On Monday 8th February 2010, 192 students crowded into OG46 for the Union’ Annual General Meeting, all with one thing in mind - saving the SU by passing the new Governing Documents.
You may have seen the posters, possibly joined the facebook groups or even read the documents on CCSU.co.uk, but you still may not be entirely sure exactly what was going on, so let me elaborate.
About 18 months ago, the Charity Commission announced that all SU’s whose income was over a certain bracket (and ours is) would have to register …

On Friday the 11th of December, as hundreds packed into the Students’ Union, including one very special guest, Elton George Lewis was crowned the winner of Canterbury Christ Church Pop Factor 2009 and will be opening the main stage at this year’s Summer Ball. Pop Factor proved to be a huge success at CCSU, as the popularity of the SU rocketed to a stage where it was ‘one in one out’ into the building, as the full capacity meant that many unfortunate fans were often turned away.
The first two …

Academy Award winning film editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, visited Canterbury Christ Church University last month to unveil a memorial plaque in honour of her late husband, Michael Powell, a filmmaker who was from the Canterbury area.
Thelma Schoonmaker has won three Oscars in her illustrious career. She has spent over thirty years working with Martin Scorsese, whom she calls ‘Marty’. She has edited over thirty films including Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed.
During her visit to Christ Church, Thelma unveiled a plaque dedicated to Michael Powell, …

Crime in Canterbury is once again being questioned after the amount of burglaries has risen significantly in the last month. After break-ins, assaults and even a death was reported in December, it was thought that a new year resolution would be set by Canterbury City Council to cut down on the rates of crime on our streets.
But, one month on, it appears that anti-social behaviour and burglaries are on the increase again. Five students from Canterbury Christ Church University were at the forefront of this, after their house was broken …

On the 11th of November 2009, a bus with 38 students left Canterbury to join the protest on tuition fees in London. Thirty of them were studying at Christ Church and leading them was the Students’ Union Vice President (Welfare and Education) Steve Godwin.
The protest in London was organised in less than 2 days. “Every delegate in an SU was given the heads up from NUS on Monday afternoon. When the government released their papers on Monday morning, we were rallied for support. The debate is about local students voting, …

The whole student loans debacle may have left you with only part of your loan, none of it, or it may just have left you very skint. Either way, there is help available. Every university including Christ Church has its own hardship fund, otherwise known as the Access to Learning Fund. “But I wouldn’t qualify because my parents earn too much” I hear you crying. The ALF is unlike the student loans application process. You don’t have to provide details of your parents’ earnings, just what they give you. So …

Uni Life - paying too much for our studies, delayed student loans, and no one will employ us!
Student life is supposed to be all about endless parties and drinking coffee in the campus cafeteria between lectures. Or this is at least what we see in the films. Of course there are the hard studying and the exams but in general being a student should be a fun part of everybody’s life. Unfortunately there are always two sides of the coin. For many students life is slipping somewhere between a tight …

Students’ face more money worries as the Government look to increase the amount we pay for our education
As if university tuition fees weren’t already expensive enough, the government is considering a dramatic increase from the current average of £3,225 to more than double that figure, seeing the cost of further education reach an all-time high of £7,000 per year.
A recent BBC survey found that two thirds of UK university vice-chancellors feel it necessary to increase yearly tuition fees in a bid to meet the rising expectations of students, with a …

Hannah Grantham’s “how to waste 35 million” online article causes a stir. But is Augustine House really as terrible as she makes out?
Ok, it seems to me that there are endless negativities surrounding our new library, and Hannah Grantham’s online article “How to Waste £35 Million” in particular, adopts this pessimistic approach. According to her piece the building is a “giant eye sore”, yet I could swear I’ve seen and marvelled at similar architectural achievements in almost every other city in England. And Europe. And America. Surely it has been …

Pub crawls for first year freshers is condemned in the local and national press
Carnage, the UK’s most well known student night out returned to Canterbury last month. Hundreds of students flocked from bar to bar around the town, just having time for a couple of drinks before being moved on to the next venue.
Carnage is notoriously known to be the night where students get drunk, dress inappropriately and disrupt the town. After the media have been disgusted by how students have acted on Carnage in recent weeks, the question is …