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.
Both James and Halifax are set to receive funding from Vice-Chancellor Brian Cantor in an attempt to improve their respective college venues.
The lack of a proper central venue has long been an issue for James College and next year Halifax will also be without a bar or catering facilities.
Khatu has been in negotiations with the Vice-Chancellor since taking up his post in January and has finally secured the pledge of money to install a SKY TV package.
He said: "With the introduction of this package we'll display a slightly more cohesive atmosphere in our community, which is at least the first step in alleviating the levels of disillusion surrounding James College.
"I'll continue working hard to create an atmosphere that will make our members equally proud of James College as our counterparts are of their own colleges."
His efforts have resulted in the university agreeing to pay the SKY installment fee and the first two years of subscription to the service.
After this period, the colleges will have to find their own source of revenue to pay for the fees, which are in excess of £3,000 a year.
The promise of this initial funding follows the announcement in May that James College would be allowed to use the Roger Kirk Centre for events in the next academic year.
Khatu said that he would like to continue to work with the university staff to ensure the success of these plans.
HCSA President David Sharp declined to comment.
I'd also like to add a big thank you to VC Brian Cantor and Pro VC Jane Grenville for all of their help over the last two terms.
Cheers! 
Congratulations! Hope it proves successful 
Derwent will be working to introduce SKY for the next academic year. Successful events from the Six Nations to Champions League final and the Euros are proving that Derwent Bar is really the only place to watch sport on campus. Why on God's earth would you give Sky to a college that does not have its own bar? It's a non-starter as far as getting money back is concerned.
Dan, hush up. Wrong attitude.
I'd say a more realistic attitude as would others outside James.
It's a bit selfish though Dan - I'm sure you would feel differently if you were in James and not Derwent...
And...why is it about getting money back rather than providing entertainment for students?
James has suffered long enough with no central venue, with no focal point to our social life, events are scattered not institutionalised/consistent and so it follows that faith in those events tends to suffer year to year - the "disillusion."
As JCRC's we're not concerned with revenue we're about whether students enjoy themselves and have a good time. Cantor saw the more emotive reason as more substantial than pure decision by numbers and made the right choice - given the level of experience Cantor vs. Taylor, I'm perfectly happy saying the Uni has made the right choice - I'm sure the other Chairs will back me up
Given the takeover coming up in 2009 things are really starting to look up for JC... BE HAPPY, PEOPLE!
Nice one Chet...good going!
Its good to see that as a James student we are getting the attention we deserve.
I agree with Dan that Derwent is a good bar and venue, but surely this is a good sign from the uni that they are willing to pay money towards college facilities.
I don't think this should be seen as a money making venture however, more of one of a service to the students to enable us to get more from our College.
I think it's far less selfish having it in a bar that is able to supply and provide a higher number of people with a service than a JCR. The fact of the matter is that if Derwent had Sky, it would not only benefit Derwent students but everyone on campus, as has been seen by the numbers attending other sporting events in Derwent not actually in our college. The problem I feel that arises from this, is that Sky is being provided in a capacity in which only a few people are going to benefit from it, in this particular case, James students and not other students in campus, purely for logitical reasons of space, numbers and 'reputation'.
I think we are singing from the same hymn-sheet though, Chet. We are both looking out for the interests of our colleges which is not a bad thing. I just think the interestes of 'sport on campus' could be better served by giving Sky to a bar that has space, a reputation and a history of showing successful sporting events. Incidentally, I have never come across Mr. Cantor. From what I hear, this may be a good thing but I would quite like to meet the chap before passing any judgement.
I don't think that Sky television at James is going to be utilised merely for 'sport'. I think Chet's done well, and that it will provide James college students with more of a reason to go and utilise their JCR. Dan - I agree with your sentiments on why having Sky at Derwent would benefit more students than having Sky at James college, but I think that this is missing the point - this surely doesn't have to be an either/or situation, the Derwent JCRC are surely in a position whereby they can be proactive and attempt to negotiate for things such as Sky if they so wish. I would merely say well done to Chet - he's looking out for James College. We've got a collegiate system at York, and he wants what he thinks is best for James' students.
Good news for the students in James.
In fairness, I really think all the JCR's should have Sky to be honest. For a start it encourages more people to go in there, and therefore mix easily.
Anyone got any news on the Halifax one btw? Will they be keeping their existing Sky package?
I did make that point, Myles. As I said, I think we are both singing from the same hymn-sheet by looking out for our colleges and congratulations on him for getting anything out of the university worthwhile. As an aside, I think that in the main, it will be used for sport, unless James has a disproportionately high number of UKTV food fans...
On the subject of Sky, negotiating and Halifax, I was under the impression that Halifax Sky was funded by YUSU (I might be wrong on this). In our proposed negotiations, we want to put the case forward for taking over the 'sports bar' tag from Halifax when its bar closes and therefore have Sky installed in Derwent. These will ne on-going and hopefully progress over the summer, though I do agree #12, that we should all have Sky in our colleges; I dont even think the cost would work out to a great deal if some form of agreement was reached on installment. I think Durham has something very, very similar.
Just a final question regarding James, where is this Sky TV going to go and how many people are able to watch it? Also, Vanbrugh had sky at the start of my first year (2006) and it was gone by the end of it because it made no money and cost the college JCR far, far to much to run. Just be slightly wary of any possible outcomes, particularly financial drainage.
I don't see why the JJs sky package can't transfer to derwent bar - it's certainly the next best location for a sports bar, and if the sky package belongs to 'york university', they can't stipulate which particular tv it's viewed on.
Congrats to Chet for getting a positive deal with the VC. I agree though that events will need to make money to keep up a subscription to sky sports.
I'm a bit confused by the yorker's claim that sky costs £3000 a year. James JCR is not a licensed premises, so surely we'd be paying the lower rate that school staff rooms etc... pay, as opposed to the pubs and clubs rate?
The package can't just be moved as its currently in a licensed premisis & as such can only be used for that building. It would be around the £3k mark as they will still (as far as i'm aware) need a public viewing license due to the number of people who have access to it.
Hmmmm...am I the only one who wonders whether the university's sudden willingness to cooperate might be at all related to langwith bar changing hands? Could be the start of many a good thing if it is!
£3,000 per year?
James College is not licensed. Whilst I appreciate Sky would be on view in a public place, the £3,000 fee is not applicable here, surely?
http://business.sky.com/general_packages.asp
According to Sky's website, even for general business customers (which includes schools) a Sky package with the sports channels costs at least £261 a month, therefore in excess of £3,000 a year.
Dan... if you re-read the article, you'll note that the university is covering the subscription fee for the next two years. James have plenty of time to figure out a way of covering the cost after that, and whether or not it will be viable.
RE: Derwent's ability to deliver quality sports coverage, I went to watch the Spain/Russia game and was confronted with a bunch of poor guys scratching their head in front of a blank projector screen.
Chet, a nice new big TV to go with that would be most excellent.
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