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.
Vanbrugh College (Ben McCluskey):
Vanbrugh Chair Dani Fill was full of praise for her JCRC, saying: "I think as a team we have achieved so much in a year, college spirit has risen to a new strength. The Freshers' Fortnight this year was amazing and without the hard work of the JCRC it would not have gone so smoothly and spirits would not be so high."
Asked if she thought the committee had fulfilled their pledges, she said: "I believe we did as much as we could within the limited time span, a year is not a long amount of time to get huge projects up and running. There is also a lot we cannot do due to regulations of the Student Union and the university which make a lot of things impossible, or a lot harder than they would be in other places."
She looked back at her own performance as Chair somewhat modestly, saying that she "worked hard but a lot of it is behind the scenes with meetings". Again she considered the difficulties involved, adding: "I may have become slightly disheartened as there is very little you can do as a college chair to make big changes, so you just have to concentrate on the smaller things within your college to try and make a difference there."
Looking at the candidates competing for a place on this year’s JCRC, Fill stressed the diversity of students. She said: "There is a huge mix of people this year going for positions on the committee, a lot of freshers and people that have not been involved within the JCRC before!"
James College (Fiona Lavelle):
The James JCRC dealt with some radical changes to the makeup of the college this year when they acquired Goodricke Cell Block, McQ’s and two JCRs. However, the enthusiastic and closely knit team excelled in redefining the College.
Tim Green, sports rep and unopposed candidate for chair told the Yorker “I think the JCRC did a very good job this year with a lot of fresher's elected and bringing new enthusiasm to the committee. Amber has done a good job as chair, especially with the added work of expanding James into the old Goodricke space.”
Tom Hobohm, Welfare Rep and Vice-Chair candidate told the Yorker “I think that James JCRC has been a story of two halves this year. The first half, up to Easter, saw a very negative committee achieve very little. After Easter, however, James really took off, securing Goodricke's old bar as their own, and making it one of the most profitable on campus this year so far. Events like quad dash were very successful, and Quad Bash, the silent disco in Wentworth Edge was crazy good. I liked it.”
As regards Amber Brittain, James College Chair, Hobohm added “As the least popular chair in the world, Amber faced some difficulties. She got around 70 votes, RON got just over 50. That's never good news. With no idea how to handle the press, and being relatively unknown around the college, the odds were stacked against her for doing a good job. Despite this, the committee themselves respect her, and she's managed to steer the college through the year with very few major incidents. Of course, a fear of the media can lead you to take too few risks when running a college, which may have damaged overall student experience.”
Langwith College:
Over the last year, there have been two issues that have kept cropping up in Langwith and both have walked hand-in-hand. The first is student apathy, not just about politics or the JCRC but also about Langwith itself. The fabled college spirit isn't as vibrant as it has been previously and this has, in part, contributed to the second problem which is Langwith Events. Among the people I talked to, this was their biggest problem with the last year. None of the Events have sold out and a few had to be cancelled.
On the other hand, however, most feel that it has been a good year for Langwith and that at least some of the apathy has been caused by the Courtyard's opening, without a bar for part of last year and now without an open JCR, and many of the first years think that the college team has been doing a fine job, enjoying the events that they've gone to and attending the bar quiz every week. Their opinion of the college chair is one of ambivalence. There are not any real problems with him but they haven't been wowed.
The JCRC members have differing opinions on most of the people, including the chair, but agree that the Vice-Chairs, Treasurer and Secretary have had good years. In fact, the Vice-Chairs have almost sold out the Christmas Ball and the Secretary re-wrote the constitution. There have been mixed opinions on the Ents Reps but whilst they all agree that there have been problems in the last year, few of them blame the Ents Reps for those issues. One student commented "Sam has been a fantastic Chair in several ways and has fallen short of his predecessor in others. Ultimately, though, he has been better than many expected and he's had a good year."
Another anonymous commenter told the Yorker: "The Events were problematic and many issues arose surrounding them but it's not only the fault of the Ents Reps but also some of the other JCRC members. In the end we haven't lost the kind of money that was possible and other colleges have had more problems with events this year."
"I'd have to say that Kelly, Anna and Sophie (One Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) have ultimately been the reason that this year has been good - if they had only been average (or worse) then we would have struggled with virtually everything we did. Thanks girls!"
Goodricke College (Chiifen Hiu):
Overall, Goodricke’s JCRC seem to receive positive responses from the Goodricke student body for their work the past year. Dan Walker’s role as chair does receive mixed responses amongst Goodrickans; freshers and STYCs alike. However, as Chair, it is not possible to please everybody, and it is not uncommon to be criticized and be unpopular within certain groups.
Goodricke’s JCRC deserve special recognition for the smooth transition of accommodation into the Heslington East campus. They have done rather well in keeping the Goodricke spirit alive and well, despite handicaps such as being barless and isolated off-campus. Great events such as the Goodricke Invasion and the Graffiti Night Bar Crawl kept Goodrickans in a Goodricke loving mood, singing “Goodricke till we die” like we mean it.
Entertainment Reps Sophie Brown and Emily Saunders both thought the JCRC worked really well as a team. According to Sophie, “Dan Walker has been brilliant, he has a very demanding degree and yet put 110% into the JCRC.”
The only general problem with the JCRC was that the Welfare team hadn’t been pulling their weight this past year, with “half of them dropping out”, and so the Heslington East rep and Ordinary Member had to take over the welfare roles.
