University of York - Student Activities

Student Activities

York Student Television (YSTV) was founded at the University in 1967 and is England's oldest student television station. YSTV once held the world record for longest continuous television broadcast under a single director. It was named the best student television station at the 2012 NaSTA Awards. The University of York Filmmaking Society is a student-run filmmaking group; since 1999 its members have made two feature films and many shorts, some of which have been shown at national film festivals.

University Radio York (URY), the student radio station, is the oldest independent radio station in the United Kingdom, and winner of the Student Radio Awards Best Station Award 2005. Nouse, the oldest student newspaper and longest-running student society on campus, was established in 1964 and was 2005 NUS/Mirror Student paper of the year and 2009 NUS Best Student Media. It has also won multiple Guardian Student Newspaper awards throughout the past decade, for both its pioneering website and outstanding individual journalists. Its rival newspaper, Vision, was named Guardian Student Newspaper of the Year for three consecutive years between 2002 and 2004—the only time this has occurred in the 27-year history of the prestigious awards—and won it again in 2007. It also won Best Small Budget Publication at the 2006 NUS/Mirror National Student Media Awards.

The Lemon Press, York's satire magazine, was launched in 2009 and has rapidly gained popularity in both its print and online formats. In 2010 it won the NUS Award for Best Student Media, having existed only one year. The Yorker is a rapidly growing online publication set up by students as an independent company in 2007; it was nominated for the Guardian Student media awards after running for only a few months. The Zahir is a cultural/philosophical magazine that has been running since 2005. In early 2009 Haus Magazine was also launched focusing of fashion and youth culture. Each College has its own JCRC or students' association which provide a variety of services, including college events and student welfare services; they also organise the Freshers' Fortnight activities in their College. The students' union is known as YUSU, but is properly called the University of York Students' Union. Its membership is currently the entire student population of the university. In 2008 YUSU was able to open its first Union-run licensed venue The Courtyard. In addition to the students' union, there is a Graduate Students' Association (the GSA) which performs many of the functions of the Students' Union for postgraduate students, including representing postgraduates on university committees and Council.

York Student Cinema (YSC), operating since the late 1960s, show around 30 films a term using a professional 35 mm projector and a full size cinemascope screen in one of the largest rooms on campus. It has won the BFFS film society of the year award several times.

Every summer term the students take part in the Roses Tournament, a sports competition against Lancaster University. The venue of the event alternates each year between York and Lancaster, and involves numerous sports clubs, including the conventional (football, hockey) and the more extreme (YUCC, ultimate frisbee).

The University of York Music Society and the University of York Drama society are two of the largest student societies on campus; both now collaborate with the Central Hall Musical Society and Happily Ever After Society who each stage an annual musical. Other performing societies include the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, PantSoc who stage the biannual student pantomimes, and ComedySoc who run a variety of student comedy events throughout each term. FUSION was recently founded to promote the ever-growing urban music scene and to raise money for charity. In 2004 a student at the university established York Carnival—a day celebrating music and the arts in the centre of York. Its original aim was to encourage links between the University of York and the residents of the historic city and to encourage participation in the arts. It has grown in to a large annual event, attracting crowds of up to 5,000. The Lords of Misrule are a group of current and former graduate students at the Centre for Medieval Studies at King's Manor who enjoy bringing the theatre of the Middle Ages to life. Since their inception in the 1960s. the Lords have been performing dramas and adaptations of medieval texts in their original languages, frequently in historic locations. Their performances strive to present the spirit of medieval drama to a modern audience. The group's most recent performances were in the York Mystery Plays on 11 and 18 July 2010, performing the Curriers' Pageant of the Transfiguration of Christ. http://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/

Non-partisan political societies are well represented at the university, with the York Student Think Tank - which produces research in collaboration with national policy organisations such as IPPR, New Generation Society - an informal debating society, and The York Union Society - which competes in intervarsity debating tournaments against other universities. There are also very active party political societies on campus with the University of York Labour Club, the University of York Liberal Democrat Society, the University of York Conservative and Unionist Association and the University of York Green group campaigning on issues both on and off campus, as well as organising debates and talks by high profile speakers. In recent years there have been visits by Ed Miliband, David Davis, Nick Clegg, David Blunkett, Anthony Giddens, Ruth Lea, Dominic Green Adrian Ramsey Caroline Lucas and David Willets. There is also a branch of People and Planet, which campaigns on environmental and ethical issues.

Provisions for lesbian, gay bisexual and trans (LGBT) students at the university are divided among two distinct organisations. YUSU LGBT is a part of the students' union and represents LGBT students within the union, as well as providing welfare support and conducting awareness raising campaigns on campus. LGBT Social organises social events aimed at LGBT students and their friends. While remaining separate, these two groups generally have strong links to each other and to the staff LGBTI forum, which offers largely similar provision to staff members of the university.