Fashionably Challenged?
Exeposé Lifestyle give this year’s University Challenge team a new wardrobe - pages 16-17
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
SINCE 1987
Tuesday 4 March 2014 • Issue 621 • www.exepose.ex.ac.uk • Twitter: @Exepose • www.facebook.com/Exepose
Free
Graduations under threat?
Society concern over online elections Meg Drewett Editor
Photo: University of Exeter
University decline to comment on any plans to ensure students graduate as threat of UCU marking boycott intensifies Owen Keating News Editor THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER have refused to confirm if there are any plans in place to combat the marking boycott that has been announced for this summer. When asked by Exeposé if there were any plans for emergency measures to ensure that students’ work was still marked in the event of a boycott, the University did not respond. University and College Union (UCU) have confirmed that a marking boycott will be enacted from 28 April, which would result in students’ dissertations and final exams not being marked, which could in itself result in students not being able to properly graduate. The boycott was announced after UCU
claimed that employers have refused to return to pay negotiations. There have been six UCU walkouts since October, with significant disruption being caused to classes and seminars. The Exeter branch of UCU say on their website that the current pay offer “will result in a further decline in living standards for staff in Higher Education staff now are 13 per cent worse off than staff on the same pay grade five years ago as a result of repeated below-inflation pay offers”. They also indicate a belief that “the Higher Education sector is sitting on vast reserves that it could choose to release to improve staff pay”. They suggest that the recently reported 8.1 per cent pay increase that Vice Chancellors have received (a pay rise which Exeposé understands that Steve Smith,
MUSIC: Interview Eliza and the Bear - PAGE 20
Exeter’s Vice-Chancellor, has not taken) undermines the idea that widely held talk of “sharing the pain” of education cuts is inaccurate. UCU’s website also cites statistics which indicate that industrial action has had proven results in terms of securing increased pay for academics. In addition, a lengthy article critiquing the University’s recent and intended expansion claims that “staff are increasingly alienated by a culture of hierarchalism, distrust/hostility towards criticism of ‘management’ and growing differentials of both pay and status, without transparency about the bases of any of these differentials”. Furthermore, they denounce what they perceived to be the University’s use of “meaningless” performance management models to measure staff performance, as well as demanding that
BOOKS: Chat to Exeter student writer Charlotte Robson -
PAGE 27
a policy of “enhancing social norms including norms of dissent and debate - rather than managerial sanctions” is implemented. Students are, understandably, increasingly agitated at the prospect of potentially not graduating, with many taking to Twitter to voice their displeasure. Elia Shipton (@EliaJayne), a third year student, tweeted: “Think @UniofExeter need to sort out these strikes. Uni degrees being ultimately ruined by these disruptions”. A final year student, whose work may be directly affected by striking markers, told Exeposé: “In addition to the other pressures of final year, the last thing students should be worrying about is whether or not academics will actually be marking their dissertation.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
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AT least 30 student societies have so far opted-out of the Students’ Guild’s new online society election system, with more expected to do so over the coming weeks, voicing concerns over the suitability of the new system for their societies. The online voting system, which was announced to society presidents two weeks ago, allows Guild societies to host the voting for their committee elections on the Guild website. Society committees will be able to set the details of their elections, including the available committee positions and the voting period, and members will then be expected to head online to cast their votes. Those societies opting-out of the new system will retain the traditional voting system of paper ballots at their Annual General Meeting (AGM). The decision to move to an online system was taken after consultation at the Societies Executive, a representative body of all Guild societies. The system is the same as the one used for the Sabbatical Officer elections, and has already been used by a number of large societies, such as RAG, CA and the Bracton Law Society, to hold elections in the past. It aims to make the handover period between committees easier, as it will automatically grant admin access to the newly elected committee at a scheduled date, and to encourage greater engagement in elections from society memberships. Ellee Dowell, President of Sociology and Anthropology society, told Exeposé: “The new online voting system will be great for our society. It will not only make the transition from old to new committee simpler, but also means CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 FIND US ONLINE AT
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