University of Bradford Union
Encyclopedia
The University of Bradford Union (UBU) is the students' union for the University of Bradford
in Bradford
, England.
s, elected annually and the end of the academic season, and up to six part-time executive officers elected at the start of the academic season. The executive committee is unusual in not having a president: the post was abolished by Shumon Rahman in 2001 who was elected the Union's first Asian President in 2000. The new executive positions and the reforms he introduced were modified in 2007 to incorporate an agreement with the University made in 2004 that a full review of the officers would take place. This involved merging the Treasurer and Secretary (what was Internal Affairs) role and the creation of one of the only Ethics, Environment and Welfare Officers in the country.
The executive is monitored by a council of up to 40 elected students who meet around 6 times each academic year: 10 of these places are filled through open places in a cross campus ballot, the others are made up of Course Representatives, Athletics, Societies and other bodies representatives in the Union such as Forums (statutory meetings of union members).
The Union is located in the Student central on campus and is politically active (nominally to the left however in 2010 the union saw the election of its first centre right candidate Imad Faghmous as media and entertainments officer and subsequently Academic Affairs Officer the year after.
(commonly known as the AA) and societies. There is a variety of both. Even though the University did not till recently run any performing arts courses, there are several societies for music and theatre. The variety of sports available is largely due to the centralised funding and membership structure of the AA, which helps support smaller clubs. The current student union colours are blue and red, but many of the sports teams still use their traditional black, with red and white accents.
The Student Union also has RamAir, one of the UK's longest running student radio stations, broadcasting on 1350AM
and online, a student newspaper called The Bradford Student and a film society/cinema showing professional 35mm cinema prints known as the Bradford Student Cinema.
Free Education & Grants for all
The Union has a long standing position for free education, in 1997 the Union supported people refusing to pay the first fees including fees strikes. That latest free education policy was passed in 2008 to support the call for a national demonstration for free education. In September 2008 the General Meeting of students decided that the call for Free Education should be the campaign priority for the academic year and voted to allocate over one thousand pounds to the cause.
Palestine and Gaza
After the Union made two demands for support of Gaza of the University in 2009 over 80 students occupied the University boardroom with a number of further demands of support for Gaza. they claim to have achieved some success as of the morning of 28 January 2009 . In 2007 a Bradford Student Khaled al-Mudallal became trapped in Palestine. The union ran a campaign to support Khaled and to aid his return. It was supported by UCU
, the Lectures Union and the NUS
the National Students' Union. He was elected the Honorary Vice President of the LSE Students' Union
and released on 4 December
Blood Donation
UBU has supported the right for gay men to give blood with its LGBT
society campaigning throughout the year of 2006 and 2007 to lift the ban.. The union supported the society in encouraging people who can to give blood and to call for the ban to be lifted in favour of a ban on promiscuity and people who partake in unsafe sex giving blood.
Imran Khan
The union took a stance with the Bradford University in supporting Imran Khan, the University chancellor and Pakistani MP
when he was arrested in 2007. They co-organised events for the release of Imran and a demonstration was due to take place, organised by the Union on 24 November 2007
Fair Trade
UBU coordinates the Bradford University Fair Trade Status, in 2006 the Union gained Fair Trade status for the University and continues to campaign on this issue.
Lap Dancing club
In 2002 the union campaigned against the opening of a lap dancing club near to the university.
The main bar was called the Courtyard, and was open every day of the week. Formerly known as JBs and The Mainline, it had a Sunday night quiz (now held in the uBar) and also hosted the 'Junior Common Room', although this term was not widely used in recent years. The other three main bars were all club
venues; Colours and The Basement (the two larger venues), and Escape (the smallest), were open most nights for a variety of music. All three club venues combined to form the Friday Night Disco (FND) which was renamed Flirt!
in 2007 to come inline with the NUSSL Branding. The Biko Bar (named after Steve Biko
), which was located in the Richmond Building, permanently closed in 2005.
After the end of the 08/09 academic year, the Courtyard, Escape, Colours and the Basement were all shut down, allowing renovation of the Communal Building area they resided in to get underway. Club nights were hosted at the non-campus venue Walkabout until the parent company went into administration in October 2009. The night was then held at CoCo Crystal next door until the end of that academic year. The campus bars and venues are planned to re-open in their new formats/locations in September 2010.
