I NTRODUCTION DSDSUU w e l c o m e . contents... ... to the Student Handbook 2003- Involvement 3 Involvement 04, the definitive guide to student The_Union 4 Sabbatical_Officers 5 life in Durham! Other_Officers 8 How_it_Works 14 Associations 15 For your convenience, the guide is Publications_&_Media 16 split into four main sections: DUCK_&_SCA 18 The_Union_Building 20 Societies 25 Involvement Information on how YOU can get Welfare 47 involved with the Students’ Union What’s_Available 48 and its Societies. Accommodation 51 Drugs 52 Alcohol 54 Welfare Useful Information Welfare Cigarettes 55 Student_Finance 56 Useful information on problems Health 60 faced by students, and the support Sex 62 available to you. Lesbian,_Gay,_Bisexual_&_Transgender 65 Out and About Out and About 67 Colleges 69 The guide to the your social life - Union_Ents 86 Colleges, bars, clubs and other Going_Out_in _ places of interest. ...Durham 90 ...Stockton 103 Out and About ...Newcastle 106 Useful Information ...Middlesbrough 108 A lecture planner to help you stay Useful_Information 111 organised, plus a directory of use- Useful_Dates 112 ful names and numbers and a list The_Directory 114 Lecture_Timetable 118 of important dates credits... editor Published by Durham Students Union chris korhonen Dunelm House, New Elvet, photographs Durham, chris korhonen, tim packer, palatinate archive, DH1 3AN union ents and numerous others - thank you! Copyright © 2003 Durham Students Union contributors All Rights Reserved andy beales, tom butler, laura clark, dave griffith, Typeset in-house chris hunt, craig jones, jez light, ken morrey, tim packer, charlie salathiel, vaughan smith, Printed by: Printing Services NE andy thompson, rachael ward BRINGING THE DURHAM EXPERIENCE TO LIFE 1 Cheap papers studentshop www.dsu.org.uk Mon-Fri Durham Students’ Union DSU Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham DH1 3AN Real world Our world 40p Times 15p 50p Telegraph 20p 50p Guardian 20p 50p Independent 20p £1 Financial Times 20p Discounts only at the Student Shop Advert/OtherPrices subject to change Monday - Friday 8.30am - 5.15pm Saturday 10.00am - 4.00pm Level C, Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN Telephone: 0191 334 1813 Fax: 0191 334 1778 E-mail: [email protected] Also available at Stockton Campus or visit our website at www.shop.dsu.org.uk Our profits stay in education DSDSUU STUDENT HANDBOOK 2003/2004 the union... Welcome to Durham Student’s Union! include the raising awareness of issues DSU is your union. We work with JCRs in their area. Student issues such as to represent your views and stick up for alcohol awareness and safe sex are also your best interests in the University, in given focus. local community and nationally. On top of this, DSU provides many sup- DSU is entirely independent of the port services. For example, our Involvement university and run by its members. All Accommodation Office can help you find full-time and part-time students are a house and deal with your automatically members. What’s more, landlord. The Advice Centre can help membership is completely FREE! with many issues - academic or personal. We also subsidise a Nightbus In the past year DSU has run many to help get you home safely at night. campaigns, targeting issues which are important to students, including The Union is also the home to over one demonstrations against the proposed hundred societies, from Amnesty to top-up fees and academic restructuring. purely fun ones like the Assassins Guild We have elected officers such as to academic ones like the Geographical Welfare Gender and Race Officer’s whose jobs Society. They are brilliant ways of making new friends outside your College or Department. DSU also does its bit towards making student life more interesting through services including top club night Planet of Sound, Kingsgate Bar, Riverside Café and the Student Shop. Details on all of these and more can be found later in this handbook. affiliations DSU is affiliated with the following national organizations: National Union of Students National Union of Students Services Limited Federation of Independent Advice Centres Association of Managers in Student Unions National Postgraduate Committee Mature Students Union National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux Useful Information Out and About Topless Top-Up Fees! 4 HTTP://WWW. DSU. ORG. UK/ A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT DSDSUU sabbatical officers... PRESIDENT “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right, Involvement craig jones I hope you have the time of your life” Greenday E-Mail: [email protected] Time of Your Life Telephone: 0191_3341811 Hi, I’m Craig. It is my pleasure to Something that unites us