Student Groups - BANE OF MY EXISTENCE (for club execs)
Now that I have finally graduated. University for me was quite a pleasant experience overall. I have shed 0 tears over any of my courses, being a part of clubs has been great EXCEPT - STUDENT GROUPS.
Never in my life have I despised working with a group of people as much. INFACT working with other full time students who are ALSO club execs has been MARGINALLY less painful.
Dealing with Student Groups has GENUINELY BROUGHT me to TEARS. Nothing during my reasonably challenging STEM degree has given me the sheer amount of stress that SG has.
- ROOM BOOKING - TELL ME WHY NO ROOMS ARE AVAILABLE AT 5 PM, AND EVENTS THAT RUN 6 TO 8 NEED TO BE BOOKED 15 FUCKING WORKING DAYS IN ADVANCE. We are ALL FULL TIME STUDENTS, NOT EVERY EVENT IS PLANNED FOR THAT FAR OUT, GOD FORBID YOUR EVENT DATE CHANGES, GOD FORBID YOU WANT TO WHIP UP A BASIC EVENT IN 3 WEEKS.
- RANDOM events qualify for bookings and some don't?? I heard from another club their Study Night booking got rejected bc its a ‘personal’ study event. IF I recall, even AUSA does these events from time to time. Study night events are SO COMMON. Like a billion clubs have been doing this for a billion years. WHAT is this RANDOM reasoning all of a sudden and where did ti spawn from?!
- Changes to rules w/o notifying students (random rules that weren’t in the handbook before but become rules after grants are released). Initial email for bookings said basic bookings are 5 working days, and now its suddenly 7 on the website ?!
- Budget cuts year upon year – no advocacy for student clubs (also sorry the club awards food was so inconsiderate, i didn't go but i heard the vegan option was carrots??, last year a friend of mine who ate halal had nothing (maybe a salad) nothing was labelled and no food for her dietary requirement arrived)
- Changes to drop ins - limiting 15 mins per student (even if the problem isn't solved, too bad you’re kicked out of the call). I’ve heard from other clubs that when you email them to meet and discuss a problem they are very reluctant (don't want to), and your options are a) stuck sending essay length emails which probably will be responded to in a less than helpful manner. b) drop the matter
- Not enough Fire Warden and First Aid Trainings – BUT ALL CLUBS NEED ONE CERTIFIED PERSON TO HAVE EVENTS. W H A T. like X club has to suffer bc there were 20 first aid trainings but there are 250 clubs HMMM.
Previously I wanted to stay in a club after my first couple years while I pursued a post grad or smt like that. BUT the mere THOUGHT of dealing with Student Groups has me choosing between the various communities of people I love being a part of. OR my metal sanity. To those reading and thinking about joining clubs, dealing with SG has me dropping OUT of clubs that I LOVE.
And mind you I have no issues dealing with rules within institutions, in fact my minor red flag was that I supported the uni a bit too much at times, while the rest of the students did not. I have 0 problems with professionalism and streamlining processes within institutions and workspaces, this was indeed not my first rodeo following rules.