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Societies: National Red Cross meeting in Cardiff SU P26>> gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff ’s student weekly Issue 1084 Monday 24th October 2016 By-election voting period extended due to ballot error
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Source: CUTV
Concerns rise over management of Juice and YOLO EXCLUSIVE Toby Holloway
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ardiff Students’ Union have come under criticism over the competence of their staff when dealing with incidents at their Wednesday and Saturday nights, YOLO and Juice. Reports of fights breaking out, girls in the boys’ toilets and students being attacked in the middle of the dance floor have led to a growing concern that SU staff are currently failing to adequately control and supervise their events. As well as the incidents mentioned above, the state of the toilets, which were flooded, crowded and unsanitary throughout Wednesday night’s YOLO, exacerbated the effects of an already full-to-capacity SU. Speaking of their experiences in YOLO on Wednesday, one third year CPLAN
student, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It was like a sauna throughout the whole club. The only escape from the heat was to go to the smoking area, where I saw someone urinating through the railings because the toilets were flooded with about an inch of piss which was then being transferred to the rest of the club.” They then added: “It was ridiculous really.” These conditions suggest that not only was the Students’ Union so full that the atmosphere became uncomfortably hot, but that the toilets could not cope with the volume of students using them over the course of the night. Bouncers also seemed to have their work cut out when it came to who was using the toilets. One second year student said: “The toilets were so annoying last night, there were like 20 odd girls in the men’s.” As well as the events of Wednesday
night, last Saturday’s Juice brought reports of an alarming incident which occurred in the middle of the dance floor in the main room. One student, who requested to remain anonymous, was hit round the back of the head then attacked by a number of men. Despite receiving multiple injuries to the face, and the attack taking place in plain view of SU staff, nothing was done in the aftermath of the incident. Speaking to Gair Rhydd, the student said: “[The bouncers] literally did nothing and it was the middle of the dance floor.” I got hit behind the head then I turned around then they all piled in...didn’t see a bouncer once.” Speaking of how the SU staff dealt with the fight, the student said: “whenever someone fights us they just grab the tallest kid and kick them out.” Commenting on the issues relating to fights at recent YOLO and Juice nights, a university spokesperson said:
“Staff are trained to intervene in such situations and will remove individuals involved in any form of fighting in the venue. Whilst the actions of individuals is beyond our control, any form of violence is wholly unacceptable and the Union will ban anyone involved in such acts from the licensed venues.” Regarding the crowding in the venue and lengthy queues at SU bars, the statement read: “Capacity for Y Plas is 2,150. All of the YOLO and JUICE club night events have reached capacity so far this term. Once the venue is full we operate a strict one out, one in policy.” “Students are arriving earlier each week and all at the same time meaning that over 2000 people enter the venue within an hour period.”
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he voting period for this month’s student by-elections has been extended due to an error with the online ballot system. The error led to some candidates for the Women’s Officer role not appearing no the ballot. A statement was made by the Students’ Union on the issue, which read: “The Union became aware that during Monday and Tuesday morning, some candidates within the Women’s Officer election were not appearing on some of the ballot papers when students were voting online. “The issue was corrected just after midday on Tuesday. In order that no candidate was disadvantaged, all votes cast in the Women’s Officer ballot whilst the issue was present were removed.” Although affected voters were asked to recast. this error will not aid voter turnouts, which fell last year to only 3 per cent of students.
Sŵn launches Music Museum in partnership with Cardiff University
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ŵn Festival, Cardiff’s annual celebration of up-and-coming bands took place in venues across the city this weekend. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the festival, organised by former Gair Rhydd editor John Rostron and Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens, the event partnered with the newly formed Festivals Research department at Cardiff University to bring the memories of music fans across the UK to life. The Music Museum, based in Castle Arcade, is a carefully curated collection of fan memorabilia. Fans have sent items such as tickets and badges from various gigs throughout the years. Plans are in development to open the museum to the public throughout November. Members of Cardiff University’s Festival Research Group are developing the museum as part of their quest to find out how festivals contribute to the British music scene.