Despite accusations of the USI turning into a toothless 'kindergarten for the Dáil', its current president, Hamidreza Khodabakhshi, believes the student body is more vital than ever, he tells Louise Holden

HAMIDREZA Khodabakhshi is amused at the idea that anyone might describe him as a "career student leader". The 28-year-old Iranian engineering graduate has no designs on Irish politics: he has no designs on Ireland at all.

When he finishes his tenure as President of the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) this year he plans to go back to Iran to work as an engineer, with a possible detour to a Spanish university on the way.

In recent months, the USI has been described as a kindergarten for Dáil Éireann rather than an instrument of social change. Former USI equality and LGBT officer Steven Conlon accused the 50-year-old union of losing its teeth.

"The days of sustained protests, student strikes and general student disobedience seem to be numbered," Conlon wrote in February's Irish Times. "The phenomenon of the 'career student leader' has led to timid press releases and carefully choreographed photo-ops."

Khodabakhshi believes that detractors such as Conlon are missing the point.

"Students today are different than the students of the 1960s. Occupations and demonstrations for basic rights - that was how unions did business then, when they were outside the process. Now the approach is different. USI has established itself as an important public body. We have gained representation at a level that allows us to take part in decision-making, to enter into direct discussions with policy makers. We are no longer 'the barbarians at the gate'."

It is now routine for USI delegates to make presentations before Dáil Committees, and the union has representatives on the Higher Education Authority, HETAC and the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, among others. The issues its members are pursuing effect everyone, says Hamidreza.

"We have just got a nomination for the Crisis Pregnancy Consultative Committee, for example," says Hamidreza. "We have been lobbying for a long time for a drop in the VAT rate for condoms and we are concerned with protecting the sexual health of Irish people. That's not just a student issue.

"Similarly, our campaign to abolish fees for part-time study is significant in terms of the country's economic growth. Now that things are tightening up, Ireland needs to upskill its workforce in order to hold on to jobs. Companies will move if we don't offer the skills. Right now, many people in the workforce or with young families cannot afford to study full-time, so they don't study at all."

So the days of raising banners or staging sit-ins for extra library seats is over. Union reps are these days more likely to sit in the seats of power and voice their disaffections over a latte with the head of the HEA. Have students "arrived" on the national stage?

"Not yet," says Hamidreza. "The Irish SU has good representation now but we are still not regarded as a main stakeholder. This does not make sense. We represent 50,000 people who will one day be running the country. We have a voice in education, but we should be heard at all levels - health, welfare, Europe. TDs need to recognise students in their constituencies and start looking at their issues."

There are those that would counter that the USI does not have a credible mandate. Turnout for SU elections is often as low as 10 per cent. "Students have different attitudes towards life, and different expectations," says Hamidreza. "There is a lot of apathy out there, but that's a national phenomenon."

Hamidreza suggests that those most in need of SU representation are those that are the least likely to vote or get involved.

"Access will be the big issue for USI next year. Everybody's working on this, but we have a long way to go. Those potential students who are not making it to college for reasons of socio-economic disadvantage or disability, for example, need representation, too."

However, it's not just the conspicuously marginalised that do not appear at congress - women are getting rarer too. Given that there are more females than males at third level, this trend gives the unions cause to blush. The student movement, which should be at the vanguard of social progress, is actually lagging behind.

The reason, says dissident Steven Conlon, is that the "more professionalised" students union is just not interesting to the majority of students. "Ireland, like the UK, is moving towards a service orientation rather than representation. This is understandable. Unions need to formalise operations in order to protect themselves from litigation," said Conlon.

"USI congress is a great mechanism for democracy, but totally unrepresentative of the union body," says Conlon, who is still involved in student politics but no longer in an official capacity. "All students see at congress now is nerds fighting with nerds. No wonder there's apathy."

Such comments mean that Conlon is persona non-grata around the new SU offices in Crumlin, Dublin - at least that's how he sees it. But Conlon is unbowed. He simply doesn't buy the argument that a more professional USI is a more effective one.

"If there are no protests, no taking over of government properties, it's not because the USI is deep in negotiations inside the gates," says Conlon, who resigned from the national union last year over a row with then-president Richard Morris-Roe. "It's because officers are afraid of getting arrested and losing their chance of spending a J1 summer in America."

Cowed by the fear of breaking the law or upsetting the powers that be, students unions now celebrate extra car park spaces instead of taking on the big issues, says Conlon. "We used to be out there lobbying for the legalisation of homosexuality. Now we call it a victory if we win €5,000 to paint a GAA room."

USI is riven, Conlon claims, between those who would take on the world and those who would focus on the issues that directly affect students, such as campus facilities. These issues do not inspire the student body, he says.

"We are a very lethargic society - that's why we need rebellions to mobilise people. It is our role as students to get out and demonstrate against bigger issues such as the Iraq War, human rights, fair trade. These are the issues that will get students interested. They're young. They do care. They just need leadership and the students unions are not providing it. We need the dirty hairy student back on the street."

But are there any dirty hairy students left out there?

Hamidreza Khodabakhshi, in a smart jacket and starched white shirt, is certainly not one of them. He takes his responsibility to his members very seriously and approaches Dail Committees and IFUT Conferences as someone who knows how the world works. Others insist that the time has come to throw a spanner in.

In focus: Ireland v Iran
HAMIDREZA came to Ireland in 2000 to study civil engineering in DIT. He is originally from Tehran and engineering is in his blood - his father, brother and sister are all civil engineers and his mother taught physics. He is the first person in his family to get involved in public life, but his parents have been very supportive.

"At one stage, I thought about giving up politics to focus on study but my father talked me out of it," says Hamidreza, whose involvement in public life began when he set up a film society in DIT. Student politics in DIT was very different than in the University of Tehran, where Hamidreza started his college career.

Hamidreza contrasts Irish and Iranian attitudes to university. "Irish students have a relaxed approach to getting a degree. They take their time, travel, take years out. In Iran, all the male students have to do military service and many go to college to ensure that they will be promoted to lieutenant quickly after the enter the military. For females, they want to get their studies completed before they start a family. Students are focused on getting their degrees as quickly as possible. "Politics in Iranian universities is just beginning to mature," says Hamidreza, who plans to go back to Iran and work as a civil engineer. "For a long time students were focused on the revolution, on internal Iranian politics. Now they are starting to look outwards, to look for representation, but they have a lot of work to do."

In Ireland, says Hamidreza, it is now taken for granted that students will be given a voice is decisions that affect them. "Representation is not yet established in Iran. The relationship between students and university staff is different. Lecturers are still called 'master' in many universities and students stand when they enter a room. There's no drinking coffee in lectures or turning up late."