Spring Break?
28th March 2008
So it’s been a while since I wrote my inane rambling blog. In part that’s because I’ve not been around too much and when I have the other parts of the job have taken precedence. Last week I was in Liverpool for 3 days at the NUS Services Limited (NUSSL) conference along with the President, President-elect and VPOCS-elect. This is the annual conference and AGM of the NUSSL who do our collective bargaining on drinks with our main suppliers. As well as attending a number of sessions throughout each day I took the opportunity to speak with our opposite numbers and senior staff members from other Unions, Associations and Guilds throughout the land. As well as attending the EGM and AGM which dealt with a committee restructuring I attended a number of sessions including one on alternative revenue streams (we all know you lot are drinking less beer than you used to), an update on our supplier deals with Scottish & Newcastle Breweries and Carlsberg, a discussion about NUS Extra (the scheme your Executive decided not to proactively back because it doesn’t really over benefits you can’t get with just your student card), and a session about developing ents programmes.
Some sessions prove more valuable than others and often it’s the networking opportunities that you take most from but I have to say this year’s event did have some very interesting seminars.
Then we had the Easter weekend. I nearly said Easter holidays there but that wouldn’t be right would it. By the time next week is over and the holidays are here Easter will be just a faded memory (not aided I’m sure by the Good Friday TFI which so many of you seemed to enjoy). Deputy President Kevin keeps referring to the Spring Break. I didn’t like the Americanism at first but he’s got a point. It seems ridiculous to be calling it the Easter holidays!
While you’re on Spring Break the Union is still open. And we’re still working for you all. 12 Hour Tuesdays and TFI Friday & Criminal Records will both continue throughout the fortnight but DJ Phil’s Monday Night Quiz and Open Mic night will both take a break for the break. Look out for them returning in the week beginning 21st April.
That’s it from me just now. I’ll post again with some tip-offs about the final few events of the year but let’s just say when you’re home for Spring Break you might want to look out one of your mum’s old bed sheets for one of the theme nights at the end of May.
Lawrence.
All that is glorious!
4th March '08
So today I stood in for Gurjit at the Faculty of Science Open Day welcome presentation. I love doing these and it’s only a shame Gurjit can do most of them himself. It’s a great chance to shout about everything that’s good about the Union – the bars, the food, the events and entertainment….oh, yeah, sorry, there are other things that aren’t in my remit which are great too! Such as the sports teams, clubs and societies, media groups, RAG & Cactus raising money for charity and helping those less privileged than ourselves…the list actually does go on. But then, as a Strathclyde student I’m sure you know most of this.
Anyway, hopefully these prospective students left the lecture theatre thinking “I want to see what this Union lark is all about”. It’s incredible to me to think that about 6 years ago now that was me sitting there not having the slightest clue what that guy at the front of the room was saying. The best way is to experience as much of it for yourself as you can. Whether that’s by clicking through the pages of the website (which by the way is still a work-in-progress) or by coming in to see for yourself.
Congratulations this week goes to our President Mr Singh on his election to NUS Scotland as its President next year. Hopefully he’ll engage more than NUS Scotland has with Unions and support all officers, not just Presidents and those responsible for minority groups.
It’s a short one today. Just musings really with no real content so finally for the week a question.
I’ve been looking at putting Bluetooth capability into the Union to allow us to communicate better with you guys, the students. What do you think? Receiving messages would be free and you’d never receive the same message more than once but would it bug you or do you think you’d be interested in hearing about the latest up and coming event or latest news to come from the Union?
Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Lawrence
vpocs@theunion.strath.ac.uk
And the winners are…
29th Feb '08
Last night was election night. The culmination of several weeks of intense campaigning and for some the end of the process. But for 11 people last night election night represented the start rather than the end.
At this point let me congratulations to Neil, Nicole, Phil, Ben, Martin, Campbell, Iain, Leigh-Ann, David, Claire and Craig. And let me commiserate those who didn’t make it. Some of the contests were incredibly close and required vote transfers and all that stuff which frays the nerves just that little bit more.
