Slate protesting the UCD distro ban tomorrow (Friday)

DadaKopf

Got this in the email 3 times:

In case you weren’t aware, The Slate has been banned from UCD by a load of ****ing assholes - namely the College authorities.

The college have given no valid reason why students are to be deprived of their natural right to read The Slate. Instead they have told lies and contradicted themselves in a desperate attempt to explain this bizarre decision.

But we in The Slate have refused to take this nonsense lying down, and will be showing up at lunchtime on Friday (1st of February) to give out our new issue in defiance of the dickhead authorities.

Able-bodied helpers will be needed for the task, so we are calling on all outraged readers to show up and do their bit. This will involve:

Taking bundles of magazines and giving them to anyone in your vicinity

Getting drunk by lunchtime

Attacking and Jeering any authorities who try to stop the fun

Making as much noise as possible

The action will be taking place outside Hilpers in the Arts Block, so make sure you are there with your maddest mates and a satchel full of water bombs, rotten fruit and extra-loud fireworks.

Come along and get your free copy before the authorities get their hands on them and burn them like the Nazis burned banned books in the 1930s

Even if you don’t give a ****, come along anyway and see us annoying security guards, blowing up bits of the campus and generally having a laugh.

If you are interested in helping to right this terrible injustice, email us and we will give you a central role in the mayhem.

Anyone wanting to attend, they're meeting outside Hilpers at 12.45. Get there on time, Services act quickly.

T.G Catter

lol...class. Times like this i wish i was in UCD.

DadaKopf

Right, I was writing a lengthy post on the Humanities thread about the Slate ( editor@theslate.ie ) protest tomorrow, giving the reasons behind it but by the time I got to posting it, the thread had been closed, so here it is:

1]
The decision to ban The Slate was made by the college Registrar, Dr Caroline Hussey (why not email her at: caroline.hussey@ucd.ie or registration@ucd.ie ).

2]
There is divergence within the college about its policy towards external publications distributing on-campus. Dr Hussey said to the College Tribune ( tribune@campus.ie ): "It is UCD policy (agreed with the Students' Forum) that the only advertising and promotional material which may be circulated or displayed in UCD premises is material relating to activities or events organised by the university, its departments, clubs or societies. Services are regularly reminded that they should enforce this policy." This would imply that the college has not targeted The Slate specifically.

In complete contrast to that, Ruth Gallagher of the university's Public Affairs Office ( public.affairs@ucd.ie ) said: "This ban is just specific to The Slate, there isn't a policy accross the board, publications and companies come to us seeking permission and we make a decision on what the material is and who it is." This would imply that The Slate is being specifically targeted.

The Slate's editor contacted the Head of Public Affairs, Dr Scott and asked if the ban was specific to The Slate. He concurred with Ruth Gallagher, the ban is specific to The Slate.

Richard Butler ( richard.butler@ucd.ie ), the Societies Officer commented to the College Tribune that the university is private property and any permission to distribute any publication on campus must be obtained from the university (not the students, presumably). That said, throughout the year, the college is flooded with The Irish Times, The Star, The Mirror, The Evening Herald, The Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner (external publications) which are given permission through the Students' Union. It's important to note that the Students' Union is largely separate from the university body and so, it can only be assumed that the UCDSU doesn't actually possess this power.

3]
Bear in mind that there are two permanent on campus newspapers, The University Observer and the College Tribune. The Observer holds a privileged position, compared to the Tribune, in that it is funded partly by the UCDSU and therefore has a right to distribution. On the other hand, the College Tribune has no such attachment to the college, it's completely independent and distributes its papers across campus unhindered. If the college decided tomorrow to eject the Tribune from its property, it would have no rights. Nevertheless, the Tribune is supported by the staff, both academic and administrative, and so an exception is made. Sometimes this is surprising as it has frequently, throughout its 16 year history, broken some embarrasing stories for the college. It broke the Gary Santry story before the Independent and ran the blowjob story on its front page. Worse than that, it provided The Slate with those on request.

Recently, The Slate ran a story on prostitution in Trinity College; I'm not aware that The Slate was banned from Trinity. In fact, the people who run The Slate ran Piranha!, a satirical Trinity publication of exactly the same kind. They weren't banned from publication (but a different publication structure exists in Trinity anyway).

Clearly, the whole issue regarding this ban is both due to UCD administration's attitude to the magazine, which means it is being targeted probably for taste reaons, and due to regulatory reasons. Rules do apply to the distribution of publications on campus but these rules seem arbitrary and self-contradictory. Clearly, some light needs to be shed on the whole issue. It's therefore quite clear that the Slate is being targeted.

Personally (and this is a personal opinion), I support the Slate and I hope as many people will be able to come along to UCD tomorrow to stick it to the college.

*Note that the above post is entirely factual and not libellous! Neither is it encouraging people to go out and break people's legs.

Victor

Didn't the Herald and Examiner (not to mention In Dublin) at one time carry ads for brothels. Wonderful double standard, you can exploit students for prostitution, but entertainment is out of line.

Although it must be pointed out that the current (no. 11) edition of The Slate does contain some offensive items.

quozl

its private property. They can decide what you can and cannot distribute on their property. If you have a problem with it, go elsewhere. Quit moaning. You're lucky to have it so good.

Victor

Originally posted by quozl
its private property. They can decide what you can and cannot distribute on their property. If you have a problem with it, go elsewhere. Quit moaning. You're lucky to have it so good.

Not quite:
(a) Many a non-college business meeting is held there.
(b) About 1,000 people live on campus.
(c) There are commercial and other tenants on campus.
(d) Dublin Bus routes run through the campus.
(e) The college is publicly funded.

quozl

Originally posted by Victor

>(a) Many a non-college business meeting is held there.
with permission of the college authorities. Go visit tcd. at every enterance there are signs stating that its private property and you only enter at their whim. UCD have the same rights, though as they haveso many enterances, half of which are fields, they can hardly signpost every enterance

>(b) About 1,000 people live on campus.
none of those people OWN their lodgings. Their renting them, and on a very short term basis. They might as well be living in a hotel, which is what those residences are during the summer months,
>(c) There are commercial and other tenants on campus.
commercial tenents have would have the right to have the slate distributed on their propertyof course. IE inside their own buildings, what have they got to do with say the lake area outside the arts block? Nothing.
>(d) Dublin Bus routes run through the campus.
dear god. So what? Those arent even public roads. Dublin bus provide a very useful service to the campus authorities. And get a lot of custom from it. Once again, this has nothing to do with the college being private property.

>(e) The college is publicly funded.
Where'd you get that from? College fees are paid by the government for a service provided. Any other monies the governmet gives the college is at its own discretion, it does not ean the goverment owns the college. WOuld you like to live in a country where the government controlled all the institutions of higher education?

Why do you think the college has its own police force? Its the same in tcd. Gardai are not even ALLOWED onto the campus uness they pursue a criminal onto it.
So once again, its private property, they can do what they like with it. Go set up your own university.
quozl

Victor

oooooh, /me is scared.

spikslow

WHAT!? This is an outrage.

I will be there on campus to really stir it up. i don't have fireworks, but I'll do the low budget protest thing -i.e. defecating on their nice clean forecourt.

Slate rules!!

pljudge321

Ill be there too, bring pitchforks and a time machine.