What do you want from next years SU?

Grudaire

Just wondering what people want from next years SU? What things do you want done around DCU?
I assume most people will say more better events etc,

Anyway my two are:

• Public Bike Repair Stations Let You Fix Your Bike for Free
• Fix Campus magazine

Wolfe Tone

More books for library(Law)

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Cliste wrote: »

Just wondering what people want from next years SU? What things do you want done around DCU?

Get campus residences to cop the f*ck on with their prices and fines.
Get a soundproof room for the music society
Get more books in the library
A decent rag ball for next year would be appreciated
Subsidise food in the main canteen
Have the old bar opened every now and then - maybe for toxic tuesdays?

I'll post more when I think of it...

RyDar

Definitely more books for the library and more journals (most linguistics journals, japanese books and french books are older than I am!)

Cheaper food in the canteen (should be subsidised by half)

WAY cheaper gym membership (in Maynooth the gym is free for god sake!)

Upgraded facilities for ALIS students (seriously, we don't have one single decent lecture room, no dedicated computers with language software, just crap!)

I'll edit in more when I come up with them

andyman

The Library to be open later. Sorry but 10 is just way too early. If it was open later I'd still definitely use it. At least have it open later around exam time would be fine.

The Old Bar would be another one as well. For Toxic it would be ideal to fit more people into...

Gman1

Organise decent events, with decent acts.. Cause the past few years of events have been terrible. They are nothing in comparison to other college's events.

And basically cop the f**k on and do something instead you can see them sitting around the bar drinking.

Gman1

Cliste wrote: »

• Fix Campus magazine

Remove Campus magazine all together. Its a waste of time, and its always full of pictures of the same eejits, and useless articles.

Cy_Revenant

RyDar wrote: »

Upgraded facilities for ALIS students (seriously, we don't have one single decent lecture room, no dedicated computers with language software, just crap!)

Don't you use the same lecture rooms as everyone else does?

Daysha

A late-opening library is an absolute must. Being told to pack up and go home at 9.45pm the night before an exam is completely ridiculous. Obviously a 24 hour library would be ideal but even an extra hour or two in the morning and the evening would be a start.

niamhzie

are the street-lights fixed on the avenue yet? that's my priority!
and sort out the canteen in general- it closes too early, and the food isn't great for the prices...

DGRulz

niamhzie wrote: »

are the street-lights fixed on the avenue yet? that's my priority!
and sort out the canteen in general- it closes too early, and the food isn't great for the prices...

The food isn;t great in general anymore, last semester it was grand but this semester I've been subjected to eggy pizza, a whole stack of burnt paninies and a few dodgy lasaunges. Ive switched to the packed sandwiched and they're grand but still, the quality and prices needs to be looked at.

Also the snack box chicken is well too greasy.

Noodleworm

a better studenty cafe,
one under the library has bad food, high prices, pretty damn uncomfortable...
I mean a nice casual place you can get coffee, food and chat.
Canteen also has terrible food and not to mention closes very early, students living on campus don't have an option to buy food except the nu bar.

A microwave might be nice so students can bring their own food too

and a better variety of event, for people who aren't looking for just a pissup

Jiggy

Better storage and hosting facilities for societies.
A degree of professionalism brought to emails ( CAPS AND REPETITION FOR ALL!)
More performance events i.e. bands and comedians

Urizen

niamhzie wrote: »

are the street-lights fixed on the avenue yet? that's my priority!

They were fixed weeks ago. It's great now, no more creepy darkness halfway down. Park is always gonna be freaky as hell late at night, but still.

carlowboy

Candidates to have realistic policies, not ridiculous pipe dreams like having the library open 24 hours.

walshc54

Candidates that aren't free loading wasters looking to take the year out to find themselves while getting paid to do it, and contribute nothing to the student body.

Let's face it, people who do real courses go and get proper jobs after college, so any SU president is going to be an arsehole.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

carlowboy wrote: »

Candidates to have realistic policies, not ridiculous pipe dreams like having the library open 24 hours.

Lol, pipe dreams. http://www.universityobserver.ie/2009/10/13/24-hour-study-area-to-be-introduced/

walshc54 wrote: »

Candidates that aren't free loading wasters looking to take the year out to find themselves while getting paid to do it, and contribute nothing to the student body.

Can you back up anything you've just said?
If they contributed nothing the SU wouldn't have any events etc. which while they haven't been fantastic, have taken place and were better than nothing.

