The analogy of kicking the ladder from under ones self comes vividly to mind Mr. Scott…

“If elected I would strive not to take the money. I don’t want it. I don’t want to benefit materially from this, I want to work to make the students’ union better and hopefully, ultimately, the University.”

So does this mean Charles has or has not dropped this policy? Doesn’t seem all that clear cut to me…

When I was a sabb I did work full time hours for the Union plus a part time job on Saturdays… it was hard work but not impossible, and more to the point I needed the money! And I would have been very annoyed if an opponent was using their financial backing as a campaign tool – by all means donate the money to the union once you’re elected, but for the meantime pipe down about it.

Anyway, best of luck to all this year’s candidates (are you SURE you want to do this?) and play fair…

Sam Bayley – YUSU Socs & Comms 07-08

The Union has to go to the University to request a block grant each year. This grant will include money for payment of staff (including, but not limited to, sabbatical officers), for societies, for sports teams, etc. etc. It’s carefully considered and argued through each year, and the University awards money on the basis of how much it is needed – as it should, if it comes down to a choice between extra stuff for societies and increasing educational provisions. If a society/club can make a good enough case that it NEEDS money for stuff that doesn’t violate ultra vires laws, and can put together a decent proposal to finance committee in time, then there is no reason that it shouldn’t get it.

Furthermore, whether donating the salary is fair or not, what would £16000 do, anyway? Would it be allocated to specific areas, like the boat-club, or more generally into the YUSU fund.

Granted that some of the other campus magazines don’t win awards and cost a lot but that’s a separate discussion and it’s not a significant drain on the budget. It was just an example of the discussions people could have regarding the budget.

Estimated repayment date for the Courtyard: 2014. Not bad at all considering that Vanbrugh college hasn’t repaid its initial costings yet (will do in the next couple of years, I believe!) I wouldn’t say it’s that challenging since the Courtyard can drop prices if necessary and since it’s going to be the most active venue for years – especially since we elect Ents Officers to do things like this!

And I’m sure we’ll all try our best to make you and any previous graduates proud of what York becomes!

Why doesn’t Charles give his parents a break by not taking his parents’ money for a year if he wins?

I’m sure they’ll go, “thank f**k for that, we have an extra £15k a year of our hard-earned money to spend on ourselves! Whoohoo, Las Vegas here I come!”

There’s some altruistic charity work for you, Charles. Meanwhile you’ll also learn some proper lessons about independence and budget management.

Merging together the other diverse societies… Nouse are still going to need their Macs and YSTV their cameras – there’s no money saving there. Similarly with URY and YSTV, there’s just no savings to be made by simply organisational reshuffles of merging societies together – you would actually have to start cutting back things like output and quality to start making savings.

What’s the difference between this and alleged “social bribery”? The truth is that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever. This charitble gesture from Charles is designed to help the most needy societies continue to survive in a climate where funding has been limited.

But anyway, I would agree with Aris. I wouldn’t want a sabb to have money worries, I’d want them to focus on their job without external concerns. The sabb salary is definitely enough to support someone comfortably, and is about the right amount.

College events are in crisis, and to be honest YUSU should either scrap them altogether, run central events and distribute the profits (a brave policy, but one I’d favour); or use the Courtyard to support college events.

“Alcuin’s bar campaign hasn’t been deserted by YUSU”; so how would you describe running a pound-a-pint night, in direct competetion with one of their two opening nights; when YUSU were mandated to prove the profitability of Alcuin bar?

When I said YUSU structures were a mess, I wasn’t talking about the Sabs responsibilities, which are relatively well defined (the only major new distribution being the splitting of welfare which I fully support). I was talking about the various sub-comittees. Witness the way in which JCRCs pick events that future JCRC committees will run. The bias on YUSU committees to YUSU over colleges. The bizarre fact that Derwent events were advertised on YUSU postering before the Ents committee which decided when events were going to be run.

I agree that finance will always be an important issue, but cannot see how 15k will make any difference in terms of the YUSU budget. The repayments that the Coutryard has to make are in the words of one former YUSU sab “challenging”, so whilst it will someday be a source of income we cannot expect extra funds from there for some years. The war that this exec. has opened up with Commercial Services is counter-productive, as no-one wants to see Goodricke or Vanburgh bar close (especially as YUSU simply could not finance a take-over).

Jason, you’ve raised a key point about funding campus media, at the last socities budget meeting (the much maligned final Burton-Bayley meeting) this was a key issue. I believe that YUSU spends too much money on diverse media, which could be merged, and I hope this will continue to be debated.

As I said in my earlier post, I’m leaving. I’ve enjoyed my time at York, and in the HCSA. There’s alot of cynicism about people involved in college politics, but I hope that I’ve left the HCSA better equipped than when I joined it. It should be remembered that a serious percentage of the students voting for YUSU positions are like me, students who are leaving, and want to put in place people who’ll bring the union forward.

Good luck to the new YUSU Council. Make us future graduates (touch wood) proud.

But regardless of whether the amount of money necessary would have to be £7.5k or £8.5k, the question remains the same – should something like that be allowed in the first place?

To be honest with you, the counterarguments that Tom Scott presented to me were pretty solid, so this is why I accepted the decision as final without complaining.

Unfortunately, it is clear that such proposals can be used to give privileged candidates an unfair advantage over less privileged opponents.

Personally, I did not intend to receive any form of external financial support – but to be fair how could a candidate honestly prove that? Are we only to rely on one’s word?

Whilst I think it is incredibly admirable that Charles wants to donate the salary if elected, his ability to do so has somewhat complicated matters. I can understand why A-Non is disgruntled about Bushby’s offer, every weekend, I travel to Manchester and back to work to support myself financially. But it’s all a matter of interpretation, where others may see it as vulgar and extravagant I see Bushby’s offer to be extremely generous.

However, if I were in Tom Scott’s position, I would have to take the same stance. However you position this level of generosity, it can always be interpreted as social bribery and to maintain a level starting point, I think the right decision has been made.

For the time being, we should all be focusing on what the candidates can offer in terms of skills, abilities and policies each candidate can offer and if Charles is successful in his campaign, let him decide what he does with his salary.

Grant