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.
As I set out to witness the groundbreaking event for the next four buildings of the Heslington East campus yesterday morning, I figured I'd walk it and see what the fuss was all about.
In seven minutes flat I covered (in heels, whilst Facebook-stalking on my blackberry) the distance between Market Square and Heslington Church. Thinking I had almost reached the Field Lane entrance to the new campus as I walked by School Lane, I observed that perhaps I had been hasty in characterising the new Goodricke as the next Halifax.
How naive of me.
I approached some friendly-looking construction workers, and asked if they knew where the groundbreaking was taking place. They most cordially informed me that it was probably taking place a rather long way away - near the B&Q roundabout. As I set out to walk (perhaps at a slightly brisker pace, as I was clearly going to be late), one of the workers offered me a lift. I climbed into the car firmly clutching my phone, ready to press an emergency number at the first sign of trouble.
As it turns out, this man was simply genuinely kind. Oh, how my parents had misled me!
Similarly, I was offered to ride on a mini-coach with Brian Cantor and several notable guests on the way back - an offer I heartily accepted, as the prospect of walking back through the muddy and flooded "footpaths" all over again lacked appeal.
However, this did highlight the problem: without cars, how are the new Goodricke inhabitants meant to engage with the rest of campus next October? With adequate (read: well-lit) footpaths and cycle paths cutting across Hes East rather than parallel to Field Lane, the distance may "feel" shorter as Elizabeth Heaps suggests, but the problem will nonetheless remain: it's a bloody long way away.
So much so, that Halifax, with its computer room and its Costcutter will feel like an integrated hub compared the ostracised self-catering Goodricke. Well, at least they'll be close to B&Q.
Now, I'm as excited as the next person about York developing in order to continue to thrive as a world-class university. In fact, I am particularly interested in the university's commitment to renewable sources of energy and the idea of a wholly-networked systems, but these exciting new developments cannot be made at the expense of student welfare.
Expanding the university is no easy matter. Evoking ideas of "social justice through legal clinics" is certainly appealing, but the echoing of abstract concepts such as "integration", "innovation", "student-centred learning" and "knowledge-transfer" cannot fully obfuscate the hard truths that must be faced. Key words aren't enough to build a campus, and I hope the university will tread with care.
However, Heaps' pink helmet, consciously referencing gender constructs, is not quite helping.
Loving the social construction of gender. Pink hats? Quality.
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