are you satisfied with UCDSU

InFront

sorry if its been posted already but coulnt find it anywhere - how satisfied are you with the SU? Also on arelated issue should they disaffiliate themselves from the USI given that we're a huge university unlike places like LIT for example, which may need more central support than us? (I heard it costs UCDSU tens of thousands of yoyos per annum is that right??)

This isnt a hit on current SU members who may be up for reelection (i honestly dont know if there are any or who they are tbh) more a comment on the SU as a whole going back over all of your time here so far

Vainglory

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

For the sake of information, it costs 92,000 for UCDSU to affiliate to USI each year.

Red Alert

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

is this value for money I ask? not really. but UCDSU should be part of a wider student movement. the USI should not be a top-down affair which is one way it could change.

if people do want to disaffiliate it should be under the basis of setting up a separate organisation.

Stabshauptmann

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

Things which I love the SU for:
Cheap / free condoms. I said in Pandas thread that its one thing Id love from the SU and now they're doing it. Hurray!

The accomadation office
Comprehensive list and access to free phones. You've no idea how much time and effort this saves

The Ents office
Much better than last year but still not perfect
What happened to the bus thing they promised, ive only seen it once this yr?
Good quality gigs, and 2 new balls on campus. Hard core man!

Unhappy with:
The student bar being more expensive than my local. How is that? I thought it was non-profit or close to?

Narrow variety in SU shops. Im not complaining about ban on nestle or coke but if they sold milk, bread, cornflaskes and sausages (yay they sell condoms now) Id be a happy camper. Centre is a rip off.

Welfare, education, womens, irish, and offices Ive never heard of. Are these ppl doing anything

The widespread waste of student monies

Protesting needlessly or when needed ineffectivly

Chinafoot

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Welfare, education, womens, irish, and offices Ive never heard of. Are these ppl doing anything

Welfare and Education should be the most important ones IMO.

Stabshauptmann

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

Well maybe I just have my head in the sand. Are these offices doing anything?

InFront

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

presumably education and womens officers are working with individuals behind the scene as they have less 'public' roles to play. But the irish officer... who/ what is that? Apart from seachtain na gaeilge (apparently it's this week?) what does that dude actually do???

Stabshauptmann

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

its a gril afaik

Dave!

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

Not at all -- nearly every time I see them, they're protesting over something stupid (eg. that one where they shamed half of a chemistry class into not doing a test), or something which is nothing to do with UCD.

Stick to your job, ffs

Mr.Nice Guy

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

Hell No

Sangre

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Things which I love the SU for:
Cheap / free condoms. I said in Pandas thread that its one thing Id love from the SU and now they're doing it. Hurray!

Now you can have all the posh **** you want.

Gone West

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

start your own union.
Give everybody else important sounding, but ultimately useless jobs.

InFront

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

Sangre wrote:

Now you can have all the posh **** you want.

classic

Sangre

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

FuzzyLogic wrote:

start your own union.
Give everybody else important sounding, but ultimately useless jobs.

Like irish/womens officer?

Pythia

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

Sangre wrote:

Like irish/womens officer?

You might have been sarcastic here but I totally agree.

Sangre

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

I wasn't being sarcasitc. They're utterly useless positions only existing to go down on people's CVs.

tintinr35

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

Sangre wrote:

I wasn't being sarcasitc. They're utterly useless positions only existing to go down on people's CVs.

agree!! what do they actually do???

Syth

I think if people could leave the SU if they were dissatisfied with it, then the SU would listen to the students more, or face massive 'walk outs'.

This is the responce I recieved from James Carrol when I enquired about leaving the SU:

James Carrol wrote:

You can't. Bye.

Rats. I wanna leave the SU!

Chinafoot

Why can't you?

tribulus

DaveMcG wrote:

Not at all -- nearly every time I see them, they're protesting over something stupid (eg. that one where they shamed half of a chemistry class into not doing a test), or something which is nothing to do with UCD.

tbh i blame the "school of chemistry and chemical biology" for that one. We were given less than a weeks notice , told it was abouu 25% of our grade for that part of the course (about 2% total for chemistry) then those who did sit the "exam" were told at the end it didn't count for anything!!! c*nts

end rant

never really got too bothered with the SU (typical apathetic student etc)
maybe id take more of an interest if i needed grants or whatever the latest fuss is

i do however like the cheap condoms:) so good work there!

pigeonbutler

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

Some of the reasons you can't leave the SU is that as a student you are availing of its services. E.g. the subsidised condoms, would it be right for someone who's not contributing to the Union to benefit from such services? There's also other things like:

The Trap
The Copy Shop in the Library Tunnel
The Kiosk shop in student centre
Library Shop
Ents events

All of these are charging for their services but at a level way below the market price. This is because the Union is run as a cooperative so isn't trying to make a profit.

