[HDNG]STUDENTS' REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL:[EHDNG][PARA][GRPH]P2[EGRPH][STAT][BULL] 5 sabbatical [BULL] Turnout at last ballot: 20% [BULL] Ave. turnout at[PARA]General Meetings: 3% [BULL] NUS member [ESTAT][PARA]The Union is totally apolitical and provides no welfare services. [ITAL] [PARA]Shocked? You shouldn't be, [EITAL]because the Union is quite separate[PARA]from the SRC which provides representation and welfare. The [PARA]Union's role is strictly commercial. The SRC has 2 sabbaticals [PARA]and the Union and charity Rag have 1 each. The Athletics [PARA]Association has the 5th. The SRC is the body affiliated to NUS [PARA]and the one that organises campaigns.[ITAL] Students, though, despite[PARA]being quite aware and sound, are rarely stirred into action, but [PARA]when they do, ooh, when they do... It must be all the porridge [PARA]Scots eat.[EITAL][PARA][PARA][ITAL][HDNG]SU FACILITIES:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA]The [ITAL]swish and lively [EITAL]Union Building (the 2nd largest in Scotland) [PARA]is in the city centre near Marischal, although it also has a [PARA]mini-market at Hillhead Halls, a general shop and a Travel Agent [PARA]in Old Aberdeen High Street. In the Union itself, there are 2 bars, [PARA]a restaurant, 2 disco venues, a disco for hire, showers, [PARA]photocopying, games room (with pool table, games machines [PARA]and table football), large snooker hall, vending machine, [PARA]cashpoint, launderette, music practice room, dark room and [PARA]meeting rooms.[HDNG]CLUBS (NON SPORTING):[EHDNG][PARA]Amnesty International; Anglican; Anti-Nazi League; Bird; Buddhist;[PARA]Centre Stage; Duke of Edinburgh; European; Exploration; Gilbert [PARA]and Sullivan; Greenpeace; International Students; Irish; Law [PARA]Mooting (legal debating); Methodists; Peace; Phoenix TV; Red [PARA]Cross; Science Fiction; Scottish Country Dancing; Street [PARA]Entertainment; Ten Pin Bowling; Treading the boards; UN.[HDNG]OTHER ORGANISATIONS:[EHDNG][PARA][BOLD]Debater: [EBOLD]Along with the Union, the SRC and the AA (Athletics [PARA]Association - nothing to do with automobiles or alcoholics), [PARA]students become members, automatically and for free, of a 4th [PARA]organisation when they join Aberdeen University. That is [PARA]Debater, one of the country's oldest mooting societies that does [PARA]nothing but host discussions on topics of every hue and cry and [PARA]come to conclusions (or not) about them. It's popular fun and not [PARA]as pompous as the Oxbridge debating unions.[PARA][BOLD]Others: [EBOLD]The weekly student newspaper is 'Gaudie' and there's [PARA]'The Review' student magazine. With Phoenix TV, students can [PARA]make programmes and films. Aberdeen charity Rag also [PARA]encompasses [ULNE]Robert Gordon University[EULNE] and some local further [PARA]education colleges, but the ú80,000 raised is still impressive. As [PARA]part of the Rag, the Torcher Parade takes place each year, the [PARA]largest torchlight parade in Europe. Students have 16 hours to [PARA]design and make their own float and then process through the [PARA]streets with folks throwing money at them. Last year, the parade[PARA]alone raised ú15,000. SCAG stands for Student Community [PARA]Action group and is the energetic local help organisation run by [PARA]student volunteers.[HDNG]RELIGIOUS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] 3 chaplains (RC, CofS, Episcopal)[ESTAT][PARA]Within the University there are 2 chapels and a small mosque. [PARA]Locally, apart from St Mary's Cathedral (Catholic), St Andrew's [PARA]Cathedral (Episcopal) and St Machar's Cathedral (Presbyterian), [PARA]there are local places of worship for Catholics, Anglicans, [PARA]Methodists, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Quakers and, of [PARA]course, members of the Church of Scotland.[HDNG]PAID WORK:[EHDNG][PARA]Apart from the normal openings in bars, shops and restaurants [PARA](which are plentiful in recession-resisting Aberdeen), students [PARA]can sometimes find work in the oil industry, particularly those [PARA]whose studies are in some relevant field. The University Medical [PARA]School also pays sperm donors ú10 a squirt.[PARA][PARA]
