The Union.
It's been quite a while since my half(and a bit more)-year stint in the Publicity Committee of Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Student Union ended. It was a great experience, culminating in the Union's Publicity Fair in the CCA Fiesta.
However... Those few days before the semester really began... Reminded me what the Union truly was, and still is.
Right here is something you could call a "diary entry". You could argue that a diary's supposed to be personal. Special. Private. Well, this post IS. Personal, at least. Special? Depends on the reader. Private? Hell no. But something like this shouldn't be written in some diary, locked up in some corner and eventually forgotten. This comes out of my head. Now. And if you want to read, then go ahead. It's all here.
First up, some background information: I didn't go for FOC back in Year 1, but went for Challengers after a friend recommended the camp to me. Following that, I signed up to be a part of the Union Subcommittee, and got in. (More on this later on.) You could say that it was all "fine and dandy", but only for two months.
That was a meeting I never forgot... It was one of those weekly subcommittee meetings, on Tuesdays for Publicity. My committee head.... You could say she broke down just slightly. We hadn't been doing the work assigned to us, you see, and she let us know her disappointment on that day, after a few weeks with barely any work done.
But the issue about us not doing work wasn't what hit me, and neither was it her disappointment. It was a bit of what she said during the meeting:
"I know many of you joined the Union, aiming to be GLs for next year's FOC. But the executive committee of the Union doesn't just look at who's in the Union - they look at who has the necessary traits to be a GL, to lead the freshies in the Freshmen Orientation Camp. Remember what you said in the subcomm interview, when they asked you what you would prioritise if you had to? Many of you answered that you would choose the Union if it ever clashed in timing with your CCAs and other matters, but you've been skipping meetings, and you're obviously just not taking this seriously. With the way you guys have been.... I'm sorry, but I don't think any of you can be GLs."
After her emotional outburst, I didn't even feel "bad"; in the interview I mentioned earlier on, they asked me that very question. I'd said that studies would be number 1, canoeing would be number 2 (due to my passion for the sport), and the Union would come in 3rd. They'd accepted my answer, and I remembered that. I felt slightly guilty for not doing my assigned work, yes, but I knew that already. That didn't affect me. What I felt after her words was a feeling of shock and loss.
Some of you might be wondering, "Why? There's nothing shocking about what she said - it's not like everyone would have done their jobs super-efficiently". But it's not that. What ran through my head at the time was this:
"People joined the Union to be GLs? I didn't know that. You could be a GL for FOC by being in the Union? Wait, so that's what these guys joined for? Wasn't the Union created to serve the student body? Why's she saying this like it's happened before? What's.... What's going on????"
And this brings me back to another point in the interview: When they'd asked me why I wanted to join the Union, I'd said that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of the student body. The Union, as I knew it, was there to organise events so that the student body would be happy. It was one of those things that the students could look at, and be glad it was around. It was great. It was grand. It had a noble purpose. And I wanted to be a part of it, to make people... happy.
They let me into the Union after I'd given them that explanation. After my comm head's "speech", I looked back at the interview. I'd told them my reason for wanting to join the Union. They must have known that people like me didn't think the same way the vast majority of the Union did. They knew...
And they brought me in.
I felt as if I'd been slapped in the face with a brick. I realised then that it was highly likely that most of the people in the Union, who came in through FOC, didn't really care about the rest of the student body. Or rather, they didn't make the welfare of the student body their priority. After all, it was always so much easier.... to care more about yourself than for others. Take no offence.
And so, I lost faith in the Union.
Fast forward a few months from then, and you come to the near past - the "CCA Fiesta season". We stayed in The Loft@94 throughout the period of the Fiesta, and on the night after the first day, someone wondered aloud why the other CCAs didn't seem to like us. Someone else commented that perhaps they were envious - jealous, even - of the Union's budget. (It's pretty huge.) I didn't think much about it.
Over the course of the next 3 days, I realised 2 more things that hit me harder than the first did, in two different encounters:
1) I was given a camera and asked to capture pictures of the bustling crowds around the Union booths while people came to enquire about the Union, and when the Party Committee gave out their tickets for Magnitude. When nothing was going on, I snapped any activity around the booth. That was when I saw the Malay Cultural Club performing for the freshies. It was magnificent, and their outfits looked amazing. On instinct, I brought the DSLR to my eye.
