Students have already voted to reduce the number of full-time officers’ roles from seven to five.

The new officer roles will be decided through an independent report from the NUS. A survey by NUS gathered responses from Swansea University students in a short online poll and the results and recommendations were to be brought to the forum for the student vote.

A preliminary report from NUS was due to be discussed at the student forum on Friday 6th December, but the debate has been postponed until the January student forum.

The notice of polls, which is a requirement and the first step in the students’ union election process could be posted before the first student forum of 2014, to be held on Thursday 30th January.

This means that students may not have a chance to debate or vote on the five officer roles before they have been decided.
This week’s student forum will now discuss the QAA review, which is described as the “Ofsted for Universities” by students’ union president Zahid Raja.

There are fears that forum will be poorly attended, however, because of the time and place. The venue has been changed and the meeting will now take place in the council chambers at the abbey.

The day is also different, from the regular Tuesday or Thursday slot to a Friday evening.

The monthly student forums have been held in the refectory this year and mid-week to promote student engagement.

In addition, the promotion of the event has been criticised by students.

Josh Hale, MSc Psychological Research Methods student, said: “Although they’ve put a list of dates up for the year, I’ve seen no other advertising. I didn’t even know they moved it and as an active committee member of three societies I’d have expected to have found out or heard about it. It’s a nice venue and professional but can be intimidating to students who haven’t been there before.”

Some students have confirmed they won’t be attending the forum because Friday nights have work or social commitments.

The forum, which starts at 6pm, is on the same night as the most popular students’ union society event, the Hogwarts Yule Ball.
“I will be getting ready for the Yule Ball in the refectory that evening!” said Leigh Moss, president of the Hogwarts Society.
Suggestions for moving the forum to the Hive, the students’ union space for meetings and talks, were dismissed by students’ union president Zahid Raja.

Raja said: “The dates for student forums are set in the diary at the start of the year – this year, in the spirit of openness and transparency, I made a decision to publish these on the website at the start of the year. We haven’t changed the date or time for any of these meetings since their publication. The Hogwarts society required the Refectory and Cafe West for their Yule Ball. I saw fit to move the forum to another flat-floored space in the university.

“Currently, the only time students visit the abbey building is if they are facing an appeal / disciplinary / if they are attending a senior university meeting. Exposing this part of the university to students as somewhere where we can hold open public meetings and events will reduce the overwhelming feeling that student attending appeals / senior meetings / disciplinary often feel. I won’t make an apology for trying to open up more areas of the university to students.”

The cookery school was organised by Italian foods company Sacla after they conducted research that showed that four out of five students can’t boil an egg, three quarters can’t make a roast and half can’t mash a potato.

The poll of 1,000 students also found that 40% consider themselves to have an unhealthy diet.

“Before the Sacla cookery school, I was pretty lazy with my cooking habits as baking bigger meals seemed like too much effort,” said Sam Booth.

“Daniela showed us how easy it was to make pizza and pasta dishes that are healthy for you and can go a long way for a small cost.”

IN a major u-turn, Swansea University Students’ Union has admitted that their decision to ban the Pole Fitness Society was “wrong”.

Three weeks ago, the union’s trustee board voted unanimously to ban the society, causing a storm of protest from students and the pole fitness community.

In a letter to the society, the trustees said that pole fitness was too closely linked with pole dancing and that it was “intrinsically linked to the sex industry”.

But at a recent student forum, the society’s president Bethan Morris, seconded by women’s officer Rosie Inman, presented a motion to affiliate the Pole Fitness Society with the students’ union through a student vote.

Voting will take place on Monday 11th November online at http://swansea-union.co.uk after major technical difficulties meant the vote scheduled for Friday 8th November was suspended. If a majority vote for the motion, the society will re-affiliate with the union.

However a vote against the ban could still be blocked as student forum decisions are not constitutionally binding until the trustee board, which banned the society and wrote the provocative letter that started the protest, approves the vote.

Bethan Morris, president of the society, took the u-turn as a major victory: “I’d just like to say how happy we are that the union has apologised for their mistakes and that the situation will not only be rectified for pole fitness but that new legislation will be put in place to stop it happening to any other society.”

