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 rally was organised by David Levene, former Chair of the university's Labour Club and the current Chair of Union Council. YUSU LGBT Officer Sarah Fennell, who is now on the NUS LGBT Committee, also played a key role in the rally and spoke out against the BNP at the event.
Both Levene and Fennell urged students to cast their vote in the European elections, and to vote against the BNP. Levene said: "It’s really important the BNP don’t win the European Elections: if they do, they’ll win resources and funding that will enable them to expand massively."
Fennell added: "Students frequently don't bother to vote and since the BNP only need 9% of votes to get someone elected under the proportional system, York students really can make a difference."
With the exception of the North West, the Yorkshire and Humber region is where the BNP is strongest, making it one of the areas the party is most likely to gain a seat in the European Parliament.
After Levene, Fennell and a number of other speakers, including the Yorkshire Hope Not Hate organiser, had given speeches on Vanbrugh Paradise, participants in the rally proceeded to post around 10,000 leaflets to houses in the Fishergate and Hull Road wards.
Levene told The Yorker that he was pleased with how the day went, saying: "Around 50 people turned up, from Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems, the Greens, the Socialists, and from no party political background at all. It was great to see people who wouldn’t normally get involved in politics come and help fight the fascists."
Fennell also emphasised the diversity of participants in the rally. She said: "The main thing that stuck with me about the rally was the diverse backgrounds of the students who attended - they were from all political parties, and frequently none of them."
The rally was linked to Hope Not Hate, the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight's campaign. Searchlight describes it as being a campaign against "the BNP and other racists and fascists". It was part of a national day of action called Student Sunday and Nick Lowles, editor of Searchlight, described the York event as "arguably the brightest event of the day".
YUSU's LGBT committee have passed a motion supporting Hope Not Hate, and the Women’s Committee are sympathetic to their cause. The NUS also supports the campaign. However, as revealed in Nouse, YUSU have chosen not to support the campaign, as they say the union is not allowed to campaign for or against political parties.
The European Elections will be taking place on 4th June, and the deadline for registering to vote is next Tuesday.
For more information about the Hope Not Hate campaign, click here. More information about voting in the European elections can be found at aboutmyvote.co.uk.
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