International Students' Officer Report 2005-2006

AlbyFC · You best sima!

International Students' Officer Report 2005-2006

NickyDyke85 · YouCanaeSmokeNayHashOn'Ere!

No worries bout lettin u do wot u wanted wi events..

Date: Mon Oct 30 19:59 2006

Boring, man (albyfc). I am sorry to say that apart from a bit too literary, ur txt sounds rather triumphant, and the events were quite crappy, matey. Take care, xDDD

ChrisH · Mmm eyebrows!

If you cant say anything nice then dont say anything at all!

Rt hon NickyDyke85 · Lord of the Rings

Anonymous wrote:

Boring, man (albyfc). I am sorry to say that apart from a bit too literary, ur txt sounds rather triumphant, and the events were quite crappy, matey. Take care, xDDD

Mate that post was put up in march, wots the point in tryin 2 drag it up n stir trouble now? Get a life you cvnt!

Plus the events alby organised were good, its always hard to get international students along & there is a common misconception in LGBT that international events r only for international students, so other members often don't attend them, accounting for a low turn-out.

Other things that alby did but failed to mention in his committee report, were that he was responsible for some of the other events that happened in the main LGBT soc events 05/06. These were the Wizard of Oz otley run, he'd been badgering me 4 an event wi that theme, so we put it out there among the otley run theme choices (ok at first it wer 4 a joke) & he got every1 round 2 loving that option, which turned out to be a really good & enjoyable event, with loadsa varied n interesting costumes which provided much amusement (laura as tin man)! Btw, if any1 has the group pics from that run can they send em me?

Other events that alby had an influence on n got international students coming along 2 were the non drinking events (sobriety isn't my strong point) and it was cos of him that the very successful & brilliant Tea & Cakes otley run came to be! Just because things were listed as main society events & not international ones, it doesnt mean he did sod all or no 'good' events, I worked on the basis that ppl could bring ideas along 2 me, discuss them, plan them & we'd get them sorted out TOGETHER, then my gob would front it n run it cos that was my job as events officer. That was an open policy & any member could come along n suggest an event, made it easier to cater 4 everyone. If you'd have known all that n how we worked you'd not be making more stupid un-informed comments. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to give a committee report at the AGM cos i'd quit the committee about 2/3 weeks b4 it.

However if u have any further questions, comments or arguments about last years events, feel more than free to come n approach me face to face or under ya username & I'll more than happily take u thru all the little details.

thaidave · Not Thai Dave

Anon! If you are criticising Alby you are lucky you haven't met this years international officer! He's hopeless! The events get rained on, he's never in coffee hours, and if he tracks you down on the internet to find out you've been dissing his good friend Alberto he'll be kicking you all the way to Hebdon Bridge at which point you'll be made to dig up and perform a necrophilic act with Sylvia Plath until you apologise!

Alberto rocks!

ChipsAndLube · Bertha, lovely Bertha, you are a lovely machine.

Anonymous wrote:

Boring, man (albyfc). I am sorry to say that apart from a bit too literary, [...]

literary? may i ask how? is your problem that the text, sorry txt, was a little beyond your grasp? if this is the case you ought to question what you're doing at university in the first place.

[...] ur txt sounds rather triumphant, and the events were quite crappy, matey. Take care, xDDD

triumphant? well i doubt a report championing an officer's successes would read quite so well if it had a defeatist tone to it. and to pick up on chris's comments, i wouldn't be too arsed about you being nice. but 'crappy'? in what way were the events crappy? if you can't be constructive then please, please don't post. ur txt snds rlly lame 2 me.

i don't check this forum very often now i've graduated, but i think i may as well take a minute to reinforce just why the post of international student's officer was created. i say reinforce because i can't see how alby has failed to justify its existence in the accountable and reflective report above.

http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/world.htm

take a moment to click on the link above and scroll down the page. feel any different? having lived, studied and worked abroad myself, as many lgbt students do during their time at university, i know how the feelings of isolation are all the more pointed for gay and trans students.

this is a post which seeks to represent the interests, not just of the many international students who would otherwise feel marginalised in the union's lgbt society, but of uk lgbt students who are preparing to move abroad, possibly for the first time. and if alby has failed to contribute support, facilitate integration for and generally welcome all students, uk and int'l, i'd love someone to point out how. before i created the post, as an ordinary member of the society, i could count our active international membership on two fingers.

