Freshers Week 2010 announced

The Students’ Union has announced a fun packed week for 2010 Freshers including Seafront Festivals, Welcome Weekend Parties, Live Music, Parties on the Pier, Club Nights, Headline Acts, Barn Dances and much much more… making sure there is something for everyone to get involved in this Freshers.

The Students’ Union has also launched the Freshers Week gold ticket – a wristband that will get you into all the main Freshers events for only Read more

UK launches new sixty-second HIV test in Brighton

Superdrug has become one of the first in the country to offer HIV testing in one of their Brighton stores.
InstiTest, designed to provide a 99.69 percent accurate HIV reading within just 60 seconds, costs £79 and requires only a small  drop of an
individual’s blood to provide a result.
Over a quarter of people living with HIV in the UK don’t realise they have it and almost a third of people are diagnosed late, potentially putting their health at risk.
Increased testing for HIV is essential to improve these statistics and the Brighton and Hove area which has the second highest prevalence of HIV infection after London is a key area for HIV awareness and treatment initiatives.
A volunteer at the campus-based sexual, drug and alcohol advice service UNISEX said that the introduction of  instant HIV tests on the high street could act to “de-stigmatize testing by making it more widely available.”
Concerns have however been raised over the high price of the InstiTest which requires that a registered nurse be present in store to administer the test and to provide sexual health advice and possible referral to an NHS clinic where required.
Though stocking the InstiTest in Superdrug will act to make means of testing more widely available, existing services such as those offered by the Terrance Higgins Trust (THT) and the Claude Nicol Centre are already in place to offer HIV tests for free and in a confidential environment.
Despite this Jason Warriner, Clinical Director of THT said that “it’s vital that everyone who’s been at risk of HIV is diagnosed, so we welcome the move to offer HIV testing on the high street”.
He continued to say that “increasing testing options has an important role to play in managing and eventually reducing the HIV epidemic in the UK.”

Sussex staff set terms for first round of industrial strike action

The University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Sussex announced last week following an Emergency General Meeting that they will go on strike this Thursday 18 March, and again in the summer term. It was also decided that there will be a lobby of the university senate meeting on Wednesday 17.

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Management back-tracks over student suspensions

Last Wednesday 10 March, six students formerly suspended from the University of Sussex had their penalisations modified so as to permit them to continue with their academic studies.

Around 600 students rallied outside Sussex House last Thursday 11 March to protest against management’s decision to suspend six students following the previous week’s occupation. Photo: Sam Waterman

The students, dubbed ‘The Sussex Six’, were initially suspended on Friday 5 March by Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing. They each received a letter from the university stating they had been “positively identified” by the management as “leading participants” of the Stop the Cuts rally and occupation of Sussex House earlier that week. Read more

Gay-friendly Christian group will rate churches in Sussex

A newly established gay Christian group, Changing Attitude Sussex, is aiming to make churches in the local community more gay-friendly.

Changing Attitude claims they are: “Drawn by God’s love to work for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Anglican Communion.”

Last month, over 70 people attended the group’s first meeting, held at the Chapel Royal on North Street, Brighton. The meeting was addressed by the National Director of Changing Attitude, The Rev’d Colin Coward, who urged attendees to “challenge the hostility gay people face in some churches.”

The organisation describes itself as “dedicated to telling the truth about Christian teaching on homosexuality and to working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the church.”

The Sussex group is set to create a dossier entitled ‘Which Church?’ which will categorise churches in the area based on how gay-friendly they are. The brochure will divide local churches into categories ranging from ‘open and welcoming’ to ‘judgemental and rejecting’.

Provisional group convenor, Keith Sharpe, told the Badger: “Church leaders increasingly make overt homophobic statements which foster hatred and bigotry and demonise gay people. It is very damaging for gay people’s mental health to find themselves in a judgemental and rejecting church, and we hope that our ‘Which Church?’ dossier will give them the information they need to make an informed choice.”

The group has received hostile reviews from some church leaders, including the Bishop of Lewes, Wallace Benn.

Benn is the president of the Church of England Evangelical Council, a traditionalist group that is opposed to the ordination of gay bishops. In a recent letter, he wrote: “In classic Christian teaching, homosexual actions leave the actors facing God’s judgement without Christ’s mediating work. Teaching which encourages such behaviour is profoundly cruel, as it encourages people to sin.”

In 2008, Benn boycotted the Lambeth Conference in opposition to Archbishop Williams’ attempts to liberalise the church on sexual issues. However, in an online article he wrote: “Compassion and care are needed. Homosexual people should be warmly welcomed in our churches. God loves us, whatever our orientation”.

In 2003, Dr. Jeffrey John became the first openly gay man to be appointed a bishop. Dr. John, who was celibate at the time, later stood down so as not to divide the church.

The University of Sussex chaplain, The Rev’d Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden, commented: “There are a large number of gay people as well as Christians in Brighton, and a good many know each other and like each other as people.

