Issue 43 - University of Surrey's Student Union

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4 NEWS The Stag | 6 th March 2012 news@thestagsurrey.co.uk Guildford station to finally get a revamp By Bethany Goss, News Team Guildford station is to get a £140m revamp after nearly a decade of delays. Plans originally proposed in 2003 will bring mass changes to the station and its surrounding area. The project has been taken over by Solum Regeneration, a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property. This occurs after the Redrow Regeneration contract, for what was then a £240m project, fell through after the partnership between the property company and Network Rail collapsed in 2007. Solum said: “there will be significant benefits in transforming the site in Station View”, claiming it will regenerate an underused area, enhance the environment surrounding the facility whilst at the same time reduce pressure on Greenfield land by providing housing and broadening the retail and hotel offering in the town centre. The revamp would also create hundreds of jobs. Senior Development Manager from Solum Regeneration, Edward Pearce commented on how the development is still in the very early stages of drawing up ideas. Whilst no detailed plan has been presented, Mr Pearce was keen to point out how they want to get public feedback on some of the key principles associated with the development. After a local survey of 500 residents taken out last March, 83% of people were in agreement that the area around the station was in need of a revamp. The revamp could include new housing, two hotels, a food store, station shops, improved parking, enhanced cycle provision and better arrangements for using taxis. Other features of the scheme include an improved arrival hall, new facilities on the platforms, landscaping near station entrances and better pedestrian connections with the town centre. A combination of private homes and affordable specialist housing for the elderly and students could be created alongside the actual revamp of Guildford Station itself. Director of the Independent Rail Consumer Watchdog, David Sidebottom noted on what was high on the list of priorities for passengers regarding these improvements, which included: accurate information on train times and platforms, short queuing times and station staff to be available when required. The hotels planned would include a 4–star high–quality facility and the new station square would be over-looked by restaurants and cafes. A supermarket also features in the plans for the revamp. The £140m planned investment by Solum Regeneration is seen to be a welcome endorsement for Guildford town centre, particularly in the current economic times. Row over Guildford bonfire monument By Rachel Thomason, News Team new bonfire sculpture to be A placed on a roundabout in Guildford has sparked indecision over its installation. The new sculpture would stand at 16ft and be a permanent steel fixture on the roundabout between Woodbridge Road and York Road. On Tuesday 24 th February, a committee meeting was held to decide whether to go ahead with the installation but, with concerns over public safety raised, no decision was made. London-based public art specialists, Mooch, were behind the creation of the sculpture. The structure is formed of a wire dome-shaped cage made from 150 separate metal rods from which flames rise up and surround a chair that tops the sculpture, weighing around two tonnes. Its creation is to celebrate the bonfire society of the mid 1800s and the way that the town’s authorities brought unrest under control. This bonfire society was part of a movement of riots in Guildford during this period which happened on bonfire night from morning until night time. Gangs would wear costumes and masks and terrorise those who they believed had wronged them. The rioters, who caused terror every year from 1820 to 1865 on November 5 th , were known as the ‘Guildford Guys’. They stole from houses and threw burning bundles of wood onto buildings as well as vandalising property. Attempts to suppress the rioters often failed because the rioters simply called for more support to outnumber the authorities. However, with the election of a new mayor in 1863, there was a far greater police influence in the town and attempted riots from 1865 were quickly dispersed by the cavalry. The sculpture was created with the intention of commemorating the end of these riots but civilians have also suggested that it is more like a celebration of the violence, rather than its end. Surrey Police are also very concerned that it will pose a dangerous temptation for public disorder with people wanting to climb on the frame despite the five metre drop. However, Councillor David Goodwin suggested that the position of the structure would deter such actions. Situated 50 metres from the police station and in the middle of a relatively busy roundabout, there is less of a risk of people being tempted to climb on it. A full council meeting has been rearranged for April 5 th when a decision over the sculpture will finally be made. Surrey graduates win