Students taking the bachelor-of-music-education degree at the DIT/ TCD have to spend approximately six hours every week travelling between lectures. The 25 students are set to go on strike from tomorrow if their situation is not addressed.
Last year, first and thirdyear students took lectures in Trinity College, DIT Chatham Row and DIT Adelaide Road. But last September, an additional location was added to their timetable - DIT Rathmines, which is a 45-minute walk from Trinity's gates or an 80p bus journey. Because of the six hours a week they spend travelling between classes, some of the students are apparently suffering from stress and poor health. "People are getting very sick, medical conditions have been aggravated and doctors have recommended they don't travel," says one of the protesting students.
Apart from the inconvenience and cost, the students also argue that "we are missing lectures constantly because we are trying to make up on time that we do not have in the library any more".
They argue that they cannot take advantage of the facilities in Rathmines because of the constant moving between the different locations.
In protest, the students in December decided they would prefer to take their lectures in city-centre Chatham Row, irrespective of the facilities available, rather than in Rathmines. Some of the lecturers went along with this change, but others did not; they claim they were directed by the college not to go along with the students' protest.
Lecturers learned by letter only during the summer that they would be working in Rathmines. According to Ita O'Donovan, a senior lecturer, no discussions took place on the matter.
O'Donovan, who coordinated the course for three years, is aware of the extra load on the pupils. " For me, as a member of staff, I don't mind which way I drive my car, if it facilitates the students," she says.
Dr David Gillingham, head of academic affairs at DIT, admits that these 25 students "have been inconvenienced". Although there is no perfect solution, he says, the college is trying to help them. "By the beginning of the next academic year, things will be improved but there will be a transit time problem between the two," he says.
However, whether this will be satisfactory is open to question. "We really appreciate everything that DIT has done for us," says one student. "But we were always told that our course was so centrally located that it wouldn't work otherwise."
