Sidney Sussex College Students' Union

Join in the celebrations at Sidney Sussex 800 Arts Festival on Saturday 20th June 2009. Come and enjoy performances from the college's and university's finest musicians, actors, and comedians in Sidney's beautiful gardens and fine halls. To enhance your experience, the festival will provide cream teas, cocktails, a hog roast, and much more throughout the day.

Online college marriage sign-ups are now open. Please visit the Freshers' Week website to sign up: www.sidneyfreshers.co.uk

College weddings will be on Monday 15th June around midday. £5/person will be charged to college bills. Sign-ups will close on Monday 8th June.

Children will be allocated over the Summer.

Get romantic!

The current accounts and budget are now available online, updated in (near) real time:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pGaoytbKNGleZcOhuKiIHQw

Lent's Issue of El Sid is out now!

Click here to download:

http://www.sscsu.com/sites/default/files/ElSidLent2009.pdf

The housing ballot will be updated and available for viewing throughout the day online here:

http://www.sscsu.com/ballot

(Please note you will have to log in to be able to view the page.)

So, here’s the deal… College want to change the current smoking policy and have a couple of suggestions about how to do it, but would like to hear student views on the issue before it goes to College Council on the 18th February.

For those of you who might be unsure, the current smoking policy in College allows anyone to smoke in their own room but not (of course) in any communal rooms, such as kitchens, supervision rooms, TV rooms, the bar and so on. Smoking is permitted outside, but not in the covered walkways.

The proposed changes might include either [1] a ban on smoking inside any college-owned rooms (including all student rooms) or [2] having designated smoking and non-smoking rooms in the ballot, and giving freshers the option to choose to have a smoking room before they arrive. There is a further proposal [3] to ban smoking outside within a certain distance of doors and windows.

From the SSCSU Open Meeting on Monday 2nd February, the views on the options that we discussed were:

1. The arguments in favour of having a ban on smoking in all rooms are:
   • There are complaints every year (and have been this year) about people who move into rooms in which the previous occupant has smoked heavily;
   • The smoke gets into the furniture, curtains and carpets of a room so is difficult to remove, even during the long Summer vacation;
   • We are all aware that smoking is bad for our health and so, as a body responsible for our welfare as well as for our academic work, College should make it more difficult for people to smoke;
   • It is unpleasant for the bedders who have to work in a smoky environment, and for those people who live near to people who smoke regularly.
   The arguments against this are:
   • Smoking is prohibited in all indoor public areas and so their own room is the only place in Cambridge in which students can smoke indoors;
   • Cambridge is a stressful place to live and study, so if people find smoking a way to relax, why should they be prohibited from doing so in their own rooms?
2. The additional arguments in favour of having designated smoking rooms, or holding a separate ‘smoking ballot’, are:
   • Some people (those at the bottom of the second year ballot) have little choice of where to live and so even marking rooms as having a regular smoker as a previous occupant could have little effect.
   The arguments against this are:
   • It would make the ballot much more complicated, particularly as a different number of people would request smoking rooms each year;
   • • It would also make the ballot less fair than the current system because it could mean that the less desirable rooms were designated as smoking rooms, which would mean that smokers would not have a fair choice. Also, if popular rooms were designated as smoking, it would give non-smokers less choice.

The points discussed that were in favour of and against item [3] were largely similar to those for and against the other two proposals.

As requested at the Open Meeting, I have attempted to glean information about the smoking policies at other colleges. Of the thirteen colleges that were represented when I brought up this point, seven have a ban on smoking inside at all with designated smoking areas outside, two have a complete ban on smoking within college grounds, three have the same policy that we currently have and only one has designated smoking and non-smoking rooms.

You might also like to note that if a ban on smoking in rooms does come into force, it will still be the case that the Fellows who live in college flats (such as the ones in Kent House) will still be permitted to smoke in what are effectively their own homes. The reason for this distinction between students’ rooms and fellows’ flats is that the fellows are likely to be in residence for several years, whereas students change room every year.

I hope this information is useful to you all, and will help you to make a fully informed decision. As ever, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to contact me by email (lg342), phone (01223 338860) or coming round to my room.

Nominate your friends for the SidNews 100!

SidNews is proud to announce that nominations are now open for the SidNews100. We are looking for the 100 students (actually, we probably won’t do 100 as that’s a lot) who best encapsulate the Sidney qualities.

The categories are:

A feast for both the eyes and the taste buds, this occasion promises to give formal-goers something extra special. The chefs have selected a brilliant menu, and will show off their award-winning culinary skills in an evening of fine dining!

The meal itself is £15 and will be charged to college bills. This will include an aperitif, but not wine. As such, the buttery will be open as normal before formal commences.

Sign Up!

The Sidney Christmas Address Book is up and running. Just log in with your raven username and password to add your address and view others.