[Tonight Matthew]

I know I should be doing something more interesting on the night I found out I got into university (I've got a good excuse, I promise), but I just stumbled across this on Wikipedia, about the YUSU:

In 2005 the current president caused controversy by imposing a new media charter on the campus press, forbiding anything to be published before first being checked by YUSU. Failure to comply with the charter will result in press equipment being confiscated.

Did this actually get enforced? What was the thinking behind it? Surely people got seriously f*cked off about this? I imagine I probably would to be honest.. or did no one really care?

Splendid.

[Aylia]

Originally Posted by Tonight Matthew

I know I should be doing something more interesting on the night I found out I got into university (I've got a good excuse, I promise), but I just stumbled across this on Wikipedia, about the YUSU:

Yes it is definitely enforced - a copy of the newspaper has to go through the YUSU office before it can be sent to the printers.

It was to stop the newspapers irresponsibly publishing information about students which could potentially cause them harm. eg. if a student is charged with a crime the student newspapers aren't allowed to release this information.

The argument is that it both protects the students rights and the newspapers from potentially being sued for libel or something.

Theres something about it on the foreum here: York students first but I can't get it to work at the moment so not sure exactly where.

[Tonight Matthew]

Oh I see. I hadn't really considered the arguments 'for' in all honesty. Seems fair enough.. does it get abused by the YUSU though?

[Aylia]

Originally Posted by Tonight Matthew

Oh I see. I hadn't really considered the arguments 'for' in all honesty. Seems fair enough.. does it get abused by the YUSU though?

well, there was a bit of controversy over it - at the time it was brought it one of the YUSU exec and mate of the president had been charged with assault (I think) so the media were arguing it had been brought in just to protect him.

[Barny]

Must of been living in a cave, never heard about this! James alexander was a class A penis though.

[Tonight Matthew]

He looked it from pictures I've seen. What was wrong with him though?

[Juno]

James Alexander was a really nice bloke.

[Barny]

Just from the posts on that yorkstudentfirst forum he seems like a nob, and his pic of course, god I'm so judgemental

[Aylia]

Originally Posted by imasillynarb

Just from the posts on that yorkstudentfirst forum he seems like a nob, and his pic of course, god I'm so judgemental

I agree, he always seemed a bit pretentious. Did you not see the 'I've just come out of jail' interview Ozzy did in Vision?

[RK]

Originally Posted by imasillynarb

Must of been living in a cave, never heard about this! James alexander was a class A penis though.

Is James Alexander the present President?

I can't say I took any notice what so ever of YUSU politics in my final year .

Personally I think all the Presidents in my time at York were pretty useless...think I'd have to say (and right not I can't believe I'm going to be saying this) but Ffion Evans is perhaps the ebst President from my time at the uni...at least she seemed more visable, both personally and in univeristy press and seemed to do things. The others just seemed to disappear into oblivion once elected....not that they were ever really noticable during the election campaign either.

[JonRobson]

As far as I remember I think the current chairs friend got involved in some incident in a club attacking someone and YUSU printed bad stuff. The chair didn't like this so got involved. I know a few people on the paper who were pretty annoyed.

[md_red_uk]

Storm in a tea cup?

[JonRobson]

Nah new president is called Mickey and an absolute legend. He plays lacrosse and is much more in touch with us non-political people. I expect he'll lift this charter.

Yeh I think this assault incident involved a bottle in Ikon on someone who was cheating on his girlfriend (or something along those lines my memory is a bit sketchy)

James just came across as rude to me in a few posts on York Students First. Though I'm not one to judge.

[Aylia]

Originally Posted by JonRobson

Nah new president is called Mickey and an absolute legend. He plays lacrosse and is much more in touch with us non-political people. I expect he'll lift this charter.

Yeh I think this assault incident involved a bottle in Ikon on someone who was cheating on his girlfriend (or something along those lines my memory is a bit sketchy)

James just came across as rude to me in a few posts on York Students First. Though I'm not one to judge.

Nah it wasn't the person he thought his girlfriend was cheating with - it was an innocent bystander who looked vaguely like him! So not only did he bottle someone, he bottled the wrong person!

[Freewas]

Yeah major contention about the press restrictions thingy. lots of people protested.
Richard didn't care.

[End Is Forever]

To be honest the whole "press freedom" issue has been going around in circles for years, and stems from the fact that the YUSU trustees (that is, the Executive) would be responsible if the student press (or broadcast media, for that matter) got into legal or financial trouble.

However, it is a shame that this all came to a head because the then-President wanted to save his best mate some embarassment after he'd viciously bottled an innocent bystander in a club.

In essence, the logic is that a student on trial (or convicted) is still a student whose welfare requires protection, and to allow the campus media to cover the story is a threat to that student's welfare.

I don't think it is a very good argument. I think students have a right to know if someone in their midst has committed a violent offence. Likewise, another time a similar logic was used, the student press were unable to name a student convicted of drink-driving. Personally I'd say the welfare of anyone he might subsequently offer a lift to is more important that protecting the anonymity of a convicted drunk-driver.