"It's not a student issue..."

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday June 19, 2003 17:28 by Brian Boru

RWID (Right Wingers in Denial) in odd behaviour at USI National Council

The most recent USI national council in UCD on Saturday 7th June threw up some noteworthy pointers as what direction some colleges wish the National Union to go.

The USI National Council, the last of the current academic year, was an interesting display of narrow-mindedness and navel gazing from many SU officers from around the country, particularly with regard to where they would like to see the National Union going.

Firstly, Annie Gatling, incoming President of TCDSU, was elected by a large majority to the position of chair of WRAC (Womans Rights Action Committee), despite her avowed determination to abolish not only the position, but also Womans Congress and indeed, the Womens campaign as a whole.
Secondly, a motion proposed by the outgoing Equality Officer, Bernard Cantillon, calling on next year's Equality Officer to oppose moves by the Minister for Justice to deport the parents of Irish born children was defeated on the grounds that "it wasn't a student issue". The motion was defeated despite assurances that it was not going to be prioritised over student issues such as fees, grants, etc. and that it was not going to impact on the other work of the union next year. I

The debate was noteworthy for the absence of any real argument from the opposition, but also and mainly for the insistence that USI shouldn't campaign on anything that doesn't directly affect students. This is the same mentality that led to the Anti War motion being defeated at USI congress this year, and is a mindset that seems to be increasing among students unions around the country, despite it being in opposition to USI's fundamental principles as expressed in its constitution.

It was pointed out by several members of Officer Board that USI has always campaigned on issues that, strictly speaking, are not directly affecting Irish students and that such work has not affected the work of the national union, in fact if anything it has enhanced its reputation. This fell on deaf ears. So too the point that USI cannot be an insular organisation but needs to build solidarity with other trade unions and organisations for mutual benefit.

Most of those who voted to oppose the motion have also been in opposition to much of USI's campaign strategy this year, seeing it as too protest-orientated, despite the undoubted success of the approach. It is a worrying sign that there are elements in the orgainsation intent on conservatising USI despite the success of this year's approach, and the failure of last year, which saw hardly any activism at all.

Leading the conservative push for next year are NUI Galway, Trinity, Carlow, and UCC. Sounds like a bit of CFE action on those campuses wouldn't go down too badly! It's either that or hand control to the right wingers.