Students' Unions in the Colleges

‘Over my dead body’ said the Vice‐Principal. He was reacting, somewhat predictably, to the suggestion that a students' union might be formed in the college. No doubt it was the word ‘union’ that gave rise to his fears of strikes and bloody‐minded shop stewards. However, there is a students' union flourishing now in that particular college, and the Vice‐Principal is still alive, and I imagine quite reconciled to the idea, but his fears must have been echoed by many people in authority in further education, especially when they read the often lurid press accounts of sit‐ins at the LSE and ‘Red Rudi’ in West Germany. Why then have a students' union in a technical college?