Noodleworm

I understand a 24 library might'nt bo too realistic, staff have to be payed more for working that time, not to mention that DCU might not want to encourage student to pull all-nighters before exams, not exactly healthy.

andyman

walshc54 wrote: »

Candidates that aren't free loading wasters looking to take the year out to find themselves while getting paid to do it, and contribute nothing to the student body.

Let's face it, people who do real courses go and get proper jobs after college, so any SU president is going to be an arsehole.

This, to me, is someone who doesn't know how the Union works.

Grudaire

Noodleworm wrote: »

I understand a 24 library might'nt bo too realistic, staff have to be payed more for working that time, not to mention that DCU might not want to encourage student to pull all-nighters before exams, not exactly healthy.

Don't Trinners have some sort of room that is on the cards that opens all night (or at least very late)?

Gman1

Cliste wrote: »

Don't Trinners have some sort of room that is on the cards that opens all night (or at least very late)?

They have 24 hour access to computer labs. I can guarantee that DCU will not do this, because of insurance, security, and electricity costs.

Gman1

andyman wrote: »

This, to me, is someone who doesn't know how the Union works.

Well in all fairness I agree with him/her. I only ever see them in the bar, or just standing around chatting.

Everything that they do should be posted online, if they are there for us students we should be allowed to see what or if they are doing anything productive.

Gman1

What they do need is a library return/renew box in the Hub. Sick of walking all the way up there just to renew a book, and yes I am lazy :rolleyes:

Wolfe Tone

Gman1 wrote: »

What they do need is a library return/renew box in the Hub. Sick of walking all the way up there just to renew a book, and yes I am lazy :rolleyes:

I renew them online

Gman1

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I renew them online

This is news to me! Nice one

cocoa

Gman1 wrote: »

Well in all fairness I agree with him/her. I only ever see them in the bar, or just standing around chatting.

Everything that they do should be posted online, if they are there for us students we should be allowed to see what or if they are doing anything productive.

Grudaire

andyman wrote: »

This, to me, is someone who doesn't know how the Union works.

Does anyone except the union themselves care how it works? (except for the college view of course)

It should be judged on how much it gets done (And how much of a mess it makes in the process)

Many of the best potential candidates for the SU have no interest in it. Whereas time and time again we see candidates coming from the same courses, they appear to only want another year of college.
How many of the students in the SU are there for a real reason? I don't see a Joe Higgins or a Tony Gregory among them willing to stir sh*t to get stuff done.

(In DCUSU's defense at least it's not just a launch board for wannabe politicians)

Postit

Sort out the canteen's. Overpriced, greasy and under-handed. They're all run by the same crowd of rip-off merchants. 15c for butter??? €6.50 for dried out, re-heated chips and greasy chicken??? €6.50 for a f*cking bagette with "Mexican chicken"???? All the food they serve is processed rubbish.

DCU is not Trinity or Bolton St where, if you don't like the food on campus you can find loads of other off-campus places to eat a short walk away.

Can we not have each canteen run by a different company? That would ensure competition and force prices down. They should also be forced to have at least 33% of food served as a healthy option (even McDonalds do this now)! How hard is it to put a bit of dressing on a salad for gods sake?

In Economics, they teach students on how (in most cases) monopolies are bad. Maybe they should practice what they preach in DCU!!!

carlowboy

Dakota Salmon Second wrote: »

Lol, pipe dreams. http://www.universityobserver.ie/2009/10/13/24-hour-study-area-to-be-introduced/

I don't see why UCD has anything to do with it. 24h library was never going to happen for DCU and never will. Hence it's a pipe dream.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

carlowboy wrote: »

I don't see why UCD has anything to do with it. 24h library was never going to happen for DCU and never will. Hence it's a pipe dream.

Why do you say that?
The difference in the amount of students is offset by the fact that UCD would need more staff for their library than DCU overnight. They could open it in the way it is on sundays with no service desk etc. so minimal staff.
The college can employ security lads (note the plural) to sit in a booth for the majority of their night shift, why not 1 or 2 library staff?

carlowboy

Dakota Salmon Second wrote: »

Why do you say that?
The difference in the amount of students is offset by the fact that UCD would need more staff for their library than DCU overnight. They could open it in the way it is on sundays with no service desk etc. so minimal staff.
The college can employ security lads (note the plural) to sit in a booth for the majority of their night shift, why not 1 or 2 library staff?