at Grammies By Chris Sibthorpe, News Team Two Surrey graduates won prestigious Grammy Awards at the world famous Los Angelesbased music ceremony on the 12 th February. Music producer Jim Abbiss, 45, won an award for his work on Adele’s smash hit album 21. The album also won the British singer two BRIT Awards on 21 st February. Abbiss, who graduated from the Tonmeister undergraduate course in 1988, shared the award for Adele’s album with several other music producers in his category ‘Album of the Year’. Since graduating, Abbiss has had a very successful career including working on Arctic Monkeys’ Mercury Music Prize winning debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. He has also worked on albums for Kasabian, KT Tunstall and Adele’s highly successful debut album 19. The other award went to Sam Okell, 32, who graduated in 2001. Okell picked up his second Grammy in two years, winning in the ‘Best Historical Album’ category for his work on the deluxe edition of Paul McCartney & Wings’ Band on the Run album. Judges placed Okell’s work ahead of several other projects, including a re-mastered Elvis Presley album. Okell was awarded in the same category at last year’s 53 rd Grammy Awards for his work on re-mastering the entire back catalogue of The Beatles. Since graduating, Okell has had an impressive career at London’s world–famous Abbey Road Studios – the same location where he spent his placement year. When asked about his placement year, he described it as being: “Invaluable in me getting a job at the end of my studies’. Okell’s other work has included working on the scores for films including Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Sound Recording at the University of Surrey, Dr Russell Mason said: “We are delighted to hear of the success of Sam and Jim in the recent Grammys, adding to the long list of awards won by Tonmeister graduates in music, film and television.” © mary rose
News Editor: Jyoti Rambhai | Copy Editor: Emma Giles The Stag | 6 th March 2012 NEWS 5 ELECTIONS 2012 What is the NUS? The National Union of Students or NUS is the national representative organisation of students in Britain, encompassing those at universities, further education colleges and increasingly, apprentices too. NUS officers and teams campaign and lobby every year for a better deal for students, winning concessions from Government on fee rises and students’ living costs, and giving voice to the concerns of those most harshly affected by issues such as the Government’s changes to Higher Education funding and abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance. President In charge of both the political and administrative ends of the NUS, the President is the figurehead of the whole organisation. VP Society & Citizenship Promoting students’ viewpoints on issues relating to the wider local, national and global community, like politics, environment and community relations. VP Welfare Responsible for looking after issues that affect students directly, but outside their degrees, such as housing, health and finance. VP Union Development Empowers unions to better represent students, by better commercial services, better democracy and better engagement. The VP UD also organises the various kinds of activist training around the UK. VPs Higher Education and Further Education In charge of representing the whole higher and future education sectors respectively, and coordinating the input of the other VPs into these sectors. The VP FE has led the fight this year to save Education Maintenance Allowance, which the OECD described as the UK’s best welfare benefit. By Jack White, Editor Candidates for elections to the Executive Council of the National Union of Students were interviewed by student media representatives on 29 th Fe br u a r y. The Stag went to NUS headquarters to find out what they want for the students of Britain. As always, the position of NUS President is the most hard fought and most hard won. Incumbent Liam Burns, running for re– election, showed why he got the job in the first place, making it clear that continuity was a key manifesto item for him. He cited students’ finances – the money in their pockets and tackling evergrowing poverty amongst students – as his priority for the next year. Burns also battled fellow candidates Kanja Sesay and Ed Marsh over his unification of the Left and Right of the NUS, with Sesay urging great diversity and Marsh preferring a more centralised approach to NUS campaigning. Current VP Higher Education, Usman Ali also brought a powerful presence to the debate, making the aspirations of deprived students his key message: “We need better access in every sense – not just to the door of the university.” He went on to call for greater attention to be placed on education of younger people, saying that this was the key to improving access to Higher Education for all social classes. All the presidential candidates made good points, but Liam Burns and Ed Marsh stood out for their broad viewpoints, where Kanja Sesay and to a lesser extent Usman Ali seemed very focused on one aspect of student politics – liberation and