So it is that we've reached the end of another academic year.
I must first apologise for not having blogged sooner since January, but trust me, I've been keeping myself busy. As you may already know by now, our Sound Environmental Impact Award application was a success, and we now have a Bronze Award hanging in the office. Since the news came through, we've been working towards Silver and Gold, and you the student body have elected James Ricci as your 2009/10 SUBU President based on his Green Agenda. I have every faith in him picking up where we've left off this year, and taking SUBU to new levels of Environmental Leadership.
I wish James, Scott and Hannah every success in building upon the many wonderful achievements of 2008/09 - From the all new SUBU Awards, to the biggest Election turnout in SUBU history. We''ve had more involvement, more achievements and bigger and better campaigns across the board.
As for me - I'll be around all summer planning the National RAG Conference right here at BU along with volunteers and RAGgies at this very university.
To the graduates reading this, I wish you all the very best in the future - we have a tough time facing low employment levels in the face of a recession, but I wish you all success and happiness.
To the continuing students and the new Freshers who may be reading this, I wish you a wonderful time at BU, and urge you above all to Get Involved! It's the best thing you can do with your university years!
Peace out!
Dan xx
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Monday, 26 January 2009
Regional
Today I joined Fred, Chris, Charles and Daniel on a journey to the distant land of Oxford, where a huge South region delegation of.... wait for it.... 8 people, took part in conference!!! I think there were 10 at thestart, but our hosts abandoned us, and SUBU had the second largest group there! Second, of course, only to the NEC, whose representatives outnumbered all the delegates put together!!
How could this be, you ask?
Well it's simple really. Since we voted in the new constitution last week, regional conference has been regarded as a waste of time by many unions. "It's the last ever South regional conference... so what's the point?"
Well I kinda see their argument, but nevertheless, I relished the oportunity to better get to know many members of the NEC in this intimate environment, and hear what they have been up to. The upshot is that they are busy addressing real issues that we face on our campus - from exam timetabling clashes with religious holidays, to better representation for postgrads and nursing students to name a few.
I've come home with lots of big ideas and resources, but I'm gonna keep them under wraps for now, and spring them on you in the not too distant future!
Change is coming for the better....
Dan.
How could this be, you ask?
Well it's simple really. Since we voted in the new constitution last week, regional conference has been regarded as a waste of time by many unions. "It's the last ever South regional conference... so what's the point?"
Well I kinda see their argument, but nevertheless, I relished the oportunity to better get to know many members of the NEC in this intimate environment, and hear what they have been up to. The upshot is that they are busy addressing real issues that we face on our campus - from exam timetabling clashes with religious holidays, to better representation for postgrads and nursing students to name a few.
I've come home with lots of big ideas and resources, but I'm gonna keep them under wraps for now, and spring them on you in the not too distant future!
Change is coming for the better....
Dan.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Some stuff that got left out...
Hi everyone.
I must apologise for the lengthy shpiel on conference earlier, but it deserved its own post, and so I left out quite a lot else of importance that I'd usually blog about. As a result, I think it's only right that I should keep you informed about the rest of it...
Just before term started, Emily and I went with several members of SUBU staff, plus all the sabbs, to a Carbon Academy training day. We spent the day talking about how we can save money and energy around the Students' Union, and it turns out we're actually doing very well already! Nonetheless there's always more we can do to save the planet, and today I've been making lots of headway on the advertising designs for the environmental campaign next month, and I've got a meeting coming up at the start of the week about branding. It's all very exciting so keep your eyes peeled!
There's also the task of handing over my post as President of BU JSoc, which has involved rather a lot of meetings and phone calls, plus lots of events planning. Jewish constituents brace yourselves for an exciting new committee planning lots of awesome new and original events! For the rest of you, watch this space for news of our second inter-faith society meal in the Chaplaincy in collaboration with the Christian Union and the Islamic Society!
That leads me nicely onto the very important issue of National Holocaust memorial Day, which is coming this Tuesday 27th January. Keep a look out around the SUBU Front Door for posters, presentations and readings to commemorate the millions who have died tragically in genocides during the last 60 years.
Peace Out!
Dan
I must apologise for the lengthy shpiel on conference earlier, but it deserved its own post, and so I left out quite a lot else of importance that I'd usually blog about. As a result, I think it's only right that I should keep you informed about the rest of it...
Just before term started, Emily and I went with several members of SUBU staff, plus all the sabbs, to a Carbon Academy training day. We spent the day talking about how we can save money and energy around the Students' Union, and it turns out we're actually doing very well already! Nonetheless there's always more we can do to save the planet, and today I've been making lots of headway on the advertising designs for the environmental campaign next month, and I've got a meeting coming up at the start of the week about branding. It's all very exciting so keep your eyes peeled!