This was one of the most even elections in years with many elections just too close to call.
Now these 11 individuals can attempt to get back to something resembling normality for a few weeks as they catch up on assignments ignored or reading left unread. Being honest with you the next four months might feel more like eight for some of next year’s Executive as the passion and excitement of winning is mixed with the realisation they need to finish this year’s studies and that actually, the sitting Executive still has a full 4 months left in office.
One thing that is good about this four month gap however is that it gives them time to speak a bit with their soon-to-be predecessors and learn a bit about the workings of an Executive along the way before being thrown in at the deep end. With Philip Wilson and David McDonald currently serving on the Executive this will obviously stand them in good stead and hopefully they can help their new colleagues settle in come July.
For now let me once again say well done. And remind anyone reading this (if anyone actually does) that there will be a by-election for the post of Postgraduate Officer. So, if you know anyone who’ll be a postgrad next year or you yourself are considering doing a postgrad degree then consider standing for the by-election. It’s so important to the Association and for the good of all our students that we have a full Executive and that, in this case, postgraduate students get the representation they should.
Cheers,
Lawrence
Back to work…
22nd Feb ‘08
Ok, so I’ve written a fair bit about elections recently and more will follow in due course but I wanted to start this one with a wee announcement to show I’m working all this time too. I’ve spent the last few weeks planning a double launch night for 2 new Union nights.
Open Mic and Indiependent.
Open Mic is exactly that. An open mic session for you guys to come along, get on stage and strum away. OR, if you’re not actually musical yourself then come and enjoy someone else’s playing instead. It’s all free and there’s a free drink for all performers. It all kicks off on Thursday 6th March at 8pm and goes on ‘til 9:30pm – plenty time to get over those initial nerves and step up to the plate.
Indiependent happens later on the same Thursday. It’s a new regular night running from 10pm on Thursdays and unsurprisingly it is dedicated to all your usual indie music, and some less usual (should be ‘unusual’?) stuff too.
Like I say, both kick off on March 6th and you’ll be seeing the posters and flyers over the next week or two – that’s if you can make them out through the blizzard of election publicity also heading your way.
Argh! I knew I couldn’t stay off the topic long. Yup, that’s right, the candidates and their teams have their first batch of posters and flyers and much of it has already appeared on campus and in the Union. We’ll soon see the wisdom of putting it all up just before TFI starts but hey, it’s their resources.
If you missed candidates question time then you missed quite a night which (apparently) got a little heated towards the end (I had to leave at 7:30pm but I’ve heard the reports – swearing, banning TFI and all sorts. Woah!). I love the passion that elections bring out in people; it shows they really care about the role and the Association.
There’s still another chance to grill the candidates in Toby’s at lunchtime on Monday 25th and they’ll all be around your lecture halls soon enough so take the time to stop them and ask them how they’d address something you care about.
Remember, voting happens online, on Pegasus from anywhere in the world between 5pm next Wednesday and 5pm Thursday (28th Feb). Make sure you vote or you’ll not have a leg to stand on when you complain the Association and the Union doesn’t do this or that for you.
And if you have any questions about Open Mic and Indiependent or if you just want to tell me you’re going to be there then drop me an email at vpocs@theunion.strath.ac.uk
Cheers,
Nominations are closed!
Yup, that’s right. We now know exactly who is standing for each Union Executive position for 2008/2009. The winners of the elections on 27th & 28th February will take up their year in office on July 1st – when just 16 or so hours earlier my colleagues and I will have packed our cardboard boxes of junk we’ve collected over the years and head out into the world of unemployment.
So who are the candidates? Well candidacy is up this year on last and there are some crackin’ battles in prospect. The three going for President - Neil Campbell, Imran Hussain, and Johnathon Shafi will no doubt want to put their own mark on the Association as well as driving forward our quest for a new Union building.
