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CUSU Rebrand As a result of the survey that was undertaken with students in the last academic year, CUSU has decided to undergo a complete rebrand.

Students felt that the current CUSU logo was dated, misunderstood and didn’t convey what the essence of the Students’ Union was all about. Coventry students told us that they wanted their logo to be simpler and more recognisable as well as having connotations including diversity, democracy, community, fun and campaigning.

Five students from the School of Art and Design have taken on the task as their final degree project. Final designs will be presented to a group of students and staff at the Students’ Union on May 12. The shortlisted designs will then be selected and put out to a student vote from May 17 – June 4 hosted on www.cusu.org.

So get ready for a change for 2010/11 as we’ll be launch-ing our new brand! If you have any questions or ideas for the project please see Laura - e laura.hacker@coventry.ac.uk, t – 5201.

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As I’m sure you’ll be aware election fever hit our campus once again in March and had the biggest voting turnout ever, with 22 candidates and over 2,000 voters! The elections were once again not without a bit of controversy, with technical hiccups and several complaints to keep Faye Grundy the Returning Officer and CUSU staff busy. However the results were finally announced and the new CUSU Executive for 2010/11 are as follows…

Your next SU heroes announced!

Tom FisherEngineering and ComputingFaculty Chair

Joe Paxton Art and Design School Chair

Andy O’ShaughnessyVice President Academic Affairs

Dave Brewis Vice President Student Activities

Sarah Kelly Business, Environment and Society Faculty Chair

Kersten JamesHealth and Life SciencesFaculty Chair

Robert WilsonPresident

Dez CutcheyVice President Communications

Liah Maccallam Vice President Welfare

CUSU gets involved in elections campaign

2 - Join the ‘Vote for Students’ campaign. The National Union of Students (NUS) are asking students to use their vote in the forthcoming general election to support candidates that would vote against any increase in fees to the next parliament, and would pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative. More details can be found at www.voteforstudents.co.uk.

CUSU sabbaticals have been working to ask students to do two things…

1 – To register to vote – one in five (22 per cent) of students are missing from the electoral register or don’t now live in the area they are registered in. CUSU wants the student voice to be heard!

Coventry University Students’ Union sent five delegates to the National Union of Students (NUS) National Conference this year, to discuss, debate and vote on policies for the forthcoming year.

The three-day long event was held in Gateshead, the first time in over 20 years that National Conference was held outside of Blackpool.

The Coventry delegation consisted of: CUSU President, Rob Wilson; Vice President Communications, Dez Cutchey; Vice President Welfare, Liah Maccallam; Art and Design School Chair, Joe Paxton; and President of the Jewish society, Michael Ajoodan Poor.

Rob Wilson successfully passed an amendment to a motion on how Students’ Unions are funded though a 900-strong conference, with no speeches against. This was a great coup for Coventry.

Local University Warwick, however, was unsuccessful with its attempt to censure NUS President, Wes Streeting, for comments made over the conflict in Gaza.

The Coventry delegation returned with some great ideas and inspired to make real change for students, both within Coventry, and on a national level.

Coventry delegatesmake their mark!

We are about to launch our own online shop selling the ever popular hoodies, hats and scarfs. The shop onwww.cusu.org will also sell gift vouchers which can be spent in either of our buildings.

CUSU launches online shop

It’s that time of year again, for the Summer Ball. This year it will be held on June 2 once again in the Cathedral Ruins and on University Square. Tickets this year will be sold on www.cusu.org. If you receive any questions from students regarding purchasing tickets online please forward their queries to the Marketing and Communications office.

The Summer Ball is fast approaching!

Steve Want recently put on his boots in search of streets paved with gold in London, but failing to find them, he attended a two day ‘Advanced InDesign’ Course. Heard of it? No, me neither, but Steve uses this desk-top publishing package for newspapers and maga-zines  on a daily basis, hence a trip to the big smoke to find a supplier who can deliver the course in a concise  manner.

