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 first motion of the evening was proposed by final year student Max Hardy, and seconded by YUSU Officers Alex Lacy, Rhianna Kinchin and Rory Shanks. As Hardy was absent, Emily Scott spoke on his behalf.
Scott noted that Hardy is a keen skier who has competed in skiing competitions at both a national and international level.
She added that he submitted the motion because he has found it difficult to compete at this level whilst also attempting to complete his degree.
Scott pointed out that other universities, including Durham and Liverpool, provide elite athlete programs for their athletes. On behalf of Hardy, she proposed a similar program at York.
If this motion is passed, YUSU will be mandated to lobby the university to either provide an elite athlete fund, or allocate YUSU a fund of £6,000 so that the union can support elite athletes.
The second motion was submitted by Sports President Alex Lacy. YUSU President Tom Scott seconded the motion alongside Michael Leahy and Jon Stammers.
Lacy proposed a campaign for an academic sports department on the grounds that “despite being a top ten academic university... we regularly finish around the forties in BUCS [British Universities and Colleges Sport]”.
He added that an academic sports department could improve sports facilities, attract more sporty students to the university, and get more students already at the university involved in sport.
Lacy also noted: “It’s a bit of a first for students to say they want an academic department in a university, however I think that this grass roots level of understanding and involvement is what York is all about.”
Lacy then submitted his second motion of the evening, calling for a campaign to bring term dates forward. York University currently has one of the latest starts in the country to an academic year, often starting around the same time as Oxford University despite having longer terms.
Lacy suggested that this is detrimental to students, claiming: “This is a bit rubbish. It’s rubbish for students in employment, for students renting houses, for international students, for students on ERASMUS schemes, for students who play sport and for students who want to go into postgraduate study. In fact, it’s rubbish for most, if not all, the students in York.”
James Smallwood, president of the York University Rugby Club, was one of several people who seconded the motion. Smallwood noted that both the first and second rugby teams had to forfeit what would have been their opening game of the season as it was scheduled for before the beginning of term. Both teams were also punished with a three point penalty.
The final motion of the evening was submitted by Chris Northwood, who proposed a campaign to improve the university 'duck' card. Northwood opened his speech by highlighting a problem he had when working in Oxford as part of his course: “In York, everywhere recognises the duck card; in Oxford, they haven’t the foggiest what it is.”
Northwood noted other problems caused by the current university cards – that the year of issue is often mistaken for an expiry date, and that the lack of a more widely recognised logo (for example, NUS or ISIC) means the card’s validity can often be called into question.
John Nicholls, one of the YUSU Environment and Ethics Officers, expressed his support for the motion. Nicholls said: “I think students at York deserve to have a card of national recognition.”
Voting for the UGM motions begins on Monday week 5 at http://www.yusu.org/vote.
"If you agree with this, let us not waste our time arguing over nothing."
By the way, I disagree with this. It is not the lateness of our term that is the problem. It is the difference in term times. Even universities that have two terms only have them running from September-January (including Christmas) which is just stupid anyway but there will be the problem still for international students doing one semester which is that if they do autumn/winter term in the UK they will be flying back to the USA (or wherever) DURING the next term.
The entire university is poor at scheduling... Scratch that, the entire COUNTRY is poor at scheduling. Just synchronise everything and then nobody gets an unfair advantage.
Plus we've had this discussion before with university staff. With clearing, etc, most university staff feel that we're hard-pressed to start term on time as it is. Don't forget how problematic finding accomodation for all the students is even with the extra 2-3 weeks.
Yet again I'd like to add that the motion is great but more work is needed in the long run to fix this issue.
"I think that our term dates are fine and it's the fact that other universities have theirs too early"
"October isn't late. We finish our 10 week term before Christmas so we're fine time-wise. If every other institution started then as well then it wouldn't be a problem"
"It is not the lateness of our term that is the problem. It is the difference in term times"
We're moving in circles so let's try to clarify this; it is not the difference in term dates in itself that is problematic. If WE started at about the same time with everyone else (i.e. EARLIER) none of the problems described before would apply to this university.
And of course, if there was full scale synchronisation on a national level then there wouldn't be a problem either. It is safe to say, however, that this is simply not going to happen, at least not in the foreseeable future.
And in EITHER CASE, we will inevitably end up changing our term dates; we are the ones starting later than almost everyone else.
