That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
But is this apathy justified? Two of The Yorker's most opinionated bloggers write about why we should or indeed should not care about campus politics.
Written by Nicola Hebden
Poor turn out rates for voting are reflected in the recently revealed fact that most York students do not know who their own president is. Even his pirate persona, aimed at dumbing-down student politics for the masses, couldn’t attract their attention. Or maybe it did, but they decided not to vote anyway, judging the whole ordeal too boring or beyond what they consider to be important.
Either reason for not showing an interest I can understand. In my first year, I prioritised partying over choosing potential student president any day, and even now I consider campus politics to be a little tedious at the best of times. But that doesn’t mean to say that I am not affected by it. I understand that I wouldn’t have a plush new bar to get pissed in without it, and that all those condoms I was given in Freshers’ Week didn’t grow on trees. Maybe these alcohol- and sex-based luxuries aren’t the be all and end all of any student’s time at university (depending on who you speak to), but they are certainly a very important part. And we have control over it, if we choose to vote.
Alcohol- and sex-based luxuries aren’t the be all and end all of any student’s time at university, but they are certainly a very important part. And we have control over it.
What’s more, in the microcosm that is York University, following and engaging in student politics in one of the best practices for real life. Watching amateur politicians squabble between each other and fight with higher authorities to get what they want is an accessible way of learning how to form critical opinions and put them into action. And even if that’s not your main concern, it still provides some light entertainment.
So the idea of money being spent on another place on campus to buy alcohol makes you feel a bit uneasy? Not happy at the prospect of buying a new sports kit just to fit in with all the other teams? Take notice of the campaigning we’re subject to in the week running up to the election to see if anyone has the right answers to help you. Or even simply observing how the candidates campaign against each other can teach you a lot.
Written by Angela Pietz
As one of the most violently opinionated students that most people have had the misfortune of coming into contact with, I never thought that I was capable of crippling apathy; congratulations YUSU elections!
Student politics has succeeded in annoying me sufficiently over the last three years that I really, truly no longer care. Not being quite as clueless as those that reportedly have no idea who Tom Scott is (I can hazard a guess that they must have been drunken freshers) I did vote in the elections in both my first and second years, but I won’t bother this week.
I’m confident that no matter which candidate wins the election, they’ll wind up being as effective as the person who held their post last year and the year before that. Why? Because the big decisions that affect the day-to-day running of the university are not in their hands - they lie with Vice-Chancellor Brian Cantor and his cronies.
I voted for a pirate last year on the basis that he seemed to show an awareness of how ridiculous and unrealistic the campaigns of the other candidates were and so he hoped to inject something new into YUSU. One year on and Tom Scott is barely even a pirate anymore, because not even wearing a silly costume was a feasible policy for a sabbatical officer to maintain in a job in which the officers have such a tiny say over what actually happens at the university.
Student politics does just seem like a tedious waste of time. I resent the idea of having to spend time reading through all the campaign policies that are sufficiently generic to concede that the candidate has no intention of doing anything differently to last year’s officer, or the campaigns that are pitifully unrealistic.
This Friday when the elections results are announced, the University of York will find out who they’ll be employing to do pen-pushing in the name of Brian Cantor. Before you go away feeling sorry for yourself, the university or the candidates, remember that everything will be the same as it was this year, the university will still get what they want and the successful candidates will be employed during the credit crunch and have something valuable to put on their CV. Happy Voting!
comment deleted by the author Is the current reality really so bad? Things get done, the library is getting longer hours, we've got an SU bar, people are taking stands against unscrupulous private landlords, etc. A lot of people don't care about what goes on behind the scenes (the elected officials doing their jobs) only the results. Yes, it's not perfectly representative, but maybe it's good enough.
Increasing representation is all well and good, but I think everyone should recognise there will always be people who just don't really care as long as things are going well enough. And imo, that's fine.
My view lies somewhere between the two blogs - people should know *why* YUSU is important and given the opportunity to get involved (imo the opportunity is there, maybe the knowledge isn't perfect) and then if they make the decision to be apathetic, at least they've not made that decision out of ignorance.
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