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.
A further 22 students abstained from voting on the motion, titled 'To move the University of York Summer Ball & Graduation Dinner 2009 to Campus,' bringing the total number of votes to 920.
In a message on the YUSU website, Societies and Communications Officer Rory Shanks said: "Following this result, YUSU will be reassessing the venue for Summer Ball & Graduation Dinner 2009, and will be releasing further details regarding this event shortly."
Shanks added: "Nonetheless, following the huge numbers that have shown an interest in the event on the whole, the Union is committed to making it a fantastic occasion and looks forward to putting tickets on sale in due course."
Dan Taylor, who opposed the change of venue told The Yorker: "Obviously I'm delighted with the result, but even more delighted that student pressure made YUSU recognise that they needed to consult on this issue. There was great discussion from both sides, and in the end, I believe the right decision has been made."
Vanbrugh Chair Dani Fill expressed her disappointment at the result, saying: "I am dissappointed with the outcome, but I guess that's democracy. I just hope that the people that voted against it read Matt's argument and didn't just vote hasitly."
Goodricke Chair Dan Walker said: "I'm really glad that the student body was allowed to vote on this. All the same I think its a shame that so many students seem to have felt like they were backed into a corner by YUSU on this proposal."
Walker added: "If all students had [or] could have received as much (accurate) information as the members of Council, and had enough time to consider it instead of having to vote on the last night of term/first day of holiday, then this vote may have gone differently."
Langwith Chair Sam Asfahani expressed concern over the number of votes, given that it is less than the venue of either venue's capactity. He added: "I also felt a lot of people jumped on the welfare bandwagon. I wonder to what extent people would have flagged up the issues with Big D if it wasnt for the Summer Ball moving.
"I also wonder how many people will now care that there are four 9am first-year exams the day after Big D. This will affect Langwith and Derwent freshers directly and then also lead to a rabble returning to other parts of campus." Asfahani said he hopes to work closely with Derwent Chair Joe Rankin and the rest of the Derwent JCRC on this matter.
BOOM
That's actually very close - and shows it's not such a clear cut decision as some people thought!
I completley agree with #2. Compared to the numbers in the facebook group that is a pretty low turn out, maybe some of those people actually read the real information and changed their minds.
I do feel it is such a shame as campus really has so much more significance than the racecourse for me, and i hope by next year this plan can go ahead!
I voted against just because of the proximity of Big D. Next year YUSU, come up with what exactly you want to do on campus rather than just vaguely talking about the 'possibility' of certain things, and don't have the event the day before Big D and maybe I'll vote for it..
whoop !, Its funny how people put big d before the summer ball, yet the summer ball is bigger and holds alot more sentiment.
about the facbook groups, they mean nothing, if you take facebook as a stats counter then your stats are far from accurate. The motion was always going to be close once people knew the hard facts, i just wonder how many voted against knowing the arguments for.
As for plans, you dont seem to want to know the details of whats happening in the racecourse, they havent been planned neither and it will be the same set of resources...
I think it's a real shame, oh well back to the same old racecourse, the place i went for my freshersd fair and back i go for my fair well. It's ironic that at UNI you go through and accept so much change as an individual, yet people still hold onto the smallest things. The only constant is change, it's a shame students haven't learnt that concept.
I wouldn't say that nearly two thirds of the votes is particularly close. I do agree that once the hype died down, people thought about it more, and that's right. I was very anti it to begin with, but now feel it could be successful - I'd just rather they tested the idea on Freshers Ball before potentially ruining our last night at Uni. The low number of votes was probably due to voting only being open for 24hs, during which time the vast majority of students were travelling home, and so voting wasn't necessarily on their minds.
I agree with what Dan says in the article though, and do think it's a shame that the whole thing wasn't more open from the beginning. The way it was done is still, to me, the biggest problem.
I think that Sam from Langwith brings up very real concerns about Big D. While it doesn't go on as late as Summerball, it is often a 'messier' occasion.
