Student Unions by Georgia-Blue Townshend

Student unions used to be extremely political and would fight for students and their rights. In the 70’s and 80’s the London student unions were fighting bodies such as the National Front whereas today the only things that student unions seem to be doing is deciding which student is popular enough to be president or (at a certain west London university) deciding where each student lies on the LGBT spectrum. I find that a lot of members of unions have no idea even of what is going on in the news, or if they do then they make judgements without considering the whole story. Student unions should be bodies that a student can go to and feel comfortable to talk to them about any difficulties they are having, but from talking to my fellow students in a number of universities, they wouldn’t ever consider to go to the union with problems.

The first problem is with the union elections. The voter turnout in universities at the moment doesn’t seem to exceed 50%. Surely students should want to vote for the executive that will represent them but this doesn’t seem to be the case. This is not because these people don’t care or because they don’t understand, it’s because either there is no-one running that will ever make a difference or that the students have no idea who the runners even are. It is simply a vanity project designed to improve your cv, the more people you know and the more people you pester, the more likely you are to be in the union. Most student elections aren’t long enough and this makes it difficult for students to vote with adequate knowledge, if they end up voting at all. The student body are given roughly a week to watch the campaigns and then roughly a week to vote, and all this in the middle of final essay deadlines. Is it really such a surprise that hardly any students actually vote?

I personally did vote in my union elections this year, however I will admit that this was only because my friends were running. Had this not been the case I probably wouldn’t have voted at all, in fact I didn’t in the first year. The elections are simply popularity contests and are not truly based on what the individuals will try to achieve. One of my friends spoiled his ballot paper for the same reason in a different university. The student electorate are cliquey and unpolitical. A lot of the electorate, when asked what they think about current affairs or issues in London, haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about. They tend to be inaccessible to many students, or intimidating to any students who do not know them personally. I know in my university, most of the student body don’t  even know where the union office is. How are they meant to be of any help when they’re essentially invisible? But this is only some peoples opinion.

Others may say that the student unions, when run properly, are an essential asset to any university and I would agree with this. They are the body that organizes societies’ funds and events and makes sure they don’t overlap with any important university deadlines or meetings. They hold the universities to account when they do or say something controversial or against the student population. They organize going on protests and help out any student that may be having difficulties, either academically or personally. Some people believe that without a union, the students would be in real trouble as there would be no helpful middle man to represent the students. The unions also organize events and fundraisers which make university a more interesting and integrated place to be. They raise money for charities and hold movie and comedy nights for the students. Another thing that the unions do is organize freshers’ week which, for some, is an integral part to starting university and socializing. I agree with all of this, if the unions were run properly and efficiently, which I believe most of them aren’t.