SPC and OSL deny DCUfm hampering claims

The head of the Societies and Publications Committee (SPC) and the manager of the Office of Student Life (OSL) have both strongly hit back at claims they are “are always “dragging DCUfm down” and are “repugnant to any possible attempts to moving the station forward.”

The claims were made by Steven Conlon, the now former news director of DCUfm, in an interview with the College View after he resigned his position from the committee of the Media Production Society in protest last week.

He says his resignation is “personifying the anger of other DCUfm management and staff” who are being hampered in their attempts to put a long-term plan for the station in place.

Conlon says that DCUfm management have on several occasions called for an oversight committee meeting with the OSL and the SPC amongst others to discuss problems with the accommodation of the station, but that no meeting has been forthcoming, with emails from station management being ignored.

Una Redmond, the manager of the Office of Student Life says as far as she was aware, all emails she was sent by DCUfm “have been acknowledged or responded to” and that she doesn’t believe the OSL have refused to offer a date for a meeting.

She says: “I had several discussions with [the station manager] about this prior to Christmas, but eventually the proposed date was proving difficult… we are only in week two of semester now and while no arrangements have been made for another meeting, there has never been a question of refusing to offer a date.”

Jennifer Tweed, the head of the SPC told the College View that she found it to be a “surprise” that Conlon decided to step down. She says that she, “spoke with Steven Conlon last week… he did not communicate any problems to me and in fact stated that he felt that progress was being made on the station and that he was satisfied with the latest SPC decisions.”

She says: “The SPC have worked hard over the last few months to help DCUfm achieve their goal of improving the station… I cannot understand what Steven means by ‘dragging the station down’, when the members of SPC have dedicated time and effort into facilitating DCUfm’s growth.”

As reported last year by the College View, until renovation works are undertaken to widen the door of the radio station to make it wheelchair accessible, DCUfm is unable to acquire a broadcast licence.

Denis McEvoy, the DCUfm station manager says that this is “the only issue” that is holding the radio station back and that they “are in talks with OSL and SPC to have this work carried out.”

According to Conlon – who is also the chairperson of the DCU Journalism Society – by refusing to fix the door, which he says could easily have been done over summer or Christmas, “the Office of Student Life, as part of the oversight committee, are actively discriminating against disabled students” – a statement that both Una Redmond and Jennifer Tweed strongly disagree with.

Redmond says that she would “vehemently refute any allegations of actively discriminating against disabled students and in fact find that suggestion offensive and unfounded.” Tweed also hit back, saying that she found the statement to be “very offensive… completely inaccurate and slanderous” and to be “unproductive and unnecessary” on Conlon’s behalf.

She says that this “implies that the SPC and OSL are purposely stopping disabled students from making full use of the Hub’s facilities. As reported in the minutes of the last OSL meeting, the OSL are currently looking at the cost of making the station wheelchair accessible.”

Notes from this meeting show that a figure of €6,438 was presented to those who attended by Redmond, as the cost of altering the studio to accommodate wheelchairs.

The OSL meeting notes state, “It was finally decided that the OSL position is… that it was committed to supporting a radio station on campus and to this end will have the current facility assessed by experts in the area of studio building/renovation and request an estimate of the cost involved to achieve such a facility.”

So far this year, DCUfm has been granted €1,170 by the SPC to buy equipment, with this being topped up by €650 worth of advertising the station managed to acquire from the Irish Times.

However, according to Conlon, the accommodation of the radio station is “third world,” making it near impossible for students to be able to fully utilise the station’s potential.

He says: “Noise from any activity in the bar, in the Hub, is leaking into the studio destroying interviews and shows… because of noise in the Hub students are forced to book studios in the Henry Grattan building.”

The head of the SPC, Jennifer Tweed says that both the SPC and the OSL are committed to ensuring that DCUfm reaches its full potential.

She says: “These things take time and money and need to be done properly. This process can only succeed if DCUfm are willing to work with the SPC and OSL, instead of fighting against the two committees.”