The clubs were host to irregular live music and bands, and to the UK's annual music festival
Infest
, which was started in early 1998 by three students and the union Entertainments Manager. These hosted events will resume once works are finished.
run by Students Union at the University of Bradford
, England
. It broadcasts locally on 1350AM and also online through its web site. The name comes from the old students union log of a Ram's head. It is one of three media groups at the union (the others being the film society "Bradford Student Cinema" and the student newspaper "The Bradford Student" (formally Kinetic, Scrapie and Javelin)) who, historically are not considered part of the "sports clubs" or the "clubs and societies". In many respects they are run as a normal society with membership, however as they provide a service accessible to all students and staff (not just the societies members), they are treated differently and come under the jurisdiction of the Media and Entertainments Officer.
A RamAir show "The Buzz" was syndicated on the Student broadcast network from 1998 to 1999. RamAir is also available via the Internet on an .mp3 stream, allowing students to listen to the station through the university Internet service, as well as in places in the union building such as the union shop and the laundrette.
(SBN) when no shows were being broadcast - this was changed in 2004 when SBN went bust.
A former flagship show was 'Wednesday Night Sessions' which broadcast local music and acoustic sessions by local Bradford bands. It now has a range of shows covering many music genres and features. Another popular show 'The Alternator' ran between November 2003 and June 2004. It regularly featured an eclectic mix of music from the past and present, book readings from new and classic authors and comedy segments which were peculiar to the tastes of the show's hosts. The Alternator was hosted by Bradford University pharmacy students Dave Berry, Andrew 'Sham' Stone and also Tom Butler who did not attend the university.
RamAir annually broadcasts the 'Questions to Candidates' (Hustings) for the student union elections of sabbatical officers and NUS conference delegates. It also has a big presence at many union events such as freshers' week, the May carnival and the end of year event.
Out of university term time the station broadcasts non stop music, also used to fill in other free air time from the station's computer playout system - a bank of computers running software written by one of the station's engineers.
News is played hourly via the IRN news service, as well as the in-house "RamAir News" broadcast at 2-hourly intervals during weekdays.
via a Restricted Service Licence.
As of September 2007, it was the first student radio station to be specifically made available through the respective Wii
and PlayStation 3
browsers.
When analogue cable television was commonplace, the station was broadcast on 98FM across the region to listeners with a cable feed (No subscription required). RamAir occasionally broadcasts across the city of Bradford on an FM RSL (Restricted Service Licence), usually on 102FM from a transmitter located on top of the university's JB Priestley library. The station often hires out its FM broadcast kit to other student stations for their own RSLs.
On April 26, 2006, Phill Jupitus
broadcast his BBC 6 Music
breakfast show from the station, and interviewed Billy Bragg
who had played a concert at the university the previous evening.
As of 26 May 2008, RamAir has released a charity single for download, entitled 'Scream Out!'. Half of the proceeds will go to the running of the station and the other half will go to the RNID's 'Don't Lose the Music' campaign. The single was recorded in the studios in early May 2008, by 6 Bradford University students.
At the end of March 2009 RamAir broadcast their own take on Big Brother
: a radio reality show called The Lockdown. Eight students from the University of Bradford were locked in the studios for 48 hours while a temporary studio controlled what they and listeners heard.
As part of a campaign to raise £40,000 for new studio equipment for the move into the refurbished "Student Central" building, the comedian Russell Howard
performed for staff, students and the public during August 2010 with ticket sale money going to the RamAid appeal.
In 2007 the periodical was brought wholly into the Union; having previously had an independent editorial team, and printed as a newspaper again for the first time in 20 years. The paper is now jointly edited by the sabbatical team, staff members and students.
. It is one of three media groups at the union (the others being the radio station 'Ramair' and 'The Bradford Student' newspaper (Formally Kinetic) who, historically are not considered part of the "sports clubs" or the "clubs and societies". In many respects they are run as a normal society with membership, however as they provide a service accessible to all students and staff (not just the societies members), they are treated differently and come under the jurisdiction of the Media & Communications Officer.
Student Group Conference and various exclusive preview screenings of the latest movies in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph's Movie Mania Promotion (circa 2001). Like many professional cinemas it screens cinema trailers and adverts from Pearl & Dean
. Due to a drop in student numbers and the opening of a 16-screen multiplex in the centre of Bradford, the student cinema has suffered in the last four years. Ironically the size of the BSC has been part of its downfall - whilst smaller societies use video or DVD, the BSC's screen and throw distance (27 m) means it cannot handle anything smaller than professional 35 mm cinema films. The union has since stepped in and the BSC now shows a reduced number of showing throughout the academic year free of charge to staff and students.