Asking to be a student of UCD without being a member of the SU is like asking to live in Ireland but not pay any tax (Sales and excise taxes too!) but avail of all the services the state provides. The most basic ones being Policing, National Defence, Roads and Street Light! One cannot choose not to avail of these services. The mere fact that a police service and national defence exists benefits all who live within our borders.

Similarily, one cannot be a student in UCD without benefitting from the services the Union provides. Sure you can choose to boycott SU shops and events, but the Union is still speaking on your behalf at the highest levels of Governance of the college and ensuring that the college does the best it can for students. You can't stick your head in the sand and not benefit from this sort of service!!!

End of rant. In future could anyone who suggests "leaving" the SU be pointed towards this post?

Chinafoot

Well I actually thought Syth meant leaving the SU council to be perfectly honest.

pigeonbutler

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

peachypants wrote:

Well I actually thought Syth meant leaving the SU council to be perfectly honest.

Is he/she a member of Council?

If so he/she can resign.

Chinafoot

Pigeonbutler, are you an SU council member by any chance?

Stabshauptmann

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

peachypants wrote:

Well I actually thought Syth meant leaving the SU council to be perfectly honest.

I thought syth ment the SU as a whole. What did you mean syth?

Chinafoot

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

I thought syth ment the SU as a whole. What did you mean syth?

I'd say he meant the SU as a whole.

Samos

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

peachypants wrote:

Well I actually thought Syth meant leaving the SU council to be perfectly honest.

peachypants wrote:

I'd say he meant the SU as a whole.

Sheesh! Talk about having your cake and eating it! Is it comfortable sitting on that fence?!

Chinafoot

Samos wrote:

Sheesh! Talk about having your cake and eating it! Is it comfortable sitting on that fence?!

excuse me?!

I initially thought he meant the council which is why I found it odd. Then after reading pigeonbutler's response regarding leaving the SU as a whole I realised that Syth must have meant it in that way. Hence my response to KaptainR.

Red Alert

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

I think we need to scrap utterly useless positions like Women's Officerr (maybe replace with a part time equality officer - my union sub pays the women's officer who by her definition does not represent me).

The SU shops etc are really great and I'd hate to see Centra or anybody else that is 'in' with the commercial office of the college getting a foothold.

arbeitsscheuer

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

Red Alert wrote:

I think we need to scrap utterly useless positions like Women's Officerr (maybe replace with a part time equality officer - my union sub pays the women's officer who by her definition does not represent me).

Maybe you just haven't realised yet that you are truly a woman born in a man's body, and need the services of the Women's Officer to bring you to just such an epiphany?

Either that or she's fcuking useless, but ya know...
Open mind and all that!:D

Samos

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

peachypants wrote:

excuse me?!

I initially thought he meant the council which is why I found it odd. Then after reading pigeonbutler's response regarding leaving the SU as a whole I realised that Syth must have meant it in that way. Hence my response to KaptainR.

I was just joking... lighten up people!

AngelofFire

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

my union sub pays the women's officer who by her definition does not represent me

The Postion of womens officer is not a paid role, its voluntary

Samos

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

Red Alert wrote:

I think we need to scrap utterly useless positions like Women's Officerr (maybe replace with a part time equality officer - my union sub pays the women's officer who by her definition does not represent me).

The SU shops etc are really great and I'd hate to see Centra or anybody else that is 'in' with the commercial office of the college getting a foothold.

As far as I know, the Women's Officer is not paid, nor are the other non-sabbatical officers, like LGBRO, Environmental Officer etc.

I heard that there are currently discussions concerning revisions to the UCDSU Constitution. One of these will be the replacement of Women's Officer with an Equality Officer, and removal of some of those unnecessary positions like IT and Comm. Should these amendments be finalised, a vote of the student populace will happy, probably next term, on whether to accpet these proposed changes.

Chinafoot

Folks,

On a thread like this I'd like it if people could declare their position in relation to the Union. If you are a current council member, active within the union or running for election please declare it.

If anyone wants to know why then I refer you to this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=206793


Thanks

Steph

Jonny Arson

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

No, I'm entirely satisfied with the UCDSU.

Why? My main gripe with the UCDSU is from my viewpoint it that sadly the UCDSU is nothing but a pathetic little political training ground/playground. I know not all of it's members are obsessed with Politics and showing off their ''I'm a rigthy loike, roysh'' or their ''I'm a lefty loike, roysh'' badges but sadly too many are.

Politics should have very little place in a student union apart from the education side of things. The only way a union can thrive is to do what they say on the tin and that is by being united and working with each other and not forming their own little lefty/right tribes.

