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Protesting Against the Privatisation of Student Loans

A group of Nottingham students gathered outside Trent Building this afternoon to protest against the planned privatisation of student loans.

Our reporter, Caitlin, first explained a bit about the issue, and why students might be concerned by it.

'The Pulse' also spoke to a protestor, who explained more about what he hopes today's actions will achieve.

Next, we talked about our views on the issue.

We then spoke to two students who didn't agree with the protests.

Finally, we discussed our thoughts on some of the issues which these students raised.

One listener, Duncan, had this to say:

"Free education is the ideal. Stopping the privatisation is the campaign, and a demand that could possibly be won in the short term." He added that at here at the University of Nottingham, students have been "campaigning about this since November, we just haven't been noticed as much until this."

Student Leader Elections

If you're still unsure who to vote for, The Pulse randomly selected four SU roles to speak to: Activities, Sport, Education, and President. This should help your decision before voting closes tomorrow at 3pm.

We started by talking to the current officers for each of the roles, and asked them what SU work they’ve been up to and how their year has been. We then put the candidates for each of the roles through their paces live on air.

Activities
Will Knapp, this year’s Activities Officer, explains how his year has been:

Candidates for the role of Activities Officer answer questions from our team

Sport
Tom Hicks, this year’s Sports Officer, told us what he's been up to:

Candidates for the role of Sports Officer were put through their paces:

Education
Dasha Karzunina, this year’s Education Officer, spoke to us about her role:

Candidates for the role of Education Officer were grilled:

President
Ellie McWilliam, this year’s SU President, explains how she has found this last year:

The Tab, Nottingham, has responded to a social media storm against its open backing of SU Presidential candidate, Katie Williams

Here are some of the tweets which fuelled the accusations:

Most of these tweets are aimed at The Tab's quiz which told you which SU Presidential candidate to vote for. The quiz defines itself as ‘scientific’, but actually only generates the answer of ‘Katie Williams’.

In response to these allegation, Sam Dean, the Co-Chief Editor of The Tab, Nottingham, had this to say to URN:

"As The Tab is not affiliated with the SU, it is perfectly within our rights to back whichever candidate we see fit. It is something of a Tab tradition to back candidates, although this is the first time that it has happened here in Nottingham. Katie Williams is a writer for The Tab but we also agree wholeheartedly with her manifesto and do genuinely consider her to be the best candidate.[...] Katie is a friend but she is also someone who would do a fantastic job as SU President. The SU needs sorting out and she's the one to do it."

Four motions were debated at the SU Council this evening as proposed changes to our Students' Union were debated amongst students and officers. It was a council of 18 randomly selected students who ultimately had the deciding vote. One of the most controversial motions debated at the SU Council was the proposed boycott of The Sun and The Daily Star on campus as these papers include page 3.

The motion was proposed by UoN Feminist society. URN spoke to co-chairs of the society, Jo Estrin and Francesca Garforth about their reasons for proposing the boycott.

Jo and Francesca argued for their motion in front of a randomly selected committee of 18 students who asked a variety of questions. The SU Officers were present and all gave their support although they were not able to vote. The Council of randomly selected students are given this democratic role and they voted 15 to 3 in favour of the motion. The boycott of both newspapers is in effect as of tomorrow morning and will remain in place until page three is revoked.

URN spoke to Jo and Francesca about how they think the council went and the impact the boycott will have for students here at the University of Nottingham.

Sarah O'Hara, Ellie McWiliam and Sarah Gosling

This Saturday, the 8th March, marks International Women's Day. Around the world, celebrations of respect, appreciation and love take place to honour women from all walks of life. The United Nations' theme for International Women's Day this year is 'Equality for Women is Progress for All'.

Here at the University of Nottingham we decided to celebrate this by speaking to three of the most powerful women on campus.

This is the announcement on URN of Ellie McWilliam becoming SU President this time last year:

Two other women at different stages of their career at the University are the Chief Executive of your Students' Union, Sarah Gosling, and Sarah O'Hara, one of seven Pro-Vice Chancellors here at the University.

We got the three of them together to discuss their experiences as influential women in the Students' Union and in the University.

Hear the interview in full below.

We first asked Ellie about running for the position of the leader of the union:

If you have any thoughts, please comment below.