UCC governing body wants disputed graduation fee scrapped

THE governing body of University College Cork (UCC) wants the controversial €65 graduation fee scrapped, a prominent governor said. Cork's Lord Mayor Cllr Dara Murphy was speaking after attending a board meeting yesterday and said it is his view, and the view of several other governors, that the fee should be scrapped.

He declined to discuss the detail of the meeting but said: "This charge isn't really fair. There seems to be an acceptance this was brought in at the 11th hour and that the manner in which it was brought about was not particularly good.

"Introducing the fee, or otherwise, is not a matter for the governing body. It is a matter for the university's executive team.
"But the governing body's view was made very clear yesterday and I would be very surprised if that view wasn't taken on board."

UCC announced its plans to introduce the graduation fee on April 1.

Under the proposal, any student wishing to attend their graduation ceremony will have to pay €65. It will allow the student and two guests to attend the event and the reception afterwards.

Students who do not pay will be considered to have chosen to be conferred "in absentia" and won't be able to attend the ceremony. The move sparked a wave of protest from the students' union and led to campus protests organised by the UCC branch of Young Fine Gael.

A petition of some 5,000 signatures opposing the fee was presented to UCC's vice-president for external relations, Eamon Sweeney, last week.

The position adopted by the governing body yesterday will substantially increase the pressure on college bosses to scrap the charge.

A spokesperson for UCC said last night no decision has been taken in relation to the fee.

Members of UCC's senior management team are still engaged in a process of re-examining all the costs associated with the graduation ceremonies to see if further cost savings can be achieved, he said. That process was agreed last week after a meeting between college authorities and members of UCC's students' union. The spokesman said that position hasn't changed and both sides have agreed not to issue public statements ahead of a further meeting next week.

UCC has consistently defended the fee move and said it is being introduced as part of a cost-cutting exercise following huge cuts in the university's core exchequer funding.