Rich Croker: SU President
The inspiration – if you can call it that – for this piece came from a number of conversations I’ve had with students this week. Each made a different complaint, from their own perspective, about YUSU’s actions on a specific issue. After speaking to them, what became clear is that they agreed with what we have done: we just haven’t communicated it to them, or the wider student body, adequately. It’s a criticism I personally think is fair and something I have taken on board.
The reality is that we now have a greater involvement in Heslington East than ever before – working on the colleges, swimming pools and selecting architects, amongst other things. On campus, we had huge successes on the kitchen situation with over £55k in compensation to students, and the biggest commitment to improvements to the CLASP buildings since the University began. The NUS National Demo on top-up fees saw more York students attend than any other Northern university. Societies were saved thousands of pounds by negotiations in regards to central hall portering… the list goes on.
I suppose it’s like the supposed SU censorship of the papers that writers frequently discuss each year. The truth is far from the message that is put across - is it wrong to remove writings which are illegal or that could potentially endanger students? I for one don’t think so. Indeed whenever I’ve explained the processes to those who have enquired they find the reality is quite different from what is suggested and agree with the system.
The problem arises from the size of the Students’ Union. It encompasses over 12,000 students and 110 societies, plus 50 sports clubs, whilst Union officers sit on over 50 University committees as well as so much more. In my personal opinion we will never find the perfect solution to communication; we can never talk to every student. In a place like York too much goes on and too many people are involved for a form of ‘Chinese whispers’ to not occur. That, however, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to solve it.
The communication problem is there to be sorted, and Students’ Unions nationally are trying to find the best way. Often as an officer, it is a choice between communicating what you’ve done and striving to do something further. Maybe the Summer Term will see some innovative ideas being tried out. For now, maybe the traditional ‘please send your answers on a postcard’ is appropriate…
