- HEA Chief Executive Tom Boland
Ronan Costello
Editor
The Union of Students in Ireland will continue to campaign for free third level education after a majority of delegates at USI Special Congress voted for one hundred percent exchequer funded in a fees preferendum.
Out of a total valid poll of 180 delegates, one hundred percent exchequer funded received 95 votes. Student contribution received 81 votes. Delegations from each college voted according to the mandate they received from students who had participated in USI’s online fees poll.
As the results were being announced, news broke that the HEA is currently working on proposals to present to Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn at the end of the summer on how the third level funding crisis should be resolved. Ominously for USI and its renewed free fees stance, HEA Chief Executive Tom Boland said that population growth will lead to a surge in demand for college places and there was “no way” the Exchequer alone could support this.
The result of the vote at Special Congress came as a surprise to some SU Presidents who had expected the student contribution to win the day, as students from UCC, UCD and Trinity had indicated their preference for maintaining the charge.
Today’s vote could cause difficulty for USI as it tries to convince UCD and Trinity that it still represents the views of their students. TCDSU President Ryan Bartlett has been a vocal advocate for the introduction of a student loan scheme, while UCDSU President Pat de Brun has publicly called for a graduate tax to be introduced and, after the online vote, UCDSU’s fees policy is to advocate the maintenance of a reasonable student contribution. De Brun noted that this is the first time that UCDSU and USI’s policies on fees have differed.
The result was a victory for left wing groups such as Free Education for Everyone, and student activists who had been staunchly opposed to the online vote and a change in the free fees policy. During the course of the online vote, free fees campaigners had sought to undermine the credibility of the voting system by pointing to perceived security flaws.
USI President Gary Redmond sent an email to all sabbatical officers last Saturday, reporting that one computer had tried to hack the www.usi.ie website over 100,000 times. When UT tweeted this information today, an account called “Third Level Fees” replied saying “its [sic] called ‘brute force’. it’s how I got the passwords for the site. #feesvote (password was starlight).” The owner of the account claimed to have been able to acquire the username and password for the site which would have allowed him/her to tamper with the vote. Redmond said that none of the attempts to hack the site were successful.
This interference with the online vote and the opposition of left wing activists to the preferendum being held in the first place had clearly annoyed Redmond, who threw some withering remarks in their direction in his opening address to Special Congress. Redmond remarked on the irony of the online vote, in which every student from participating colleges could vote, being described as undemocratic by those who had previously criticised USI for not engaging with its members on such policy decisions.
Remarking on the result, Redmond said it had been a landmark day for USI. “USI’s core principle has always been to ensure equity of access for all students and our members have decided that the best way to ensure this is to continue the campaign for free third level education.”
“It’s critical for Ireland’s recovery that we continue to invest in Higher Education and to ensure that the quality does not suffer. The Government must prioritise the education in this time of austerity as an investment in education provides the greatest return.”
Breakdown of Results
Total Poll: 180
Spils: 0
Quota: 91
Round 1:
Graduate Tax: 9
100% Exchequer: 90
100% Upfront: 1
Student Contribution: 80
Student Loan Scheme: 0
None Of The Above: 0
Graduate Tax, Student Loan, None Of The Above eliminated as they are all incapable of reaching the quota.
Round 2:
Non-Transferable Votes: 4
100% Exchequer: 95 (+5)
Student Contribution: 81 (+1)
100% Exchequer deemed victorious after the second count.