There's also the task of handing over my post as President of BU JSoc, which has involved rather a lot of meetings and phone calls, plus lots of events planning. Jewish constituents brace yourselves for an exciting new committee planning lots of awesome new and original events! For the rest of you, watch this space for news of our second inter-faith society meal in the Chaplaincy in collaboration with the Christian Union and the Islamic Society!
That leads me nicely onto the very important issue of National Holocaust memorial Day, which is coming this Tuesday 27th January. Keep a look out around the SUBU Front Door for posters, presentations and readings to commemorate the millions who have died tragically in genocides during the last 60 years.
Peace Out!
Dan
NUS Conference
Happy New Year everyone!
It's a little late to be wishing New Year greetings I know, given that it's very nearly February, but better late than never, right?! So what's my excuse for the seriously delayed reaction, you may be wondering? Well, for those who haven't had the delight of experiencing it first hand, I'll let you in on this well kept secret... Final year's a bitch!!
That said, it turns out I'm kind of a glutton for punishment, and a lot of what's been keeping me so busy has been SUBU related, so it's not all bad!!
Here's an update on the most important bit...
On Tuesday, as one of your nominated NUS Delegates, I went with Fred and Chris up to the extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton that we as a Union voted for last term. It was an exceptionally eventful day, the purpose of which was to ratify a vote to adopt a new constitution for the NUS. Tension was running high, because the reform had already suffered a huge setback late last academic year, and a failure at this conference would have put us back at square one again. Nevertherless, the weakness of the arguments from the opposition left many of us feeling quietly confident, and we went to lunch in high spirits that we were only hours from historical and long-overdue change! (Regardless of what happened at conference, Barak Obama was only hours from his innauguration!)
After lunch, however, things took a bit of an unexpected turn for the worse. It should be noted that what happened came as no great shock to some of the membership, but nevertheless it was unpleasant in the extreme.
Just before the reform was due to go to its final vote, delegates from a number of radical left-wing unions and organisations such as the Socialists Workers Party and Student Respect stormed the stage in a last ditch attempt to subvert the course of democratic reform by holding a protest against Israel's actions in Gaza. Now, whether or not their standpoint on Middle-East politics is valid will remain a contentious point for a long time to come, and this isn't the forum for me to voice my own strong opinions on the conflict. However, what is certain and unquestionable, is that the issue of Israeli-Palestinian relations had no relevance to the issues we were at conference to debate, and the scare-tactics and intimidation used by the opposition were a shameful disgrace to student politics.
The result of the protest was that one or two people of a weaker disposition started having panic attacks; Jewish students on conference floor who were feeling particularly under threat were rushed into a safe-space until the protest blew over, and the rest of the conference floor was quickly cleared so that security could regain control of the situation. After fifteen minutes or so, we were told it was safe to return to conference floor, where we could finally get on with the vote; but as it turned out, the protestors had occupied the stage and were sat cross-legged refusing to move until their voice was heard. After several minutes of shouting and jeering, a member of the National Executive Committee walked down the steps to speak at the rostrum. Not wishing to legitimise this perversion of our democratic forum, many of us simply stood up and left the room again, whilst the rest of the conference floor turned their backs on him.
Ultimately, when some sort of order had returned, we were able to get on with the vote at last.
The bad news is that the opposition never relinquished the stage... The good news is that they had made themselves look ridiculous, undermined every argument they had made over the last two years of debate on the reform, and lost every swing-vote that may have gone their way.
When the vote was called, over 90% voted in favour of the reform! The cry of excitement and celebration that went up was huge, but later celebrations were somewhat muted by the way in which the victory had come about. The fact that three elected members of the National Executive were involved in this despicable undermining of our National Union is a tragedy, and the fallout will probably be unpleasant. I strongly recommend that you read Joel Braunold(NEC)'s note which was written just after the event to see for yourself the opinions of many of the delegates at conference, as well as the President of NUS, and a video link showing the demonstration.
On Monday, Fred, Chris and I will be taking a trip to Reading for the regional conference (which I'm happy to say will be about making unbarred progress towards a new NUS structure), but in the meantime, Unions up and down the country are scuffling about trying to decide how best to act in light of Tuesday's events, and I'm going to be busying myself on more pressing issues on my own doorstep.
