Bacardi’s Back

Last week saw the ‘All-Student Meeting’ taking place, 60 people turned up.

Online voting did take place with a quorum (or minimum number of votes needed) set at 236, around 1% of the student population.

Among the list of motions several were passed:  overturning of bans on Bacardi, Nestle and oil companies. The boycott against arms companies remains.

Hello old friend

Other motions included lobbying the university to bizarrely make another bus stop, get smaller seminar sizes, freezing of accommodation rent and making a new humanities building. The emphasis being on lobbying, please don’t get carried away thinking the student’s union has any power in these matters.

A cryfield bus stop will create a bottleneck of traffic from buses continuously stopping and increased numbers of students crossing the road. It also makes no sense, the SU stop is  30 seconds away.

It’s bizarre that we have to vote to ask our students union to lobby for things that are clearly needed and would be universally beneficial. It would be strange to see someone not wanting smaller seminar sizes.

Quorums definitely weren’t his idea…

Concerns have also been raised that boycotts should not be the responsibility of the SU, especially with a quorum as low as 236. Conceivably 1% of the uni could ban the other 99% from buying products they have no problem with purchasing.

Boycotts should remain the arena of individuals. At 1% the SU is not representative of the student body, it’s not even representative of democracy – a quorum of 1% is closer to dictatorship than democracy.

Counter arguments will doubtlessly be made that everyone is free to vote, of course we can vote but not everyone is informed enough as to the issues or indeed when the vote is taking place.

Lack of votes should not be taken as indifference but more as the sorry state of student politics.