Student politics seem to be going down the pan

by Marcus Riberg

Walking in to the men’s room on the second floor of LCC’s media block, I found myself sole-high in a dirty puddle.

My spine froze and I immediately gazed down upon the liquid, trying to decipher whether it was water or something that had once been water, but since passed through another man and would now be classified as something else.

Although the water was pouring out from a faucet, it had undergone a heinous transformation running through the stained floor of the stalls.

An old lady behind me, tasked with cleaning up the mess, assured me that it was just “another leakage”.

In a fit of misdirected anger I asked whether or not she had considered calling a plumber, all the while tapping my leather soles on the floor to gauge the ‘stickiness’ of the liquid.

She had called a plumber. Too many times, I gathered from her tone.

After studying the signed cleaning schedule fixed to door, I was convinced the cleaning staff was not to blame.

We can only blame ourselves

So who exactly is responsible for the perpetual squalor of LCC's bathrooms?  I think the answer is twofold.

Firstly, the state of facilities throughout the College is generally poor.  Hopefully we will see UAL investing  in the building in the coming years.

But I can’t also help feeling the feculent state of our bathrooms are partly the fault of us students.

The unconcern for our restrooms seem to me to be related to the issue of political apathy shown on a number of occasions this year.

During the anti-cuts protest of November 9, UAL students presented an embarrassingly small number of demonstrators to fight the cause.

Moreover, even though we recorded the highest number of votes in the Student Elections of 2011, the turnout was still akin an election in Burma.

Though SUARTS is going against the grain in being involved in student politics at UAL, I can't help but think that recent changes to their sabbatical team wouldn't been allowed to happen in a more politically orientated college.

To improve the state and reputation of our University – and its facilities – we must all do our part.

UAL students seem to be missing the point in student politics, as well as in the bathrooms.