NTU student union....
Friend of the students or a bo-chap committee out for a share of
points only?
The truth is, in the past 3 years, the union has been plagued with
consistent controversial events that have lowered its standing
among the student population in NTU.
What it has done has raised far more question marks abt its
creditibility then anything else. While the students look to the
union to fight for student's rights and solve basic problems
suffered by the foreign student population, it has continually
failed in all aspects.
For starters, it has failed to ask the Administration for specific
reasons for the course fee hikes that the university has
implemented recently. It seems that with no one to keep the
administration in check, they can raise the cost of the student
fees as and when they see fit.
Another reason that has been raised by the local population is why
are course fees still being paid when engine students are on
industrial attachments? It is a known ruiling that students under
IA are not permitted to use the equipment available in NTU because
they have been classified as company employees.
In that case why are we still paying our course fees? At the very
least we shd only be paying a fraction of our fees for that
semester, not the entire sum.
Such unexplained ruilings have been allowed to flood unchecked
becoz the union "voted" by the students have failed to fight for
the students.
In the last sorry escapade of the student union, president jonathan
pang stepped down amid claims of poor results. The truth is his own
assembled committee was within days of calling an EOGM to oust him
from the committee for a string of reasons.
It seems that history repeats itself to some extent; two years ago,
the vice-president of the 99/00 workyear resigned from his post
barely 2 months from completing his term, citing personal reasons.
Rumours were going round that his inability to work with the
executive committee was the real reason but upon interviewed by
nanyang chronicle, the then president, Ms Lim Joo Lee said only "no
comments".
Such is the communication bridge between the students and the
union, it's no wonder students have no confidence in raising their
problems to the union, instead going direct to the
administration.
Despite their efforts in ousting "incompetent" presidents, the
union committee is merely giving students more reasons to doubt the
credibility of the union even further.
The bigger picture must be assessed. A strong union allows
otherwise errant administators to explain their actions b4
committing into a decision or a ruiling that affects the welfare of
students.
[This message has been edited by BillyBong (edited 04 March
2002).]
