In the wake of significant budget cuts to Cardiff University due to a £31 million deficit— which saw courses cut and a mass exodus of university staff through resignation and redundancy—an AGM motion for the Students’ Union to lobby the university to build a swimming pool has gained significant traction.
The motion to build our very own “big beautiful” pool was proposed on behalf of the various watersports societies calls for the VP Sports to lobby Cardiff University to acquire one, due to the “high cost” of renting external pool space, as opposed to the meagre cost of the university using tens of millions of pounds of our tuition fees to build a swimming pool.
This motion, frankly, is tone-deaf and would see vital SU funds diverted away from more deserving causes into a lobbying campaign that could be optimistically described as a “long shot”, but more accurately described as “ludicrous” and “not going to happen”.
The proposal, if successfully lobbied for, would see Cardiff University students, in practice, paying the university to swim in their tuition fees.
“Currently, this vanity project, which is like buying a luxury car when your house needs a new roof, is beating more worthy motions”, such as: “Improving travel to and from Cardiff University Heath Park campus”; “Campaign to open the books and improve the university’s financial strategy”; and “Cooperate with, and support industrial action undertaken by, the staff trade unions”.
Whilst I understand the societies’ struggles with finding affordable training spaces, it is not the place of the Students’ Union to lobby for a swimming pool; its focus should be firmly rooted in advocating for the majority of students’ interests and well-being.
There are many more relevant and prudent causes in Cardiff students’ interests, and when put alongside rightful campaigns to address discrimination, inequality, and sexual assault within the university, a proposal to lobby for a swimming pool—which would only really benefit a select few—seems tasteless.
In a cost-of-living crisis, where many students are struggling more than ever before, and the status of their courses hang dubiously over their heads, AGM motions and the CUSU should be about advocating for causes like these.
“This poses a more worrying question: is our students’ union disregarding the “union” part of its name, is it just a socially conscious nightclub?”
Whether debated or not, the motion exposes a fatal flaw in the AGM system.
A combination of low voter turnout and general apathy towards the business conducted by the SU allows a minority of the student body to force motions through.
Currently, this vanity project, which is like buying a luxury car when your house needs a new roof, is beating more worthy motions
If this were to enter the top four and become one of the proposals voted on within the AGM, the watersports societies will likely be able to pack the room and rubber stamp this motion through.
The AGM markets itself as democratic when, in fact, it is the opposite.
In 2024, 801 students gathered in Y Plas to dictate SU policy for the other 30,000.
Little is done to increase engagement in proceedings like these, bar the occasional e-mail or sporadic TikTok, such as the one posted on the official CUSU account on Halloween, exposing that no one knows what the AGM is.
Much improvement is needed to ensure that CUSU is advocating for students effectively.