University of Glasgow: Encyclopedia II - University of Glasgow - Students

University of Glasgow - Students

Unlike the majority of Scotland's universities, the students at the University of Glasgow are not members of the National Union of Students - membership has been rejected on a number of occasions on both economic (the costs of membership would exceed £70,000 per year for an institution of this size) and political grounds. Neither does their representative body take the form of a Students' Association, as it does at the other Scottish universities. However, every student is automatically represented by the Glasgow University Students' Representative Council (SRC) and has the right to stand for election to this body and elect its members. The President of the SRC, along with one other SRC member, the Court Assessor, sits on the University Court and a number of SRC members sit on the Academic Senate (which also has the responsibility of overseeing student discipline). Each student has the right to opt out of being a SRC member, although this very rarely happens.

Students also elect a Rector (officially styled "Lord Rector") who holds office for a three year term and is legally entitled to chair the university court. This position is in practice largely an honorary and ceremonial one, and has been held by political figures including William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, Andrew Bonar Law, Robert Peel, Raymond Poincaré, Arthur Balfour, and 1970s union activist Jimmy Reid, and latterly by celebrities such as TV presenters Arthur Montford and Johnny Ball, musician Pat Kane, and actors Richard Wilson, Ross Kemp and Greg Hemphill. In the past, few Rectors have actually been present to perform the duties of their office, although in recent years there has been a trend to elect people on the expectation that they will be working rectors. Ross Kemp was asked to resign by the SRC (which he did) for what they felt was a failure to act as a working rector. In 2004, for the first time in its history, the University was left without a Rector as no nominations were received. When the elections were run in December, Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was chosen for the post [2], even though he is unable to attend due to restrictions placed upon him by the Israeli government.

Students can also be members of one of the university's two students' unions, Glasgow University Union (GUU) and the Queen Margaret Union (QMU). These are largely social institutions, providing their members with facilities for dining, recreation, socialising, and drinking, and both have a number of meeting rooms available for rental to members. Students are currently barred from holding membership of both unions (by the GUU's bye-laws which state that members cannot be members of other unions, but this is frequently breached), although they can use most of the facilities of both provided they are a member of one. A significant attempt was made to introduce Automatic Joint Student Membership at the end of the 2003/2004 session, which would see all matriculated students automatically become a member of both unions. However, this ran out of time due to a technical failing in the tabling of a resolution to make the necessary constitutional changes at a Special General Meeting of the GUU. Towards the end of the 2004/2005 academic year a motion was put to the SRC suggesting a referendum on whether the student bodies should merge into a single Students Association. The motion was withdrawn but is likely to reappear in the future.

Sporting affairs are regulated by the Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA) (previously the Glasgow University Athletics Club). Students who join one of the sports clubs affiliated with the university, such as the Glasgow University Shinty Club club, must join GUSA.

There is also an active student media scene at Glasgow University, part of, but editorially independent from, the SRC. There is a newspaper, the Glasgow University Guardian; a magazine, Glasgow University Magazine (GUM); a television station, Glasgow University Student Television (GUST); and a radio station, Subcity. In recent years, independent of the SRC, the Queen Margaret Union has published a fortnightly magazine, qmunicate, and Glasgow University Union has produced the GUUi.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Students", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki