College by-elections 2011

• The Vanbrugh College by-election results, announced on Thursday, saw five new members join the JCRC.

Robert Jenkins was named the new Music Representative for the college and told The Yorker he aims to put his immense passion for music to good use by “providing other students like me with the opportunity to perform, rehearse, record and generally enjoy all different aspects of music”. He added that he has many ideas for themed college events and wants to “bring Vanbrugh College closer together by putting on a variety of music related events”, such as getting more people involved in open-mic nights, as well as properly kitting out the Provost’s rehearsal room and starting a recording studio too.

Elected jointly as the new Student Action Representatives are Mylo Scurr and Louis Lunts, who revealed they “wish to liaise with local schools and hospitals, especially the retreats” and they hope this will give students from Vanbrugh the opportunity to “contribute to the local community spirit” whilst simultaneously developing personally their own skills.

New Le Page Court Representative Sorcha Lynch is eager to give her fellow residents a voice within the JCRC. Her plans for this term involve “working towards making the community spirit in Le Page more pronounced than it already is, and to help improve the connection between the residents of Le Page Court and the JCRC” to highlight their needs and interests. No Eric Milner B Representative was elected but there will be a co-option at the next JCRC meeting to fill the position.

Vanbrugh Chair Kallum Taylor told The Yorker he was pleased with the by-election results as “we’ve got people in now who want to fulfil their position, rather than simply be a ‘member’” and is pleased to have almost achieved his aim of having all positions filled.

Taylor revealed that being chair has so far been “great and has really lived up to expectations” and the new committee is doing very well. He praised the Vanbrugh RAG reps, who raised the most money at the collegiate heats of the ‘Mr and Mrs’ competition. His plans for the rest of the term include making a profit from Volume Events, which was done for the first time in years at the last event, and making the trip to Amsterdam, with Goodricke and Halifax, a success. He is also looking forward to ‘Battle of the Bands’ on Friday Week 5, as well as starting the fortnightly newsletter before the end of the term. He admits “the college system at York work’s a treat but not when we all run off in our own direction” so wants to keep working closely with other chairs to ensure his College’s success in the future.

The list of by-election winners is as follows:

Music Representative: Robert Jenkins

Off campus Representative: Oliver Hill

Over 21s Representative: Stephen Lawlor

Student Action Representatives: Mylo Scurr & Louis Lunts

Le Page Court Representative: Sorcha Lynch

• Alcuin College announced their by-election results last Friday. The Yorker speaks to the successful candidates and current Vice-Chair Jane Catterall about their new JCRC.

Newly elected Environment and Ethics Officer Reda Bouchaib told the Yorker he’s “happy… to be able to improve the environment” of his college.

Bouchaib would like to “raise awareness about the importance of waste management and our impact on the planet as consumers” by making sure “students are recycling the majority of their waste” and consuming “local products to achieve a sustainable development.”

Meanwhile, the position of Student Action Officers was filled by Hugh White and Annalise Watts.

According to Watts, they would “love everybody to know what caring, lovely people the Alcuinites are”. They will also be promoting volunteering, as they believe “it will be beneficial to others, not only to the individual.”

Abigail Watson, who became the new Campaigns Officer on Friday told the Yorker, “I am really excited to be part of the JCR, but looking forward to finding my feet. I'm open to all suggestions, so if anyone has anything they would like taking to YUSU please let me know.”

Speaking to the Yorker, Vice-Chair Jane Catterall said, “It was great to see so many people running in the by-elections.”

Talking about plans for the term, Catterall said, “Hopefully we'll be able to reclaim the crown at the coming RAG Parade, after narrowly missing out to Derwent, and the success will continue with the 'Alcuin Invasion' pub crawl in week 6 and our end of term trip to Amsterdam.”

“The plan this year is to pull together, combat the apathy and stir up a little more college pride and the JCRC is the main avenue through which to do this,” she continued.

Positions for Bar Reps, Communications Officers and News Officers are still available. Those interested are encouraged to contact Caterall at jc780@york.ac.uk or Alcuin Chair Lizzie Bartholomew at erb507@york.ac.uk.

See below for the full list of by-elections winners:

The Campaigns Officer: Abigail Watson

Environment and Ethics: Reda Bouchaib

The Equipment Officer: David Asquith

Student Action: Hugh White and Annalise Watts

Ordinary Officers: Claire Reid and Philip Naylor

• The Langwith by-election results saw many of the empty positions on the JCR committee filled. The results were announced at Langwith’s hugely successful ‘eL Carnival event’ in Week 3. Since this event, several more people have been co-opted onto the committee, such as Andy Green for off-campus rep and Ryan Vento for ordinary rep. There are also plans to constitutionally change the title of Ordinary Member to ‘Extra-ordinary’ member.

See below for a full list of successful candidates:

LGBT: Peter Smith & Jack Baker

Merchandise: Marinus Maris & Celia Scrubby

Ordinary: Richard Grant, Ryan Vento

Web: Alex Finnis & Max Sugarman

Welfare: Alice Green

Off-Campus Rep: Andy Green

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