemistry

From stories going, it's NUIG's RAG week that is the messiest RAG week. Last year, UCC had a pretty quiet one considering we shared with CIT as well. I'll agree the drinking gets outta hand, but we do raise money which is the important bit.

John Sugrue

RAG week does raise some good money but it also does serious damage to the reputation of students. Walk down college road (subway direction) and see every single person, irrespecive of age, sex, etc, get shouted at and abused by some druck students having some sort of a 'garden party'. It has gone too far.

THere's nothing wrong with having a laugh. There's nothing wrong with getting totally plastered! But you should be able to walk down the streets around UCC during RAG week and not get drunken idiots in your face

yenom

PC brigade on the rant.

HoggyRS

Was there even any proper trouble last year?

TheChizler

Considering the extra amount spent on nights out during the week, the money raised is a rather paltry sum altogether. A conservative estimate would have the money spent in town at over €1,000,000. I believe the amount raised in recent years has been roughly €50,000 (don't quote me on this). We dig deep, but unfortunately for the wrong recipients.

Shatner

Student49 wrote: »

With RAG Week coming up once more isn't it time that we faced the reality; its lost it's purpose and now is nothing more than a glorified week of drinking? :mad:

Rag Week has always been an excuse for students to let their hair down (traditionally before they were knuckling down to study for end of year exams). There has always been a charitable aspect to it, but "Raise and Give" is a bacronym, an attempt to amplify the "raising and giving" aspects of the week over the partying.

RAG week brings in quite a bit for charity (more than 50k each year) but recent years have seen an increase in the number of messy incidents happening and trouble with the gardai, in spite of really good work by the SU and UCC authorities to prevent trouble as much as possible.

I think that this trouble is due to a change in the way people (not just students) are consuming alcohol in general (e.g. more home drinking/off sales). That's a major problem in this country right now all year round (not just UCC Rag Week).

The vast majority of students go to lectures during Rag week, enjoy a few nights out, have a bit of craic and don't get in to trouble. A small minority (many of whom are not UCC students) go overboard and that is regrettable.

I think the landlords of rented properties on College Road and in the surrounding areas should play a greater role in checking on their tenants during Rag week.

You are obviously a resident of the area. I hope that you have a peaceful Rag week in 2012.

Here is a useful website for you to check out:
http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/its.html

EyeSight

TheChizler wrote: »

Considering the extra amount spent on nights out during the week, the money raised is a rather paltry sum altogether. A conservative estimate would have the money spent in town at over €1,000,000. I believe the amount raised in recent years has been roughly €50,000 (don't quote me on this). We dig deep, but unfortunately for the wrong recipients.

did you make up this €1,000,000. figure?

i'd don't think people spend much more in town on rag week. there are more house parties so you could have a whole night of drink(2 naggins for 5 euro or cheap beer) for the price of admission to a club, or 2 or3 drinks in a pub
also don't the clubs hosting the RAG week events donate a sum of the proceeds to charity?

either way, charities are 50K better off, and the clubs and bars in cork get an extra boost of custom

like the poster above said, the majority of students go to lectures and maybe go out twice during the week. there are a minority of trouble makers who do ruin it for the rest of us. but with everything there's a minority of trouble makers

closeline

I would think that is the minority that go to lectures..We couldnt do without RAG week

TheChizler

EyeSight wrote: »

did you make up this €1,000,000. figure?

I explicitly stated that it was an estimate! But if you guess that roughly 10,000 students go out a couple of times during the week (around 19,000 students inc. postgrads this year registered in UCC) and spend a mean total of €100 each, judging by people I know this is a conservative figure (not exactly scientific I know), you get your €1,000,000. I'm just stating that the charities could benefit more from the week.