79 days till non-denominational gift sharing holiday

Same point. Im not here to be trip over my own words to be politically correct

 

Another thing that bothers me is that their views sometimes dont represent the views of the students. Its what they believe on the council. They may have members in the union that believe in the same things as they do, but still. Sometimes I just think they overstep their bounds. Lastly, attendence is mandatory. People should join, not automatically become part of the union and pay fee's. I thought this was a free country ?

 

My experience of Student Unions is that they are generally ignored by the students, except for their cheap bar.

As an example, the AGM of the SU at the Uni where I work was actually quorate this year (above a certain number of attendees). This was remarkable as it was the first time that has happened in 5 years. This results in the SU being unable to actually do anything, as they are tied to a democratic process that forbids change without a valid vote...

 

Yes, but it's about principle. You shouldnt have to join if you don't want to. I believe your past conservative government tried to do stop it from being mandatory. What bugs me is that they get political and their beliefs almost never coincide with mine.

Over here, a lot of students could care less, but as I said earlier they overstep their bounds and make decisions for the student body, which people are forced to be a part of. One example is banning military recruiters from campus, which has to do with ignorance about the military and what it does overseas.

 

Then go along to your Union meetings and argue back, or vote against them. If they are empowered to make that level of decision then they will need a more balanced input.

 

The only Universities that are able to prize intellectual interests over financal interests are those that have a good stream of funding. Like the Big US universities and their endowments, or Oxford/Cambridge here.

Yes, I'm cynical...


Going back to University lecturers being wacko-wierdy-liberal-lefties, we do actually have one of those in my Department. He sends regular e-mails round about outrageous things, and takes holiday to go and protest G8 summits. Some of his causes are very worthy, but others are just PC gone stoopid. For example, our Student Union was planning a 'Mr & Miss University' contest (like Miss World), which he condemned as 'sexist'. When I asked the obvious question (how can a 'Mr & Miss' contest be sexist) he did not answer...

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O5bEvYN9Uvg