Top 10 Stories of 2011

In January 2011 the College Tribune launched its new website www.collegetribune.ie.

In the past twelve months we have attracted over 3 million hits from all over the world, case we have kept you up to date with what is going on in UCD and collegetribune.ie has delivered dozens of exclusive student news stories.

Here we take a look back at the past twelve months presenting the “Top 10 Stories of 2011.”  The list is based on the ten most read articles on collegetribune.ie.

So what stories made the Top 10?

Here is a brief account of some of our most popular stories that didn’t make it into the Top 10:

Number 20: Class Rep video causes controversy

Number 19: Sabbat Pay : An Election Issue

Number 18: UCD Student Wins Car on Facebook

Number 17: SU President Lynam to Run for Seanad

Number 16: Kylemore to take control of campus outlets

Number 15: Student Sets Up Write My Assignment Website

Number 14: Candidates Debate at Law Soc Hustings

Number 13: Students Crack Following Egg-ceptional Move by University

Number 12: €5,000 a “hypothetical” figure says Bielenberg

Number 11: SU Elections: Candidates Finalise Manifestos

Number 10

Sheen Fallout Takes Shine Off Law Soc

Issue one of Volume 25 featured a College Tribune exclusive. A leak of emails regarding the UCD Law Society revealed that controversy surrounded Hollywood actor Martin Sheen’s visit to the campus in February of this year.

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Number 9:

‘Ozzy’ Kinsella: “I was robbed”

 UCD Students’ Union Ents candidate Darragh ‘Ozzy’ Kinsella alleged in April that he was “screwed” when he lost the election. His comments came after it emerged the UCD Ball was cancelled – the announcement was made the day after the SU Election results.

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Number 8:

NUI Maynooth Students Occupy Fine Gael TD’s Office

In early December nine NUI Maynooth Students occupied the office of a Fine Gael TD in Naas for five days. This story which includes a video of NUI Maynooth SU President Rob Munnelly with the TD in question was the eighth most read story in 2011.

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Number 7:

Higgins Tops National Student Poll

In October the College Tribune coordinated an opinion poll of university students from each of the state’s seven universities in the lead up to the presidential election. The poll was carried out in conjunction with student media outlets in each campus and was picked up by the national media. Michael D. Higgins, who went on to win the election, topped the poll.

The Tribune coordinated a similar poll in February in the lead up to the General Election, the poll found that Fine Gael was the most popular political party among students nationally. 

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Number 6:

Former Education Candidate Gilhooly Responds to Geoghegan’s Remarks

There was an increased interest in this year’s SU Sabbatical Officer elections with over a dozen candidates, many with imaginative campaigns that caught the interest of the student population. Controversy surrounded the race for the position of Education Officer when Aine Gilhooly was disqualified. In our sixth most read story of the year Gilhooly responds to comments made by her former opponent Sam Geoghegan that she was “emotional.”

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 Number 5:

UCD Fashion Show: Backstage

A gallery of photographs taken backstage at the UCD Fashion Show by College Tribune photographer Danny Lambert proved popular in February – ranking as the fifth most popular post on our website in 2011. The fashion show returned after a three year hiatus – another show is planned for early 2012.

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Number 4:

Apathy, Affluence & Administration

In April a M.A. student, Eoghan Ó Braonáin, who  spent four years in UCD, wrote an opinion piece for the College Tribune that summed up many students’ views of UCD.

“If you were to look up the word “mediocre” in the dictionary, you should find a picture of the UCD logo. Correction, you would find a picture of the ‘UCD Dublin’ logo. Nothing in this industrial estate that we call a University can be described as excellent. That said, on a whole, nothing is very bad. Everything just seems to be adequate, passable.  We’re not the best educational institute in the country, but not by any means the worst.  And nobody, particularly ourselves, the students, seem to be too worried about it.”

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Number 3:

Our Favourite “Stop Fees” Signs 

A selection of some of the comical homemade signs used by students in the “Stop Fees” demonstration in November was very popular amongst visitors with several thousand hits.

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Number 2:

UCD Ball CANCELLED

The second biggest story of 2011 was the cancellation of the UCD Ball. The story broke online on Saturday 2nd April and the following week’s print edition of the College Tribune followed the fall-out. Many students took to Facebook and Twitter to openly criticize the SU whilst the SU blamed University authorities. A “Save our Ball” campaign was launched and the Ball was eventually rescheduled for Saturday 23rd April.

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 Number 1

Live Coverage of “Stop Fees” Demonstration

Our live coverage of the “Stop Fees” demonstration in Dublin city centre in November generated record traffic for collegetribune.ie. Student journalists and photographers worked together to keep those who could not attend the protest updated throughout the afternoon.

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The College Tribune would like to wish all its readers a very merry Christmas. We’ll be back on campus in the new year with more great stories, interviews and features.