I’ve been a bit light on the blogging lately, so I thought I’d take a look at the wider role of the ICU President – the things that have to, or ought to be done, but that no-one really mentions in their manifestos. The past seven days may have included a four day week, but it also showed the best and worst sides of the job, and of Imperial students.
The President is the ultimate representative of students at Imperial, but that takes on many guises. Over the next few days I’ll be revealing some of the madness over the past week, starting with last Friday.
Manual Labour
It all went crazy last Friday, 30th April, when due to a small mix-up there was loads of rubbish sitting on the stage in the Concert Hall. We hoped that the Phase 3 builders might be able to take it away (it was stuff chucked out of the DramSoc store cupboard, including lots of wood offcuts), but there was too much of it. Unfortunately we ran out of time to get it shifted before I had a knock on the door from some unfailingly polite but slightly stressed medics, who were preparing for their “24 hour opera“. They’re told on the Friday evening what they will be performing, and have until 7pm on the Saturday to rehearse, prepare the set and rig up the stage. The stage was full of junk.
You don’t really expect to be hauling wood around as President, but it isn’t the first time I’ve ended up doing manual labour to solve an emerging crisis. With so many people sharing the same space, problems sometimes happen and require a quick solution, frequently with sabbs having to muck in.
I got to work with the DPCS, Jenny Wilson, moving bits from the stage while calling for re-inforcements from DramSoc. Aided by a changing assortment of people we moved the junk from the stage down to the Activity Spaces while ICSM Light Opera set up around us.
Then we discovered a problem – it was a bank holiday weekend and the Activity Spaces needed to be cleared by Tuesday afternoon so the photographers could set up for the Postgraduate graduation ceremony! A bit of a problem, as it meant having to shift it Tuesday morning when we might not have anyone available to do it.
The Bad Side
While I was discussing this conundrum with our Ents Manager, we saw Sherfield security running into the quad. This is where the worst examples of Imperal students come in. There must have been something in the air on Friday night (post-exam stupidity?), as we had a number of incidents involving worse for wear students taking a dislike to each other. These incidents usually involve bans or disciplinaries, which set the scene for a succession of students being invited to my office this week in order to explain what they were up to.
The ICU President is responsible for student discipline inside the building or on ICU club and society activities, under a disciplinary agreement with the College. We try to handle things internally, as no-one really wants a College disciplinary.
The end of exams should be a fun time, and it’s great to see people enjoying themselves this evening. It’s just a shame that a few people are predisposed to behaving like idiots.
The Good Side
There’s always a good side of course, beyond the entertainment of trying to shift a load of junk at short notice. Once I’d taken the details for our first incident of the evening, I popped downstairs for a pint or two with the guys from DramSoc, after all the junk had been moved. A stream of people I hadn’t spoken to for a while appeared at random, and it was great to see so many familiar faces out in the bar having a good time. I always enjoy chatting to people like this, it’s a nice change from having to look at discipline!
At 9pm I finally made it out of the door, about 3.5 hours after I’d intended to leave (it was a gruelling week of meetings) and having done more exercise than usual for a Friday night. One thing I’ve learned – as President, you’re never really “off-duty”, and even the best laid plans to be home for dinner at a sensible time can go awry at the last minute.
In my next post I’ll talk a bit about Imperial’s graduation ceremonies.
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