Give the Guild a chance

With all the Guild-bashing going on recently surrounding the elections, it’s easy to lose sight of all the important things it does for us. We’ve all gone off on one about the Guild before, but the recent tirades have gone a bit far.

Without the massive range of student groups and societies supported by the Guild, our university would be a pretty boring place to be. We are lucky to have such a massive range of social activities offered by our union. Most European universities offer very little, and as a result campus spirit is often almost non-existent.

In all its glory

It’s true not enough of us voted in the referendum, and so probably don’t care very much about the process of running the Guild, but it’s impossible to live out three years at Birmingham without benefiting from its presence in some shape or form.

All devoted Fab-goers and committee members would have a lot less going on if it wasn’t for the Guild, and odds are you’ve, perhaps even unwittingly, improved your CV thanks to your involvement. Whether you spend a year as a sabbatical officer, work in Joe’s bar, or even act as secretary of a society or sports team, these extra experiences make you a hell of a lot more employable.

We love to hate Fab

It’s impossible to deny there’s more the Guild could be doing to improve student experience. It’s not a perfect world, and the reason we continue to have elections every year is there’s always someone who thinks they can do better – but we’ve got it pretty good already.

Most issues raised during election campaigns (like poor wifi service or the price of exercise classes) are the fault of the university itself, not the Guild, so let’s give our union a break for a moment, shall we?