Having made it safely back, Steve explained how the course  enthused and energised him as it gave him a chance to learn new skills. There was only three other people on the course, so Steve had the chance to ask lots of questions and spend some quality time with an expert in the ‘InDesign’ field. Being CUSU’s only Graphic Designer, the course also gave Steve the chance to discuss tips with others on the course, who use the application on a daily basis. Having survived an over-night stay at a London B&B, and the two day course, Steve has come back to us raring to go and full of ideas to save time and energy.

Paul reports…

Adrien Lennon joined the team in March and took on the newly created role which now not only works to de-velop student representation but also helps to coordi-nate various campaigns. Adrien has an interesting background, coming from her previous role as Account Manager for CWT Chamber Training, a private training provider based in Coventry. Adrien also qualified as a Nutritional Therapist in 2009, so has been an asset already with her knowledge in the Exam Stress campaign providing dietary tips to stu-dents. Adrien looks forward to developing in her new role, increasing representation throughout the University and encouraging participation in campaigns.

CUSU welcomes new Student Representation & Campaigns Coordinator

Sports Day 2010 Let battle commence!On Saturday March 24 students of past and present battled it out for the Alumni Sports day. Over 250 people attended which included over 100 Alumni. Sports included were Men’s and Women’s Football, Hockey, Athlet-ics, Badminton, Men’s Rugby league and Union and Cricket. Activities took place at the Universities Indoor and Outdoor facilities during the day with the evening entertainment at FiftyFour.

Varsity Day 2010 saw a huge effort and commitment from the students and staff involved, as well as there be-ing some outstanding performances. It was Coventry’s best result yet, narrowly losing the event by only two points.

With Varsity Day being the closest it has ever been, staff at Coventry and Warwick took it upon themselves to settle Varsity once and for all by playing a staff netball match.

The day before the match, Warwick held a training session whilst Coventry were sitting back and relaxing.

Kitted up in Varsity Day t-shirts, Rob, Becky, Jo, Liz, Tim, Paul, Andy and Stacie (our very own netballer), played a good game. With only one injury (Rob breaking his nail) our team worked hard and provided good opponents... let’s just say Warwick were taking the “friendly” a little too seriously!

Final score: Coventry 6 - Warwick 28

We’ll beat them next year, eh Coventry?

Varsity Day, Take Two

Photography by Gemma Green

Varsity Day, Take Two Varsity Day 2010 saw a huge effort and commitment from the students and staff involved, as well as there being some outstanding performances. It was Coventry’s best result yet, narrowly losing the event by only two points. With Varsity Day being the closest it’s ever been, staff at Coventry and Warwick took it upon themselves to settle Varsity once and for all by playing a staff netball match. The day before the match, Warwick held a training session whilst Coventry were sitting back and relaxing. Kitted up in Varsity Day t-shirts, Rob, Becky, Jo, Liz, Tim, Paul, Andy and Stacie (our very own netballer), played a good game. With only one injury (Rob breaking his nail) our team worked hard and provided good opponents... let’s just say Warwick were taking the “friendly” a little too seriously! Final score: Coventry 6 - Warwick 28 We’ll beat them next year, eh Coventry? Photography by Gemma Green.

This year Horizon Volunteering hosted their Volunteer Awards Party on Wednesday April 21 2010 at St Mary’s Guildhall.

The Awards Party was an annual event which celebrat-ed the contribution that Coventry University students and staff make to their local communities through vol-unteering.

A complimentary meal was provided as well as drinks, music and guest speakers. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet and socialise with other volunteers and find out about the inspirational volunteering that has taken place this academic year.

All Horizon volunteers were invited to the event and presented with a certificate of recognition to thank them for their involvement. It was also an opportunity to thank local voluntary organisations and schools who have received and supported volunteers during the year.

The event also saw the presentation of the prestigious Student Volunteering England Gold Awards. Gold Awards are a mark of excellence in volunteering and this year seven awards were presented under the categories of leadership, dedication and achieve-ment, to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the community.

