Issue 43 - University of Surrey's Student Union

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2 EDITORIAL The Stag | 6 th March 2012 editor@thestagsurrey.co.uk Editor | Jack White editor@thestagsurrey.co.uk Editor-in-Chief | Bakita Kasadha ussu.communications@ussu.co.uk Deputy Editor (Design) | Hollie Rowe-Roberts design@thestagsurrey.co.uk Design Team | Ellie Brodie, Paul A Richmond, Hannah Roberts-Owen, Christina Morman, Louisa White and Alexandra Wilks Deputy Editor (Marketing) | Tom Goulding marketing@thestagsurrey.co.uk Marketing Team | Shervin Hejazi, Imogen Jones and Eleanor Pearson News News Editor | Jyoti Rambhai news@thestagsurrey.co.uk News Team | Bethany Goss, Sophie Howard, Geoffrey Pullen and David Williams Features Features Editor | Nicole Vassell features@thestagsurrey.co.uk Features Team | Peter Bailey, Ellie Brodie, Chris Thomas, Hannah Wann, Becky Powell, Stephen Cartwright, Louisa White, Ellis Taylor and Sophie Vickery Science and Technology Science and Technology Editor | Nathanael Roome sciencetech@thestagsurrey.co.uk Science and Technology Team | Lawrence Finn, Dave Holcombe, Shourya Khanna, Kate McAtamney, Melissa Raske, Alex Smith and Ruth Smithers. Societies Societies Editor | Chris Dighton societies@thestagsurrey.co.uk Arts Dance and Theatre Editor | Hannah Jelliman dancetheatre@thestagsurrey.co.uk Dance and Theatre Team | Emily Bourne, Sarah McDowell, Beth Hedges, Lucy Jarvis, Tiffany Stoneman and Lexi Sutton Film Editor | Tiffany Tucker film@thestagsurrey.co.uk Film Team | Laura Howard, Caroline James, Kristie Marchant and Christina Maria Webb Music Editor | Sophia Field music@thestagsurrey.co.uk Music Team | James Campbell, Liam Conroy, Dan Davidson, Amy McGivern, Tanya Noronha and Elliot Tyres Literature Editor | Alexandra Wilks literature@thestagsurrey.co.uk Literature Team | Stephanie Davies, Tom Goulding, Candice Ritchie, Emily Smart, Emma Thomas and Sophie Vickery Sport Sport Editor | Jordan Vine sport@thestagsurrey.co.uk Sport Team | Douglas Elder, Arabella Gilby, George Gigney and Sam Limbert Copy Editors | Megan Barnacle, Michaela Fulton, Emma Giles, Candice Ritchie and Louisa White copyteam@thestagsurrey.co.uk Webmaster | Andrew Smith webmaster@thestagsurrey.co.uk Photo Editor | Tessa Morgan photos@thestagsurrey.co.uk The Stag is a newspaper editorially dependent on and published by the University of Surrey Students’ Union. The views expressed in the paper are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the educational team, the whole Students’ Union or the University of Surrey. Trinity Mirror (South) 8 Tessa Road, Reading RG1 8NS The Stag reserves the right to edit all submissions and the right to decide which articles are published. The Grapevine Nothing but the finest Surrey opinion, rumour and conjecture The University is rumoured to be considering a 3.5% rise in prices of its own student accommodation. Over the past few years, the cost to students has risen by 12%, with the University claiming that inflation has been 13% in the same period. Sources at the Union however, said that the true figure is closer to 7%. Both the Surrey Students’ Union and the National Union of Students (NUS) have recently attacked high accommodation prices. Surrey Union President Osama Salih has been pressing for the University to build more Band C accommodation (currently £90 per week), while the University is building new Band D rooms (£111.50 per week). Last week Surrey Union submitted a motion to the April NUS Conference mandating the NUS to lobby for lower house prices by both building new university and external houses, and by simply setting rent at lower levels. Term 1 Max. Loan* £ 1,833.33 Band D Rent§ £ 1,720.29 Left over £ 113.04 Or with 3.5% rent rise £ 52.83 * One third of full student loan 2012/13. § Rent from moving-in day to Term 2 loan-payment day. Paper crane feat marks success for Student Volunteering week By the Students’ Union From 20 th -27 th February, Surrey campus was taken over by the 10th annual Student Volunteering Week, a national initiative hosted by Do>More showing the breadth of activities that ‘volunteering’ includes. Monday kicked off with entrepreneurial project, the £20 Challenge, which encouraged students to propose ideas for fundraising, volunteering or campaigning events and win the funding to carry their plans out. On Tuesday students paused between lectures to do some online micro-volunteering in the Lecture Theatre Concourse, answering some simple quizzes and in the process donating over 12,000 grains of rice to developing countries. Wednesday’s event Cranes for Cancer brought over 150 students into Rubix at lunchtime with the aim of making 1,000 origami cranes, in reference to the Japanese proverb that says 1,000 origami cranes can bring luck to someone suffering from cancer. Apologies and corrections Apologies to Tiffany Tucker, whose article February Flicks was incorrectly credited to Candice Ritchie in the last edition. Also to Alexandra Wilks, whose name was incorrectly spelled not once, but twice in issue 42. Come Clean: NUS presses for university transparency By Denise Juvane, News Team The National Union for Student (NUS) launched a campaign on the 20 th February; its main focus to tackle hidden costs by getting ‘money back into students’ pockets’. This campaign has been part of NUS’s wider plan named ‘Come Clean’ in an aid to protect student’s rights. Movements such as ‘Week of Action’, running from Monday 12 th to Friday 16 th March, National Student Walkout on the 14 th March and a lobby of Parliament on the 18 th April will shape their aims for ‘Coming Clean’. NUS are urging universities to be fully