The Results are In

Well it’s been a long week of campaigning and assaulting passers-by on Houghton Street, but the elections are now over and we can get on with our lives. If you are interested in more in depth coverage of how it all went down and who got pissed at the counting event, check out the official coverage, as well as the work of our friends over at Hack Attack.

Having left the insider work to them, this Observer is just going to post a list of the winners – these are based on the reports coming from the Media Group’s blog.

GenSec: Aled Fisher

Comms: Dan Sheldon

Treasurer: Wil Barber

Education & Welfare: Emmanuel Apkan-Inwang

Societies: Zoe Cooke

Returning: Ossie Fikret

Environment & Ethics: Justus Rollin

LGBT: Lizzie Merrow

International: Ayushman Sen

Women’s: Ruby Buckley

Part-Time: Luke Spyropoulos

Residences: Emma Fischer

C&S: Antonia, Helen, Nadeem, Aliabbas Virani, Mukarram Ali and Rabyia ‘Ruby’ Aslam

NUS: Brian Duggan and Sadia Kidwai

Anti-Racism: Joseph Brown

Disabilities: Jessica

No word yes on F&S

Uni’s Need to Get Used to Blogs, FB

Times Higher Education ran a long piece about the use by students of blogs, Facebook and YouTube to air grievances about their lecturers, their departments and their uni’s. Focusing mostly on efforts to stomp out libelous material and to manage PR in the face of online complaints, the article is rather interesting, but at the end of the day it shows that uni’s still don’t get it.

So a student creates a Facebook group slagging off the LSE, so what? Should the school freak out and call up Facebook to ask them to remove the group? It doesn’t take a degree from our fine institution to know that such an action would have exactly the opposite effect – probably increasing membership in said group. The LSE already learned the hard way when it drew attention to former LSE professor Erik Ringmar’s blog after he posted a contentious lecture cajoling the school to improve teaching standards. Ringmar’s blog, which no doubt had a modest readership at the time he posted the offending lecture, was suddenly inundated with thousands of pageviews following coverage of the fracas – not exactly quietly sweeping the issue under the rug, is it?

What is most interesting about the THE article is that it appears to reveal that what most bothers the uni’s is that they have lost the near-total control they have been used to exercising over their own appearance. Effectively, this means that the school can be held to account by external agents. So your teacher is crap? Write them up on ratemyprofessor.com. Your lecturer fell asleep during a student presentation? Post the pictures on Flickr. You received a rude email from your course convener? Post it on Facebook. The point is, these things that the schools would prefer to hide behind their slickly produced catalogs, are finding their way into the light of public scrutiny. This is a good thing!

In the article, the author writes “damaging messages about academics’ abilities and institutions’ performance circulate [online] as fast as the positive ones. If left unchecked, they could have a damning effect on student recruitment.” So is the alternative that unfortunate students accept offers from less-than-honest schools without being aware of the grievances that existing students have? What about the reverse – unrealistic promises of school recruitment catalogs have a damning effect on students’ minds when their expectations and reality clash? This desire to prevent the dissemination of information seems rather at odds with what most would imagine is the role of an institution of higher education.

The most level-headed comment in regards to the way students use the web comes from Dean Russell, of the branding agency Precedent: “Just because somebody is saying something negative doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody believes them.” He adds that uni’s, along with whatever other organization or brand, can potentially dig their own grave by overreacting to marginal or isolated complaints online, thus drawing far more attention to them than would otherwise have ever been brought on its own.

The point of all this babbling? Let students criticize. If their complaints are legitimate, then try to address them and fix the problem. If they are illegitimate, then ignore them – that’s probably what everybody else is doing, too.

No Sudden Death at the Beaver

Caught red handed! The Beaver, in a raft of apologies printed in yesterdays edition, admitted that its office was not, in fact, a death trap. Saying that it would like to apologize for “any alarm caused” by the comment in an article in the previous edition that stated that staffers in the Beaver’s office “face imminent death every time we work here”, the editors acknowledged that this was, in fact, an exaggeration. Tongue-in-cheek, the kids call it these days.

Additionally, I have to admire the choice of a editorial cartoon featuring a student reading the Beaver on the loo. I’ve always said that the Beaver is a useful toilet paper.

Voting Opens

Well, it’s finally come. Voting has opened in the Students Union elections, and Houghton Street is crammed with hacks trying to gain votes with colourful banners, plentiful fliers and simply shouting students into submission as they try to make their way to classes.

The polls will remain open through tomorrow afternoon, providing ample time for students to weigh in on the various choices – although as the Beaver’s cover story reports today four of the positions are uncontested. In principle RON (re-open nominations) votes could defeat any of the unopposed candidates, but the Observer has heard that this is unprecedented.

Voting is taking place in the Quad, as well as online via the Students Union website and the Election website.

Davies on Sex, Science and Profit

If you weren’t aware, our own director moonlights as a book critic in his spare time. And according to the Guardian, Davies is something of a pugilist when it comes to his reviews. His latest target, Terence Kealey of the University of Buckingham, gets socked for lacking self-discipline in his latest book, Sex, Science and Profits.

Writing in the Times Higher Education supplement, Davies criticizes Kealey for his provocative title, saying that “in fact, there is rather more about science and profit than about the other thing.” Kealey’s book, which Davies dismisses as a ‘polemic’, is about the value of private investment in education, particularly in scientific research. The poor Vice Chancellor even receives an unfortunate literary insult, being likened to Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

You’d think that the director could lay off, although maybe he is still smarting from being shown up by other university leaders online – Kealey, on the other hand, doesn’t even register. Pick on someone your own size, Howard!

