UCD Students' Union President Miranda Bauer Weighs In On The Upcoming Referendum To Rejoin USI
Miranda Bauer is the President of UCD Students’ Union, writing in a personal capacity.
Before I started this job, I was tired of the endless back and forth about USI. Every year, the same debate: should we rejoin, or should we stay out? Endless whispers and doubts about its efficiency paired with a need to focus on UCD students’ issues did not make things easier. When it became clear we’d have another referendum, I knew I had a responsibility to take a serious look at the question.
I went through the arguments for and against, read everything I could find, and talked to people on both sides. I cannot say I didn’t look a bit like Charlie and his Conspiracy Wall from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but I can say that after all of that, I reached my conclusion:
I’m voting yes to rejoin USI, and I’m asking UCD students to do the same.
USI is flawless. Said nobody ever.
I’m not here to claim USI gets everything right. It doesn’t. I don’t agree with how they run their elections, and plenty of student activists I respect have raised concerns about aspects of the organisation. But show me a Students’ Union, a trade union, a political party, a business – big or small, or an NGO that doesn’t have its own issues.
The question isn’t whether USI is perfect. It’s whether staying outside helps UCD students. I doubt that our continued existence in the margins of USI will benefit any student, either in UCD or nationally. Sitting on the sidelines and lacking national unity makes us look disjointed. The time has come to see if the student movement can be bigger than the sum of its parts and, if we want to answer this question, we have to be part of it.
Waiting for a perfect organisation to appear is just another way of saying we should never rejoin. If we take that approach, we might as well check back in when we’re pensioners.
We are not better off alone.
UCDSU has spent the last decade trying to fight national battles on its own. Fees, housing, cost of living; we’ve pushed on these issues with all the strength that we had. Take two years ago, when we led the national conversation on student digs but that regulatory landscape still remains unchanged. We can do a lot as UCDSU, but we can’t win these fights of national importance alone.
Those in power will take students more seriously when they speak with one voice. Rejoining USI means having a direct say in national policy, setting the agenda instead of reacting to it, and putting our weight behind properly funded education and real action on student housing. On this basis, I have also started to think along the lines of what UCD students can bring to the student movement.
What about fixing UCDSU first?
Some argue that UCDSU needs to get its own house in order before thinking about USI. But what does that actually mean? The biggest issues UCD students face don’t come from within Belfield. Government inaction on housing, fees, and student support affects every student, no matter how well UCDSU runs itself. If anything, rejoining USI would give UCD students a stronger platform to push for solutions.
Saying we should wait until UCDSU is “sorted” before rejoining is really just kicking the can down the road. If we’re serious about making things better, we need to start now.
What happens if we vote YES?
Let's say that all of us (those of us who disagree with aspects within USI and those who wholeheartedly agree with all of it) decide to go ahead and re-join. This decision doesn’t mean giving USI a free pass. It means getting involved, shaping the organisation, and making sure UCD students’ concerns are front and centre. It means having a real say in how students are represented at a national level. It means that those who want to see USI changed, can be at the forefront and take matters into their own hands.
When I ran for Campaigns & Engagement Officer and later for President, it wasn’t because I thought UCDSU was perfect. It was because I wanted to improve it. The same logic applies here. If we rejoin, we can push USI to be better and realise its potential. If we stay out, nothing changes.
For a decade, UCD students have been fighting these battles alone. Let’s vote YES next week and in doing so, take our voice and the collective voice of students to the next level.