A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer told The Yorker she “fully admits that this was a fuck-up on my part” and “something that happened when I had had far more to drink than I ever intend to again”.
The incident happened outside Derwent after History and Politics student Taylor left the Club D special event on Friday night.
He said: “I left the bar with two friends after one of them was asked to leave because he was quite drunk.
“Grace stormed out after us and was shouting at me about my friend – at the previous Club D I had been stewarding and had had to ask her to leave because of her own drunken behaviour. She thought it was funny that this time it was one of my friends.
“She was very drunk again, so I told her she was being embarrassing and making a fool of herself. We were both shouting by this point and I said some things she didn’t like. I told her she didn’t represent students with her views and she came up and punched me in the side of the face.”
History and Politics student Taylor is well known on campus for his outspoken views on student issues.
The two have a long running feud Fletcher-Hackwood describes as: “a relationship of mutual disagreement”.
She said: “I do think it’s relevant to make the circumstances of this incident clear. The student was absolutely not hurt, nor was that my intention: what we’re talking about is a strapping football player laughing while an inebriated, five-foot, seven-stone weakling landed him a feeble tap on the ear.”
Her position as an elected sabbatical officer means that Fletcher-Hackwood is responsible for the welfare of all students on campus.
Taylor said: “The problem is who she is, not the situation. It’s really not on. She completely loses all credibility as a YUSU officer by doing such a thing.
“We do tend to wind each other up but that night she was more than just angry, she was drunk – and the drink spurred her on. This could have happened to anyone who held a different view to her, and as far as I am concerned, hitting someone because they hold a different view to you is pretty wrong.”
Fletcher-Hackwood sent an email apology to the student the following day stating she was “so, so sorry” to let him wind her up that much.
She told the Yorker yesterday: “I agree that this is completely inappropriate behaviour for anyone, particularly the YUSU Welfare Officer.
She added: “I am glad of the opportunity to apologise again publicly – but ‘inappropriate’ is the most serious word you could use to describe it and as far as I’m concerned the matter is now over.”
It's hard enough finding people who want to work for a society, let alone the SU - don't be so naive as to get rid of someone that does a good job.
Does anyone seriously think a no confidence motion will make this stupid situation any better? The YUSU elections are coming up pretty soon anyway, and I don't see how getting rid of her, however dumb she may have been, can possibly be a good thing for students of this university. With the Hes East development going on, we need good representation now more than ever.
Big deal - it's a pretty stupid thing for a welfare rep to do, but it's hardly unusual for students to do stupid things while pissed. The guy himself says he was antagonising her and laughing at her. If you act like that towards a drunk person you should know what to expect, even if that person is half your size.
So you hit him without meaning to hurt him? What did you think was going to happen? That his face would simply melt out of the way without injurt? Most people fall out with people when they are drunk and they manage not to get into fights. You're meant to be a representative of YUSU and be concerned with other students welfare. No Confidence.
It is worth considering that YUSU Officers, whatever their position, are not employed to take continued harassment by any person, and that Dan Taylor arguing with Grace when she was clearly enjoying herself well away from her YUSU remit means he deserved a harder smack. YUSU Officers take a lot of abuse day in day out and I'm sure there are a lot more people out there that deserve at least a stern word if not a punch - and it's credit to the YUSU Officers professionalism that it doesn't happen more often!! It's not to be condoned of course, but knowing some of the officers they do have to deal with some major daily irritants...
Why do so many people on here lack confidence? I'm sure you're all lovely people. There's no need to be shy.
Well if you get into an argument with a drunk you shouldn't be surprised if they try and hit you. If the guy was stewarding he was presumably sober. He should have realised that and saved his arguments for another time.
Yeah, event stewards shouldn't really be arguing with drunks anyway.
Yes everyone does do silly things if/when drunk. However I have been drunk many many times and the worst thing I've done is buy (and then eat) an efes and been a little sick (the later wasn't always brought about by the former). Furthermore I wouldn't take up a job such as Welfare Officer for the UNIVERSITY if I were prone to binge drinking. It is the equivalent of Russell Brand lecturing on celibacy, or Dot Cotton being in charge of smoking legislation.
Grace nominated herself for this role and then ran a campaign to get others to vote for her. She was under no illusions as to what the job entailed and took it with open arms. It's a disgrace she hasn't the decency to resign and continues to find excuses. Regardless of the outcome, it was the action itself which must be judged. If a student struck a member of YUSU, I'm sure all hell would break out, presumably ending with the removal of the student from the University.
