UCD Literary and Historical Society are under fire for repeatedly going too far between protests at the abortion debate and a @ucdlandhate Instagram page being created with an open letter to L&H and the students of UCD to sign a petition for L&H to change. A large population of the UCD student body is desperately searching for change. On the Instagram page, their post entitled, L&H Must Change, the account pointed out several flaws to the L&H – such as issues with the freshers brochure, the abortion debate, the American election watch party, the upcoming dictator’s debate, the L&H “repeatedly giving a platform to genocide deniers,” along with their demands.
Ucdlandhate, in their post, referred to the L&H freshers brochure containing “numerous offensive and derogatory remarks, including classist, homophobic, and sexually explicit content.” Some of the examples that they included were “the treasurer joking about comparing Tallaght to a “red-light district” in an all-female sex work debate. Additionally, it was alleged that the brochure included a statement from the secretary stating that he “plans to model his time in office off of Stalin’s productive thirty-year regime.”
The abortion debate entitled, “This house believes that the fathers should have a say,” has been controversial since the announcement of the debate, with people defacing posters throughout campus – with L&H joking at the debate that they “hope the people who defaced the posters enjoy being on camera (with CCTV across campus).”
Outside the Fitzgerald Chamber, before the abortion debate, The College Tribune spoke to both protestors and students attending the debate. When asked why they protested, one person said, “We’ve had this debate already. 2/3 of the country voted in favour. This is just a ploy by L&H.” Other protestors said, “This debate has got to go!”
However, when asked their opinion on the debate, the protesters outside had a different take on the matter at hand: “I don’t see why we can’t discuss the topic. I completely support it (the protestors), but I don’t think it has anything to do with the debate,” said one debate goer.
“As Americans, we see it that at the end of the day, people have different viewpoints on matters, and it’s important to debate and discuss these different viewpoints,” said a group of girls attending the debate.
During the buildup to entering the debating chamber, protesters chanted various phrases, including “My body, my choice,” and “Not the church. Not the state. People must decide their faith.”
L&H committee members were stationed at different entrances to the Fitz. While waiting for the debate to commence, a reporter for The College Tribune noticed two male committee members stationed at the upper floor entrance dancing and mocking the protesters’ chants.
The debate was delayed by over half an hour, and many audience members wondered if it would be cancelled. However, eventually, people were let into the chamber for the debate to commence. L&H refused entry to non-members, and when entering the debate, security personnel patted down members.
As audience members made their way into the chamber, protesters shouted, “Shame, shame, shame on you,” and continued to chant this phrase throughout the debate while banging on the walls to disrupt the ongoing debate inside the chamber.
An insider who attended the debate reported to The College Tribune on the proceedings and said, “Despite the goading title that L&H used — clearly to get attention — the debate was pretty tame with no outrageous or outlandish remarks.”
They said that the opening speaker stated right out of the gate that “we are not here to debate the ethics of abortion” and followed up immediately with that they were “no way stating that it should be legislated for men to have a say in abortion.”
The insider said they thought a critical point was made during the debate, “Do we really want to be in a position where pro-lifers are the only ones debating and talking about this topic?”
The debate concluded with the closing remarks, “There will be no pizza tonight. There’s only one group to blame for that, and they’re not in this chamber.”
The demands of @ucdlandhate were the following:
“Investigate L&H, impose sanctions, for L&H promote inclusivity, and for the societies council to create a comprehensive guide for L&H to follow.”
In less than 24 hours, the open letter received over 100 responses.
By Hannah Costello – Co-Editor
