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28.02.2012
Newspaper of the
LSE Students’ Union
FREE
President Higgins talks democracy Wanda O’Brien
Michael D. Higgins addressed a packed lecture hall at the London School of Economics (LSE) on February 21 in his first official trip abroad as President of Ireland. He spoke of an emerging democratic crisis that is pitting government accountability against unaccountable economic forces and spoke of the challenges facing universities in his lecture entitled, ‘Public Intellectuals, Universities, and a Democratic Crisis.’ “We are experiencing now I believe an intellectual crisis that is far more serious than the economic one which fills the papers, dominates the programmes in our media,” Higgins said. Higgins went on to state that “the role of universities to provide a forum for original thought, emancipatory learning, and caring and concerned teaching are challenges facing the sector”. He highlighted the power of education to affect social change in the founding doctrine rooting LSE. “That university teaching was more than instruction”. As an academic, as well as politician and poet, Higgins drew on Jurgen Habermas’ writings on the legitimation crisis, saying that such a crisis has begun to emerge in the fragility of the European Union. “Having squandered credibility through light regulation and thus powerless regulatory authorities the State itself has been made vulnerable.” Through this, Higgins placed a moral choice for
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Sydney Saubestre
Michael Higgins discusses ‘Democratic Crisis’ | Photo: Wanda O’Brien
External student complaints have doubled Connor Russell Staff Reporter An increasing number of students across the country, disappointed by their failure to obtain either a first or a upper second, are officially complaining to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA, established in the Higher Education Act 2004, is an independent body which deals with student complaints against universities within England and Wales, that have not reached a satisfactory internal conclusion in the eyes of the complainant. Cases brought to the OIA have more than doubled from a total of 542 in 2005 to 1341 in 2010, with a consistently upward trend year on year. Student satisfaction scores gleaned from the yearly National
Lent Term elections marred by complaints
Student Survey show an extremely significant rise in the number of students graduating from LSE feeling “satisfied with the quality of their course,” and for the first time in recent years LSE attained a higher than nationwide average score on student satisfaction overall in 2011. Nevertheless, formal complaints regarding academic matters made directly to the school have more than doubled since 2005, from 52 to 115 in the last academic year, showing an increase broadly in line with the number of complaints made nationwide to the OIA. Numbers for informal complaints are not publicly available. Due to the confidential nature of the issue, it is impossible to directly compare the origin of these complaints with the nationwide trends, however the school does disclose that the vast majority were appeals regarding mitigating circumstances claims made during the exam season,
as many students felt that they had not received appropriate consideration in the marking of their exam. Fifteen of the 115 cases in the 2010/11 academic year related directly to a disability, which the school describes as including “mental health and neurodiversity issues.” The Minister for Universities and Science, David Willets, has attributed the rise in complaints nationwide to the pressure on students to attain a upper second or higher in the labour market, claiming “one of the increasing areas of complaints is students saying, ‘I’ve got a 2:2 when I should have got a 2:1 – they’ve let me down.’” Given the perception of the School’s culture, held by many students, of being a career based explanation for the rise in complaints could be likely given the current contraction and higher competition in the jobs market. Other top universities have also documented an increase in the number
of official student complaints lodged. On the 26th January 2012, the Oxford Cherwell, the student’s newspaper of the University of Oxford, reported that the Oxford University Proctors had received 124 official complaints from students this year, 105 of which were related to the university’s examinations. The opinions amongst students on the impact of grades on student satisfaction were mixed. Alastair Maxwell, a first year Mathematics student, feels that grades are very important, saying “due to the much reduced social life compared to other universities, there is a much greater importance on gaining better jobs which are strongly correlated to higher grades.” This view was not echoed by all, with another first year student wishing to remain anonymous being quoted, “Grades are of no consequence whatsoever. So long as I can get down the pub, I will be satisfied.”
The Students’ Union Returning Officer, Josh Still, has recommended to the Democracy Committee (DC) that a candidate in the Student Trustee election be disqualified from running in the Lent Term elections for breach of the Students’ Union’s policy on antisemitism. A motion entitled ‘Stop AntiSemitism Now!” was officially passed during the Emergency General Meeting three weeks ago. The motion aimed to detail what should be categorised as antisemitism, and to ensure that all antisemitic incidents are “dealt with swiftly and effectively [by the Students’ Union] in conjunction with the school.” According to the Students’ Union Guidance Document on Elections and Referenda, “where the Returning Officer is unable to reinstate fairness in an election/referendum they may deem it necessary to disqualify a candidate or annul a vote. Where this occurs the Returning Officer must make a written recommendation to the Democracy Committee who will make a ruling.” Numerous students have contacted the Beaver to express their adverse opinions to said campaign, claiming it is “anti-Semitic” and that it “poorly represents the views of other candidates in the election.” The candidate had previously ran an unrelated campaign for Hall Committee at his residence that was “sexist, racist and classist” for which the candidate was disciplined by the School and barred from further running for Hall Committee. When asked whether previous disciplinary measures disqualify a student from running, Still said, “on the question of the relevance of previous School disciplinaries on the eligibility of election candidates - all I could say is that it depends on a case by case basis.” The School stated that they “expect all students standing for office in the Students’ Union to behave appropriately and not bring the School or the student body into disrepute.” There have been six official complaints filed against various candidates in the Lent Term elections.
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