Letter: Referendum on bilingual signage is bid to marginalise pro-Union presence at Queen’s

As a current Law with Politics student at Queen’s, I, like others, feel increasingly reluctant to express unionist views in fear of being ridiculed by fellow students.

Disagreements regarding political opinion are inevitable and even healthy in university life. A main result of one’s time at university is that they are exposed to other people’s views and opinions which are different from their own.

However, there is a stark difference between that of political disagreements and that of an atmosphere where a unionist viewpoint feels socially unwelcome or even discouraged. It is no secret that the most vocal Northern Irish students at Queen’s are nationalist; however, it should not be the case where voicing a unionist view in a class feels like a scandal.

Last week, however, marked the greatest threat to belittle pro-Union students within Queen’s. The student union of the university is holding a referendum ending this Thursday which, if successful, will see equal recognition for the Irish language; this would therefore result in the likes of bilingual signage, the changing of Queen’s logo to that of a “neutral” branding, and the hiring of Irish language-speaking admin staff to support students who state their main language is the Irish language.

Without even considering cost (which I presume will cost a fortune at a time when universities across the UK are complaining about a lack of money), there is the crucial issue of the further marginalisation of unionist students.

This is not the issue of recognising the minority languages of Ulster – there is no plan for provisions for Ulster Scots on campus. This is also not the issue of aiding the mother tongue of students – there are no plans for Mandarin or Hindi signage across the campus even though I am sure there are vastly more people within Queen’s with those as their first language than that of Irish.

This, before our very own eyes, is the politicisation of the Irish language by some students to further marginalise the pro-Union presence at Queen’s. Although I do accept that unionists may be outnumbered by nationalists at Queen’s, at least in terms of vocality, there should still be an environment of tolerance of all views.

This will not be the first time in which bilingual concessions are made at Queen’s; the university did have bilingual signage; however, one must note that this was removed in 1997 due to the fair employment commission viewing it as politically biased. Although time has changed since then, the reason still holds – it is nothing but a political move, a move to further diminish the vocality and visual presence of unionists at Queen’s.

The referendum will end this Thursday, and although those in favour will argue the move will promote 'inclusivity', it must be remembered that inclusivity cannot be selective, as the over promotion of one culture will merely result in the diminishing of the other.

Jamie Clough, first year law with politics student at Queen’s