Harriet Jean Evans takes a look at the social commentary of the past, and explains why she believes it just doesn't matter.
Our anonymous blogger reflects on her attempts to have a student Christmas... and how she came to the conclusion that home-made is always best.
Gillian Love urges you to vote 'No' to the motion to replace Women's Committee with a 'Gender Equality Committee'.
The elections have exuded life on campus for the last few weeks. For two weeks it has been impossible to walk down our grey concrete walk ways without being accosted by people in funny hats or spray-painted t-shirts trying to put stickers on you or get your attention with leaflets exhibiting their policies.
Their names were pasted everywhere, with every possible ray of sunlight shut out by the posters pasted to the windows across campus with ridiculous slogans like 'Frecks for Pres'. For a minute they would engage me, but then the attention was lost. I might have remembered their name, but I swiftly forgot not only their policies but also what they stood for. The sheer number was overwhelming.
There was no escaping this 'election fever' outside campus either. They hijacked facebook, to the extent that every day I was invited to yet another facebook group for someone or other with more of the same policies. Even when I clicked 'ignore' they somehow kept coming back.
It seemed clear to me early on in the election to me that they were primarily a popularity contest. I would have thought the winner would be the person who managed to stick up the most posters, hand out the most leaflets, have the most facebook friends, and generally be the most annoying. People are most likely to vote for the names they can remember, who they can associate to a particular slogan, the person who has the catchiest poster, and that's if they can be bothered to vote at all!
However, this has proven to not be the case. The election showed that the students are capable of making informed choices, voting on policy rather than personality. Tim Ngwena, then perhaps was a surprising choice as President for the second year running, particularly as the alternatives were so wide-ranging. I hardly saw a poster of his, or a campaign slogan blazing across the campus. Perhaps it also shows that his running mates did not manage to be annoying enough, that at the end of the day a witty hustings speech, a catchy slogan or sticking up lots of posters does not win votes. Though it is perhaps surprising that student would rather opt for familiarity, than change, Ngwena has managed to make a fan base, which would guarantee votes.
The election has been a busy two weeks. From the joke candidates, David Hansen, Mark Picard and Peter Saul, to the mass emailing controversy, there has been a lot to talk about and a lot for the media to comment on.
But honestly, my student life has not been affected by the election. I have gone through two years not fully understanding what the YUSU sabbatical officers do, and will probably go through the next year largely unaffected by them.
I can rest easy now that we will be able to see out of the windows again! But the campus is a significantly quieter placer.
Tim won not because of any catchy slogans, but more because he has had a whole year of exposure. Every voting student will know who he is, giving him a massive advantage.
"But honestly, my student life has not been affected by the election. I have gone through two years not fully understanding what the YUSU sabbatical officers do, and will probably go through the next year largely unaffected by them."
This is an outrageous comment to make from the Chair of a society...
What a retarded comment piece. The Yorker news editor not knowing what they do? Being unaffected by the welfare officer, the person who runs every society, the person responsible for the courtyard? Idiot.
And who cares? Well we had 4,800 people voting so lots of people obviously do.
Can I point out, #3, that this piece was merely published by Niall, not written by him. The clear "Written by Emma Burbidge" at the top of the article indicates that.
As Editor of the Yorker I'd like to confirm that the opinion expressed in this article is that of the individual reporter and not of the Yorker organisation as a whole. We welcome any comments, positive or negative, as a means to encourage student engagement with university politics.
comment deleted by a moderator Well, at least we know the members of outdoor soc won't be complaining when their budget gets cut by one of the people their chair didn't care about...
I would like to point out that these are my views and are nothing to do with the Outdoor Soc. They are about my experiences on a personal level and not as a chair of the society, which is a position i have taken up only fairly recently. If a society's budget was slashed because of one comment article then there is something seriously wrong and undemocratic with YUSU.
Also, people can vote but not care about the results of the election, so the fact that a lot of people voted, does not mean they actually cared, it may just mean they felt obligated to vote or wanted to vote for their friends or people they know rather than on policy.
I did actually vote, but the only position i cared about was students activity. I don't think the others really make that much difference to me or societies.
I don't think #7 meant that the article will get it slashed but rather that when you say you don't care about the officers, you probably *would* care if you were negatively affected by them!
And of course the other officers have less of an impact on societies - the Student Activities position is directly responsible. But Welfare makes sure that students can cope with their degree, Academic Affairs makes sure that students' departments help them, Democracy and Services ensures that YUSU runs smoothly and that everything your society (and yourself) depends on at university is there when you need it, Sports President has, if anything, a greater impact on clubs than SA has on societies... I could go on. The point is that even though you won't have necessarily come into contact with any of the other Officers (or even Rhianna, if you haven't wanted to), they still impact you and you should still care!
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