Merry Christmas

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Electing the New RAs

This week saw the election of the Residents Associations for 2008/09. For weeks Hannah and Oggy have been working hard to get students in halls to run in the elections and this week came the VOTE.

It was a very exciting and long week for all- I helped out by manning the ballot station in Tennis Courts on Thursday night (the ballot was open from 6pm until 9.30pm and it was freezing cold! =[).

I also spent most of Friday counting ballots- which was exciting- especially because we had to conduct two coin tosses- but also made me slightly "snow blind"

Tonight was the best part of all though- the results! Candidates and guests gathered in the Great Hall to hear the results, and listen to speeches from the outgoing RAs and some of the Guild Officer Group.

I'm really excited to meet all of the new RAs properly next week, on the residential training weekend!
Congratulations to all of you. Being on a resident's association is very rewarding and I wish you every luck in the year ahead.

Thank you also to the outgoing RAs. You have worked very hard, with passion, and made a very real difference to the lives of your students. I don't know what we would have done without you. Can't wait to see you all move on to bigger and better things.

World Aids Day II

The Guild activity for World Aids Day went ahead today and was a massive success.

We had loads of interest in the event, from students to the local PCT and even coverage from ITV, which can be viewed here (how very exciting)

Along with Emma O'Dwyer the LGBTQO and some amazing volunteers- Ed, Johnny and Alex mwah- I spent the day giving out condoms (we gave out THOUSANDS), literature on HIV transmission and testing, and red ribbons so students could wear a ribbon in order to mark World Aids Day.

We also ran an impromtu mini bucket shake in honour of Terrance Higgins Trust and managed to raise around £90.

World Aids Day

Along with Emma, the LGBTQO I spent a lot of time on Friday preparing for World Aids Day.

This basically meant spending HOURS putting condoms into bags to give out as a part of the sexual health drive we will be conducting on Monday and sorting out all of the advertising materials and literature.

It was no mean feat and I would like to thank Emma for dedicating so much time to this.

Come along on Monday- we will have a stall outside of the Spar where you can get free condoms and information on safe sex.

We will also be giving away red ribbons, so that you can show your support for World Aids Day, and doing a collection for Terrance Higgins Trust.

Sexual Health Provisions in Birmingham- we are finally winning!

More progress on the sexual health campaign... hurrah!

It seems that the pressure has finally paid off, and that student demands on sexual health services in the city are finally being listened to!

Birmingham now has strategy on improving sexual health, and today I received a report written by Birmingham Primary Care Trusts (PCT) in conjunction with city council, regarding their five year plan for the city sexual health services. (Oh dear, I can't believe how excited I am getting about this!)

The five year plan is really progressive, and includes

-a range of routine services available locally and then central venues in each PCT area.
-these services must be located in places with good public transport links
-these services will have extended opening hours
(Birmingham has 3 PCT areas, so this would mean that services would be more local and easier access)

-increased levels of services within communities, some examples given include testing and treatment of uncomplicated STIs, contraception and pregnancy testing and advice.

-services available from both personal GPS and GP led health centres

- 48 hour appointment for specialist sexual health centres

- a city wide website and phoneline for public use

To contribute to this strategy click here go to "get involved" and then click "consultations"

Reclaim the Night

Saturday 22nd of November was the 5th anniversary of the national Reclaim the Night March.

There are an estimated 47,000 rapes every year, around 40,000 attempted rapes and over 300,000 sexual assaults (BCS). Yet our conviction rate is the lowest it has ever been, one of the lowest in Europe, at only 5.3%.
I went along to march and show my support, as these are issues that I come across in both my role generally, and in casework and ones that I feel particularly passionate about.

