Hostel Takeovers

I am just home from university and today's NUSSU Open Dialogue Session has taught me many valuable lessons.

I have learnt today that:

1. At an open dialogue session, you can dismiss credible alternative ideas based on feelings, common sense and generalisations. Opposing ideas cannot be correct because they go against university policy which is to be world class.

2. The best way to attract foreign, (oops a taboo word) international students is to give them two years stay in the hall as of right without having to fight with the rest of the local students under the points system.

3. With 40% of the hall places kept for international students that do not have to participate in any hall activities whatsoever, the intensity of hall activities will remain the same or increase.

4. If you have 3000 places in the halls for all NUS students and want to bring in about 3000 foreign or (oops) international students (20% of student population) but plan to finish building another 3000 places only by 2001, the best time to implement such a system is in 1999.

5. By preferring foreigners (err) internationals over local citizens, it is neither discriminatory nor is it unmeritocratic. It is in the pursuit of making NUS a world class university.

6. Hall spirit that has evolved over the years can be re-generated years down the road by the appropriate university policy.

7 The best time to make changes to important university policies is when the students are about 1 month away from their exams. (similar to the timing of the fee hike issue last year)

8. You can conveniently disregard worst case scenarios simply by stating that you believe that everything will work out fine and that one should not be so skeptical, this applies even when empirical evidence shows otherwise.

9. You can answer all questions, comments and suggestions with the same answer; that the international student will be lost and homeless in housing scarce Singapore if not given the right to 2 years of cheap accommodation in the halls. Renting of HDB rooms in nearby Clementi, West Coast and Jurong is of course out of the question.

10. Local students should have to juggle hall and academic activities but foreigners should not or it will stress them out.

Three cheers for the Boston of the East.!!!

THE END

Contributed by Al