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What is the point of the YUSU Awards? This is the question that hit me as soon as I read about the announcement of the nominations in the yorker.
I am sure we can all agree with that sentiment. There is a plethora of groups and individuals who have done a lot to help their fellow students. Be it someone giving up their time to help with Nightline or providing help as a STYC to someone who has a particularly tough transition from home to University, these people should rightly be praised and rewarded by the Students' Union for their work.
However, it is surely a sign of complacency and laziness on behalf of the Students' Union if they feel the best way to achieve this is to run this awards night. If you want to award STYCs who have done a good job, then surely it would be better to host a reception for the no doubt 20-30 STYCs who have really shone out this year? And with the importance of CV-enhancing, some sort of title could go along with it “Outstanding work as a STYC” or suchlike. To try and choose one person as the “best STYC” simply belittles the dedicated and varied work of a number of students who have gone beyond the call of duty in aiding first years.
Whilst I recognise that this is an example, I believe that this is an issue spread across all of the categories that recognise “worthy” individuals. And this not the only problem. Many of these titles seem to have been made up for the sake of having an award, rather than actually being something worth rewarding.
The prime example of this seems to be the “Campaign of the Year” title. Rather than displaying the best campaigns student have to offer, it seems to display the dearth of campaigning on campus. Nominated for this award is the Great York Sit In: only at a University could sitting in a building, singing a few songs and making some demands count as a campaign. Alongside this we see the Islamic Awareness week, which I don't doubt provided some interesting events which widened peoples horizons, but once again to describe a week full of events as a possible “Campaign of the Year” rather goes against my idea of a campaign, which is a long standing commitment to a cause. However worthy these events, a week of action does not make a campaign. It is one of many examples where a requirement for recognition is non-existent.
The reality is that this event makes a mockery of itself. Instead of providing meaningful recognition to those who have gone out of their way to help the student body, the Students' Union has turned the event into a circus. By trying to name a “best STYC”, “outstanding community volunteer” or “course rep of the year”, YUSU fails to recognise the multiple people who have contributed a significant amount of time and effort to helping others by striving for a “winner”. In addition, awards such as “Greg Dyke Award for Contribution to the Student Media”, “Most Developed Society” and “Campaign of the Year” simply seem to exist for existence sake, rather than displaying the efforts of those who selflessly give their time and effort to helping others.
I am not against the notion of competition; those who know me will tell you I am one of the most competitive people they know. But the idea of competition for the sake of competition is not a worthwhile pursuit. Recognition does not have to be a glitzy award ceremony, and YUSU's attempt to copy the Oscars highlights once again its detachment from ordinary students. Let's provide recognition to those who deserve it, not attempt to arbitrarily pick a “best” from a varied and often incomparable field. And if you do insist on choosing the “best”, don't turn it into a circus by providing meaningless awards.
"only at a University could sitting in a building, singing a few songs and making some demands count as a campaign."
So I guess something like the Greensboro sit-ins during the Civil Rights movement are equally deplorable? They were peaceful and it stood for something, same as the York Sit-in. 'Campaign' may not be the best word to use, but students have full time degrees on their minds. I felt the York sit-in was a worthwhile cause (and no I didn't take part in it).
Furthermore, how on earth does an award like 'Most Developed Society' "exist for existence sake." It's an award for those in a society who have dedicated time and effort to expand and improve something they are interested in and that they enjoy. Besides, if students wanted to put their work for a society on their CV, they will. Winning a student award, realistically, isn't going to be a gamechanger, whether it's called "best styc" or "outstanding work as a styc" or whatever.
The YUSU awards are a bit of fun - something your cynical, whinging article seems to miss.
Belmore's right on the sit in campaign, it's insulting to compare it to the Greensboro sit-ins. The sit in at uni was a pitiful display and disruptive to other people!
Anonymous 1: I think comparing the sit-in to the Civil Rights movement is over-egging the pudding a little.
Haha, what? Is your entire argument "awards are bad because they pick one person from the many"... (all those ceremonies are awful). Chill out, comrade, maybe you'll be nominated next year.
Anon 1 here. You're right Michael, I just meant that sit-ins have purposes, whatever their nature, and I think it's ridiculous to dismiss them like Alan has. He might as well have said "bloody hippies taking up space."
The point of the YUSU Awards is to reward people who've gone that extra mile, and the societies who've shown best practice and offer the most to their members.
In what way do the awards you've mentioned "exist for existence sake?".
If you're not happy with the shortlisted events/people then you really should have bothered to put some nominations forward yourself.
Also, why is it that the Yorker put a comment piece like this up, but make no effort to get a comment piece arguing the alternative view? Any chance of balance?
Annonymous 1- I was referring to this sit-in which was sitting in a building, singing some songs and making some demands. It was very different to the Greensborough demonstrations which helped change the perceptions of an entire nation. That's why it's a mockery to call the York sit-in a campaign.
Robin- You'll see I don't argue against competition, just competition where it's not appropriate. It's quite easy to choose the best football player on a pitch. It's quite easy to choose the best singer out of a line-up. But choosing a "best STYC" from people who've supported others in a variety of ways? My argument isn't that competition should never exist, just that there are better ways of recognising those who have given a lot to the student body than just picking one "best STYC".
Nick - The problem isn't the nominations though, as I say it's the categories. Why have a 'Campaign of the Year' award when its clear by the nominations that there isn't really anything to go in that category? Most developed society an award defined as "exceeding expectation in commitment to the society’s development", superb management guff, how does one develop an expectation on how committed societies should be to development? Why are societies existing and taking YUSU money if they aren't totally committed to development?
Might I suggest you take this opportunity to provide an alternative point of view Nick - blogs@theyorker.co.uk. It would be a great contribution to the debate.
"Why have a 'Campaign of the Year' award when its clear by the nominations that there isn't really anything to go in that category?"
WomCom's 'Reclaim the Night' was an excellent campaign, and is also nominated, as is another of their campaigns. This cannot fall foul of your strict criteria for what constitutes a 'campaign,' and runs every year. So...
Apologies, I should have phrased that differently. I agree that the campaign was successful, but why have an award for "best campaign" when there was only one recognisable campaign on campus (I purposly haven 't commented on that campaign so far as I don't have much knowledge on it)? It seems to me to only highlight that there is a dearth of campaigning on campus, rather than celebrate the success of the student body.
This article is moronic.
Just re-checked; Reclaim the night is nominated under a 'welfare' nomination, rather than the 'campaign' category. My bad!
The Awards take place tonight, with several hundred people in attendance.
Hopefully of The Yorker choose to cover it again they'll do so with a positive spin, recognizing the hard work people put in rather than belittling them.
I don't think you can say this is "the yorker"'s coverage; after all, the writer doesn't even have a byline, so he mustn't have written for them before. I'm sure if someone had written a more positive opinion piece and sent it in, it would have been published alongside this one.
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