USI 'Cannot be responsible for the actions of students'

Friday May 23, 2003 13:23

by David Rynne

Colm Jordan as reported on newstalk 106 has warned the governments that the USI can no longer hold students back from taking radical actions against the government

It was a very interesting statement. It has the effect of pressuring the government into taking students views into consideration while it offers no extrovert support for the actions of these individuals.
Student activists will welcome the publicity that the statement will generate, (the threat of action/chaos is often much more powerful than the actions themselves) the statement will make it clear that students will not simply lie down in the face of such abusive government policies.
However, another, much less welcome effect of that statement will be for the USI to further reduce their already limited representation of Students in Ireland. Colm Jordan desires to distance himself and the USI from any actions and any consequences that might follow from them. It can be inferred from the statement that no support services will be provided for students who are arrested or fined as a result of their opposition towards fees.

There are pros and cons for the USI position. A major PRO is that the USI have not discouraged any form of student unrest, they have not condemned any law breaking that might be deemed necessary by activists. Because the USI will be slightly seperated from the actions of the students they can still go to the bargaining table with the government and not be accused of any wrongdoing. However they will have lost some of the bargaining power in htat they have just announced that they can not "call off" any actions in order to gain concessions with the government.
A major flaw with this strategy is that it only supports student actions by not condemning them and it leaves the Heads with the option to stab activists in the back at any time in the future.
It leaves Colm Jordan open to the justifiable accusation that he is merely trying to build a career for himself among the mainstream political system and he cannot personally be associated with radical student activities.