aspiration respectively. Notably, when asked about the large sums that university Vice-Chancellors rake in salary and bonuses, Burns looked to the cooperative movement for inspiration, calling for students to sit on university budgetary committees. The candidates for VP Higher Education were very mixed. Stalwart student activist Michael Chessum (who many readers will have seen in the Guardian or representing the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts on TV) cut a most impressive figure in the debate. Perhaps buoyed up by a year on the frontline of student representation, he pressed home a need for radical activists to abandon their self-imposed ghettoisation and start talking the language that the rest of us do. Chessum started by castigating the culture of employability in Higher Education, stating emphatically, “What have we got if we can only offer skills and employability? We need to fight for actual jobs.” Rachel Wenstone, also running, added the crucial point that concentrating on employability makes it appear like students aren’t already employable. All three HE candidates were asked about postgraduate students, with both Wenstone and Sophie Richardson pointing out that nobody else was talking about postgrad funding. Wenstone in particular was keen to stamp out commercial loans to postgrads. Chessum countered by pointing out that while postgrads have not received attention from the press or public, they have suffered the same increasing fees and marketisation of degrees, without any of the maintenance loans that undergraduates get. Tackling a theme which came up again and again throughout the day, the candidates ripped into unpaid internships, particularly for students on a placement year. While Richardson had not heard of this practice, Chessum called the unpaid internship “blatently unfair” and a “hidden course cost”. “They prevent access to careers – people from poorer backgrounds whose parents cannot support them [during the internship] cannot get in.” Finally in Higher Education, The Stag questioned the candidates on their views on the fee waivers which are due to replace cash bursaries for undergraduates next year. Chessum and Wenstone led again, with the former saying, “Fee waivers make no sense to anyone other than the government – they don’t have to make up-front-loans. Uni managements are kowtowing to the Government, not fighting their corner or the students’. We must equip students and unions to negotiate and campaign on access agreements. We can mobilise students around bursaries.” Wenstone added, “There is going to be a £70m fall in bursaries by 2015,” before suggesting a deep study of students’ life cycle, to find the greatest pressure points and target alternative funding accordingly. The candidates for VP Union Development saw a mammoth debate. The Stag opened, asking how students’ unions could avoid having to bend over for universities when they usually supply most of unions’ budgets as a block grant. Current NUS International Officer NUS presidential candidates (l to r): Usman Ali (current VP Higher Education), Liam Burns (current NUS President), Kanja Sesay (current Black Students’ Officer) and Ed Marsh (current VP Union Development). Christina Yan-Zhang, who visited Surrey for iExhibition recently, suggested a number of ideas to reduce reliance on block grants, including a regular NUS lottery, the money from which would go to helping pressured unions. Candidate Tom Hollick advocated assuring students of the worth of their union, and then campaigning around bad press when education institutions threatened unions with reduction of the block grant. Incumbent VP Welfare Pete Mercer is being challenged by mature student Sean Rillo-Raczka (pronounced “Rodgka”) who is known on the Left as much for his Edwardian dress sense as much as his passionate, but measured politics. Mercer opened by citing students’ financial support and housing as his key focuses in 2012/13, while Rillo-Raczka wanted to “challenge what NUS is” and “get students on the street talking about support and housing.” The candidates also talked about the crippling mental health issues that students face, with both candidates experienced in dealing with students’ problems. A wide number of other topics were addressed by all the candidates, including those for VP Further Education and VP Society & Citizenship, including community relations, the links between colleges and universities and much on unpaid internships. Surrey delegates to NUS Students can view the manifestos of all NUS leadership candidates at www. nusconnect.org.uk/conference/ elections. Your elected NUS delegates will vote for each position at the NUS Conference in April and you can lobby them to vote for your favourite candidates by emailing them: Oliver Deed: ussu.chairperson@surrey.ac.uk Sam Ratzer: ussu.education@surrey.ac.uk Osama Salih: ussu.president@surrey.ac.uk Arran Stears: ussu.postgrad@surrey.ac.uk Jack White: jw00211@surrey.ac.uk
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Issue 43 - University of Surrey's Student Union

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