Horizon Volunteer Awards Party

Women of Achievement Award

Oyinlola is an ambassador for volunteering and has made a significant contribution to the local commu-nity with her voluntary work, including being an Asylum Caseworker for Coventry Refugee Centre, marshalling at the Coventry half marathon, assisting at the Play the Game Conference as well as various projects for Student Volunteering Week, such as Read Internation-al Campus Book Drive and a Cloakroom Challenge painting project at All Saints Primary School.

Horizon Volunteer, Oyinlola Akinde has been honoured by Coventry Women’s Forum with a Women of Achieve-ment Award for the sterling work she has done in the local community. The award ceremony took place on Saturday March 6 at the Coventry Transport Museum and marked the launch of the Coventry Women’s Festival.

The awards were to celebrate ordinary women who have made an extraordinary difference. Oyinlola was nominated by Coventry University Lecturer Peter Atkinson for the contribution she made to the plan-ning and implementation of the ‘Raising Voices for Haiti Relief’ concert as well as the varied voluntary work she has done in the local community through Horizon Volunteering.

Peter said, “Oyinlola helped out with a number of practical things, from putting posters up around the university campus and in local churches and other lo-cations, to co-ordinating a team of volunteers who as-sisted in organising the venues layout on the night and collecting cash donations”.

The event rose over £850 for the cause and saw poets, dancers, musicians and other performers come to-gether for the evening of entertainment.

Volunteer AwardsParty 2010

Horizon Volunteering

Horizon Volunteer Awards PartyWednesday 21st April 2010

Horizon Volunteering

As this is such a busy time of year for all Coventry Uni students, with hand in’s, dissertations and exams on the horizon. CUSU has been running a Beat Exam Stress campaign to help students to unwind and mentally prepare for the upcoming months. As part of the cam-paign goodie bags were distributed including freebies and information fact sheets across campus and a special Glee themed Detox event also took place.

A new proposal to overhaul the Course Rep System comes as a result of a paper submitted to the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) by the Students’ Union in February. 

With feedback from QAC, we have been working on the logistics behind the new proposals in conjunction with each of the Faculties. 

The response from the Faculties towards the proposed changes have been very positive and we are all keen to begin working together on the new system once a second paper passes through the next QAC in May. Some of the proposed changes include: • Faculty Chairs, and a new level of Senior Reps, to

receive an honorarium in view of the responsibilities placed upon them

• ‘Course Consultative Committees’ (CCCs) to be renamed the more student-friendly: ‘Student Forums’

• Reps to nominate themselves using SharePoint, significantly reducing administration time

 Should the new proposals go ahead, we are hoping to see a significant increase in the participation and measurable quality of the Course Representation Sys-tem, supporting Amundsen’s aim of high-profile ‘stu-dent empowerment’ and an increase in the volume of the ‘student voice’… Watch this space!

During February and March international students were invited to participate in a questionnaire designed to find out about their experiences so far this year of look-ing for, finding and living in rented accommodation whilst studying at Coventry University. We wanted to hear from students living in University accommodation, the FutureLets properties, privately managed halls as well as the wider privately rented sector, including es-tate agents and landlords.

SUAC wrote the questionnaire in partnership with the Accommodation and International Offices and it was distributed with the help of many other colleagues around campus. Over 250 students have responded and the results are currently being collated.

We hope the information will prove useful in the work we are planning to do for new students arriving this autumn and in our strategic work with Coventry City Council. We will be sharing the results of the survey with the Landlords Forum and also our colleagues at the University of Warwick Students’ Union.

New CourseRep Proposal

Beat Exam stress

SUAC and International StudentsAccommodation Experience Survey

2010

It takes two!Two members of the Sports and Societies team are taking on challenges to raise money for charity. Ali is doing a triathlon to raise money for Help for Heroes and Rob is undertaking the Coventry Half Marathon on May 23 in aid of Acorn’s.

Congratulations to…Ema Collier on her engagement last month.

Louise Blakeman for passing her EuropeanComputer Driving License exam.

Party 2010

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