just remember, we're lucky enough not to be imprisoned, flagellated, sentenced to hard labour, or subjected to state-sponsored torture, or indeed murder, for not being ashamed of our identities in this country. we still have a long way to go, but just be grateful that people as hard-working as alberto aren't hanged for their 'crappy' events.

or, anonymous, do i just sound triumphant?

dave

ChipsAndLube · Bertha, lovely Bertha, you are a lovely machine.

i'm sorry but i do feel strongly about this. if you are unfamiliar with the outrage surrounding the execution of mahmoud asgari and ayaz marhoni in iran, you can read the article here.

sometimes you need to look beyond the confines of your own back yard to realise the importance of other people's efforts. think carefully next time you criticise the work done by your lgbt society.

-- Edited by ChipsAndLube at 16:47, 2006-11-15

Rt hon NickyDyke85 · Lord of the Rings

Bows down in awe 2 Mr Scouse Dave! Bravo buddy!

Steerpike · One foot out of Narnia

First of all, nothing I can say can express the disgust I feel for the hangings. There is still so much to be done for human rights.

...

Secondly, as an international student, I can definitely agree with the importance of having an International students officer.

I am definitely lucky for having gotten to know so many warm and open people from the society already. it doesn't mean that it hasn't been hard sometimes though. My english is not too bad, so your basic communicating isn't a huge issue for me. What can keep you as an outsider though, is all the little cultural tidbits that most of the native people know. It can be quite hard to participate in a conversation if you have no blooming idea what the people around you are going on about. Again, this isn't a huge deal for me, but I can imagine people coming farther away having much more difficulties.

Also, I suspect that many international students are much more careful about coming out. Many of them spend most of their time with others from the same country, and don't want to be 'excommunicated' after being seen hanging out with a "sinful/silly bunch" like us. Thus they would be much more hesitant to participate in gatherings in the Union bars, for example. (furthermore, most of them will be here for only a year or a half.)

I know one eastern European girl who, after visiting the the Societies Fair, thought that the existance of an LGBT society was the best joke. She was still giggling ten minutes later after telling me about it (I almost bit through my tongue). We need to remember that many people are coming from countries/cultures like hers, where gay people are still expected to hide and pretend they don't exist.

Do I have any concrete suggestions? Erm....not yet..at least, particularly since I don't have much of an idea what the society is currently doing to reach out to International students. I don't know if it would be possible to smuggle in a small ad within one of the hundreds of leaflets that are given out to international students every year. It might also be a good idea to have some kind of presence during the International Welcome Week(doesn't have to be anything big). The Christian union (or whatever it's called), sure were there to lure all the insecure and lonely foreigners to their holy bosom. With cake!

Okay, I've blabbered long enough. Hope that made some sense.

-- Edited by Steerpike at 23:23, 2006-11-16

forum admin next gen · Posting Addict

This is a relevant topic to this thread so see if you can make the difference...

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=21236&p=3&topicID=9204183

AlbyFC · You best sima!

Hello, peeps! I've just come across this, and I'm grateful people actually defended my work. :o) I did find my role quite challenging (in terms of organisational skills and creative thinking!) but I tried to make a difference to international students and to give my own support to the rest of the committee.

I just wish I'd be able to get involved again. It's a shame nobody's gone for the position this year, but I know next year I'll be up to the neck with work. :o(

Love to all,

ME xx

Sally · Big Gay Al

you sound like you'd make a good international officer steerpike! let me know if you fancy running cos no one applied for the position and its vacant at the moment.

Ditzy_fck · Dame Poofy

ChipsAndLube wrote:

i'm sorry but i do feel strongly about this. if you are unfamiliar with the outrage surrounding the execution of mahmoud asgari and ayaz marhoni in iran, you can read the article here.

sometimes you need to look beyond the confines of your own back yard to realise the importance of other people's efforts. think carefully next time you criticise the work done by your lgbt society.

-- Edited by ChipsAndLube at 16:47, 2006-11-15

this picture upsets me greatly

EmmaMase · Guru of the Gay

Nice one Sami, thanks for the input.

Like Sally said, you sound like you'd be a great International Officer. If you're not up for that, we'd love to hear about some of your ideas as to how we could make the society feel more open to international students though.

-- Edited by EmmaMase at 11:25, 2007-03-20