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 night was to ratify the Union Council minutes from October to January. This was proposed in the last UGM, but did not reach quoracy.
Next was a constitutional amendment proposal, proposed by the Union Council and seconded by acting Council Chair Tom Langrish.
The proposal is to approve the new constitution, which has been amended by Langrish. In his speech Langrish said: “Governance has to be flexible, it has to change to suit the changing needs of the student body.”
If the motion is passed, it will complete a number of changes made by the union, including rebranding the Athletic Union’s as York Sport, reviving the York University Media (YUM) Committee and splitting the Academic and Welfare Officer position into two roles. Langrish added: “Please vote for it, otherwise I’ve wasted quite a bit of time.”
The proposed changes to the constitution can be found at this link.
Next up was the first of Jason Rose’s many motions, which was seconded by YUSU Officers Jamie Tyler, Alex Lacy and Charlie Leyland and Labour Club Chair David Levene. If passed, YUSU will be mandated to oppose any attempt by the government to increase the tuition fee cap.
Rose said: “At present, I will be leaving university with £35,000 of debt, including £12,000 of tuition fees. If the cap is lifted to £7,000, this would increase to over £50,000 of debt.” He added that the current system is “very dodgy and unfeasible for over half of all students”.
The fourth motion of the evening was submitted by Jonathan Krasner-Macleod, and seconded by Amit Sinha, Charlie Leyland and Therese Hermann.
Krasner-Macleod put forward a proposal whereby provision marks would be returned within four 'term' weeks, and adequate feedback returned within six 'term' weeks. If this motion is passed, YUSU will be mandated to campaign for this.
Krasner-Macleod said: “If they [exams] are meant to help us learn at all, to engage our understanding of a topic, to see where we need to refocus our attentions then we need feedback when we can still remember sitting them.” He added that he’s “not asking for the impossible, the ridiculous or even the overly optimistic” but didn’t think his proposal was “unreasonable”.
Next was Jason Rose’s second motion of the night, seconded by Chris Northwood. If passed, YUSU will be mandated to lobby Sinclair Properties and other landlords in York to bring all of their properties up to the standard described in the Code of Best Practice.
Rose said: “There have been allegations of theft, allegations of breaking contracts, allegations of poor management, poor assistance, problems on a variety of levels.”
Though he did not give a speech last night, YUSU Societies and Communications Officer Rory Shanks has expressed his support for the motion. He said: “This is a great chance for students to let us know what they think about some of the local companies with which we deal.”
Rose then took the stage again to submit a third motion, seconded by David Levene and YUSU Student Activities candidate Ella-Grace Kirton. The proposal requires YUSU to label vegetarian and vegan items on the menus when they need to be replaced, and to make more vegetarian and vegan meals available.
The union would also have to consider other dietary requirements and, where possible, provide full ingredient lists for their menu items. Rose defended the union in his speech, saying: “This was obviously an oversight, because so much was going on at the start of term.”
The seventh motion of the night was proposed by Ralph Buckle, and seconded by Anna Appleton, Matilda Sheppard, Craig Martin and Sam Westrop. The motion proposed mandating YUSU to campaign against the introduction of National ID cards.
Buckle said: “Even if you do support ID cards, still support this motion. This motion is against the forcing of ID cards onto students.” He then explained that the current proposals would mean students needed ID cards to apply for their student loans, and all international students would require cards.
The penultimate motion was proposed by Daniel Renwick, and seconded by John Nicholls, Freddy Vanson, Jason Rose, Sanja Bilic and Farzana Khan. The motion called for YUSU to speak out against events in Gaza, and lobby the university to issue a similar statement.
If passed, the union would also be mandated to lobby the university to offer assistance to the Islamic University of Gaza and to lobby the government to investigate Israel’s conduct and recognise the Hamas government.
Renwick said: “I do not believe that YUSU will bring an end to the humanitarian crisis... but I do believe that the small victories and changes matter.”
The UGM ended on a humorous but controversial note, with a motion proposed by ex-Derwent Chair Oliver Lester and seconded by Jason Rose.
Lester was unable to attend the UGM, but he told The Yorker: “I feel very passionately about renaming the Student Centre to the ‘The Matt Burton Dance Hall’. Burton has tirelessly devoted himself to YUSU; he has given students their own bar and he has brought world class acts to York Balls such as Alphabeat, The Saturdays and Booty Luv.
“But more importantly, on a personal level, Burton has been a father figure to me. This UGM motion was York's way of saying ‘Cheers Burton, we'll miss you and don't forget us... we'll never forget you!’ I'm sure every York student will strongly agree.”
