No SU backing of RAG week?

The___________ · 18-10-2011 08:04PM

harrythehat wrote: »

This sounds like a great deal for the SU.

They've got a good deal of extra funding for students facing hardship [and don't kid yourselves, that money would have been spent somewhere a lot less student friendly otherwise, it didn't come from nowhere] AND when students inevitably wreck the place during some kind of unofficial RAG week the SU has no responsibility to clean it up.

Under no circumstances is this a good deal for the students of the college, the abolishment of an official RAG week was the best bargaining chip the SU could possibly of had and now they've thrown it away for a relative pittance.

Students should have been canvassed to gauge what concessions they wanted the college to grant instead the SU pushed ahead without consulting the students that they are supposed to represent.

The SU also displayed a disgraceful lack of bargaining skills, the above proposals were the first terms offered to the college who in turn accepted them without question- this shows how eager the college's hierarchy are to be rid of RAG week. Instead of using common sense and beginning negotiations with a list of partially unreasonable demands and working towards consensus from there they began with a middle of the road offer that the college was probably delighted to accept.

I have no doubt that an unofficial RAG week will still occur but what concerns me is the fact that the SU missed a once in a decade chance to gain real concessions from the college.

aramush · 18-10-2011 08:07PM

I still think this should have been an open vote for every student. Simply swipe in with your student card and then vote in a ballot box. Just set a date and let every vote.

The fairest way to get a true reflection from EVERYONE who is interested.

Edit: If it wanted to be kept to SU members, then swipe in with SU card.. You know yourself

WesternNight · 18-10-2011 08:08PM

The___________ wrote: »

Under no circumstances is this a good deal for the students of the college, the abolishment of an official RAG week was the best bargaining chip the SU could possibly of had and now they've thrown it away for a relative pittance.

Students should have been canvassed to gauge what concessions they wanted the college to grant instead the SU pushed ahead without consulting the students that they are supposed to represent.

The SU also displayed a disgraceful lack of bargaining skills, the above proposals were the first terms offered to the college who in turn accepted them without question- this shows how eager the college's hierarchy are to be rid of RAG week. Instead of using common sense and beginning negotiations with a list of partially unreasonable demands and working towards consensus from there they began with a middle of the road offer that the college was probably delighted to accept.

I have no doubt that an unofficial RAG week will still occur but what concerns me is the fact that the SU missed a once in a decade chance to gain real concessions from the college.

You may be right that there could have been longer negotiations. But you're absolutely wrong to say that "under no circumstances is this a good deal".

Out of curiosity, what would you like to have seen happen instead?

Fooker · 18-10-2011 09:14PM

The___________ wrote: »

Under no circumstances is this a good deal for the students of the college, the abolishment of an official RAG week was the best bargaining chip the SU could possibly of had and now they've thrown it away for a relative pittance.

Students should have been canvassed to gauge what concessions they wanted the college to grant instead the SU pushed ahead without consulting the students that they are supposed to represent.

The SU also displayed a disgraceful lack of bargaining skills, the above proposals were the first terms offered to the college who in turn accepted them without question- this shows how eager the college's hierarchy are to be rid of RAG week. Instead of using common sense and beginning negotiations with a list of partially unreasonable demands and working towards consensus from there they began with a middle of the road offer that the college was probably delighted to accept.

I have no doubt that an unofficial RAG week will still occur but what concerns me is the fact that the SU missed a once in a decade chance to gain real concessions from the college.

If the SU asked for a large amount of money, in fairness it would be took from somewhere else, which would be counter-productive. Tutorials are less regular and big enough as it is. The SU were lucky they got something for withdrawing support, because it probably costs them more money than it raises(which is practically nothing). NUI Galway receives most of its coverage in relation to RAG week. It has gone too far and it had to be stopped. :cool:

Foreverdelayed · 18-10-2011 10:42PM

Everyone know's RAG week will go on as usual this year, with or without the SU. :P

WesternNight · 18-10-2011 11:08PM

Foreverdelayed wrote: »

Everyone know's RAG week will go on as usual this year, with or without the SU. :P

Yep, everyone does know that. The SU just won't be covering any of the damage or absorbing any of the responsibility for others' criminal damage. And there's more money in the kitty for students who do genuinely need help to prevent them having to drop out.

Seems like a win-win.