all, however, is the introduce to you this handbook and, as range of general issues facing students in an President of the Students’ Union, to be uncertain time for Higher Education. My job, amongst the first to welcome you to the along with my team and through your input into University of Durham. DSU meetings, is to represent your views on these issues to the University, NUS, Your time here promises to be exciting, reward- Government and the media. DSU works ing and fulfilling; it will also be a time in your life towards this as a collective of the colleges in order to make the voice of our that goes by all too quickly. Whilst you’re here Welfare Useful Information you will have the social and pastoral students heard at the highest levels. I support of your college or society coordinate the range of activities thanks to Durham’s unique form of the Union and it is my of collegiate system. Beyond responsibility to ensure that you will live in one of the that they are constant- most historically and cultur- ly open and account- ally engaging cities able to you.You can around: a place that will drop in on me at colour and complement any time by pop- both work and play. ping into my office on Level A Amongst all of this, of Dunelm Out and About Durham Students’ House, or by Union stands as an calling me on opportunity: 0191 334 1811 if I an opportunity for can be of students to get together to absolutely any help create, give effect to, during your time develop or simply do here. something that they might never again get a chance to for the rest of Enjoy and take advantage of their lives. the diversity of opportunities offered at Durham, be they available through Have you ever wanted to DJ on a radio station, DSU, college, societies or through your studies. edit a newspaper, campaign on an issue that The range and diversity of once-in-a-lifetime means something to thousands? Have you opportunities offered here, and the safe and considered picking up a martial art, recreating supportive environment surrounding them, is classic battles in live-action jump-gear, leaping what makes the Durham Experience; and it is out of a plane or fine-tuning your wine-tasting DSU that brings the Durham Experience to life. skills? DSU, through its national record number of Union-funded and student-run societies, caters for every specific taste, no matter how exotic, questionable or diverse! Use these as a chance to experiment and explore as student Craig life is all about growing in experience, in skills, as friends and as individuals. BRINGING THE DURHAM EXPERIENCE TO LIFE 5 DSDSUU STUDENT HANDBOOK 2003/2004 TREASURER E-Mail: [email protected] andy beales Telephone: 0191_3341809 Hi, I’m Andy Beales, DSU’s Treasurer and Director of Services for the next year. My job is to ensure the Union has enough money to provide all the services, societies and activities that benefit its members. As well as taking responsibility for the finances of the Union, which has a turnover in excess of 2 million pounds, I also oversee the work of the union with freshers, societies and the environment. Involvement The DSU treasurer acts as publisher for all our publications, including this handbook, as well as the award winning student newspaper Palatinate, and the student broadcaster Purple FM. While DSU acts as publisher for these media organisations we do not editorially interfere - you don’t win national awards for printing newsletters! So what about me? DSU treasurer is my job, but it isn’t my life. I play men’s lacrosse for the University, have a keen interest in science and the arts, and graduated in 2002 to the degree of Master in Science. My favorite activities usually involve my friends - indeed the fact that I am writing this in the lakeside cottage of a friend of mine from Finland (who I met in my second year at Hatfield) suggests that the friends you meet at University will play an important role in your life now an after you have graduated. Welfare This is my second year in office so I hope to carry over my experience and enthusiasm into some major projects this year. However, one thing my experience tells me is that 12,000 pairs of eyes see clearer than just one. If you see anything that you think is wrong, or could be done better in the areas that are my remit, or just have an idea that may make things bet- ter e-mail me at [email protected]. EDUCATION & WELFARE E-Mail: [email protected] charlie salathiel Telephone: 0191_3341779 Welcome to what will probably be the most memorable time of your life! Whether the first few weeks of Uni are thrilling, exhausting or daunting (or all of the above!) remember you’ve got one of the best University support networks around to make sure you get the most out of the next few years.