Freshers' Guide 2010

Designed by Alex Hackett

Heythrop Students’ Union

Produced by the Heythrop Students' Union 2010

Let me start by saying this. Heythrop students are the best students in the entire university. That's right, we are better than King’s and certainly better than bloody UCL. Welcome to Heythrop, you are about to have the best three years of your life.

One of the best things about Heythrop is its atmosphere. People that choose to apply here and people that study here are very rarely boring. The subjects that Heythrop offer tend to attract a certain type of student, with an interest in questions that a degree in business management or beauty therapy just won't answer.

Your time at Heythrop will be full of conversations, lectures and books that will change and challenge the way you view the world and quite possibly each other. You will meet friends that you will have for life, and some of you will probably get drunk. Really, really drunk. But hopefully not TOO drunk. This booklet is full of very useful information so please read it carefully, an awful lot of work has gone into it. Familiarise yourself with the executive committee, what their roles are and how they can help you.

The Heythrop Students' Union (HSU) exists to ensure each and every student makes the most of their time here. We will explain more about how you can be involved when you arrive at our first general meeting of the year during Freshers’ Week.

Until then, hang tight and enjoy the sunshine.

President of the Heythrop Students’ Union

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20

Cover A Message from the Union President Contents The HSU Executive – The Presidents The HSU Executive – The Welfare Team and Mature Students The HSU Executive – The Events and Entertainments Team and Societies The HSU Executive – The Communications and Publications Team A Message from the College Principal A Message from the College Principal Introducing the Lion Introducing the Website University of London Union The National Union of Students Things to Bring Welfare Team Sports and Societies Freshers’ Week College Contacts College Facilities Union Executive Details

James Johnston

I'm James and I am the President of the Heythrop Students' Union. I am 21 years of age, and although born in London was raised in Fife, Scotland. I have just completed a BA in Philosophy from Heythrop and am currently on Sabbatical, running our union and representing its students.

Sabbatical President

I’m Christopher Nicholson and I’m a third year Philosophy and Theology student who is from a town up north called Darlington. My role encompasses being responsible for the union facilities, ensuring the HSU’s development, as well as representing Heythrop students alongside James to the Governing Body.

Chris Nicholson

Vice President Development

Philip Woods

Vice President Campaigns

Hi, I’m Philip Woods and I’m Vice President Campaigns 2010/2011. I live in Pinner, a small suburb in the London Borough of Harrow. I’ve lived in Harrow all my life. I’m studying MA Philosophy & Religion, having completed my BA Philosophy and Theology degree at Heythrop last year. I aim to get students more involved in campaigns than ever before!

John Ord

My name is John Arthur Craven Ord and I have been voted to be the Male Welfare Officer this year. I am in my third year studying for a BA in Philosophy, Religion and Ethics. In the coming year, Becky and I have lots of plans for the position and the development of the student body as a whole.

Male Welfare

Hi there, my name is Rebecca FitzGerald, I’m a second year Psychology and Theology student, I’m 20 and I grew up in Buckinghamshire and Lancashire. I’m your Female Welfare Officer this year, which means that I’ll be trying to look after your wellbeing and be there for you if you want a chat or need a bit of help and advice.

Rebecca FitzGerald Female Welfare

Julia Middleton Mature Students

I'm Julia Middleton (62) and I’m aiming to gain a BA as I fluffed a BA in English and Philosophy when I was 20. This time I'm reading Abrahamic Religion here at Heythrop, a subject which has fascinated me throughout my life. I am keen to express the misgivings that older students feel about their courses to the academic staff, most of whom are nearer my age than theirs!

Hi I’m Alex Nandris and I’m one half of the Events and Entertainments Team 2010/2011. This year we will be bringing you as much as possible from London’s diverse attractions to suit your wide ranging needs, whether you just need to relax, celebrate or feel culturally enlightened.

Alex Nandris

Events & Entertainments

I’m Jazz and I’m the other half of the Events and Entertainments Team. We hope our quirky plans for this year will leave you with some great memories and aid you in making some amazing friends as much as last years events did for us.

We will be a stepping stone between you and other colleges, and will also help bring your talents to the outside world.

