{"id":593,"date":"2018-05-24T21:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T21:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=593"},"modified":"2018-07-30T22:19:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T22:19:40","slug":"sheer-brass-balls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/24\/sheer-brass-balls\/","title":{"rendered":"BALLS UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"

A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME<\/span><\/p>\n

In subtext 176<\/a>, we reported that the Students\u2019 Union had come under fire from students for what was perceived as a lacklustre Graduation Ball lineup and venue. With the event looking increasingly like a loss-making exercise, LUSU has now cancelled the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is unprecedented. Grad Ball has been in existence since the 1970s, predating college extravs, so why has it died a sudden, grizzly death?<\/span><\/p>\n

Until a few years ago, the University subsidised some of Grad Ball\u2019s costs, and this allowed the SU to keep ticket prices down without compromising the quality of the acts and venue. The SU block grant has also been reduced recently. The University is more than happy to pump seventy grand into extra coaching for an away-Roses, when a fraction of that could be gifted to LUSU to get a popular act. Why should the university have to fund the school disco? Because a good Grad Ball = good publicity for Lancaster. Shallow, ‘ooh look at the big acts we can get’ publicity, but publicity nonetheless (it\u2019s also the right thing to do, of course). Alas, this disaster is likely to translate into bad publicity for Lancaster. A Top Ten University that doesn\u2019t even have an end of year ball? Outrageous!<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to Grad Ball, the SU is in an invidious position – it has to strike a balance between finding an act that is JUST famous enough with providing a reasonable ticket price (not that Lancaster\u2019s Grad Ball ticket prices are that out of tune with our \u2018comparator\u2019 universities). Also, it is easy for students to vote in some online poll demanding, oh we don\u2019t know, P.J. Proby (Is he the In Thing? – Ed.), or for a candidate for a LUSU officer post to promise P.J. Proby, but anyone experienced in Ents booking knows that nothing is that simple. When it transpires that P.J. Proby is busy doing his hair on the day of Grad Ball, the disappointing lineup is invariably blamed on \u2018LUSU laziness.\u2019 Accountability is also a major issue. Since LUSU completely rejected transparency to the strongest degree possible, they have severely lacked a \u2018sounding board\u2019 to work out what students want from their school disco.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, the SU drastically inflated the membership price of BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) teams, in most cases by over TEN TIMES the previous price, to make up for a 22% drain on expenditure (subtext 137).<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, the SU underwent a drastic restructure, making some staff members redundant, and re-deploying others to roles within University House, which took over responsibility for LUSU\u2019s enterprise, volunteering, and international opportunities, as well as its IT provision (subtext 156). Not long before then, the SU was forced to close down one of its on-campus shops.<\/span><\/p>\n

That LUSU has made these drastic financial cuts, yet STILL cannot afford to absorb some of the costs associated with Grad Ball, is a major issue, and causes the subtext collective considerable concern for LUSU\u2019s future.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

SHEER BRASS BALLS <\/span><\/p>\n

The cancellation of Grad Ball caught the attention of candidates in the recent local by-elections, some of whom offered to step in and sort it all out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservative candidates Callum Furner and Guy Watts took to social media pledging, if elected, ‘to work with the Students Union […] to truly send off the Class of 2018 in magical style.’ When asked how, there came the somewhat broad response of ‘anything that\u2019s needed’. Alas, these promises did little to aide the success of the Tories, who were roundly defeated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour candidates Amara Betts-Patel and Oliver Robinson took a more placatory approach, expressing their desire for a \u2018better relationship\u2019 with the Students\u2019 Union – a noble olive branch. Meanwhile, one of our sitting Labour councillors took to the \u2018Overheard at Lancaster\u2019 Facebook page to mock the \u2018low effort SU\u2019. So much for the better relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

What influence the city council actually has over the SU\u2019s ents function is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME In subtext 176, we reported that the Students\u2019 Union had come under fire from students for what was perceived as a lacklustre Graduation Ball lineup and venue. With the event looking increasingly like a loss-making … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[295,332,341,20],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-grad-ball","tag-issue-178","tag-local-politics","tag-lusu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-9z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":516,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/gradballs\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":0},"title":"GRADBALLS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Students' Union came under fire (http:\/\/scan.lusu.co.uk\/index.php\/2018\/04\/24\/a-glorified-school-disco-plans-to-move-grad-ball-to-the-great-hall-fall-flat-among-students\/) after it announced the line-up and venue for this year's Grad Ball. Students are deeply unhappy that the event is moving from Blackpool Tower to the Great Hall (where the majority of Grad Balls were held until 2012), and with the perceived 'cheap'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":709,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/the-students-union\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":1},"title":"THE STUDENTS’ UNION","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It all started so well for the Students' Union. In subtext 169 we reported on their campaign against an unnecessary rent increase of up to \u00a3249. To make their displeasure known, LUSU set up a stall and put \u00a3249 worth of pasta on display. A little gimmicky, we thought, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":600,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/24\/democracy-does-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":2},"title":"DEMOCRACY DOES GOOD","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 24 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time subtext covered a city council by-election in University & Scotforth Rural ward (December 2016 - see subtext 156), the turnout fell to an all-time low for a public election this century. The last time campus residents went to the polls in a public election (June 2017 -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1098,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/11\/01\/special-feature-lancaster-university-students-disunion\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":3},"title":"SPECIAL FEATURE: LANCASTER UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ DISUNION","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"SPECIAL FEATURE: LANCASTER UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' DISUNION Contributed articles by Ronnie Rowlands ONE SUGAR, PLEASE When we covered the Students' Union officer elections for the 19\/20 academic year, your subtext correspondents observed that the new crop of officers ought to make short work of becoming popular. LUSU had been awash with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":530,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/subtext-176-for-the-avoidance-of-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":4},"title":"subtext 176 – ‘for the avoidance of subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial,\u00a0fash, more fash, gender pay gap, UA92 (in four parts), bad governance, more governance, assistant deans, appeal for more assistant deans, bomb shelter update, grad ball, alternative grad ball, lu text lost and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":472,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/pg-tips\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":5},"title":"PG TIPS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Some months ago, a number of students were cross with LUSU for refusing postgrad students the right to play intercollegiate sports with their undergrad colleges. One of the unsuccessful LUSU Presidential candidates pledged to investigate how to make this possible. We at subtext thought this rather odd. 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