Other than a few management hiccups (dissatisfaction in the decision-making within the committee and distribution of responsibility), Goodricke’s JCRC seem to have done right by its fellow students. The current Bar Reps Sophie Walker and Tim Ellis is said to be running against each other for chair. Although both have contributed a lot to the JCRC, at this early stage, Tim seems to be the favourite to win, according to anonymous sources.
Derwent College (Harriet Evans):
Ollie Lester, previous Chair of Derwent JCRC, admitted that he thought the JCRC did "really, really well" this past year, and explained that "as a third year student living on campus, [he] got to see what the average student would have seen of the JCRC", unlike many second and third year students who opt to live off-campus. Lester praised the varied events organised by the committee, and has stated that they "should be very proud of their year in office".
It has been a common opinion that Joe Rankin has had a "tough job" following Lester's successful run as JCRC Chair, but Sam Houlders, Derwent Welfare Rep, acknowledged that he has "proven himself to be more than worthy", having risen to the challenge "as soon as we took office". Lester agreed, arguing that as a "strong, organised and dedicated Chair," Joe was "perfect for the head of Derwent". The last few months can be seen as his true test as Chair, and yet Rankin organised a coherent plan to keep the threatened Derwent bar open and has played a strong role in the fight against portering cuts. It is clear that he "lives and breathes Derwent", as one student said, making him a "great representative for the college and fellow Derwentians across campus".
The general reaction of Derwent students toward their JCRC appears to be one of positive enthusiasm after a fairly successful year. When asked whether the JCRC had delivered on the pledges made in the last elections, Lester admitted: "I actually can't remember... although what you soon realise in student politics, is that fulfilling pledges does not necessarily make a good committee." Houlders reiterated this, by emphasising the positive way the JCRC had reacted to the trials thrown at them in the past year. He conceded that although "Derwent JCRC have had a tough year due to the untimely death of our provost, Dr. Ron Weir" that "put a lot of extra responsibilities on the committee", the JCRC were able to deal with everything "extremely well". When senior University management "failed to consult students properly on Derwent bar and portering cuts", Houlders is proud to be part of the JCRC who have attempted, with some successes, to redress this issue. He told the Yorker that "although we are a small college, we certainly have not lost our spirit!"
As for the upcoming elections, while there seems to be one clear runner for chair at present, the position of Vice-Chair can now be run for in pairs - increasing the chances of a hotly contested election. Nominations close this weekend, on Sunday 29th November. Watch this space.
Alcuin College (Fiona Lavelle):
Perhaps the largest challenge faced by Alcuin JCRC members last year was the attempted closure of B Henry’s. Their effective campus wide campaign prevented the bar’s demise and preserved Alcuin’s central social venue. Jeremy Lilley, Ents Rep, gave thanks to bar reps Andy Chan, Chris Brown and Sunil Monterio for their efforts regarding B Henry’s, their contribution to Alcuin’s win at RAG raid, and the financial success of all Alcuin’s late license events.
Lilley told the Yorker that Alcuin Chair, Ollie Hutchings, “has done well, I think, in creating a relaxed atmosphere in JRCR meetings and not taking them too seriously, which I think is good as sometimes people get too wrapped up in student politics. Also, speaking to members of other JCRCs I have been told that out of all (Alcuin) chairs people think Ollie Hutchings has been one of the best chairs this year.”
Lilley did comment on the lack of communications within the JCRC committee. With several key members absent from meetings, the rest of the committee had problems achieving their goals. Indeed, “some Ents (including myself) have not been refunded for things we should have been at the start of our time on the JCRC a year ago.” Lilley ended on a good note stressing that “overall though, I do think the JCRC system is good, although some people need to remember it’s just student politics, and you are never going to change the world by sitting on your colleges JCRC.”
Halifax College (Georgina Brown):
In Halifax, many of the HCSA positions 2008/09 were uncontested. Consequently, many of the candidates did not have to make pledges and got into office solely on the decision that they decided to run. When talking to the Undergraduate Council Officer of last year, Kit Dixon, we discover that he feels that the HCSA ‘did well’, considering that they did not have many initial promises they needed to fulfil or have ‘any kind of overall aim, or objective for the year compared to previous years’.
Scandal was scarce throughout the year, yet one of the complaints most commonly received was that the HCSA, ’after launching a new website to much fanfare, haven't updated the committee blogs since the 9th of October.’ (Kit Dixon). This is one of the promises made this year by the new HCSA that they ensure they will change as it is so important that the college inhabitants are kept up to date with what is happening around them.
The 2008/09 HCSA seemed to be less organised than previous years, with Roberto Powell, last year’s President only having one pledge on his nomination form which was to get ‘a change machine in the laundrette, which is a standard promise of almost every candidate for president since the college began’. Not many people were very impressed with the performance of the HCSA last year; however they still enjoyed their time in Halifax College. Without its own bar, Halifax events are not so vital, and many colleges recognise their JCRCs as being the ones who organise the events.
Chris White of Halifax College says the HCSA ‘were enthusiastic but weren’t great with productivity’. This appears true as the HCSA kept trying throughout the year with events such as the pre-Gallery, Sunday night pub quiz run by Lydia Blundell and Beth Fieldhouse. Yet not many people, when asked, can give a solid answer to what the 2008/09 HCSA did for them.
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