Emma Stokes, the Dean of Discipline at Trinity College Dublin, occupies a unique role in Irish education. In her first interview, she says today's students don't always deserve the bad press they receive. . . . but she has been known to break up a rowdy party or two in the early hours.
A rich mythology surrounds the subject of discipline at Trinity College Dublin. Gardaí can't enter the campus and neither can goats. Every Trinity Ball weekend the wardrobes of Botany Bay are searched for stowaways. Students can drink porter during exams but must be wearing a sword.
For a large and very public area in the centre of Dublin City, Trinity has the air of an enclave and students can sometimes feel untouchable within its walls. In fact, Gardaí are invited to walk through the grounds if they so desire, despite the fact that Trinity is private property.
For 200 years it has been the lot of the junior dean to police those college high jinks that are not quite serious enough to merit Garda intervention. The nature of student transgression has changed since the days that a fellow could be hauled before the junior dean for abetting a woman to remain on campus after 10pm, but the role of the junior dean, or Dean of Discipline, remains central.
Emma Stokes is the first female junior dean at Trinity College and she follows a string of notables including eminent historian RB McDowell and poet Brendan Kennelly. Since taking up the position a year ago she has dealt with "around 100" incidents of student indiscipline, ranging from plagiarism to anti-social behaviour.
"The role of Dean of Discipline, or Registrar of Chambers, is focused on building the community on campus," says Stokes, who is also a full-time member of the academic staff in the department of physiotherapy. "I work to create a safe and happy environment for the 700 students who live here, as well as the 15,000 who attend the college by day."
Stokes and her team provide a 24-hour on-call service to deal with incidents as they arise. Dead-of-night phonecalls are not unusual in the first few weeks of term, she says, but tend to settle down as students get on with the business of college.
While Stokes has been known to pad across the cobblestones at four in the morning to break up a rowdy party, she is more likely to deal with students in her office after they have been referred to her by security or other staff. Sometimes students complain too, of loud carry-on in the rooms at night or other infringements.
"The vast majority of incidents that come to my attention are minor - nothing more than high-jinks," she says. "My role is largely a pastoral one. Breaches of discipline can be a symptom of a stress or health-related problem and we are eager to help the student involved as well as to sanction them. We have the best interests of the community and the student at heart."
Sanction is called for in some cases, however, and Stokes has a number of weapons in her arsenal. Students may be asked to write a letter of apology, take part in "voluntary" work on campus or pay a fine up to €127. These are the sentences handed down for "high jinks" such as scaling the campus walls at night, throwing loud parties on campus or having unauthorised persons to stay in rooms at night (regardless of gender).
More serious issues, of which there was only a handful last year, will from this month go before a panel of inquiry or a disciplinary committee. Expulsion is a possibility, but has never happened on Stokes's watch.
Serious breaches of discipline in the last year have included misuse of e-mail, cheating in exams or on other coursework and anti-social behaviour. All incidents were dealt with in-house with a pastoral dimension unpinning the process, Stokes insists.
The political unruliness of old - week-long campus sit-ins and scuffles between protesters and security - has not been an issue for Stokes. "These days student demonstrations go off without coming to my attention, if they go off at all. Nothing has ever come across my radar. It's a credit to the students, really."
Dave Quinn of Trinity Students' Union has a good working relationship with the junior dean's office, but admits that conflict does arise from time to time. "Obviously we are here to represent the student and there are times when we see issues of discipline differently from the dean," he says.
Stokes is keen to defend her students from negative stereotypes peddled in the media. "There is a culture of excessive alcohol use in this country: it's not just an issue for students. We have a responsible alcohol policy here and while some discipline issues are linked to drunkenness, most are not. The students here are involved in college life, in sports and social clubs and volunteering. They are enjoying a very exciting period in their lives. Most disciplinary issues are examples of 'acting the maggot', and nothing more serious than that."
The longest serving junior dean at Trinity, Dr RB McDowell, held the post from 1956 to 1969 and allegedly dealt with far graver infringements than today's students can dream up. One former student, Jose Xuereb, recalls being bailed out of the Garda pound where he had been "detained while the balance of my mind was fizzing with Guinness". In the 13 years of McDowell's deanship he dealt with a riot involving 300 students on Front Square, a series of fireworks rigged to go off for hours during the night around campus and a car hoisted onto the roof of the Examination Hall. McDowell was famous for dealing with matters of discipline in a spirit of camaraderie and good humour: Stokes is carrying on that tradition.
"As a health professional myself I am more interested in the welfare of the students than in sanctioning them," says Stokes. "If I can turn an issue of indiscipline into a positive learning experience for everyone involved then that's my priority." Living as she does in the midst of her charges, Stokes likes to see her role as a supportive one. She can't get away from the students in her care. It's written into the college statutes that "the Junior Dean shall not pass a night outside college except for some urgent reason approved by the Provost". It's bad news for the two unfortunate students rooming above her in the Rubrics on Front Square. Let's just say that their apartment is not party central this year.
