University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small
The sentence in the title is a quote attributed to Henry Kissinger, and it rings very true. The weekly LSE Students’ Union General Meeting, besides being a barrel of laughs and heckling, is a stage upon which the most amazing scenes of taking things personally take place.
This week’s UGM was more dramatic than usual. After the student body had shot down a motion, one of the editors of the student newspaper, the Beaver, climbed up on stage and announced that he wanted to no-confidence the Constitution and Steering Committee, whose responsibility it is to ensure union rules and laws are followed. Someone tries a vote of no confidence probably every two weeks, but usually it doesn’t work. This time was more serious, though. Apparently, this was because the Committee had given airtime on the student radio network for some candidates in this term’s elections, because they had complained of defamatory treatment in a satirical weekly column of the paper.
To clarify: The editor was angry that the committee had compensated the complaining candidates by giving them airtime on the radio station, which is broadcast in several student locales where campaigning is explicitly not allowed. This, he felt, was unjustified as the paper could have printed an apology and withdrawal in next week’s issue. Forgetting all decorum, the meeting disintegrated into a howling mess of yelling for and against. Eventually, in a vote, the union members (ie. us students) voted to no-confidence the Steering Committee. As the chair of the meeting said that she had to adjourn for the day as there was no committee to monitor the proceedings, some members of the C&S marched out yelling, “you stupid wankers, what have you done!”
See what I meant about taking it personally? But it gets better! The offended were then locked in a yelling contest between the Beaver editor and some others, with cameras and microphones being flailed around them. It was like a car crash - you just couldn’t look away.
The comments in the newspaper column? Calling a student officer ugly: “[She] wore a veil, though sadly not the kind that covered her face,” and jeering at a prominent student politician: “JCesspit (…) a Champagne socialist…”. All this in a satirical context, though on election week. You be the judge.
We get this kind of entertainment free every week!