<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8">
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.30.3">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
Having been involved in student societies recently, I'm in favour of giving the students their own group to run, and the non-student should have our own, which is not to say we should separate completely, rather have two distinct bodies from and organisational standpoint.<BR>
<BR>
I've been involved with student societies for a number of years now, and the one thing I've noticed about them all is that students want to be around other students doing studenty things, and they don't really want to have a bunch of us creepy old men hanging around the place all the time. There is a great need for a string Linux student society that can operate both on it's own and alongside other student societies.<BR>
<BR>
Being a student society though, they're not going to have great ties to industry or to the larger FOSS community, which is where TayLUG comes in. If TayLUG were to operate as a complete independent entity, it would not only be free to operate outside of university regulation, but it would also have a greater degree of stability as students will have varying workloads throughout the year and many of them will move on once they graduate. The members of TayLUG have the benefit of (generally) more predictable lifestyles and so can make long term commitments that students can't. They also have greater experience with the FOSS community, either from having had more time to develop certain skills (programming, etc) or have developed contacts within the community, two things most students members of the Linux society are unlikely to have.<BR>
<BR>
But that's not to say we should aim for an 'us and them' approach. Both groups could, and should, maintain string ties that will see a flow of members between both groups. Not all TayLUG members will want to attend the student get-togethers, and likewise not all Linux society members will want to attend the old folks club, but there will be a those who will regularly cross between the two. Students and us older folks have different wants and needs, and so I think it would be better to have two organisations that catered to the needs of their respective demographics.<BR>
<BR>
Anyway, sorry for the rather long winded explanation of my position, but that's it. I think there should be two separate groups here - one tied to the university, and one tied to the industry and greater community.<BR>
<BR>
Chris
</BODY>
</HTML>