gairrhydd
FREE
ISSUE 846 JUNE 11 2007 CARDIFF’S STUDENT WEEKLY freeword - EST. 1972
OM IRR HYD D.C QUE NCH .GA JUN E 11 200 7 VOL 4.5 4 >
AN AR DI T GU UD EN E ST AZ IN M AG TH E OF AR YE
WHAT A SCREAMER
to Quench Alex Pennie talks The Automatic’s losing control America and about punk, everything of t example ry” e a perfec sic indust Awards wer ut the mu “The NME I hate abo
QUENCH REVIEWS THE HIGHLIGHTS SUMMER 2007 OF THE HAY FESTIVAL Make the mo st of m o n t the next hs three JUNE 11 20 07 w w w. g airrhy dd.co m
INTERVIEWS WITH THE BEST OF HAY-ON-WYE DARA O’BRIAIN ROGER COOK ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH
RE PICTU THOTISOGRAPHY
PH US GUIDE H THE UG THRO YEAR
HOME-GROWN STYLE
FASHION CARDIFF GRADUATE-COME-DESIGNER MAKES IT BIG IN LONDON
Science Examines China’s first ever climate change strategy and considers its implications.
11
Politics The Conservative,
PLUS SPECIAL PULLOUT GAIR RHYDD’S GUIDE TO SUMMER 2007
University to take disciplinary action against Facebook students
Lib Dem and Socialist student bodies reflect on their year.
12 Cardiff students reprimanded for making derogatory comments
latest reality TV offering and talks to columnist Simon Jenkins.
15
Health Considers the government’s proposals to raise the legal drinking age in the ongoing battle against binge drinking.
16
Features Looks at the rise of anti-Americanism
and considers the new film Taking Liberties due for release on June 8.
23
Opinion Our columnists scrutinise Blair, organ donation, the boycott of Israeli academics and the ‘rules’ of Facebook.
27
Interview George Alagiah speaks to gair rhydd at the Hay festival about his book A Home from Home.
14
KEV
The way forward?
about lecturers and using Facebook group walls to share coursework answers Helen Thompson News Editor
Students could be unwittingly kept under surveillance by University staff through their use of online media such as Facebook it has emerged, after several Cardiff students were threatened with disciplinary action for comments made on the social networking site. A number of students from the Biosciences Department have been reprimanded for using the site to share ‘detailed information on coursework and other assessments’, and also for posting comments on a group wall that could ‘involve an offence against a person’, or be construed as ‘defamatory or obscene … abusive or threatening to others’. A group was set up on Facebook to discuss a piece of work for Research Techniques, a module taken by students from various different biological degrees. About 20 of the group's members received an email on April 30 advising them that they would be required to attend a meeting to discuss ‘evidence of unfair practice in the form of collusion’, to take place on May 9. Although the group, which has now been shut down, had over 100 members, only those who had posted comments on the group’s wall that the University considered to constitute collusion or defamation were asked to the meeting. This included one student who made the seemingly innocuous remark that a post by another student was lacking a comma. A smaller number of students were also accused of making derogatory remarks about lecturer Dr Carsten Muller. Unconfirmed reports allege that the comments claimed that Muller is ‘gay’. The students involved in the allegations of collusion say that they did not see the group as a serious offence because the marks for the piece of coursework discussed would not go towards their final grade, and was viewed as supplementary work. It seems that the students did not consider the possibility that lecturers would see the group, and it is unclear how it came to the attention of the Biosciences Department. A second email from Bioscience’s Head of Teaching, sent to all Bioscience students on May 1, said: “We can, and do, monitor internet websites and take a very grave view of behaviour which constitutes unfair practice in the area of assessment and other activity likely to bring the university into disrepute.” It also added that students are “strongly advised to examine whether [they] might be in breach of any … regulations and to remove offending matter from [Facebook, Myspace, Youtube etc.] accordingly. The School reserves the right to pursue any offences that have already occurred, even if the material is removed.” The email defines collusion as having
PHOTO: ROB TAYLOR
Media Questions the ethics of Endemol’s
“I was forced to teach myself a module in years two and three because there was no access to the lecture theatre”
gair rhydd investigates the state of facilities for disabled students on campus page 9 occurred when ‘work that has been undertaken by or with others is submitted and passed off as solely the work of one person’. It warned that the Biosciences Undergraduate Handbook makes the definition of collusion and plagiarism clear, and asks students to avoid these by ‘not asking to borrow other students’ assessed work’. Although the module was not assessed, and merely ‘required completion’, the email states that ‘posting answers to assignments on a website clearly breaches this regulation and constitutes unfair practice’. Students have since been informed that they will not fail the module for failing to attempt or successfully complete the tutorials, but that students’ achievement in the module will be kept on their individual records. It is understood that the Research Techniques module was taught by Dr Muller through e-tutorials, and that complications with the online application Blackboard got ‘seriously in the way’ of the course. An email sent by Muller to his students on May 15 promised that the problems Continued on page two
What on EARTH is going on, ask students Adam Millward News Editor Cardiff University students were up in arms last week after an administrative blunder with an exam almost led the involved School to reset the paper. The cohort of approximately 90 EARTH School students, who include geologists, marine geographers and environmental geoscientists, took the Principles of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) examination, worth 40% of the module, on May 16. They were shocked to find that the paper was the exact replica of a ‘practice’ paper which had been available in the library and on the School’s website. The EARTH School, having found the marks for the exam to be inordinately high, initially made the decision to make the results ‘null and void’ and to reset the test to June 8. This caused outcry amongst the stu-
dents, many of whom believed their exam period to be over and some of whom had even started making plans for the summer such as booking holidays or organising work placements. After further investigation, it was discovered that the same paper had been used every year since a resit in the 2004-05 academic year. According to Dr Simon Wakefield, Chair of the EARTH Exams Board, in a letter circulated to all undergraduates involved, this situation was unavoidable as there is a ‘limited amount of material taught that can be assessed in this way’. Refuting that the error was due to ‘lazy’ members of staff, an accusation posted by a minority faction in a Facebook group created by students to deal with this situation, Dr Wakefield explained that the EARTH School was not in any way culpable and that the single mistake which had occurred was an administrative miscommunication with the Registry. Continued on page four