Why don't people get involved more in student politics?

I go to a pretty decent-sized uni (would rather not disclose which due to privacy reasons) and in our Students' Union elections last term only about 5% of students even voted though all the candidates had quite different policies. I was curious as to why (though I didn't run for anything I was still involved) and asked all my friends; reasons varied from apathy to not even knowing what their SU did.

Why don't uni students generally get more involved in their unions etc.? Obviously going to NUS demos etc. may not appeal to everyone, as may running for SU positions, but why dont they even take the time to vote for their NUS delegates or whatnot?

Reply 1

Mockery

Because the majority of the population at university don't give two monkeys over what the SU does.

The election time is bloody annoying aswell (make loads of noise outside of lecture and exam rooms time, I more fondly call it).

Reply 2

treasureBelle

Original post by Mockery

Because the majority of the population at university don't give two monkeys over what the SU does.

Probably this, tbh.
When I was at a brick uni (dropped out, am now an OU student), so many people just didn't care about getting involved in student life/politics. Some even thought it was "nerdy" or something, like being the smug teacher's pet at school who volunteers to be a prefect or something.
A number of people weren't interested in doing things like attending the AGM to discuss issues, or letting the elected students know if there was a problem. I mean, think how few people you know even approached their subject rep (someone in the subject year/tutorial group or whatever is supposed to stand to act as a mediator between students and lecturers/tutors I think?) about how they're even finding the course/essays/tutorials.

Personally I think that out of the entire student population at some unis (at least, the one I went to), it's often the same core group(s) of people who actually get involved in student politics. I get the feeling that it's more or less the same people (give or take some new students who join, graduates who leave, etc) who attend the AGMs, join campaigns for various issues, run societies, attend conferences etc.

Some people are apathetic, and feel kind of "meh" about student politics, thinking it won't make a difference anyway, so why bother?

Reply 3

kittyb99

I vote for the college JCR positions, but haven't done so for the union positions, because I've never really been that interested. I don't know why I haven't, but I think it's because I find the NUS a little scary, to be honest, after the gone wrong protests, and all that. I sort of lost faith in student unions after it all :sad:

Reply 4

mc1000

Original post by Ezekiella

I didn't get involved in student politics because I went to Loughborough. Anyone who went to Loughborough who *isn't* a **** (I know there are a few of you out there) will know exactly what I mean.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

russellsteapot

I'm just not interested in it.

Union committees tend to be full of 'union ****ers' (as they are known at my university - I'm sure each establishment has its own term for them). A fairly bland, samey group of people who don't interest me or most people at university and are there solely to put something good on their CVs.

I don't think I have ever been affected by anything my union has ever done, apart from when they put energy drinks up by 20p in the union shop. If there was a '20p off Relentless' candidate I'd vote. Apart from that, I can't think of anything they've done that has changed my time at uni.

Reply 6

treasureBelle

Original post by russellsteapot

But if you don't communicate with them, or try to involve yourself, how are they supposed to know what they can do to help/affect your experience at uni?

The uni I went to extended library opening hours, even more so during exam time, and the period leading up to it. This happened because students were active in telling the student council/reps/whoever that this was what they wanted.
Currently, they're running a campaign protesting against the local bus company, which pretty much has a complete monopoly of the area, to lower their prices, which have risen a fair amount in recent years, and which is pretty much more expensive than in London.

Personally, I feel that a lot of work done by union committees tends to go unnoticed by many students, unless it DIRECTLY affects them.
In my first year, my halls of residence underwent construction work, while we were living there. This ended up with several hundred of us (though not everyone affected) meeting with our student president due to various problems/issues that arose. While it was considered rather a big deal for those of us who lived in those halls of residence, I'm pretty sure a lot of people who lived on a different campus/in private halls in town barely heard about it, if at all.

The student newspaper at my old uni often had articles written by the same people, with the occasional rare extra person who bothered to send something in to the committee. I know a lot of students who never even bothered reading it during their whole time at uni.

Yes, I agree that some people may be doing it to put on CVs and look good to prospective employers when they graduate. But I'm pretty sure that the majority of people who run for committee positions are doing it because they actually want to make a difference. Also, I've known a lot of people to complain about how things are at uni (not saying you do, just saying I've known people), yet do nothing about it - they don't try to contact union committee members, actively do something, anything.

