As I write this, thousands of Yorkshire ‘locals’ will be reading this piece in the York Press.
The gist of the story is that there is another student event, where ‘York Students’, (and lets face it, the vast majority of them are from the University of York), get hammered, go mental and ruin everybody’s else’s time. You know the type of provocative stuff that makes most local Yorkshire people hate us.
First off, it’s bizarre that this complaint comes from Labour MP Candidate, James Alexander, our very own ex-YUSU president, a man that relishes the firm link he has forged with our student population. I am fully in support of his campaigns within this University, and I have always supported the idea of an MP who knows about our University. However it strikes me that his this link with students could be superficial.
In the article, Alexander has called Carnage, (the national student bar crawl and club night that on Sunday comes to York), a “hedonistic jaunt”. There are complaints that such events “encourage young women to dress in a far too provocative way… and cause nuisance and antisocial problems,” adding “there should be no place in York for events such as this.”
What a joke, that this ex-YUSU president (who if I’m not mistaken would have, in his day, organised quite a number of drinking-based events) should be so critical of events for York students. What he seems to have missed is we are, at least from my experience, some of the most harmless friendly student’s you could meet. In my time at York I have never seen a fight between two students – in fact the only time I have ever felt threatened in York has been when the odd local thug decides that he wants to punch a student – and who can blame him – the amount of bad press students get is ridiculous.
For example, going back to the article in question, it goes on to talk about the Sheffield student who took a leak on a war memorial. But why mention this? Why are University of York Students being tarred with the same brush?
The point I am trying to make is that most of us are actually decent, friendly students, and unless politicians and the media realise this, there will be forever be a schism between the the ‘locals’ and the ‘students’. People who disaprove of drunkenness need act reasonably, instead of spurting out useless rhetoric that appeals to voters and readers.
We might make a bit of noise at night, we might drop a few pizza boxes on the pavement, but all this hardly warrants us as being labelled antisocial and violent.
The hypocrisy the media shows is ridiculous. Students don’t act any differently from other people of their age. If you go into town on any weekend you will plenty of 18-21 year olds who are not students going out on drinking sessions, making noise, falling over and other more antisocial behaviour.
Here is a link to the original article in the York Press: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4726578.___Carnage____event_comes_to_York/. The gist my comments are not that York students are awful but my concern for the welfare of students – this is not superficial.
My comment was “These hedonistic jaunts encourage drinking to dangerous levels, encourage young women to dress in a far too provocative way, put students at unnecessary risk and cause nuisance and antisocial problems for local residents and other people trying to enjoy themselves. Events such as this affect young people’s health and add to a habit of binge drinking. I like to go out and enjoy myself as much as other people but in this instance I feel very, very strongly that there should be no place in York for events such as this.” I suggest people to look at some of the coverage of these events on google (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2711538/Carnage-UK-hits-Brighton.html). The event has mainly targeted York St John students as opposed to the University of York.
These events aren’t students’ union organised with all the welfare mechanisms that unions bring in place. These events are purely commercial and have a poor reputation across the country (http://www.nouse.co.uk/2007/10/28/yusu-clashes-with-organisers-of-carnage-barcrawl/). This is why so many students’ unions distance themselves from these events (http://www.nouse.co.uk/2007/11/19/defiant-yusu-reject-carnage-legal-threat-as-‘amateurish-intimidation’/). The NUS has also taken this stance in the past. These events do not help the reputation of students and are very different to well organised union and sports club organised events.
After the death of a student at the end of one of these events and a student urinating on a war memorial at the end of another, I do not believe these are safe or reputable events (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/8342810.stm).
Students are well-behaved contributors to this city and people should be more aware of the contributions students bring. However this event is not in the interest of students or the local community.
Councillor James Alexander
Prospective Labour MP for York Outer
Carnage doesn’t equal Viking Raid. YUSU made a statement at yusu.org about Carnage – but to summarise, it’s not exactly going to be good for students or the general public. James explains it well :)
Standard politician’s response from James Alexander. A few bad cases (the death of a student and the urinating student) are not really representative of all carnage events. In all the years they’ve been running
Dear Anon,
I suggest you also look at this report: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2708141/The-Sun-joins-2000-students-on-Britains-biggest-bar-crawl.html
James
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/08/philip-laing-carnage-binge-drinking
Carnage seems a bit of a rip-off to me. How much do they think that T-Shirt is worth?!
Carnage is a much shorter route than viking raid (even YUSU surely have to admit that the raid encourages drinking)and is a pretty similar concept – t-shirt crawl ending up with ‘free’ entry to a club. The reason YUSU don’t support it is probably because they don’t make any money from it.
As for welfare concerns, while it is true that viking raid is stewarded, your average friday or saturday on the town isn’t. If students want to put their own welfare at risk by getting hammered and finishing the night slumped in an uncomfortable chair with a greasy pizza in efes, thats a personal choice. Doesn’t really matter about the kind of t-shirt they’re wearing. YUSU welfare reps don’t stand around on micklegate giving advice on an ordinary weekend, so i don’t see why carnage should be attacked for not having welfare mechanisms involved. People know what it’s about. The event’s name surely gives the game away?
Personally I wouldn’t pay a tenner for a t-shirt that’s going to end up covered in marker pen and never worn again. However the majority of the suckers who do cough up for ‘carnage’ don’t end up pissing against war memorials or endangering their lives. A bit of perspective wouldn’t go amiss. The urinator in question from Sheffield didn’t desecrate a monument because he was wearing a carnage shirt, or because he went to university – he did it because he was outrageously drunk and obviously didn’t realise quite how disrespectful he was being.
The students vs. locals issue goes beyond drinking. Residents (wrongfully) worry about ‘studentification’, Hes East traffic, noise late at night, crime, vacated properties over the summer and of course your perennial charge ‘this area used to be for local people’. Oh and of course students don’t mow their lawns or clean their windows, thus making estates look untidy.
Some may be fair comments, others scapegoating and moaning for the sake of moaning.
I’m a little confused as to why James Alexander has stepped in to protect young women. From provocative clothing. Rather than suggesting that dressing provocatively is any any way ‘harmful’ to young women, why not start a campaign about how rape or sexual violence is NOTHING to do with what they are wearing? Talking about young women dressing in this way in this context implies that they are in danger of something happening to them, and forms an excuse for men who cannot control their aggression.