Does this mean that Big D Will be cancelled then? The girl who spoke at the UGM seemed to say that the people who joined the facebook group were worried about welfare, I guess that the same applies to Big D. If that's what people care about then I guess that's it, but It'll cost Derwent a fortune.
I think that the comments by the JCRC Chairs in this article just show their complete lack of knowledge.
Dani Fill's comments are patronising and severely underestimate the intelligence of the student body. And referring to Matt B's contradictory comments as an 'argument' is ridiculous.
Sam Asfahani's hopes to work with Joe Rankin and the Derwent JCRC on Big D's welfare issues shows a complete lack of understanding about how the event works. Big D is organised by the Derwent vice chair and volunteers, NOT the JCRC.
If Big D was cancelled #8, it would not only cost Derwent a fortune but the whole campus, especially Matt B's precious Courtyard.
I'm really not enjoying this rumour-milling that seems to be suggesting that Big-D might be cancelled. There is no chance of this happaning, so let's put that to bed immediately. There are many differences between Big-D and the proposed plans for the Summer Ball.
1- Big-D encompases Derwent and Langwith. In terms of the number of students that are affected, there are far less that if the Summer Ball was held on campus from Goodricke all the way to Langwith, including a fairgroud next to James and Central Hall being used.
2- Big-D closes at 1.30am. It doesn't go on all night to a breakfast, as the plans for the campus Summer Ball did.
3- Big-D has been held on campus, at that time of year, for many, many years. There is no recent precedent for holding the Ball on campus. Two nights in a row as opposed to one is undesirable; and Big-D got 'there first'. Rory even said in Council that he was of the view that Derwent was being badly screwed over by YUSU who were not supporting college events by the proposals that were ultimately defeated.
Ultimately, there will still be 'welfare concenrs', but by rejecting this proposal, 90% of them have been addressed by there no longer being 2 nights in a row with massive campus events, one of which planned to be an 'all nighter' culminating in breakfast at 6am.
There's no way that Big-D is under threat.
thousands of pounds of charity money would be lost, never mind the many weeks of work the committee have put in to the event, all the act and entertainment bookings and the money already raised and spent on the event. There's no way in hell it'll be cancelled - can you imagine the outcry?
#10 Dan I wish you'd stop going on about the fairground being on Goodricke car park. From all the plans I was shown (and considered when voting) the fairground was on central carpark, near market square and the Budda statue. I know thats not what vision said, but I believe they may have been mistaken. (If my facts are wrong here then I sorry, but I did sit and talk to matt about this, and would have been very concerned if the event had been that spread out!).
#9 I think Dani's comment is fair. Many people didn't like the way this proposal went to council, instead of the student body. When the students did get an opportunity to vote they were on the back foot, short on time, and not given enough solid information. Sam's comment on BigD is also fair. He'd most likely liaise with Joe (a fellow chair who he knows) at least to begin with concerning Big D. You actually manage to be pretty patronizing yourself in this post and it's of little surprise that you chose to remain anonymous.
Finally...
I find it very unlikely that Big D will come under threat from this, however they have to consider the same kind of welfare issues which have been leveled at this proposal (#7 has a good point), however this could be said for any campus event running during exam time.
Rory Shanks is a legend.
lol just make sure all your health and safety stuff is done and hope to hell 1 fire alarm doesnt go off during the event. lol
Im sure the guys planning big d have planned it well. let's look forward to it. Students can put on awsome shows or acts on campus, sit back and enjoy this one !!
I voted for the motion, thinking people were making too big a deal of it. BUT, now it's done, we can all chill out and have a great night away from campus.
Rory Shanks isn't a legend. He's real. I've seen him. Honest.
comment deleted by a moderator I can't wait to get smashed at big D and wake up all those langwith morons
comment deleted by a moderator I can't wait to see all the Derwent people who went on about 'welfare' as an objection to campus get absolutely smashed at Big D and wake up the Derwent & Langwith Freshers who have 0900 exams the next day.
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report