Aspire to open the University
The political left-wing group Venstrealliansen wants more power to students and less to UiO and SiO careerists.
– The University has traditionally been fairly open, but it is becoming more exclusive. We will do our utmost to prevent this, Benjamin Jonsrud of Venstrealliansen says. Ventrealliansen is the group most to the left in the Student Parliament Election.
They would like to hold open-door Senate, Student Parliament and Velferdsting meetings in order to give regular students more power.
– In order to have a say, we need knowledge of and insight into what decides over our everyday-life. Documents need to be published in advance and written in an understandable fashion so that students are able to get the thrust of them. The system has to be transparent to prevent matters and rulings from piling up on us. And for matters that will lead to major changes, public meetings need to be held so that students can voice their opinions, Lina Johanne Strand from the Faculty of Education says.
The Student Welfare Organisation in Tromsø recently decided not to hold public Board meetings. Currently, the Student Welfare Organisation in Bergen (SiB) is the only organisation providing public meetings, and Venstrealliansen thinks The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo (SiO) should become the second.
– SiO is currently extremely exclusive. It is difficult to keep track of them even for us Velferdsting members. There is a lot of hush-hush going on, which is very much a contradiction of the basic precept of a student-governed foundation, Jonsrud says.
Daring ambitions
Venstrealliansen originate from the student party De radikale, the Radicals. They have only been members of the Student Parliament for one term and include members from the left-wing political parties SV and RV, Attac and Rød Front, a socialist student organisation. They hold that their own policies are best described by means of the slogan «system criticism».
– We comprise the group that is the most opposed to the direction the University has taken over the last couple of years. Market logic is on the verge of taking over, and students are regarded as customers and not equal peers in the academic community. We are left powerless, Lina Johanne Strand claims, who thinks they are the strongest defenders of a broad university.
Venstrealliansen is currently the smallest political group. However, some of them have daring ambitions:
– We can become the biggest, Sveinung Holien says.
As for the rest of the group, they have a slightly less ambitious, or perhaps more realistic, approach.
– We aim at becoming as big as possible and representing in as many bodies as possible, Lina Johanne Strand says.