Bradley Smith

Sports and Societies

Jazz Purewal

Events & Entertainments

I am your Sports and Societies Officer, Bradley Smith. I’m now entering my third and final year at Heythrop, studying Philosophy, Religion and Ethics. I want to help all Heythrop’s Societies grow, help new societies start up, and ensure that societies at Heythrop become a much bigger and more important part of student life!

I’m Alex and I’m a Communications and Publications Officer of the Heythrop Students' Union as well as an editor of the Heythrop students’ newspaper, The Lion. Anyone with ambitions in journalism, publishing, photography or web design please get in contact.

Alex Hackett Coms & Pubs

I'm Katie, and I’m a second year theology student. I live in Holland Park and love to visit Portobello road when I have an afternoon free. I want our students’ union to effectively communicate with you, its members. If you'd like to be on our writing team, email us. There could be some free books and gig tickets in it for you!

Katie Plumb Coms & Pubs

For more information about this year’s Union Executive and their activities, please visit our brand new website: heythropstudentsunion.co.uk

Let me say what I think this College is about. It is about finding out what is true, and living in the light of it. I put 'truth’ there as the highest priority because it is central to the business of being a human being, to want to be in touch with what is real, actual and intelligible. It’s central to a College like this that teachers and students commit themselves to the inquiry into what is found to be true. This College pursues this inquiry in two related and distinct ways: by teaching and promoting the traditions of philosophy and theology.

Why philosophy and theology? Because these are the two traditions in which human beings have conducted an inquiry and spoken to one another about human life and the possibilities open to human beings. There is a long conversation going across the centuries in which what is said in one period is heard, echoed, modified in another: like musicmaking, you learn how to do it by stepping into a tradition of interpretation and expression, in which what others do becomes part of what you need to know if you are to write music.

When the young Louis Armstrong began to play jazz trumpet, he worked in the Kid Ory Band. A biographer wrote that it wasn’t what Kid Ory taught Louis Armstrong, but what Louis Armstrong heard in the playing of Kid Ory. It is the active listening to others that is important: what he heard and responded to, that made the difference. It’s what you actively hear that opens up the way to do your own playing.

Similarly, if you are to know what you think and what you might worship, you need to tune in to the conversation that others have had. You’ll end up thinking something, you’ll end up worshipping something, but the study of philosophy and theology puts you in touch with people now and in earlier centuries with whom you can speak. If you listen

only to yourself, you will find yourself imprisoned; if, in isolation, you try to worship 'the God within’, you will end up only worshipping yourself. Meaning and purpose are transmitted through communities of experience and reflection. Religion is essentially social, and people find their space within a sharing of insights and possibilities that extend across the centuries. The business of thinking within an extended community of thinkers about the conditions of our life and the possibility of God is, I think, liberating and fulfilling.

I would see philosophy and theology as jointly part of the one enterprise of human beings coming to a reflection on what is open to us, and to which we are open. The truth conferred by God’s revelation is a truth to be understood in the light of reason: the balance of that statement can be disrupted in two ways: on the one hand, by a rationalism which makes claims for the powers of human reason too bold to be sustained, and on the other, by a fideism with its distrust of reason. The first sets up the human mind as the ultimate adjudicator of all questions, often on very narrow foundations, and rules out, a priori, the possibility of religious faith. If the mind becomes just a calculator, it is a very deficient instrument of understanding. Fideism, more common among religious people, rules out the critical scrutiny of religious assertions. It implies: 'Don’t ask questions, just believe,’ and that too is a form of nihilism, a counsel of despair that fails to value the gift of reason as well as of faith.

Neither position will benefit human beings.

College Principal

Heythrop is starting its first professionally produced student newspaper, and we want freshers to be part of it. If you have an interest in anything from writing to publishing, from photography to web design, The Heythrop Lion needs you!

Join the Writers Group on Facebook Join the Lion Group on Facebook Visit the Website at theheythroplion.co.uk

The HSU Website heythropstudentsunion.co.uk Heythrop Students’ Union has a brand new website where students can access the latest information about what’s going on at Heythrop.

We want this website to develop year on year into something extraordinary, not by purchasing a design company to do it, but by encouraging the student body to help mould and shape it directly.

We are therefore very keen for people who are interested to become a part of it.

The HSUtube youtube.com/TheHSUtube Are you a budding screen writer, producer or director? Why not broadcast your talents on the brand new HSU Youtube channel, imaginatively named the “HSUtube”. We want to use this to encourage student talent as well as a way to easily communicate with the student body.

