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.
Scott, who will succeed Anne-Marie Canning as President in July, cited the freshers talk in Central Hall as one occasion when he would wear full pirate costume.
However, for more serious matters he will not use the pirate persona. He said: "I really can’t discuss things like Langwith Bar and Heslington East with university administrators in the persona of the Mad Cap'n."
I really can’t discuss things like Langwith Bar and Heslington East with university administrators in the persona of the Mad Cap'n.
Nadz Kunwar, one of the two candidates who stood against Scott in this year’s elections, supported the decision. He said: "I think it’s good, people will take him a lot more seriously when he’s not wearing a pirate costume."
Michael Regan, a first year student who created the Facebook group 'Petition for Mad Cap'n Tom Scott to Resign as YUSU President', agreed that this was a positive step.
He said: "In order to be taken seriously by organisations like NUS and FTR, it has to appear as though those that are conveying our viewpoints and acting in our interests are representative of the whole student body."
However, Regan questioned Scott’s legitimacy as a non-pirate president. He added: "He was voted in democratically, whilst pretending to be a pirate. So if he is no longer adopting this persona then he doesn’t have a mandate to be President."
He suggested a by-election where Scott ran without the pirate persona.
Scott denied that he would drop the pirate persona entirely. He told The Yorker: "The proof version of the Freshers Diary just came into YUSU, and right there on the front page is the greeting 'Ahoy mateys, and welcome to York!'"
He added: "I'm required to act in the best interests of the Union at all times. That doesn’t mean the Mad Cap'n's being retired though, me hearty. Far from it."
Michael makes a point that was being continuously debated at the time of his election. On one hand, The 'Mad Cap'n' was elected on the 'joke' of being a pirate; he stated he would go into negotiations with administrators, the NUS etc dressed as a pirate. He promised 'cutlases for all' etc. From what I understand he appears to have broken these promises. Saying he will "dress up as a pirate for ceremonial occasions" is trying to balance out his elections promises with the realisation that a 'pirate candidate' is frankly no more than a joke figure.
From a personal perspective, I frankly could not care if he ditched these things. We need a strong, principled and above all, serious president who can go to the NUS and tear it up from within for all it faults and go to Cantor and relay the concerns of students. From what I understand, Scott is a more than capable, intelligent individual and outside his ridiculous pirate act, he may well be able to achieve this. It does however make a bit of a mockery of the 1000+ people who voted for him thinking how 'cool' it would be to have a 'pirate president'.
It does seem to me that he's sort of cheated to get himself into office.
He ran as a joke figure, and now he's abandoned that joke. Personally I'm glad we're not having some overgrown kid in a pirate suit representing us, but as he ran AS a pirate, he shouldn't now be able to say "actually I'm just gonna be Tom Scott".
Cos, lets face it, Mad Cap'n Tom Scott might have beaten Payne and Kunwar, but plain old Tom Scott wouldn't have had a hope.
So true!
What's a bi-election? Is that a by-election for the LGBT reps? Do The Yorker articles get proof-read before they're published? There's a pretty obvious error with a semi-colon being used instead of a quotation mark too...
As I said on the original Nouse article, I really don't see what difference the clothes someone wears and the accent someone speaks in makes a difference - Tom Scott and the Mad Cap'n *are* still the same person. It's like saying that when Grace Fletcher-Hall changed her name to Grace Fletcher-Hackwood, she should have immediately stepped down as AcWelf, because we voted in Grace Fletcher-Hall, not Grace Fletcher-Hackwood.
Although he did get voted in as a Pirate, I think the reason many people voted for him in the end was because he showed himself, in interviews and at the PEP debate, to have the interests of the students at heart, and that despite the facade, he would make a good president. He doesn't seem to be able to win with all the skeptics - if he stayed as a full pirate all the time they'd call him ridiculous, now he's dropping it, they're questioning the democracy. Give him a chance, people!
"Tom Scott and the Mad Cap'n *are* still the same person. It's like saying that when Grace Fletcher-Hall changed her name to Grace Fletcher-Hackwood, she should have immediately stepped down."
I wonder if everyone would be as forgiving if Gordon Brown decided he's going to wear a chicken suit and call himself the 'crazy cock'. I doubt people would just say oh, it doesn't really matter: he's still the same person. There's a difference between the changing your name, and changing your character I think!
#6, I think a better analogy would be if the MRLP got into power and then actually took a semi-serious approach to running the country. Would you have a problem with that?
For god's sake, this isn't as serious as a general bloody election...get a grip.
And to answer the point you just edited your comment to include, are you seriously saying that changing the clothes he wears and the accent he speaks in his changing his character to the amount that he's now a completely different person overall?
Chris, it's absolutely nothing like the same. Tom Scott effectively stood under/on a pseudonym- not as 'Tom Scott'. Many voted for him because he was a pirate and thought it would be *hilarious* to have a pirate president to represent this acedemic institution. Not because they wanted someone normal.
It's almost as it he used his pirate gear to get elected by taking advantage of relative student apathy and now he's elected, realised what SOME people have been saying all along- that he simply would not be taken seriously by those who matter and thus has in all but name, scrapped the pirate 'act' which is effectively what it all was.
I just think that now, all students feel conned. For those who voted for him because they wanted someone different and 'funny' (sense of humour pending) and now have someone 'normal' just as Nads or Laura would have been and for those who did not who have been proved right in basically everything they said regarding his election and the farcicle nature of the campaign. I would like to ask Tom one question: How many of his manifesto pledges are being abandoned in this quest for 'normality'?
Dan: Do you have any facts to back up your statements? I honestly don't think anyone thought they were voting an actual pirate, I'm pretty sure everyone realised that he was just a bloke in a costume.
Anecdotal I imagine. What evidence do you have that they didn't?
"The proof version of the Freshers Diary just came into YUSU, and right there on the front page is the greeting 'Ahoy mateys, and welcome to York!'"
this makes me sick!
Pretty sure that everyone knew what they were voting for... a man with a good campaign gimmick.
Chris, what do you think they were voting for? Are you honestly credibly telling me that the pirate costume had no influencing on how people voted? If so, I'm afraid I think you are completely misinformed. And I couldn't care less whether that is a 'sweeping statement' or not. It's the facts of the matter I am afraid.
Dan, where did I say that the costume had no influence on how people voted. Obviously it did, in the same way that posters and other campaigning techniques influence the way people vote...
This person is still the same person that we elected, he's just not going to talk like a pirate and wear a duck on his shoulder in meetings with Brian Cantor and other non-public occasions.
If you're claiming that the electorate didn't realise that Scott was a normal person underneath the costume, I think you're doing your fellow students a huge disservice.
@#12, sorry missed your comment earlier. Typically, if you make a statement as fact, you have to be able to prove it, you can't just go around making statements as fact and saying that it's fact because no-one's disproved it.
Chris, I totally agree with your first comment... good God, with mistakes in articles you'd think the people who write for and edit The Yorker were human or something *shudders*
Essentially the pirate persona encouraged those people who otherwise wouldn't of cared to vote. And then his performance in debates made those who realised that 'Tom Scott' was a viable candidate vote for him as well. He ran a good campaign and won, deal with it. Chris Northwood is right, everyone knew what they were getting and those who didn't wouldn't of voted anyway.
Post 19: "everyone knew what they were getting and those who didn't wouldn't of voted anyway."
Everyone thought they were getting a pirate president! They're now not. Tom cleverly exploited student apathy to gain his position in the first place as someone essentially that was not Tom Scott, and now he is abandoning that very idea now he is in position.
I ask once again, how many election proposals is he now going to abandon?
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report