CIT students ‘on strike’ over delays and inadequate teaching facilities

ANGRY college students protested on the streets of Cork yesterday over delayed new teaching facilities.

CIT students were transferred to the Herlihy building, in a business park half a mile from CIT’s main Bishopstown campus, as a “temporary” measure eight years ago.

It must be vacated by August. A building on CIT’s main campus is being renovated to house the department.

Students marched from the Herlihy building to the main campus yesterday to protest at delays in resolving the situation, and to highlight what they say will be inadequate facilities in the new building.

They walked out of classes last Thursday and vowed to continue the boycott until their concerns are addressed.

CIT students’ union president, Brian O’Sullivan, said lecture rooms in the Herlihy building, some of which are separated from storage rooms only by small partitions, were completely unsuitable for lectures.

The situation has been made worse by the introduction last year of a new degree in architecture, adding 40 new students and increasing pressure on space and equipment.

Mr O’Sullivan said plans for the new building, unveiled last week, “depictonly one computer lab and one drawing studio [for] 120 hours of lectures per week,” he said.

“Currently students find it difficult to complete their studies in three studios and two computer labs.”

College management will meet student representatives in the coming days.