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The USI bureaucracy lives on..... national |
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news report
 Wednesday April 23, 2003 20:10 by student
 Will Priestly the President elect of the USI. Is he a careerist bureaucrat? We look on at his career as President of TCDSU in which he publically denounced the USI and led the campaign to disaffiliate.
"USI question arises again" Before assuming his role as President of the Students Union, Priestly with the aid of current education offcier Ian Moynihan and current Deputy President Gareth Makim collected signatures for a referendum on polling to decide if TCDSU should disaffiliate from the Union of Students Ireland. Collecting 350, signatures Prestly arrogantly declared " It was not exceedingly difficult" to reach the number. Further to that point the decision for a referendum on the matter was "Primarily" his. He wanted out, taking temporary leave from the Presidency he went to campaign for the SU to leave the USI. In that edition of the SU newspaper two interviews were conducted with Noel Hogan in favour of staying with the USI and former TCDSU education officer Sean Blanchfield for leaving the Union. Blanchfield's case, was as follows - "It is [USI] Entirely removed from the from what goes on from the average student." He went on to add that the USI was "Little more than a playing ground for budding politicians" And quite right he was, but disaffiliation was not the way to change this, reform of the USI into a democratic and militant fighting body was required, the No camp failed to recognise this and were effectively playing for more power for their boys in the TCDSU, as mentioned above 3 of which hold high postitions on the SU. The referendum came and Priestly lost. A sentence was devoted to the result in the official e-mail of news and events from the presidents office. Priesstly was not seen for days. Last month it was revealed that Proestly had been elected President elect of USI. This came as a shock to me, but not a surprise. It was a blatent act of careerism. Priestly saw that he will get a bigger profile for his budding centre right political ambitions in mainstream politics. The Record which came out today carries an article on Priestly's "Full circle" in what is nothing short of a "Cult of personality" (No surprise here as the paper is edited by the SU deputy president and Proestly's no 2 in the No to USI campaign Gareth Makim. Of Priestlys U Turn one sentance is granted and even that rambles and avoids the question why did he turn. Priestly talks in the article about how he is going to make a difference in the USI and how he is going to build a cohesive student movement, again lets look at two protests organised by the TCDSU albeit not organised by him, but with his backing. 1. A "silent protest" made entirely a minority of the TCD students council to mark to arrival of Noel Dempsey to Trinity to launch the broad curriculum, as opposed to a large lively protest of the student body as had occured in UCD and DIT. No attempt was made to rally the general student body. 2. A postcard campaign against fees to the minister for education. In the speeches given by Priestly to the student body one can't but help think that he is opposed to fees, yet at the USI conference he warmly welcomed Minister Dempsey pictures in this months record show him cosying up to the minister. This is what we have to look forward to. Priestly is a bureaucrat a careerist and oppertunist, he is inefficient, has a tendency to disappear and is weak minded. |
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Comments (18 of 18)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18¿{["·Priestly is a bureaucrat a careerist and oppertunist, he is inefficient, has a tendency to disappear and is weak minded.·]}?
De Selby wrote at length on it.
most (not all) of the personalities who enter the usi banter are just there to promote themselves on the political arena or because they have this strange pride - family thing going on with their middle class parents who want them to tbe the best because they had little opportunity in their lives.
if twats like this keep representing students, its up to students to organise themselves at grassroots level to fight fees along with other student issues.
the usi are already a useless cowering bunch'o carreerists - priestly is just a step up.
good luck in exams everyone/everywhere -
that organisation should look to energise itself. it is dominted by 'centre right' 'personalities' and will continue to be for the forseeable future. whatever happened to emotive representation.
Who else would you have in his place? Look around the current batch. Who would get your vote?
The reality is that none of the current and incoming SU presidents catch my eye, except O'Broin in UL (however UL is not in USI). They are all to one degree or another in it for their careers and egos. None really have faith in the power that students have, they prefer to have demos and mass publicity stunts rather than actually adopting action that will be capable of defeating fees.
USI is crap. But students need a national union and there is no real basis to launch a new national union, so I think studnets need to get active in their unions and reclaim them from the current batch of slime that are in their now.
Dear all,
A lot of whats been said could be true but the only way to change this is to get involved and go to class councils etc.
USI is reflective of SU's, and who goes. So get involved! This website is a good forum for talk, but rhetoric alone wont change the situation but action not only on the outside but wiithin the organisation. So reclaim you place and demand your say within YOUR UNION.
P.S. Poor old Owen is on the way out, but I thought UCD was looking promising.
usi is not alone in being a union out of touch with its members (*note i understand the principle of unions and ideas on reclaiming them), the nature of the union is that is a swampy bureaucracy,becoming what it was setup to fight, and forgetting members.
for instance ucdsu (and im sure many many others) get their funding from the students via the college authorities (a.k.a "the man"/state etc). i would suggest that the state only sanctions funding that suits it.it is very clear, that at the moment (as during most periods of history) students needs are oppoed to that of the (right wing ff/pd) government/state and its plans (back to the good old days of fees)
in ucd we have this year , to a large extent "reclaimed the union" (pres, dep-pres,ed-officer all in cfe / 19 cfe people on su council).it is important to do this.bullshit right wing hacks have been fucking us over long enough(this is a right/left thing)
anyone interested in getting involved in the cfe or cfe type groups (its not an organisation, no bureau/sectretary/honourary presidents) please please do . our biggest failing so far is not spreading beyond ucd.theres plenty of info and links from www.freeeducation.net
hopefully we can represent ourselves in future - and not leave it up to cunts like priestly to!
