VANDALISM of the Belgrove student residence following celebrations of the end of summer exams has been condemned as “completely unacceptable” by Vice-President for Students, Dr Martin Butler.

Describing the events as being “very localised and totally without precendent”, Dr Butler hopes that investigations into the event are completed “very soon”, despite delays encountered due to the fact that “some students were away on summer holidays”.

Dr Butler is confident that the students responsible will be pursued by the university and stated that “we will go through due process. The student code defines very clearly what sanctions are available to the university for students who partake in this kind of behaviour.”

Belgrove Student Residences. Photo: File

When questioned about the safety of the student residence, Dr Butler replied that he believes that “it must have been a very frightening experience for some of the students over there to have those acts taking place around them… we need to make sure that it just never, ever takes place again”. However he stressed that a small number of students were responsible for the anti-social behaviour.

The damage, which occurred over the weekend of May 16th – 18th last, involved a number of windows being smashed, as well as traffic bollards being uprooted around the area. Those responsible are believed to be a “tiny minority” of UCD students.

Commenting on the incident, Dr. Butler said that he found it “hard to explain the mentality of a student, who would get the points to come [to UCD], that would see themselves as graduating from here and [who] would actually do such acts of wanton vandalism”.

The acts of vandalism in Belgrove follow reports of a number of attempted break-ins which occurred in October of 2007. Students affected listed signs of attempted entry, including two holes, which appeared to be drilled through their apartment door. Another student reported marks “aimed directly down at the bolts on the locks”. In another incident, wireless routers were stolen from the Merville student residences in September 2007.