"The Reclaim The Night marches started in the UK in the 1970s. Marches took place in Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, London and many other cities. The Reclaim the Night marches became even more significant when, in following years, a man called Peter Sutcliffe began murdering prostitute women in and around Leeds. Feminists in the area were angry that the police response to these murders was slow and that the press barely reported on them. It seemed that it was only when young student women began to fall victim to this serial killer that the police started to take the situation seriously. Their response was to warn all women not to go out at night. This was not a helpful suggestion for any woman, let alone for those women working in prostitution who often had no choice about whether they worked at night or not. Feminists and a variety of women’s and student groups were angered by this response. So they organised a resistance of torch-lit marches and demonstrations — they walked in their hundreds through the city streets at night to highlight that they should be able to walk anywhere and that they should not be blamed or restricted because of male violence.

Over the years the marches evolved to focus on rape and male violence generally, giving women one night when they could feel safe to walk the streets of their own towns and cities.

Today we walk for the same reasons. Because we still have not got these rights; because women are still blamed for rape and male violence. An ICM poll commissioned by Amnesty International in 2005 found that over one third of the British public surveyed believed that women were sometimes wholly or partly to blame if they were raped, for example if they had been drinking, if they flirted or dressed outrageously.

Today we march, as so many women have done before us to say that we are NEVER to blame for rape and male violence. Those men who choose to commit these crimes are to blame. We march today to demand our right to live without the fear or reality of rape and male violence, we demand an end to male violence against women, we take back this night to win the day."

The Wolverhampton Great HE Funding Debate

I was invited to the Great HE Funding Debate in Wolverhampton and attended as a panellist.

I spoke on a panel with the a pro VC and the Dean of Students, which was pretty scary. Our topic was "Should Universities be looking for funding from outside the box- i.e business contributions, graduate tax etc" and to summarise I argued this-

-> In the current top up fee system the contribution of the individual is too high. This contribution could outweigh the contribution of the state if the £3000 cap on fees is lifted, and it is a massive financial risk to take with no guarantee of success or graduate premium. Rather than being a sound financial investment, tuiton fees are becoming more like an overpriced lottery ticket.

-> For these reasons a future funding system must ensure two things- that the focus is moved away from the individual student to contribute to their tuition, and that any individual contribution must be relative.

-> The business sector benefits greatly from a profit enhancing graduate workforce, and therefore must take some responsibility in funding higher education.

-> Those who earn more should pay more. The contribution that you make to higher education must be proportional to your benefit. I argued for a fixed rate graduate tax, to be paid off for a period of time following graduation (subject to a minimum salary)

.... to be continued

Supporting a Pharmacy on Campus

Applications have beeen made to site a pharmacy on our Edgbaston campus.
The pharmacy would be open 8.30am-6.00pm Monday to Friday and 9am-1pm on a Saturday.

The pharmacy will include services such as screening services, emergency contraception, gluten free food supply and stop smoking services.

The Guild were asked to comment on the proposals, and so I wrote a letter supporting the initiative.
Will keep you posted

Multicultural Week

For some time now, myself and Rich Walker Vice President (Student Activities and Development) have been making plans for the Guild's first ever Multicultural Week type event of this kind or on this scale.

MCW will take place in February. There is so much still to organise- including naming the event. Any suggestions are most welcome, and if anyone wants to volunteer even better- the more the merrier. Email h.jones@guild.bham.ac.uk (Subject "Multicultural Week") with ideas or to volunteer.

We are hoping for the event to take place across campus, out at halls of residences and in Selly Oak and some of the events that we hope to include are an international volunteering fair, high profile speakers, art and photography exhibitions, drama, cuisine, sport, music and a fashion show.

Will keep you updated

NUS Extraordinary Conference

Wednesday was the NUS extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton Civic Hall. An extraordinary conference is basically an emergency conference which is called in between annual conferences.

The purpose of this conference was to discuss NUS Reform, which I have blogged about on a number of occasions previously.

The Guild passed policy to support the changes that the conference aimed to implement, and I am happy to tell you that the proposals had overwhelming support, and passed with an 82% majority.

There were also many amendments made to the proposals, including a National Ballot, where 5% of NUS membership could request a vote.