Comms Candidates on the SU Website

At the poorly advertised hustings event yesterday, the three Comms candidates weighed in on the pathetic Students Union website (we’ve made our feelings on the site pretty clear in the past). The three all agreed that it needed to be improved, although bizarrely Gaby said that she wouldn’t make it a priority. I say bizarrely because the website should be the most powerful way to communicate with students, as well as a means to foster greater community within the school and even get more students involved in the Students Union.

Instead of imposing upon the Beaver to publish a summary of upcoming motions at the UGM, why not post them in a highly visible part of the website? As it is, the motions are contained within the order papers that are posted in a document format (in other words, you have to download and open the file to read the motions, instead of reading them right there on the website), as well as posted on a Facebook group with a paltry 120 members (although to be fair that’s probably equal to the number of people who attend non-Israel related UGMs).

Speaking of Facebook, only one candidate – Dan – mentioned it as a useful means of communicating with students about the SU. Considering that there are 19,000 members of the LSE network on Facebook, and multiple groups within the network with more than 1,000 members, this is a medium that a Comms officer can’t afford to ignore, even if it means venturing outside the SU fiefdom.

To give some credit to all the candidates, they all suggested that they would have words with OnCampus, who are responsible for the construction and layout of the SU website (although not for populating it with information and content). Abz went a step further and suggested that if OnCampus couldn’t provide what is required, then he would end the contract with them and find an alternative. Dan, meanwhile, said that he would not commit to breaking the contract with them, but would expect changes to come and for the website to turn a profit via relevant ads. Gaby said that she wanted to further integrate the Media Group’s content with the SU website, potentially starting a turf battle over their separate websites and independence (although in the case of the Beaver, maybe this would mean that they update it at least once a term).

The candidates reiterated some of their points in follow-up interviews posted on the SU election website.

The YouTube Election

As Hack Attack has reported, a video has been posted on YouTube with a silly voiceover on top of GenSec candidate Stephen Wall’s LooSE TV manifesto video.  It’s pretty sophomoric, but this Observer has to admit it earned a chuckle from us (and from Wall himself, apparently). According to the profile page of its poster (The1969Society), the video has been viewed more than 200 times.

Given the prevalence of unintentionally amusing manifesto videos on the elections website, one could only dream of further spoofs, although we have to imagine that this sort of thing is driving James Bacon batty. Might we recommend that the next video splices images of Abz putting his foot in his mouth on the campaign trail, as well as perhaps him prancing around in a monkey suit?

LSE Hands out First Degree

As you lot may well know, historically graduates from the LSE received their diplomas degrees from the University of London, the umbrella school of which the LSE is a constituent member. That has now changed, as Howard Davies awarded the first diploma degree bearing the mark of the London School of Economics instead of UoL to PhD student Enrico Sette last week. While we remain a part of the University of London, beginning with this years graduates all students will be receiving the new diploma degree, although currently enrolled students will have the opportunity to choose the University of London diploma degree if they like.

Apparently there are some mixed feelings about the change, particularly among British students, who may prefer the UoL degree. GenSec candidate Andy Hallet spoke last term about his preference for the UoL degrees during a UGM, however presumably for many of the international students they will be pleased with the change as they will no long have to explain to employers why their CV says LSE and their degree says Universty of London.

(EDIT: OK, I got tired of striking diploma for degree after the first graph. Suffice to say the distinction was lost on me (I’ll say!), but I’ve made the correction throughout the article)

Everybody Loves Libby

Outgoing SU Treasurer Libby Meyer has been named as the best Sabb in office for the term during the Hustings event this afternoon by Comms candidates. Asked by a questioner in the audience who they thought had been the best Sabb, Abz replied that Libby is the only one who hasn’t been embroiled in scandal, so she got his nod. Fellow candidate Gabby agreed, citing the success of the Freshers Fair this year, and Dan admired her dedication, having seen her in the office past 10pm in recent nights.

So congrats, Libby, you’re the favourite Sabb! But just to bring you back down to earth, you’ve still got a long ways to go before you reach the level of popularity accorded to the Hare Krishna food guy.

What’s On

Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, widely known for his short and digestible Globalization and its Discontents, will be launching his latest book, the $3 Trillion War this evening. The event is ticketed, so if you didn’t have the foresight to snap one up last week, you’ll be banished to the video link in the New Theater, or you can try your luck in the returns queue. In any case, this should be a worthwhile event, one of the most anticipated of the term.

When, Where: Tonight, 6:30pm in the Old Theater (video link in the New Theater)

In coordination with the Financial Times, the LSE is hosting European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering this week for a discussion entitled “Dialogue of Cultures or Clash of Civilizations?” Given the unrest on the EU’s southeast flank, as well as continuing questions of migration and religion within the European Union, this promises to be an interesting discussion so long as the president is willing to weigh in on the issues.

When, Where: Wednesday, 5:00pm in the New Theater

As one could only imagine you all knew, elections for the Students Union are this week, with voting taking place on Wednesday and Thursday in the Quad (you can also vote online). There are numerous events taking place in coordination with the voting, including a Hustings event this afternoon where voters will have an opportunity to quiz the candidates on their policies and records. Of course there is further detail on all things election related on the Media Group’s election website.

When, Where: Hustings are this afternoon, 1pm in the Old Theater