Students’ union president, Zahid Raja, admitted the trustee board’s decision was “wrong” and that “more student input was needed”.

Raja however refused to comment whether the trustees still believed that pole fitness was “intrinsically linked to the sex industry”, until after the student vote.

Bethan Morris explained why she took action: “We submitted the motion because we felt that the union were out of order in their decision. The subsequent behaviour however – ever since the motion was submitted – of Zahid and the full-time officers has been nothing but cooperative and helpful.

“We’re eagerly awaiting the result of the referendum next week, although we see no reason why pole fitness will not be reinstated so hopefully it’ll be plain sailing from here on. We’re really excited to become a fully functioning Swansea University society again.”

A students’ union spokesperson refused to comment on the matter until a trustee meeting next week, and Rosie Inman, the women’s officer, had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

After answering the door to a man claiming to be looking for a missing child, the 20-year-old man was assaulted and a gang of six men entered the property on Bryn Road, stealing cash and laptops.

Four suspect descriptions have been issued and the police are appealing for information.

One suspect is male, white, aged 23-24, 5ft 10ins in height, of medium build with stubble on his face and was wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.

The second suspect is male, black, 6ft 2ins in height, wearing a black jacket.

Another man wanted is of mixed race, aged in his 20s, of fat and stocky build with a thick half-inch beard below the chin, wearing a jumper. He spoke with a Caribbean accent.

And the final profile is that of a male, white, aged early 20s, who spoke with a local accent and wore a blue tracksuit.

Detective Inspector Darren George of Swansea CID said: “We believe that the victim has been mistakenly targeted and the suspects have attended the wrong address.

“It is clear they were looking for drugs or cash and have made off with property from the address including computer equipment and clothing.”

Around six men were seen running away from the scene along Bryn Road in the direction of Brynmill Lane.

Any witnesses or anyone with information about the incident should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Students living in the area are being warned to report any suspicious callers on 101 or in an emergency, 999.

The widespread flooding and hurricane force winds that were forecast for the Swansea area failed to materialise.

Some lectures were cancelled ahead of the storm and the university issued a warning to students to follow advice issued by the police and Met Office.

Meanwhile, student letting agency SAS warned its residents to make sure all windows and doors were secured, in a preemptive move to avoid preventable damage.

A tree closed a lane of Oystermouth Road eastbound for a short while on Sunday and was later cut down due to damage from high winds.

Some flooding and high winds affected the Cardiff and Newport areas, with the strongest gust of wind recorded at 44 mph at St Athan.

The storm has battered south east England, with the Met Office recording a gust of 99 mph on the Isle of Wight.

The St Jude storm comes just days after the 26th anniversary of Michael Fish’s infamous ‘no hurricane’ forecast, which later turned out to be the worst storm to hit the UK since 1703.

Last Thursday, The Waterfront revealed the trustee board’s letter that generated a massive student backlash.

The national Pole Fitness Society, representing over 300 instructors, has threatened to sue unless the trustee board reverses its decision.

A spokesman for the society said: “We must consider our own duty to our membership of 300-plus professional pole instructors and act according to their wishes.

“In the absence of any reply from the SUSU trustee board we are prepared for both legal and constitutional recourse.
“We sincerely hope that neither of these options become necessary.”

The trustee board originally banned the society, without any direct student input, because pole fitness was “linked to the sex industry”.

In their letter, the trustees said: “We should not be deaf to the very issue of pole fitness playing a part in upholding this raunch culture and objectification of women and girls and the impact of this on our female students.”

Instructor Dawn Roberts, who runs the classes for the pole fitness club, speaking to the Evening Post: “My class is and always has been about fitness. I have no relationship with the sex industry and none of the people I have trained have gone on to work in it.”

In response to this, the students’ union declined to give a fresh response, re-iterating its line: “The union are aware of the contents of the letter written by the PDC and are looking to discuss this and a number of other issues at our next student forum.”

An 18-year-old was allegedly seriously sexually assaulted near Wind Street on Sunday night, when the area was busy with students attending a Carnage UK event.

The alleged assault took place around midnight in bushes on the Strand, at the junction with Quay Parade.

