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YORK VISIONTuesday May 11th, 2010

student press

We read them......so you don't have to

A NUMBER of broken doors left unlocked at on-campus residences have sparked frustra-tion and concern among students.

Blocks in Derwent, Goodricke, James and Vanbrugh colleges have all experienced malfunc-tioning doors that have not locked or closed prop-erly. Some consistently unlock themselves due to security flaws putting stu-dents's security at risk.

Rebecca O’Dwyer, a

resident of Goodricke Col-lege said that she “feel[s] that [her] safety has been jeopardised. It’s ridicu-lous that this has been go-ing on for so long.”

The main problem surfaced in Goodricke at the beginning of this term, following the Duke of York’s visit to official-ly open the college. The doors, which are automat-ic and operate through use of a key card held against a security pad, have either been opening themselves or not fully closing.

Doors to individual

flats within these blocks have also unlocked them-selves. Due to the nature of the layout of the build-ings, this gives full access to kitchens to anyone without a key.

This has been a par-ticular problem for one particular eight person house at Goodricke, in which the front door, the only access point to the house, remained broken throughout the Autumn Term and parts of Spring Term. Due to a technical problem, the door would not automatically lock

when shut.Though reportedly

fixed, it continued to break even after the prob-lem was brought to the at-tention of university staff.

One member of the house told Vision that “it is unacceptable that the doors were consistently broken and that our secu-rity was compromised.”

Electronic doors at new Vanbrugh residences and new James residenc-es colleges have also suf-fered similar problems of doors not closing fully or unlocking themselves. Vi-

sion has received reports of one Derwent block that is accessible without an entrance code.

“Students have got a right to swift repairs when something goes wrong with accommoda-tion - especially if it leads to a security risk,” says YUSU Welfare Officer, Ben Humphrys.

“We're currently lob-bying the university to put the reporting systems online so we can eas-ily pull the university up when responses are slow.”

However, Humphrys

BY PAUL VIRIDES

THE UNIVERSITY of York’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bri-an Cantor, has claimed nearly £135,000 in expenses in the last three financial years in figures obtained by Vision. This repre-sents a startling 50% increase in the amount he claimed in the three years beforehand, where the Vice-Chancellor had already claimed £90,000.

Travel expenses have made up the bulk of these expenses. In the last two years alone, Cantor managed to claim £57,590 in plane tickets, a marked increase from 2006/07 where only £12,252 was re-imbursed.

Professor Cantor refused to comment on his expenses. In a statement from the university, the amounts have been justi-fied on the grounds that York is an international institution and

that travelling all over the world is the nature of the job.“[T]he Vice-Chancellor lead[s] an or-ganisation with a £225m income, educating 12,000 students and employing 3,000 staff with all the demands that entails. York has a hard-earned reputation as one of the world’s leading universities, which in turn brings significant benefits to our students. Interna-tional travel is a necessary part of maintaining and developing that global standing.”

However, in the last financial year, the £50,542 claimed by the Vice-Chancellor dwarves other top public sector workers. Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC, a corporation with an income of £4.6 billion, claimed just £15,919 in the last nine months gone. In fact Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Professor An-drew Hamilton, managed to get by on only £26,957 in the same time

period as Cantor; yet Hamilton is in charge of a higher-ranking uni-versity with an income in excess of £676 million and with a massive student population of 20,330.

Cantor’s expenses data was re-ceived after Vision filed a Freedom of Information request to the uni-versity demanding a “Full break-down of all expenses, both paid for directly and those reimbursed by the university, of all staff at the University of York with the word "Chancellor" in their title ... for the last three financial years available.”

Cantor’s claims from the Uni-versity also paled the other top members of staff. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and the six Pro-Vice-Chancellors claimed, all to-gether, £92,225 over three years, compared to £134,857 for the Vice-Chancellor alone.

York University uses a travel management company located

near campus called NYS Corpo-rate, to arrange a large amount of their air and train travel, as well as to book accommodation for staff. We presented our find-ings to a former lecturer at the university who regularly used the service. She stated: “The fact that the travel costs are so high doesn’t surprise me in the least bit. There was no incentive to book things cheaply. I would often buy train tickets the day before a journey, knowing I would be fully reim-bursed. Plane tickets would of-ten cost an astronomical amount when they were booked soon to the departure date.”

As part of this investigation Vision filed the same request to several other universities. Unfor-tunately York failed, unlike these other universities, to list specific claims, and are deferring their full response for at least another month.

NEWS4

BY DANIEL GODDARD

CAMBRIDGE ROWERS have appealed to the Queen to remove a vicious swan from the river Cam, reports the Cambridge Tab.