If the motion is passed, not only would the Student Centre’s official name be 'The Matt Burton Dance Hall' for the next three years, but Burton would be mandated to lobby the government for a new national holiday called 'Matt Burton Day'.
Rose spoke on Lester’s behalf at the UGM. In his speech, he noted that this would not cost the union money – the sign will not be changed, but 'The Matt Burton Dance Hall' would be the Student Centre’s official name.
This was the only motion which saw more than one speech given, with Tom Scott and Alex Lacy expressing their support and Matthew Pallas and John Nicholls speaking against it.
Scott said: “Many years ago, the Athletic Union submitted a motion very much like this to change it to ‘The Vaseline Centre’. As a result they won £6,000 for their creative marketing campaign from Vaseline. I’m in favour of this because it may spark off a string of name changes and York Sport may get even more money from its sponsors.”
Lacy added: “Matthew Burton is the quintessential YUSU Officer... He has spilled his blood, sweat, tears and many other bodily fluids in the YUSU building, and you can’t go through the Student Centre without feeling the musk of Burton in the air.”
Pallas had another name for the Student Centre in mind, saying: “This motion is plainly ridiculous. The Student Centre should not be called ‘The Matt Burton Dance Hall’. It should be called ‘The Trevor the Duck Memorial Dance Hall'.”
Nicholls was also in favour of renaming the Student Centre, but not after Matt Burton. He said: “I’m not going to say that it’s silly and ridiculous, I think it’s quite amusing...We should have another consultation as to another, perhaps a wider leader, or a society.”
Rose then opposed his own motion, saying: “Come to think of it, this is a silly motion, don’t vote for it.”
Voting for this motion takes place from Monday at 12pm to Thursday at 12pm. For more information about the motions submitted, click here.
The most recent motion for naming the Student Centre was to call it the "Daw Suu Student Centre" I think. Although the motion has long since expired, it's not been replaced so should probably still be considered the current name of the thing 
More info at http://www-student.cs.york.ac.uk/uni_history/index.html!
Clarification, I'm afraid! Good article in general though.
It wouldn't mandate YUSU to lobby for "Matt Burton Day"... it would lobby the Services and Finance Officer to lobby for his own national holiday, which I feel will give added support to the campaign >.>
Edit: also, the point wasn't that I'm accumulating a lot of debt but rather that I'd have to earn £43,000 a year to pay off the INTEREST on that debt.
And this is why I still believe that YUSU is a pointless farce.
Matt Burton will be forgotten in a few years, along with the countless other useless YUSU presidents. Oh wait... he isn't the president.. I can't actually remember who is. :S
Recognise the Hamas government?! Are you serious? If you find them so legitimate then go and live under them and discover how illegitimate they would find you.
The fact that Hamas is a horrible organisation does not mean that it is an illegitimate government - it was democratically elected in transparent and fair elections.
It's funny how people think that governments are only 'legitimate' when the elections go the right way..
I can see the lure of that argument on the face of it, but I think it comes down to what one believes 'legitimate' is.
It might have been elected in relatively free and fair elections, but the very fact that it has a terrorist wing, hell-bent on the elimination of the state of Israel means its own democratic legitimacy must come into question.
In the 1930's, Hitler came to power 'democratically' but this does not mean that his position of power was 'legitimate' because of what followed and the massive erosion for liberties of many individuals. The 'rule at the point of a gun' that occurs in Gaza to opponents of Hamas merely highlights my point: A government might legitimately be elected but this does not mean its use of power or methods of governing, are.
"End the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza"
Seriously, this is where peripheral YUSU figures (usually Jason Rose) and student politics over-estimate their effect on the real world. You've wasted people's time and, if passed, money by submitting things like this. Student politics should be there for matters which directly affect students, with REALISTIC motions and policies. What do the supporters of this motion hope to achieve should this pass? Cretins, the lot of you.
Oh, and don't get me started on vegetarians - maybe we should send them in hi-vis jackets to go and protest in Gaza on behalf of the University.
'LOL' at 7. Brilliant!
I disagree on both points there. Students have a long history of taking a stance on crises like that in Gaza. The point is not to have profound and lasting political effect (as much as I'm sure Jason would love to go and end the suffering of thousands in the Middle East, that's not going to happen), but to make a statement, an eccho of those made by other Student Unions and the NUS. If you read the article carefully, you'll see that the proposer of the speech is under no illusions about this: “I do not believe that YUSU will bring an end to the humanitarian crisis... but I do believe that the small victories and changes matter.” Together, Students' Unions will have a bigger voice, especially when supported by similar statements by other institutions like the University. Besides, no one should be criticised for going to the effort of writing and submitting a motion that they feel will make a difference, however small, and if students disagree, they are well within their rights to vote against it.
