July 2nd - 8th

Hi Everyone,

On the bus home to Donegal after a pretty hectic week. Missed the Bus Eireann one so I'm stuck on a small van-like effort for four hours trying not to let this negativity affect my blog, I won't be beaten by my VPs!

I started this week with a new office and looking forward to the challenges ahead. Funnest part of the week was Pride; it was such an amazing atmosphere of community and support there that made it so different from any parade, protest or march that I've ever been on. It made me so excited for our upcoming LGBT campaign, culminating in the March for Marriage on August 12 in town. And unlike most marriage-related things everyone's invited yay! Planning for the campaign is in full swing in the corridor, and I've stopped sulking by now after my slogan "Keep Calm and Marry On" was unceremoniously rejected. I'm just too alt damnit.

Being President meant taking on a whole new level of responsibility, and I'm finding it a huge change from vice-president to president but it's enjoyable too, and great to get the chance to work on completely new projects and manage such a great team. I won't bore you with all the details, especially on our finances but I worked on things like drawing up a proposal encouraging banks to adopt a standardised loan system for students who need help paying their contribution charge, trying to figure out a way to bring cheap bike rental to campus (check out the awesome iCycle project in Manchester), finalising campaign and other dates for the year with the team, and finding out what qualities, skills and experiences students want in a new UCD President - if you're reading this and haven't sent your reply to my all-student email I will find you and I will be unpleasant.

In other news, I've been reading about economist Nouriel Roubini, who is the answer to Momma Breslin's eternal question "why did nobody see recession coming?" and drinking lots of hot chocolate to make it up to my body for waking it so early to be in for 8.30 and 9am meetings all week.

Next week I'm finishing the executive handbook of advice to mirror the one I gave to the officers this week ahead of our first exec meeting next Wed, continuing work on reforms to help stabilise us financially, signing off on our Student Guide, meeting the college authorities to plan for the UCD Ball '13, finalising our March for Marriage campaign plan with the team, and drawing up a list of our priorities in order for the year so we're focussed and on them from the get-go and lots more. Till then ...

Hey everyone!

The weeks after standing for election went quicker than expected with the exams coming and going. To be honest I was bricking it when it finally began to sink in but the best advice my predecessor gave me was to start planning what I wanted to achieve with my term straight away and that's what I've tried to do over the last two months.

My first real experience of Campaigns was the 3rd level online funding Preferendum which gave students the choice on what way they wanted to pay for their degree. This was a "learning on my feet" experience where myself, the incoming President and team worked with the new exec who hadn't even taken office yet! We spent countless days and nights making videos (one which even had the Ents Officer Heffo in the lake), emailing students, launching competitions and contacting the college and local papers by ensuring that as many UCD students as possible had the chance to decide. By the end of it we were exhausted but managed to reach quorum and had the highest online turnout compared to any other 3rd level institution in the country! The overall outcome was Student Contribution, this is when both the government and students pay a proportion of the registration fee. Regardless of the outcome I was particularly proud of the work ethic of the exec/volunteers and stance we took by giving an objective view and purely encouraging students to vote on what they wanted.

Nearly straight after the campaign ended we made a team decision to collabarate the Orientation Guide with the Students' Union Freshers Guide for the first time. This clashed with the usual publishing deadline of August 1st and final print was to be July 5th instead. The Freshers' Guide is always edited and drafted by the C&C Officer so before beginning this task I swatted up over the weekend on any guides I could find from unions around the country and consulted with the two previous Officers in this role. I thoroughly enjoyed making it and my ethos when writing was to portray what I or a typical 1st year would like to read when arriving through the gates of UCD for the first time. It's a publication we can stand over and be proud of for the sheer work the whole sabbatical and exec team and volunteers put in for the new tight deadline. The main theme that runs though the guide is what the Union can do for the everyday student through its services and how they can be a part of it.

With the tieing up of the last few bits for the Freshers' Guide I've began to look at campaigns for the upcoming year and proposed calender. This has been a collective effort where we have worked together as a team with the campaigns' forum so the events of ents, issues of education/welfare and campaigns can work in sync thus ensuring that when term kicks off in September we have a definitive plan on achievable goals for the year which will run smoothly.

One of our main goals for the months ahead is equal marriage for everyone. All Sabbatical Officers marched under UCD LGBT banner in pride last weekend and one aspect I found to be uplifting was the support from the Dublin community especially the younger generantions with their families who waved and cheered as the 30,000 strong crowd arrived at Merrion Square for the finale, hopefully when they're our age this will be a thing of the past and be a should be a part of society. Its been a huge learning experience for me and I find it hard to understand in 2012 why a state should deny any two people the legal rights to marry someone. I met UCD LGBT and Marriage Equality with the Micheal and began our part in this movement. Currently the legislation in place is Civil Partnership this is far cry from actual marriage with 156 differences between the two. It stone walls the community and from what I've read it effectively puts them as second class citizens. On the 12th of August the "March for Marriage" is taking place. If you believe in an Ireland that should pressure its government and say this is fundamentally wrong then show your support that day at 12am. You can start by checking out the event link below. We'll definitley be there as well walking alongside the LGBT community.

LGBT link here

Finally I met with the UCD's Commercial Manager today to discuss the introduction of mealdeals for students in all Kylemore outlets. I also met with the Head of Communciations to utilize a new tab for the Union on every students blackboard and use the screens around campus to publish ads and videos from the union.

Really enjoying work with the team so far and excited for what's to come but can't wait for a pint on the weekend!

