A number of posters have been placed around campus criticising YUSU in terms of their campaigns and actions surrounding the Living Wage scheme, as well as their alleged censorship of student media.
The poster states that: “Parts of the above were originally written for a campus newspaper, but the Union regulates the student media, and censors criticism.”
Entitled, ‘To the Students’ Union’, the damning poster demands that YUSU stops using phrases such as “fighting for students” and “campaign victories”, arguing that its greatest triumphs since 2010 are “a one-off 3-day rent rebate in one college, and a new bus timetable.”
In a further dig at the University, the poster notes that: “The only campaigns the Union fights are election campaigns.”
In response to the poster, YUSU President Kallum Taylor told Vision: “We get criticism a lot – we welcome it – but it’s rather difficult to constructively respond to this particular case. People are more than fine to come and speak to me or any other YUSU Officer about any concern that they have… This is just a little shady, and what’s being said is a little confusing. I suppose one positive is that we’ve now got loads of free blu-tac which, given the fact that our finance is actually incredibly tight, we’re happy with.”
Another criticism of the Student Union is that it refused to allow students to vote on a YUSU living wage in June 2011, and delayed a pay rise until 2014. It is said: “You have deprived your lowest-paid staff of thousands of pounds.”
Finally the poster warns the student union for the disruption it causes to wildlife on campus through its major events such as Live & Loud.
It reads: “Don’t terrorise dormice, voles, rabbits, hedgehogs, and hundreds of other creatures, by using fireworks on a campus which is advertised as a wildlife reserve. This is unethical, and is one reason why your ticket prices are far too high.”
The development comes after YUSU has previously received criticism for censoring articles in the student press. Similar posters were also placed around campus last year, criticising the work of the Student Union.
This is very informative – thank you to the person that took the time to write and then poster this all over campus.
I was under the impression that it was difficult to quantify just how much disruption large scale events caused to the wildlife. However now we have been given unequivocal evidence, proven beyond doubt,that by having a good time we are at the same time terrorising these poor creatures.
Forgive my naivety but I have to presume that the way this was researched was by conducting a straw poll whereby they went from hedge to burrow and from nest to rock individually interviewing said animals?
Congratulations must be given to the author of the piece. That Nobel prize is just around the corner.
Why has this article not got a name on it?
“The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.”
-Voltaire
Just wondering, if this poster was supposed to be published in campus press, but couldn’t be as it was censored by YUSU…..
……
Then why is it now in University press?
Secondly, many of the YUSU staff are effectively unpaid students like yourselves who give up their time to try make University life better for everyone. Not many of those 23 staff are actually paid unless I’m mistaken
Just because they’re unpaid, doesn’t actually mean they’re doing a good job.
Receptionist, Sports Participation Manager, Health and Safety Coordinator, Receptionist again, CEO, Finance Assistants x 4, Finance Manager, IT coordinator, Marketting and Events Manager, Graphic Designer, Research and Policy Development Coordinator, Marketing Coordinator, Membership Services Manager, Academic and Welfare Coordinator, JCRC and Community Development Coordinator, Democracy and Campaigns Development Coordinator, Student Engagement Development Coordinator, Activities Manager, Sports and Societies Coordinator, and Activities Assistant. Total 23. All on salaries.
You mistake Officers for staff.
In the modern students’ union unpaid officers actually have very little input. Hence why in areas other than liberation or RAG/Volunteering (for now) which require direct student political leadership they are slowly being phased out. A process which be completed if the Campaigns post is abolished next week.
YUSU also employs a large number of paid specialist staff. It has a turnover of £4.5million, its a big and very complex enterprise whose management requires skills that students lack.
At the top sits the CEO who earns around £50,000 a year, who manages both the charitable side of the SU and the commercial arm which runs the bars like Courtyard.
Beneath him sit a layer of middle managers, who oversee the paid advisers who deliver services to students and develop service plans. There are at least 6 of them.
The paid advisers, called Co-ordinators (there are now around 10 of them) administer YUSU on a day to day basis, running elections, supporting course reps and college committees, sports, societies, RAG and Volunteering, YUSU events, YUSU marketing, YUSU’s IT systems and everything else that the Union does.
They are supported by a whole host of clerical staff who do data entry, typing, process club and society finance claims, serve in the bars and shops, cook, put up posters, staff events and so on and so on. Some of them are paid students-many aren’t.
Is there not a certain right in democratic societies to express an opinion—through the ballot or other means—anonymously? This poster makes some relatively-reasoned points, albeit in an emotive and impassioned way, and it does not do for Kallum Taylor to dismiss it off-hand as ‘a little shady’. It would say much for the maturity and openness of the student union if, when confronted with this kind of ‘dissent’, it were to respond to the points raised through a polite public statement.
I remember seeing posters like this back in 2010. The ones back then basically had a go at YUSU for their joke of a 24h portering campaign and the way they congratulated each other at the YUSU awards about how it was the best campaign that year. IIRC there were other posters that appeared every so often criticising YUSU over something. It used the same typeface as the one in this article.
If they were ever going to make an exception and mention criticism of the Union it’d be for a story which refers to censorship, so the publication of the above article doesn’t prove anything either way. More importantly, when does the campus press ever question the Union’s endless P.R. statements about how active and successful they are, or look into things like whether the Union has indeed blocked student votes and “deprived its lowest-paid staff of thousands of pounds”? The Union is exempt from scrutiny, and even in this article there’s no investigation of the issues raised.
It’s interesting to see that, instead of waiting for the posters to be removed along with all the other types of poster (which is done by Estates every day or two) the Union has responded to accusations that they remove material and try to prevent people from reading criticism by … er … removing material and trying to prevent people from reading criticism. No irony there, then.
@R – Yes, the posters are of a certain style employed by somebody who has been critical of the SU for quite some time now. Indeed I don’t think he’s even a student here any longer. A few years ago (as a PhD student) he got quite animated about portering on campus. He really should move on.
If, as R says, the YUSU portering campaign in 2010 was generally regarded as “a joke” then clearly the Union deserved criticism then as much as it does now. An organisation doesn’t have a time-limit on being ineffective, and someone doesn’t lose the right to make points about the Union if they’ve been here for a long time. Three people were involved with last week’s posters, and all three are current students at York – one as a long-term research student. But so what? Legitimate and serious issues have been raised, yet the Union has failed to answer them.
Hi Press for Freedom,
If you produced the posters then as the University’s premier independent magazine for news, critique and debate then we’d love to hear from you. Having put out a call via our Facebook page, when you first put up the posters.
I’m sure that we’ll be able to find a way to enable you to air your concerns to the widest possible audience.
J (on behalf of Free Lunch)