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.
YUSU will punish the University’s rugby club after a string of racist messages were posted on the team’s official Twitter page.
The slurs were posted by an unnamed club member during a team night out in Leeds last Thursday. Four separate messages were posted over a five minute period, starting at around 11.30pm.
One Tweet used the word “niggers”, apparently in reference to a group of people encountered by the team. This was then amended: “I mean African Americans/negroes (the club is pc)”.
Earlier messages had referred to the team “getting fucking shitfaced in Leeds”.
YUSU Racial Equality officer Basim Al-Ahmadi described the posts as “vulgar and racist”.
“The comments were disgusting”, Al-Ahmadi told The Yorker. “[The team] were representing the university on a public social network. It threatens the integrity of the university.”
“There were countless people able to see these posts. I’ve had complaints from students, both black and non-black.”
The team has around 150 followers on Twitter, including students and representatives from major companies including accountants KPMG.
The messages were later deleted—but not before they had been commented on by other Twitter users. One wrote: “Disgusting Tweets. How drunk do you have to be to become that stupid?”
The incident is the latest in a string of scandals for the club. In March Ziggy’s nightclub was evacuated after a team member set off a smoke bomb during a so-called “Vietnam social”.
And in April, members were accused of acts “too graphic to describe in a family newspaper” while at Saloufest, a notorious five-day festival for British students.
The allegations were made by the Sun newspaper, which described the team as “completely smashed”.
If it happens on our turf, we've got to do something about it
YUSU promised sanctions against the club at yesterday’s Union Council meeting, where several members expressed disgust at the messages.
“A lot of students will be appalled that they’re even at the same institution [as the players]”, YUSU President Tim Ngwena told the meeting.
“If it happens on our turf, we’ve got to do something about it”.
The extent of the penalties will be decided when the University’s trustees meet on Monday. Al-Ahmadi and co-officer Lawrence Binitie will be pushing for severe sanctions against the club, as well as punishment for the individuals involved.
Penalties could include heavy fines for the team, and individuals may be banned from the club.
“A public apology is a minimum, but we believe further action is needed”, Al-Ahmadi said. “If we are silent on this, we are advocating it. We need to act now, and we need to act decisively.”
The rugby club’s president could not be reached for comment.
I honestly would like to know what was running through that player's head when he logged onto the twitter account and posted that. I can't really fathom, even in the name of 'banter', why you would do that.
(Obvious caveat: Most of the rugby lads, from my experience of them, are perfectly lovely people and in no way racist).
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report