If you have any ideas for campaigns or something that you want to see happen in your building even something as simple as a water fountain then feel free to mail me at anytime or give the phone a ring.


Slán go fóil

Paddy

Campaigns@ucdsu.ie

087-1189425

So we begin! My first blog as Education Officer.

I know I've only been in the job since Monday but a lot of work has happened in the last few weeks. I've been heavily involved with UCD Registry for upcoming registration. It's been really interesting with the new time slot system. Which reminds me! Check Registry to see when you can book your slot! The sooner you book it the better chance you have of getting that module you want.

Today has been quite a busy for me actually. The new online grant awarding system SUSI is in affect so Paddy, Mícheál and I have been putting plans in place for a Grant Information Campaign which we're going to launch. Trying to get my head around thresholds this and maintenance that has been tiring but I cracked it! If anyone needs help with grants give me a shout! Oh and by the way if you're already on a grant and are renewing you still go through your local authority for it!

Myself and Mícheál planned out our joint campaigns for the year, why the guy didn't go into marketing I don't know!

All in all I'm already really enjoying working with this year's Sabbats. The union had a ridiculously tough year last year and it consumed so much time of the last team. Now that things have been put right, this year's Sabbats can really get back to focusing purely on the main purpose of the union; representing you guys. It was said yesterday by Heffo and he is right. For too long UCDSU has been used by people to further themselves in their future careers. I really believe that this team is only focused on you guys and making sure that the powers that be of UCD hear what you have to say.

We are your voices, tell us what to say!

Is muidne do ghuthanna ar fad, abair linn cad ba chóir dúinn a rá ar do shon!

Shane

After todays team meeting a few of us stayed back and werechatting about our personal opinions on a few different issues. We discussed many different things, all of which sparked major discussion and debate between us and really got the juices flowing! There was no real conclusion to the debate but by the end of it I had made a realization!
That realization was that UCDSU is seen by the majority of students as a waste of time, money and resources. It has the perception of being full of weirdo's/hacks who hang around college for years, thinking there better than everyone else because they have an excessive amount of lanyards on their keys or can skip the queue to the studentbar. Do you think this is a fair statement or a generalization?

Either way most of the people who are going to read this on the website will be hacks because the general studentbody couldn't give a shit what the union does! Once it keeps reasonable control of the UCD hierarchy, helps to sort out welfare and education issues, runs mandated campaigns andhas a decent UCD Ball the general student body are happy! In essence the students have minimal expectations of the union.
I feel in the past, that many people elected to the SU haveseen it as a quick way to achieve their personal goals rather then to represent the students. I feel the positions have been misused and as a result people have lost faith in the union. Being honest, can ya blame them? If I myself hadn't lost faithin the union, I wouldn't be sitting here as Ents officer writingthis blog. But I am. Why? Because I feel I can genuinely add something new and different to the union. Something thatwill capture the hearts of the average student & hopefully make an overall difference to their college experience.
It's nearly 8pm now and I want to head home so I'm going to wrap this up. This blog post may just look like I just wenton a big rant, with no real purpose & dished out a few home
truths but for some reason I think it was important that I did it. I spoke my mind! Let people know how I feel! And as an elected representative for the students, I think it's important that people know how we feel about issues! I also thinkits very important to mention that I have met many greatpeople through the union over the past few years & that peoples perceptions of the union as a whole are unjust. I'm not saying it doesn't have hacks because it does! But there'sa whole ‘other' side to the union & one that I am hoping toshow people this year. If people see this ‘other' side I'm sure opinions will be changed. I know mine was.
Besides that work is going well, the team is bonding and wehave a long summer of organizing and planning ahead of us. It's going to be a challenge but one I'm looking forward to!
See ya's later,
Heffo

Day one of a new job, a new term and a new team.

The morning started quite funnily with me knocking on the Welfare Office door looking for Rachel, before realising that she was two doors down in the president's office. Old habits die hard!

Once we settled in and made our offices our own all 5 of the sabbats had a 10am meeting in the boardroom, outlining what we're going to be doing this week. In the course of the meeting we decided that we'd all do a daily blog, each of us doing a different day of the week.

It was a day full of meetings over finances, budgets, and deciding policies (mixed in with a few photos taken for the Fresher's Guide to UCD). I'm not really used to office work, all my previous jobs have been active and always on my feet like waitering and construction work, so to make up for it I went for a walk for my lunch break. On my walk I couldn't help but notice that the Engineering building has big construction in front of it and word on the street is that it's going to be a new lake! Brings UCD's grand total of lakes to three...

When I got back to my office I finished nailing down some of the events for Mental Health Week ( 8th - 12th October) I'm not going to give any events away, but I'm bringing in SAFE (Suicide Alertness For Everyone) talk during that week, a seminar I've found infinitely helpful in my time in UCD. I'll also have a few fun events, getting very excited for the year already!

In the evening as we were all finishing up for the day we did a Students' Union corridor clean up, getting rid of some of the mess that accumulated during the USI Funding Vote campaign.

My day ended on a poor note, with my bike being stolen from outside the office. My laptop died yesterday so it's been a frustrating 2 days. However, I find when I'm feeling annoyed or frustrated it always helps to talk about it, similar to pleasetalks.org‘s message. I take comfort with the fact that I have two B.SocSc social work students in my house who are always going to be there in the evening to listen to me rant about stolen bicycles and the likes! It's like having my own personal counseling service.

Well that was Monday of my first day as UCDSU Welfare Officer!