Employment Rights

Since being elected, I've been working on initiatives to raise awareness of student rights at work, and implementing processes through which we can help students having problems. Here is a quick blog to update you on the work I've been doing in conjunction with the Jobzone.

Established termly drop in sessions from TUC representatives (although we also have the potential for more regular drop ins if a pattern of complaints arises). The first one of these occured last week and was very successful.

I have also begun to look into establishing an agency for jobs on campus, which was passed by the second meeting of Guild Council. This agency reflects the fact that students in temporary/agency employment are at a higher risk than those in permanent work. 4-5% of the jobs in Jobzone are currently sourced from campus any way, but under the current process- students seeking temporary work on campus have to complete the application process each time they go for a new appointment.
An agency would mean that we would have an established, ready trained pool of students eligible for temporary vacancies on campus without having to apply on each occasion.

Future plans for this initiative include a mentor awareness campaign on rights at work, outreach work through Jobzone/TUC roadshows (with focus on satellite sites) and potentially a drive to increase trade union membership across the student body.

The Jobzone will also continue with its employment enhancement intitatives, for example free courses in English for international students and free food hygeine and customer service training.

Keep checking back as I hope to be able to update you more soon

OIA

This week I attended a workshop run by the OIA.

"The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education ("OIA") operates an independent student complaints scheme pursuant to the Higher Education Act 2004." It is a service that is free for students to utilise.

Last academic year, the OIA recieved 1400 enquiries and 730 official complaints, of which 599 were eligible to pursue.

The workshop was very useful, particularly in relation to the direct representation that I carry out on appeal hearings, disciplinary committees, plagarism hearings and fitness to practise panels. I am also confident now, that if a student is unsucessful through the University structures, we can refer them to the OIA to pursue the complaint independently.

We did a lot of work on ensuring that the procedures at our individual institutions were fit for purpose and student friendly, and also picked up advice on successful representation.

Amsterdam Hitch

This weekend, myself Rich Walker Vice President (Student Activities and Development) and Ed Sparkes, Vice President (External) of Carnival took part in a charity hitch hike to Amsterdam.

We hitched from the Bristol Road to Hull, then got the ferry to Brugge, then hitched from Brugge to Amsterdam. Our group were the first to arrive in Amsterdam but unfortunately we were robbed of a victory by a group of runaway brides.

Every hitcher raised at least £60 for Carnival. This will be added to the massive pot of funds that Carnival has raised over the year, and allocated to a number of charities at a meeting on the 12th of November.

A brilliant weekend was had by all, and it was great to see the amazing things that our student groups do. For more information about Carnival, check out their website here or join the Carnival is Awesome Facebook group.

YES WE CAN!!!

Tonight the Guild of Students hosted a US Election Party in Joes Bar.

Joes was packed out with both Obama and McCain supporters, who hung around until 5.30am to see Barack Obama elected as the next President of the United States of America.

Then came the acceptance speech... which was really inspiring and had the whole of the bar in complete silence.

"It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America. "

"For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: "

To see Redbrick's coverage of the event, click here
To read BULS coverage of the US elections, click here

Balance Your Books

One of my manifesto promises was to make the mentor scheme more dynamic and inspiring, and during my hustings I spoke a lot about making the campaigns that the student mentor scheme runs more relevant and pro active.

The first campaign that I have fed into was launched this week, and can be viewed on the Guild website here.

Balance Your Books is a campaign which addresses the financial difficulties that many students face, and offers easy advice and sources of information. Last year at NUS regional conference, we were presented with a cheque to represent the massive underspend on the part of our University on bursaries. This means that students were entitled to financial help from the University, and for some reason or another, did not recieve it.

This makes it clear that many students are confused by the bursary system, which is riddled with complexity.The campaign aims to heighten the awareness of financial help available to our students, how to apply, and where to find the support to guide you through your application.

The campaign is so relevant in the current economic climate, with the expected increase in food and fuel costs more and more students are going to find themselves in serious financial difficulties.

Check out the website- which has loads of information and a budget planner that you can download