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.
York students have voted for solidarity with Palestine with the motion which was entitled ‘End the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza' being passed by 245 votes for the motion, 216 against and 66 abstaining.
This means that the union will now be committed to petitioning 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.
Dan Coen, who has been involved in the opposition campaign to the Gaza UGM motion, expressed his regret that the motion had passed. Coen said: "The motion passing is setting a bad precedent for all student unions to be hijacked and used to represent political opinions on divisive issues that have nothing to do with the actual student experience."
Coen expressed concern that the motion had a discriminatory element against Israeli students that abide by their government's conscription procedure, which could lead to welfare issue with regards to these students being able to approach their own union for support.
Coen also noted that one of the most controversial elements of the motion was that it contravened guidelines set out by the government regarding the running of a student union.
Daniel Renwick, who submitted the motion, told The Yorker: "The accusation that the motion is pro-Hamas is ridiculous. This has been the base of the opposition's argument and they know that it is spurious."
Renwick added: "As for the role of YUSU, I understand the arguments put forward. However, as it stands the UGMs are left open for all students to propose a motion, I fully support this and wish for this to continue. Many UGMs have been proposed in the past that apply to the wider world."
The current situation in Gaza has become a prescient issue at universities around the country, with many groups lobbying for and against unions' involvement.
Some university groups have emphasised the 'apartheid' policy of Israel and have engaged in events such as 'Israel Apartheid week'.
It is unclear whether groups that oppose Israel's actions are using the term to link their activities with the protests of British students against the Apartheid regime in South Africa, or whether the term is merely a means of describing what they perceive the situation to be.
The motion to rename the student centre the 'Matt Burton Dance Hall' failed with 162 votes for, 242 against and 48 abstaining.
The motion was suggested as a means of commemorating Burton for his work with YUSU. Despite those advocating the motion citing the potential benefits of advertising revenue as well as the university's precedent for having unconventional union affiliates, such as its pirate president, the motion failed to pass.
The other six motions that were submitted were all passed:
For more information on the other motions, click here.
I think it is a very sad day for this university when enough people want to back the Gaza motion.
It is a myopic, biased, dispicable and irrelevant motion that YUSU should really be distancing itself from. It has nothing to do with university life and further shows the domination of the radical left on student politics.
I'm not sure that a majority of voters can be called "radical left".
Indeed, I'm not sure anyone who calls for an end to violence on both sides could be called radical. Is it radical to be unbiased? To agree with the UK government that Hamas is the Palestinian government? We've been through this before, countless times, and there IS relevance and balance.
The University of Gaza no longer exists so scholarships to its students will help the situation. Education in the area will bring peace more than further war. The awareness of products on campus *is solely* a university issue, albeit now an irrelevant one. There is a precedence in YUSU for these kinds of motions and don't forget that this will affect and students from the area anyway, of which there are quite a few.
"It is unclear whether groups that oppose Israel's actions are using the term to link their activities..."
As far as I'm aware, the reason that the word apartheid was chosen was twofold; the first being that the segregation and dominance over Palestine resembled South African apartheid and the second being that the actions taken against South Africa won, in the end, and therefore it's a good model to follow. Haven't talked to all universities though!
"It is unclear whether groups that oppose Israel's actions are using the term to link their activities with the protests of British students against the Apartheid regime in South Africa, or whether the term is merely a means of describing what they perceive the situation to be."
It's both. If you're interested in why people consider Israel's actions in Palestine similar to an apartheid policy, check out some of the books on the Israel-Palestine conflict in the library. Edward Said's books are particularly worth reading.
Ah yes, Edward Said, that doyen of impartiality.
The spurious claim is the one which equates Israel with Apartheid. In Israel an Arab political party sits in the Israeli parliament, in the S.A apartheid system blacks had no political representation in parliament. Which was the essence of the meaning of apartheid. I wonder how many Jewish political parties are allowed to sit in any arab parliament anywhere?
comment deleted by the author Actually I stand corrected, there are TWO arab political parties in the Knesset (the Jewish parliament) one is called Balad, the other The Arab list-Ta'lal
Regardless these facts have nothing to do with the motion but I feel it is important to counter untruths and nip them in the bed. Conversely Hamas' charter which our union has just "recognised" (see endorsed) is slightly more discrimnatory in nature :
“the day of judgement will not come about until the muslims kill the jews when the jews will hide behind rocks and trees”
“There is no acceptable solution offered by a peace initiatives. Proposals, international conferences are all a waste of time.”
“Leaving the circle of conflict with Israel is a major act of treason and it will bring curse of its perpetrators.”
But im sure "recognizing" such a party will help to "End the humanitarian Crisis in gaza" which is what the motion's title is and what it SHOULD be about.
. The leader of Hamas does not think that the current situation is a humanitarian disaster at all, in a televised speech in the aftermath of the Israeli operation, Ismail Haniya, the Prime Minister appointed by Hamas in Gaza, said: "God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people.” The motion that seeks to “End the humanitarian crisis in Gaza” wants to offer “recognition” to the party that calls the current dire situation in Gaza A GREAT VICTORY! The perverse and ironic dichotomy seems clear to me, but obviously not to the authors of this motion.
I think in the interests of fairness the union should now be hijacked more and blame russia, China, Zimbabwe, north korea, sudan, democratic republic of congo, who have all killed many many more people than died in Gaza, so that everyone can feel discriminated against and marginalized, afterall thats what a student union is for right? To impose a divisive political view on students and make pronouncements on very complex conflicts...oh no wait....
"the union should now be hijacked more and blame..."
The Union hasn't blamed Israel! What the hell are you talking about?! And it has recognised the same government that the United Kingdom (that's the country that we live in, Dan) ALREADY recognises. It's not exactly controversial! Stop trying to stir up trouble!