Ruire · 18-10-2011 11:15PM

Foreverdelayed wrote: »

Everyone know's RAG week will go on as usual this year, with or without the SU. :P

What, all the couple thousand people who would normally go on a five day bender are all going to agree on a week to go drinking in? Yeah, sure.

And before you say "GMIT rag week" - well, then, it's their problem.

witnessmenow · 19-10-2011 09:25AM

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

Not to mention the fact that in every class I've had, the class rep has been the odd one out.

I don't get this, your class rep should be a representative of your class. If you feel your one doesn't, go for it yourself

The merits/power of a class rep is questionable but geez dont be complaing because you think yours doesnt represent you do something about it!

joeKel73 · 19-10-2011 01:08PM

Ruire wrote: »

What, all the couple thousand people who would normally go on a five day bender are all going to agree on a week to go drinking in? Yeah, sure.

And before you say "GMIT rag week" - well, then, it's their problem.

Well I think the SU have made a big mistake here because they are having a "one-day concert/festival to replace Rag Week ". That'll just give a date to let everyone know that "This is/was rag week", and normal rag week will resume.

bildo · 19-10-2011 03:41PM

NuckyT wrote: »

Knowing the SU, the one-day concert/festival will probably consist of 12 hours of the Rubberbandits + Dj Byrno! :rolleyes:

You know the SU do you?
In that case you will know myself and the 8 years of experience I have organising gigs across the UK and Ireland, the event management business I co-run that also deals with a 18kw top end soundsystem and full light rig, the dozens of high booking agents I have worked with in the past, some of which are quite high profile, the many festivals I have managed and provided stages, managed and sound engineered stages for and the countless club nights I have organised in my time. You must also be aware of all the high profile acts I have connections with and have put on in the past.
I will be delighted to be a part of the organising committee for this one day event and I can assure you I can pull a little bit more out of the hat than DJ Byrno and The Rubber Bandits.

If people are unhappy with theirt class rep representaion then contact your Education Officer or next time run for class rep yourself.
The deal was published well in advance and everyone is welcome to become a class rep.

Ficheall · 19-10-2011 04:36PM

I hope it won't be anything like that shite you had blaring out of yon massive speaker on the bike, will it?
Perhaps you could give us an indication of who ye'd ideally like to get, and then we'll understand that you're at least cutting back from the right direction under the budget constraints?

bildo wrote: »

The deal was published well in advance

Two weeks, right?

bildo · 19-10-2011 05:26PM

Ficheall wrote: »

I hope it won't be anything like that shite you had blaring out of yon massive speaker on the bike, will it?
Perhaps you could give us an indication of who ye'd ideally like to get, and then we'll understand that you're at least cutting back from the right direction under the budget constraints?

There will probably be a live stage and a dance stage and the acts to be approached are being suggested by class reps.
There is a long and varied list of acts to be approached and if you or anyone else has any suggestions they will happilly be taken on board.
I will be approaching many others also and want to make this a broad and all encompassing as I can.
I am well aware that there is no huge demand for ragga jungle and breakcore from students.
Budget isn't really as much of an issue as the SU has healthy finances and this is a ticketed event with presale tickets and being organised on a not for profit basis.
I can't really give out any specific details yet as we have only had a couple of days to get things together after the vote but trust me, there will be some decent acts far above the standard NUIG is used to.

Fooker · 19-10-2011 05:32PM

bildo wrote: »

There will probably be a live stage and a dance stage and the acts to be approached are being suggested by class reps.
There is a long and varied list of acts to be approached and if you or anyone else has any suggestions they will happilly be taken on board.
I will be approaching many others also and want to make this a broad and all encompassing as I can.
I am well aware that there is no huge demand for ragga jungle and breakcore from students.
Budget isn't really as much of an issue as the SU has healthy finances and this is a ticketed event with presale tickets and being organised on a not for profit basis.
I can't really give out any specific details yet as we have only had a couple of days to get things together after the vote but trust me, there will be some decent acts far above the standard NUIG is used to.

Will be interesting to see... I know the SU have healthy finances, but they have never went big before. From what I can tell they would need to pay at least 7 times what they paid the Rubberbandits last year to get a serious act.

bildo · 19-10-2011 05:40PM

Fooker wrote: »

Will be interesting to see... I know the SU have healthy finances, but they have never went big before. From what I can tell they would need to pay at least 7 times what they paid the Rubberbandits last year to get a serious act.

3500 tickets, take a guess how much tickets are, or what you think they should be and multiply by that and you can estimate the budget we have to work with.

