The NUI Galway Literary & Debating Society will be hosting a debate on the relevance of the Students’ Union at 7pm on Thursday March 4th in the Kirwan Lecture Theatre on the main Arts Concourse of NUI Galway.

A Students’ Union is charged with representing the views of their members and getting them a better deal. In decades past, Students’ Unions fought to keep fees out, to improve standard of education and of safety for their members, but what role do they have in today’s universities?

Compared to the 1980s, today’s Students’ Unions seem less able or less willing to fight the good fight. Even if they did get involved, do students really care about anything other than the cheapest pint? Are SUs even relevant any more to the vast majority of the student body?

But are students nowadays really all that different from the ones in the days gone by? Surely the reasons for having a Students’ Union are just as strong now as they ever have been. Students still need help, advice and a strong unified voice to fight their corner and the SU is the best way of getting this.