The University's Art Building closure

The University is planning to close one of the main Art Departments at Lincoln University after threats of financial stresses.

The closure of the Greestone Centre, one of the buildings off the main campus, could be as near as September whereas the new Art building will not be opening until 2012 which has left some students questioning where they will be studying..
One student, Paul Stewart a second year fine art student believes the closure is “just a con on the fact that the estates are trying to cut a budget.”

The University is under the impression that the Art studio at the Greestone Centre is barely used by the students, yet Stewart completely disagrees, he says “As an art student we use the space as and when needed, we use blank space for creative ideas, not all our work is based in the studio. We do work outside of the University building just like everyone else, studio space is just one part of the course.”

The caretaker and auditors of the grounds have been assessing the amount of students who are using the centre and keep a track daily on numbers. Paul feels they university have a contradictory attitude as, “they count the people [in the studio] not the amount of art there itself.” He feels that the university should be looking at the wider spectrum being the amount of art in the centre and this should be a reflection of the amount of work the students do do in the studio itself, not just a simple case of numbers.

It has also come to light that not long ago, the cafeteria at The Greestone cente was shut down and the art students came back to University with nowhere to eat or drink. The students had to protest for the café to be re-opened. Stewart says, “[The University] expected the art students to not have any eating facilities. Yet the main campus has over 3 café’s, so the closure of our café was unjustifiable.

Many art students have been asking questions as to why the university are considering the closure of the centre, saying it is due to funding, yet there is new buildings being built around the main campus.

Director of Estates and Commercial Facilities, John Plumridge comments on the fact that the University is growing, “The University remains ambitious and still needs to grow its estate.

The capital programme sets out the finances underpinning a number of major building projects and is fully aligned to the University’s latest thinking in terms of its estates strategy.”Plumridge says “the construction on the Brayford Campus of an Artbox building (planned for 2012) to house the School of Art and Design [will] see staff moving out of Thomas Parker House and Greestone to the main campus, and will provide access to much better facilities for staff and students while saving the University money in the long term. These projects are all to support the academic developments set out by the University.”

My article written for the Linc about Drunken Pranks

A drunken prank went too far last month when two students wearing disguises broke into a flat at the Junxion, terrifying the residents. The student flat was terrorised in the early hours of the morning by intruders wearing horse-face masks entering one of the bedrooms.

Julie Knapp, a second-year psychology student who lives in the flat, says: “I was very frightened that someone was capable of getting into our flat. It is believed they did so by taking the keys from one of the residents’ bags. I am very disappointed that students who are meant to be mature and grown up would find it amusing to intrude [on] a person’s flat to play pranks on them at 4am in the morning.”
She also explains how the prank, which left her very shaken up, reached a whole new level when the mask-wielding intruders got into her flatmate’s bedroom, awakening her. Julie explains that her flat mate “woke up terrified”, and when she got up to confront the people involved they ran out only to return again once she had got back into bed, shouting “I’m back!”

When the flat’s residents complained about the intrusion to the Junxion’s staff, they quickly reacted by changing the flat’s locks, and were apologetic about the incident. Knapp says: “I am very happy about the locks being changed. Within five minutes of the complaint we had a knock at the door with maintenance wanting to change our locks.” She also says that she would have no issues with approaching the Junxion office again as they were “very helpful with the situation and very sorry that it had happened.”

Ross Cummings, a fine art student from the same flat, says: “This was disgraceful behaviour and was a very difficult experience for the whole of the flat [who] felt it was necessary to have the locks changed to keep our minds at rest.”

Knapp also told The Linc how she discovered the identity of one of the intruders after he bragged about his involvement to her at a party. She says: “He was very apologetic when we said to him that he had frightened us and said he felt as though maybe him and his fellow flatmate had gone too far with the prank.”

Daniel Gahnstrom, one of the intruders, admits he loves to play drunken pranks. He says: “[Pranks are] so much more fun when you’ve had a few. You don’t care about the consequences, or who you upset and make cry, because you’re drunk and it’s good fun.” However, he believes that pranks shouldn’t be violent, “just funny so you upset someone in a non-physical way.” He also claims he plays drunken pranks regularly, admitting to knocking over bikes on the street and smashing plant pots. “We once put a fish through somebody’s letter box. It was funny. We once climbed on someone’s roof and then fell off pulling the guttering down with us,” says Gahnstrom.

My article published in The Linc on the Cervical Cancer Vaccone

The cervical cancer vaccine, known as the HPV jab, has been given to more than a million young girls in the UK.

Girls as young as 12 and 13 have already started to receive the vaccine since September last year, with an ongoing-two year catch up set to follow for girls up to the age of 18 launching this autumn.

The two vaccines that have been developed, called Gardasil and Cervarix, both target a sexually transmitted disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), which is believed to cause almost all cases of cervical cancer.

There are 100 types of HPV, and a mere 13 of them are known to cause cancer. The others are either harmless, or cause genital warts.
Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, says: “Our statistics show that in the first school year of the HPV vaccine being offered, 70 per cent of eligible girls completed the full course of all three doses.”
One of the young girls preparing for the vaccine is 17-year-old Danielle Pearson from Hull. She says she is not convinced whether or not the injections are necessary. She is “dreading” the vaccination because she is terrified of needles.
“I am weary as to whether it has been properly tested and if it does actually work, as it has not been around for very long. I feel three injections done within six months just to be protected from one disease seems a bit much,” she says.

After undergoing extensive research and safety checks before the introduction the HPV vaccine, the overall safety record has proven to be good, with a tiny minority of girls developing minor side-effects, such as headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Only 4,657 adverse reactions where noted after 1.4 million vaccinations.

Despite this, the statistic comes at a worrying time after 14-year-old Natalie Morton died shortly after having been vaccinated. Tests have verified the vaccine was extremely unlikely to have caused her death, but the publics lack of understanding of the immunisations is causing some panic amongst parents and the young girls themselves.

Emily Jones, a spokesperson from Marie Stopes International, a leading provider of sexual and reproductive heath care services, has great confidence in the vaccine.
“The vaccine is a great leap forward in the prevention of cervical cancer, it is important to remember that it is not a cure-all and will only protect against certain strains of HPV. It does not protect against all cervical cancers and it is still very important to develop a cervical screening culture among women of all ages,” Jones says.

Harriett Brewitt, a student from Lincoln College, agrees and says she thinks the vaccine is an extremely good idea and any preventative measure to stop cancer should be welcomed.
“The minute risk is worth the long term reassurance, as a small injection is nothing compared to having a deadly disease,” says Brewitt.
She says the only ill-effect of having the inject was that her arm became “quite stiff and sore” for a time.

It is thought that it will take up to 10 years to show whether vaccination has been successful and prevented more cases of cervical cancer in women.

Im Back!

So it seems I have not written on here for well a very long time. Apologies!
But I have had a very busy few months so thats my excuse!
I will start writing more often on here as I do have a lot to say....

Chow for now

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