Fooker · 19-10-2011 05:48PM

bildo wrote: »

3500 tickets, take a guess how much tickets are, or what you think they should be and multiply by that and you can estimate the budget we have to work with.

True, true, but it's not garunteed ticket sales and it costs at least 20,000 to put up the marquee and security should be at least 6,000. lighting and sound 20,000+. It could be very big, but considering it's the 1st year of a new idea... It will be interesting to see what ye come up with anyway.

Any plans to make it a non-alcohol event?

Ficheall · 19-10-2011 05:54PM

bildo wrote: »

3500 tickets, take a guess how much tickets are, or what you think they should be and multiply by that and you can estimate the budget we have to work with.

3500 tickets?
Ffs lads... Now I know for sure that ye're living in cloud-cuckoo-land.

NuckyT · 19-10-2011 07:31PM

bildo wrote: »

There will probably be a live stage and a dance stage and the acts to be approached are being suggested by class reps.
There is a long and varied list of acts to be approached and if you or anyone else has any suggestions they will happilly be taken on board.
I will be approaching many others also and want to make this a broad and all encompassing as I can.
I am well aware that there is no huge demand for ragga jungle and breakcore from students.
Budget isn't really as much of an issue as the SU has healthy finances and this is a ticketed event with presale tickets and being organised on a not for profit basis.
I can't really give out any specific details yet as we have only had a couple of days to get things together after the vote but trust me, there will be some decent acts far above the standard NUIG is used to.

Looks a lot the Trinity/UCD ball. This could be great if organised properly

Fooker wrote: »

Any plans to make it a non-alcohol event?

Is there really any point? With it being 'rag week', lots of people will be fairly pissed before they even get to the event. The SU might as well take advantage of the massive potential drink sales!

Camilo · 19-10-2011 08:13PM

bildo wrote: »

I am well aware that there is no huge demand for ragga jungle and breakcore from students.

Not true!

Donnielighto · 20-10-2011 01:47AM

The___________ wrote: »

Under no circumstances is this a good deal for the students of the college, the abolishment of an official RAG week was the best bargaining chip the SU could possibly of had and now they've thrown it away for a relative pittance.

Students should have been canvassed to gauge what concessions they wanted the college to grant instead the SU pushed ahead without consulting the students that they are supposed to represent.

The SU also displayed a disgraceful lack of bargaining skills, the above proposals were the first terms offered to the college who in turn accepted them without question- this shows how eager the college's hierarchy are to be rid of RAG week. Instead of using common sense and beginning negotiations with a list of partially unreasonable demands and working towards consensus from there they began with a middle of the road offer that the college was probably delighted to accept.

I have no doubt that an unofficial RAG week will still occur but what concerns me is the fact that the SU missed a once in a decade chance to gain real concessions from the college.

Blow it out you hole. Once the terms were laid out by the SU the college could set that as a ceiling.

To the people saying rag week is about boozing for a week and dossin, you lot can fcuk off. Anti social pricks have gotten hold of a good week and made the city a ****hole for a week. and it isnt tradition either, it used to be different even 7/8 years ago, the last 3 were terrible and i would have been happy if the garda arrested and prosectute the gimps who were wreckin the place and throwin bottles a fire engine.

bildo · 20-10-2011 12:30PM

Fooker wrote: »

Any plans to make it a non-alcohol event?

None whatsoever

apoch632 · 20-10-2011 02:30PM

bildo wrote: »

None whatsoever

Off campus so.

WesternNight · 20-10-2011 07:22PM

bildo wrote: »

If people are unhappy with theirt class rep representaion then contact your Education Officer or next time run for class rep yourself.
The deal was published well in advance and everyone is welcome to become a class rep.

Ah now, fair is fair. Not one class rep stood up in any of my classes, or sent out an email, or anything whatsoever to try to gauge what their class thought about this. And I know my classes aren't in any way unique in that.

It's all well and good having class reps, but unless they actually make an attempt to represent the class, what's the point? Is it the rest of the class' responsibility to chase each of our class reps up to see what's happening? Or is it up to them to inform us after having been to class rep meetings etc?

The SU posted this announcement on Facebook on, what was it, the Friday/Saturday before the Monday vote? (the Saturday being the class reps' first training, by the by). No mass email. No announcements in class. The vote was postponed two weeks. The announcement was emailed as part of the weekly email if I remember correctly. Still no class announcements/votes (in my classes at least).

