Dear Salient

Writing in the March 11 issue of Salient about the first SRC meeting of the year, Mr John Henderson reports that 'nearly everybody agreed that the pre-set timetable . . . was thoroughly despicable'. This is somewhat surprising in view of the response to the Examination Timetable Questionnaire which all enrolling students were asked to complete. The Questionnaire was devised by the Registry in consultation with the Students' Association, and the response rate was close to one hundred per cent. Analysis of a ten per cent sample of the response reveals that sixty-four per cent of the respondents found the pre-set timetable 'helpful', only six per cent found it 'limiting', the remainder replying 'neither a help or a hindrance', 'not applicable' or 'don't know'.

If Mr Henderson correctly reports the feeling of the meeting then only two conclusions are logically possible: either a large majority of students are liars or SRC is wildly unrepresentative of student opinion. I know which of the two explanations I prefer.