transparent on all course costs prior to application; they are pressing vice chancellors to commit to absorbing essential costs within the tuitions fees and to offer means tested support for non-essentials. This initiative has been launched as research conducted by the NUS in regards to the hidden costs of studying revealed that 31 per cent of students’ unions reported their universities as covering no additional costs such as printing, studio fees, fields trips, travel to work placements and course books. NUS President, Liam Burns stated: “Whether lab coats, field trips, printing or materials, students across the country are facing significant hidden costs attached to studying. It cannot be fair that academic success is dictated by how much disposable cash you have. “The effects of mounting hidden costs puts students under additional financial pressure, leading to all sorts of issues – from having to work even more hours, sacrificing study time, spiralling into debt, and in the worst cases dropping out.” It was found that only 23 per cent of students’ unions reported that their institution included printing costs in their tuition fee; 26% were found to include travel costs for study placements; 17% included CRB checks and only 14% included the cover of ‘bench fees’. Back in 2007 it was found that students were paying up to £1,400 a year in ‘hidden university costs’. Students on mathematical, science and computer science courses are shedding the most money yearly. Thus, NUS is now trying to tackle those issues, with the added problem of some subjects seeing a reduction in applicants due to their steep costs. Mr Burns also added: “We’re pressing the Government to come clean and admit that their reforms have delivered nothing extra for students, and with a national walkout, week of action and lobby of Parliament to come, our voices will be heard loud and clear.” At the end of the day Do>More had collected over 930 and had many more on the way from avid ‘origami-ers’. Nearing the end of the week, Do>More invited the charity Beatbullying to campus to run a Cyber Mentor training session. Over the course of the afternoon, 10 students were trained and underwent a CRB check in order to be able to provide online mentoring for young people experiencing bullying. Finally, Friday came around and it was time for Do>More’s Volunteering Exhibition in LT Concourse where students paused to make more cranes (smashing the 1,000 target), to write well-wishes for sick children, to learn more about volunteering and write their own thoughts. The week was a huge success and the Students’ Union’s own publicity campaign “Thank you ____ for volunteering” summed up nicely how grateful and impressed we all are by the work of Do>More and all of our student volunteers. Thank you!
News Editor: Jyoti Rambhai | Copy Editor: Emma Giles The Stag | 6 th March 2012 NEWS 3 University makes £500,000 in fines ...Continued from front page weren’t making a mess, just dancing in the space we’d made in our kitchen really. At 12 the guard came round and told everyone to leave, so they did. Only one of my house mates [took responsibility], and I joined him. “A week later we got letters saying that we were being fined £100 each for having people over, making noise, and breaking the health and safety rules. We replied in writing saying that this wasn’t true. “He said he could hear me playing from the courtyard and issued an on the spot fine for £30.” “After the holidays we got another letter saying that the fine had been dropped to £50 each. The injustice is that we weren’t the only people having a party that night By David Williams, News Team Australian retail property group Westfield has announced the selling of its 50% share in Guildford’s main shopping centre, The Friary. The sale, which has been rumoured since the start of the year, was announced on 21 st February. The move comes only months after £40 million renovations to the complex had been completed, attracting upmarket retail outlets such as Kurt Gieger and Hollister albeit at the expense of stores such as Select and Sports Direct. Westfield is reported to have relinquished its shares in the Friary to Hermes Real Estate in a £159m settlement. As well as the Friary, Hermes and also, the immediate lowering of the fine at the slightest resistance from us made us question just how justified the fine was in the first place.” The Stag’s request under the Freedom of Information Act was spurred by a recent investigation by The Telegraph and the Press Association that found some universities such as Leeds made as much as £1.8m over a six-year period. The lowest figure though came from Imperial College, which only made £27,000 over the same time. A spokesman for the University responded to The Stag’s questions: “Fines policy is laid down in the student disciplinary procedures and is designed to ensure students behave in a respectful and dignified manner to other members of the university community. “Clearly students should behave in this way and it is right where a tiny minority behave improperly they are sanctioned for the benefit of all. also acquired control of two other shopping centres and an effective £400m portfolio from its former partner Westfield adding the Friary to what appears to be an ever growing acumen of British malls. Westfield’s shares in Royal Victoria Place, Tunbridge Wells, and CastleCourt, Belfast, were also relinquished as part of the settlement. Westfield’s abandonment of the Friary puts a dent in any potential further retail expansion plans. Prior to the announcement Guildford Borough Council had considered a controversial redevelopment of the Friary Bus Station with