In 2002 the BSC nominated Brian Blessed
to receive an Honorary Degree
(Doctor of Letters
) from the university for his contribution to film, television and acting, which he received during the Electronic Imaging & Media Communication Department's graduation ceremony in July 2003.
Cinema-goers used to be able to buy drinks and snacks, including alcohol for cinema showings as the Biko Bar, in the Richmond building, but this was closed in 2005. The cinema's showings have been in hiatus since 2005 due to the building of the new £5.3 million atrium and front entrance designed to provide a vibrant multi-functional space and form the heart of the University (Opened in October 2006 to celebrate the university's 40th birthday). A return to regular screening has been delayed by a long-awaited refurbishment of the Great Hall from January 2008, which was completed in May 2008. Due to the difficulties in licencing, fitting building work around exams, graduation ceremonies and registration, the BSC finally reopened in April 2009, with a full relaunch during September 2009.
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, England.
Union Organisation
The University of Bradford Union (UBU) is run by an executive of six full-time sabbatical officerSabbatical officer
A sabbatical officer is a full-time officer elected by the members of a students' union , commonly at a higher education establishment such as a university...
s, elected annually and the end of the academic season, and up to six part-time executive officers elected at the start of the academic season. The executive committee is unusual in not having a president: the post was abolished by Shumon Rahman in 2001 who was elected the Union's first Asian President in 2000. The new executive positions and the reforms he introduced were modified in 2007 to incorporate an agreement with the University made in 2004 that a full review of the officers would take place. This involved merging the Treasurer and Secretary (what was Internal Affairs) role and the creation of one of the only Ethics, Environment and Welfare Officers in the country.
The executive is monitored by a council of up to 40 elected students who meet around 6 times each academic year: 10 of these places are filled through open places in a cross campus ballot, the others are made up of Course Representatives, Athletics, Societies and other bodies representatives in the Union such as Forums (statutory meetings of union members).
The Union is located in the Student central on campus and is politically active (nominally to the left however in 2010 the union saw the election of its first centre right candidate Imad Faghmous as media and entertainments officer and subsequently Academic Affairs Officer the year after.
Role
The Role of the Union is to support and provide services for its students of the university such as academic or financial advice, or activities and entertainment or for their safety.Student activities
The largest student involvement in their Union comes in the forms of the sports clubs through the Athletics AssociationAthletic Union
An Athletic Union or Athletics Union usually refers to the group of student sports clubs within a university or other institute of higher education, in the United Kingdom.-General information:...
(commonly known as the AA) and societies. There is a variety of both. Even though the University did not till recently run any performing arts courses, there are several societies for music and theatre. The variety of sports available is largely due to the centralised funding and membership structure of the AA, which helps support smaller clubs. The current student union colours are blue and red, but many of the sports teams still use their traditional black, with red and white accents.
The Student Union also has RamAir, one of the UK's longest running student radio stations, broadcasting on 1350AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
and online, a student newspaper called The Bradford Student and a film society/cinema showing professional 35mm cinema prints known as the Bradford Student Cinema.
Campaigns
UBU claims to be a very political union. It runs campaigns on varying issues.Free Education & Grants for all
The Union has a long standing position for free education, in 1997 the Union supported people refusing to pay the first fees including fees strikes. That latest free education policy was passed in 2008 to support the call for a national demonstration for free education. In September 2008 the General Meeting of students decided that the call for Free Education should be the campaign priority for the academic year and voted to allocate over one thousand pounds to the cause.
Palestine and Gaza
After the Union made two demands for support of Gaza of the University in 2009 over 80 students occupied the University boardroom with a number of further demands of support for Gaza. they claim to have achieved some success as of the morning of 28 January 2009 . In 2007 a Bradford Student Khaled al-Mudallal became trapped in Palestine. The union ran a campaign to support Khaled and to aid his return. It was supported by UCU
UCU
UCU may stand for:*Uganda Christian University, church-based university near Kampala, Uganda*Ukrainian Catholic University, Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine*University College Utrecht, international Honors College of Utrecht University, Netherlands...
