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 Yorker: What are you aims and policies if elected to position of Welfare officer?
Laura: I have three main priorities for next year and they are: the successful completion of the Community Strategy; Internationalising the Students' Union; making sure that we have a cohesive approach to solving Accommodation problems. There needs to be an upkeep of making pro-active decisions rather than relying on re-active ones. My policies are extensively covered on myfacebookpage: www.facebook.com/laurabo4welfare. There are also sections on an extended manifesto and on current position of welfare provisions of the union. A quick summary is provided in the INFO section :)
Robert: I would immediately focus on opening up communication with students about how much they already know about current welfare services, particularly regarding sexual and mental health. I would then use this baseline from which we, as a union, could start to develop effective and targeted campaigns that really reach out to the student body and have clear goals and resources. I would also use this information as a way of focusing the university's attention on what changes need to be made to services to improve their effectiveness and the amount of students they can reach out to. Building on this, I would then develop these campaigns into a clear and organised calendar of events that improves YUSU welfare's visibility and encourages students at all levels to get involved and contribute ideas, so that our campaigns aren't just reaching and including college welfare reps.
We then need to build this into a long-term strategy for tackling issues of mental and sexual health, accommodation and finance, so that we deliver real results on a YUSU, college, university and strategic level with long-lasting results instead of just week-long poster campaigns that raise awareness, but could be much more effective.
Also, I want to empower college welfare teams to be able to be the first port-of-calls that they should be. I would do this through varied and in-depth training that focuses on more than just the basics of welfare, but looks at practical skills, like listening skills, icebreakers and approachability. Also, this would be followed up by making Equality, Welfare and Diversity Committee (EWD)- a committee chaired by the Welfare Officer- more discursive and involving of all members, rather than a just feeding-back session.
The yorker:What experience have you had before running for this position do you think will come in handy if elected?
Laura: In my first year I gained experience talking to people and promoting cause I cared about by being an elected Ordinary Member at Vanbrugh JCRC. Later I furthered organisational skills, running of a sub-committee and successful Freshers' Fortnight and STYC co-rodination when I was Vanbrugh Vice-Chair for Welfare. Following that I have been the Welfare Officer for YUSU for the past 7 months and have further gained experience in campaigns, effective representation and communication with the many different groups here at York.
Robert: I have been involved in a large number of welfare committees since my first term at York. I have sat on the James JCRC as a part of the welfare team for two years, first as its LGBT Rep, and then as the Welfare Vice-Chair, where I chaired weekly welfare sub-committees, co-ordinated twice-weekly drop-ins, campaigns on issues of sexual and mental health, awareness-raising, accommodation, finance, security and avoiding exam stress, working with the College Council and Executive to support these campaigns and make changes. As part of this, I was also an active member of EWD committee, chairing it twice when the Welfare Officers couldn't make it.
Last year, I was a part of a YUSU award-winning course rep team, giving me experience in issues surrounding academic pressure and the need to communicate support services to students through all stages of their degrees.
I was also chair of LGBT Social for a year, co-ordinating events and making the society more accessible and inclusive for all of our members. I have sat on YUSU LGBT for over 2 years, working on broad, across-campus and award-winning campaigns.
I also have experience in working with Women's Committee this past year, helping with a proactive 'Love Your Body' campaign that was very successful and had a good showing at Woodstock last year. Likewise, I have been involved in Disability committee this last year, where I am an Ordinary Member.
The yorker:Why are you running for position of Welfare officer, what makes you passionate about this particular position?
Laura: It is a key and vital position for the Union, as without the welfare of our members looked after we would not be able to function. The ideas I want to put in place over the next academic year are strategic changes to the role to make it more effective, approachable and for the Welfare Officer to be the person who facilitates changes needed to make in the Union, the city and the University.
Robert: I am running because I believe that every student should have the best experience of university possible, and often the hurdles they face can be eased considerably by communicating to students the help they can expect, and listening to what they need back from the student body to help them achieve the most they can.
From working in the university's welfare systems since my first term at university, I have seen first-hand the overwhelmingly positive effect simple actions can have on a student's experience of university life and their wellbeing: it can be something as small as knowing that someone is there to listen to and help them, or making sure they know the opportunities and support services available to them.
Too many students face difficulties at university from circumstances that are no fault of their own, and I think it's something that must be tackled through awareness of services and through ensuring that the university is sensitive to students' difficulties. Communication between students and the university on this needs improvement, and has not been as strong as it should be- I believe my experiences and drive to improve communication can contribute to a healthier and happier university through representing students at every level and keeping students and services in constant dialogue. I am running because I believe that that real positive changes can be made, and that I can deliver on these key areas.
The yorker: What are your thoughts on your competition?
Laura: I think Robert is a very nice guy and he is a dear friend to me :)
Robert: I'm looking forward to running against her- she's a friend of mine, and I think this whole process of campaigning is bringing out good ideas in both of us and pushing us both to be better candidates.
The Yorker: If you had to choose what would you say is your most important aim/policy of your campaign?
Laura: I think all of them are extremely important, that is why I refer to them as priorities rather than policies. I think one that would be the broadest and have the furthest reach would be Community strategy. However, Accommodation is something I have been working on since I started and I see significant ways we can still go further, improve the experience for students and make sure that students are not being ripped off, their rights and responsibilities are clear from the start of their tenancies, so as not to be subjected to fines they had no idea of. The Internationalisation priority is not just for international students, as I believe we are all Global students and we have the right and therefore should have opportunity to take advantage of the many cultures represented here at York by our students, whether they come from a city in the UK or a country far away.
Robert: I would say communication- without it, the student body doesn't know what support there is, the university throws resources at the wrong areas, and the Welfare Officer cannot run campaigns effectively. With strong communication, college and university welfare services can run effective campaigns, integrating well with the student body and delivering in key areas of sexual and mental health, accommodation and finance.
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