a replacement station to be constructed on Bedford road. “Westfield are one of the top firms in the country” commented Basic library fines between £64,000 and £71,000 for each year. “For disciplinary misconduct, any money received from the payment of fines is used for student hardship and special personal safety projects for example personal attack alarms.” “The vast majority of the fines levied by the University relate to library services where users of the library have failed to return books on their due date or have lost library resources. “At Surrey users are banned only if they have fines over £30 or overdue items of more than 10 weeks. However, some universities rely more heavily on banning users – Imperial College, for example, bans users if they have fines of £4 or more and this why the amount of fines they collect is less.” Westfield to cut and run on the Friary The Friary shopping centre has recently undergone a £40m renovation. Guildford honorary alderman Gordon Bridger, “if they’re not going to be part of these development proposals in one of the most prosperous areas then who will?” However, the departure of Westfield may be seen as a potential boon to those against the relocation of the bus station. One campaigner noted how they hoped that the new owners will look at a new development that will incorporate the Guildford bus station within it. Hermes Chief Executive Chris Taylor spoke highly of their former Westfield partners describing them as “the best in their class at what they do” but gave no indication as to whether the proposed bus station relocation would still go ahead. Council Leader Tony Rooth appeared less concerned with the move having been quoted at the start of the year saying Guildford’s ominously sounding “Town Centre Master Plan” was “…not all about the Friary” and that plans for the city were more outreaching than Westfield’s investment. Such small town concerns appear to be beyond Westfield’s prevue with the move rumoured to be due to the company’s intension to focus on larger sites, such as its investment in the £1.45 billion Westfield Stratford Centre. Union denies illegal search • Police advise Union that searches can take place without permission as long as nobody complains. • Union denies liability for search items because they were outside the cloakroom, but accepts that the search was against Union policy. By Jack White, Editor Surrey Students’ Union responded to Presha’s recent complaint about Union security last week in a email catalogue of denials of responsibility. The email does however go on to accept that Union bouncers’ general attitude has been targeted in talks with security supplier DGL Services. Correspondence responding to the possibility that property was illegally searched after graffiti was found in the toilet said, “Based on the statement from the door staff they saw a permanent marker in one of the bags during their search upon entrance, this coupled with the altercation at the door did point to a member of Presha being a likely culprit of the vandalism. “By the nature that no one objected to the search of the bags where the owner was present the search was not in fact illegal.” The Union also denied responsibility for the property that was searched because it was not in the cloakroom. Presha has demanded that its officers be shown a law confirming the legality of the bag search and that Union contact with the police over the issue be published. In a reply to the Union’s By the Students’ Union On 16 th February, the Students’ Union and Do>More Volunteering Society played host to 18 local and national charities for another Volunteer Speed Match Social. Run in a similar way to speed-dating but with students given the chance to meet charities directly for a few minutes each, this event followed a hugely successful first Speed Match in October and attracted a number of students from all over findings Presha said, “You also state that the searching of bags is permitted ‘with good reason’. I trust, the good reason is more than a search for a pen, that I might remind you was not found.” Regarding the disagreement with security staff on the door, the Union said, “This male was refused entry...because he claimed he had heroin on him and that the door staff wouldn’t find it. “Joking about having illegal substances on one’s person during entry is similar to joking about carrying a bomb when walking through airport security.” Presha again rebuffed this argument: “It is my word that this was not the comment made, merely that he had it, and that it was clearly jovial – in fact, coming across as more of an attempt to make the situation light-hearted than to cause conflict.” Staff at the Union are suggestive of the possibility more complaints have been raised about the security staff’s general attitude and the Presha email states this has been raised with DGL Services. However Presha has stated its unhappiness with the Union’s response and has offered the Union a face-toface meeting to discuss how the dispute will proceed. Volunteer Speed Match Social sets up students with charities campus. Building on existing connections and forging new partnerships, Do>More has provided many students with the opportunity to meet charities and sign up to volunteering projects as diverse as the Guildford Sport Relief Mile 2012 and Guilfest, Surrey’s premier music festival. It was a smashing success – perhaps also due to the free pizza – and so all Surrey students should look out for repeat events in the future.
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Issue 43 - University of Surrey's Student Union

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