, the Lectures Union and the NUS
NUS
NUS may refer to:* Nu Skin Enterprises* Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops* National Union of Students * National Union of Students * National Union of Students...
the National Students' Union. He was elected the Honorary Vice President of the LSE Students' Union
LSE Students' Union
The London School of Economics Students' Union is the representative and campaigning body for students at The London School of Economics and Political Science...
and released on 4 December
Blood Donation
UBU has supported the right for gay men to give blood with its LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
society campaigning throughout the year of 2006 and 2007 to lift the ban.. The union supported the society in encouraging people who can to give blood and to call for the ban to be lifted in favour of a ban on promiscuity and people who partake in unsafe sex giving blood.
Imran Khan
The union took a stance with the Bradford University in supporting Imran Khan, the University chancellor and Pakistani MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
when he was arrested in 2007. They co-organised events for the release of Imran and a demonstration was due to take place, organised by the Union on 24 November 2007
Fair Trade
UBU coordinates the Bradford University Fair Trade Status, in 2006 the Union gained Fair Trade status for the University and continues to campaign on this issue.
Lap Dancing club
In 2002 the union campaigned against the opening of a lap dancing club near to the university.
Entertainments and Venues
The Union at present runs two bars. The first one is the uBar, a temporarily repurposed and retitled Jazzman's coffee bar. The second is in the University Theatre (Theatre in the Mill), which reopened in 2008 after a long redevelopment - it is a bottle only bar which is only in service before, during the interval of, and directly after performances.The main bar was called the Courtyard, and was open every day of the week. Formerly known as JBs and The Mainline, it had a Sunday night quiz (now held in the uBar) and also hosted the 'Junior Common Room', although this term was not widely used in recent years. The other three main bars were all club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
venues; Colours and The Basement (the two larger venues), and Escape (the smallest), were open most nights for a variety of music. All three club venues combined to form the Friday Night Disco (FND) which was renamed Flirt!
Flirt!
flirt! is the name of a nightclub brand that was started at the University of Surrey Students' Union and later sold to, and developed by the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom services for the purpose of providing a recognisable night for University students across the United Kingdom...
in 2007 to come inline with the NUSSL Branding. The Biko Bar (named after Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
), which was located in the Richmond Building, permanently closed in 2005.
After the end of the 08/09 academic year, the Courtyard, Escape, Colours and the Basement were all shut down, allowing renovation of the Communal Building area they resided in to get underway. Club nights were hosted at the non-campus venue Walkabout until the parent company went into administration in October 2009. The night was then held at CoCo Crystal next door until the end of that academic year. The campus bars and venues are planned to re-open in their new formats/locations in September 2010.
The clubs were host to irregular live music and bands, and to the UK's annual music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
Infest
Infest (festival)
Infest is an annual three day music festival held at the University of Bradford Union in the United Kingdom, featuring alternative electronic music acts from genres including industrial, EBM, futurepop, synthpop and power noise...
, which was started in early 1998 by three students and the union Entertainments Manager. These hosted events will resume once works are finished.
RamAir
RamAir is a radio stationRadio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
run by Students Union at the University of Bradford
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It broadcasts locally on 1350AM and also online through its web site. The name comes from the old students union log of a Ram's head. It is one of three media groups at the union (the others being the film society "Bradford Student Cinema" and the student newspaper "The Bradford Student" (formally Kinetic, Scrapie and Javelin)) who, historically are not considered part of the "sports clubs" or the "clubs and societies". In many respects they are run as a normal society with membership, however as they provide a service accessible to all students and staff (not just the societies members), they are treated differently and come under the jurisdiction of the Media and Entertainments Officer.
History
It was founded in 1980 and operates from two studios in the university's student union building. The station is run entirely by student volunteers, who as well as presenting shows also handle the technical aspects. Up until the mid 1990s, RamAir broadcast to students via a series of induction loops ran throughout the student halls, however this never proved reliable. In conjunction with SBN, RamAir had an LPAM (Low Power AM) Radica transmitter, affectionately known as "Doris", installed in the car park of the former Shearbridge Halls, which broadcast on 1350AM at a max power of 1 watt.A RamAir show "The Buzz" was syndicated on the Student broadcast network from 1998 to 1999. RamAir is also available via the Internet on an .mp3 stream, allowing students to listen to the station through the university Internet service, as well as in places in the union building such as the union shop and the laundrette.
