Imperial converted to Metric

The answer to the question on everyone’s lips has finally been announced. After weeks of violent speculation, Imperial Student Union has revealed that the new club next year to replace dBs will be called Metric. Obviously as the name suggests, it is hoped that Metric will be an improvement on dBs. The name of the new bar (after getting rid of da Vinci’s) however, is still to be decided!

Metric was the winner of an online poll for students, winning by a massive margin over the other options, with voter numbers reaching much higher than expected because of the controversy over the shortlist. Ashley Brown had said the naming process “will be the most controversial part of the presidency then. Or, a triumph of student involvement.”

Whilst Metric won by popular consensus for the nightclub, the same cannot be said for the new bar, the winning name for which was the Consort, coming only narrowly ahead of the other options and attracting lots of negative comments about the options. These were drawn up from students’ suggestions, first by filtering the dross to leave 150 plausible names which were then considered by a team of five, consisting of Ashley Brown, Dan Wan, a student and two members of staff.

An initial outcry against some of the suggested options spurred interest in the poll and while the naming of the new club seems to have been a success, there have also been a significant number of negative complaints on the website. In fact, it’s difficult to find people who are happy with the shortlist for the bar at all. Most complain that they don’t like any of the names so they’ve had to choose the least worst option. A facebook group for instance, has been set-up promoting Rock Bottom as a moniker instead.

It’s difficult to see how the Union could have carried out a more democratic process, which was entirely student-led and in which students who wanted to influence the decision have had excellent opportunities to do so through proposing names and promoting their favourites.

Of course it would be impossible to please everyone, but it must be accepted that this democratic method was the best way to please the greatest number of people. The only barrier to a well-chosen name is student apathy, and for naming the bar, it’s all still to play for.

After listening to the complaints of students, the Union is holding off the final decision. In order to choose a name for the new bar which is more popular, it is probable that nominations will be re-opened, the least popular dropped and a second round will be used to determine the outcome. This will please those who voted on an unofficial Live! poll where RON took the majority of the votes, presumably from people with suggestions of a higher standard.

It seems likely that after facing the prospect of a truly disastrous name change, and realising what they have to lose, the campaign for the naming of the new bar will be hotly fought.