FOCUS ON: Although TCD has appointed a liaison officer to work with the local community, much work remains to be done to effect a better understanding Anne Byrne reports
From its days as the university of the male Protestant ascendancy, TCD has, this century, become more inclusive, admitting women in 1904 and appointing its first woman professor in 1934. Last year, TCD appointed its second Catholic provost. This year, there are students from more than 70 countries attending TCD.
But the local community surrounding the inner-city oasis of manicured squares and cobblestones that is TCD is still poorly represented. In recent years, an access programme is actively seeking and supporting students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, but they still represent a drop in the ocean of TCD's 15,000 students.
In March this year, TCD appointed its first community liaison officer, Dr Shane Butler, to act as a link between the college, the local community and the city. According to the press release of the day, he "will identify and address issues of mutual concern with the college's neighbours and the wider city communities". The provost, Dr John Hegarty, said: "This newly created post illustrates the importance Trinity, as a city-centre university, places on our relationship with the local community. It builds on the success of our existing Trinity Access Programme (TAP), which aims to increase the participation rate of disadvantaged students and other outreach initiatives."
So much for the aspirations. In a recent letter to The Irish Times, John Devlin, chairman of the Pearse Street Rejuvenation Project, wrote: "For the past two decades, local residents and businesses have been fighting a losing battle with the college to stop it turning Pearse Street into a back alley of urban dereliction. With the aid of razor-wire, ugly railings, bricked-up buildings, glass footbridges and giant roller shutters, TCD has trashed what was once one of Dublin's most fashionable streets."
Enter Dr Butler, a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Studies, where his main interests are in the areas of drug and alcohol problems. He co-chairs TCD's addiction research centre and is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs.
Sitting in his office overlooking bustling Nassau Street, Butler says he is concerned about the predominantly working-class neighbourhoods close to the college. "Just walking through the grounds it dawned on me that it's mostly middle-class people who use the grounds. They have a sense of confidence, a sense of ownership - the working class people tend to walk around the perimeter." Local people are welcome, he says, looking shocked at the suggestion that this might not best please all members of staff, or, indeed, the student body.
He says his main entrée to the local community, on the educational front, is through St Andrew's Resource Centre on Pearse Street, which offers a "range of activities from the cradle to the grave. We have close links with the adult education schemes and also on youth work." The college's access programme, TAP, offers some access and support to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds (see panel). A student society also provides study supports to second-level students.
Butler says he has spent the past few months familiarising himself with the activities already under way in the college. In the past, these activities suffered from a lack of central co-ordination.
On the issue of Pearse Street, Butler says: "I don't think it was the intention of the college to physically turn its back to the neighbours. The property was accessed slowly over the years and the planning situation was continually changing. Obviously, we are open to the accusation of having allowed the external appearance to deteriorate physically. Internally, the buildings are very well maintained. It's unfair to say that we are solely responsible for turning a thriving shopping street into a no-go area. We had tenants and they left for commercial reasons." He mentions problems with traffic, lack of parking and safe setdown.
"Trinity would like to develop the Pearse Street area. We are having an architectural competition as part of the RAPID scheme, a local development initiative.
"We have to take some responsibility. We were not as careful as we should have been."
Speaking to EL, John Devlin says he has not met Butler but assumed his brief was more to do with educational access than architectural issues. "After 400 years, TCD is realising that there are people living next to them. I would hope that they work with the two local schools at City Quay and Westland Row," he adds.
Devlin says that Butler's appointment has not made any difference to the state of Pearse Street. If anything, it has got worse in the past few months. He cites a recent issue of Trinity News which pictured Pearse Street and said it was the most dangerous part of Dublin's inner city. "I'm very unhappy with the mindset that exists that the neighbours eat their young. TCD is the biggest landowner in our parish. It is in receipt of State funding. It should be making a contribution to the local community." Devlin is incensed that TCD's planned new sports building will house a "rifle range for the toffs", but the college is opposing the opening of shops at ground level.
It looks like Butler, who has barely had time to find his feet, and who continues to lecture as well as liaise, will have his work cut out if he is to convince Devlin of the college's good intentions towards its neighbours.
As to why an academic was appointed to this thorny position, Butler says his job has two elements: selling Trinity to the neighbours and also selling the neighbours to Trinity. "I've been here long enough. I know the administrative system. I know the personnel. I'm better placed than somebody coming in from outside." Butler also has wide experience of the community-based social services sector and worked as a social worker and social researcher with the Eastern Health Board for more than 10 years before coming to Trinity. This experience should stand him in good stead.
