Don’t be too quick to blame the SU

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t has happened again. Another academic year swings by and a new cohort of fresh-faced undergraduates are struggling to get to grips with the, quite frankly, horrendous amount of life-admin and bureaucracy it takes to enrol onto a course at university. This is especially an issue here at Warwick.

I remember two years ago I was in the same position waiting for further information regarding Freshers, timetables and accommodation. All my friends were off to university weeks before me and were already making new friends, judging by the evidence of the increasingly drunken photos they had been tagged in. September seemed to drag and I was getting a wee bit agitated. WHY don’t we know our accommodation by now? WILL I get a Freshers’ passport? WHERE is my timetable?

This year’s Freshers’ Facebook page has been ripe with similar anxiety and complaints. Particularly its explosion of activity when the Warwick SU site came crashing spectacularly down as the surge of Freshers’ and returners attempting to buy event tickets caused the server to dive bomb into temporary oblivion.

It is important to remember that sabbatical officers, particularly, were once students too and as such they have students’ interests at heart.

It might not have been the SU’s finest hour but make no mistake the backlash they received was pretty superfluous. I can empathise greatly with the many freshers who did not get tickets/the passport to certain events but try and remember that their server is not built to deal with that sort of activity – it certainly doesn’t have that for the rest of the year! The SU quickly released a statement apologising profusely and the site was back up towards the latter part of the day and with plenty of event tickets left at that!

It is important to remember that sabbatical officers, particularly, were once students too and as such they have students’ interests at heart. Furthermore, because of their attempts to keep in close contact with the student body it often means that the sabbs can sometimes take the slack for issues that are beyond their control. The University should be the one that must take some slack. Issues like enrolment, accommodation and timetables are beyond SU control but it is their job to help us lobby the University if they are under delivering.

So hold tight and keep the SU on side. You will need them.