Elections Coverage – I don’t understand the man-children
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n my first and second years, I observed Sabb week with a casual interest. Partly, this was because of the brilliance that was Aaron Bowater’s presidential campaign (his narrow loss was up there with the greatest political travesties of our time).
This year, however, as I approach the end of my degree, I find myself struggling not so much from voter apathy, but from genuine displeasure at the whole thing. I turn up on campus to an assault on my senses, another week of shabby cardboard and being accosted outside the library by countless over-keen candidates and their garish t-shirts.
Another week of shabby cardboard and being accosted outside the library by countless over-keen candidates
The whole thing simply doesn’t really make sense to me – I don’t remember the last time I even saw 6am, yet I’m told that people were on campus, physically occupying space with their bodies until they were actually allowed to start campaigning.
The concept of spending this much time and effort into securing myself a grad job is basically alien to me, but the idea of putting in this much effort so that someone else can get a cushy job in student politics is almost repulsive.
The concept of spending this much time and effort into securing myself a grad job is basically alien to me
Once someone has secured their position, after countless man-hours and at the cost of the relative sanity of several of their campaign team, how much does it even really matter?
I can’t think of a single thing that a Sabbatical Officer has done that has actually impacted on my time here, and while to some extent, that’s how it should be – you should only need them when you actually need them, and to be quite honest I haven’t – there’s no real accountability.
Countless man-hours and at the cost of the relative sanity of several of their campaign team
If the Sabb positions were jobs that anyone in any position of power thought was actually important, there’s no way they would let the students choose them.
To be honest, I kind of get why you’d run to be a full-time Sabb – I don’t want to stop being a student either. But there are better ways for me to get over being an enormous man-child than wandering slightly aimlessly around SUHQ annoying the actual staff for a year.
Comments (2)
I know a lot of writers in the Boar Comment section like to just whimsically put down the first thought that comes into their head without the slightest bit of research but this really is up there in terms of terrible journalism.
The main thrust of the article is that the Sabbs don’t do anything. Before publishing such a bold claim, unless you actually know what you’re talking about (which the author clearly doesn’t, as John points out in the comments), it’s basic, elementary procedure to ask the subject of the article (the Sabbs) what they might say in response. Then you would learn that your opinion is based on precisely nothing.
I won’t go too much into all the things to Sabbs actually can and do do – represent student voices on dozens of committees (including Council and Senate, the main two decision making bodies), help organise nights out in the SU, formulate and help implement campaigns (e.g. on mental health as our current Welfare & Campaigns Officer has been doing), facilitate discussions between management and other student campaigns (as previous years have done and some continue to do with Fossil Free Warwick and Warwick For Free Education on occasion), and so on – John shows that sufficiently.
On particular point does need to be addressed, however: “If the Sabb positions were jobs that anyone in any position of power thought was actually important, there’s no way they would let the students choose them.” Warwick has one of the biggest and most powerful Unions in the country, not because it was a gift from management, but because it was fought for over years. We didn’t used to have permanent staff or even sabbatical positions, let alone a student-controlled building, for the first 5-10 years of the Union’s existence. Campaigns waged by thousands of students slowly won a sabbatical presidential year (’67), representation on committees (’70), a Union building (’74), then eventually further Sabbs and voting rights on committees. The management fought these every step of the way and had to be met with strong direct action (occupations and more), because they knew that such a Union would temper and constrain their power.
Researching your subject matter and claims is apparently too much to expect from most student journalists.
I think there’s a few things to address here.
The idea that Sabb Officers (or for that matter the often forgotten Part Time Officers) have no impact shows more about the author’s very justifiable ignorance rather than a lack of their relevancy. Yes, SU’s in general are bad about parroting their achievements, but ultimately people who get into such jobs SHOULD be more focussed on getting things done rather than getting personal praise for them. There’s no plaque to say that Floor 2 of the library is a more social space because Rory Kinane, Arts Faculty Representative 2009-10 campaigned for it. There’s no mural depicting successive Environment Campaign Officers making incremental gains with University recycling and sustainability. No statues will be erected to the hundreds of officers and students who go to committees and make small, incremental changes to the benefits of students on every aspect of their lives. Nor should there be.
Shabby cardboard is an interesting one. It comes from a rule in the SU: all money spent on a campaign must come from one pot, which is split evenly between the candidates. This is to stop richer students from paying for a bigger campaign – which would be wrong. The exception is of course…you can scavenge any cardboard you like! Hence why this is the ubiquitous medium of campaigns. I hated it too, even though I was an Officer a while ago. An alternative policy would be to spend the money on a bulk palette of clean thick white boards, give every candidate an equal number, and put them up in specified campaign locations. I think Southampton SU does something similar, giving all sabb candidates one banner spot on the SU building. Perhaps a sensible idea…?
Another interesting point is the ‘physical body’ bit. Again, there’s history. Once upon a time (even before my time) they made all campaigns start in the SU Atrium, and they had a marathon race out from that location at 8am. Kind of silly too, and a bit discriminatory against disabled people. It may have caused some injuries too. Again, a more regulated campaign procedure would fix that.
Ultimately, the rules that govern the SU elections are themselves enshrined in SU Byelaws and Regulations, which every student has the power to change. If people want to fix what they think is a broken system: force your officers to do it.
(Former student, Undergrad Science Faculty Rep 2009/10 and 2010/11, Postgrad Councillor 2012/13 and 2013/14)