'Fools Rush In' - Students queue in the cold, desperate for accommodation (photo credit: Aberystwyth University Lib Dems)

Despite pleas from the Guild for students to remain calm and make informed decisions on accommodation, in a campaign they term ‘Fools Rush In’; students were today seen queuing outside Alexanders Estate Agents in the cold – some from as early as 6am – desperate to get a room for next year from the newly released student property list.

Today’s scenes comes just months after the university was forced to put bunk-beds into single rooms, and ask non-UK European students to defer entry, in a bid to make enough room available for incoming undergraduates who arrived this September.

It’s nothing new that there’s a crisis in the accommodation sector in Aberystwyth. Every year since 2007, students have been left out in the cold, and every year the University says it’s resolved the issue, only for the problem to inevitably arise again due to lack of real action coupled with rising admissions. In 2008, 56 students were left in hotels; whilst in 2010 83 had no accommodation and several dropped out as a result. This academic year, 600 students ended up in bunk-beds, whilst international students were told to stay away.

The crisis has meant many students have felt the pressure to sign onto private property for second year just a few months into their first semester, leaving them paying extortionate rents for housing that often fails to meet quality and lacking proper licensing.

With a seeming lack of real action from the University, the Union, or private landlords, is it time for students to step up to the plate and get involved in the Council, to ensure better regulation, and student housing provision? Or maybe the Union should revisit the idea of a student letting agency or housing co-operative. One thing’s for certain, for yet another year, the welfare of students has been sidelined in favour of private sector profit.

Despite pleas from the Guild for students to remain calm and make informed decisions on accommodation, in a campaign they term ‘Fools Rush In’; students were today seen queuing outside...

I want Aber Guild of Students to be a successful, purposeful union, I really do. That’s why I get so mad when the Union handles things as badly as it has handled the supposed elections for Student Trustees and NUSW Winter Council Delegates.

Firstly, at a time when it is crucial that we engage students in the Union, the Union failed to adequately advertise the opening of nominations, or to clearly explain the election process or the roles of trustees prior to the closure of nominations.

Secondly, when voting was opened, it was observed that no elections were being held for NUSW Winter Council Delegate positions. The Guild says this is because 4 candidates stood for 4 seats, so all were elected. This is not how elections should work. In such a case, students should have been able to vote for these candidates, or RON, as in any other election. As of publication, it is still not known who the 4 “elected” delegates are, and it is insane that the Guild thinks students should just accept 4 people to represent them without knowing who they are or what they represent, and without giving student the opportunity to reject or approve those candidates.

Thirdly, it was observed by several students that RON was absent from the voting that did go ahead. In response to this, the Guild, without any announcement, added RON to the list of candidates, in the middle of the election: Without voiding prior results or rerunning the election. This alone undermines the integrity of these elections to the very core.

I find it hard enough to have confidence in individual staff and officers of the Guild as it is, but this year I’m increasingly finding it hard to have confidence in the institution as a whole. The Guild is rotten due to unaccountable staff, and people refusing to take the blame or responsibility when things don’t go how they should.  Without radical reform to introduce real accountability, real democracy, real transparency, the Union has no chance of surviving, regardless of any short term political or financial fix.

As an undergraduate, I can only refuse to acknowledge the result of these “elections” due to the entirely unsound manner in which they’ve been conducted. I call on those responsible for the running of these elections to declare them void and rerun them with proper regard to the democratic processes we expect, and require of a students union.

Update 21:14 10/11/11: I have received a response from Geraint Edwards, the responsible staff member:

“Having discussed the issue with the Returning Officer, Ann North of NUS Wales, she is content that the integrity of the student trustee elections have not been significantly affected by the ommission of the Re-Open Nominations options for the first part of voting. I have therefore informed the candidates of the elections result and will be updating the website accordingly tomorrow morning. “

Once again I find myself disappointed, yet entirely unsurprised at the actions of the Union that is supposed to represent me.

Update 13:52 11/11/11: Students have now been informed that contrary to  the above statement, the elections have now been declared void.

“The Elections Returning Officer, Ann North, has decided that due to Re-Open Nominations not being included from the outset in yesterday’s elections that the results are to be voided and the election re-run on Tuesday 15^th November 2011 between 8:00am and 7:00pm.”

I welcome this move from Ann North to declare the elections void as a vital win for accountability and for regard for democratic processes. In holding the Union to account as students have done in the past 24 hours, we can help ensure that in the future the Guild is operated to the high standards which we expect without incidents such as this.

I want Aber Guild of Students to be a successful, purposeful union, I really do. That’s why I get so mad when the Union handles things as badly as it...

Banner: Defend Education / Amyddiffyn Addysg

On the eve of the NCAFC’s National Demonstration against the marketisation of education, Aberystwyth University Guild of Students held its first General Meeting of the year, where a record number of people attended due to new rules in place regarding society attendance.

During the General Meeting, several motions were debated on a range of issues, including opposition to starbucks in the union (fell 97-102), the student accommodation crisis, and more.

At the General Meeting, students passed a vote of no confidence in the Minister for Universities & Science, David Willetts. The motion also condemns Leighton Andrews, the Minister for Education & Skills in the Welsh Assembly, who is responsible for Higher Education policy in Wales. In doing so students have sent a clear message to Westminster, and to Cardiff: You’re wrong on tuition fees, you’re wrong on funding cuts, and you’re wrong on mergers.

Students also passed a motion supporting a walk out on November 30th to join the local demonstration organised by trade unions and the local anti-cuts groups: Ceredigion Against The Cuts, and Aber Radical Forum.

[1] Full text of motion of no confidence in minister for universities & science

http://nov9.strikenow.org.uk/

On the eve of the NCAFC’s National Demonstration against the marketisation of education, Aberystwyth University Guild of Students held its first General Meeting of the year, where a record number...