So, my point before was quite clear; what you are proposing (synchronise every university in the UK) is impractical, extremely complicated and well beyond YUSU's power. And even if it happens, it will result in exactly the same thing; i.e. earlier start of term.
In short, this motion is the most realistic and reasonable course of action to take.
And no, it does not entail cutting down weeks from the easter or summer holidays; it is simply about shifting the term dates and not starting so late for no reason whatsoever.
My point is that changing the term date is a step in the right direction but will not FIX the problem. As realistic as it is, it will not provide a solution to the entire issue. Universities will still have separate start and end times, separate numbers of terms and these will cause problems. People will still have to rent from July 1st whether they like it or not. I've been saying that the whole time.
And there are plenty of reasons for starting later. More summer conferencing, more time to deal with late applications, more time to sort out accomodation, perfect timing in a 10-week-term before Christmas. It's not "for no reason whatsoever" at all - the University just places those points over the others when we believe they should be the other way around.
the term dates are crazy at the moment - the summer holiday is unbelievably long and we go back three weeks after a lot of universities, a fact which has loads of effects from the weather in christmas term to BUSA fixtures.
I just don't see the advantage in going back so long after every other uni in the country, to be honest..
As for the comments about the university struggling to sort accommodation in time if the dates were changed, well, every other uni in Britain somehow manages..
Other universities have less accomodation issues than we do. We have large numbers of second and third years wishing to live back on campus, a completely (in my opinion) useless facilities team that never manage to finish their repairs before term starts and a large number of students that join us through clearing. Granted that there are still a few other universities that put us through with that but, well, never mind.
Still, regarding your other points. The weather in Christmas term is perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with it. In fact if we moved the Christmas term back we'd be pushing back spring term and you'd have been getting all of this snow etc. in week 6 which would have been very unpleasant. BUSA should be able to cope with different timetables since it's been an issue for many years.
Still, vote for the motion; show the university that it's a major issue and then email the Campaigns Officer or Jane Grenville to ask them to take it higher. Hopefully a proper resolution can be found since moving our term dates earlier would simply cause a slightly different and slightly less important set of problems.
Synchronised term dates is a poor idea. Universities have autonomy to choose their own teaching schedule. Some have 2 semesters, some have 8,8 and 14 week terms. we have 10,10,10 (by far the best system for consistency in teaching).
As has already been pointed out, other 'top' universities go back less than a week before us. Ox, Cam, Warwick, Durham, Lancs etc... all have October starts.
The sports issue is a non-runner. Its BUSAs problem, not york's and a bit of diplomacy over rescheduled fixtures would probably a better thing for us to 'lobby' YUSU to do.
Most resentment about our dates seems to be about having too long at home in the summer. Maybe a job, some voluntary work, or a placement would come in handy. Or just come up to york early and enjoy university life without the 9.15s for a week or two!
Term dates really aren't set for the benefit of undergrads, quite rightly. They don't have to work over the summer, plan teaching or do research.
Leave everything as it is and vote against!
I think #26 makes a fairly decent argument. Maybe term could be shifted forward by a week and then we have 4 weeks at both Christmas and Easter, but I think something more drastic is unnecessary.
Its not the length of the summer that bothers me I love having a long summer - but coming back a week later than any other university is just stupid, due to all the points that have been made.
Also, I'm sure everyone remembers back just before they started Uni for the first time just how annoying it was to be stranded at home by yourself, when everyone else had started at least a week before. That was one of the most boring weeks of my life - by that stage you just want to get started, and for me anyway, it meant I was far more apprehensive by the time I got here, because I'd had so much time to panic over it. I wouldn't want to start mid September like some places do, but just a week earlier would bring us in line with a large number of other Universities without causing any other major problems.
#28 i completely a agree, the Autumn term a week earlier is all we need.
An extra week at christmas would also be fantastic for those that have exams directly after.
I'd much prefer to have an extra week to enjoy christmas than waste a week in the summer when everyone else is already back in uni.
To be honest, #28, it is fun every year laughing at the universities starting earlier as they laugh at us in June. Even still, in my first year I moved up to York at the beginning of September to get a job and enjoy York so wasn't loitering around for ages.
But the extra week is probably going to be the compromise situation if the UGM passes, which it probably will but may not, and I think it would be lovely to have that last week before Christmas. Keep spring and summer as they are, too. 
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