For now, let me wish (most of) the NEC congratulations on the reform! It will be good for Students all over the country, and if there's anyone out there reading this who wants to get involved, I highly recommend it! For all it's insanity, conference is an great experience, so come along to Annual Conference and represent Your SUBU!
It's a little late to be wishing New Year greetings I know, given that it's very nearly February, but better late than never, right?! So what's my excuse for the seriously delayed reaction, you may be wondering? Well, for those who haven't had the delight of experiencing it first hand, I'll let you in on this well kept secret... Final year's a bitch!!
That said, it turns out I'm kind of a glutton for punishment, and a lot of what's been keeping me so busy has been SUBU related, so it's not all bad!!
Here's an update on the most important bit...
On Tuesday, as one of your nominated NUS Delegates, I went with Fred and Chris up to the extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton that we as a Union voted for last term. It was an exceptionally eventful day, the purpose of which was to ratify a vote to adopt a new constitution for the NUS. Tension was running high, because the reform had already suffered a huge setback late last academic year, and a failure at this conference would have put us back at square one again. Nevertherless, the weakness of the arguments from the opposition left many of us feeling quietly confident, and we went to lunch in high spirits that we were only hours from historical and long-overdue change! (Regardless of what happened at conference, Barak Obama was only hours from his innauguration!)
After lunch, however, things took a bit of an unexpected turn for the worse. It should be noted that what happened came as no great shock to some of the membership, but nevertheless it was unpleasant in the extreme.
Just before the reform was due to go to its final vote, delegates from a number of radical left-wing unions and organisations such as the Socialists Workers Party and Student Respect stormed the stage in a last ditch attempt to subvert the course of democratic reform by holding a protest against Israel's actions in Gaza. Now, whether or not their standpoint on Middle-East politics is valid will remain a contentious point for a long time to come, and this isn't the forum for me to voice my own strong opinions on the conflict. However, what is certain and unquestionable, is that the issue of Israeli-Palestinian relations had no relevance to the issues we were at conference to debate, and the scare-tactics and intimidation used by the opposition were a shameful disgrace to student politics.
The result of the protest was that one or two people of a weaker disposition started having panic attacks; Jewish students on conference floor who were feeling particularly under threat were rushed into a safe-space until the protest blew over, and the rest of the conference floor was quickly cleared so that security could regain control of the situation. After fifteen minutes or so, we were told it was safe to return to conference floor, where we could finally get on with the vote; but as it turned out, the protestors had occupied the stage and were sat cross-legged refusing to move until their voice was heard. After several minutes of shouting and jeering, a member of the National Executive Committee walked down the steps to speak at the rostrum. Not wishing to legitimise this perversion of our democratic forum, many of us simply stood up and left the room again, whilst the rest of the conference floor turned their backs on him.
Ultimately, when some sort of order had returned, we were able to get on with the vote at last.
The bad news is that the opposition never relinquished the stage... The good news is that they had made themselves look ridiculous, undermined every argument they had made over the last two years of debate on the reform, and lost every swing-vote that may have gone their way.
When the vote was called, over 90% voted in favour of the reform! The cry of excitement and celebration that went up was huge, but later celebrations were somewhat muted by the way in which the victory had come about. The fact that three elected members of the National Executive were involved in this despicable undermining of our National Union is a tragedy, and the fallout will probably be unpleasant. I strongly recommend that you read Joel Braunold(NEC)'s note which was written just after the event to see for yourself the opinions of many of the delegates at conference, as well as the President of NUS, and a video link showing the demonstration.
On Monday, Fred, Chris and I will be taking a trip to Reading for the regional conference (which I'm happy to say will be about making unbarred progress towards a new NUS structure), but in the meantime, Unions up and down the country are scuffling about trying to decide how best to act in light of Tuesday's events, and I'm going to be busying myself on more pressing issues on my own doorstep.
For now, let me wish (most of) the NEC congratulations on the reform! It will be good for Students all over the country, and if there's anyone out there reading this who wants to get involved, I highly recommend it! For all it's insanity, conference is an great experience, so come along to Annual Conference and represent Your SUBU!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Donuts 4 Darfur
This last week of term has brought much excitement and a fair bit of stress for me personally, as one of my big campus-wide campaigns for this year came to fruition!
You may have noticed the 1000-doughnut-giveaway on Talbot Campus this week - the Donuts 4 Darfur campaign - during which me and many of my friends from the Jewish Society, SUBU exec and RAG were doing our bit for the suffering people of the world by raising money and awareness of the terrible genocide in Sudan that has left 400,000 people dead, created almost 3 million refugees and 80% of the villages in Darfur completely destroyed. Whilst guns are used to kill, rape is being used as a weapon of torture, and the international community continues to stand idly by while it happens.
