bare facts 'SnightUne 32710 Advertising 509275 Friday 8th March 1991 PRETTY PICTURES... are Facts have just received become home to more than 260 stu- cent Government policy to increase the very pretty artist impress- dents, with a possible expansion to 308. number of students benefitting from B Brickfields, as the new site is ru- highCT educaton. ions of the new résidences cur- moured to be called, is thought to be an Incidently, we are pleased to see lots rently being built on the latest attempt by the University to deal with of nice trees on the architect's plans and and biggest campus hole. problems of student accomodation (or fmally have been assured the construc- Construction on the new site, (next rather lack of it) which has plagued tion ^ould be quiet. We have yet to to Stag Hill and University Court,) many Universities and Polytechnics find out! which began last mcHith is expected to throughout the country. Further, the JohnGarslde last until this October, when it will move is being seen as a response to re- • . X- ^ .iipa Exclusive interviews with non-other than our newly elected Pres. and Arts & Ents Secretary Student news, Green news. Headlines and brief news! Opinions on 'apathy' and women in Ireland Your chance to win two absolutely free cinema tickets! And there's even a special Manoj sports events special for all devotees to cut-out and treasure over the Easter holsll Published By The University Of Surrey Students' Union Friday March 8th 1991 bare facts ter bringing soemthing out in the open bar. Having spoken with the bar man- Readers'Writes they are accused of being pathetic! Is agement and 5 members of club com- this how to encourage peq)Ie? Would mittee, it appears that they have not you rather nothing was ever discussed been approached by anybody with re- in BF without the Union Officiais' gards to the quality of drinks soved. In- sanction? stead, through allégations made in BF, So, Cardy Box, writing such a well- bad feeling has been created towards intentioned but misguided piece is not the bar and rifts have occured between part of the solution. If s part of the prob- bar staff over the issue. It is obvious that lem! the authors of those letters had not at- Yours in apathy tempted to ascertain the full facts and H Gennaro had not talked to anybody who could in- vestigate the "problem" and rectify it. To my mind this is not constructive and The opinions expressed on does nothing to address any problem Appropriate that exists. This son of behaviour is these pages do not exactly what I was refering to when I necessarily reflect those of Channels accused people of "having a whinge the Editorial Board. T^ear Mr Gennaro, and bitch about things... instead of Whilst glad to have a response to going through the prc^r channels". my article last week ("Apathy Soc. With regards to my article last Please keep letters brief Takes Over Union), I feel I must re- week; yes it was written in a very sar- and to the point. spcxid to some of the points raised in castic vein. As a Union officiai fc^* the your letter. past two terms, I have strived to over- With regard to "apiH-opriate chan- come apathy in the UnicHi (as do ail nels": Union officiais) as well as executing Whinging Again?!? 1. The GM. l^earEd my duties as chairpers(Hi. At the time Granted, not everyone is a good of writing the article I felt that I had ex- I Write with référencé to Cardy public speaker. There exist, however, Box's article in last week's BF, about hausted ail other methods of combating potentially 24 union officiais ail of apathy. I stand by everytìiing written. apathy in the Union. While I agree with whom have been elected by the students some points, I must take exception to at one stage w another. These people You daim that the fact of people others. are there to serve you and ail are very stili talking about the beer problem He accuses people of having a approachable. So if you feel you cannot shows the effectivenessofBF. In parti 'whinge and bitch about things in the personally take a point to the GM, see agree. It has proved it to be a useful me- letters page of BF (lil^e the bar beering the relevant union officiai and they can dium forproviding the masses with in- down the water)' and of not going do it for you. formation. It CMily woiks though if the information is ccxrect. As it stands, the through tìie 'a^iropriatechannels'. "The Union clique". 24 Union Of- There are, naturally, reasons for masses have been misinformed and the ficiais, 140 members of staff and ap- people concemed and the "problem" this: proximately 4000 members. 1. Taking something to GM. Some brought to light in an inappropriate According to "Collins Concise Diction- manner. of us are not good public speakers and, ary" and these figures (which I invite to those of us outside the Union clique, you to check) "The Union clique" does I find it very sad that both Mr Gen- the Union GM can be a very intimida- not exist. naro and Mr Melane feel that they must ting body. try and change things in this mis-in- I am very sorry to hear that 115 2. Going to Club Committee. This formed and mis-guided way people sitting in the Union lounge D. Vincent < is even more intimidating. eating their lunch on a Tuesday intimid- So what else is left? Surely writing âtes you. (a.k.a. Cardy Box) to BF is activity, not apathy as Cardy 2. Club Committee Box daims (cla^ns by, amazingly, hav- This is a body made up of the Prési- ing a whinge and bitch about things in dent, two permanent members of Bankers! the pages of BF - the very thing he says staff and six ordinary students (includ- F\ear Editor, is a 'pathetic way of carrying on'). After ing two GM représentatives) These How come first years get a free ail, the fact that people are stili talking committee members are ordinary mor- overdraft upto £300 and second, third about the beer problem shows BF to be tals, the same as you or I. They are ail and fourth years have to pay 14.5% in- effective. How many students would very approachable if not at committee terest. have been reached by raising a question meetings, then individually. I am cer- Especially when the Midland in at GM or Club Committee? tain that they would be only too happy town offer a firee overdraft to ail stu- Bare Facts is there to provide infor- to raise issues on your beh^. dents - lasdng until the December after mation, and to cover subjects of import- I agree that writing to Bare Facts is they finish their final year, thus allow- ance to ail of us. As Cardy Box so not inactivity and can be a very con- ing them some time to pay it off! rightly says, Democracy is a pretty neat structive medium for airing chinions, Guess who's got my account now. idea; but it only works WHEN complaints and suggestions. However, Just imagine if everyone defected to EVERYONE HAS ALL THE INFOR- in recent times, the letters page has been Midland - the manager might change MATION. And that, surely is BF's used by certain individuals to make al- his mind then. function, not to be a mouthpiece for the légations that have no basis in fact and Commisérations to Nat West, Union officiais, but to supply as much have caused bad feeling. The most re- R. Wortov information as possible to enable us to cent example of this has been the "prob- make knowledgeable décisions. lem" with Courage beers behind the Yet, when someone does write a let- bare facts Friday March 8th 1991 Exclusive Interview With: AlistairHiU After defeating Steve Herman by a sabbaticals and union officials should large majority in the cross campus bal- be neutral, and union policy should re- lot, Alistair Hill will become the next flect the views of the student body, Students Union President from August which is more easily done in an apoliti- In an interview with him after the result cal environment. I asked him why he decided to run for As to NUS, he believes it to be a president He replied that he had en- powerful vocal force within the joyed being a student at Surrey and country, even ccaisulted by the govern- th^fcH-e wanted to put something back ment on relevant issues. However, be- into the student body. He also felt that cause it covers the whole of the country the job would be of great benefit to him, it loses the grass roots level. As a result particularly in the sphere of communi- Alistair would like to see a regional cation, but he said that the greatest mo- level. tivation would be seeing other students Alistair said that he thought that growing. top-up fees are unfair and could make One of the first problems which he higher educat(Mi elitist Professor Kelly cited was the lack of long-term plan- is one of the few vice- chancellors to ning within the union. Instead there support the proposal. As a result he felt were "short term answers to long term that the student body should show its problems. An example of this is the disapproval through its representatives need for Union House to expand.