Heslington East Debate

by Letters | October 12th, 2005

In devoting a substantial amount of coverage and action to the University’s proposals for Heslington East, Nouse claims to be driven to promote students’ interests into managerial policy, and, vice versa, to expose corporate stakes to the student consciousness.

There has been much valid defence of the projects, by students, as being chiefly ‘for’ students – it would be difficult to argue that more facilities and departments could be otherwise. This letter does not aim to debate further the pros and cons, yet this defence does not seem to acknowledge nouse’s own acknowledgement of its validity, but as only half the story. It may rather be closer to accepting the university’s PR.

It would certainly be ironic if a student newspaper’s campaign for students’ interests (or its retorts, for that matter) did not, well, interest students. But as to its motivations, and those of other campus media, perhaps healthily taking a different perspective, they no doubt encouragingly aim to align themselves with students’ interests, to make sure now that future developments are the best they can be.

Encouraging, that is, especially when it comes to something as variously contested, it seems, as is Heslington East.

Name and college supplied