The student press
Looms of youth
Paul Johnson
The last time.I wrote a review of student publications for the Spectator, I noted the growing apoliticism of our universities, the lack of interest in union elections and the difficulties left-wing student leaders were experiencing in keeping their renta- mobs up to strength. Most students today are too young to remember the climacteric year 1968; it seems like yesterday to me but to them it's merely history, something to do with middle-aged folks. Naturally, it is not always prudent to say openly that students are no longer radical. An Exeter University student leader was quoted by the Observer saying: 'We are no longer long-haired, pot-smoking, T-shirt-wearing, roll-your-own characters. We wear suits because the financial pressures on students are so great that we have to concentrate more and more on commercial activities.' Signature, the Exeter University newspap- er, reported that, at a general meeting of the Union, he was 'asked to explain this statement'. He replied that 'he had been misquoted but that he would still continue to wear a suit when he felt the occasion demanded it.'
Leafing through the current batch of student mags, I get the impression that the Left, though no longer all-powerful, con- tinues to wag the tail of a rather sluggish undergraduate animal. Of a score or more papers, about half supported Scargill's miners. The University of Ulster's Quad- rangle (`Miners in their tens of thousands, in every mining region of the UK, are voting with their feet and They Will Win'), Unionews of the University of Sussex (`the Tories are on the verge of being brought to their knees') and Wessex News of South- ampton University (`The miners' fight is everyone's fight. If they lose we all lose') are characteristic of a certain type of student paper, stocking the usual left-wing pharmacopoeia. Obsessions are predict- able. Liverpool University's Guild and City Gazette worries about the 'escape' of `potentially lethal asbestos' from the elec- trical engineering building, the wickedness of Sir Keith Joseph and the need to organise a strike against paying rents to the Halls of Residence. Gown, the paper of Queen's University, Belfast, goes on about the rough behaviour of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. A surprising amount of attention is devoted by student papers to Cecil Parkinson, a campus hero or anti- hero, who has spoken at 18 universities so far this season. Phoenix, the East Anglia student mag, under the headline 'Parkin- son Debacle!', reported that his appear- ance at the university led to egg-throwing, kicking, punching and shouts of 'kick her head in'. Afterwards, it added, Mr Parkin- son 'sat in his car and made "funny" faces at the demonstrators in an allegedly pro- vocative manner'.
Against this background, the Cambridge Liberator seems unusual, telling its reader roundly: 'Communists, fascists, corporat- ists and committed "compromise-statists", the Liberator is not for you!' It reports: The first thing to understand about the Cambridge social-political scene is that, of 10,000 students, only about 80 are politi- cally active in any way, with perhaps 400 in front-row seats. The other shun "hack- ery", often with vehemence.' It carries an extremely caustic Who's Who of Cam- bridge student activists, signed Dilet- tante', and robust articles by Lord King, Sir Clive Sinclair and, inevitably, Cecil Parkinson.
Student papers should have two princip- al objects: to provide their readers with news of particular interest and value to them, and to give students a chance to express themselves in prose, poetry and art-work. Most student papers seek to fill the first role, though there is a tiresome amount of parish-pump politics, often about disputed votes at union meetings. Magus, of King's College London, is obsessed by the activities of its union president, Kevin Dabbs (`Dabbs Nearly Run Over on Picket', `Dabbs Arrested on Demo', etc). Beaver, of the London School of Economics, has interminable reports about a dispute involving the acting mana- ger of its student bar (I can't think the Webbs would have approved of this preoc- cupation). The Sussex Unionews is out- raged by a plague of cockroaches in one of the halls of residence (`Bugs in York House'). The Warwick Boar carries a long report Meath Trap House') on student lodgings plagued by `faulty gas appliances, poor plumbing and unsatisfactory security regulations'.
All this is trivial stuff and I can't think it sells many papers. However, the Boar also draws attention to a disquieting phe- nomenon which, I gather, occurs at many universities today: attacks on students by working-class gangs. According to the Boar, 'several assaults have taken place in Leamington upon Warwick students re- cently.' They occur outside public houses, often without any provocation, and are 3 kind of class warfare in reverse, students being regarded by young workers as left- wing layabouts.; The police don't want to know about these incidents. The Boar also reports a vicious attack, outside a pub IP Coventry, on the president of the universi- ty's 'gay' society, and two of his friend!' who were told: 'We don't want your sort >A our pub.' The gay president was `severely assaulted, although offering no resistance. The second attack only ended when the youths were satisfied with the pain that they had inflicted.' The Boar is one of the best student papers I have examined, giving a great deal of news which students can use. A few' such as Sussex's Unionews and Wessex News, take the trouble to compile and publish detailed listings of student events — perhaps the most important service suet) papers can provide. But surprisingly few offer much opportunity to students to write. I noticed an excellent article in Ea st Anglia's Phoenix, giving students advice on how to acquire typing skills and seelir,e temporary work — though the authnl.s name was unaccountably omitted. 1,1115, kind of practical feature is too rare. II', literary essay, once so common in student publications, is now almost extinct, though many of them carry book and film reviews' There are, however, some exceptions' Oxford's Jericho Bugle can usually be relied upon to provide some discussions of ideas. It has a lot of material on the religious cults which flourish in under' graduate circles, and a touch of dicA genuine narcissism which one expects (al' welcomes) from young people learning L° write. But the most satisfying of the pub lications I read this time was the Phoeral, published by students at Imperial College' This issue included no fewer than ten sh°_,P stories, a great deal of poetry, literal); essays, general articles, drawings and, 11°` least, some excellent photographs. It w easi also notable for an absence of grammatic and spelling mistakes. I mention this last point because the inadequate teaching of English in °‘tir, schools is now lamentably reflected in the student literature. Very few young POP! seem to know what an apostropheseiss; when to use it. As students seem obsessed by overdrafts, you'd think they might leaf: how to spell the word: in the Jericho 1314: it came out as `overdraughts'. And b°-. about this, in the LSE Beaver: 'Mann ;,, Lee will take responsibility for signing die cheques that keep the Union going, due to being the Executive member of the finalIcec. committee'? Or this, from Wessex Nes'''. `Southampton University have a respentad- tive on the employers negotiating WI and so is expected to take a hard-line of the pay claim'? Students are entitled to take interest in trade union matters, but G forbid that they should embrace Genera Secretary's English.
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