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.”
To me, this is just a trivial event being used for a variety of purposes.
Firstly, Dan Taylor just wants bravado, and to settle some score. I'm pretty sure his descriptions of what happened are completely exaggerated, and it'll just add to his ego to see himself as having the power to remove a sabbatical officer.
Secondly, Grace's activism and her various stances have been highlighted as making things difficult for YUSU on recent decisions, such as the laughable use of the Viking Raid event to repeal an ethical university policy (Grace being the only member of YUSU who actually believes that the non-glorification of sweat-shop labour is more important than buying some cheap, non-ethical t-shirts for a supposed "charity" event"). This event just showed how YUSU have become a body more about making profit than looking after the views and beliefs of the student, which should always be their primary purpose. Grace is the only member of the exec who actually follows this, and always seems to get flack for it.
It's suspicious therefore, that you actually see members of the YUSU exec joining the Facebook group trying to propose a "No Confidence" vote (I'm not going to name any names...) and hurridly leaving it afterwards. What does this really say? Activism on the student's behalf is always a problem for YUSU, and this event is just seen by Dan Taylor as a way to please the student union and get some brownie points. It's reactionary as hell.
The fact of the incident is: Grace is a human before anything else. We all get drunk, say things and, if provoked, then respond. In no way does this event have anything to do with Grace's position: in that event Dan Taylor was just another person, not so much a student seeking help and representation.
So to sum up, this is just opportunistic rubbish. Grace is the only member of YUSU who actually seems to do her job with the student in mind, whereas the rest of YUSU just care about their careers and turnovers.
Daniel Taylor is a cocky, arrogant individual. I was at Chav-D on the night in question and Daniel Taylor is nothing more than a school yard bully. You will notice that Daniel has never put an opinion forward on someone bigger than him, only people smaller. I suspect in his eyes he considers himself 'God,' he certainly walks around campus like he is something special.
As far as i am concerned Grace was forced into a corner by Daniel 'the bully' who knew he could prey on his victim, because she is smaller. I tell you something for a fact, if Daniel Taylor has spoken to me with the complete disrespect and arrogance he spoke to Grace, i would not have hesitated to punch him straight in the mouth. Of course, i am a lot bigger than Daniel and as you are all aware, bully's only feel powerful if they are physically dominant over their prey. Grace had no option but stand up to Daniel 'the bully.' Daniel, with his constant verbal diarrhoea, was finally put in his place by a girl....how embarrassing!
Daniel, you are sad and pathetic, i look forward to the day you speak to me with such disregard.
Quick point - has she seen a welfare officer about her alcohol/ outburst problems? Oh wait. I see. Thats right, its her. Yeah no confidence.
she hardly endangered this guy's welfare. you're all ridiculous.
Mountain out of a mole hill, anyone?
@#81 - No, Grace's activism is not always representative of students and often is representative of only a vocal minority. Get the facts right about the Viking Raid thing too, the choice wasn't "sweatshop or ethical" it was ethical or a company that did not allow workers to unionise 3 years ago.
Grace's activism certainly isn't representative of *my* views, and the very idea of the other officers of exec doing nothing is laughable. I would much prefer Grace focussed her activism on student issues such as lighting on Walmgate Stray rather than sweatshops in South America. Writing off the other sabbs too is short-sighted, look at the work AMC's done this year, for example.
Despite not being a fan of Grace, I do think that having her continue as Ac&Welfare officer is preferable to the alternative of having NO Ac&Welfare officer, and although her act was certainly not a good one, that alone isn't enough to make me lose confidence in her to do her job, so I'll be voting AGAINST any motion of no confidence against Grace.
Who is Anonymous? He/she seems to be posting a lot of comments on here. Do they have a facebook profile?
"In no way does this event have anything to do with Grace's position: in that event Dan Taylor was just another person, not so much a student seeking help and representation."
Bullshit. This statement is illogical. The event has everything to do with Grace's position; Dan might not having been seeking 'help and representation' but he IS a student and this WAS a campus event, in which case - although I severely dislike Dan Taylor and most of the things he stands for - this MOST CERTAINLY DOES have EVERYTHING to do with Grace's position!
Do YUSU officers think it's okay to go to events that THEY throw, for students they are PAID to REPRESENT - and get pissed for the pleasure? Get so pissed they might, on some occasions, get thrown out of said event? Get so pissed they HIT a student? In front of other students, who might well want help and representation?
I am neither for nor against Grace F-H, but the argument that she deserves less than a slap on the wrist astounds me.
jeez watch the capitals #88 there's totally no need to shout...