I thanks those of you who made it to the candle-lit vigil where we made a stand against genocide, and hope that the rest of you will do your bit by visiting www.aegistrust.org to find out more about the crisis and what you can do to help.
I should also take this oportunity to thank Danya Taylor at the UJS and Sophie Leedham of Aegis Students for travelling down from London to speak to us, and also to thank the many of you who donated to Fund-4-Darfur this week. The total raised was in the region of £300, which will go towards humanitarian aid in the region, including the purchase of anywhere up to 20 slow-burning stoves, which will save women from needing to leave the camp and risking rape, torture and murder for firewood to cook on. To find out more about the Fund-4-Darfur Stoves Project, visit www.fund4darfur.org/stoves.htm.
But it's not all depressing stuff today! NO SIREE!
This week was the LAST WEEK OF TERM!!! and of course, the end of the first term brings the much anticipated Dylans v TOFS football match (which it pains me to say Dylans and the Shop lost 2-1 to the Firestation) and the end of term Xmas party in Dylans followed by Bedlam at TOFS!
Whilst compared with last year, the Dylans party was a relatively muted affair, the atmosphere was still electric, and I had great fun running the Karaoke for 2 and a half hours! Thanks to everyone who took part.
Finally, I wish everybody a very happy holiday period. Try not to work too hard!
I'll be busy working on your Environmental Campaign, and as always, I'll keep you posted on how things are going!
Much love,
Dan!
You may have noticed the 1000-doughnut-giveaway on Talbot Campus this week - the Donuts 4 Darfur campaign - during which me and many of my friends from the Jewish Society, SUBU exec and RAG were doing our bit for the suffering people of the world by raising money and awareness of the terrible genocide in Sudan that has left 400,000 people dead, created almost 3 million refugees and 80% of the villages in Darfur completely destroyed. Whilst guns are used to kill, rape is being used as a weapon of torture, and the international community continues to stand idly by while it happens.
I thanks those of you who made it to the candle-lit vigil where we made a stand against genocide, and hope that the rest of you will do your bit by visiting www.aegistrust.org to find out more about the crisis and what you can do to help.
I should also take this oportunity to thank Danya Taylor at the UJS and Sophie Leedham of Aegis Students for travelling down from London to speak to us, and also to thank the many of you who donated to Fund-4-Darfur this week. The total raised was in the region of £300, which will go towards humanitarian aid in the region, including the purchase of anywhere up to 20 slow-burning stoves, which will save women from needing to leave the camp and risking rape, torture and murder for firewood to cook on. To find out more about the Fund-4-Darfur Stoves Project, visit www.fund4darfur.org/stoves.htm.
But it's not all depressing stuff today! NO SIREE!
This week was the LAST WEEK OF TERM!!! and of course, the end of the first term brings the much anticipated Dylans v TOFS football match (which it pains me to say Dylans and the Shop lost 2-1 to the Firestation) and the end of term Xmas party in Dylans followed by Bedlam at TOFS!
Whilst compared with last year, the Dylans party was a relatively muted affair, the atmosphere was still electric, and I had great fun running the Karaoke for 2 and a half hours! Thanks to everyone who took part.
Finally, I wish everybody a very happy holiday period. Try not to work too hard!
I'll be busy working on your Environmental Campaign, and as always, I'll keep you posted on how things are going!
Much love,
Dan!
Friday, 5 December 2008
The contuinuing plight of the red squirrel (or something like that...)
So I'm still working hard on improving and promoting the environmental side of your Students' Union, and now everybody seems to be on the bandwagon!
Lots of progress has been made over the last few weeks, and though I don't want to spoil too much of what we're doing to improve our environmental impacts before next term (when all will be revealed), I can tell you that we're very close to completing and ratifying our new Environmental Policy.
Watch this space for more news!
Dan
Lots of progress has been made over the last few weeks, and though I don't want to spoil too much of what we're doing to improve our environmental impacts before next term (when all will be revealed), I can tell you that we're very close to completing and ratifying our new Environmental Policy.
Watch this space for more news!
Dan
Monday, 17 November 2008
SUBU is going green(er)
So here it finally is - a way to keep your elected officers in check. A way of holding the Students' Union accountable for the decisions they make and the opinions they voice on your behalf.
You have the right to know that we're actually representing you in the way you expected us to when you voted us in, so I congratulate Ads and Bryony for getting this blog thing off the ground.
