Gair Rhydd

Fatal blizzards slam North America

North America suffers the consequences of extreme winter storms

North America has been left in a state of disarray after being hit by horrendous storms this winter.

The massive storms brought snow, sleet and rain to Canada and the north-eastern United States causing chaos on congested icy roads and killing at least 12 people.

Crumbs

University pledge £175,000 to fund a new Rubber Crumb pitch at Talybont, putting Sport firmly back on their agenda

The University has pledged at least £175,000 to the Invest in Sport campaign towards a new all-weather training pitch at Talybont.

At a meeting last Tuesday attended by Students’ Union President, Joe Al-Khayat, the University Strategy and Resources Committee unanimously agreed that in principle funding for the development would be in place, subject to match funding.

Strip search

A German man has been arrested after he removed his trousers in Manila Airport in the Philippines.

66-year-old ‘Hans’ protested and stripped after being asked to go through the x-ray machine. Hans could face a sentence of between six months and six years in jail.

Kazakh fight back

Kazakhstan has set up the Kazakhstan Information Service in an attempt to repair the country’s image, which some believe was ruined by Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie Borat.

Leaders are furious at the portrayal of the country as full of anti-Semitic drunks and in-breds.

A new Wii?

A Chinese woman has claimed that her dog has found a different way to spend a penny – upside down.

Mrs Chen of Changchun City claims her pet, Baby, began peeing in the new way three months ago.

Flight of fancy

US Air Force sergeant forced to resign as a result of posing in Playboy

Playboy pictures of a US Air Force sergeant have caused controversy after they prompted her resignation.

Michelle Manhart’s decision to pose for the magazine led to her demotion, and she was removed from active duty. Playboy magazine published the pictures of Michelle Manhart in its February issue under the headline ‘Tough Love’. Ms Manhart decided to resign after she was demoted from drill sergeant to senior airman, saying she had served her country since 1994.

Cows cause deadly conflict

Clashes between the army and Karamojong warriors in north-eastern Uganda have resulted in more than 50 deaths.

An attack on February 12, in which four soldiers were killed, sparked heavy fighting between the military and the herdsmen, or “warriors”. According to army spokesman Henry Obbo, the conflict began when the Karamojong warriors, armed with machine guns, tried to retrieve stolen cattle recovered by the army.

Mindless?

£150,000 spent on decorating the Psychology Building

The sculpture outside the school of psychology has been officially unveiled and named the ‘Mind’s Eye’. 

The artwork consists of 1,000 individually made terracotta tiles, which are arranged to create a number of different visual illusions to highlight the way the mind recognises patterns.

A degree of dishonesty

Undergraduates have been accused of ‘cheating’ by the Higher Education ombudsman.

The significant growth of higher education has resulted in a surplus of degrees that merely involve ticking boxes and memorising hand-outs, Baroness Ruth Deech has claimed.

Elections go online

Facebook will be used to win votes in this year’s Students’ Union elections.

Sabbatical and Non-Sabbatical candidates will be allowed to campaign using electronic media for the first time.

Unions’ staying independent

NUS concerns over possible merger of students’ unions and universities

Students’ unions are separate from their universities and should not join together with them, lawyers have told the National Union of Students (NUS). 

The NUS have been worried that some universities are planning to use new charity laws to integrate their students’ unions into their structures. 

Act of the Union: Non-sabbatical allowances

The proposal to give non-sabbatical officers an allowance next year comes after 8 non-sabbatical positions were left unfilled in March 2006. The current situation with little incentive to take on the roles has left students with a lack of representation, and increased pressure on our sabbatical officers.

The motion intends to offer non-sabbaticals a part-time allowance to heighten competition for the roles and aid the search for a highly committed candidate. This increased expenditure would cost the union in the region of £25,000 a year.

As safe as houses

Landlords will soon be obliged to join government schemes ensuring the protection of tenants’ deposits.

From April 6, tenants will be protected by new government legislation that means the estimated 1.25 million university students that pay deposits with letting agencies each year, should have fewer problems getting their money back.

Degree of criticism

The standard of nursing in the National Health Service may be putting patients’ lives at risk, two professors have warned.

Professor Linda Shields, from the University of Hull and Professor Roger Watson, from the University of Sheffield, have said that American research has revealed that death rates were lower in hospitals where nurses have degrees.

Henson tackles The Taf

Rugby star Gavin causes a stir on a visit to our Union bar

Gavin Henson made a surprise visit to the Students’ Union last week, only to spark controversy when he reportedly demanded that a student delete the photographs he had taken of him.

