8 COMMENT
YORK VISION
Tuesday January 19th, 2010
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he most awarded student newspaper in the country, York Vision, is once again holding elections for all editorial positions at the end of Week 2. If you want to run for a position or would like to try your hand at writing, photography or anything else you think you can bring to our newspaper team, then we would love for you to come along. After all, with the government's far reaching funding cuts forthcoming this could well be your last chance to get involved before the University has to close all societies just to afford to reopen the second floor of the library. Details on elections on: www.vision.co.uk
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ision would like to thank the York Annual Fund team for a generous grant of £1,000! The Annual Fund is a vital source of funding for York societies and makes a remarkable contribution to University life. This year the fund awarded £123,353 across campus, money that will widen access to York, support colleges, departments and enhance the student experience of many individuals. Vision's grant will secure our financial future and allow us to invest in equipment that will enable us to produce our awardwinning newspaper long into the future.
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here's nothing wrong with Jane Grenville's desire to present the University Council with a selection of students who reflect our diverse campus population. Misleading Tim Ngwena however is something much worse; he is rightly offended at being held up as a 'token black person'. Grenville should have been honest with Tim from the start. She should have been honest with the Council. Scripting a video that is meant to reflect the views of 'real' students is insulting to both us and them.
LET'S BUCK THE TREND
Why should precedent prevent University Council from engaging with students?
SAMANTHA COWLEY
P
oor Brian Cantor. It seems that every term a group of students trot their way down to Heslington Hall, megaphone in hand, campaigning for this, that and the other. With all this irritable pleading and wheedling it’s a wonder he gets any work done. The same can be said for Jane Grenville, who valiantly learnt how to waltz last term as she doled out the possessively named 'Jane Grenville Money' which I assume does not come directly from her Nationwide account. However, the least that can be said for these two figures is that we actually know their names. That in times of want and need we know in which direction to point the megaphone and in whose face to thrust the beggars bowl. Or do we? Contrary to how it may seem, the University isn’t run by this solitary duo. Hidden on the University website, amongst all the demands for snowed in students to dig their way back and admission procedures is a list of University Council Members – the principal governing body of the University which exercises general control over the institution and its affairs. Given the importance of such a body it does seem a little worrying that earlier this week Ms Gren-
ville admitted that a video featuring the ‘opinions’ and ‘complaints’ of the ‘average’ student went down well with the Council because "they liked the feeling that they engaged with The University Council: pretty hard to take seriously students". Seriously, "they the name of every student whose a difficult balancing act, reconcilliked the feeling." I have a suggestion for the ever lived in V/B/104 or have to ing the desires of the student with Council: if they want to engage attend Have I Got News for York. the single-minded pragmatism of with the students who turn this But the perception that the strat- the management. He is also someone, as the collection of 1960s concrete into a egy (and what a meaningless word University, an institution of learn- that is) of the University is not ousting of Academic/Welfare ing and not just a research facility directly linked with students is a Sabb Grace Fletcher Hackwood two years ago indicates, whose on the south east tip of York, then worrying one. The two students who now job is never truly secure and is go and stand by the cash-point in Market Square or wander into stand on this council, YUSU Presi- dependent on ‘good-behaviour’. Vanbrugh canteen at lunchtime dent Tim Ngwena and President Surely this committee would ben(not Derwent, mind you, they of the GSA, Rui Huang, are just efit from a seat, in amongst the two of twenty-two voices and giv- faculty staff, administrative staff closed that) and ask someone. Council shouldn’t be 'feeling' en that they come bottom on the and owners of Betty’s, reserved anything unless they’ve actually website’s list the message is clear: for your average student. A studone it, and contrived videos re- "This committee has little to do dent whose only job is to account for students in this setting. Only ally don’t feature in many peo- with you". Should Ngwena and Huang be then can this mysterious body say ple’s definitions of ‘engaged’. Yes, as Grenville pointed out to our the only students on the Council? that their strategising takes place Vision interviewer, the Council As president of the Union, Ng- with the whole needs of the comis more about strategy than stu- wena does have a duty to the stu- munity in mind. dents and thus they needn’t know dents. But he also has to perform
YOUR VOICE : LETTER TO THE EDITOR SAVE OUR PORTERS CAMPAIGN
Dear Vision,
I
attended the S.U. demonstration against portering cuts, and during the protest itself it seemed like the S.U. really did care about portering and could maybe get some results. But now it occurs to me, is all of this anything more than posturing? It’s easy to come out from under the rock of the S.U. building once a term and shout down a megaphone and it might provide a good photo opportunity, but what is actually happening about getting some practical results? The president came out saying that the only option now is to put together a list of problems which the lack of portering has caused and hope the management spontaneously give porters back. But apparently he had just tried that
in the meeting itself, and it didn’t get anywhere because the managers found ways to wriggle out of taking responsibility. Avoiding responsibility in this way is easy to do. In the future someone may get attacked, having been followed with nowhere to escape to, or they may get in to trouble because of a lack of first aid, but the management can always just say 'Well, even with 24/7 lodges, the porter could have been away somewhere else doing a security check'. Even if the burglary rate doubled, the management could just say, in relation to any particular incident,
'Well, there were burglaries before so you can’t prove that this specific incident wouldn’t have happened anyway'. Proving that the cutbacks are causing harm sounds easy, but in fact, however much trouble the lack of portering causes, it’s almost impossible to prove. What the S.U. officers need to do is get the management to commit to precisely what sort of evidence, both in terms of individual incidents and in terms of overall crime rates on campus, would get portering returned. If the managers avoid doing this then that’d be a tacit admission that however bad things get the kind of proof
Is all of this anything more than posturing?
JOIN THE DEBATE AT WWW.YORKVISION.CO.UK
they are asking for is impossible. Or if they do give examples then at least we’ll know that, if the kind of thing which is described comes true, we can perhaps get portering hours restored. If (and it’s a big if) the Student Union really does want to get portering back, and if they think that using a list of incidents is a good way to do it, then they need to get some ground rules in place, or they’ll just get shot down in flames again and there’s no chance at all that we’ll get tangible results. Yours, A Vanbrugh first year If you've got something to say, email Vision at : vision@yusu.org or join the debate online at: www.yorkvision.co.uk