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 survey, running until the end of week 2 in the Spring term, was launched in week eight this term when the Women’s Committee held a ‘Reclaim the Night’ march to draw attention to parts of campus which have few, or in some places, no streetlights.
The results of the survey will be presented to the university to push for change and improvements to the lighting, safety and security on and around campus.
Women’s Officers Nell Beecham & Cat Wayland told The Yorker before the ‘Reclaim the Night’ march: “We are demanding that the university takes action to ensure that there is adequate lighting around campus, and we are lobbying York City Council to do the same for the areas surrounding campus.”
Particular areas of concern for students that have so far been reported include the Walmgate Stray, the walkway between Physics and Derwent, and Halifax and its approach.
The ‘Safer Campus’ survey asks students to rate their safety in various areas of campus, how they feel about lighting on and around campus and to offer suggestions and idea for improvements. There is the chance to win a Kindle or vouchers for campus bar Courtyard if you fill out the survey.
YUSU’s Welfare Officer Bob Hughes said: “The survey hopes to discover what students' perceptions of lighting and safety on campus are, what they would like to see changed, and which key areas they feel need targeting.
“I have spoken to key members of staff about this, ranging from the Facilities Managers, who oversee specific zones of campus, to Senior Management and the local Council, and there has been a generally positive reaction.
“I'm really hoping the survey will give us a much clearer insight into where some of the key areas of concern are, as well as giving us statistical data to back up what we know anecdotally are the poorer areas on campus for lighting and safety.”
We hope to use this data to take to the university to highlight key areas, lobby for tangible change and set benchmarks for future development
Hughes hopes that the results of the survey will convince the university to make changes and improvements to the current lighting and security on campus.
He said: “We hope to use this data to take to the university to highlight key areas, lobby for tangible change and set benchmarks for future development, so that campus safety is not just brought up once and forgotten about, and also so that there is a document that can be referred back to when the university is making decisions about funding and provisions.”
“The campaign has quite big aims and seeks to tackle a number of long-standing issues, and so has long-term aims, but I think we will see changes this year and next in terms of certain areas of campus getting better lighting and security, and a greater focus being put on student safety across the board.
“I'd encourage any students who can think of unsafe and/or poorly lit areas of campus to contact either myself or the Women's Officers, and also to contribute to the survey.”
You can fill out the survey now here.
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