Editorial: Blurred Lines Referendum- An Absolute Joke.

Indulge me in this rant, it doesn’t involve moaning about sexist T-shirts.

The Tab is not a Union paper. In fact, our relationship with the Union has been rather fractious in the past. Who can blame them for disliking us somewhat when we break stories about the LCR banning non-students before they announce it, or expose the licensing flaws in the ‘Burgergate’ scandal?

Whilst, in my opinion at least, our four sabbs are decent people and have students best interests in heart in what they do, they have come under fire in our comments section time after time again. The Union weren’t representing you, you said. We want referendums, you said.

Two weeks ago, not as Tab Editor but as a member of the Union, I introduced a policy in Union Council to help combat this. There are far too many students who complain about the Union who have no idea how to even begin going about changing things. The new policy means that a group will be set up to explore ways democracy in the Union will be explored, and it also created a Union-run Facebook group for all students to discuss what was going on in Council. I was helped a great deal on this policy by the Communications Officer, Rosie Rawle.

When the policy passed, I was so pleased that I was even happy to forgive Concrete for spelling my name wrong when they reported it (MY SURNAME IS NOT FINNAN OR PRONOUNCED AS SUCH FOR GOD’S SAKE). However, that pleasure has now turned to bitter sourness in what I believe has been a stunning lack of publicity on the forthcoming Blurred Lines referendum.

The referendum is next Wednesday 27^th November. Hands up if you knew that? I certainly didn’t, and the only way you could find that out is if you were a member of the official Council Facebook group, only available to councillors. Even on that group we were told the date was ‘provisional’. There was also a tiny mention in a Union blog post entitled ‘Nominations are now open for NUS Delegate Elections’- which on first glance has absolutely nothing to do with the Blurred Lines debate.

There is no date given, and you’d be forgiven for thinking ‘Oh well, I know it’s on Wednesday now, cheers Vic, I’ve got five days to make my mind up.’ That’s okay, especially if you’re planning on voting ‘yes’. The extremely intelligent and capable Rachel Knott, who has come under so much unfair vitriol in the past few weeks for representing her constituents, will be leading the campaign- you are very much in safe hands.

However, if you’re voting ‘no’, read on because this is going to shock. Despite God knows how many students stating they don’t believe in the ban, despite the outcry over the Sun boycott- not a single person has volunteered to lead the ‘no’ campaign.

Is it because no-one cares enough to lead a campaign? Is it because campus support is fully in the ‘yes’ camp favour? I think not. I think it’s because the Union have done such a shoddy job in promoting the way the referendum works that no-one, outside of those students heavily involved with the Union, realised that they COULD run a ‘no’ campaign. It wasn’t publicised anywhere notable. For all the thousands of UEA students who may choose to vote ‘no’, there is no one to represent you, to lead a campaign- and in my opinion it’s in no fault of your own. And if that’s not undemocratic, I’m not sure what is.

The general meeting to discuss the referendum next Monday is going to have no official speaker for the ‘no’ camp, whereas the ‘yes’ camp will have a capable and full team leading it as they have been aware of how referendums work. It doesn’t matter which way you’re going to vote, it’s unfair and it doesn’t lead to good debate.

I hope that students turn out to vote on Wednesday. So many of us wanted a referendum, and we’ve got one. It’s great that Union Council listened to students who felt that they weren’t being represented properly. But I have to confess, the whole saga has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

As someone who is passionate about the Union, and who believes it is trying to do a good job, it makes me feel like banging my head against the wall. As someone who spent hours writing a policy to make representation and democracy easier for us all, I feel like it’s an absolute mockery.