Programming
Most shows are presented in the evening or at weekends, when students are free, so during the daytime when there are no presenters on-air music is played from a computer. Previously the station syndicated the Student Broadcast NetworkStudent Broadcast Network
The Student Broadcast Network or SBN was a company who provided a sustaining service, news and advertising for Student Radio stations in the United Kingdom....
(SBN) when no shows were being broadcast - this was changed in 2004 when SBN went bust.
A former flagship show was 'Wednesday Night Sessions' which broadcast local music and acoustic sessions by local Bradford bands. It now has a range of shows covering many music genres and features. Another popular show 'The Alternator' ran between November 2003 and June 2004. It regularly featured an eclectic mix of music from the past and present, book readings from new and classic authors and comedy segments which were peculiar to the tastes of the show's hosts. The Alternator was hosted by Bradford University pharmacy students Dave Berry, Andrew 'Sham' Stone and also Tom Butler who did not attend the university.
RamAir annually broadcasts the 'Questions to Candidates' (Hustings) for the student union elections of sabbatical officers and NUS conference delegates. It also has a big presence at many union events such as freshers' week, the May carnival and the end of year event.
Out of university term time the station broadcasts non stop music, also used to fill in other free air time from the station's computer playout system - a bank of computers running software written by one of the station's engineers.
News is played hourly via the IRN news service, as well as the in-house "RamAir News" broadcast at 2-hourly intervals during weekdays.
Achievements
It was the first student radio station to broadcast legally on FMFM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
via a Restricted Service Licence.
As of September 2007, it was the first student radio station to be specifically made available through the respective Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
browsers.
When analogue cable television was commonplace, the station was broadcast on 98FM across the region to listeners with a cable feed (No subscription required). RamAir occasionally broadcasts across the city of Bradford on an FM RSL (Restricted Service Licence), usually on 102FM from a transmitter located on top of the university's JB Priestley library. The station often hires out its FM broadcast kit to other student stations for their own RSLs.
On April 26, 2006, Phill Jupitus
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
broadcast his BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
breakfast show from the station, and interviewed Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
who had played a concert at the university the previous evening.
As of 26 May 2008, RamAir has released a charity single for download, entitled 'Scream Out!'. Half of the proceeds will go to the running of the station and the other half will go to the RNID's 'Don't Lose the Music' campaign. The single was recorded in the studios in early May 2008, by 6 Bradford University students.
At the end of March 2009 RamAir broadcast their own take on Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
: a radio reality show called The Lockdown. Eight students from the University of Bradford were locked in the studios for 48 hours while a temporary studio controlled what they and listeners heard.
As part of a campaign to raise £40,000 for new studio equipment for the move into the refurbished "Student Central" building, the comedian Russell Howard
Russell Howard
Russell Joseph Howard is an English comedian best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week...
performed for staff, students and the public during August 2010 with ticket sale money going to the RamAid appeal.
Alumni
Ramair alumni who went on to better things include:- Lucio Buffone – The Pulse, Galaxy FM, Kerrang, Capital Radio
- Jon Crew – Head of Engineering at Galaxy 102
- Paul Drogan – Commercial Production at Key 103
- Martin Roberts, on Homes Under The Hammer (ITV, 1982–1985)
- Matt Side [Cain] – Breakfast Show on The Pulse
- Coriander White – Local radio traffic and travel + BBC2 announcer
The Bradford Student
The Bradford Student is the latest incarnation of the student newspaper at Bradford. The autonomous paper was originally called Javelin. As Javelin the newspaper sometimes trod a radical line that included reprinting a controversial poem that had landed Gay News in trouble through a court case finding it blasphemous. The array of journalists included students of Peace Studies and Civil Engineering who decided that there should not be a single editor but rather The Javelin Cooperative. Seen as a thorn in the side of the students' union, at that time headed by John Rimmer, the paper was by then little read. Seen as wasteful and irrelevant, its sharp end was blunted. As part of the relaunch, it changed its name in the early 1980s to Shep. By the 1990s the paper had become a magazine and then later changed its name to Scrapie, a reference to the ram's head on the Union logo. The name was again changed in a dramatic and still controversial "de-ramming" of the Union in 2004 which saw the Union logo change to four 'dots' and the ram's head removed from official publications. The Ram remains in the name of the student radio station Ramair and also in many of the sports teams which still use the traditional Ram's head logo.In 2007 the periodical was brought wholly into the Union; having previously had an independent editorial team, and printed as a newspaper again for the first time in 20 years. The paper is now jointly edited by the sabbatical team, staff members and students.
