Staple Freshers’ Week events Access All Areas and the Freshers’ Ball are to be scrapped in a revamped Freshers’ Week for new students.
Instead, a single new event is to be run, combining elements of both the Ball and Access All Areas, and held on campus. Using the facilities of various colleges and Central Hall, the new event will be held on the Saturday of Week 1.
Speaking to Vision, Democracy and Services Officer-elect Dan Walker said that the event will “represent the biggest campus event students of the university have ever seen.”
Walker has also promised heavy society involvement, as with Access All Areas, saying that this will be “a prominent feature, along with the major acts and dress-to-impress atmosphere of the Ball. Focusing on one major event during Freshers’ Week will allow us to produce something spectacular. This will be campus as you’ve never seen it.”
The decision comes in advance of tomorrow night’s Summer Ball which is to be held at the York Racecourse, the same venue traditionally used for the Freshers’ Ball. The Racecourse has typically been criticised by students as a venue for one of the first events of the year, and tickets for the Summer Ball have yet to sell out.
Third Year Applied Social Science student Sophie Brown welcomed the change, claiming that “if you ask current freshers about what they least enjoyed during their Freshers’ Week, 99% of them say it was the Freshers’ Ball.”
The former ‘Big STYC’ went on to say that when she had talked to new students during their first week they all tended to have the same opinion. “They felt they had to get a ticket because they didn’t want to miss out and in the end it’s overrated, expensive and way too formal for new students. Bringing a big open event on campus will be cheaper, closer to home and MUCH more enjoyable for everyone!”
Walker commented on the idea of using the racecourse again, saying that it will not be used in order to provide a venue for a Freshers’ Ball type event, although he did not rule out using it again for future Summer Balls. He also mentioned his promise to support a college focused first week, saying that he’d approach the beginning of the year in that way as “this week should allow new students to really get to know their colleges and the people they live with before the big YUSU events kick in.”
YUSU’s Comedy Night will still appear in the Freshers’ Week line up despite the other changes, and the biannual Viking Raid will be moved forward to Week Two.
Former Goodricke JCRC Chair, Walker also noted that Heslington East will be “supported rather than utilised” next year, saying that during Freshers’ Week, Goodricke and Halifax Colleges will both be welcome to use the Courtyard’s mobile bar for their own events. The bar was recently used on Hes East as part of the GoodFest celebrations, and was a topic of debate in the recent YUSU Elections.
“Third Year Applied Social Science student Sophie Brown welcomed the change, claiming that “if you ask current freshers about what they least enjoyed during their Freshers’ Week, 99% of them say it was the Freshers’ Ball.””
from what i’ve heard, sophie brown must have been attending a completely different ball to all ’09 freshers…
‘dddd’ have you personally asked many freshers? The ball this year was a waste of money in most student’s opinion. I’ve yet to hear from a single person who enjoyed it and thought the price was justified.