Meg had a 24 hour library as her main point on her manifesto. Did she get this done? Not even close. That's my point.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

carlowboy wrote: »

Meg had a 24 hour library as her main point on her manifesto. Did she get this done? Not even close. That's my point.

So because one person failed it's impossible?

Wolfe Tone

Only way things like this will be achieved is via sit ins etc imo.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Only way things like this will be achieved is via sit ins etc imo.

Shup you you should start going to lectures before you go talking about the library!!

Wolfe Tone

Dakota Salmon Second wrote: »

Shup you you should start going to lectures before you go talking about the library!!

Haha, was well too hungover to go in today!


Maybe if a candidate runs as a single issue candidate it would have a chance?

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Haha, was well too hungover to go in today!
Maybe if a candidate runs as a single issue candidate it would have a chance?

Should have seen c*****, showed up to EU and hadn't a clue what happened! Haha.
Hmm don't reckon a single issue would get into office tbh. Possibly if someone ran with a sort of single focus area, e.g. academics.

carlowboy

Dakota Salmon Second wrote: »

So because one person failed it's impossible?

You're shifting the goal posts. I cited the example that she had last year, and yes it was impossible, the library staff insisted it wasn't happening ffs. Yet she still campaigned on it.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

carlowboy wrote: »

You're shifting the goal posts. I cited the example that she had last year, and yes it was impossible, the library staff insisted it wasn't happening ffs. Yet she still campaigned on it.

There's a very simple way around the current staff not wanting to work nights... as I said earlier, hire 2/3 people working on and off night shifts, they could have 2 people in each night, very simple, I'm sure it would be very easy to find people.
Who was she talking to about getting it done?

Noodleworm

I still think there is more pressing matters than the library but i'm interested why so many people want it.
At closing time their are so few people their it doesn't seem to make much sense to keep a whole building running all night. Think electricity costs too, it would double them.
What do people need at the library at night they can't get elsewhere?
Would a quiet study room somewhere fulfill the needs?

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Noodleworm wrote: »

I still think there is more pressing matters than the library but i'm interested why so many people want it.
At closing time their are so few people their it doesn't seem to make much sense to keep a whole building running all night. Think electricity costs too, it would double them.
What do people need at the library at night they can't get elsewhere?
Would a quiet study room somewhere fulfill the needs?

As do I, but it would still be helpful.

I've generally had the opposite experience, loads of people filing out at closing time, have seen security having to go around 4 or 5 times to get people to leave (including me ).

It wouldn't double the electricity bill, there's a night rate which is far cheaper, and it would only be open an extra 10 hours or so. I thought most of the computers are left on overnight as well, I could be wrong though.

Books, journals, printers, scanners, etc.

carlowboy

Noodleworm wrote: »

I still think there is more pressing matters than the library but i'm interested why so many people want it.
At closing time their are so few people their it doesn't seem to make much sense to keep a whole building running all night. Think electricity costs too, it would double them.
What do people need at the library at night they can't get elsewhere?
Would a quiet study room somewhere fulfill the needs?

I was citing it as an example of what I don't want from a candidate. Promising something and not getting it done.

The fact that it's the library is trivial

niamhzie

I wouldn't be looking for an all-night library, but if it opened even 30 minutes earlier, that would be great couldn't count the number of mornings that I arrive in off the bus at about 8.10ish, and it's not worth waiting for the library to open when I've got a 9.00 waaaay down in the Grattan
Is an 8.00am opening too much?

mehfesto

Out of curiosity, what were Meg's other goals and what has she achieved this year?

I remember outside DCUfm there was a load of posters with different aims on them One suggested she would rectify the parking problem in DCU. That didn't happen at all.

Grudaire

mehfesto wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what were Meg's other goals and what has she achieved this year?

Should we not be concentrating on the people that are going for re-election for failed promises?

rallye150flyer

i would want free student parking in the multi story,or more space for students to park like the overflow being open all the time

the canteen sorted out the prices are a joke they even charge for hot water !

some facilities in the canteen to heat your own lunch eg microwave or something

and a quite study room besides in the library which is too far away from everything when you finish a class early and want to do a bit of reading for 20-30 mins there is no point walking down the library again you walk down and back it does hardly be worth going

alot of these things are achievable and would benefit us all !

Kavrocks

rallye150flyer wrote: »

and a quite study room besides in the library which is too far away from everything

Its not for people in the nurses or science building.