Bradford Student Cinema
The Bradford Student Cinema is a film society operating as part of the University of Bradford Union, the University of Bradford's Students' UnionStudents' union
A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...
. It is one of three media groups at the union (the others being the radio station 'Ramair' and 'The Bradford Student' newspaper (Formally Kinetic) who, historically are not considered part of the "sports clubs" or the "clubs and societies". In many respects they are run as a normal society with membership, however as they provide a service accessible to all students and staff (not just the societies members), they are treated differently and come under the jurisdiction of the Media & Communications Officer.
History
The Bradford Student Cinema (BSC) is one of the oldest societies within the student union and can trace it heritage back to early days of the university. Formerly the Film Society, the BSC originally screened 16 mm film from lecture theatres on N floor of the Richmond Building (Refurbished in 2000 removing the projection boxes in favour of additional seating). It later moved into the University's Great Hall, where it gained a portable 35 mm projection system allowing it to show a full range of films available to commercial cinemas. The Great Hall is still used today, on what is believed to be the largest student cinema screen in the country..Hardware
The 9 metre wide solid steel-framed screen, complete with motorised adjustable masking flies down from the roof onto the stage and fills the proscenium arch of the Great Hall, making good use of the curtains to give a traditional cinema feel to the venue, in an auditorium designed as a multipurpose staged hall with good acoustics. As the projection box is situated three floors up from ground level, the projector has a steep rake, and the screen is angled back when dropped to remove any keystoning. For this reason audience for film showings are generally only invited to sit in the balcony circle rather than the stalls, seating up to 337. In the late nineties the projector was replaced with a 1950s Westrex 2001 projector, a model still in common use around the country. In 2001 the student union funded a £8,500 upgrade of the projection facilities, and the cinema was fitted with a Dolby CP55 processor, new amps and speakers including a subwoofer to bring Dolby surround to the cinema for the first time (Stereo is not commonly used in cinemas, as a central audio channel is required to centralise dialogue for any audience sitting off-centre). A red laser sound reader was also installed to future proof the projector for the arrival of cyan sound tracks, and improve the quality of intermediate high magenta sound tracks. The lamphouse and rectifier was also upgraded to handle 3 kW lamps. Due to the cost, new surround speakers were not fitted, and have instead been formed using older speakers placed along the rear of the balcony.Modern times
In recent times the BSC has run the British Federation of Film SocietiesBritish Federation of Film Societies
The British Federation of Film Societies is the national agency for the development and support of the film society and community cinema movement in the UK....
Student Group Conference and various exclusive preview screenings of the latest movies in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph's Movie Mania Promotion (circa 2001). Like many professional cinemas it screens cinema trailers and adverts from Pearl & Dean
Pearl & Dean
Pearl & Dean is primarily known as a British cinema advertising company. It was founded in 1953 by brothers Ernie and Charles Pearl, and Bob Dean....
. Due to a drop in student numbers and the opening of a 16-screen multiplex in the centre of Bradford, the student cinema has suffered in the last four years. Ironically the size of the BSC has been part of its downfall - whilst smaller societies use video or DVD, the BSC's screen and throw distance (27 m) means it cannot handle anything smaller than professional 35 mm cinema films. The union has since stepped in and the BSC now shows a reduced number of showing throughout the academic year free of charge to staff and students.
In 2002 the BSC nominated Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
to receive an Honorary Degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
(Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
) from the university for his contribution to film, television and acting, which he received during the Electronic Imaging & Media Communication Department's graduation ceremony in July 2003.
Cinema-goers used to be able to buy drinks and snacks, including alcohol for cinema showings as the Biko Bar, in the Richmond building, but this was closed in 2005. The cinema's showings have been in hiatus since 2005 due to the building of the new £5.3 million atrium and front entrance designed to provide a vibrant multi-functional space and form the heart of the University (Opened in October 2006 to celebrate the university's 40th birthday). A return to regular screening has been delayed by a long-awaited refurbishment of the Great Hall from January 2008, which was completed in May 2008. Due to the difficulties in licencing, fitting building work around exams, graduation ceremonies and registration, the BSC finally reopened in April 2009, with a full relaunch during September 2009.
External links
- UBU Online- Union Website
- RamAir web site