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Exeposé
Monday October 11 2010 Issue 569 www.exepose.com
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Photo: Henry White
‘Campaign Army’ Charlie Marchant News Editor
Students queue to withdraw cash for the Activites Fair.
£36 000 increase in sign-up takings
Charlie Marchant News Editor
THE University of Exeter’s Activities Fair (formerly called the Squash) saw thousands of students on the Streatham campus sign up for societies, media and sports. In total, students spent £125 740 on signing up to societies (not including the Athletics Union clubs), a massive amount compared to only £90 000 in 2009. The Athletics Union had in excess of 8000 people through the doors at the Activities fair signing up for sports, with snow sports
being amongst the most popular again.
Takings from sign-ups:
2009 - £90 000 2010 - £125 740
Josh Belsher, Athletics Union President, said, “The Activities Fair was absolutely incredible, there was an amazing atmosphere. The clubs were all well represented and unofficially we think we have smashed all AU records.” Community Action signed up 1322 new volunteers (slightly less than last year) and International
society gained a total of 700 new members. Body Soc received 500 sign-ups totalling £7 500, far more than they had expected. Lisa Harbron, Body Soc Social Secretary, expressed concerns about whether the university would be able to accommodate their classes, saying, “With so many members we’ve not been able to fit them all in the rooms that we are allocated by the university and have had to turn people away. The volume of members is quite a concern because of this, though it’s amazing to have so many enthusiastic people wanting to join us.”
Students encountered further problems on the day as many experienced difficulties in finding the societies they were looking for. This was due to societies being located in six different locations across the campus, as well as bad sign-posting and confusing access routes. Furthermore, the two Natwest cash point queues backed up along the nearby paths and took up to 40 minutes during the early afternoon. Rachel Mulvany, a second year English and Law student, said, “The queue was really frustrating and I was worried that the cash points were going to run out of money.”
THE GUILD’S campaign against university funding cuts will culminate at the national demonstration in London on November 10. The Guild will be holding a launch presentation on October 11 to recruit a ‘Campaign Army.’ This will be a group of volunteers who will dedicate time to assisting the Guild run it’s campaigns. This is the first part of the national campaign called ‘Fund the Future: Stop Education Cuts.’ The campaign intends to promote the belief that education will be key to economic recovery and to protest against increasing privatisation of education. Unions across the country will take thousands of students to the November demonstration, which is organised by the University and College Union (the Union for University Staff and Academics). 42.8% of Exeter students are privately educated compared with only 7% nationally. Jonnie Beddall, Guild President, commented, “Exeter cannot let itself become more elitist – but cuts will make it so. We’ll pay for as many coaches as we need to bus Exeter students up to London and back.“ A second year English student, said, “I think it is important for students to demonstrate their opposition to univeristy funding cuts.” The Guild further plans to hold a debate with Steve Smith, the Vice Chancellor; Aaron Porter, NUS President and leading politicians. See p 5 for Jonnie Beddall’s comment