initiations - the other side

Over the last few weeks, the Management Committee of the Union (made up of the four sabbatical officers) has had to deal with two clubs who flouted the rules they’d signed up to.  One club ran around the local area and in the Square naked in public (illegal) and the other forced members to drink a cocktail of alcohol and alka seltzer (to induce vomiting).  The motion to Council does not seek to “ban initiations” (as Concrete would have you believe), but seeks to stop the handful of clubs who can’t seem to understand the rules that everyone else seems to be able to follow.

No one wants to stop clubs and socs from having fun and getting to know each other.  However, in order to ensure the safety of those participating in club and soc socials and to ensure that clubs and socs behave in a responsible manner, the Union has to ask clubs and socs to obey some basic rules.

When the University gets complaints from students, their parents or local residents, the Exec have to make the system better.  What is clear is that the current fines and system do not work - some clubs still break the rules.  This motion sought to encourage clubs and socs to act responsibly.

The alternative?  The University would like to discipline individual students in clubs acting irresponsibly.  This would mean going before the University disciplinary officer and facing a permanent record on your academic file which would be there even when you left university - having an effect on future references and your career.

There are implications for the Union too - the very real possibility of losing the licence that permits us to sell alcohol due to University or local resident complaints (because people wrongly assume this is where the alcohol comes from).  If this were to happen, then the clubs and socs wouldn’t be funded by the Union (as there’d be no money), opening up the possibility of no sport at UEA for anyone. 

So the choice is this: either the system gets tougher with the couple of clubs that continue to break the rules and give everyone else a bad name, or we let the University get involved.  This motion will be debated at Union Council  on Thursday, 6th December, in LT2 at 7pm.  All students are invited to attend.

(Taken from week 12 Rabbit)