Too much nonsensical protesting goes on against non-student issues such as Irish Ferries and against Bertie over Shannon last week. This is pathetic. These issues have got absolutely nothing to do with UCDSU, UCD, students or education whatsover. I certainly feel these individuals involved in these protests are doing it out of making a name for themselves more than anything. If they want to protest agasint these issues in their own free time then grand but to go to the UCDSU and ask for their backing or whatnot is as far as I'm concerned using and abusing your position in the UCDSU. The UCDSU endorsing the Bertie/Shannon protest last week was pretty much the final straw with me and my union.

I can tell you for a fact that the regular everyday student wants an apolitical UCDSU which devotes 100% of their time to doing their job. Sadly this won't happen and the UCDSU will never change. Even looking at hackweb the UCDSU comes across as nothing but a little clique filled with many arrogant and self-absorbed people. I've seen so much pathetic and spiteful political crap being written on that site it's unreal.

The people who I feel sorry for are the genuine people in the union who genuinely care about students and student issues. There are many of them and sadly they don't get the credit they deserve.

If the UCDSU wants to ever get in touch with it's own students then the petty political crap has to go first of all. Whether your left/right/centre should be irrelevant. Yeah the UCDSU does great work for this college but if it is ever to thrive and be taken seriously by students it has to be open to all students because they're nearly out of touch as much as Brady's administration is.

<let the inevitable flaming commense!>

Red Alert

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

I am not a member of the SU council, although I plan to become one next year if I'm still around.

Mr.Nice Guy

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

No, I'm entirely satisfied with the UCDSU.

Why? My main gripe with the UCDSU is from my viewpoint it that sadly the UCDSU is nothing but a pathetic little political training ground/playground. I know not all of it's members are obsessed with Politics and showing off their ''I'm a rigthy loike, roysh'' or their ''I'm a lefty loike, roysh'' badges but sadly too many are.

Politics should have very little place in a student union apart from the education side of things. The only way a union can thrive is to do what they say on the tin and that is by being united and working with each other and not forming their own little lefty/right tribes.

Too much nonsensical protesting goes on against non-student issues such as Irish Ferries and against Bertie over Shannon last week. This is pathetic. These issues have got absolutely nothing to do with UCDSU, UCD, students or education whatsover. I certainly feel these individuals involved in these protests are doing it out of making a name for themselves more than anything. If they want to protest agasint these issues in their own free time then grand but to go to the UCDSU and ask for their backing or whatnot is as far as I'm concerned using and abusing your position in the UCDSU. The UCDSU endorsing the Bertie/Shannon protest last week was pretty much the final straw with me and my union.

I can tell you for a fact that the regular everyday student wants an apolitical UCDSU which devotes 100% of their time to doing their job. Sadly this won't happen and the UCDSU will never change. Even looking at hackweb the UCDSU comes across as nothing but a little clique filled with many arrogant and self-absorbed people. I've seen so much pathetic and spiteful political crap being written on that site it's unreal.

The people who I feel sorry for are the genuine people in the union who genuinely care about students and student issues. There are many of them and sadly they don't get the credit they deserve.

If the UCDSU wants to ever get in touch with it's own students then the petty political crap has to go first of all. Whether your left/right/centre should be irrelevant. Yeah the UCDSU does great work for this college but if it is ever to thrive and be taken seriously by students it has to be open to all students because they're nearly out of touch as much as Brady's administration is.

<let the inevitable flaming commense!>

Before the inevitable flaming commences I would like to say that I agree with everything you have said.

WE WANT AN APOLITICAL STUDENT UNION.

scop

Then you might consider the insane idea of running or getting involved.

Jonny Arson

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

scop wrote:

Then you might consider the insane idea of running or getting involved.

Hence why apolitical people like myself and Mr.Nice Guy will not get involved in a political playground like the UCDSU.

AngelofFire

AngelofFire wrote:

The Postion of womens officer is not a paid role, its voluntary

Not wishing to add fuel, but is there a set budget for expenses for PT Officers?


I'm not involved in UCD,DSU, but I am involved in TCDSU

Chinafoot

Wouldnt the issue of grants be considered somewhat political?

How exactly would this apolitical union work?

And I meant what i said folks.....declare your association with the union if not already done.

Pythia

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

pigeonbutler wrote:

Some of the reasons you can't leave the SU is that as a student you are availing of its services. E.g. the subsidised condoms, would it be right for someone who's not contributing to the Union to benefit from such services? There's also other things like:

The Trap
The Copy Shop in the Library Tunnel
The Kiosk shop in student centre
Library Shop
Ents events

This year I've availed of none of those services.
But I think in my position, I get the money from the SU payment thing back so it's all good. (I'm not on a grant btw, I think they do pay it?)

