Poor turnout in college elections begs questions of JCRC viability
Following a poor turnout in recent JCRC elections, concerns have been voiced regarding the involvement of students at York in the running of university life.
After elections at the beginning of this year, several colleges found themselves with incomplete JCRCs and unfilled positions, leading to subsequent by-elections. Two colleges in particular felt the dearth of political involvement on campus: the Goodricke JCRC was left with 15 empty positions and had to resort to by-elections. Such a lack of involvement was also evident in Halifax, where 15 places were also left without representatives.
Somewhat prophetically, following his election last year, YUSU President Tom Scott commented that “the majority of students just don’t care about campus politics because it doesn’t affect them that much. No that’s wrong, because it doesn’t seem to affect them. Most people just want to get on with their degrees and their lives. They don’t see it as a problem, they are quite happy as they are.”
The YUSU elections of last March showcased an unprecedented degree of student political participation. The total turnout rose from 2007’s 1,723 voters to 3,703. This was 33% of the university, the highest turnout at a British University that year. Anne-Marie Canning, Referendum Coordinator at the time, declared “I’m happy that we had a fantastic turnout. Clearly York students have made their voice heard.”
However, a similar turnout was not seen in the smaller JCRC elections this year. Commenting on the situation, Halifax Chair, Roberto Powell stressed the importance of college JCRCs for all students: “Student politics are integral to university life. As a force, it needs to raise its profile significantly,” he said. Currently, JCRCs are responsibile for much grass-roots welfare and representation of students.
YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer, Charlie Leyland, was keen to emphasize student involvement in Union politics, calling on the creation of the Courtyard venue and the large turnout of students to the last YUSU elections as signals of an involved student body.
“This year, after many years of hard work, is somewhat of a landmark year for us, I believe. With the bar we’re mobilised to turn revenue into more student services, and with one of the highest election turn-outs in the country, we are able to sit and declare true student representation through democracy at the highest level of decision making in the University.”
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Goodricke was never left with 15 open positions, only 6. It would seem that the author of this piece has just copied the (also wrong) York Vision piece from two weeks ago.
I would hope that journalists writing for a paper that has been given so many awards would be more accurate in their headline articles.
Poor show guys.