Leaving the SU?

lithiumoxide

When I registered for my course, I had expected DCU|SU to be quite professional, but their Facebook updates tend to be not much more than misspelled sentences about snowball fights, parties, and Red Bull. Considering that Facebook is a significant medium in communicating with people in DCU, surely some more effort would be put in?

I visited the SU website earlier and tried to use the search engine. Instead of getting a result for my query, I was faced with a page of ASP errors. I don't know much about programming, but after glancing through this page, it was clear that the SU are running a Windows-based server, and that "results" pages gives plenty of info about directories and files. Is it even secure?

With these two incidents (very likely unrelated) I have to wonder about the the professionalism about DCU|SU. I'm currently a full-time worker, a graduate of DCU, and a postgraduate student of DCU. I have been a member of a number of unions in the past and am well aware of the current situations students are currently in.

What are the options available to leave DCU Students' Union? I don't want to be a part of a union that does not seem to look out for our well-being.

wonderfulname

Better still, what are the options for creating an alternative SU?

Diarmsquid

wonderfulname wrote: »

Better still, what are the options for creating an alternative SU?

You vote, and replace the current executive like you would vote to replace a government.

And to be fair, Facebook is Facebook. Of course it's going to be light hearted. Any further examination will show that they take the job fairly seriously.

XPS

This is an issue that has come up in a number of colleges. Technically no person can be forced to be a member of any organisation. However since being a third level student could be argued as an occupation (various references in legislation - social welfare acts, finance acts, education acts to name the main areas) it could be argued that membership of the students' union is a pre-requisite of your student status.
I am fairly sure that would be the argument that would win in any actual challenge in a court on this issue.
Your reasons, albeit your own, for leaving the SU seem to be based on:

1 – complete ignorance of what the students’ union do on a day-to-day basis fed by an apparent lack of engagement with the students’ union.
2 – agenda setting – which you are failing on.
3 – Facebook and the website; in which case you should bring your (legitimate) concerns to your class rep and let them bring it up at Union Council.
I have taken significant issue with some of the Facebook status posted in the early part of this semester, but throwing my toys out of the pram was not my reaction – instead I engaged with the union, expressed my concerns and for the most part these concerns were acknowledged and the issue was resolved.
How you equate errors on the SU website with a derogation of duty on behalf of all the officers of the union is confusing, and to be honest as someone who gives honest input to the union, somewhat insulting.
If you don’t have the time to get involved you should express your concerns to your respective reps – class and postgrad, and let them make a positive contribution to the union structures on your behalf and rectify your mole hill issues with the SU. Believe there are bigger issues with the SU.

OrionsBelt

Youy cannot officially leave the Union (as in going to the Sabbats and say yeah thanks but no thanks I'd rather not be member) and this is same in every one of the large colleges in Ireland, if not every single college.

In 1st year I thought like you "god i'll never use the union" but you cannot deny they do a lot of fantastic work, either up front for the student body to see, or behind the scenes work that goes sorely under appreciated.

besides, if you have a problem about how the union works, bring it up with your class rep, faculty convenor, or come to union council. and stated your problems. the structure is in place to deal with any and all issues.

sillysmiles

I don't have DCU SU on facebook so I've no idea what the status updates are like, but I do receive the emails from the SU.
A comment to the SU officers - is it really that hard to spell-check? Acknowledge that you are supposed to be educated to tertiary level, being able to spell or at least use spell-check should be a given.

Benny Lava

Frequently ordering pizzas, lounging around an office and throwing cans of Red Bull at people. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

steo87

lithiumoxide wrote: »

What are the options available to leave DCU Students' Union? I don't want to be a part of a union that does not seem to look out for our well-being.

Hate is a strong word but I do, in fact, hate DCU's SU. During my time I got the feeling that it was a place full of cronyism and that just looked out for its inner circle and not the students. A bit like Fianna Fail in my opinion!:pac:

public_enemy

lithiumoxide wrote: »

What are the options available to leave DCU Students' Union? I don't want to be a part of a union that does not seem to look out for our well-being.

You want to leave the SU because you don't like the website? When have they ever ran a good website?

If that's a fair way to judge their performance and "professionalism" then I guess DCU's just never seen a decent Union...

Choc123

I can speak out of complete impartiality as I have no connection with the union and have no close friends on the union executive.
I have to say I've been in DCU for a few years now and I believe the current exec to the best we've ever had. I wouldn't even be the most social person but there's a buzz around college like never before.
The SU offices/computers are now a friendly place open to everyone unlike previous years where there was a feeling that people weren't welcome up there.
ALL of the sabbats' doors are always open. Anytime I've visited any of the sabbats, I've done so without appointment and was always listened to and helped out whenever possible. Each sabbat is approachable and have often said they can be contacted at any stage, even on the weekend.
And is that not really what the SU should be there for? To listen to students and their concerns and to represent them in a number of areas.

Heaven forbid lithiumoxide, you would encounter a welfare problem next week or a problem with a lecturer or whatever and you couldn't avail of the services of the SU because you decided to withdraw your membership.

Perhaps they do need to treat their facebook page and what they say more seriously but I'm sure they've realised that.

At the end of day, Megan, Colin and Cillian received the most votes during the SU elections. If you have problems with them, I suggest you raise it with them on a private, one on one basis and stop stirring things on boards.

johnmcdnl

can someone tell me what this work behind the scene is - I just don't know what any of them actually do..

All I get is a load of emails from collie to tell me that there's gonna be a mad party in the nubar and toxic tuesday is gonna be great

other than that I have no idea what they do with their time