Petition is successful with 380 signatures
To: Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT
Reverse the decision by DIT’s access programme in relation to Garda Vetting
This campaign has ended.
Reverse the decision to require prospective students applying for the DIT’s access programme to provide Garda Vetting. This requirement is unreasonable and has a discriminatory and stigmatising effect.
Why is this important?
College access programmes provide a valuable opportunity for students and school leavers from lower socio-economic backgrounds. These students tend to face both financial and complex social barriers in accessing third level education.
From my experience in completing the Trinity Access Programme some of the most frustrating barriers can come from the societal attitudes, perceived or otherwise, within the college, which in many cases can have a stigmatising effect. Requiring prospective students for DIT’s access programme to apply for Garda Vetting will in my view have the effect of further stigmatising some of the most disadvantaged students in the College.
Bering in mind that the DIT access programme is aimed at those who have experienced socio-economic disadvantage in their past, the idea that they are singled out for Garda Vetting is totally dis-intuitive to that aim.
At its core this is an irrational and unreasonable requirement on students applying for the DIT access programme. While some degrees do require Garda Vetting such as Social Work for example, it makes no sense to apply that requirement to students who do not intend to take those degrees.
In this sense the lump approach by the access programme has a discriminatory result vis-à-vis non-access traditional students. It will not only have the effect of stigmatizing students coming through the programme, but it is likely to have a wider effect on anyone thinking of going onto further education through the access programme.
Having, myself, completed the Trinity Access Programmes and gone on to complete my degree in Law and Political Science at Trinity, I can say that unreasonable requirements, like this Garda Vetting, applied discriminately to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds re-enforces certain stigmas that such student tend to face on a daily bases.
Thus, the application of the Garda Vetting requirement proposed by the DIT access programme makes no real sense in its approach, it discriminates and will have a dis-insentivising effect on prospective students seeking a second chance. For these reasons, I urge you to sign this petition to have this decision reconsidered.