Hey guys, instead of making this into some bullshit left-wing/right-wing political debate, how about talking about the article and the issues it raises for students??
At the end of the day, TCD voted 65% to stay in USI, and UCD voted 75% to stay in. And many students in both colleges campaigned vigorously for this.
UCD SU didn't even pay it's affiliation fees to USI, clearly against the wishes of 75% of UCD students, but at the end of the day your SU officers, along with Aonghus Hourihane and Will Priestley will do what the feck they like unless the students actually get involved in their own SU's and have their voices heard!
That's what happened in Trinity, and Priestley made a U-turn, and eventually in UCD Aonghus's term of office had to expire, and so a regime change was imminent.
What worries me more is Priestley's plan for USI: take it over and dismantle the national students' union? It's not that far fetched: he campaigned heavily to have the Disability Rights campaign scrapped, along with the Environmental Rights campaign, Irish Language Campaign, Womens' Rights Campaign, and to get rid of the Postgraduate Officer. He's been advocating a "three man SU" for a long time.
So instead of complaining about your SU / USI being "bureaucratic", how about turning up at your class council and having your opinion heard? Turn up at SU officer meetings to express your concerns... When SU officers realise their own students feel strongly on an issue, they're much more likely to do what their students want. Otherwise they'll continue to sit in their little ivory towers in whatever building their students' money has paid for, bickering among themselves as to how to make their own lives easier.
In a nutshell, Priestly believes that less protesting and more lobbying is the way to go. And he'll try and do that, unless and until he's shown that the students on the ground want something different.
Anyone who was at USI congress could see that the union is to become even more conservative. They didn't even debate the anti-genocide in Iraq motion as it was too controversial. God help us if we had principles and courage. If they are like this at twenty you can guess what they will be like in twenty years time.
The only positive aspect from the congress was the new era in UCD progressing nicely. They are a lone voice however.
This year USI did contain some student reps who have principles and who lean to the left, there is no doubt about that. They were just too few in number. People like Noel Hogan and John Mackle certainly stand up for what they beleive in but they are now leaving the movement. It is, as has been said, up to the normal students to make their voices heard before any real cahnge will be seen. Hopefully, that time is coming soon!!
From what I heard UCD is not that radical. They have a president that seems to be the typical left-USI/ Labour head, nothing special really. In the past there has been Dillons up and down the country that are up for 'campaigns' occupation etc etc but are actually quite hollow - empty vessels make the most noise when it comes to SU politics.
His only purpose in getting elected was to get the salary and expenses. Well, OK, OK, there was another reason. He hopes it will get him laid.
He thinks the title is important enough to attract babes. No hope, all you'll get is your own wrist action.
First of all, I have a heck of a lot of respect for Will. He lost a referendum, and, instead of doing a 'Monkeyboy' Hourihane and pretending USI doesn't exist, he decided to put up; he saw what he believed were problems and decided to seek election to see if he could make the organisation better.
Different presidents have different styles, and I think there is a time every so often for consolidation and a bit of structured thought about what this union means to its members.
This is not to say Will's going to be a care-taker President; I don't think officerboard will let him. There has been, as one dispicable group of politicians once unamusingly said, a lot done but a lot more to do, and I for one wish Will and the resto fthis year's incoming officerboard the very greatest of success.
Ben
His only purpose in getting elected was to get the salary and expenses. Well, OK, OK, there was another reason. He hopes it will get him laid.
He thinks the title is important enough to attract babes. No hope, all you'll get is your own wrist action.
At least in Trinity people know the NAME of their president- I don't know who's running the show in DIT but two words sum them up. Stupid Cunts. We all just have to get out there and fight and protest and we will put enough pressure on to stop the fees coming back.
Most of the current government were involved in student politics 20 years ago. The wankers of student politics today will be the cunts in government in twenty years if we don't stand up and stop the rot. Now. We need to do way more protests. As for the student politics wankers who lick John Bruton's arse- stay out of it!
From being involved in USI for a number of years
I agree that for the most part they can be highly
ineffectual to the average joe punter.
People are giving Preistly slack over trying to get out of USI.
If anything thats precisely the kind of person you
want to be running things.
I'm not even in Trinity but everyone knows that Priestly is a good
and hard worker. To say that he dissapears is bullshit. I'm all for criticism
and actually successfully campaigned for a another institution to dissafiliate.
If anyone wants to know a real problem in USI it's not that their budding
politicians it's that they are not. Not a brain among them usually.
Most of these people have never actually been in a contested election
in their lives yet your money is paying their wages.
I would still say to anybody please do yourself a favour and dissafiliate but
Priestly is actaully a good thing for USI which is more than
I can say for most of his officer board who bar 1 or 2 seem like the most incompetant
bunch of ejits ever to walk the earth.
Papathy is the problem and apathy elects idiots. People have only themsleves
to blame.....