Several of the Brighton churches are enthusiastically welcoming and protective of the gay community, including St Nicholas, the Anglican Parish Church of Brighton, and of course, the Metropolitan Community Church, which is made up mainly of LGBT Christians.”

Brighton is named UK’s ‘ghost capital’

Brighton and Hove has been named the UK’s ‘ghost capital’, according to a recent report published by the Argus.

Ghostly spirits are said to be roaming the narrow, cobbled streets of Brighton, including murder victims and drowned sailors from years gone by.

Organisers of the first ever World Horror Convention said Brighton will be the only UK venue due to its “high number of restless living dead.”

Leaders of the conference claim that sailors from the ship ‘The Nicholas’, which sunk off the city’s coastline in the 12th Century, can be seen out at sea in the dead of night, while the old brewer from the Black Lion in Black Lion Street, who was burnt at the stake in 1555, is still hanging around in the pub’s cellar.

More than 300 horror enthusiasts will be meeting at the Albion Hotel in Old Steine from Thursday 25 March until Sunday 28. Guests attending the convention will participate in a number of ‘ghost walks’ and will also hear readings from star authors.

The sold out convention has attracted aficionados from across the globe. The event is themed ‘Brighton Shock! – A Celebration of the European Horror Tradition from Victorian Times to the Present Day.’

Man charged over Elm Grove stabbing

A 40-year-old man appeared in court last week charged by police with the murder of Brighton resident Gordon Stalker, a founder of the Lewes Road Community Garden.

Stalker, 51, was found bleeding in the hallway of his shared house in Elm Grove on the morning of Monday 15 February. Post mortem results found he died as a result of multiple stab wounds to his chest and side.

The accused, Stephen Dunne, of Chates Farm Court, Brighton, was remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing takes place at Lewes Crown Court.

It is understood that Dunne fled from the scene of the crime to Dover, but then headed to London where he gave himself up to the police. The motive for the crime is unclear.

Mr Stalker, who was well known in the local community, was described by Marina Pepper, a fellow organiser at the community garden, as a “community pillar.” A gathering was held at the garden on Sunday the 21 February to mourn Gordon’s passing.

The Lewes Road Community Garden was set up in May 2009 on a small patch of derelict land next to the Lewes Road Co-Operative Grocer. About 100 local residents participated in its initial establishment, but over the past year the garden has been widely used by the local community.

The garden recently came under threat from attempts by build a TESCO on the land, resulting in the “Say NO to TESCO on Lewes Road” campaign, which Gordon was also closely involved with.

Elm Grove, notorious for its steep hill, is a popular student area. Julia Welham, a third year English student at Brighton University who lives on Elm Grove, described the killing as “so strange.”

“The weirdest thing about it for me is that he was killed in broad daylight,” she said.

“I don’t really feel any less safe around Brighton because of it, though. I’m just desperately sad for the guy. The garden is really nice and he seemed like a lovely person who was really involved in the local community.”

UCU proceeds with ballot for strike action

The University and College Union (UCU) has formally initiated ballot proceedings to determine whether academic staff should strike in response to higher education funding cuts and looming job losses.

The outcome of the ballot will govern whether students’ lectures, seminars and workshops will be disrupted. The trade union for academic staff has 550 members at the University of Sussex.

The call to vote on strike action comes after UCU members voted in favour of industrial action at Leeds University earlier this month, where up to 700 members of staff face the risk of redundancy. Academic staff at Leeds are to hold three one-day strikes on the 25 February and the 2 and 4 March.

UCU Branch President at the University of Sussex, Paul Cecil, told the Badger that UCU “will continue in talks with the management in an effort to remove the current threat to jobs and avert any industrial action.

“We have to be clear though that the University plans threaten nearly 10% of academic posts plus many support posts, and we simply do not accept that the current excellent education that our colleagues provide can be sustained under such conditions. We note for instance that cuts in options for next year have already been notified to students in some at risk areas. Our plans address these key concerns of students, which is why it is so important that we reach agreement on an alternative to the draconian cuts that are currently proposed.”

The university has issued the following statement to the Badger: “The University has consulted, and is continuing to consult, with each of the three recognised trades unions – UCU, Unison and Unite – on the proposal for change, and that includes consultation with a view to reaching agreement on ways and means of avoiding the proposed redundancies, reducing their number and mitigating their impact.

“By making strategic changes, however difficult this may be, the University will be better placed to achieve a sustainable future in what are – and will continue to be for some time to come – very challenging times for higher education.”

Brighton binmen on strike

Unisex axed

The University of Sussex sexual advice service, Unisex, is to be closed down as part of the University’s scheme to save money.

Unisex, which currently costs the University around £40,000 a year, offers a number of services to students, including free contraception, advice on how to deal with problems such as unwanted pregnancy, and Chlamydia testing.
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