Usually I don't feel that someone's private affairs should come into play when assessing their work but I fail to see how a welfare officer, no mater how much they promise to not get that drunk again, can have any credibility. Let the JCR welfare reps form a sort of emergency coalition for the rest of the academic year. It may not be in the constitution, but, to be frank, any form of lashing out is not in her job description.
It all sounds very childish tbh... I'm not particularly a fan of Grace FH but this calling for her to resign or moving for a motion of no-confidence over one non-job-affecting incident is all a bit daft.
Yes she was silly, yes she was her typical arrogant self with her apology, but it's not exactly as if she's now unable to do her job as Welfare is it...
This has been blown out of proportion. At the end of the day, Taylor wasn't harmed. All that suffered harm is Grace's reputation, a punishment which more than fits the crime.
I personally think Grace is a very good welfare rep, and of the three candidates was by far the best for the job.
Also remember how much of a chauvinistic pig Taylor is, if anyone on campus deserved a punch from Grace it was him.
Time to right a few wrongs.
At the event at which this occurred, I was not stewarding. My friend had been kicked out, I was with him and Grace followed, coming up to us and squealing, "Ha, it's not you laughing any more about being kicked out is it, it's me". She aproached me and I informed her how embarassingly and irresponsibly she was acting for someone in her position of representation. I was not shouting. I was calm, and diffused the situation by not even retaliating with words after she hit me.
It's amazing on the last post that the individual views me as chauvanistic and thus would condemn all domestic violence against wifes, but seems to be supporting Grace using that tactic on a male. Thus, it's not me who is the chauvanist with all respect...
The issue is not the incident- as you said, we all do things we regret when drunk, I more than most. However I would not put myself into a position of responsibility and continue to act in the same, irresponsible manner. In her position, she has students to represent and look after their welfare- not impinge it. This is why she should seriously consider her position.
On a final point, the Club-D that this occurred at was Chav-D. I was not stewarding. At Christmas-D when I was stewarding (on crutches) Grace was removed by doorsafe for being absolutelty obliterated and I helped her with the St. John's ambulance men to check she was ok- doing my duty as a steward.
Her onslaught at Chav-D was completely unwarrented and it is perhaps lucky that she did not hit someone who was perhaps not as big or capable of laughing it off at the time. This is not to say that the incident was not serious- just that laughing is always the best way to diffuse a volatile situation.
Who says this is not going to happen again? If she does attack another student, then it should not be from the position as a YUSU sabbatical Welfare Officer.
Dan Taylor
I would like to point out that Grace, would be the first person to complain if this had been a man hitting a women, so for someone who is so for equal rights between the two sexes surely its more then just "inappropriate", if I'm not mistaken, it's probably illegal. Surely she should at least make a proper appology, even if she won't stand down. (My anonymity is due to the fact i have to comunicate YUSU and don't want my opinion to be held against me in the future)
@\13: Is that the same 'large majority' who wanted out of the nus?
As others have said, the problem isn't necessarily that her actions were not justified, the fact is that as welfare officer she is expected to protect other students against attacks, just like this one.
It would seem very difficult to imagine that she would support a 5ft5 Boyfriend attacking his rugby playing girlfriend in a drunken argument. Either she thinks attacking someone is wrong, no matter what the circumstances (other than self defence) or she doesn't.
It would appear that her instincts lie with the latter, and that to me seems entirely incompatible with her role as welfare officer. How can you promote responsible drinking, and responsible actions, when you're clearly not able to behave responsibly yourself!
Calm it boys, i doubt you'd be saying the same thing if Grace was a member of tory soc x
Few problems with that last post:- Grace is not part of Tory Soc. so it's purely hypothetical- None of Tory Soc. go about assualting other members of the University from their positions of responsibility on YUSU
comment deleted by the author RE: The point still stands. The real reason you tories are up in arms is because GFH is your no.1 campus hate figure, not because you care so much about the responsible behaviour of the ac and welfare officer.
The call for her to resign shows your total disregard for students on campus who need her help just so you can be vindictive and really twist the knife.
She brought this on herself I know but please stop trying to dress up your dislike of her as an individual as genuine concern for the respectability of YUSU.
Personality politics at its worst!
RE no. 33: "All that suffered harm is Grace's reputation, a punishment which more than fits the crime."
When I was in court on assault charges that's exactly what the judge said to me!
Also, Dan Taylor is not a "chauvinistic pig". He's a misunderstood feminist with an ironic sense of humour.
Really, really, really ironic.
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