PEOPLE &PlANET: YOUR GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH THROUGHOUT THE ISSUE ISSUE NUMBER: / J5 ISSUE DATE:
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CONCRETE REFERENCE ARCHIVE
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UEA'S AWARD-NOMINATED STUDENT NEWSPAPER
RED NOSES THROUGH TIME Centre Spread
MARVIN GETS RE-MADE
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UNION PLANS TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY
THE FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT AT UEA IN
2005 Sarah Smith
Clare Bull
Most people know a bit about Fairtrade products and what U1e aim of the various fairtrade organisations is. However to raise further awareness about just what fairtrade products and organisations are out there every year there is Fairtrade fortnight. Various events have been organised this year by SEED and have bee n very popular. Events kicked off on March I st with the debate society holding a discussion on fainracle and whether people were in favour of it. In a h and ups vote more people were in favour of fairtrade by the end of the session than were at the beginning. Many questions from the f1oor were directed at and challenging the opposition. A Fairtracle LCR on Thursday also proved a successful evening. Fairlrade Fair Trade Events See page 10
2005 is the year of the 'Make poverty history campaign·. Endorsed by many celebrities . charities and faith groups. and with the university promoting a campaign from the 14th of March. UEA is set to contribute substantially in the coming weeks. with Publicity Officer Rowe na Boclclington and Welfare Officer Jo Wright heading the campaign. The campaign's mani festo highlights the fact that blame for world poverty can be attributed to three fac tors: 'injustice in global trade: the huge burden of debt: insufficient and ineffective aiel'. The campaign ers feel that joining all these issues together will aiel people's understanding of the depth of the problem. and this raised level of awa re ness shou ld 'kick' people UEA's plans for MPH See page 2
GOVERNANCE BECOMES POLnECHNICAL FOR UEA 'SENATE' Philip Benjamin Wednesday 2'"1 March saw the final round in the move to a managerial University as the senate voted against an amendment to Ule proposed changes. The ame ndment would have given all schools
a proportionate. and elected. presence on senate and were designed to change an approach to gove rnance that ha s in the past been labe lled "undemocratic". "medieval" and "insane". Dr. Ruperl Read. Senior Lecturer in PHI and AUT rep who proposed the amendments has said of the decisions 'This is a sad moment
in the history of UEA. and of British Universities in general. Senate has discarded the legacy of hundreds of years of democratic academic gove i·nance procedures in Universities in thi s country. in favour of an untested topdown ersatz replacement. As I and many others have warned from the start: We have now adopted gover-
nanc e procedures • that resemble closely those of polytechnics. That is a shameful abdication of the proud traditions of the University." Academic Officer. Chris Ostrowski. was concerened over the move. but remained positive. "I was pleased to see how many academics were prepared to speak up
against the proposals to streamline senate. I think the university executive defi nitely saw how some mem bers of staff felt a lienated by what had been going on during the restructuring process ." · A second amendment was not voted on as it was agreed that the process of nomination would be re-
draft ed. This was partly because senate felt Ulat 12 academics were too few. A vote to increase the number of academics from 12 to 16 was carried by majority. "It 's good that senators demanded an increase from 12 academics to 24. lt 's a shame they won 't be proper representatives .·· Mr. Ostrowski concluded.