I'm more than happy, personally, to see UGMs denouncing Mugabe and calling for a removal of all political power from him. Or calling for better treatment of Tibet by China. Etc. Why don't you write one of them, Dan?
comment deleted by the author "I'm not sure that a majority of voters can be called "radical left"." Its not a majority about not even 3.7% of students voted on this motion, which means over 96% didnt vote on it, and it was it was pretty evenly split down the middle. Most students dont know or dont care about UGMs, precisely because when motions like this are passed they know it has nothing to do with their student life and wont impact on their university careers in any way shape or form, apart from if they are israeli in which case they get to feel discriminated against. Yay! Keep fanning the fires of apathy, division and discrimination with pointless propaganda motions that have nothing to do with charity and far less than 3.7% will vote in the next ones.
I said "majority of voters" - and there are more for than against. That's how maths works!
"precisely because when motions like this are passed"
Minutes - 401
Constitution - 405
Tuition fees - 486
Assessment - 435
Lettings - 438
Vegetarians - 462
ID cards - 456
MJB Dance Hall - 452
Gaza - 557
I think you'll find that MORE people vote on motions like this than on other motions, even at the same UGM. "Keep fanning the fires of apathy" yourself, failure!
"Its not a majority about not even 3.7% of students voted on this motion"
Nice edit. Though using 557 votes and 11,000 students (national stats) it's actually 5.1% so you were wrong both times. Kudos!
Jason, you are not behaving like an officer-elect of this union. You are behaving like an angry schoolboy with a grudge.
It's regrettable there was no competition for the campaigns role, as you would not have been able to get away with childish taunts, factual inaccuracies and offensive statements about the forces if you had any competition.
You should be encouraging people to debate, encouraging the apathetic to get involved, and encouraging people to take a more facts-based approach to campaigning.
You do your cause no good by winding people up and incessantly refusing to let people express their opinions without a cheap dig in the next comment.
I doubt RON will win tonight, but if he doesn't, you're alienating so many people right now that a Vote of No Confidence won't be that far ahead.
From your behaviour online, you appear to be a very intimidating character, one of the most undesirable characteristics for an elected representitive. How am I supposed to consult you about a campaigning idea I have if I feel you're just going to insult me and laugh off my concerns?
#14 I can assure you that Jason is not in fact an intimidating character and he would most certainly not insult you or laugh off your concerns if you were to consult him. The fact that he is running with Chris Etheridge (tory treasurer) shows that he is more than capable of cooperating with people he disagrees with.
Keep in mind that disagreeing on the internet always appears to be more antagonistic than it really is.
"you would not have been able to get away with childish taunts, factual inaccuracies and offensive statements about the forces"
The former and latter (I haven't been factually inaccurate as far as I'm aware!) have been directed at Coen and Taylor alone - two people who should have been expelled in their first year for quasi-racist remarks and general slander. Through backstabbing (after publicly accepting an apology) Taylor got GFH removed from office, despite a majority of only 0.5% (8 votes compared to 136 abstentions) and has also said that "Palestine should be wiped off the map" and that we should "drill Antarctica for oil".
My treatment of these two is indeed not like an Officer of the Union and you can expect that to change if I get elected - but it's completely justified and despite the two continually saying that I've lied, neither have given any examples despite the number of times I've asked for them.
Plus you have to remember that I've been on internet discussion forums for 6 years, 4+ hours per day without fail - this kind of antagonism develops quickly.
I get on well with the Conservative Society (or whatever the official name is) and several of them were campaigners of ours in the elections. I think it's quite likely that I am happy to help out! Indeed the walk for Gaza was made possible because Chris Etheridge emailed me with the idea and I jumped on board - I will always be here to help people write UGMs, offer advice on running campaigns and providing support, even if you're Dan Taylor.
And hopefully those individuals who don't feel that I can represent them will be happy to talk to Chris or another YUSU Officer! I don't think I've isolated too many people though and I suspect that the majority of reliance will be in autumn term. Nonetheless if I have caused any problems for people that aren't Coen, Taylor or Merry then I apologise sincerely!
Taylor has also said that the majority of British Muslims are followers of a "fascist and tyrannical religion" among many other extremely intolerant and divisive remarks. It is quite rich of him to be accusing anyone for discrimination when he is seen by most as the arch-representative of intolerance and extremism in this university. Or for 'hijacking an apathetic campus to promote political beliefs', as this is how and why he got Grace fired. With a difference of 8 votes.
comment deleted by the author As for Dan Taylor most people are just sheep and denounce him without ever having met him. It says alot more about the people who do that, than about Dan Taylor himself. In a free society you are allowed to have different and contrasting views, this isnt stalinist russia, and Demonization of any student at this uni is not what you should be involved with, especially as a member of YUSU. Grow up and stop making student politics more of a mockery than it is already. Thank god that in real life politics you actually have to run in contested elections!
"Coen and Taylor alone - two people who should have been expelled in their first year for quasi-racist remarks and general slander. " Jason if you keep making remarks like this I may just sue you. Its called libel when you lie about someone and try to tarnish their reputation. You have never met me, you know nothing about me. Supporting Israel's right to exist is not the same as being quasi-racist, I support a two state solution and was a member of Peace Now for years, so stop being slanderous yourself because you know nothing about me. Recognizing a party that wants to wipe israel off the map and bathe in jewish blood is racist. You are being petty and missing the point even if it is 5% of the student body thats still a pathetic turnout, if YUSU officers in York are going to tell me what I'm supposed to think, and then if I disagree call me racist, and then issue decrees to governments (who dont care what YUSU thinks) and blame only one side for a very complex conflict, this is not the great uni I joined any longer.
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