Gavin and some friends were drinking in the Taf, when allegedly a student started taking photos of him on his mobile phone, which led to Gavin approaching the student and asking him to stop.

Love is in the airwaves

Three couples spent last week under the magnifying glass of the public eye as Red Dragon Radio launched its first reality Love Room programme.

The couples’ private lives were on show 24 hours a day at the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay.

In need of a hug?

Mystery man offers free hugs to Cardiff shoppers

Free hugs are on offer to Cardiff shoppers from a mystery Welsh campaigner.

The hugger, who goes by the name of Provoke UK, came to Cardiff’s Queen Street last week with a homemade sign advertising free hugs.

It’s in the bag

Welsh chippie succeeds in its Guinness World Record bid

A Cardiff chip shop, Dorothy’s, has successfully broken the World record attempt for making the largest bag of chips, as part of National Chip Week.

The shop in Caroline Street, better known as ‘chippy lane’, stole the title last Thursday from England’s Alan Williams of Mr Chips in Hereford, with his 400 kg bag of chips.

Cambridge cartoon controversy

Cambridge scholar faces disciplinary action after reprinting infamous Danish cartoons in college magazine

A student editor has gone into hiding after his publication became the second in the UK to publish controversial Islamic cartoons.

Clareification, the student magazine of Clare College, Cambridge, printed the cartoons nearly a year after an issue of gair rhydd was pulped and four of the editorial team suspended due to the publication of a similar cartoon.

Drinking games Banned

Exeter University bans binge drinking games and ‘initiations’ following tragic death of student

Exeter University has banned binge drinking games and alcohol-fuelled ‘initiation’ ceremonies.

The move by the University comes after a first-year student died last year.

Blair flashes his cash

Prime Minister to donate money to universities which generate funds from Alumni

Universities will be encouraged to build up funds of billions of pounds by targeting the pockets of alumni and philanthropists, Tony Blair revealed last week.

To encourage what is being labeled a “culture of charity”, Mr. Blair has promised that he will give £1 for every £2 donated to English universities.

Act of the Union: Provision for smokers

A ban on smoking in public places in Wales comes into force on April 2 2007, leaving the Students’ Union with a decision to make regarding smoking on university premises.

The law comes after the National Assembly for Wales voted in favour of the ban on January 30 2007.

Act of the Union: Student parliament

Currently decisions relating to the Students’ Union in Cardiff are made through the Student Council, a small group of around fifty people who meet once a fortnight. Under this new proposal from SU President Jo Al-Khayat, the Student Council system would be abolished and replaced by a more representative body of students that would sit as a Student Parliament and would meet once a month. The proposal could prove quite costly as it would require a proper voting system and a room big enough for presentations that can hold representatives from all AU clubs and societies. Union President, Joe Al-Khayat states that: “The idea is to get people involved in the cutting-edge running of the Union, and instead of many meetings devoted to AU, or societies, it should all merge together into one meeting…I don’t know how more representation can be a bad thing.”

If it goes through:

One big step for Welsh research

Cardiff University researchers set to investigate the conditions in space after the Big Bang

Welsh researchers are set to study conditions shortly after the Big Bang using the ‘coolest’ spacecraft in the universe.

University academics are involved in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Planck mission, which is reaching an important milestone with the integration of instruments into a satellite at Cannes, France.

Act of the Union: Change of executive roles

This motion sees two name changes for positions on the Executive – the people that run Cardiff Students Union on a day-to-day basis. The Societies and International officer would become The Societies, Postgraduate and International Officer, taking responsibility from the Vice President for the representation of Postgraduate students on the Executive committee. Ed Jones, Vice President, says: “Last year the Vice President was asked to take on the role of representing the postgrads. My role is very big and I’ve really struggled to get to grips with it. The Societies and International officer used to do this and they deal with the postgraduate society and a lot of International students are postgrads as well.”

The motion also includes the creation of the position of Heath Park Campus officer. The officer will be a non-sabbatical and take the position whilst studying. The Heath Park officer would be the point of representation for students studying at Heath Park to the Executive at Park Place and work with the Education and Welfare sabbatical officer. They would also be the chair of the Heath Forum. Ed Jones, Vice President said: “Since merger, the University and Students’ Union have struggled to communicate with people based up at the Heath. We feel putting this person in this position would really solve that.”

University applications soar

University applications in the UK have experienced record rises in spite of the introduction of top-up fees last year.

Overall, applications rose by 6.7%, but Wales had less luck showing a 0.1% decrease in applications.