That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
When I first arrived at York, I was full of anticipation for the year ahead, but since then I have noticed a worrying trend, especially after talking to fellow postgraduate students who have been here previously.
It seems that even in these times of the credit crunch and financial belt-tightening, the university are intent on charging us as much money as they possibly can.
Now, I thought my undergraduate university - the dreaded enemy across the Pennines, Lancaster - was bad. If they could find new and innovative ways to get more money out of their student population, they would use them! Whether they were charging you each year to be a member of your own college, or making it compulsory for members of the JCR Committee to go to the Christmas Party and then charging them an extortionate amount of money to go when it was the Committee who’d organised the event, they would find them and use them! (Sorry, I’ve just realised that in the course of my rant, I’ve given the university some more ideas for how they could get even more money out of us!)
Firstly, top-up fees. When they were first introduced in 2006, they were capped at £3000 and would rise in line with inflation apparently. I am now paying £3,300 out of my own pocket for my course this year. I know that inflation currently stands at 5%, but it was certainly nowhere near that level months ago, when this year’s tuition fee levels were decided. Therefore, what is the justification for a 10% rise in two years?
Secondly, and granted, this isn’t the university’s fault, why is it that you can no longer get a free NUS Card? Why do you now have to pay £10 for a NUS Extra Card, that supposedly gives you discounts in loads of new stores, none of which you’re very likely to use?
Also, why do we now have to pay £5 College Sport membership in order to represent our college in any sport that’s played in the Sports Centre “for insurance reasons”? Surely, considering that we’re representing the college, they should pay it for us if they’re so eager for their college to be represented in all sports?
Now for the little rant that’s probably going to mean that I fail my course. I am here on the MA Cinema, Television and Society course, which means that I’m in the Theatre, Film and Television (TFTV) Department as a whole. At the Freshers’ Fair, I then saw a stall with a big banner proclaiming "TFTV Society!" Naturally, I went over and enquired about it, found out that the society was going to be screening a season of films focusing on feminist issues and told the person I was speaking to that I was on the MA course. I was then informed that as a student of the Department, I was automatically a member of said TFTV Society.
“Fair enough”, I thought, “nice to know!” What irritated me, though, is that the aforementioned person, who shall remain anonymous, then said something along the lines of: “Obviously, you’ll need to pay your £4 membership fee to be able to come along though…” I’m sorry, but a) the cheek of it to say in one breath that I’m already a member, and then in another, to demand money to be a part of something I’m supposedly already a member of by virtue of my course and b) I’m paying £3,300 to be on this course, and as someone who has already had undergraduate lectures on feminist film theory, I have no desire to pay a penny more than mandated to, to watch what are usually very poor quality, chauvinistic, exploitation films whose view of women I generally don’t agree with, and then essentially be told that “all men are bastards”. At least that seemed to be the view of my undergraduate lecturer.
Now, I understand that the university and the union have to cover their expenses and the like, but the least they could do is, when asked why, give a better response than “That’s the way it is!” Although, considering that I have just ripped into the university hierarchy, this may be the last blog I ever write.
> Why do you now have to pay £10 for a NUS Extra Card, that supposedly gives you discounts in loads of new stores, none of which you’re very likely to use?
There's a motion going through the Trustee Board proposing reintroducing the NUS Democracy card alongside NUS Extra 
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