Around the Colleges | Heather Steele

TCDSU President survives impeachment voteStudents of Trinity College have voted against impeaching their Students’ Union President, Tom Lenihan. 1,643 of the 2,730 valid ballots (60.18%) said he should not be removed from the position. Lenihan will return to his position immediately from his leave of absence. On the result of the vote Lenihan said that he was keen to get back on track: “I am eager to get back into my role as President and to continue with the hard work that my team and I have been doing so far.” At the time of the incident where Lenihan was caught cheating in his exams, the SU President said he had been experiencing personal difficulties.Trinity to prioritise certain DARE applicantsTrinity College has announced that it is to give increased priority to applicants who have physical or sensory disabilities over other DARE (Disability Access Route to Education) students. This means that a student with a sensory or physical impairment who receives 450 CAO points will be offered the place ahead of a DARE applicant with ADHD who got 455 CAO points. The change in policy is due to the decrease in students entering Trinity with sensory and physical disabilities. According to 2011 Census figures, 4.5% of 15-34 year olds with visual impairment, 7.5% of those with serious hearing impairment and 6% of those with severe physical disabilities were in higher education.NovaUCD boosts economy by €37 millionAccording to a newly published study, the UCD start-up incubator Nova has supported 1,000 Irish jobs and added almost €37million to the economy. Nova provides support for hi-tech start-up companies in their infancy and commercialises research from UCD academics. Since 2003, 123 start-ups have availed of Nova’s incubation services and 30 spin-off companies have been directly created from it.