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 new constitution has been developed over the course of the year. It has been led by the Governance Working group with input made by the GSA student officers, its members, YUSU officers and the University Registrar.
Extensive research on constitutions in other student unions has also been carried out in the process of developing the new constitution.
With the new constitution, the GSA aims to get more people involved and cater better for the diverse range of its members. Dan Carr, the GSA president, said the constitution "has the potential to transform the way the GSA gets postgrads involved with it, bringing more and more people and groups properly into our community".
The significant changes made to the constitution include the creation of an Association Council to make policy, instead of concentrating the power in the hands of a small Executive Committee.
The Council will have a wider range of representative positions than those that exist within the present constitution and the GSA believe that this will help to represent the diversity of their membership.
A trustee board will also be set up in order to attain charity status in light of recent changes in charities law. This will create two new part-time sabbatical officer positions, an Academic Affairs Officer and a Finance Officer.
The new constitution will also see the creation of seven permanent subcommittees. In addition to the Events, Sports and Executive Committees, which already exist, there will be an Academic Affairs Committee, an Affiliated Committees’ Co-ordination Committee, a Communications Committee, and an Equality, Welfare and Diversity Committee.
Furthermore, it will aid in amending the membership structure in the hope of better engaging with mature students and visiting students from other universities. Crucially, the constitution will tidy up a number of problems which have become evident in the existing constitution.
The new constitution will require a two thirds majority at the general meeting with 98 members required to be present to begin the proceedings. If it gets passed, it will then be referred to the University Council for ratification.
Excellent news!
Yeah a big 4% of graduates voted for a new constitution to govern an organisation they couldn't care less about. Good job there was free pizza eh?
#22. This is exactly the problem that the GSA committee is trying to deal with, isn't it?
I think that the current exec' has worked really hard this year and Dan, Tom, Eva and Mitch (and Tom Langrish) should get a giant pat on the back for what was (fingers crossed) completed tonight. It is however worrying that the 500 people who joined the GSA bar crawl in week 1, or the 50 people who play football, or the 200 who will inevitably pack out Wentfest, or the 100+ plus who have played other sports, or the 150 folks who met the GSA's Santa Clause didn't feel compelled to turn out and vote.
It shouldn't take door-to-door knocking and the promise of free pizza 5 minutes before a UGM to scrape quoracy. Yes we've made a giant step forward in terms of professionalising the organisation tonight, but that marks the start of the task rather than the end; the truly hard work starts now.
Dan et al should probably have a few days off first though...
You're correct Dan, it shouldn't.
But the fact is, a significant amount of postgrads, tonight, agreed that *big* things needed to change to make the GSA an effective association for all postgrads at the University of York. The GSA are finally moving forward in terms of democratic decision-making and effective campaigning, and this will only be strengthened with the new structures taking effect next year.
Also, quoracy was 133, not 98.
One of the key points behind the constitution, I believe, is to try and move towards engaging graduates, getting bigger turnouts and becoming a more effective body. If you look at the difference between YUSU five years ago and YUSU now, you'll find a much higher level of engagement - and this move by the GSA looks likely to lead to a similar change.
I would say the constitution, instead of trying to emulate YUSU's advances, is a realisation that the diversity and nature of post-grad study is so different compared to undergraduate study that the GSA needs to operate in a markedly different way to YUSU.
Jason, you may of course be correct, however I am not wholly convinced by the notion that people are more engaged with YUSU now than they were 5 years ago. I was here 5 years ago and remember the inquorate UGMs or the quorate AGM when the budgets needed ratifying (which would see the proposition of a motion to move sports to the top, after wich everyone would leave). For me the only difference is that 'engagement' is easier; everything is online and in our 30 minute daily facebook stroll it is easy to add voting into the cycle of procrastination. I am not sure that truly represents engagement - though I accept that it is a step in the right direction.
I still do not think the majority of people really know or care what their representative bodies, be it the GSA or YUSU are doing, which is extremely concerning when you consider the size of the budgets commanded by both.
Seriously "30 minutes daily facebook stroll" more like... 3hrs... But yes, greater student engagement is always going to be a target hopefully that's where internet and vibrant online student media will come in handy!
Dan (#24), can I get a giant paycheck instead of a giant pat on the back? Welfare Officer's projects budget area? It'd most definitely be of benefit to my welfare.
That depends Mitch, are you a minibus?
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report