Courier 1364

Page 1

thecourier

Monday 19 February 2018 Issue 1364 Free

thecourieronline.co.uk

Fashion The Grammys are upon us, but will they affect the high street? Page 8

Science Norway shows Britain how to properly recycle Page 31

Puzzles Joey has a proposition for you, but are you up to the challenge? Page 33

BNOC launches The independent voice of Newcastle students

"Best Neighbours On Campus" to be rewarded £1,000 for the winners of the monthly award The scheme is set to start in March 2018 Esther Michel-Spraggett After a year of collaboration and preparation with the city council and local communities, the University and the Students’ Union presents a new student competition to find the Best Neighbour on Campus. The project, launched on Monday 5 February, aims to reward students who have been active members of their community and respectful neighbours. "Students get a bad press because of the loud parties, the noise, or the litter and what this competition is about is actually showing that the majority of students are really decent people", said Marc Lintern, Careers Service Director. A diverse judging panel, including residents, council representatives and Nick Brown, in order to determine the winners of the title and prize, will assess each month, nominated student households. The Best Neighbour on Campus will receive up to £1,000 worth of contribution to living costs. The winning household will be able to choose whether the prize should be a contribution to rent, utility bills or food, excluding alcohol and tobacco. The prize is a real incen-

tive for students to make an effort to get to know their neighbours and live in consideration of them. To be eligible, households must be nominated by local residents with case studies of good work and consideration. Activities range from community volunteering to helping out a neighbour with small tasks to simply being considerate. For example, if a house party is planned, giving neighbours a few days’ notice and managing the volume of the music after a certain time is respectful. The Students’ Union GoVolunteer programme will be able to suggest local projects for students to get involved with.

“Students get a bad press because of the loud parties, the noise, or the litter, and what this competition is about is actually showing that the majority of students are really decent people" Marc Lintern, Careers Service Director

“Any residential area where our students are living can be involved” Students do not have to be living in a popular student area such as Jesmond to be included. Any Newcastle University student household can be nominated. The initiative also appreciates that student households neighbour each other

so residents could live across the street from active students. Newcastle University stated that the aims of the campaign were to: ‘It will promote among residents the many good things which students are doing, which residents often don’t know about’ to encourage students to ‘think about things which could improve the relationship which they have with their neighbours’ and to ‘have an opportunity to meet with residents and other members of the judging panel, and discuss how things are going.’ Ultimately they aim is to remind students of social responsibility and to “build on some bridges”, improving relationships between students and local residents. As representatives of the university in local areas, students have a chance to demonstrate respect and belonging to communities, and the scheme not only encourages but provides opportunity to do this. Ronnie Reid, President of Newcastle University Student Union commented: I do hope that BNOC will be a great success, and illuminate much of the great work that students do when going above and beyond in the local community. Often students get a bad wrap in Jesmond and across the city, but with a 16% decrease in anti-social behaviour, things are certainly moving in the right direction. The awards will run from February through to May and depending on the success of the initiative, awards will start again the following academic year. Each winning household of this year will be invited to the Pride of Newcastle Awards Ceremony held at the Civic Centre on 7 June.

Vice-Chancellor hosts strike open forum Isabel Sykes News Editor On Friday afternoon, the Vice-Chancellor Chris Day held an open-forum discussion about the strike action expected to begin on Thursday 22 February. The session began at 3:30pm in the Herschel building and was well attended. As people entered, students were stood outside the lecture hall handing out UCU leaflets and other material supporting the strike. At the start of the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor made it clear that the session would be filmed and recorded for ReCap for all students who were unable to attend. The Vice-Chancellor Chris Day began by expressing how difficult the current

situation was for all involved. He outlined his view of the economic origins of the issue and explained the university’s position on the matter. This was chiefly that a decision had been made that universities could not afford the contributions the UCU were suggesting, and that they are not sure more money would solve the problem. Day then raised the issue of the impact of the strike dispute on students, saying: “If I’m sitting in your shoes, the questions are: what effect is this going to have on me?” He then opened the session up to questions from the audience, which lasted just over an hour. To begin with, one student stood up and spoke passionately against the University’s stance on the strikes, defending the lecturers’

position, which received applause from the audience. This was followed by a brief but quite heated exchange between the student and Day, before another audience member turned the discussion specifically onto the potential impact of the strikes on students. Many students expressed fervent concerns over how the strikes would personally affect their work and asked how the university planned to deal with this, with some calling specifically for financial compensation. Consistently, the response was that it was difficult to plan, but that the University would endeavour to ensure the impact on students’ degree experience was minimal. Day said: “I believe that common sense on both sides will prevail in the end.”

Est 1948 Image: Leo Ma

Birthday celebrations: The Angel of the North turns twenty Arts Online Inside today >>>

St Mary's bus route revived

PTO Resignation

Following Ronnie Reid's motion, Newcastle University will trial a free bus from St Mary's College News, page 5

Former Marginalised Genders Officer Emily Sherwood's resignation statement is published in its entirety Student Voice page 10

Shadow of the Colossus

Nipple censorship

The PS2 favourite returns to the gaming scene with a stunning PS4 remaster Gaming page 28

The female body is at the centre of attention after Manchester Art Gallery removed a revealing painting Arts, page 27


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.