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.
Second year Dan Taylor has submitted a motion of no confidence against the welfare representative that could see her removed from her position.
He said: “I think the motion will hold, and if Grace were to do the honourable thing and resign now, it would save a lot of trouble.
“I don’t think it takes away from any good she may have done in the past in her position, but her credibility in terms of ability to campaign on welfare issues – like domestic violence and responsible drinking – is compromised by this.”
The Yorker reported on Friday how Fletcher-Hackwood had admitted hitting the history and politics student after a drunken argument outside Derwent theme night Chav D.
She described the incident as one "deeply regrettable, never-to-be-repeated mistake" and added: "If you think I'm going to resign over this, you are sadly mistaken."
A Facebook group set up in support of the welfare officer had this morning attracted more than 120 members - while one created by Taylor calling for her resignation had just over 60.
The motion submitted yesterday will be put before the next Union General Meeting next week and will be open for voting to all students in week 5.
It states: “This Union notes that YUSU Welfare Representative, Grace Fletcher-Hackwood, hit a student outside ‘Chav-D’ on the night of Friday 11th January 2008.
“This Union believes that violence from the sabbatical YUSU Welfare Representative to another student is unacceptable. As a result, the students of the University of York have no confidence in Grace Fletcher-Hackwood in her position of YUSU Welfare Representative.
“This Union resolves to remove Grace Fletcher-Hackwood from her position as YUSU Sabbatical Welfare Representative”.
Taylor said: "I think it is only right that students get to have their say on whether they wish to see a welfare representative in position who assaults students, unprovoked, under the influence of alcohol. We await the outcome.”
Grace Fletcher-Hackwood yesterday declined to comment.
The no confidence motion will be put before the next Union General Meeting on Thursday Week 4, at 8:15pm in V/123. Voting will open online at www.yusu.org from Monday Week 5
What if someone had been hit by Dan Taylor who was welfare rep... I think there would have been a different reaction and Grace would have most certainly got on her high horse.
Not that it makes a difference really, but remits and commitments aside, Tom and Michael might not want to take on Grace's role! It seems a bit unfair to drop them in it already!
Apologising unequivocally would have been saying i'm sorry, i was wrong. If she had done this I wouldn't vote to kick her off YUSU.
It is not an unequivocal apology to say i'm sorry but i was drunk, i'm only small and he is big, i had no intention of hurting him bla bla. She has lost a lot of respect by making these pathetic excuses.
23 - http://yorkuk.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=9656307789
"I can't apologise enough for my behaviour last night. It's no excuse at all but I have had a very difficult week and lost it a bit. I am so, so sorry that I let you wind me up that much and it will obviously never happen again."
This is a quote from well before anyone published a article, before anyone set up a facebook group, or before anyone demanded she do anything.
I agree with #23 if she simply said she was sorry and she was wrong I may have a different view on the matter. But as in the quote by #24, in her defence
"BUT I have had a very difficult week and lost it a bit. I am so, so sorry that I let you wind me up that much and it will obviously never happen again."
This just strengthens #23’s point – all the comments i have read have been full of excuses and as #21 has stated - would there be a different reaction if a drunken Dan Taylor was the one in the welfare position and had hit Grace?
25 -
For crying out loud.
She didn't say 'BUT I have had a very difficult week', she said 'It is no excuse at all but I have had a very difficult week'.
This selective quoting is really starting to annoy me (as is this anonimity, but that's a different point). I urge everyone to read the apology itself rather than the bits people choose to quote.
Just to clarify:
26- clearly she did say 'but I had a very different week'(I was the one sent the message). Saying it is no excuse and then saying it sort of undoes it, particularbly by using 'but'- I am sure some people will agree with me. It also even more brings into question the cerdibility of her position- being YUSU Welfare Rep. is not a game of bloody tiddlywinks. Is she going to hit someone else every time she has a 'difficult week'?
This is especially important. Grace had THREE occasions to apologise to me face-to-face in the three days post the event. This is why I waited before taking any more action- to see if she would apologise to my face.
1) After the event itself- she just stormed off in the opposite direction.
2) The next day when we did our radio show- inciidentally it was a facebook message I sent confronting her about the incident on that day that initiated the apology- she did not send one first. When we were on the radio for all of an hour, she did not apologise to my face once, either before of afterwards.
3) The Monday when I came into the YUSU office and saw Grace. She did not apologise to my face.
It is after this I took the decison to take the incident further. Even in the Yorker she justfied it my "not meaning to hurt" me. If that was the case, then why punch me? The fact I happen to be "strapping" and a "football player" and her only "5ft 5" seem to make a difference to her as well.
Sorry, but this is from the horses mouth. If Grace had come to me on Sunday at the radio-show and said, Dan I am honestly sorry for what I did, shook my hand- I was drunk etc etc then I very much doubt this would have gone any further. She did neither and as a result, I feel that her actions should not be judged by me but by the students of this institution.
If they feel they can go along with a welfare rep. who his a student after a difficult week, then so be it. I am submitting the motion because I believe her credibility and integrity have been fundamentally undermined and I believe also that this affects adversely her ability to fulfil her job description.
Dan Taylor
...and that was typed in a hurry! Scuse errors.
If having a bad week is no excuse at all - don't use it as an excuse. It's so annoying when people say 'I'm not going to make excuses but...' and proceed to list excuses. Just say sorry and stop talking. Easy
This is to #12. I disagree completely with the idea that Grace can carry on doing the job (which she may well have done brilliantly) after this incident.
Although I do not think students will be too terrified to go to her, I think that a lot of us have lost a fair bit of respect for her. I do not know how seriously I could take her now. In regards to campains on welfare, drinking..etc..the first word that comes to my mind is hypocrite.
After such a scandal, and such huge publicity in the Yorker I can not see her maintaining her position. She should resign.
Chapeau to her accepting her mistakes, apologising publicly and privately. It does her honour.
However, although she may have absolutely been 100% competent in all her duties and obligations, we are talking not only about the single individual committing a mistake, but we are talking about what YUSU allows and disallows.
To allow Grace to maintain her position is for YUSU and York student population to condone such behaviour.
Forget Grace is Welfare officer, what would we think/do if YUSU president acted the same way?
Being a welfare officer is not easy, and I am sure she was aware of this when she decided to run for the position.
Hitting a student, although it is an offense that can easily be forgiven to an ordinary student, is not something that can be accepted from a public/political figure such as Grace.
It is a shame she acted too much on impulse and I am sure her loss will not go unnoticed, but I do not think these are reasons enough to allow her to stay.
Dan: please stop saying that Mike and I are possible immediate replacements for Grace. Allthough it is flatering for you to say so, it is not a realistic outcome and should not be used as part of this debate.
If Grace is NConf, the majority of her work will fall to YUSU Staff and Sabatical officers. Ac Welf officer is a job that needs to be carried out by someone who it not studying for a degree - simply sharing it amongst more than one student does not change this.
If Grace is NC then there will not be an academic and welfare officer until the next officer elect completes his or her studies. Any measures taken to share the workload will not be as good as having a full-time officer.
The debate is to decide if what Grace has done is of high enough severity to mkae the above a reality. In my opinion, it is not.
Again, thanks for the comment but please stop refering to me in this context.
Thanks,
Tom
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