Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has today changed the signage for the Book of Kells around campus in a protest against unfulfilled LENS reports.
The union changed the directions of signs, and replaced the typical QR codes to access ticket sales with codes directing people to the LENS campaign’s website, which offered students a form to report an unfulfilled LENS report and further information about LENS reports.
LENS – or learning education needs summary – reports outline reasonable accommodations that are recommended for students, in conjunction with the disability support service.
A report carried out by TCDSU last year saw 321 responses from undergraduate, postgraduate and ‘unspecified’ students outline their struggles with obtaining adequate accommodations, prompting the protests.
Speaking to Trinity News, TCDSU President Jenny Maguire stated: “Today, The Book of Kells was targeted by TCDSU/AMLCT to cap off a week of making the college inaccessible for those who make it inaccessible for us.”
“We have already received word that multiple schools are proactively reaching out to their students with lens reports following our actions.” Maguire continued.
“We will continue to demand and escalate if necessary, but the progress made in just four days stands to our commitment to make college work.”
This act comes amid a series of protests that took place over the course of the week.
Tuesday saw TCDSU target the school of history’s office in the Arts Block. They taped the door shut and put up posters that read: “0% of LENS reports fulfilled”, citing a survey they conducted amongst students.
Wednesday saw the union target the school of engineering; scattering 135 balloons filled with strips of paper with links to the LENS campaign website. Further, on Thursday TCDSU glued posters to ceilings and high points of campus, once again carrying QR codes directing people to the site.
College has been contacted for comment.
