Deputy News EditorThe University Times has learned that a formal complaint has been submitted to the Junior Dean after a fractious weekend at the 2011 Cork IV debating competition that led to hostel staff labelling the University Philosophical Society group “the worst behaved in the history of [the] hostel”. The official complaint was made after a member of University Philosophical Society council allegedly encouraged an inebriated first year student to strip naked and climb into the bed of a female member of the College Historical Society contingent while she tried to sleep.
A Times source revealed that the Hist dormitory in the Cork International Hostel, which hosted both societies over the weekend of the competition, was entered by the Phil contingent late on Friday night without permission for the entire group to enter. The Junior Dean will be investigating the claim that residents of the room asked the Phil contingent to leave on more than one occasion before the council member, the equivalent of a society committee member, encouraged a first year student to strip naked and get into the occupied bed of a Hist judge, who was attempting to sleep at the time. The unclothed debater is alleged to have then promptly fulfilled the dare.
The same resident of the room told us that the girl “asked the perpetrator, calmly, to leave her bed”. Instead he reportedly touched himself in an offensive manner, before eventually heeding her request. A formal complaint has been made to the Junior Dean regarding the incident in question and an investigation is soon to begin. The alleged victim declined to comment.
Further to this, a number of noteworthy incidents that took place over the weekend have come to light in this investigation. John Beechinor, auditor of tournament hosts UCC Philosoph, received a complaint from University College Cork campus security. The campus security’s complaint concerned members of a number of debating societies, including those representing Trinity, consuming alcohol openly on campus and inside the chapel playing host to the tournament during the final on Saturday evening. Speaking to this reporter, Beechinor said that the incident has become ’quite a big deal’ for the debating society:
“This has become quite a big deal for us. We’re in a lot of trouble over it. There’s been a big inquiry into it and we’ll be writing to a few [involved] societies up and down the country in relation to it. We’ve been quite heavily punished.”
When asked whether the incident was isolated, Beechinor replied: “I suppose it was isolated in the sense that it only happened that one time, but it’s a big deal because it was during the final of the debate and they were drinking inside the chapel where it was held. As far as isolated incidents go, it was pretty significant”.
In a statement issued to The University Times, Phil president Eoin O’Liathan said ‘there were noise issues when a number of delegations, including the Hist and NUIG, returned on the first night. We spoke to the hostel though and hope to stay there again in the future.’
On Friday evening, Hist member of committee Cormac McGuinness managed to successfully negotiate with hostel staff intent on evicting the entire Trinity group for excessive noise levels and inappropriate conduct stemming from the room invasion mentioned previously. The group was then kicked out of the hostel at 9am on Sunday morning, but were eventually given an hour to prepare themselves at the behest of Hist treasurer John Engle and pro-Debates Convenor Katie O’Leary.
Further investigation revealed that following their hosting of both societies over the weekend of 2nd-4th December, the hostel in Cork City informed the Phil that their group were “the worst behaved group in the history of this hostel”. The complaint was subsequently repeated by the Phil on their ‘Phil Freshers’ Facebook page in the form of a status issuing ‘belated congratulations to all our freshers this weekend for being “the worst behaved group in the history of this hostel”’. The page is run by the Vice-President of the society, who is typically in charge of the society’s freshers.
The University Times contacted the hostel on Friday morning, and discovered that they were “unaware and disappointed” that the society had chosen to publicly celebrate their conduct over the weekend in question. The stand-in manager immediately recognised the group in question as Phil debaters and judges as “a group that caused trouble last weekend”.
