Kallum Taylor
YUSU President Elect
The Derwent ‘Freshers’ Awards’ is a successful annual event in D-Bar, acting as a light-hearted nod towards the characters and memories of the last year. From what I’m aware, anyone can be nominated for these ‘awards’ via the Facebook event page. Shortlisted candidates are then notified of their so-called success, in order to make sure that they are fine with this. Nobody should be affected in a serious way by this event, so when complaints were raised about one of the award titles, the Derwent JCRC listened to them and thankfully removed it from the programme. After this point, nobody should take this event too seriously either, and I think it’ll be a credit to their college spirit if they get good numbers down to D-Bar and pull it off for another year running.
Oliver Wessely
Ex-Derwent Rugby President
I’m the ex-President of the Derwent Rugby Club. I can’t believe the fuss surrounding this Freshers Awards event. It is the power of social media that has allowed this to escalate to what it has. People are mad to define themselves by these very unofficial awards given to them just like one is mad to define themselves by their Facebook
Timeline. This event is merely a celebration of an undoubtedly great Fresher year in Derwent and nothing else. The fact that it is being taken seriously at all is just an indication of the sad world we live in. An award does not change who you are, unless you let it.
Awards are there to honour achievements. For the future, organisers should figure what aspects of Derwent life should be championed, such as sport, socialising and mad partying skills.
Ben Dilks
YUSU Campaigns Officer
“It’s just a bit of fun, isn’t it?” I hear you say. Well call me a killjoy but the answer’s no. The inclusion of a ‘most in the closet’ award showed incredibly poor judgement. Though swiftly removed from the awards, one college member commented on the Facebook group “can it be replaced with the ‘can’t take banter award’ for these losers”? Well ‘banter’ is one thing, but showing absolute disregard for the welfare of other students is quite another. It’s been a long time since I was ‘in the closet’ but I would have been absolutely mortified if I had ever been faced with such a nomination. Just as worrying is the inclusion of “The Truelad.com Award for biggest lad”, which is still part of the line up. Celebrating a website which promotes disgusting sexist attitudes towards women – how hilarious!
Lauren Bray
Langwith Welfare Representative
Whilst I’m certain there was no intention to cause offense, I agree with the criticism directed towards Derwent’s Freshers Awards. As Langwith welfare officer, I, along with the student body as a whole, have a responsibility to make campus a safe and inclusive environment, two things which are certainly at odds with accolades such as the ‘Most in the Closet Award’. The knowledge that they had been nominated in the first place, despite being made aware of their selection beforehand, is enough to cause unnecessary upset.
Fewer objections were raised last year, probably leading to a naive assumption that they were acceptable. However, the fact the awards were more widely opposed this year does provide an optimistic suggestion that individuals are becoming more aware of such issues.