As for vegetarians you seem to be missing two fundemental points here. Some people are vegetarian or vegan (I include in this category those who are lactose intolerant) on health grounds. If a student cannot eat dairy for this reason, then the union (as a body that guards students' welfare) has a responsibility to tell them what they can eat. Some vegetarians and vegans have chosen their diet on moral or environmental grounds. Personally, I think if a student has decided to give up meat to reduce their carbon footprint, that choice should be respected and, where possible, supported. It's only a symbol on a menu for goodness sake.
I'd like to point out that I opposed calling it that and that I had nothing to do with writing that motion.
Though I think that #7 should be shot for attacking vegetarians, frankly.
And Taylor, Hitler was a legitimate leader. He was voted in democratically. Same with Hamas, and the UN said that the Hamas elections were the free-est and fairest they had seen. It doesn't matter if we disagree(d) with either Hitler or Hamas, they were voted in.
As for unrealistic; it is easy to put in place most of my UGM motions - Sinclair's rely on YUSU, the Courtyard is easy to improve, etc.
The only one that I wrote that isn't easy is the tuition fee motion but, frankly, that's the most important one of the lot. We need to fight here and now against the ridiculous system in which we are educated. Over 50% of us will be unable to pay back more than the interest rate at standard rate of repayment. That's appaling. Increasing the cap is worse - we want a fair system and we will lobby the government, alongside the NUS, to call for one.
Oh, I've been talking to several people in Palestine via internet over the last couple of weeks - none of them have any problem with Hamas but hate the in-fighting between Hamas and Fatah and don't like the actions of attacking Israel or being attacked by Israel. So #4 has no real footing on this subject.
The Gaza motion simply educates students and makes an official stance known - it is not ending the crisis but calling for both sides to stop attacking each other. It's a very, very sensible motion though the title should probably have been tweaked to represent what it actually does..
"Students have a long history of taking a stance on crises like that in Gaza."
Do you mean niche, left-wing views? I'm afraid, going by the individuals involved in the wording of the motion, that this is the case.
If the motion had criticised:
a) Hamas for breaking the Geneva Convention (as a recent Amnesty International report said).
b) Stated uncategorically that Israel has a right to self-defence, just as any other sovereign state does.
c) Called for a multilateral peace deal betweent the 2 parties...
(etc etc.)
There is so much more I can point out. As it happens, I think you guys may have shot yourself massively in the foot with this motion, which I am delighted with because it makes it much easier to oppose, which I believe many individuals will be doing.
This doesn't help students in any way. All it does it further the political interests of a small minority of individuals. Though I'm sure Hamas leadership in Gaza and Israeli leadership will be massively swayed because of YUSU 'condemning' Israeli action in the region.
Incidentally, as far as the 'vegtarian' point goes and 'carbon footprints', how much is it going to cost re-printing the menu's with all these silly signs for this, that and the other? How about we have signs for meals that provide for individuals who only eat meat?
Fusion ticket: £7
After Party: £40+
Seeing Dan Taylor getting to grips with some of campus' biggest political, self-interested, hypocritical morons on The Yorker: PRICELESS.
There are some things money can't buy...
How do I submit a motion to name one of the toilet cubicles on campus the 'Dan Taylor cubicle'?
Speak to Jason Rose, I'm sure he'd do it for you.
Personally, I'd be delighted at such a legacy and free self-publicy!!!!!!
It could say "Come on in, and get rid of all your right-wing crap!"...
the motion can be read here for those who are interested:
http://www.yusu.org/union/motion/204/
#13, I think the important question is which one?
If you want signs for meals that provide for individuals who only eat meat, Dan, then why don't you write the motion for it. I actually don't know why I'm getting into this argument when most of the people in it haven't actually read the motions properly.
Haha #15, I would definitely vote FOR that one.
ROFL at Dan. If you bothered, EVER, to research what the hell you're talking about(i.e. turn up to the UGM itself before criticising it) then you'd know that the menus UGM said "at an appropriate juncture" and during my speech I said "since the menus need to be replaced eventually". It's not going to cost anything, you fool.
"b) Stated uncategorically that Israel has a right to self-defence, just as any other sovereign state does."
Self-defence doesn't include sending an air-strike to kill 300 civilians in response to a mortar attack that killed 3 (and wasn't fired by Hamas).
Resolves 1 says: "To issue a statement calling for an end to Israel’s military attacks, for Hamas rocket attacks to stop, for Israel to lift its siege of Gaza, and to demolish the illegal security barrier surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories."
It's a two-way motion that will hopefully move students here in the direction of a peaceful resolution in Gaza. As said before, every little helps.
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