USI is to seek a referendum in TCD next month on reaffiliation to the national union in an effort to reopen the debate on USI membership in TCD.
Trinity disaffiliated from USI in 1991, amid heavy debt and after some TCD officers broke mandate and failed to vote for their own candidate to the USI presidency, ensuring his defeat.
USI president Colm Keaveney and deputy president Bob Jordan, the officer responsible for non affiliated colleges, confirmed their intention to seek a referendum in a story to be published in Trinity News, the TCD newspaper, this Thursday. Reaffiliation by TCD would put additional pressure on the other non affiliated universities (UL, Maynooth and UCC) to consider rejoining.
The national union will have to collect 350 signatures from TCD students in order to have a referendum scheduled, in which case it would probably take place in conjunction with the sabbatical elections in the college late next month.
USI is likely to approach prospective sabbatical candidates in TCD over the coming weeks in an effort to canvass their views on the national union. The effect will he to place the issue of reaffiliation at the forefront of pre election hustings in TCD.
USI holds the view that students' unions in non affiliated colleges are doing their students an injustice by remaining outside the organisation.
TCD students' union has a long tradition of being in USI," says Bob Jordan. It was a founder member of USI and the voice of Trinity students has not been heard at national level for almost five years. We think that the students of Trinity feel that there is now, more than ever, a need for this voice to be heard strongly.
USI believes that there are enough students in Trinity who "realise that something is missing in their representation" to force a referendum and rejoin USI.
While TCD students' union has maintained links with USI, the union's officers are not believed to be in favour of reaffiliation. SU president Priya Nair and education officer John Walsh are believed to be particularly opposed to any move to rejoin USI, although in the event of a referendum the union will provide funds for both pro and anti affiliation campaigns.
The students' union executive met last week to discuss the possibility of a referendum and released the following statement: "We have not been contacted by USI about reaffiliation, nor by any students within the college seeking reaffiliation. But we recognise that any group of students within the college has the right to call a referendum by collecting 350 signatures from the student body and we would uphold the right of any group of students to call a referendum.
However we are surprised that the president of USI appears to have ceased communication with Trinity students' union." According to Jordan this is untrue, but these statements remain the first shots in what is likely to be a colourful and aggressive referendum campaign.
