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Photo Diary app wins York prize

Friday, 20th January 2012

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.

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Students warned about loans scam

Thursday, 19th January 2012

YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.

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Queen Comes to York

Wednesday, 18th January 2012

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.

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Flooding Triggers Network Outage On Eve Of Exams

Saturday, 14th January 2012

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.

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UGM motions passed with narrow win for 'toilets for all'

YUSU
Wednesday, 3rd June 2009
The five motions submitted at the latest UGM have all been passed, but Peter Warner-Medley's 'toilets for all' motion caused much controversy.

The ‘toilets for all’ motion was passed with the narrowest margin with 183 voting for, 133 against and 19 abstaining. The motion was designed to raise awareness of the lack of provision of gender neutral toilets on campus and the potential benefits of them to particular groups.

It proposed ensuring that in addition to gendered facilities at least one gender neutral toilet is provided at all events where possible. It also proposed that the university should look into providing at least one gender neutral toilet in all new developments as well as improving existing provision.

Peter Warner-Medley, who is one of the current YUSU LGBT Officers, told The Yorker: "All of YUSU LGBT was delighted that all the motions passed. They are each important in protecting trans people during the struggle of coming to terms with who they are and how they present themselves to the world - during their 'trangst'."

Warner-Medley added: "Most students won't notice the differences that these motions make - not even those of the heatedly debated and much maligned 'toilets for all' motion - because they are not designed to make a noticeable difference to anyone apart from the community at which they were aimed, for whom hopefully the difference will be massive."

Regarding the Nouse article on the 'toilets for all' motion, which at press time had attracted 173 comments, he said: "Whilst perhaps not all of the comments have been positive, at least these issues are being discussed, and we think it's fantastic not only that people are talking about trans rights and care about them, but also that the students have voted to protect them."

The rest of the motions all passed with much larger majorities. The motion to recognise students' preferred names passed with 236 for, 56 against and 28 abstaining.

This motion proposed a greater awareness and understanding that some students, including trans and international students, need to adopt a preferred name during their time at university and that this needs to be recognised where possible.

Em Brownbill, who proposed the motion, said: "This motion is a win for anyone who goes by a different name from the one on their transcript."

Brownbill continued: "Trans students particularly have to juggle different names in different places depending upon who they are/aren't out to, and it's extremely comforting to know that once you've changed your preferred name, your transcript name won't pop up on things like attendance lists. It saves a lot of hassle and embarrassment for both students and staff."

Brownbill said the university has generally been great about her own name change, but added: "There are still some places where the resolutions of this motion need taking on board and it's fantastic to have the union behind that."

The 'learning disabilities' motion also passed with a large majority with 253 for, 24 against, and 26 abstaining. The motion proposed a greater awareness of dyslexia and support for students with it. It also called for a better screening system to test students for dyslexia to ensure that it does not go unnoticed and negatively affect their degree.

Proposer Jason Rose said: "It is fantastic to see so much support - having such a mandate will really help the university improve learning disability support."

The other motions passed were to 'improve data capture and gender options' also proposed by Warner-Medley. This passed with 236 for, 56 against and 28 abstaining. The motion proposed making sure that all data capture used the term gender as opposed to sex and where possible includes an opt-out or alternative to ticking male or female.

Finally a motion to 'receive and ratify minutes from previous UGM meetings' was passed with 169 for, 12 against, and 83 abstaining.

For further details on the motions and new policy, click here.

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#1 Anonymous
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:30pm

From what I've heard, Nadz Kunwar was a particular fan of this passing...

KUNWAR for PRESIDENT!

#2 Chris Northwood
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:40pm
  • Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:40pm - Edited by the author
  • Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:41pm - Edited by the author
  • Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 2:47pm - Edited by the author (less)
  • Brownbill said the university has generally been great about his own name change

Her. Not his.

#3 Anonymous
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 4:25pm

I second Chris' correction. Em identifies as female, and should be addressed as such

That is an EPIC trans fail. Please change it Rachel.

#4 Anonymous
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 4:52pm

Liberation win

#5 Dan Taylor
Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 8:49pm

Yay for 'Liberation'. If we're all that keen on it, lets vote UKIP on June 4th and liberate ourselves from the clutches of the 'USSE'.

#6 Anonymous
Wed, 3rd Jun 2009 12:26am

UKIP aren't very keen on liberation issues. You're missing the point a bit. How about greens etc?

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