It was became clear after the sub-protest that had gained the media focus and attention during the first NUS organised demo in London that a split was going to be inevitable within the student movement. A week after the occupations sprung up at some universities NUS president, who up until that point had not supported the occupations, decided to jump on the bandwagon for fear that a ‘civil war’ was going to be engulf the student body and damage their respective messages.

But this would prove for Aaron Porter to little to late and the wheels had already been firmly manoeuvred to try and oust not only the NUS president but NUS’s role in the movement. It was clear to everyone from the start that NUS approach was going to be a ill conceived as they had failed twice before to represent the student body and their interest and NUS has become simply another body that seemed to work, much like the government and the Universities, against the students rather than for.

Too many people jumped on the events that took place at Millbank for all the wrong reasons. It has become evidently clear that the students themselves seem to lack a core understanding of what is going on and what the government is doing and what they have planned for Higher Education (HE) in the UK. Each group seems unwilling to listen and to explain the facts and the broader situation to people and all seem to obsessed with their own agenda to even stop for a moment and think of this in its bigger context…the taxpayer.

Almost exclusively ignored in all of these discussions this is the British Taxpayer who has been footing the bill for universities since they have existed in the UK. The government doesn’t have a special pot of cash that they use to pay the £12.2 billion bill for universities, this, like most public spending, comes from the taxpayer. What neither group is talking about is where all this money has gone, how universities spend it, and how much value for money the taxpayer and the student actually gets.

University Facts – Hidden

What is not widely know is the amount of money universities spend on its teaching, higher management, and expenses. Strangely unlike other public services universities have been let of the hook of having to open their books open to scrutiny by the press, government, and even their own students. One of the key demands and issues facing UCL Occupation has been a more transparent university management.

Nobody seems quite sure where all the money they are given goes and whether or not the University should be held more accountable to either the government or the student body for the money they spend. At this point I have to stress that we are talking about this in a monetary way because frankly that is how universities now operate. For most degrees on offer the university simply no longer provides the same level of contact that might have happened 20 or 30 years ago.

Universities like Newcastle, UCL, Brighton and Sussex have spent hundreds of millions of pounds, and are being spent, on new buildings, ‘teaching facilities’ and refits all done with money they don’t have. Look at the Fulton Building part of Sussex University that is essentially just two lecturer theatres and a variety of seminar rooms that cost over £20 million.

Part Two: The Waste, The Teaching Cuts, & The Facts

*The title of this article is not original to us and in fact belongs to one of the most beautiful written articles of the past 30 years. Mary Schmich article of the same name in the 1990s became The Sunscreen Song. We have used it here without permission but feel that it is suiting.

The past few weeks have been one of the most active for the student community in the UK. The normally passive bunch have finally found their voice yet now they have they seem intent on ruining the growing opportunities that it has given them. TNC spent a long time talking with some of the occupations, trying to spurt them in a different direction by showing them that there is another way they can handle this.

Some, like NCL Occupation, have been more receptive, whilst a majority of the others have been less than willing to take the opportunity and learn from the great peaceful protesters in history who provide us with more insight than we could ever need.

But those who still think that the actions witnessed during every student protest is working, and the public are on their side, need to read Simon Cohen, founder of Global Tolerance, in his blog post “Students Protest: Stand up by sitting down“. Words have such an incredible power at times that once read they have the ability of reaffirming  in you the sense of honour and duty we all should have.

Towards the end of Simon’s post he says:

In a society in which every scandal is clumsily branded something-gate, and the same predictable headlines churn out, there is an opportunity and responsibility for every well-meaning campaigner to use a little imagination, change and challenge the status quo.

And for all you students who think the media have something against you and they are too willing to chase the sensation other than the actual story need to read Simon’s post and take it in. These are great times for all of us and for a message to be put out without it being damaged by the small minority of people who seek to cause trouble than peace. Imagine what it would have looked like if everyone sat down at Parliament Square, watched the debate, and listened, how incredible that image would have been and would have been close to impossible for the police of for a violent minority to break up the message going out.

It does appear that in this case students seem not only to unwilling to look at the images they are producing but are also unwilling to accept that their actions are enabling media by giving them the images they want. Gandhi own creation of Satyagraha is something that should be redressed here and taken quite on board. Are students really going to seeing themselves as the future of this country? If the answer is yes then they need to think again about how the past three protests have been, one thing is for certain they do not have the full backing of their student body or the public.

