OUSU: less popular, but now even richer
OUSU set for 100K bonanza on the university…
OUSU finally had something to celebrate this week after the university authorities confirmed they were awarding the student union an annual £100,000 increase in funding.
OUSU’s finances – described by President David J. Townsend as ‘tenuous’ – now look to be safeguarded well into the future.
Townsend commented that the move was a ‘massive achievement’ and insisted that it would be students who decide how the extra cash is spent.
‘There’s more to do before OUSU has the level of funding it really needs for the future, but this is a significant step in the right direction’, he said in a statement.
The news comes on the back of a damning survey from October last year that suggested OUSU was the least popular student union in the UK.
Just 39% of respondents claimed to be satisfied with the work of OUSU – compared to 95% for those at first-placed Sheffield.
OUSU has faced a continued struggle to persuade Oxford students that it can be a relevant force within the university: Just 16% of eligible voters turned out for the elections last autumn, down 3% from the year before.
When asked for comment on the latest boost to OUSU’s coffers, Emma Finlayson, a music student at St Peter’s, asked: ‘OUSU? Who’s that?’
An anonymous second year in Keble was similarly cryptic, saying that ‘we all know what this means: it’s bonus time at the OxStu.’