South Wales Police are investigating the incident and are appealing for information.

Detective Inspector Dave Hough said: “We are appealing for anyone who was in the area at this time or who may have any information which could assist officers in the investigations to come forward.

“I want to reassure the public that an incident such as this is extremely unusual and a rarity.”

“If anyone has any information about the incident then please contact the police.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Swansea CID Sapphire Team on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 and quote reference 62130331421.

The quorum (minimum number of students to vote) was 459 and the total valid votes stood at 464.
Two-thirds of the voters (310) had to vote for the motion and 354 did so. 110 voted against and there was no option to abstain or spoil votes.

Strong opinions were raised on both sides of the debate. Societies and services officer Ceinwen Cloney promised cuts if students voted no: “I’m going to be honest about what voting no will mean. In a word? Cuts.”

Engineering student Tom Lake, posted an open letter in which he questioned the reasoning for the referendum: “The problem? We are being asked to make a financial decision without any meaningful financial information to work with.”

PhD Materials Engineering student Chris Melvin, posting on Twitter about the number of people who voted, said: “The fact that #changeswansea13 reached quorum by 5 votes for such a huge change to the way the union is represented is sad #democracyfail”

Students’ union president Zahid Raja, said: “I’m incredibly pleased with the result and the democratic mandate to continue on with the reforms suggested in my manifesto.

“There will be plenty who are unhappy and will look to fault process to explain away the result. To those individuals, I would say that this is now time for Swansea students to join the debate. This is the time for you to look long and hard at the ways in which we are represented – seize the opportunity and improve our union for generations to come.”

The last referendum to be held was in 2011 where it was decided to abolish the athletics union and to adopt a sports officer into the students’ union.

The night bus will give priority to women and lone travellers and, if successful, will be extended to other nights of the week.

Pickup point from town will be at St Mary’s Church, between Iceland and Primark, every 30 minutes from 12.30am until 3.30am.

Contributions from Wind Street pubs and clubs are being used to fund the scheme, with Idols, Bambu, Peppermint, Walkabout and Revolution picking up the tab.

A spokesperson for Bambu & Peppermint said: “It’s great to be involved with such proactive activity like this because travel is always an issue for students at the end of the night, whether it’s lack of funds or long taxi queues, and many people decide to walk home, which after a few drinks can sometimes do more bad then good for the students.”

The route will go from Wind Street, to St Helens Road, Bryn-y-mor Road, King Edward’s Road, Rhyddings Park Rd, Gwydr Crescent, Uplands Crescent, Sketty Road, up to the Student Village, then back via the campus (stopping at Fulton House), and then returning to Wind Street.

The bus will seat 78 and it will prioritise women and people on their own, but there will be no guaranteed seats available. Personal safety alarms will also be issued on the bus.

The move is in reaction to the police being forced to shift resources from Friday nights to Wednesday nights, with more officers on Wind Street to deal with party revellers.

Rosie Inman, students’ union women’s officer, who made the night bus an election pledge, said: “We’re so excited to be launching the Night Bus, as student safety is very important to us. We hope it will help students to make their way home safely on nights out, particularly those who are more vulnerable.”

The news comes in the same week as National Express has announced that a campus stop will be added to its London route. It will connect Swansea University, Swansea City, Port Talbot, Cardiff University, Bristol and London.

National Express UK Coach Managing Director Tom Stables said: “Students need to be able to travel affordably while still enjoying comfort and convenience so we’re pleased increase our services to the Swansea University, making the return to campus, weekend breaks or journeys to other universities as easy as possible.”

Coach Cards for the service, which cost £10 per year, give a third off fares using the services.

The four daily 507 services will start from early October.

Salibur Rashid, 37, of Oxford Street, pleaded not guilty at Swansea Magistrates Court.

The alleged sex attack by Rashid on the female student happened on August 29.

The charge alleges that Rashid touched the woman, the touching was sexual and the female victim did not consent.

Anwen Evans for the prosecution asked magistrates to decline jurisdiction and send it to the crown court, which has tougher sentencing powers.

Craig Davies, for Rashid did not object and the case has been adjourned.

Rashid was given conditional bail to appear at the crown court on September 10.