Christmas Issue 2006 UWBEEN AND GONE... THE END OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES, BANGOR or the majority of students, the fi rst they will have heard about the University of Wales, Bangor possibly changing its name will have been In This Issue..... Fthe email sent from the Registrar during November. The Registrar outlined the situation and encouraged comments and questions from the staff and students alike. The University has been considering a name change for a couple of years The Blugeoner now. The last academic year saw the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) assessing the University in its policies and procedures; a routine procedure which every university has to have undertaken. As a result Tales From The of a successful investigation, the University’s application to award Taught Queer Side and Research degrees has been approved. This is not strictly offi cial until the Privy Council approves the amendments required in the University’s charter. This process will not be complete before August 2007. News Subject to fi nal approval of DAPs (Degree Awarding Powers), the The preferred name within the University is From Bangor To “Bangor University” Bangor University has decided to progress with a name change. The preferred name within the University is “Bangor University”; one which the Registrar, in his email, highlights has been the colloquial term for several years. Though, The Rant another suggestion has been “University of North Wales, Bangor”. I believe it is safe for me to say that many students are unaware that the current(!) correct title for the University is the University of Wales, Bangor! This name Travel change is part of a restructuring of the University of Wales’ federal college system. The proposals project that by September 2007, the federal University of Wales will become a “confederal, non-membership organisation” Dr. New Year’s Nights David Roberts It is important that the change of name does not cause confusion and confl ict with other bodies and organisations. The application for Taught and Research Degree Awarding Powers can be The Great Orme viewed online at http://www.bangor.ac.uk/ar/ro/Docs1/DAPdocFinal.doc. It is highlighted in the Application for Taught and Research Degree Awarding Powers that Bangor has operated as an autonomous body as far as teaching, Music learning and research is concerned. The University of Wales’ institutional review by the QAA in 2004 resulted in a decision that “full responsibility for quality and standards should be devolved to the individual institutions”. The Adventures of The University was one of the three “founding colleges” of the University of Wales, and we were in agreement with the Sir David Williams Report Stuart Dent in 2002 which suggested that the federal college system be expanded and include all the institutions in Wales. However, due to the Cardiff University and the University of Wales College of Medicine merge, and subsequent Film withdrawal from the federal University of Wales, the “One Nation, One University” philosophy went out the window. So far, the Registrar has received a fair number of responses from staff One Minute Welsh and students regarding the change of name. The Vice-Chancellor of UWB has said that the approval of Degree Awarding Powers ‘marks another very signifi cant milestone in our history’. All in all, this is quite an exciting time Adventures From for UWB, whatever the outcome. Across The Pond Lexi Hindley Puzzles Sport Video Games Books WIN Vox Pops WIN A COPY OF THE END OF THE QUESTION MARK, THE Doc Spot ANY QUESTIONS ANSWERED Competition BOOK. TO ENTER GO TO Features The Malibu winner www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 2 Seren - Christmas Issue 2006 CONTRIBUTORS Editor: Emma Dodd Dear Reader, Rebecca Hussey Welcome to the Christmas edition of SEREN. I can’t believe Caroline Alvarez it’s this time of year already. The days are getting shorter Jennifer Stanley and SEREN is already on its third issue. Dr Rashesh Mehta Sophie de l’Orme In anticipation of Christmas, we’ve an extra page of reviews, Mark Hawkins this time its video games. There are also our regular review Sarah Donnelly sections to help you decide what to spend your money on Chris Thomson this Christmas. There’s also a special feature on New Year’s Caroline Alvarez Eve nights out across the UK. Lizzie Joyce Siobhan Catherine Holt So, in a month when girls in Bangor have been voted the Cat Prince ugliest in Britain, cheer up with SEREN. Claire Mann Rachel Eales There won’t be another issue of SEREN until February, but Lucy Digney keep up to date on our website at www.seren.bangor.ac.uk. Amy Garrett You can still send me your comments and submit articles to Spencer George [email protected] Jack Peat Ross Butler Good luck to everyone in