Will, I know you all have a lot to do, but the fact of the matter is that students have other things going on, so when these things come up we have NO way of knowing unless you TELL US. For anyone who doesn't have Facebook or who doesn't know anyone from the SU...how are they supposed to know if class reps don't, well, REP..

joeKel73 · 20-10-2011 07:53PM

It would be fairly simple to have an online voting site setup for students. Use the CASS login. Have it open for votes for a few days.

Once setup it could be used for future SU elections and referendums.

Ficheall · 20-10-2011 07:59PM

foto joe wrote: »

It would be fairly simple to have an online voting site setup for students. Use the CASS login. Have it open for votes for a few days.

Once setup it could be used for future SU elections and referendums.

Hang on now... remember what happened the last time this country introduced electronic voting? We're still paying for it.
Also, anything involving CASS is invariably ****.

joeKel73 · 20-10-2011 08:13PM

If we can register, pay fees, buy print credit etc online there's no reason we can't vote in SU elections. It wouldn't be that big a job.

Or another alternative would be to have a blackboard subject with all students enrolled and have a poll on it. Simples.

Lockstep · 20-10-2011 10:20PM

We tried electronic voting before. It was an unmitigated and expensive disaster.

Ficheall · 20-10-2011 11:05PM

foto joe wrote: »

If we can register, pay fees, buy print credit etc online there's no reason we can't vote in SU elections. It wouldn't be that big a job.

Or another alternative would be to have a blackboard subject with all students enrolled and have a poll on it. Simples.

I've never bought print credit online. The last time I went to pay fees online the website told me I was owed 5 grand, and then that I owed 17 grand. I could personally have registered potentially hundreds of unregistered students after Socs Day, had I been arsed.
Blackboard hardly works as Blackboard - I'd be fierce reluctant to task it with anything else.

Croppy Bhoy · 21-10-2011 02:26AM

witnessmenow wrote: »

I don't get this, your class rep should be a representative of your class. If you feel your one doesn't, go for it yourself

The merits/power of a class rep is questionable but geez dont be complaing because you think yours doesnt represent you do something about it!

A large amount of "class reps" are sycophantic CV padders who think having the responsibility of handing out free drink tokens at their crap events makes them popular. And no I would not go for it myself, because I'm quite rude, very lazy and have much cooler things to be doing.

Camilo · 21-10-2011 01:00PM

What a charming young man.

bildo · 22-10-2011 12:33PM

WesternNight wrote: »

Ah now, fair is fair. Not one class rep stood up in any of my classes, or sent out an email, or anything whatsoever to try to gauge what their class thought about this. And I know my classes aren't in any way unique in that.

It's all well and good having class reps, but unless they actually make an attempt to represent the class, what's the point? Is it the rest of the class' responsibility to chase each of our class reps up to see what's happening? Or is it up to them to inform us after having been to class rep meetings etc?

The SU posted this announcement on Facebook on, what was it, the Friday/Saturday before the Monday vote? (the Saturday being the class reps' first training, by the by). No mass email. No announcements in class. The vote was postponed two weeks. The announcement was emailed as part of the weekly email if I remember correctly. Still no class announcements/votes (in my classes at least).

Will, I know you all have a lot to do, but the fact of the matter is that students have other things going on, so when these things come up we have NO way of knowing unless you TELL US. For anyone who doesn't have Facebook or who doesn't know anyone from the SU...how are they supposed to know if class reps don't, well, REP..

I agree with a lot of the criticisms you have here.
Like I said, if you are unhappy with your class representation then please contact your Education Officer. Especially if you class rep is not doing their job. Your representatives need to he held to account, including myself.

It is the responsibility of the Education Officer to ensure that classes are informed as to what is going on through the Union Council. If you are unhappy, contact him or your Convener.
At the first Council meeting I stood up a number of times and questioned the legitimacy of the class reps voting when a significant portion of the seats had not yet been filled, I have also openly criticised the manner in which class reps are kept informed and the time frame in which emails are being sent out. I think I argued a strong case to have the vote postponed which is was in the end, thankfully.
During the summer I brought up a number of times that the SU should change its tactics when recruiting class reps to try and move away from simply pitching the position as a hoody ordering, party organising position of popularity and towards what it actually is, an executive body that deals with policy and issues that actually affect students...

No SU backing of RAG week?

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