College Email x.y@heythropcollege.ac.uk Heythrop students get a college email that they can access for LIFE and can be accessed from any computer via Microsoft outlook.

Gala Jackson-Coombs Website Developer

Gala is a 2nd Year Philosophy Student and this Union’s Website Developer, for any questions or queries please contact webdeveloper@ heythropstudentsunion .co.uk

Heythrop’s membership of the University of London means that all Heythrop students automatically belong to ULU, a.k.a the University of London Union. This means that you have full access to the facilities at the superbly-equipped ULU building in Bloomsbury.

ULU can be found on Malet Street, a stone’s throw away from Goodge Street tube station and close to most of the Intercollegiate halls of residence. You will have an opportunity to visit ULU with members of the HSU committee, or if you’d prefer to go on your own or with a friend to get a feel for the place, then go ahead!

The onsite facilities at Malet Street include the ever-popular Duck’n’Dive and Gallery bars, an extensive UL shop, a café, a student travel agency and even an optician’s! There is also a well-stocked gym and swimming pool with top-of-the-range equipment, although the latter facility is not automatically available to students it is one of the cheapest gyms in central London, with six months membership currently costing only £125. ULU’s famous venue, imaginatively called ‘The Venue’, also hosts regular big names and holds concerts catering to a wide variety of musical genres. The two bars offer a variety of diversions, with an excellent lunch menu and weekly themed nights in the Duck’n’Dive, and a more relaxed atmosphere in the Gallery.

On top of all that, ULU also plays host to dozens, if not hundreds of clubs, societies and teams all of which are available to Heythrop students. ULU also runs the intercollegiate sports leagues and maintains the ‘small college teams’ which draw on those colleges (like Heythrop) that are too dainty to field whole teams on their own. So whether your interest is karate or karaoke, fencing or flamenco, Buddhism or break dancing, drop by ULU and see what’s going on!

The HSU is a member union of NUS (National Union of Students), a voluntary membership organisation which makes a real difference to the lives of students and its member students' unions.

They are a confederation of 600 students' unions, amounting to more than 95 per cent of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Through their member students' unions (like HSU), they represent the interests of more than seven million students. Their mission is to promote, defend and extend the rights of students and to develop and champion strong students' unions. The NUS aims to be a pioneering, innovative and powerful campaigning organisation: the national voice of students. They plan to fight barriers to education, empower students to shape both a quality learning experience and the world around them, supporting influential, democratic and well-resourced unions.

However, unless you’re really interested in national student politics, or want to launch a national campaign, the main benefit NUS affiliation brings you is entitlement to an NUS Extra card. This is universal proof of student status in the UK, and will get you discounts in loads of shops and with loads of companies, from Orange to Odeon and from Lloyds TSB to McDonalds. These cost £11, £4 of which comes straight back to the HSU to be spent on services and facilities to improve your university experience.

Passport/Driving Licence

Four Passport Photos

Student Finance Letter confirming payment of tuition fees

Who Are We? We’re your Welfare Team this year, which means we’re here to help you with any problems you might have with the university lifestyle. Whether you’re a little homesick, having problems with those pesky essays or concerned about your health, we’re the fetching fellows here to solve your problems. If we can’t help, we’re in the best position to be able to point you in the right direction of someone that is perhaps better equipped to help you. We’ll be hanging around at all the social events hosted by the HSU but if you can’t find us, or want to ask more before getting onto Heythrop turf, our contact details are at the back.

What are we here for?

Whilst our roles are modified to accommodate the needs of either males or females, we are a team and we’re both here to help you. Our roles cover all manner of problems you might have. We’re your ‘go-to-guys’ if you have a query about anything such as sexual health, eating right, taking care of yourself and your friends, coping with the pressures of your studies or if you’re just a tad homesick or stressed.

We’re also part of the Union Executive, meaning that if you have something you’d like the exec to discuss you can tell us and we’ll take it with us to the next executive committee meeting.

Hello and welcome to Heythrop College! My name's Bradley Smith, your Sports and Societies Officer, and I just want to take a minute to tell you about your societies at Heythrop. We've got a range of societies, from The Donkey Club (real ale appreciation society) to the Budo Society, (martial arts) to the Islamic Society, to performance-based societies like the Music Society and HeADS (Heythrop Amateur Dramatic Society).

