Hello everyone, it has been announced that the elections were successful — we now have a new CSC! All eleven candidates were voted in by the majority. The only bit of information the election committee conveniently left out was the full election statistics. Anyway, I hope this spells the end of this election fiasco.
In other news, a kind person has volunteered some pictures of the tree stump table installation. This is really for those who missed out. Pictures after the jump.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Questions on Our Leadership
Okay I think I am running the risk of neglecting my assignments right now, but there has been so many happenings in Tembusu recently I shan't resist. I'll try to make this quick. This morning at the level one lobby, Tembusians were greeted with a sword stuck into the tree-stub table accompanied by a motion that the college abandon the ongoing elections and make a political shift to a monarchy. It was brilliant! I liked it that it was witty and that it questioned the motivations behind all this debate about the CSC's elections. I don't have any pictures of it, or I definitely would have published it too. (Anyone willing to volunteer?) Click here to see the pictures.
But let me jump to the annoying bit from here: the poster and sword were quickly cleared away by the late morning. I think some of the late-breakfast crowd might not have seen it. As I later found out, some of the higher ups were not too happy with it and thought its intentions might be misconstrued by the some residents. I would like to clarify this with whoever made the call, but I am disappointed at the very act of censorship! I know the elections is currently a highly contentious issue, but why suppress the conversation? The facebook group discussion was left largely unmoderated (as far as I can tell), so why the contradiction here?
To me, the installation did not seem to be in a position to fuel frustration or tensions in the college, but provide some comic relief. Not only that, it belonged right in the heart of the (now past) political discussions. If anything, such pieces ought to be encouraged. It was thoughtful and provoking, and added other important dimensions to the debate: what are the alternatives? Is it imperative that we adopt a democratic model? How is the democratic model flawed?
So why should a piece that engages such important questions (for the college) be removed? It's quite frustrating. I wonder what are the college authority's thresholds are before they decide to intervene and censor.
But let me jump to the annoying bit from here: the poster and sword were quickly cleared away by the late morning. I think some of the late-breakfast crowd might not have seen it. As I later found out, some of the higher ups were not too happy with it and thought its intentions might be misconstrued by the some residents. I would like to clarify this with whoever made the call, but I am disappointed at the very act of censorship! I know the elections is currently a highly contentious issue, but why suppress the conversation? The facebook group discussion was left largely unmoderated (as far as I can tell), so why the contradiction here?
To me, the installation did not seem to be in a position to fuel frustration or tensions in the college, but provide some comic relief. Not only that, it belonged right in the heart of the (now past) political discussions. If anything, such pieces ought to be encouraged. It was thoughtful and provoking, and added other important dimensions to the debate: what are the alternatives? Is it imperative that we adopt a democratic model? How is the democratic model flawed?
So why should a piece that engages such important questions (for the college) be removed? It's quite frustrating. I wonder what are the college authority's thresholds are before they decide to intervene and censor.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
A Review of the Election Excitement
There has been a surprising turn of events over the weekend! We're now going to be voting for our 3rd CSC even though there are only as many candidates as there are positions. Apparently, a few students have petitioned a "vote of no confidence" against the entire candidature. Prior to that, there was an informal voting on facebook to find if there was general consensus in Tembusu regarding this motion. That, was what I (and I'm sure everybody else) found most exciting. I can confidently say this is the first super serious discussion our facebook group has seen all semester. It's quite heartening to see how invested the participants were towards what they felt was best for the college.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
An Open Response II
Apologies for not keeping to my word. Things got unexpectedly busy since Tuesday, so I was unable to follow up on my previous post as promised.
Anyway I left you on the points that Tembusu ought to be a place of learning, and there currently doesn't seem to be enough of it. Moving on, I find that inherent in Cedric's arguments (as well as many others' who've I've heard over the past few days) is the underlying notion of a cohesive college identity. What often surfaces from this is this need to distinguish Tembusu from two main "competitors" — the halls and the other two colleges (i.e. Cinnamon and Angsana).
Anyway I left you on the points that Tembusu ought to be a place of learning, and there currently doesn't seem to be enough of it. Moving on, I find that inherent in Cedric's arguments (as well as many others' who've I've heard over the past few days) is the underlying notion of a cohesive college identity. What often surfaces from this is this need to distinguish Tembusu from two main "competitors" — the halls and the other two colleges (i.e. Cinnamon and Angsana).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)