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."
iirc, his manifesto was:
I think he'll keep the first one, Fencing Soc have already agreed to do the third one, so only the second or fourth remain to be seen. It'd be interesting to compare that against the manifesto success rate for other candidates...
You're missing the "talk and dress like a pirate the whole time, even when I'm talking to Brian Cantor" bit, which he was pretty explicit about.
I voted for the pirate, and I have to say I am a little disappointed to hear this news.
@#22, You're right, I did indeed forget that (I was going by his poster, but I accept that claims made in campaigning speeches also form part of the manifesto), so it is unfortunate (for democracy at least, it's probably fortunate for common sense, but that's not what we're arguing about - I don't think anyone is arguing that not being a pirate 100% of the time is going to be bad for the union) that he has decided to back down on this. But other candidates have had to back down on some of their manifesto pledges and I don't see by-elections being called for any of them.
Frankly I think complaining already that Tom Scott might not keep to all his elections promises, and because of this a by-election should be called, is just stupid. The idea of a pirate representing us in an official capacity is unworkable (and has already been mocked at the NUS conference, a body i'm sure york students would rather took us seriously). Look at our current Services and Finance officer, Matt Burton, who got in last academic year arguing to provide a student venue in town, then acted as if it was a joke when asked about it in senate and by york uni media despite it being his major pledge for york students. Anne-Marie Canning, our current yusu president promised and has so far failed to deliver a phamarcy on campus. The other YUSU elect officers havent done much better this year regarding their election pledges, however as an organisation they have done a good job of representing students and have each had their own personal successes, just not necessarily the ones they pledged when they got elected.
So we should all give the Cap't a chance, he was elected to represent us, and i personally can't think of anyone who elected him just because he was a pirate, and we can all bitch about how he's doing in a few months after he's officially started.
Just to add to #25's comments, if memory serves me right nadz's main pledge was to split Ac&Welfare, and Laura's was to fight on bridges and buses (metaphorically - Tom I'm sure would've been up for literally fighting on bridges and buses with a cutlass 
). However, the bridges and buses issues were made official YUSU policy by a ugm last term, so whoever's president has no choice but to campaign on those issues anyway. And if the proposed constitutional changes go through at this ugm(*) then Ac&Welfare will be split anyway. So in essence it seems that if nadz or laura got elected, by the time they actually took office all their policies would have been done anyway, and so they'd be in the same position as tom: having to act on things not explicitly in their manifestos (or just kick back and do nothing all year, which I'm sure isn't a desirable alternative). In that light it just seems like a silly argument to complain about tom not carrying out his (obviously humourous) pledges when the other candidates wouldn't have been able (in a way) to carry out their pledges either.
(*)Which I don't think they should, because the changes would inadvertently take the union out of our hands: Unelected (by the student body) external people will sit on yusu's executive committee for terms outlasting any yusu officer, and have voting rights, which effectively gives them the same sway as over half the current sabbs put together despite the fact they don't go to york, don't share our concerns and may well have conflicting interests (since some of them I think are being called in to offer financial advice, they might well be from firms who would be put out if a policy for ethical merch got renewed, for instance). Also, campaigning societies no longer have the flexibility they used to within yusu's structure (though I think this is an accidental change). Anyway, there's ugly changes in with the good ones here, and I think it'd be a mistake to push the changes through in their current forms.
1. Obtain dead horse
2. Commence flogging
3. ????
4. PROFIT!
Chris, you have just conceded the point I wanted you to concede on all along, that being that the Mad Cap'n has u-turned from all the pledges he was elected on. However I think it runs deeper than other candidates in terms of the context he was voted in on.
It is my view that Tom is now a completely different candidate to the one offered to the students at election time. Not only has he ditched his policy (which is my opinion is a good thing for our credibility as an institution, if not democracy) but he has ditched the persona for which he was elected. The persona of someone different, dressing up, able to offer something outside the 'typical' candidate from the YUSU bubble- Nads and Laura for example. He has completely gone back on this and I think as anon. 23 points out, those who voted for him will feel slightly let down because he simply is no longer 'what they voted for' and those who didn't are no doubt of the view that he took advantage of student apathy to out-do two very credible other candidates who he is now almost attempting to mimick.
Dan, I have concerns over you putting words in my mouth. I never said this; I advise you to read comment 21 again where I say quite the opposite.
However, finally, you've accepted that your point of view is that, a point of view, and not "facts" shared by every other student at this University. I accept that you're entitled to a point of view, despite the fact that I disagree with it (I feel even without the pirate persona Scott is still sufficiently different from the other candidates at the time. Who he is doesn't change whether or not he's wearing a costume and putting on an accent). I still also think your point of view of the "context" on which he was elected was misguided too, but I have nothing but anecdotal evidence to back that up with.
Chris, if you read Tom Scott's interview with The Yorker following YUSU elections, I believe he told Ruth he will get those cutlasses one way or another. And as someone else has pointed out, Anne-Marie Canning tried and failed to get a pharmacy on campus... all things considered, he's doing pretty well considering he hasn't even started the job yet.
Dan, surely if you want our president to go along to the next NUS Conference and "tear it up from the inside" the pirate persona can only be a good thing.
And #25, I can assure you we weren't mocked at NUS Conference for having a pirate president. Quite the opposite - there were definite looks of jealousy all around.
#30, I completely agree with you 
I can't see how his acting unexpectedly makes him "a completely different candidate" at all - after all, he is a *Mad* Cap'n, if all his decisions were rational, predictable or didn't confuse people then he wouldn't be mad!
Frankly, I'm glad to see he's sticking with the madness he was (allegedly) elected for by doing a wacky stunt like adopting a 'normal' accent and clothes every so often. Hell, he's mad so he can 'go back' on whatever things he wants I suppose since it fits his persona, which apparently is what democracy(*) demands he maintains. If he wasn't doing 'mad' things like this, *then* I'd feel he was betraying his election promises to me.
(*) Has anyone actually met this 'democracy' fellow? It seems some people at york speak on behalf of his interests with such conviction it'd seem that they must know him very well - is 'democracy' perhaps a mate of these 'the students of york' and 'everybody' fellows whose opinions keep getting invoked? Could someone perhaps introduce us?
- Chris Swann.Pharmacy is coming to Market Sq. License is being applied for now by university, should see roll out in the next 18 months. Enjoy!
Anne-Marie x
Give the guy a break. He's made the right decision in abandoning an election pledge that will do no favours for York students. If he spends the rest of his Presidency putting the interests of students and the Union ahead of his personal image (as he has done here), then York students are in for a good year.
Give the man some credit and support a decision that is clearly in the interests of students. Tom Scott will make a fantastic President so let’s put the Pirate stuff behind us and get behind a guy who genuinely wants to make a positive difference for York students.
After all the semi-abuse he's received from the University community, I think it has taken serious guts to for him to change his stance on the pirate issue.
Nadz is right; he's putting the important student issues ahead of his own image. It's good that he has a sense of humour about himself, I like him for that and so do many others, and now I still like him but respect him all the more for trying to strike a balance between that humerous side and the serious political persona that he now needs to maintain to negotiate serious issues.
Well played Mr Scott.
So maybe the pressure on him to abandon the act from certain quarters actually constructively helped. Best of luck to our non-pirate president!
So a guy gets voted in by giving us unrealistic policies, gimmicks, appealing to the lowest common denominator and then starts making U-turns.....hang on a minute...havn't I heard this before?
In all seriousness it's student politics - Just sit back, relax, and watch absolutely nothing change at all.
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