This summer, an event was posted to facebook titled “the only aber fresh moving in party”, having previously been named other things including “Aber Freshers 2011″. The event page encourages students to buy a £9 ticket to enable them to collect an “official”  t-shirt on the date of the event. which will allegedly allow access to special promotional deals within venues. The event, organised by Aber Fresh Ltd, of Pembrokeshire, claims to be an official event, as well as one run by students.

Similar claims are made by Bangor Fresh Ltd, also of Pembrokeshire. This should not come as a surprise, as both are registered to the same address, and use the exact same branding. Both companies were registered with Companies House this July, alongside a separate company, “Top Banana Entertainment Ltd” (trading as “Top Banana Students” and “Top Banana DJ service and promotions”). Top Banana seems to be the de-facto parent company of Aber Fresh Ltd and Bangor Fresh Ltd.

Despite claiming to be both official, and organised by students at Aberystwyth / Bangor, the event has nothing to do with the respective universities, unions, or student societies, and beyond a referral and volunteer “helper” scheme, seems to have no involvement from current students, with the man behind these companies being, I understand, a Mr James Kershaw of Pembrokeshire. Mr Kershaw identifies himself as Director of Top Banana, as well as Manager of the unrelated “Top Notch Garden Services”, an unregistered organisation providing ground care services in Pembrokeshire.

In challenging the claims made by these companies, I posted the information identifying the 3 companies, and Mr Kershaw, and stated that this meant that any claims that the events are run by aber students were “fabrications”, to the facebook event page, as well as a page operated by the University that advised caution with regard this event. This resulted in Mr Kershaw stating “you’re a dick head.”, before deleting the comments posted to the event page. I am also informed that in a separate comment they claimed I was “jealous” and had “already bought a t-shirt”, more false claims there. I can also disclose that on Tuesday 23rd August, a person claiming to represent these companies made repeated phone calls to a member of staff at Aberystwyth University, threatening unspecified court action against said member of staff unless all comments regarding the company and its event were removed. This despite the information being in the public domain and indeed partially available from the event page itself.

The actions of Aber Fresh Ltd, and Top Banana Entertainment Ltd, suggest that these are companies seeking to profiteer from students, and who are not above intimidatory conduct to try to cover up anything that may jeopardise their profits. I ask that all universities, student unions, and pubs in Wales be aware of the actions of these companies, and to take reasonable precautions to protect the safety and well-being of students and staff members.

Update: following the publicising of this article on facebook, James Kershaw informs me he intends to commence legal proceedings against me. I welcome the move if true, as it shall provide opportunity to expose the facts in court.

This summer, an event was posted to facebook titled “the only aber fresh moving in party”, having previously been named other things including “Aber Freshers 2011″. The event page encourages...

On June 4th, the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts held a ‘Reinvigoration Conference’ at Birmingham University. I was in attendance alongside around 90 other people. The aim of reigniting the group was sidelined swiftly as the day descended into a successful attempt to force through a steering committee proposal in such a hideously biased and directed way that makes Parliament’s wash-up period stand as a paragon of debate and accountability by comparison.

The major issue of the day was a vote on a proposal for a committee against a proposal for retaining open steering meetings. The fact that only the committee proposal was presented beforehand, with the opportunity for amendments, meant that conference was from the start directed towards the committee as the only acceptable option by those responsible for organising conference. Many took issue with the fact amendments could not be submitted from the floor at the time, presumably due to the imbalance and issues it caused.

At the time, I also voiced my concerns over the democratic integrity of elections to the committee itself. Firstly, the NCAFC has in place no democratic procedures or guidelines for carrying out independent electoral oversight, meaning the election was handled on an ad-hoc basis by non-independent persons, who only declared affiliations upon my request. This issue could have been avoided had proper democratic procedures been considered. We should not have elected at conference, simple as. We should have began an open nominations and campaigning period over the summer, allowing for valid elections by early autumn. This would have given the campaign time to set into place strong and acceptable rules with regards to procedure. It was on this basis that I ran for committee – the committee elected that day would have no legitimate mandate over the NCAFC and so should be transitional and serve only to set in place the ability for a real committee to exist.

Earlier this week it emerged that one of the persons elected to the new committee, Claire Locke (London Met SU President-Elect), was nominated and elected without her knowledge. That this could happen just goes to show the massive issue of democratic integrity with regards to the committee elections. Today she has announced her intention to resign from the committee, citing “deep concerns over what is going on here in terms of process, outcome and future implications.”, and a fear of sectarianism damaging the wider student movement as well as potentially destroying the NCAFC itself.

In an open letter, several key members of the NCAFC expressed their ‘grave concerns’ over what had occurred, branding the committee as “exclusive and a step backwards from the broad and united student movement that Ncafc has been at the forefront of trying to develop through initiatives like the Student and Education Assemblies.” This letter was twice published on the NCAFC website, only to be deleted both times; which raises further concerns about how the NCAFC is being manipulated and controlled by certain individuals who seek to stifle debate and discussion of real issues.

If the new committee does not act swiftly to address the democratic deficit and rectify the situation as soon as possible, it is likely we will see the group disintegrate and fragment, inflaming tensions between far-left parties, when we really need to be working together as we prepare for thousands to take the streets on June 30th in solidarity with striking unions. I call upon the committee to draw up a provisional constitution for the body of NCAFC, including proper democratic procedures including independently appointed persons to serve as a DPC of sorts, and to then hold a new conference in August to vote to ratify this constitution, as well as to hold proper and just elections to a new committee.

On June 4th, the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts held a ‘Reinvigoration Conference’ at Birmingham University. I was in attendance alongside around 90 other people. The aim of reigniting...