Chapter 24 Section 5 Student Prince

At this time there was renewed excitement over the funding of the University Student Union, so whether or not the praise for my maintenance of the primary school project was justified, the issue quickly faded away.Unlike the debate over school milk, student union funding is largely a movement organized by hard-liners in the leftist movement and is therefore less politically dangerous.But it is extremely rampant, and its spearhead is not only aimed at me.My daughter, Carol, who is studying law at UCL, is also going through a difficult time.Thankfully, she was living at home at the time. In both Europe and the United States, these are high times of the "student revolution".In retrospect, it is remarkable that the naive Marxism and self-serving demands that characterized the movement received so much attention.It is partly a development of the youth cult of the 1960s, when young people were considered the source of a deep understanding of the human condition, and many students expected their opinions to be respected.

However, the student protest movement at that time was not a herald of social progress at all, it was just a world phenomenon that was about to disappear.Universities increased too fast in the 1960s, and the standards of many universities declined and traditional features disappeared.Moreover, this phenomenon occurred at a time when market principles were retreating from the almost universal assumption that everyone was entitled to a job and that the state had the ability to keep everyone employed.As a result, these rootless young people lack both the authority of their predecessors in the 1950s and the discipline that students in the 1980s needed to get a good job.

The leftist movement managed to control many of the student unions and thus the public funds allocated to them, which they used to carry out sabotage.This practice has angered ordinary taxpayers and even many students who just want to study hard.There are two issues to consider here: first, the funding of the student union; second, the activities of the student union.With regard to the first aspect, the main source of funding for student unions is the membership fees that local education authorities are required to provide by law.Student Union membership is usually compulsory; dues are paid directly to the Student Union.Regarding the activities of the student union, some student unions take advantage of this convenient condition, often disregarding the student union constitution and the wishes of the members, and use the income for factional purposes.

In July 1971, I submitted reform proposals to the Cabinet's Home and Social Affairs Committee.I considered having a student union registrar, but doing so would require legislation, so I made only modest suggestions.In the future, the student union fee will no longer be included in the funds payable to the university; slightly increase the student bursary, so that students can participate in certain clubs or societies on a voluntary basis; the facilities required by the student union will be provided by each school; the facilities of the student union are open to all students Open regardless of whether they are student union members or not.In addition to solving the problem of the use of public funds, these reforms will also eliminate the "closed factory" nature of the student union, which is very annoying in principle.The Home and Social Affairs Committee was not prepared to immediately support my proposals, but I re-adopted those arguments, fully aware of the potential for considerable controversy, and the Committee agreed.

Bill von Straubenzi was the Minister of State directly responsible for negotiating these proposals, but the students were quick to make me the object of their most hated attacks.Wherever I went, I was besieged by groups of students. When I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new building at the University of Leeds in early November, about 500 students tried to overwhelm me with loud shouts.Later this month, when I released the naming document of South Bank Technical University at Elizabeth Hall in London, I was blocked by 2,000 students shouting loudly, and a dozen mounted police officers had to be dispatched to protect my car. In December, protesting students used the holidays to organize a national day of protest, and universities burned my effigy.

At this time, many university presidents and school authorities acquiesced to the student protests.Edward Boyle even announced at the Leeds University student mass meeting that he opposed my proposal.Since the proposals were made only for consultation (although the circumstances clearly cannot be described as "consultation"), it is entirely possible to cool down the students and delay taking action.That's what I do.The main problem is that the reform program cannot succeed if the university authorities themselves are not prepared to uphold the values ​​of the universities and exercise their authority.It was a time when some students, with the connivance and support of nervous school authorities, began to deprive others of their freedom of expression.University intolerance reached its most violent heights in the early 1970s.Yet the same censorship exists today, just less pronounced and more institutionalized than in the past.