Abolition the Answer

Tony said that a lot of university committees had student representatives who, he claimed, did nothing much and were always heavily outvoted on big issues anyway Many committees don't really need reps in the first place, since students can often get more effective action through other channels.

As an example he quoted an obsequious (look it up) little institution known as the Boyd Wilson Field Allocation Committee. If students wanted action on any matter under their control, he said, it would be better to go through the Sports Officer than a student rep. There are 18 or 19 of these committees, and most of them are a waste of reps' time. The committees he thought reps should not withdraw from were Council, Union Management and Catering.

John Ryall backed him up with his own experience of wasting 2½ hours a month at an Arts Faculty meeting, when only every six months or so would anything worthwhile turn up on the agenda. He said we could rely on liberal staff members to present a students' point of view, and put people from SRC into something more useful. No-one really knows, or cares, what the reps are doing, and sometimes even the reps don't know what's happening.

Then Tom Duggan appeared from nowhere and said that every now and then something important comes up, like the assessment sub-committee in the Commerce Faculty. Some matters, he said, must have student representation, such as difficulty with subjects. Finishing with his traditional' ...and that's all I've got to say,' he disappeared again (who was that masked man?).

Following him, David Tripe, looking rather unconstitutional, declared his opposition to the motion which, he said, was a mere reflection on the work done by reps than on the student representative scheme [gap — reason: illegible] its got 'stuck in' they can get things done. There are [unclear: umerent] factions on the staff over issues, and [unclear: si][gap — reason: illegible] can support the factions whose view they [unclear: suppo][gap — reason: illegible] [unclear: ded] by saying that maybe SRC should be more careful who it appoints.