the continuing stupidity of student politics

[fox]

(note:  the icon is absolutely not to be taken as any sort of volunteering on my part.)

saw this in the dead-tree edition last week, but have just remembered that it's online as well.  Budget errors leave Student Union facing £110,000 deficit.

that's £110,000.  un-bygod-believable.  i saw that headline and i was more pleased than ever that my common room voted not to affiliate.  now that we have a statement from the VP (Graduates) -- who is not, by the way, a graduate student -- i'll be in a position to assure my own people that it's none of their money that's been mis-handled, because we've paid no dues.

the article is really disheartening.  i'm in favor of student unions as a concept, but man, not this one.  eh, cannons_at_dawn, anything to add?

Comments

[potatofiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, bloody hell.

I don't see why Oxford needs a student union, really; all collegiate universities are organised so that every college has on hand what usually the student union would provide for everyone. OUSU is almost entirely useless.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i happen to think everyone should disaffiliate -- certainly all the MCRs -- until OUSU can demonstrate that we're better off with them than without them. there are ways that students relate to the university, rather than to their individual colleges, and times when it's good for students from the various colleges to be able to represent themselves to the university directly and together rather than counting on their colleges to do it for them. it has not been clear to me, though, since i've been here, that this is a function OUSU accomplishes. last year the VP grads resigned in something like november and was not replaced; this year we have a VP grads, and apart from one or two more e-mails in my box (which i wouldn't have had last year anyway, as i wasn't common room president at the time), i haven't noticed a difference.