Opinion | Why students don't care about student politics

By Leah Martindale, Film & TV Editor

Why do students seem not to care about student politics? The question is as old as time, though it is relatively easy to answer.

Cast your mind back to Year 9 student elections. No matter the standard of school you attended, there was always an over-eager Head Girl/Class President/Generic-Student-Politician. Those children were, to be frank, speaking as a former prefect and Class Vice President, weird.

Either full of naive easily-broken promises of two-hour lunchtimes and no homework, or simply being the only person who bothered running, these candidates were marked symbolically with Gileadean tags that marked them as outliers. Even now, a redacted amount of years post-secondary school education, there is a (mis)conception that student politics are for the overly-keen.

Many of the student council lobbiers and campaigners I have met have an interest in their section that borders on the maniacal. As someone with a relatively basic understanding of the processes, I feel unable to permeate this sector of student society unless I have dedicated an academic year to campaigning for #ThisGirlCan or have been put under a witch’s curse that makes me unable to shut up about the student LibDems.

There are other reasons, of course. Passion, about anything, is exciting: even if imperceptible to some of us. However, student politics events are woefully under-advertised. Now in my fourth year of study at the University of Bristol, with a tangible and invested interest in national and global politics, I have still never attended an AMM.

The only student politics event I have ever attended was the election of this year’s sabbatical Students Union officers, and in truth this was only to see good friends of mine elected. I’ve voted when prompted by myBristol, and heart-reacted my fair share of political manifesto videos - Hillary’s Cardi B inspired music video is stuck in my head a good 6 months on - but I never seem to know when things are actually happening.

In short, most students don’t care about student politics because unless they are your entire life, they are confusing and elusive.

Sandra Bullock’s character in Bird Box (2017) could not miss the frankly aggressive and damn successful advertising techniques of Bristol student acapella, pantomime, and drama societies. Every randomer I have met once at a house party and added on Facebook seems to have an event branded banner imploring me to see their earth-shattering piece of theatre, and sometimes it works. I wouldn’t know my flatmate was proposing a motion at student council until I was invited to his victory drinks.

Even if I somehow managed to make it to a student politics event, the procedure is a mystery to me. Can I vote on anything? Do I need to be a member of certain societies to vote on certain things? Where are the manifestos? Who is even currently standing? Discerning student politics from the outside is harder than finding a comprehensive Brexit plan.

Depressingly, it also ultimately feels hard to believe in the possibility of student politics. It took Stanford, an icon of the Students Union from 2017-2019, nearly two years to get a microwave in the Students Union. As a student in my fourth year who will be here for a sum five, if not more, I am in a privileged position to have seen much of this uni change around me, and I still have minimal faith that any change I vote for will even affect me.

It is a morally deplorable position to only vote in one’s own interests, of course, and it is a position I abjectly disagree with in national politics. However, unlike the General Election, we are not voting in a party who will be in government for the next five years - or until the next hastily appointed General Election.

Student politics are as much popularity contests as they are displays of suitability

These are roles that rotate generally yearly, with few exceptions. How can I truly invest myself in a candidate that I trust if their impact might not even be felt in their term - especially with other pressures like their degree, extra-curricular projects, and possibly work weighing in?

Finally, I feel student politics are as much popularity contests as they are displays of suitability. We have an elected network chair who has documentedly said deplorable and prejudiced things, both publicly and in ignorant private correspondences, and yet retained their position with little to no rebuttal.

This person is meant to represent me and my community, but has shown disrespect to countless others and myself personally. How can I stand by student politics when student politicians do not stand by me? For the record, the individual in question did not receive my vote.

In short, most students don’t care about student politics because unless they are your entire life, they are confusing and elusive. They do not seem representative and the system itself is a conveyor belt of seemingly inefficient politics and empty promises. Perhaps it’s just me, perhaps I am lazy or ignorant or just confused, but the current percentile of students voting in elections would suggest I am not alone.

What do you think the SU needs to do to make student politics more engaging?