CitiZenJon Interviews Students from DCU

You’ll never read it in any of the DCU literature, but it’s a bloody expensive place. Of course, everything costs money but in DCU, there is a charge for everything, even a cup of boiling water from the canteen costs 40 cents.

Monday morning is a great time for some ‘on-the-ground’ reportage. The students of DCU were eager to have their say. One issue that came up repeatedly was the price of things in DCU.

To fill you in, in 2006 DCU students got talking about the higher than average prices of consumer products and catering on DCU campus. Several protests were planned to give vent to student’s evident frustration. The Student’s Union executed a pseudo-picket on SPAR and the catering establishments on campus. Management declined to address student’s concerns. The Union even tried to offer snacks at normal rates from a room in college buildings, but after DCU Admin got wind of it the Union’s people were locked out.
The picket was broken.
Or was it. I found this charming vid on YouTube Rip-off DCU campaign vid Ah yes those were the days, their blood was up (too much starbucks I think) and they believed they could change things. The swagger of youth, bah, give ‘em a decade in a 9-5 see how marxist they are then, hrrrumph!

So the jig is up. Students without parental support through their DCU experience continue to pack their lunches and drink from the water fountain. But they dream, yet still, of an ice cool Coke and a slice of that delicious strawberry cheese cake they pass every day in the canteen. If only one had the 5.50 price.

Anywho, here’s Celina, Darren, Eoin and Richard.

What I found interesting in this very ‘local election’ was how issues (in this case issues pertaining to the elevated prices of services on campus) can often be left by the wayside. In the student elections of ‘07 issues pertaining to disadvantaged students were not mentioned. No mention was made of the ‘Rip-off DCU’ debate the previous semester. Why did this happen.

I came to the conclusion that the student demographic in DCU was not overly concerned with prices on campus. Many students hail from comfortable middle-class families. Accomodation and living expenses are taken care of by mum and dad.

From my own experience, when I tried to raise these issues with the candidates, I was met with ambivalence. When I brought it up in class I was met with outright hostility (name calling and ostracisation) and laughed at.

It seems that even those students that are from disadvantaged backgrounds just aren’t willing to make it an issue. I found that many students that have to struggle to make ends meet in DCU are hesitant to bring it up in class. From my own experience I can understand why. It’s not very nice to be laughed at in a group for not having the means to pay for books, equipment (DVDs, tapes, printing costs) and the like. But that’s exactly what I’ve had to go through: and not just from students but staff too.

Perhaps this is because there is a stigma attached to this. Fear of being considered from a working class background leaves many silent. Maybe some students have observed my own experiences and decided to keep their opinions to themselves.