If, on the other hand, you think we are missing anything, or simply want a chance to do something you're passionate about with friends, then why not start your own society? Its quick and easy to do. I hope that this year we can make societies into a really integral part of Heythrop students' lives! Remember: I can't do everything myself! I'll do my best, but my hands are tied if you don't get involved! I can tell you from first-hand experience that running a society is very rewarding (and it looks good on your CV!) Don't forget to check out the Freshers' Fayre on Tuesday 28th – in addition to societies having stalls, there will also be live demonstrations and performances!

Sports and Societies Officer

MONDAY – Barbeque and Whitechapel/Stepney Green Festivities begin with a barbeque and a drink at college after registration. Freshers will then be whisked away to a secret location in either Whitechapel or Stepney Green.

TUESDAY – Freshers’ Fayre/ The Lion Launch Party Heythrop will host its annual Freshers’ Fayre, where students can sign up and get involved in Heythrop’s many sports and societies.

The launch of The Lion newspaper will take place in the evening.

WEDNESDAY- Tower Bridge Students will be taken to St. Katharine's docks near Tower Bridge and will have the chance to compete for free paintballing tickets for themselves and their newly made friends.

THURSDAY – Fire and Ice Students will have a choice between two events, one themed as a pit of hellish flames, the other as an icy tundra.

FRIDAY- ULU Invasion Heythrop takes over the University of London in its first ULU Party.

Freshers can meet people from other colleges within the university and have the chance to win free drinks provided by the Union.

SATURDAY- Museum and Garden Party Live debates will be organised around the Natural History Museum.

The night will culminate in a college garden party where films will be projected to create an outside cinema.

SUNDAY – The Grande Finale Massive party at the Vodka Revolution Bar in Soho. Live music from DJ sets and roulette tables (just for fun) will give freshers a night to remember that’s distinctly London and uniquely Heythrop.

Student Support Coordinator - Dominic McLoughlin d.mcloughlin@heythrop.ac.uk 020 7795 4145 Undergraduate Administrator - Susan Lewis s.lewis@heythrop.ac.uk 020 7795 4242 Accommodation Queries - Judith Crimmins j.crimmins@heythrop.ac.uk 0207 795 4207 Assistant Registrar - Antony Charles a.charles@heythrop.ac.uk 020 7795 4202

The Lounge: The largest of the common rooms; this is where you can go to relax, chat or play pool. There are sofas and facilities for making hot drinks, and a designated smoking area just outside.

The Quiet Room: You can come here if you want to read or do some work in a room that is free from noise or interruptions but is comfier and not as stuffy as working in the library.

The Den: A cosy room for watching a film and quietly relaxing with friends. The Den’s blacked out walls make it ideal for viewing without distraction.

The Other Room: This room isn’t open all the time, but it is set aside for specific occasions and events. This is where societies can hold meetings without other people hanging about.

Shop: The HSU shop is run out of the HSU office in The Basement. Here you can buy merchandise such as Heythrop hoodies, ties and badges as well as HSU pens and pencils.

Lockers: There are a limited number of lockers in The Basement if you wish to have a safe place to leave personal belongings onsite, available with a deposit cheque for £20.

This cheque will only be cashed upon failure to return, or loss of, locker keys, otherwise they will be destroyed upon returning your key. The lockers are of varying sizes.

Lockers will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, but it should be noted that in the event of lockers being over-subscribed, students off-campus will be prioritised.

The Executive Committee

If you need anything, they’ll be happy to help James Johnston president@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07530 093924

Philip Woods

Chris Nicholson

vpcampaigns@heythropcollege.ac.uk 020 7795 4215

vpdevelopment@heythropcollege.ac.uk 020 7795 4215

John Arthur Craven Ord

Rebecca FitzGerald

malewelfare@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07702 820 829

femalewelfare@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07913 111 012

Alex Hackett

Katie Plumb

comsandpubs@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07515 879 548

comsandpubs@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07943 813 589

Alex Nandris

Jazz Purewal

entertainments@heythropcollege.ac.uk 020 7795 4215

entertainments@heythropcollege.ac.uk 07988 690 912

Bradley Smith

Julia Middleton

societies@heythropcollege.ac.uk 020 7795 4215

mature@heythropcollege.ac.uk 020 7795 4215

Heythrop Students’ Union