Today (May 16 2024), the Student Union had an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) as students wanted to pass the motion to censure (say “we do NOT like you for what you did”) to sabbatical officers (which did not pass), and the motion for more accountability for officers and further transparency regarding these decisions on our behalf. As well as make it easier to hold votes of no confidence in our elected officials (which did pass so go crazy guys). This came from the student union giving the Robbins Centre to the university without consulting students first. From that meeting, these are the top 5 reasons that students were given, about why the union bar and coffee shop were given to the university.
5. Naughties Students Were Just Better At Drinking Than Us
Board member Mark Cullen (longest serving trustee and campus celebrity, because we’ve all heard of him before now, right?), who’d been a student at Stirling in the naughties, claimed that there’s been less student engagement with the Robbin’s Centre. Back in his day, he claimed, alcohol sales took up much more of the Robbins Centre’s profits, that attitudes towards drinking has changed with our generation, and that there’s more of a focus on health. Aye, personally I can see that, especially in Fubar or Morrisons where every sports student you see is absolutely off it. Pub golf? Never heard of it.
Also, if this were the case, would the union not want to attempt to engage more with non-drinking students? As addressed in the union accountability tracker, it hasn’t done the best job at that. But hey, at least this is just because our generation is different guys! It’s not like the union has been sinking in profit-loss quick sand for years, right? Nope!
4. It’s just the way it’s always been, kiddo
A big reason for the Robbins Centre being bought out was the fact that the union’s been struggling for years. And if there’s one thing the young people love its tradition, so why change that?
I’d like to specify before my writing is torn to shreds by the student union again that that was a joke.
But I’m not joking when I say that this is a bit contradictory isn’t it? If the union bar was doing better in the naughties because drinking was different back then, then it wasn’t facing the same problem as now was it? It was doing better. Or was it doing just as bad despite a change in attitudes towards drinking? Who knows! either way, why are we waiting until 20 years later to fix it? Why was no preventative measures taken over 20 years? Why is this generation of students having to face the consequences of two decades of problems with the Robbins Centre? Was a student correct when they said that sabbatical officers were either “incompetent , lying to us, or both?” Who’s to say!
3. Wildcard: The Stirling Gods Did It
The great Wally Mon has spoken: A union-run Robbins Centre must fall. Gather your witchy friends and cast a healing spell on the union guys, because apparently we have supernatural forces at work! According to our trustees board, the “union gods” have been working against us (damn you, nation-wide problems!). From weather, which we all know is a life threatening and uncommon problem, to freshers events being cancelled for RAAC, the trustees are honestly a bit fed up by now! And if that’s not a good reason to have the university buy the student bar, I don’t know what is. The trustees claim that there needs to be a point where we say no more. Who decided when that point was? Who is “we”? Don’t even worry about it xx
2. Who’s Asking?
In an unexpected turn of events, students were upset that the student union wasn’t transparent about the Robbins Centre’s bar and cafe being sold to the university. How dare these entitled, naive students feel like they are owed an explanation by their sabbatical officers? Yes they might have elected them into the jobs they have now for the purpose of representing them, but really! The audacity! I mean come on, the union had to keep this information under wraps to be considerate to those who have jobs at the Robbins Centre, most of which were students. They might be stressed about possible job losses! And the noble union stuck to this code of not stressing any workers out, by not telling workers that their workplace was being given away until 20 minutes before it was announced at the AGM. So considerate.
1. Don’t Even Worry About It xx
There’s nothing to get a group of outraged students to calm down like talking down to them, and if patronisation was a sport then the student union won a gold medal during the Emergency General Meeting. Allegations of sabbatical officers and trustees patronising students were rife, as students felt the message that their potential success in saving the Robbins Centre if the union was transparent about their financial struggles were pushed aside and underestimated. On top of that, the union’s sabbatical officers seem to be real experts on trade unions! Never mind that they haven’t undergone any training to understand how to help working class students who could hugely benefit from joining their union, and the fact that their statements on hospitality workers joining trade unions were contradictory. But understanding trade unions doesn’t really matter guys, because as our sabbaticals explained, giving advice is not their job! This came in between numerous apologies from sabbatical officers and trustees who somehow managed to dodge questions with a “sorry you feel that way”. Isn’t it great that our union is sorry we feel that way guys? Doesn’t it mean so much to us when the union says sorry for making decisions without consulting us and uses this apology to dodge pressing questions? I don’t know about you but I feel heard.
Featured Image Credit: Stirling University
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
Secretary for Brig
The Herald Student Press Awards Columnist Of The Year 2024 (which sorry i’m still not over)
