BNP have ‘no confidence’ union president

USSU push for National Student Survey boycott

The University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) has urged all final year undergraduates to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS) in protest of the proposed cuts to jobs, courses and services at the university.
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Brighton and Sussex students row over no.25 bus

Facebook has become the site of a battle between Sussex & Brighton students. The weapon of choice for both sides appears to the 25 bus; which has long been a lifeline for both universities. The original group ridicules Sussex campus and accuses its students of pomposity: as can be seen its self-descriptive statement “We have all endured their snooty attitudes and ridiculous attempts at retaliation to our chants so I say the time has come to take a stand”.

The petition was soon met with a near identical opposite; which not only uses the same picture of the 25, but copies the above text verbatim. Despite some extremely colourful language: it remains difficult to tell if these “petitions” contain any real malice, or if the whole thing is a bit of harmless banter.

David Cameron’s face is butt of the joke

A group which mocks the Conservative Party’s £500,000 poster campaign has received massive popularity online receiving 90,000 visitors in the first two weeks. The Conservative Party have kicked off a much anticipated election season with their campaign poster which bears the slogan ‘We can’t go on like this. We’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS.’ However, groups have been quick to hijack the highly airbrushed image.
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Oxford University bans Spotify

Oxford University sparked controversy recently when they banned all their campus students from using the popular music-sharing website Spotify, citing the network-slowing bandwidth of the site as the main reason for the decision.

It is believed that during times of high demand, excessive downloading levels are slowing down the general connection, inconveniencing in particular students using the net for academic purposes. A spokesman for the university defended the decision, saying: “If they want to use it recreationally as well that’s no problem unless it uses so much bandwidth that it slows the network down”. 

Since its inception in late 2008, Spotify has grown massively as a free and legal music download site, with students making up a large proportion of their business. Many Oxford students have felt that the university’s computing services, which gave no prior warning of the ban, have let them down, with many also arguing that Spotify is beneficial to their studies, and thus contradicts the university’s reasons for the ban.

Pillow fight breaks out in Library Square

The University of Sussex’s Library Square turned into a fluffy battlefield last Monday afternoon as a 40-person pillow fight took place in aid of RAG week.

At 2pm, a whistle was the signal for people from all corners of the square to suddenly produce pillows and sprint into the centre for a minute of cushiony chaos, eagerly watched by passers-by.
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A rejection of the claims levelled against the campaign to boycott Israeli goods.

Towards the end of last term and throughout the winter holidays, a certain group has made their views clear regarding the referendum proposing to boycott Israeli goods on campus. The consensus among them can be situated within three categorical generalisations: Firstly, the supposed anti-Semitism implied by the boycott; the threat such actions entail to individual freedom; and finally to rerun the referendum, as they feel the first one was not ‘democratic’ enough. Of course, they have many other positions, but at least from my perspective, these are the three fundamental points which kept returning in their discourse. I shall look at each of these points concisely: Read more

Section 28: seven years on

This LGBT History Month marks the seventh anniversary of the abolition of Section 28, which prohibited schools from discussing LGBT issues. This denotes a stark contrast to the climate today, whereby LGBT people are more equally regarded than ever. Not only are civil partnerships now in place, last year a Christian registrar lost her appeal against a ruling which saw her disciplined for refusing to conduct same-sex ceremonies. Most recently, Parliament has introduced laws to criminalise speech that incites hatred and violence on the basis of sexuality.
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Vote for Charlotte, not Charlatans

Let me begin by saying how the recent MP expenses scandal shocked and outraged us all – and rightly so. However, this does not justify judging Charlotte Vere, Conservative candidate for Brighton Pavilion, for the crimes of others. It certainly does not justify abandoning all sensible views and giving support to extremist fringe groups.

I have met Charlotte a few times now, and she is that rare thing in politics – someone who is not only witty, charming and compassionate, but also a real person. What I mean is that, unlike many politicians, she has extensive experience in the private, public and voluntary sectors. She does not live in an ivory tower, she lives in the real world, and can draw on this experience to bring about real, tangible change.

For example, she was CEO of an online mental health group called Big White Wall – Brighton has a serious homelessness problem, and this problem is inextricably linked to mental health. She is desperate to use her expertise to start reversing the damage that 13 years of Labour mismanagement has caused. Read more

Brighton and Hove boasts gay-friendly employers

The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) rights advocacy group, Stonewall, released its yearly Workplace Equality Index earlier this month showing Brighton and Hove City Council in the top five on its list of GLBT-friendly employers.

The Council has a module in its diversity training about the experiences of GLBT persons in the workplace. Joining the Council in the list of top employers are East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police, and East Sussex Fire and Rescue service.

The University of Sussex has not done so well, nor have other educational institutions. Stonewall’s report states that universities and housing organisations are the employment sectors with the lowest scores.

The University of Sussex Student Union (USSU) Welfare Officer Ciaran Whitehead offered up a possible explanation for the university’s absence from the list: “The Equality and Diversity Committee used to meet three times a year. However, in June, the Chair (Deputy Vice Chancellor Paul Layzell) decided that the number of committee meetings would be reduced to two per year. The reasoning behind this was that the committee would still be able to complete its policy work with fewer meetings. Most of the members do not appear to really be passionate about it. It’s a shame that, being so close to Brighton, we really don’t seem to celebrate and promote equality and diversity at Sussex.”

In addition to the committee, there is an equality and diversity forum with more representatives from the Union and university staff, which meets three times a year, although it does not have the power to determine policy. The forum serves only in an advisory capacity. It is difficult to determine just what the E&D committee has discussed in its recent meetings. The minutes from the meetings are supposed to appear on the committee’s Sussex website, but as of the writing of this article, the most recent set of minutes available was from February of 2008.