their exams and have a very merry Lexi Hindley Christmas. Will Varley John Jackson Emma Sean Miller Luke Wilsher James Woolley Joe Penketh Stephen Clifford Loran Perkins Ian Davies David Eykelestam Natalie Pierce-Jones www.seren.bangor.ac.uk Phil Rhymes Amy Briscoe Megan Tapper Kelly Timmins Sean Clement James Honess Dave Moreton LETTER TO THE EDITOR Sam Mager Dear Editor Sean Clement I was taken aback by the flagrant asininity of both these articles when I had read them. Let us take a look at ‘The Bludgeoner’ article first. Richard Bunn In the second paragraph he asserts that we live in a victim blame/culture. To back this up, he concocts a bizarre and abjectly fallacious example of bumping into someone in the street. All he achieves by this is subversion of his own point, since his proof of his Dion Jones assertion is simply absurd. In the following paragraph ‘The Bludgeoner’ asserts that we lack identity, then complains that we do not respect authority any more, his implication being that Emma Dixon we lack identity because we lack respect for authority. This is directly contradictory to his following paragraph, in which he belabours people for being bland and lacking individuality. Surely this IS conformism and the word ‘conformism’ implies adherence and acquiescence to some sort of authority? Authority is the antithesis of individuality, be it the social authority Alex Farley of cliques, or the more explicit authority of the government. The extremely indolent explanation for this, which is consonant with the anonymous author’s misanthropy is that it is simply Matt Williams human nature: a familiar excuse many counter-revolutionaries have taken in the past in order to justify their exploitation and oppression of people. It also appears to be a variation on the naturalistic fallacy propounded by the philosopher G.E. Sarah Allen Moore. I do concede though, that many humans DO lack individuality, but this is simply symptomatic of authority. The sad truth is that people are unable to take responsibility for Robert Mann themselves when they are being controlled by other people and are part of a hierarchy. Hierarchy, by definition, puts the onus on those in power to answer for problems in society. This appears to be a far more congenial and rational approach to take, rather than whining misanthropy and lazy conclusions. Kevin Smith In the second paragraph of ‘The Rant’ Spencer George attempts a witty trope by saying the Lib Dems’ policies are ‘wishy washy’ because their conference was held by the sea. I’m sure Phil England Spencer could just hear the cachinnations from the readers when he wrote that line, but all it really reveals is how shallow his analysis is. This is predictably followed up with a lazy comment on Charles Kennedy’s speech, where Spencer ignores the actual content and in a markedly tabloidesque way, comments on the emotion the speech aroused in him - boredom. Thomas Hecht Hitler was a good orator, would he be a good choice for Prime Minister were he British and alive now? I suppose so, if we go by the criteria Spencer goes by. Things appear to get a bit better when we see that Spencer actually had the requisite concentration span to actully listen to the Labour Party conference. However, one cannot avoid wincing with the conspicuous piece of sophistry when Spencer accuses Tony Blair of mendacity in Blair’s boasting of cutting crime, when Spencer confutes this with evidence that in his home constituency crime has actually risen. It does not take a genius to figure out that Blair was actually not referring to Spencer’s home constituency but overall U.K statistics. There’s more infantile missing of the point in Spencer’s paragraph about the Conservative Conference, so let us direct our attention to the summative paragraphs of the article. What Spencer bizarrely deduces from all this sloppy analysis is that we the people have to take responsibilities for ourselves. What he appears to expound is a lack of government intervention, which is ghoulishly redolent of what Margaret Thatcher expounded and put into practise and with such egregious consequences. Similar to ‘The Bludgeoner’, Spencer moans at people for not tackling problems. The problem Proof readers: is that the very presence of the government, the state, or capitalism takes power from the people. They destroy the chance at autonomy by fostering reliance and subservience. I can wholly sympathise with wanting to Sam Mager get rid of the government and make people more autonomous and responsible, but really, this can only come about when people finally come to the senses and see what is the problem Carolan Goggin - the state, capitalism, and authority that perforce creates oppression and erodes away the possibilities of self-sufficient human beings. James Woolley, first year music student.