A new year, another scandal. The Daily Mail had us all worried, claiming thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants were waiting for the green light from the EU to take the UK by force, robbing their way round the Underground until they had enough money to buy a four bedroom home in Sevenoaks. Fortunately for us, January 1st was uneventful, and the droves of journalists waiting at the arrivals gate at Luton Airport went home without a scoop. However, the news that David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, has decided to listen to the bigoted rhetoric of the right wing media and play politics with the student loans of Romanians and Bulgarians is disappointing.
Whatever your thoughts on the European Union, international students are often the brightest and best in their mother nations, contributing and developing the British economy after graduation. Targeting a group for their nationality is ridiculous and every student in the United Kingdom should unite behind their Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts.
The displeasure of prospective students should be most worrying. Although no students at York have been affected by the policy change, the University of York cannot claim to be a truly global institution if it remains silent in the face of unjust persecution. Support networks at the university have helped calm students. However, they must do more to assure prospective Romanian and Bulgarian students that they are as welcome as any other nationality.
In other news, Brian Cantor went out with an expensive bang. A £7,000 tab for a party of 64 university bigwigs at a five star luxury hotel in York is indulgent at best. Cantor achieved national notoriety in 2010 after Vision revealed that the former Vice Chancellor claimed £135,000 in expenses between 2007-2010, spending over £57,590 on plane tickets over the period. Has he really learnt his lesson?
The new VC Koen Lamberts has finally arrived, bringing with him fresh hope that York will start climbing the league tables. We have needed a fresh start for a while and students must engage with the university and the union to improve our institution. Expansion seems to be the priority, with a tenth college on the way. Shhh, we couldn’t put that in the news section but it’s happening. Our international reputation needs development and Lamberts has already made attracting more funding from the European Union a priority.
As YUSU president Kallum Taylor points out, expansion must be proportional and facilities for staff and students must grow with the university. Students are not just here to study and the university’s future vision must recognise that. Hes West must catch up with Hes East in the coming years and Lamberts has to make that a priority.