Then I stopped. This wasn't related to the Union. I was asked to capture pictures of the great fun people were having at the Union's end, so as to "publicise the Union", which is what my committee is for. If I took any photos unrelated to the Union, they would probably be deleted while the "fun Union photos" would have been uploaded to its Facebook page.
I then remembered that what makes life great isn't the assortment of huge events that come by once a year, or once in two years; it's the little things, like when it doesn't rain when you're out cycling with your friends, when the bus driver lets you on even though you're out of all cash, when your friends wait for you in the toilet because they know you'll be terrified if you're all alone. In that sense, wouldn't the student body be happier and more appreciative if the Union did small, meaningful things instead of holding huge events like Magnitude, where only a small amount of people can take part? In its core, what I saw was that the Union wasn't doing enough not because it didn't have the ability to; it was because the Union didn't seem to care enough to focus more on the actual happiness levels of the students rather than the self-satisfaction with hosting grandiose events. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe they just don't realise that the student body would be happier if, for example, the Union actually helped all the other CCAs gain publicity by highlighting them with photos on its own Facebook page, which has so many more followers. It'd benefit everyone, I believe. Really.
2) A friend of mine visited me at the Union booth while I was snapping photos. From him, I learned that every student contributes a certain amount to the Union's budget every semester - it's actually stated in the receipt after you pay your fees. Why, and how, then, could someone in the Union say that other CCAs didn't like the Union because they were envious (or rather, JEALOUS) of the budget we were getting? It's their money, and yet they weren't getting anything back from the Union. It was a one-way transaction, and that disturbed me. In relation to my first point, doing little things, like using the reach that we possess to help them publicise their CCAs, for instance, is worth more than any cash value in my opinion. What this means: The Union should deliver to all students, because (more or less) all students keep the Union afloat. They power its existence. The Union owes the student body, at the very least.... It should remember that.
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I'm near the end. Bear with me. This last part doesn't have much reasoning, just a heads-up.
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As a part of the Publicity Committee, I was told to tell any freshies that asked about the Union that (1) the Union consists of the entire student body, (2) we of the subcommittee and executive committee make it our mission to safeguard the welfare of the student body, and (3) well, yeah. We're one big family, in that sense.
I'll be frank: I didn't tell any of the freshies that. I couldn't bring myself to say something which I didn't truly believe in. The Union, consisting of the entire student body? That was complete and utter rubbish. The "Union" has been, and still is, a gathering place, an exclusive club for people who went for FOC. Yes, it plans events. Its executive committee members sign on a manifesto of sorts, seen in the Union office, to swear by their names to dedicate themselves to the welfare of the student body. Yes, it sounds great. But how much value do those people place on their signatures? I asked a friend in the Union whom I trust, and he told me that sometimes, people think they can make a change, but when they try, they realise that it's not so easy, and then they forget about it over time. I'm not sure if that's true. But they placed their signatures on that paper, so it became their duty then. I'm not sure if I'm okay with them "not being able to do anything" after that.
Within the Union, co-workers are seen as precious friends who can't be offended for fear of damaging friendships, and it all leads to inefficient making of decisions and wastage of precious time. This, and the people inside don't really care about the ones they're supposed to serve. It's been a disappointment.
But all in all.... I did somewhat enjoy my time in there. What should be changed isn't the people, but rather the system, and the culture. I don't know how long it'll take, but I do hope that some day, every student that joins NP will receive a "Welcome to the Union" note in his or her freshmen goodie bag and feel included, and the people of the Union will stand proud, knowing that they're sacrificing a bit of themselves for a lot of other people.
For Students, By Students.
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I might have left out some thoughts along the way. This took quite a while to type, after all.... Did you know that the Union Committees consisted of only a few people until a few years ago? They were running fine back then. Think about it.
*Didn't spellcheck or anything. Too tired. Goodnight. No hate was involved in this post.
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Done by Yap Xiao Wei on 26 May 2013. Reposted on Yap Xiao Wei's blog on 25 June 2013.