I'm sure I can declare a few people for you peachy, if they won't declare themselves. :v:

scop

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Hence why apolitical people like myself and Mr.Nice Guy will not get involved in a political playground like the UCDSU.

Then you are part of ze problem, offering not an iota of a solution.

Chinafoot

Pythia wrote:

I'm sure I can declare a few people for you peachy, if they won't declare themselves. :v:

Hehe....that could also work

Dave!

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

tribulus wrote:

tbh i blame the "school of chemistry and chemical biology" for that one. We were given less than a weeks notice , told it was abouu 25% of our grade for that part of the course (about 2% total for chemistry) then those who did sit the "exam" were told at the end it didn't count for anything!!! c*nts

I think the explaination given was that it was supposed to shock you into studying, which will in turn help you in the real exams. Most schools don't bother with that kind of stuff and just leave you to sink or swim really when it comes to the summer. And also, a fairly high percentage of the class wanted to sit the exam! I'm not saying it was a good or a bad idea, though; my beef was with the way the SU stood outside the lecture hall, and Dan Curran (dunno if that's his name) said something to the effect of "we can't make you boycott the exam; the only thing we can do is never talk to you again", and pushed the whole 'think of your classmates who aren't prepared' line, thus shaming and embaressing people who had actually done the work and were prepared.

So it may have been a bad idea to have the exam, but the way the SU acted 'on the students' behalf ' was out of order.

pigeonbutler

(2) They should not disaffiliate from USI

I'll declare since it's being harped on about. I've never hidden the fact (I even have disclosed it in another thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3567997&postcount=12) that I'm a Council member, as one of the reps for 2nd Commerce. That's hardly a hugely influential position now is it. I've seen the anti-union sentiments that have been expressed in this thread and would agree with most of the rationally expressed and reasonable ones. I've argued in many threads before now that the Union is not there to protest about every sort of mad issue.

To those who think it's all a circus and so wouldn't get involved I'd ask you to grow up! There are just over 100 members of Union Council, less than 30 are the people that hijack it. So we need people who believe in an SU for student issues to get involved and stop that loud minority taking over. They are scared of their lives of normal people getting involved in the SU.

Here's an anecdote to support that: I'm a new rep this year. I'd posted on this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3554839#post3554839 several times at the start of the year. Then walking out of only my 2nd council meeting I was very aggressively confronted by someone who basically tried to scare me off being vocally opposed to the Union supporting anti-deportation campaigns and Trade Union campaigns. I had lots of friends with similar views and I'm not one who bows to intimidation so I've kept active and kept campaigning for the sort of Union I'm hearing most students want.

Mr.Nice Guy

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

While not wishing to get flamed for this, is it really fair for UCDSU reps to vote in a poll saying that they ARE satisfied with UCDSU?

I mean if you were to ask the Irish public for their view on politicians, it wouldn't be very fair to go to a Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis for your answers.

I think it 's disappointing that Union reps voted in this poll as they are hardly unbiased.

Just my opinion.

Chinafoot

pigeonbutler wrote:

I'll declare since it's being harped on about.

I'm not harping on about it. If you read the thread I linked to you will see why I want everyone to declare it. This is not ucdsu.net and more specifically this is not the newswire.

pigeonbutler wrote:

To those who think it's all a circus and so wouldn't get involved I'd ask you to grow up!

I see your point but you have to try and see it from the average students position. The union comes across as completely inaccessible to anyone who doesnt fully agree with the political opinions of those that are most vocal and visible in the union.

pigeonbutler wrote:

I was very aggressively confronted by someone who basically tried to scare me off being vocally opposed to the Union supporting anti-deportation campaigns and Trade Union campaigns.

Sounds like its people like that that need to grow up, not the average student who (justifiably from examples like that) feel that there is little point in attempting to get involved.

Look at those running for the sabbatical positions this year.....the majority of them have been very vocal over the past year. Are they the ones who "hijack" the running of things?

Its very easy to say that we should grow up and get involved but when a non-hack tries to get involved and run for office they dont stand a chance.

AngelofFire

(1) No I am not satisified with USDSU

Since ive also posted on this thread I declare myself as a UCDSU rep for first Arts (Archaelogy, Politics, English)

Mr.Nice Guy

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

peachypants wrote:

Its very easy to say that we should grow up and get involved but when a non-hack tries to get involved and run for office they dont stand a chance.

I agree.

I don't believe it's possible to change the Union from the inside. I think any real change would have to happen through external pressure.

Red Alert

(2) They should disaffiliate from USI

It's very easy for it to change from inside. For example I know one prominent apolitical class rep in engineering who really does seem to make an impression.