Dear Editor,
I have finally reached the end of my tether. Dan Calder’s ‘column’ has often spouted reactionary drivel as part of its attacks on the Union but last week’s thinly veiled attempt to prejudice the outcome of the elections has over-stepped a mark. Unfortunately, I find it characteristic of a paper that does little to publicise our Union and consistently misrepresents facts with an obvious right-wing bias.
In response to Calder, I would ask him just exactly what he thinks a Students’ Union is? Maybe it is simply a place where wearied students are forced to read an arrogant and bigoted columnist, desperate for a job with a Fleet Street rag. Or maybe a Union is more like the one we have built here in Manchester: a Union that fights for the rights of its members, one that opposes the attacks on our education and one that fights oppression. In the last two years, we have forced our University to deliver on Home Fees for Asylum Seekers and divestments from the Arms Trade. On top of this, we have forced our Vice-Chancellor out of his Ivory Tower and into a public forum where students can have their say. On top of this we have spoken out against racism and taken a lead on issues as diverse as LGBT oppression and Israeli Apartheid.
We are also one of the most democratic Unions in the country, with over 1,100 students turning up to our last quorate General Meeting and a voter turnout that makes most Unions jealous. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be fighting to get more people involved but maybe that would be better served with a paper that involves students in the Union and not one that prints the fantastical musings of man that has done nothing for students in Manchester.
Andy Cunningham
UMSU Campaigns Officer
PS. Despite Dan’s fortnightly full-page, I have only been given this letter to respond. For those of you who wish to know more, please check out “www.umsuactivist.org”.
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