Friday, 5 September 2008

Bob Paker

Hey guys

We have our very own Mayor of Christchurch, Mr Bob Parker coming to speak to students THIS TUESDAY (9th of September), 2.30pm in the Shelly Common Room.
He's going to be talking about his views for the city, where students fall in this plan, and also the possibility of getting a light rail system. AND there will be time for questions at the end, so if you have anything (anything at all, come on guys get vocal here!) you would like to put to the mayor, now is your chance!

So- Tuesday 9th September
2.30 pm
Shelly Common room (upstairs in UCAS building)
do iiit!


Liz

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Watch this space!

So- the S block lecture theatres are due for refurbishment in the next couple of years. This is going to be a major undertaking, looking at what's needed in the way of facilities over the next decades, and student input is going to be key to the process! So, if you have any interest in what your lecture theatres are going to be like, what facilities you would like to have in them (more power points for laptops? Wireless internet? Any other ideas?), then drop me an email ejw52@student.canterbury.ac.nz, and keep an eye out for focus groups and surveys, coming this way soon(ish).

Liz

Friday, 25 July 2008

What kind of drugs is AUSA on?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523364

So AUSA (Auckland University Students Association) is rewarding $5k to a student, if a citizens arrest is made on US Secretary of State Condi Rice when she visits us.

As a student association, is this really their core business? Does arresting Condi help students in any way?

It's crazy shit like this, which casts doubt on the credibility of Student representatives/politicians, and really hampers the effectiveness of our core responsibility, which is to represent students at our respective Universities.

I will give $5 to any University Student Association which stays out of issues which have completely no relevance to the welfare of students ,or maybe I wont. But you get my point. Boo Yah!

J.S.

Thursdays in Black

This coming Thursday (the 31st) is the National Day of Action for Thursdays in Black. This campaign focuses on rape and violence in our community; wearing black on Thursdays "demonstrates a desire for a community where we can all walk safely without fear of being beaten up, verbally abused, raped, or being discriminated against due to your sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender or ethnicity. It shows you want to be free."

For the National Day of Action, we have a speaker Karolin Potter from the Human Rights Commission giving a talk on the subject- this is on at 1pm in the Shelly Common Room (upstirs in the UCSA building). Karolin is a very engaging speaker with a lot of experience in Women's rights, so this promises to be an excellent event.
We also have the Thursdays in Black Quiz night that evening in Bentley's Wing (normal quiz night stuff, teams of up to 5, $5 entry).

Hope to see you all there!

Lecturer of the Year

Hey there guys and gals,

Some of you may have noticed the super-bright yellow boxes dotted around campus recently. These are your nomination boxes for the Lecturer of the Year competition, which because we're such nice people, includes a prize draw for everyone who nominates a lecturer!
What's more, you don't even have to vote on an actual piece of paper in one of the boxes, you can also vote online right here: http://www.ucsa.org.nz/432.html, which also enters you in the draw.
So, if you think that your lecturer is the best because they give out candy in class, or play that really crazy song, or are actually engaging and make you want to learn their stuff, then speak up and you could win one of five $100 Westfield vouchers!

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Student Fees across NZ

Here is a comparative list of student fees across NZ in fee band 1 for Arts & Humanities.

Canterbury
$4,064 (4)
Auckland
$4,304 (1=)
AUT
$4,304 (1=)
Waikato
$4,304 (1=)
Massey
$3,976 (5)
Victoria
$3,720 (8)
Lincoln
$3,864 (7)
Otago
$3,943 (6)

The annual fee round is approaching when inevitably Universities try to move fees up by the govt maximum of 5%. Personally I think having a policy such as this is riduculous as it is price setting for the Universities. Yes, the government is funding some of our tertiary education, but by allowing fees to go up by 5% each year, they are in effect making it more and more of a private good. It was only 1990 that the first fees were brought into tertiary education...

Thoughts.

Let the picture speak for itself.....