When I sit down to write these weekly columns, I’m never sure what the impact will be.
That’s part of the fun.
Sometimes my inbox fills up with vitriol; other times, with support and solidarity.
Much of the time, nothing happens at all.
But when I wrote a few short weeks ago about my disappointment at Dundee University‘s decision to cut funding from its student pantry, something did happen.
So many of you weighed in, sharing your impassioned views in comments sections and emails.
One of those emails came from a Dundee University student. He reached out to thank me, saying he was one of a group of students fighting to get their pantry back.
He told me they were organising a campaign, including a letter signed by students and staff, to take to the university executive.
I was so heartened to hear that the community of folk who valued this resource weren’t going to stand for these poverty-punishing cuts doled out from ivory towers.
But if I’m honest, given the state of things at the university, I wasn’t hopeful. Real people so rarely win against that administrative ace: “financial black hole”.
Surprising small win for student body
Then this Thursday, interim principal Professor Shane O’Neill announced the following:
“Since Christmas, our Vice Principal (Education) Professor Blair Grubb has been working with colleagues and with Dundee University Students Association (DUSA), to find alternative funding for the campus pantry and to offer a service, albeit at a reduced scale, that will meet the most pressing needs of students.
“We can confirm that some funding has been secured, thanks to the University’s Advancement team and to donors.
“This will provide DUSA with a modest monthly fund to restart the Campus Pantry until December 2025, at which point we will review the position.”
That’s not the ideal answer, I know.
The service will be significantly more restricted, the heavily relied-on free breakfasts are not mentioned, and the funding seems to be coming from donors and alumni, not the university itself.
But it’s not nothing.
It’s nearly a year more of a lifeline service for the city’s most in-need students, gained through the tenacity and persistence of those who care enough to make a noise.
Do Dundee students still have fighting spirit?
When I heard that DUSA president Manaswi Budhathoki had been in “continuous communication” with the university since the announcement of the cuts, I smiled.
As someone who practically lived in the student union office during my days as editor of the Magdalen Magazine, I know that the only effective way of making students’ voices heard is to be relentless, and annoying.
So I was relieved to hear that the fighting spirit of the student body hadn’t been lost.
And Manaswi’s assurance that the university “have been nothing but supportive in working alongside DUSA to find alternative means of funding our cost-of-living initiatives” gave me back a tiny bit of something I’d lost for my university: pride.
To know that amid all the mismanagement and heartache, there are still good people in the Dundee University community looking out for those who need it, has meant so much.
And it’s brought home to me the importance of speaking up for what you believe in, even when you’re convinced no one is listening.
Conversation