There are twice as many candidates for Deputy President as at this time last year so what will Nicole McCaffery and Bryan Simpson have to say about Parking Permits and Discipline? Kidding, there’s much more to the role than that.
Vice President Student Development will be a hard fought contest with no fewer than 4 candidates vying for Jamie Forsyth’s job. All will bring very different qualities to the role and it is very definitely worthwhile making sure you get to the Candidates’ Question Time sessions to ask them what they plan to do with student development and volunteering. And how on earth will they improve on what is bound to be another amazing STAR awards ceremony this year.
The largest contest is for the job of Vice President Support & Campaigns. It’s great to see so many individuals wanting to get involved in that role – it shows people still care about supporting each other. There are 5 candidates and they are, in alphabetical order, Melissa Garvey, Stacy Hendron, Martin Law, John McKee and Rachel Milligan. It’s a great mix of people all with very different Union involvement to their credit.
Now to the one which most interests me – the battle to be my successor. Two candidates are standing in this one which is great. As I’ve said in previous postings my role is sometimes a little mysterious and hidden away as it is on Level 9 not everyone understands the role exists never mind what is involved. Philip Wilson and Karen Bradley are sure to have some fantastic visions for the events, entertainment, food, drink and facilities of the Union and I shall definitely be at Question Time to ask them about how they’d tackle some of the challenges I’ve faced in this past 7 months. Both are guaranteed to do a tremendous job.
Finally for the full-time roles, the Sports President in which Campbell Steel is the only candidate standing. This is the 2nd year that only one person has stood for the job of Sports President. Perhaps in future years we’ll see a return to the days of brilliant battles for the votes of Strathclyde’s sporting elite (and not so elite in my own case). The buzz you get from running in the elections against other people is definitely one of the best experiences of my time at Uni and I know many of my colleagues feel the same.
I’m rambling on a bit now so sorry to the individuals running for part-time positions, I’ll just have to list you for now. But don’t worry, I’ll come back write more in the coming days and weeks.
Remember everyone – Elections are open on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th February and we’ll know that night who your student Executive committee is for the coming year. Keep a look out for the opportunity to come along and grill the candidates.
If you don’t vote can you really complain? Vote on 27th & 28th February via Pegasus from any computer in the entire world!!
Lawrence
VPOCS
Why does nobody want my job?
1st Feb '08
Now that nominations have opened there are the usual hushed whispers and snatched conversations in corridors…”who is running for you’re job”, “I heard so-and-so wants to run for X but is put off by that other person”.
Likewise there’s the occasional “so what is it you do again?” asked of the current officers.
And while you hear a lot of rumour and counter rumour about the likes of the Sports President’s role and the President and Vice President Student Development very few people ever stand up and say I want to be the Vice President Operational & Commercial Services. It might be because it’s too much of a mouthful (hence the acronym), it might be because I don’t actively line up a successor. I actually think though it is because it’s less of a high profile role.
The office is hidden away at the end of a foreboding corridor on level 9 of the Union. Much of the role involves discussions with Union staff, probably more so than any other in the Executive so fewer students realise who does this job. And what exactly are “Operational and Commercial Services”?
They’re the fun stuff!! Bar, bands, entertainment, food, drink. Oh, and facilities. Which in itself can be quite fun but also frustrating when you hear every tap in every gents’ toilet has been snapped on a Tuesday night. Fortunately (for me and for the students) I don’t have to fix them myself.
I mentioned earlier in the piece about people being put off by other people standing for the same position. Well let me tell you something. You WANT to run in a contested election. You want the rush of knowing it’s a real election and that you have to work for people’s votes. And so what if you think the other person might have more knowledge or experience. If you have better ideas, a better work ethic or better personality, not to mention better campaign promises and a stronger campaign then you’re onto a winner.
If you’re still confused about what the elections are about or are worried about other candidates or just don’t know which role you’d fit best into then drop me an email at vpocs@theunion.strath.ac.uk or try finding me at the end of that foreboding corridor on level 9. I’m not as scary as the corridor I promise.
Lawrence
