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 trip abroad was originally scheduled to go to Bratislava, but the negotiations with an airline fell through, and the college managed to successfully negotiate terms with both the coach company and hotel. It was therefore decided that the trip would go to Belgium.
Students were initially offered the chance to reserve their places online and pay later, which made the JCRC believe that they had enough interest to run the trip.
A variety of problems then arose, including many international students not being able to gain visas in time, which meant they could not take part.
Goodricke JCRC Chair Joe Clarke said that this, as well as people dropping out due to lack of clearance from their department, as well as exams "at the later stages" meant that the trip quickly went from "making a profit, to breaking even, to a loss".
It is a shame that more people didn't experience it.
The JCRC discovered on Monday Week 8, just four days before departure, that the trip would no longer be profitable, and spoke to relevant companies in an attempt to downsize or cancel the trip, depending on which was more financially viable.
Clarke said: "A cost benefit analysis showed how much we would lose if we canceled, and it looked cheaper to cancel than it would to continue."
The terms and conditions stated that if the trip was cancelled, they would have to pay the full amount, as well as refunding all members. The choice was then taken to "minimise the loss" rather "than have to refund and cancel".
Clarke, who went on the trip, said: "It was a fantastic trip and everyone who went loved it." He added: "It was an unfortunate sequence of events, which we can learn from."
He said that in future the college may ask students to pay a deposit up front which would alleviate issues of overestimating attendance.
Clarke was keen to emphasise that the college had done all it could to increase numbers, including early publicity, making an announcement and setting up a Facebook group, as well as opening it to neighbouring James College.
Rachel Sandler, a third year Music student, said: "I felt it was good that the college put on a unique, multicultural event that not only provided exciting student life such as bars, but also gave us the opportunity to experience the culture and history of Belgium, whilst bringing together Goodricke community spirit in a delightful setting."
She added that she was happy with the way that the trip was organised: "The trip was great value for money and executed well. Everyone who went had a fantastic time. It is a shame that more people didn't experience it."
Clarke reiterated that the main factor in the decrease in numbers was the non-European Union students being unable to secure a visa in time. He said: "At the later stages people dropped out."
After the event, the two JCRC Social Secretaries had a vote of no confidence brought against them by a fellow member over the financial losses.
It was the second Goodricke event in a week to lose money, after the final Goodshack event failed to sell out, and closed early due to low entrance figures.
Max and Luke do a fantastic job, and have had to work twice as hard as other social secs in the fact they organised 2 trips rather than one. There trip to Leeds was an outstanding success and sometimes with getting the right numbers there is nothing more you can do to push events!
Your grammar really is appalling Mr Fink
#2, are you telling the article's author that their grammar is causing Mr Fink discomfort? Perhaps you're berating Mr Fink? Without a comma, it's hard to tell.
Touché
"After the event, the two JCRC Social Secretaries had a vote of no confidence brought against them by a fellow member over the financial losses."
And what was the outcome?
The motion of no confidence was a written motion as the person making it is unable to make the open meeting. But it is set to be proposed at the open meeting on Thursday at 6pm in Goodricke SCR if any Goodrickers would like to come along and have a say.
Good point Fink. The boys have run some great, successful events over the year. Belgium was unfortunate and mostly unavoidable.
Am i the only one who thinks this article is a bit pointless; so they ran an event, and it lost money, its hardly surprising, it doesn't sound like it was through mismanagement or embezzlement, so this is just the worst kind of tabloid journalism really.
What am I missing? Why is this front page news?
The point is that over £1000 has been lost on this event, which is obviously a lot of money and that there has been a vote of no confidence which has caused controversy. How is this not news?
Because
a) £1000 isn't really very much (just to hire kit for a disco costs slightly less than that I think,) particularly when you consider that it was a foreign trip, so you'd expect the risks to be high.
and b) a motion of no confidence against a JCRC social sec is hardly controversy, and certainly not controversy that warrants a whole article!
I just think this is a prime example of things being blown out of proportion by campus media; clearly you have to break eggs to make an omelet sometimes, and in the process of running events, sometimes you have a bad day. It's stories like this that breed the whole 'god isn't YUSU shit' mentality.
I think a motion of no confidence brought against any officer of a student representative organisation of campus is a serious issue, although it is somewhat sidelined by the article, which focusses on the trip to Belgium and associated losses.
I'm not sure where #9 got their 'facts' from, but £1000 really is a substantial amount of money for any JCR at York, especially when it is pure loss (as opposed to expenditure on an event expected to break even, as with equipment). By comparison, we (Alcuin JCR) had to put down a deposit of £300 for our Amsterdam trip earlier this term.
I suppose it all comes down to accountability.
As elected representatives we have to be accountable to the people who elected us.
I feel this article, whilst negative for Goodricke, is written in a fair and accurate way to let the students know what's happening.
If we suddenly started cover-ups and the press stopped reporting what we're doing then suspicion would grow and people would be very unhappy.
I think that campus press is often too concerned with 'controversy' and sometimes cold, hard facts need to be reported. Whether or not they are of particular significance to individuals. On the whole, issues like this are relevant to students.
9 - I think the hope is that with a University education you can begin to interpret what you're reading for yourself, and decide how you want to digest what is being said.
Personally I think this is a good story, and saying '£1000 isn't really very much' is absurd - I know what you're saying, but I'm afraid that £1,000 IS a lot of money.
#9, Isn't £1,000 most of a college's budget? I'm sure Halifax JCRC's budget for next year is only around £2,000, and as the largest college it gets the biggest budget.
I heard it was actually more like £1800 that was lost? Add that to the £1000 ish that was lost due to closure of Goodricke's beach party... not a good term for the JCRC....
#9 this is a publication for a relatively small campus, theres never going to be many sensational, breaking news stories here.
This article doesn't blow things out of proportion but rather informs students of whats going on. Its obviously sparked interest otherwise there wouldn't be so many comments.
Also, if the total lost on the trip was £1800 (as I understand it to be), simple rounding argues the article title should actually be:
"Goodricke loses £2000- on Belgium Trip"
comment deleted by the author £1000 is indeed alot of money.
I think in reply to Ben #13. It is about half of the grant received from YUSU but the overall turnover for a college is much bigger, nearer to the £30,000 mark in Goodricke's case. Obviously every committee aims to break even over the year which is what we still aim to do.
Recent meetings and budget discussions have shown that it is entirely possible and a realistic goal for us to make this money back over the next term which is what we will be aiming to do.
Any Goodricke students who wish to discuss this in greater depth can come along to the open meeting tomorrow night at 6pm in Goodricke Hall/Goodricke SCR (depends on turnout).
Hmmm notice how Joe made no comment on the real amount lost? £1800 is nearer to £2000.
The actual amount lost so far is only an estimation due to exchange rates etc etc etc as bills were paid in Euros. When you're dealing with large amounts of money, exchange rates do have quite a large impact and can be the difference of hundreds of pounds.
By the end of the term we will have exact figures on the total amount lost.
All of the information will be available at the open meeting tomorrow. To which ANY Goodricke student is welcome to come.
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