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SU 5th officer NO campaign!
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28-02-2011 11:05pm#1Myself and another esteemed (:P) member of Boards.ie are setting up a small campaign to advocate a No vote in the upcoming referendum - Referendum 1 - on the new Students' Union 5th officer position.
We feel that in a time of severe funding cuts - which all will have felt through less tutorials, labs and lectures - spending €18,000 of the University's money on this position is unjustified and unnecessary.
Despite the kind of economic hood-wink-ism that some have chosen to pursue, this money is not being plucked out of fairyland: it is money that could otherwise be spent on front-line services and better things.
Our campaign will probably be limited to a number of cheeky posters! But if you want to help out in any capacity get in touch!
Thoughts?
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:mad::mad::mad:
I'm very tempted to ban you for posting the most irritating meme in existence. Anytime I read "Cool story bro" I die a little inside. I just caused myself do die a little by typing it....
As for original topic: I don't know which way I'll be voting in regards to the 5th officer thing. I'll certainly read what you guys have to say though before making up my mind.0 -
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KnifeWRENCH wrote: »As for original topic: I don't know which way I'll be voting in regards to the 5th officer thing. I'll certainly read what you guys have to say though before making up my mind.
Thanks KnifeWRENCH.
I'm going to make up a little 200/300 word point of view piece tonight outlining our position on why we're advocating a NO vote. Posters aren't really designed to communicate a long message like that.GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »isnt it employment for someone in the economy.
I'm sure a few tutors have lost a bit of employment over funding cuts, and this won't help that. Economically, one can't really argue that things like this are good because they create jobs, because that argument fails to consider what the money would otherwise be spent on and whether those alternatives are better.
We think they are.0 -
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I posted a link to the facebook page on the facebook pages of College Road and Overheard in UCC. Both posts have since been deleted. Take from that what you will but the last time I checked it was the "Student's Union" and not the "Union of Certain Students".
Students' Union you mean. :P
It's still up there, from what I can see?UpTheSlashers wrote: »Is there anyone from within the Students Union objecting to the 5th officer?
It's hard to say. No one's come out against it, but no one's come out for it, either. One can presume that the current exec and those running for Comms officer agree with it, of course.0 -
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Eliot Rosewater wrote: »Students' Union you mean. :P It's still up there, from what I can see?
It's hard to say. No one's come out against it, but no one's come out for it, either. One can presume that the current exec and those running for Comms officer agree with it, of course.
Facebook was acting weird earlier. It's still up alright. Apologies to all concerned!0 -
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Still not addressing the valid points raised by the deputy president. My deliberate goading of you was to draw you into debate on it. I'd like to keep on topic and not discuss SU presidents, there's enough of that going on already.
You may not know this, but the SU budget is a provision catered for by the students. The money is not spent on things such as the university's deficit. It's not the university's money, it's the Students' Union's money.
The most valuable asset you can actually attain is another person who will represent the students and actively lobby student issues at the university along with the other 4 sabbatical officers. Somebody who will put pressure on the university to give more money to tutors and so on.
In short, much of the basis of your campaign is due to your ignorance of how and where that money is spent. That 18,000 is already in the budget for the SU. It's not being taken from any academic department or tutor's pockets. The registration fee pays for the SU.
As for the reputation of the college and so on, fair point. However it's the job of the officer to manage these deals. I have seen how much time it takes.
As for Journosoc, they are a society and should not have to do the work of the SU.
No, they aren't.0 -
The S.U can put the money to far better use than another comms officer. If they so desperately need one then they can set one up on a trial basis. Have two people, a comms officer and a vice-comms officer, and have it as an unpaid voluntary role. If it's successful as the SU seem to be prophesying, then they can expand on it from there.
I brought up the Journo Soc because both of the candidates, have in their manifestos that the college media needs to be managed better and have better content for students. That's well within the remit of the Journo Soc but also of the committee of The Express and The Motley.
For example from Aisling's manifesto:I want to develop free defamation training for all writers and editors, which will help them in any future
careers in the media.
I want to work for better resources- Space, money and equipment are all lacking and sorely
needed.
The collegenews.ie website requires a relaunch and overhaul to make it more competitive in the national student media market. I think that this is a project that has to happen if UCC is to step into the idea of new media and properly operate online, like all other university publications.
Just sending All Students Emails isn’t working; the SU isn’t communicating well. I’d like to see us produce a newsletter twice a year on paper, and distribute it for free on campus. Galway do it, DCU do it. We can do it, and quite cheaply too.
We don't need another officer to do that particular thing. That is well within the remit of the Journo Soc and the committees of the respective media on campus. All it takes is a bit of delegation and communication (see what I did there??) with the SU and the above mentioned organisations.
Similarly from Eoghan's manifesto:• Proper promotion of all SU events. Events such as the tramps
ball should sell out with a little bit of focused promotion. Why
have the union not been able to do so in the past?
• Student publications with more appeal to students. Satirical
articles and interviews with celebrities.
The points I made about Aisling's ideas can be applied to this too.
I can't go down through both candidates' manifestos point by point as I don't have the time and neither does my cohort. Remember, there are only two of us doing this against the teams that Aisling and Eoghan have on top of the Yes Campaign that has been set up. To be honest, we didn't and don't expect to win the day. Myself and my cohort discussed this and all we're doing is highlighting an issue that we feel has been overlooked and/or ignored by the SU.
On the front of the latest issue of The Express, there's a headline about further cuts of 15% coming. I've also heard of talk about the Student Assistance Fund being cut and I think it has been cut already. With both of those in mind, the fact that the SU's funding hasn't been cut and they want to appoint another officer in a time when everyone has to cut back, is completely abhorrent to me.
As for Daithi's point about the funding coming from the registration fee, which i'm well aware of by the way despite your insinuation, that's fair enough. It's coming from the registration fee. That doesn't make it any less right. Conversely I can also see that it doesn't make it any less wrong. The registration fee in general needs serious looking at as it is; where certain monies are going and aren't going.
I hope the above goes some of the way to explaining my own personal motivations and beliefs regarding the issue. I can't speak for my cohort, obviously, but we're pretty much in line.
Also, I don't appreciate being goaded. All you have to do is ask me to respond and i'll respond. In future, I won't respond to such goading, which I think is fair enough seeing as we've had people assassinating our characters over the last few days. It's not what we wanted. All we wanted to do is to highlight the issue but I guess it goes with the territory.0 -
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On the eve of polling here is the campaign's perspective on the issue and our argument for a No vote to Referendum 1 and to a 5th officer that will cost us €18,000.
Our perspective.
On the 8th and 9th of March students of UCC are being asked to vote on Referendum 1. If it is passed, the Students' Union Constitution will be amended to create a new 5th full-time officer. The position will cost us €18,000 a year.
Last week's Express ran with the headline “Main source of university funding slashed”. It referred to the university's core grant, which is being cut by 15%. This is not, of course, the first time UCC has had to deal with funding cuts since the onset of the economic downturn. At this stage nearly every student has felt the effects of lower funding, principally through fewer tutorials and labs, and in some cases merged and distorted modules.
The new Students' Union officer won't help with the Union's core responsibilities – representing students on academic bodies, to university staff and on the national stage with the U.S.I. The new position will deal with extra non-essential things, like promoting UCC's student media outlets.
While the benefits of the position can be questioned one thing, at least, is for certain – this is the wrong time to be putting more money into the Students' Union. We need everything we have now to make sure that the education we get in UCC is the best it can be. Spending money on extra unnecessary SU activities is not the way to achieve this.
As such, we urge you to vote No to Referendum 1 on March 8th and 9th.
The Campaign Team. 0
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