Books from the Student Union run second hand bookshop were found dumped in a skip outside of the Science Buildings earlier today. An estimated 500 textbooks had been discarded.
The books had been on sale in the UCDSU bookshop for as little as €2 earlier this week. Two constitutional law books worth over €100 were found.
Several students have voiced their disgust, remedy given the economic problems of many students countrywide, that books have been thrown out. “They give out about being €1.2million in debt. They didn’t make an announcement about these books: they could have given them free to students, especially in the current climate; people are struggling. If there was cheap alcohol going in the Student Union bar they’d be quick enough to send us a text about it,” remarked Brendan McGee, a third year Social Science student.
In response to the dumping, UCDSU Education Officer Sam Geoghegan explained that,. “after the books are in the bookshop for a year they become property of the Students’ Union and the books that are now in the recycling area of Science have been on the system for two, three, or four years. There was minimal chance they would sell so it was decided just before Semester 2 began that we would clear out the bookshop because it was getting very crowded at the end of Semester 1. They were put outside the bookshop for entire week 1 of Semester 2 and they were sold for €2 and any of the profits gained were going to the Welfare Fund. Any books that were unsold had to be disposed of because we’re only allowed have the books outside the the bookshop for one week.”
When queried regarding the possibility of recycling, Geoghegan went on to say, “It was mainly a decision made by the staff in the bookshop. I suppose giving them to a charity shop might have been a good idea but the sheer volume of books might have made it tough to transport to a charity shop.”
“Students came in this morning and saw a skip full of books and obviously this made people really angry.” stated Meabh McMahon, a final year Environmental Biology student who found the books and alerted the College Tribune.
The College Tribune has taken responsibility for the books and are currently distributing them to students outside our office in the Newman Building. Students have been quick to take books relevant to their courses and within an hour of display, only few of the 500 books remain.
A random sample of the books was taken and the cost of the books was estimated to be between €14,000 and €18,000 from comparison of used books on Amazon.
More details as we have them.
Conor McKenna
Apparently the dumping was just phase 1.
Phase 2 was to be a public burning of these books.
Its all part of the SU’s new policy on the censorship of Financial Management Theory.
Bheinn tar éis roinnt a thógáil, dá ndéarfaidís linn!
The idiocracy of the elite of the SU is reaching new levels by day…they should be hanged…or well,at least fired-every single one of them…i reckon we start pursuing tht on monday?!?
this is an absolute disgrace. We need a fresh approach to education. We need intellect. We need honour. WE NEED PAT
Out of interest are any of the books still around, I only found out about this through friends statuses on Facebook??
Pat as in the FF supporting Pat De Bruin who’s the supervisor of FF member Sam?
Please excuse the layout of this peice of writing. This sort of problem will, I assure you, lead to awful things happening. Many people are tired of these antics and resent the attitudes of the supposed representatives. It is truly sad that it was only in hindsight that they decided to give to a charity shop. Complete disregard. Any charity would have been happy to collect. Which brings me to the Saint Vincent de Paul, a charity doing great work but fails in certain respects. Could the SVP not have been on the ball and have an agreement set up whereby the SVP recieves all of the one year old books. Besides all of this book talk this is important for another reason. It reflects a type of attitude. An attitude which is becoming increasingly unpopular. Samuals quote mentions the Students’ Union as though it is seperate to the students themselves. It is seperate I agree. Without wanting to offend or discourage membership I think it reasonable to suggest that it is more of a club for follower, loners and the odd leader type of person. The kind who can organise useless things but who has no individual thought or creativity. Who says we cannot leave the books outside that building? Is there nowhere else they could be left like somewhere they could be seen. Let me think…Done. Outside theatre L where everybody in arts walks by. And the SU know that spot very well. I know it too because half of the time there are candidates looking for votes. “FREE SAMBOS” they say, in earnest. when I see some of them I cringe and feel awful pukey when I walk past them. “Vote for Pat” they say, with there big sincere eyes which long for some form of institutionalisation and network of fellow vulnerables. “Being in the SU is good for the CV”. Come on guys. Unless your causing a serious fuss as a member of the SU your not worth your votes. It should actually be called Student Union Soc. ‘For all the fops who want to be part of something, whatever that something happens to be. Our voting some of these people in is a poor reflection on our voting ability. Though thats genetic. Getting to my original point, I fear for some of these people we speak about. People like Sam and Pat are becoming part of much despised minority. The minority who will fire as many people necessary without regard to the role the employees play. These things combine to incite anger. Students be careful not to fall into the trap that many have fallen into. The pogroms took place not because it was right but because there was popular support for them. A similar but perhaps a more spread out variation will occur. People like Pat could easily be set upon and attacked or beaten or stabbed. There is no place for people to effectively express dissatisfaction and the implementation of measures that do not sit easy with the voters is sure to cause a disturbance. Pat and others are actually vulnerable at this moment as they do not have adequate protection from potential enemies. Though these people may not actually be malevolent is aside from the point. It is how they are viewed that matters. People view Pat and others as the villian and at some point during the crunch heroes will arise. Popular support for a national enema to rid our poorly nation of its putrid and sour cream is brewing so be aware and try not to develop a Nazi mentality against those people who seem to be making bad decisions on our behalf.