Letters
Party Wars III
Dear Sir, I was interested to read that OU Liberal Democrats think that their society is the only alternative to OULC and OUCA. Given that Green Party councillors represent the vast majority of Oxford students, and that we have more councillors in student areas than the Liberal Democrats, they should perhaps wake up to reality.
I can understand why they might be nervous when confronted with a progressive political party that sticks to its principles and doesn’t change its policies every five minutes, but that’s no excuse for lying by omission. Oxford students don’t have to vote for any of the three ‘business as usual’ parties - and so over the last few years, they have consistently voted Green.
Mary Livingstone
Green Party
Students Referendum axed
Dear Sir, I am disappointed that on Thursday Senior Tribunal ruled against Junior Tribunal’s ruling which was made last week and it is sad that this term will not be the one during which Oxford students can have a say in how their Student Union is run. It is unacceptable that the wording of the referendum was carved up in some smoke-filled room in OUSU Towers by the Returning Officer and Acting President.
Had the referendum gone ahead, it would have been far from the wording as laid down on the petition signed by 511 students. For this reason alone, I am not considering an appeal to Senior Tribunal’s decision, although a number of OUSU procedural rules were broken in reaching the status quo. The referendum wording in its latest form would not have beneficially helped to reform OUSU in the long term; in fact quite the opposite.
However, the issue of ‘students as students will continue in OUSU as it is only proper that a students union should work for students and represent them in that capacity. We will endeavour to give students a say as soon as is practical. Although I have been hindered at every possible corner in tabling this referendum, I will not give up. For this term at least, the battle seems lost, but the war will be won.
Charlie Steel
Merton
Shoestring budget
Dear Sir, I’d like to comment on the recent article in The Daily Telepgraph, where Marianne Talbot, a Brasenose tutor, said that students need to “get over”their financial problems and “stop whingeing about tuition fees. I don’t doubt that times have changed since Dr Talbot’s day, but we pay the price for a better quality of life in tuition fees and student loans.
Anyone choosing to go to university has to take responsibility for their finances and debts, in a time when the government seems to be doing all it can to put pressure on students, especially those who are supposedly“rich” enough to cope with the extra burdens of smaller loans, larger fees and no hardship support.
At the same time there are hardship funds languishing because the colleges and university are not making enough effort to support students who desperately need more money in order to lead a normal life, pay the rent and buy food. Asking your bank manager to extend your overdraft, or phoning home for another £50 to pay for food for rest of term is a deeply worrying concept. We have come a long way since the cushy days of the maintenance grant, when money was free and food was cheap.
In the meantime, prices of accommodation, travel and general living costs have risen well above inflation, eating further and further into students’ already meagre budgets. I’m sorry to hear of the living conditions that Dr Talbot imposed upon herself, but accusing students of whingeing about financial hardship does not address the issues that really matter. Education is not free, especially with top-up fees around the corner.
We need more hardship funds, we need to rethink how to distribute the funds and how to advertise them. Living on a shoestring should be a last resort, and if Dr Talbot wishes to show us how not to deal with financial shortfall by enduring more hardship then she is more than welcome to alleviate me of my £16,000 debt and stop me whingeing once and for all.
Aidan Randle-Conde
OUSU Vice President (Welfare and Equal Opportunities).
17th Nov 2005