88 is right, despite there use of captials.
Its more about the Sabs holding a position of responsibility. There not meant to be students anymore, they are meant to be acting in the best welfare of students.
The Welfare position is inself important because of all the campaigns for drinking sensibility etc. To have the welfare rep behave like this calls for a "vote of no confidence" for, if nothing else, being a hypocrit
Aw, number 88 is getting so angry.
Easy on the capitals mate! YUSU had nothing to do with organising this event, it was a Derwent event. Basically, sabs do their jobs every day; are you saying that they can't drink and go out afterwards? Off-duty sabs are members of the university just like you and me, and they're allowed to make the same mistakes when they're not working. I mean, it was just a little slap, one which was provoked, and it wasn't exactly like she broke his nose or anything was it? In agreement with 85, its making a "Mountain out of a molehill", and one which is being used to obvious personal advantage.
And 86, any company not allowing workers to unionise is working against the worker's rights. My point is that you can't fulfil a promise of charity when there are atrocities being carried out as a result of it. Walmgate stray is obviously an important issue for YUSU, but so is our impact upon the world, and sweatshop or non-sweatshop, our ethics say everything about the type of university we are. The issues are just as important as each other, and both have an impact upon who we are as students. And I don't think that this is the view of a vocal minority: it's just common sense.
Also, I never said the other members of the exec "do nothing": what I said was that they don't support activism in any form: activism which is necessary to make sure that the university stays ethically sound and that all students, no matter how small the cause, are basically represented. This is why Dan Taylor's actions are purely reactionary attempts to move himself 'up the ladder', as activism frustrates YUSU's attempts to hold piss ups and generally commodify the student (look, for instance, at the "marketing" section of their website - is this representative?). I could go on for hours, but generally, GFH is a good academic & welfare rep as she is able to look beyond economics to the day-to-day well-being of the student.
@#92 I guess we'd have to disagree then, I don't see collective bargaining as a fundamental human right, and I'm also willing to forgive companies like Gildan which, although not allowing unionisation in the past, do now. I don't condemn people for past mistakes (unlike other people here).
I personally think issues relating directly to student life at York, such as Hes East, Walmgate Stray, the FTR and Porters are a hell of a lot more important for YUSU to get involved in then issues such as war and poverty (not that these are insignificant issues - they're much more significant than the other issues I pointed out in a global scene, but they're not where YUSU should be spending its time when there's still work to be done locally). Especially when some of the issues are at direct odds with student concerns - take the recent BAE Systems controversy, a company which the University do research for (I know one of the CS lecturers helped research and design the on-aircraft network for the A380 superjumbo) and a lot of York graduates go on to work for.
I do agree with you that students are concerned with ethics, but people have different definitions of "ethical". My current housemate has been harassed by animal rights protesters before because her line of work isn't considered "ethical", but to me and her, it is ethical.
What does concern me about GFH is that she has absolutely no problem with outsourcing YUSU democracy and decision making to an external organisation like People & Planet (a concept I find very worrying). As YUSU are a non-profit organisation, where do you think the money they raise through 'Marketing' and running other events goes? Oh yeah, that's right, into the Welfare campaigns (among others) that Grace runs, as well as funding societies like People&Planet, so I wouldn't be too quick to condemn YUSU's need to raise money.
Number 82 Anon:
I frankly could not care a darn what you think of me (this is Dan Taylor). What is ironic is the fact you make a post like that and then make it as an 'anonymous' post. Why not give your name, and with it, not stoop to the same low levels that you accuse me of. You might have even MORE credibility if you did that...lol
The way Dan Taylor is bleeting on is with this kind of bilge is staggering. I'm not sure he's realised that the proverbial udders are dry, and is continuing in his attempts to milk this occurance.
It is obvious an 'incident' did occur, but the idea that he was an angel and it came entirely out of the blue is as convincing as a Paul Burrel testimony.
The facebook group created is written like some second rate edition of the Daily Mail.
It's amazing to think he's convinced that he'll win people over by acting in such a way. Whilst mention has been given to Grace's reputation, the more he goes on, the more his own reputation will be destroyed...
comment deleted by a moderator as someone who is supposed to be responsible for students safety on campus she doesnt have that great a record with numerous incidents after drinking to much and its about time she resigned and let someone who can conduct themselves in a more appropriate manner take over
I find this story aggravating. Firstly because I know Grace as a nice, genuinely helpful person, but more to the point because people do actually make mistakes from time to time. Get over it.
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