Reply 7

russellsteapot

Original post by treasureBelle

I can see where you're coming from to an extent, although for me personally, although I'm aware of what the union does/tries to do, none of it is remotely relevant to me, is blindingly obvious or otherwise falls under the category of naive student politics. There's a fairly narrow band of people catered for (sports clubs, left-wing politics and housing surveys) but otherwise they're pretty disinterested and disinteresting.

The few times (during my first year) I looked into raising issues, they were pretty useless or ineffective at making any real difference. The first time was the problem of the university closing an entire floor of the library in the middle of exam season, leaving no access to books on said floor for three weeks. It took emails to three different 'officers' before one replied at all, and apparently they had received a great deal of feedback from students about it, but said they couldn't really do anything about it. They would mention it at the next education meeting (after the three-week period of no books had passed). So, the university is removing access to the key course materials of thousands of students at the busiest time of the year, and the union makes a 'meh' noise.

On the other hand, when the university decided to schedule some lectures during 'sport morning' (a typically lecture-free slot during the week when most of the sporting clubs have their training) they were sending out e-petitions, had little protest stalls outside the union building, constant barrage of posters and so on.

I'd personally consider library > sports clubs (as would the majority of the student body, I think), but the typical action of the union is to favour quite narrow interest groups, which tend to be the groups they/their friends are also part of. Anything that seems either challenging or less interesting (like pushing for departments to issue timetables well in advance, so those of us with family and work commitments have sufficient time to plan ahead) fall down behind campaigns for cheap travel for sports clubs (yup, again) and so on. The only stated policies of the union read like a Socialist Workers Party manifesto. They had a whingy poster about 'bedroom tax' up the other day. Half the problem lies with the difficulty in actually changing this; almost every candidate is a carbon copy of the incumbent, because there's something of a monopoly on sub-committee membership and nobody with alternative views tends to be particularly welcome. Elections are based on who has the most friends and who has the most sweets and badges to give out, so you tend to get more of the same (I realise that a concerted effort by the majority could change this, but realistically it's also not going to happen, for the same reason that Labour and the Tories always dominate general elections).

It's very easy to lose faith and interest quite quickly. I'm sure for people who need help, some of the union services would be useful (for example, the housing advice service, or the finance advice office) but they are ever-presents which aren't really affected by politics. Likewise, if people are interested in the priority directions taken by the union, they might find some like-minded people to engage with. I'm sure some unions are slightly different (indeed, the comments above relate to the second union I have experienced - my first union was a world apart in terms of engagement, and I actually cared about it).

Having discovered that the union is quite disinterested in academic issues, I tend to take any issues I have to my academic supervisor or my departmental representative. Uni is 99% academic for me so the only thing that impacts my life there is academic direction.

I still want my 20p off Relentless though.

----

TL;DR - My union has a narrow range of interests and does very little of any use to students outside these. Candidacy and election tends to be based on being an existing union ****er with lots of free sweets. I have also experienced a well-run union in the past, so I know that everywhere is different.

Reply 8

treasureBelle

Original post by russellsteapot

TL;DR - My union has a narrow range of interests and does very little of any use to students outside these. Candidacy and election tends to be based on being an existing union ****er with lots of free sweets. I have also experienced a well-run union in the past, so I know that everywhere is different.

I agree with you on a lot of this, tbh.
While a fair number of people I know who are involved in student politics really are trying their best to help improve everyone's uni experience, I have known some to be pretty narrow in their views, or even completely unrealistic.

A student union run by union ****ers -> apathy. So only those same sort of people run next time. -> more apathy. And repeat. I definitely see where you're coming from. :s-smilie:

Reply 9

halbeth

I avoid it because a lot of wannabee student politicans, like regular wannabee politicians, are gits. They're more interested in a 'career in politics' then actually wanting to change things for people, which is the reason people SHOULD go into politics.

Reply 10

username858757

Because it seems like such a sham version of real politics. They make inconsequential, self-important decisions, such as 'what product shall we ban from the union shop next?'. It seems that union officers are basically elected to a position to make decisions that any sensible organisation would leave to mid/upper-level managers.