Alcuin is one of the oldest colleges on campus, accepting its first students back in 1967. Today, it is best known for boasting some of the best accommodation on campus and popular among students due to en-suite bathrooms, rather than a core collegiate spirit.
Vision spoke to out-going chair Lizzie Bartholomew who enthused that overall, it has been a positive year for Alcuin, with the JCRC achieving what they set out to do. She told Vision that the JCRC has worked extremely hard to deliver to students across the board, not just in events. The welfare system remains one of the best on campus and the team have endeavoured to be a much more visible committee, aiming to ensure help is always on hand when students require it.
Energy has also been injected into Alcuin events with the JCRC team delivering new and creative events throughout the year, with some of the best attendance in recent years.
Vision quizzed Bartholomew on Fresher’s week profits, successful innovative events and the unfortunate closure of B-Henry’s…
What are the greatest achievements from your term as Chair?
Firstly, Freshers week was particularly successful. Alcuin gained a 99% positive feedback of STYCs during Freshers week and full attendance compared to complaints from nearly every block last year regarding STYCs not turning up. Furthermore, there was a 53% increase in the number of events held in Freshers week, which was more focussed on equipping students to be prepared for the year ahead.
Enough profit was made in Freshers week to fund a huge BBQ during Freshers, a free ghost walk which more than one hundred people attended, a free cinema trip included drinks and popcorn, which was also very well attended and a free trip on the new observation wheel at the Alcuin Snowball, along with weekly film nights with pizza – and money left over to continue similar free events for the rest of the year.
The Alcuin Summer Fete saw the best attendance for several years, and for the first time included a performance stage where acts played throughout the day. Also, for the first time, students not on the JCRC were invited to host their own stalls on the day resulting in the event becoming much more inclusive. Furthermore, the Cultural Sweets Fair, held in York for the first time was organised by Alcuin International Rep Brina Tan, alongside representatives from Halifax and Vanbrugh. The events were hugely successful, with different cultural societies offered their traditional sweets accompanied by live music and entertainment. It was truly an innovative event and I hope it will be continued in the future.
Moving on, this year has also been fantastic for Alcuin Sport, with turnout higher across the board for all sports compared to last year. Alcuin won the one day handball tournament, came second in the one day dodgeball tournament, the squash team won their league and the netball team came second. We found that hosting a sport focussed event in Freshers week certainly proved to grab students’ attention.
Increased transparency between the JCRC and the student body with better advertising of open meetings and the introduction of a question@alcuincollege email address has proved successful throughout the year. The email address is delivered directly to myself, as Chair and I have aimed to reply within three days, whatever the subject matter. It is therefore much easier for students to get support if they have a problem.
Finally, the completion of a housing survey by our Campaigns Officer highlighted a number of issues that then went on to be resolved very quickly. Following the survey, Alcuin JCRC worked with senior individuals and the University to improve student interaction with porters and vice versa – with the introduction of a whiteboard where the duty porter writes that time they expect to be back if they are away from the desk, and clearer guidelines regarding the use of the emergency ‘Red Phone’.
What are your greatest regrets from your term as Chair?
The negative aspects of this year obviously include the closure of B Henry’s, which was a huge shame for the college. However, it came as a necessity after commerical services were immoveable on the solutions suggested by the JCRC, including lowering drink prices (which six months later they have done in other bars to great success). On the plus side, the committee was forced to rethink how events are run, which led to greater creativity in the long run.
What advice would you give your successor?
Overall, there are a number of things the JCRC would have liked to do if we had more time and resources. What I would suggest is to hold more regular, yet creative events and spend time doing more student surveys to ensure the services we delivered were matching the demand.
Vision spoke to Alcuin students for their opinions…
Second year History student Jennifer D’Rozario told Vision “I’ve been to quite a few Alcuin events in the past year, such as pre-historic-Al and the Snowball. From my experience, despite the creative ideas and careful planning on the part of the JCRC, very few people have attended the events – at the ‘anything but clothes’ event there were only two of us who were not members of the JCRC! I would attribute this to the infamous lack of Alcuin spirit, with students preferring to organise events with their individual flats rather than the wider college community”.
Agreeing, Third year Biology student Lindsay Unwin told Vision “Ive met some really good friends in Alcuin and the accommodation is lovely but compared to other colleges the events are a bit disappointing.”
Yet Third year Politics student & Alcuin JCRC Secretary Issy Hall commented that “the dedication of some members of the JCRC, particularly Lizzie Bartholomew have made it an incredibly successful and enjoyable year for Alcuin.”