Blog
UGM reports and some Cooking bus excitement...
If you scroll down one blog you'll see the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago and updated a couple of times just now...hopefully it isn't too confusing but it gives you a slightly more in depth idea of what I was up to!
Getting back to this blog post, its just a short one to cover two things...the successful GRUB CLUB campaign....an incoming DRINK SPIKING campaign (with a bit of sensible drinking thrown in) and an update on some general things I've been up to since the last UGM and the things I'm looking forward to coming up to the next one!
So first of all the grub club campaign....it was a fantastic campaign, and we had a horde of us going down to halifax to get some budget cooking and buying skills from the famous cooking bus...and a load more of you picked up grub club packs! We even got into the times higher education supplment here . One thing that I would say is that I've got a few packs left (probably 20/30) so if anyone would like to pick one up just pop into the student centre and ask at reception and we'll give you a pack! For anyone who has done a come dine with me style event with a grub club pack please email me (b.humphrys@yusu.org...I'll work out THAT piece of coding for next time) with pictures of the event and I'll send them off and see if we can get you to win the infamous grub club blankets!! (one of which fortunately saved me from a seriously cold morning in UEA over the summer waiting for their student centre to open...part of my research drive to make the Advice and Support Centre just as good as it is....) We didn't get to do the cooking competition in house unfortunately because of some Health and safety worries...but we're looking to bringing it back next term so keep your eyes peeled!
In terms of campaigns coming up we're mixing a drink spiking campaign (lots of spikeys and, if the company replies to the email, possibly even a visit from SPIKEY the hedgehog with a beat the hangover campaign...getting some soft drinks in between the VKs/trebles/etc to make the morning after slightly more bearable! There'll be all kinds of gimmicks, cards and bits and pieces around college and YUSU events over the next few weeks!
That's all for campaigns for this term...so all I have to report is the stuff I've been doing with the UGM! I submitted three "I have worked on this term"'s to the UGM - a health sciences periodic review, the mental health campaign group and some structural issues!
The health sciences periodic review: A fantastic opportunity to work with a relatively young department that’s amde massive strides over the last few years, bringing together an incredibly diverse, dedicated and engaged student body to study a range of qualification types that really test their skills. We worked with the department to identify areas where there could be improvement, and I’m really pleased to have been given a commitment to develop their course rep structure in the next year.
Campaigning groups I founded the first of YUSU welfare’s main campaigning groups – the mental health campaiugn group ahve formed a strategy to campaign all the way through next term to help every year through the stresses that final term brings! Look out for “mind your head” everywhere around campus, as well as the emerging drink safe campaign, the established housing campaign with clear and effective checklists and a successful find a housemate event and a food orientated campaign in conjunction with the University that saw loads of students across the colleges using the cooking bus to learn new culinary skills and then going into their colleges to teach their housemates what they learned!
structural issues I’ve been really focusing on some structural issues towards the end of the term: how we represent international students in the union, the focus we have on mature students and student parents – attending a meeting with loads of student parents to begin the rejuvenation of a student families association this year in York.
There are also some key things I'm really looking forward to working on over the next few weeks, easter and early next term!
Colleges, Second/Third Years and the Union: Focus on how colleges and the students Union support second and third years at University – I’m going to be working on a report for one of the Uni committees (possibly in tandem with another going to University senate next term) on how we can support you better – there’ll be a lot of consultation to find the best way of getting it done!
The health centre Develop our scrutiny of the health centre: I’m really pleased to have managed to get the students union and students in general on the patients panel for the first term next year. I’m going to be pushing out a survey and then holding focus groups to identify the main areas where the health centre is falling short and bringing a report to the centre: that way when they come to their first panel next year we’ll have seen real change (or will want to know why we haven’t!)
Private sector accomodation I’m going to make a real push to review our housing campaign, its strengths and weaknesses from this year. Alongside that i’ll be reviewing how we publicise private sector accommodation in York, working towards a manifesto pledge to improve the system: I’m looking into the possibilities of getting unipol onboard to accredit all of the accommodation in York, getting York to sign p to the national landlord survey and then working with new websites to get rate your landlord facilities online.
That's it for now!! Hopefully I'll have a (positive) update on how all these things are going come mid way through the easter break! As always, any suggestions, thoughts, criticisms, praise, or if you want to get involved just drop me an email at b.humphrys@yusu.org