Deckof52

We'll Canteen is expensive and that needs to be looked at for sure.

I think a few things will improve the college...

#1 Library opening earlier

• I don't think it needs to open later because ten o clock is late enough. The majority of people who attend dcu would either go home or have to leave because of bus times and public travel times. The only students who could avail of it are students on campus.
• And I might be wrong but one of the main purposes of a Library is the ability it gives to rent books and read at home.
• If you have an earlier start students might come in earlier to study ahead of classes. When you think about it the average secondary school opens their doors between 7-7:30. The restaurant, gym and library dont open till 8:30.

#2 Cheaper Food

• I think there's a lot of slating of the SU on this thread but I think we've got to remember that any political job the majority of the work is never seen. So if something in the end doesn't go ahead that doesn't mean that meetings and discussions and the idea about it wasn't pushed at a university level.
• The Spar and Nubar might have expensive food but 10% of their profits go back into Union funds. There is always a push to have lower prices but I think people need to address what are their needs rather than their wants actually are, i.e. Do they want cheaper food? Do they want a free area/canteen to sit and eat their own food? ; Do they want outside companies to come in and sell food? or Do they want a facility set up for the union to subsidize traveling outside to get food off campus? If people have a problem with were their SU money is going its a matter of getting involved in the Union because its the Class Reps that approve the Budget and where the money goes towards.
• The SU have recently achieved being able to set up microwaves, kettles and toasters in the Mezz. This might be hard to view as an achievement but people have got to remember the insurance costs, the running costs, the administrative costs (Yes, with most of these things they're needs to be supervision. ) .
• The mention of Trinity and other colleges having easy access to shops and fast food outlets. Well hopefully with the introduction of the metro north in maybe 5 years students will be able to take a trip into town that will only take 10 minutes or so.

#3 Better Rag Ball/Events

• Like all things in life that involve business the better a thing is the more it costs. If people have a problem with the quality of the events in dcu then they've either got to accept that in a bid to not spend a lot of student money on events that the quality will be lower or you can mandate your class rep to spend more money on a better event.
• It also takes more involvement and consultation of students. This year the Rubberbandits were very popular in all colleges and so all colleges signed them for their Rag Ball. But if students demand or want an act they've got to show up...I don't think 500 people showed up to the Bandits. This is where a Union will make loses and where students miss out because of apathy.

#4 Campus Residency

• I do think the costs are way too high to live on campus and feel the full benefits of the University. €4000 for essentially 8 months in a dorm room is ridiculous. I honestly don't know what can be done about this at the moment with so many areas to look into, i.e Who pays for the upkeep? Was student money invested? Does any SU representative sit on any committee relevant? But the issue needs to be looked at!

#5 Communication & Interaction

• Ive found that one of the main problems in DCU is the 80% student apathy rate and the fact that students don't get involved enough in their Students Union. Essentially 20% of students control all the power of the Union and I don't see this as healthy. It is mainly those that get involved in SU politics and Clubs & Societies that are those 20%. Its true that if you don't show up you wont be heard...
• The ability of the an SU to communicate is vital to student engagement. We need a more active system that engages students. Perhaps every semester two weeks be dedicated to getting students involved on SU issues alone and informing them on the power they hold to control their Union.

isoSaf

How do people feel about two of the former sabbats getting re elected? Does this happen a lot?

I was shocked to find out that their salaries are 30,000 a year, last time I had a look at grad salaries it was in the region of 21-23K, less for professional traineeships(ACCA / ACA etc)

Killer_Cheese

isoSaf wrote: »

How do people feel about two of the former sabbats getting re elected? Does this happen a lot?

I was shocked to find out that their salaries are 30,000 a year, last time I had a look at grad salaries it was in the region of 21-23K, less for professional traineeships(ACCA / ACA etc)

Salaries are not 30k they are 22,500!

And its not the first time that a sabbatical has been re-elected here in DCU but its quite common across the country.

isoSaf

From the college view - "He said that if reelected he will take a 5% pay cut and put it towards the DCU hardship fund. This would amount to €1,500."

Thats 30,000...

Killer_Cheese

isoSaf wrote: »

From the college view - "He said that if reelected he will take a 5% pay cut and put it towards the DCU hardship fund. This would amount to €1,500."

Thats 30,000...

I wouldn't believe everything you read!

Sabbatical Officers in DCUSU earn 22,464 per annum.