1. Organisation

2. Role
    Student engagement  Campaigns   Entertainments   Bars  

3. The Bradford Student

4. Bradford Student Cinema
    History   Hardware in the Great Hall    Modern times  

5. References

6. External links

The University of Bradford Union (UBU) is the students' union for the University of Bradford in Bradford, England and is a registered charity.^[2]

Organisation

The University of Bradford Union (UBU) is run by an executive of six full-time sabbatical officers,^[3] elected annually towards the end of the academic season, and currently nine non-sabbatical executive officers elected at various times.

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 roles have been continually tweaked and evolved since, and in 2017 are subject to a major review.

The executive reports to a student council who meet at least 8 times each academic year. These students are elected through open places in a cross campus ballot and from the devolved areas of power; Course Representatives, Sports, Societies and Media.

The Union is located in the Student Central building at the city campus, but it also runs Room 101, the PGR lounge and social and the Weir Room.

Role

The Role of the Union is to support and provide services for its students of the university such as academic or financial advice,^[4] or activities and entertainment or for their safety.^[5]

Student engagement

Much student engagement with UBU comes via Societies and Sports Clubs, and the Academic Representation system in which students can be Class or Faculty Representatives.

Of the many societies, some are course-related, such as the optometry society BOOSA; there are also international societies, faith groups, plus purely recreational societies.

The student union colours are red and black, and many of the sports teams use the traditional black, with red and white accents for their playing kit.

There are annual balls towards the end of the year: the Activities Ball and Colours ball. Additionally the achievements of students involved in various ways with the union are celebrated during the Student Leadership Awards.

Campaigns

UBU runs campaigns on varying issues, with a focus on education and welfare. Campaigns are directed by the elected leadership team, or sometimes by motions brought by students through the elected Council.

Past notable campaigns have included:

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.^[14] The union supported the society^[15] 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.

Fair Trade — UBU coordinates the Bradford University Fair Trade Status,^[16] in 2006 the Union gained Fair Trade status for the University and continues to campaign on this issue.

Entertainments

UBU holds several large-scale events for the student body, such as Freshers Week and the end of term Party on the Amp. There has been a shift from focusing on night club events to supporting student-led events. The student run groups on campus hold over 600 events during the academic year both on campus and locally in Bradford.

Bars

Historically, UBU ran the shops and bars on campus. A joint board was set up during the 2010 refurbishment of Student Central that brought the bars and shops under the University of Bradford commercial services and the union to focus on student engagement.

The majority of campus bars do still remain in the Student Central building. One of these is run as a non-alcoholic milkshake bar. Another campus bar is in the Theatre in the Mill, which reopened in 2008 after a long redevelopment.

The bars have been through many changes of name; one was originally the Junior Common Room.

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. Until 2013 the paper was jointly edited by the sabbatical team, staff members and students - it now has an independent editorial team and stance once again with it being moved back to a magazine-like format.

Bradford Student Cinema

Bradford Student Cinema is a film society operating as part of the University of Bradford Union, the University of Bradford's Students' Union. It is one of three media groups at the union - the others being the radio station 'Ramair' and 'The Bradford Student' newspaper (Formally Kinetic) - which are governed differently to other "clubs and societies" due to having historically been more of an output channel for the union. 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 society's members).

History

Bradford Student Cinema (BSC) traces its heritage back to early days of the university. Formerly the Film Society, 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 removed to 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. At the time, the BSC operated on what was believed to be the largest student cinema screen in the country.^[17]

Hardware in the Great Hall

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 the 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 an £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^[18] (Stereo is not commonly used in cinemas, as a central audio channel is required to centralise dialogue for any of the 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 BSC has run the British Federation of Film Societies Student Group Conference and various exclusive preview screenings of the latest movies in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph's Movie Mania Promotion (circa 2001).^[18] Like many professional cinemas it screens 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 suffered in the early 2000s. Ironically the large size of BSC was a contributing factor to its downfall - whilst smaller societies used video or DVD, BSC's screen and throw distance (27 m) meant it couldn't handle anything smaller than professional 35 mm cinema films.

Cinema-goers used to be able to buy drinks and snacks, including alcohol for cinema showings at the Biko Bar, in the Richmond building, but this was closed in 2005. The cinema's showings were in hiatus from 2005 whilst 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) was undertaken. A return to the regular screening schedule was further delayed by a long-awaited refurbishment of the Great Hall from January 2008, which was completed in May 2008. Due to the difficulties in licensing, fitting building work around exams, graduation ceremonies and registration, BSC finally reopened in April 2009, with a full relaunch during September 2009.^[19][20]

Use of the Great Hall for screenings has since all but ceased due to the move in 2010 to the new Student Central building where BSC now has its home in the 180-seat capacity Theatre, which features a higher definition projection system and digital surround audio. As a result, the 35 mm projection system and hardware currently remain unused in the Great Hall since the availability of film prints reduces and the cost of obtaining them increases. Since 2010 it operates on a regular weekly schedule throughout the academic year, screening titles only a few months after their cinematic release free of charge to staff and students.^[21]

In 2002 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.

References

External links

• UBU Online- Union Website
• RamAir web site

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