There is also a weird irony with many with in the student groups claiming that this movement is just the same as the famous 1968 student protests in Paris, truth is unfortunately this isn’t and has led Iain MacWhirter from the Herald Scotland to comment:

It’s also true that the student demos are not Paris, May 1968. But the truth is that 1968 didn’t directly achieve all that much either. Europe’s greatest popular uprising since the Second World War was a political failure. The student unrest and the strikes evaporated almost as quickly as they had emerged, and in the subsequent general election, the right-wing Gaullists were returned with an increased majority. But les evenements, while a failure electorally, were immensely significant culturally, and historians agree that 1968 was a watershed year in Europe and the world.

The rebellion wasn’t really a revolution in the traditional sense and was led as much by hedonism as Marxism. The revolt captured the imaginations of young people all over Europe, and marked the end of the authoritarian, sexually repressed and socially conservative post-war era. Feminism, environmentalism and gay liberation all trace their origins to the “spirit of ’68”.

Even Gordon Brown took to the streets at Edinburgh University. I half expected to see him on last week’s march to the Scottish Parliament against fees. Had he not been responsible for introducing student fees as Chancellor in the Labour government, I suspect he probably would have been there. The irony is that it is the children of 1968, who benefited from free tuition, who are now pulling up the ladder behind them. And they are despised for that.

There is still time for this to be a great movement, but there needs to be leaders willing to change, challenge, and prove that what we have seen is not the only way students can act.

We greatly appreciate the team at Global Tolerance for getting in touch with us and sharing Simon’s piece.

Freshers week is all about making friends, finding your feet and having a bloody good time clubbing and knocking back a few. There is undoubtedly no question that freshers week is the best of your life.

Don’t panic if you’re not sure what to expect, you will after you’ve read this. When you have confirmed your university offer, you should get a freshers pack through the post. This will be a booklet containing all the welcome events and themed nights that will be taking place.

For some, freshers simply lasts a week but for others it could be up to 2 or 3.

Most uni’s will have a ‘Freshers Fair’. This allows you to sign up to clubs and sports teams and learn about what the uni has to offer. You may also been given some free food and cooking advice (they clearly think were a danger in the kitchen!)

Also during the day you can take time to explore the town with your new housemates and people living on the same floor as you (only if your in a flat obviously). Before you know it, the all important night-time comes around.

Freshers week is all about going out each night, don’t be boring and stay in, get yourself out and socialise, it’s the best time to make friends. Drinks are usually cheap, so you have no excuse not to get a little tipsy.

Each night you may have to dress up in a particular theme. All of this will be written in your freshers pack but to warn you in advance they may include:

Pirate
Neon
Animals
School girls/boys
Hawaiian night
White night

Some uni’s also have a special guest for one night only at one of the nightclubs. Last year for me, Calvin Harris came to ‘The Old Firestation’ student club in Bournemouth. If clubbing is not your thing then many organised events take place on campus in the university bar such as pub quizzes, bingo and live bands.

My regrets of freshers week are that I didn’t go out enough. I went out for the 7 days solid but I didn’t last very long each night.

My advice is definitely sleep more during the day and make the most of the evenings.

After all this is freshers week.

Just come to uni armed well and be prepared to share! Though we at TNC are well aware that late night drinking sessions and stolen traffic cones are not for everyone and this is YOUR freshers week so there is going to be plenty to do other than getting sloshed!

But before I tell you to drink yourself silly, it’s important to stay safe and be sensible, and we have a helpful link to the Drink Aware website that will help answer some questions you might have about alcohol, limits, and how much is too much, after all you do want to remember freshers 2010 – the best week of your life, guaranteed.

This is a series of three fresher themed articles by Sarah that will be on our website throughout September, and we would like to hear from you, share your freshers story with TNC – freshersstory@thenewcurrent.com

By Sarah Hartland

Youngsters are being urged from today to download the new “panic button” application on Facebook. It will give children and teenagers the opportunity to report abuse to the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook.

Up until now Facebook were reluctant to go ahead with the button as they believed their own reporting systems were adequate. With Bebo and Myspace having already installed the button, Facebook were under a lot of pressure to give the green light.

All of this follows after the rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall, who chatted to a 33-year-old convicted sex offender who posed as a teenage boy on Facebook. Back in November 2009, Ceop called for the panic button to be installed on social networking sites, so people were safe and online sex offenders could be traced. Then in April 2010, forty-four police chiefs in England, Scotland and Wales backed Ceop’s panic button idea and signed a letter in support.

Since then, Ceop and Facebook have been in meetings battling the idea of the child safety panic button. Although the application is aimed at youngsters, everyone is urged to add it. Facebook officials are desperate to create awareness of the button as they are hoping it will appear on news feeds regularly.

The panic button application is also reassurance for parents when their children sign onto the social networking site.

After all you never actually know who you are talking to, so before you accept someone’s friend request, ask yourself, ‘Do I know them?’

By Sarah Hartland