I know that for my part, I made big promises when I ran for Exec, and you voted me in hoping that I'd deliver on the following issues;
- Raising the awareness of who SUBU are and what they do, and increase student involvement across all our campuses.
- Lobbying the people with the power to help improve the facilities you use, and to save energy by switching off lights and computers that are left on all night.
- Increasing international student involvement, and awareness of global opportunities.
- Representing your voice through improvement of the Rep system.
At this point I have to congratulate the sabbatical officers, Fred, Adelaide and Scott for having done so much of what I set out to do before I even set a foot through the door. Over the Summer, when they stepped into office, the three of them brought dozens of fresh ideas to the table, and as a result, tackled a lot of the big issues.
Scott championed a massively improved Student Rep system long before I returned from my summer holiday, and during Freshers' Fortnight SUBU launched the Front Door, the Week and the Word, massively increasing student awareness and involvement. Those of us elected in March spent as much time as we could spare over those two weeks helping students get settled in, and making sure that they knew where we could be found if they had any issues to raise, or wanted to get involved.
Now, for the first time in at least a couple of years, we have a full Exec committee, dedicated to making change for the better.
At the same time, the University has been preparing for the official launch of the Centre for Global Perspectives, and playing with a number of exciting initiatives to help increase international involvement.
It feels a bit like somebody has been trying to put me out of work!
So what have I been doing?
Well, at about the time when the bi-elections closed, I was presented with the opportunity to get stuck in on the one area nobody else seemed to be focussing on - the Environment. We don't have one "Environmental Officer," but a team of us is currently working on a new Environmental Awareness campaign that we plan to launch at the start of next term, and making sure we tick all the right boxes for the Bronze Sound* Environmental Impact Award.
Over the last fortnight, I've been designing some of the graphics for the campaign, created a traffic-light system to help us identify and tackle our negative environmental impacts, and put together the first draft of the new SUBU Environmental Policy. By the end of term, we'll have turned all of our red and amber lights green, and applied for the Bronze SEI Award.
You have the right to know that we're actually representing you in the way you expected us to when you voted us in, so I congratulate Ads and Bryony for getting this blog thing off the ground.
I know that for my part, I made big promises when I ran for Exec, and you voted me in hoping that I'd deliver on the following issues;
- Raising the awareness of who SUBU are and what they do, and increase student involvement across all our campuses.
- Lobbying the people with the power to help improve the facilities you use, and to save energy by switching off lights and computers that are left on all night.
- Increasing international student involvement, and awareness of global opportunities.
- Representing your voice through improvement of the Rep system.
At this point I have to congratulate the sabbatical officers, Fred, Adelaide and Scott for having done so much of what I set out to do before I even set a foot through the door. Over the Summer, when they stepped into office, the three of them brought dozens of fresh ideas to the table, and as a result, tackled a lot of the big issues.
Scott championed a massively improved Student Rep system long before I returned from my summer holiday, and during Freshers' Fortnight SUBU launched the Front Door, the Week and the Word, massively increasing student awareness and involvement. Those of us elected in March spent as much time as we could spare over those two weeks helping students get settled in, and making sure that they knew where we could be found if they had any issues to raise, or wanted to get involved.
Now, for the first time in at least a couple of years, we have a full Exec committee, dedicated to making change for the better.
At the same time, the University has been preparing for the official launch of the Centre for Global Perspectives, and playing with a number of exciting initiatives to help increase international involvement.
It feels a bit like somebody has been trying to put me out of work!
So what have I been doing?
Well, at about the time when the bi-elections closed, I was presented with the opportunity to get stuck in on the one area nobody else seemed to be focussing on - the Environment. We don't have one "Environmental Officer," but a team of us is currently working on a new Environmental Awareness campaign that we plan to launch at the start of next term, and making sure we tick all the right boxes for the Bronze Sound* Environmental Impact Award.
Over the last fortnight, I've been designing some of the graphics for the campaign, created a traffic-light system to help us identify and tackle our negative environmental impacts, and put together the first draft of the new SUBU Environmental Policy. By the end of term, we'll have turned all of our red and amber lights green, and applied for the Bronze SEI Award.
We've been co-operating in the preparations for the upcoming "Fairtrade Fortnight" and raised your concerns regarding Fairtrade in the SUBU shop, and we're continuing to lobby the institution on energy efficiency, and are working closely with the University's Energy and Environment Officers to encourage them to minimise the huge overnight power wastage in the Library, Weymouth House and Poole House.
All in all, I've been a pretty busy little bee, but I guess that's all for now.
I'll keep you posted on any progress!
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