The Triple Room battle was fought by the 16 Hall JCRCS not the student union.

The union was almost bought over by Prof Loke and stayed NEUTRAL throughout the whole episode. It was the 16 Hall JCRCS who put pressure on the School Admin.

Please dont claim credit on a battle you did not fight. Thank you.

“When the union approached the Office of Academic Services (OAS) and Senior Associate Provost Er Meng Hwa with the survey results, the union was told that such a change would compromise the quality of NTU’s degrees.

Ms Ng agrees with this explanation and would like to point out that OAS did take up the feedback of students needing more time to decide on their S/U option.”

Would you mind explaining further in detail what’s the meaning of compromising the quality of NTU’s degrees? How and in what aspect?

You agree with the explanation? Was there even one?

Wise words. If only half of the NTU student population can think like you, nothing is imposssible.

I do not know how many of you here have had the experience negotiating with the sch admin. But i would tell you it does not seem as easy as what you think it would be.

The Union tries to reach out to students through the aid and presence of the Academic Clubs. Ask yourself how many of you responded positively to sch activities. Ask yourself how many of you really care about what is going on.

We want a Union who fights for us. But we ourselves are not supportive in terms of real action and motion. Just imagine a platoon commander who goes to war and shouts “Charge!!”. His men were all hiding behind who didnt charge along, leaving the commander to lead the front and die alone. And then the men pointed fingers and lament- only after the war is lost.

This is the problem why the Union in NTU is not strong. Only when issues surface that do not seem to be beneficial to most of us, only then we come out to point fingers and make noise. Otherwise, we are all busy studying hard for OURSELVES and do not care much. Face it, most students in NTU are NATOs with a I, Me and Myself attitude.

We always fail to remember that a leading organisation is only as strong as it’s people.

However, I’d agree that the structure and concept of the Union is not well publicised to the student body due to a lack of support, communication and lack of dissemination from the SU, OAS and SAO. Perhaps the current Union can look into this and publish the details of Union structure in the undergraduate’s handbook.

I don’t think they really need to announce what was discussed between them. Because the general population would still complain that the union is not doing enough, and want their way on the su option.

Thing is, no matter what the school admin decides, it doesn’t matter as long as u study sufficient enough for it. No confidence? SU it.

Be appreciative of your Union. You won’t have one fighting for you using a survey and negotiations when taxi/bus/electricity fares rise in the future.

nit-picking much?

Overall, an excellent profile of an individual who have proven herself to be sincere and persistent time and time again.

I agree that more should be elaborated (perhaps by the NTU SU President herself) on “agreeing with the explanation” of how NTU’s degree would be compromised.

Sometimes, we need to learn how NOT to take “no” for an answer.

NUS (where I come from) did not implement exercising S/U option after the exam results were released across the board initially (at first it was only applicable for the freshmen). Following several polls conducted on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students, the NUSSU Exco initiated several negotiations with the school admin (Office of Student Affairs, if I am not wrong). It was a long process before the new policy was extended to the entire student population.

That said, I am not a big fan of the NUSSU either. My point is that as a student representative of a tertiary institution, a healthy dose of irreverence for the existing system is a must-have, to say the least.

Oh, and “She spoke fondly of the hard work involved in organising the camp, such as getting her hands dirty with programming and logistics.”

Having organised a large-scale orientation camp myself, I wish to point out the difference between programming and planning the programme for the camp.