The swan has been reeking havoc on the river attacking rowers, punt-ers and motorised pleasure boats. "Mr ASBO" has even succeeded in capsizing a canoe and biting the end off a rowing eight's oar.

The President of the Cambridge Rowing Association has appealed to her majesty to remove the offending bird saying "The swan situation is most serious and some-one is going to be badly injured."

Dr Perrins, Her Majesty's Swan Warden, is resisting such efforts.

CONFUSION REIGNED at at an Oxford Uni College Ball when a gatecrasher gained entrance with-out trousers or one shoe, Cherwell reports.

The reveller gained access by crawling along the bed of a shal-low river, losing clothing in the process. He told the newspaper "no-one seemed to care that I had no trousers."

The College's security for the event, which included a floodlit watchtower, appear to have missed the mass of gatecrashers who managed to avoid the cost of a £90 ticket.

THERE ARE red faces all round at the BBC after the corporation was forced to apologise to Bristol University students for portraying them as binge drinkers, reports Epigram.

One student in particular, who was the focus of the report, took exception to her portrayal. The stu-dent's supervisor complained "She certainly was not drunk, and has complained to the BBC...an official apology has been given and the footage has been withdrawn from the website."

This comes after media reports five years ago of a binge drinking culture at the university.

THE UNIVERSITY of East Anglia’s American Society has found itself at the centre of a political furore after having their US flag confis-cated by local police.

The newly formed society went on their first social happily waving their flag only to come a cropper when a local bobby stopped their merriment and asked “What’s with the flag then?” In the ensuing argument the plod took away the flag saying “it could cause offence to people”.

Pants Man!

Swanning Around!

University of Piss-tol

No Thanks, Yanks!

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Brian Cantor has cost OUR university over £800,000 in three years to finance HIS lavish lifestyle. YOUR tuition fees pay for first class round the world tick-ets, five star hotels and even the £1.20 for the parking metre. In light of widespread university funding cuts, Vision is tell-ing greedy Cantor, enough is enough.

VISION EXCLUSIVE: VC'S EXPENSES REVEALED

Jack Knight

U N I V E R S I T Y ' S O P E N D O O R P O L I C Y

stresses that the York campus is very safe both relative to the surround-ing area and other univer-sities.

“Residential theft and assault went down on both 2008 and 2009 figures, and are both generally at very low levels. There re-ally is no reason to fear crime on campus.”

The University com-mented that “there is no fundamental problem with the automated doors in Goodricke College or a risk to the security of stu-dents. If a problem does

occur and is reported it is addressed by University staff or by the contractors who fitted the doors as ap-propriate.”

MUCH TO the dissap-pointment of Hes East residents, it was revealed over Easter that the lat-est attempts to secure a cash point for the iso-lated Goodricke College were unsuccessful.

Despite the efforts of Goodricke JCRC’s Cam-paigns Reps, Jamie Fisher and Andreas Gabrielsen, plans to install a much needed ATM on the new

campus fell through after it emerged that clauses and requirements in the supply company’s contract were unacceptable to the univer-sity.

Jon Greenwood, the university’s Director of Commercial Services, told Vision: “I haven’t had spe-cific dealings with the com-pany that Goodricke identi-fied but my own research has found that private cash point providers look for a footfall of 5000 people, want

site exclusivity for 5 years and of course charge for withdrawals.”

However these stipula-tions were deemed unrea-sonable and, to the disap-pointment of the JCRC, the installation did not go ahead.

Tim Ellis, Goodricke Chair, maintained that the affair had not been futile. “I was very impressed with the efforts of the Cam-paigns Officers; it was dis-appointing that it didn’t

come through.” Adding: “hopefully this has put more pressure on the uni to sort out the cash point situ-ation”

When asked by Vision, Jon Greenwood confirmed that plans to get an ATM were indeed being taken forward. “I am speaking to HSBC, Barclay’s, Nation-wide and others to get a free-to-use machine from a recognised high street pro-vider.”

BY TOM MCDERMOTT

YORK VISIONTuesday May 11th, 2010

NEWS5

STRAPPED FOR CASH

How mu c h d o e s t h e V C e a r n ?

I n o n e y e a r, o u r

V C s p e n t £12 .8K

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I n o n e y e a r, o u r V C s p e n t £29K s p e n t o n p l a n e

t i c k e t s . T h i s mone y c o u l d b u y y o u a r e t u r n

f l i g h t t o S i n g a p o r e , E V ERY WEEK f o r a y e a r.

VISION EXCLUSIVE: VC'S EXPENSES REVEALED

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U N I V E R S I T Y ' S O P E N D O O R P O L I C Y