News
Jonny Morrison, BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) The national assessment boycott has been suspended after the University and College Union (UCU), representing the staff under the Universities Superannuation [Pension] Scheme (USS), and Universities UK (UUK), representing the employers, yesterday agreed a “series of negotiating meetings”. On 6th November, UCU asked
Cleaners
Paul Webley, Director of SOAS, speaks to our Editor Tom King about the changes and challenges that face the School This summer marked eight years since Paul Webley took over the directorship of SOAS; a period that has seen considerable change to the School, and the university sector as a
Opinion
Sai Englert, NUS PGR rep When I saw Luke McManus’ piece, Does the Political Correctness of Students’ Unions Undermine their Decisions? in the online edition of the SOAS Spirit, I almost stopped reading there and then. The juxtaposition of an attack on the ‘Political Correctness’ of unions with a picture
News
18:22 – The meeting comes to a close. The next deadline for motions is Thursday 27th November for the December UGM. 18:21 – Motion nine passes as amended. 18:20 – Proposal to amend to specify which officers should have training to include accommodation, environment, welfare and campaigns. This is accepted
Evin Prison
Photo: Anoo Bhuyan Tom King, BA Politics Former SOAS student Ghoncheh Ghavami has been sentenced to a year in prison in Iran after being found guilty of “propaganda against the state”, according to her lawyer. The verdict has not yet been officially released, but Alizadeh Tabatabaie, the lawyer representing Ghavami,
Divali
Photo credit: Bhavit Mehta Jonathan Galton, BA Social Anthropology Trafalgar Square, October 13th: The monkey god Hanuman treads carefully round the fountain’s edge, slightly elevated from the throngs watching Bollywood dancers on the stage or queuing for hot samosas at one of the food stands. Elsewhere, you can find
bouattia
Luke McManus, BA Arabic and Social Anthropology I quite like the idea of a Students’ Union. Knowing that I can have a say in the affairs of my university makes me feel included, valued and proud of what we are – a fantastically diverse body of students that can democratically achieve
London
Lucy Warden, MA Near and Middle Eastern Studies On the 29th of October most of you will be deeply ensconced in the costume making leading up to Halloween. Others will be clinging on to the remainder of their sleep and sanity waiting for the imminent relief of reading week. Perhaps
CJA
The SOAS Spirit is hosting a training day this Saturday, the 25th of October.The Talk segment commences from 11am until 12.30pm, it will be held in G3. Following the talk are classroom based training sessions led by editors from the SOAS Spirit on writing features, news, sub editing,
features
Carolynn Look, BA Chinese and Development Studies As many at SOAS are (or should be) aware, October is not merely a month of beer drinking, workload meltdowns, and costume preparation. It is also officially known as “Black History Month”, with the event’s name itself begging the question whether one
elections
After three days of voting, the results of the Autumn round of elections have been announced. Co-President Welfare and Campaigns Georgie Robertson has been elected as NUS delegate alongside Anum Mirza. In the executive officer votes, Tom Oliver has been elected as Accommodation Officer and Tracey-Ann Munroe will serve as
Opinion
Harriet Freeman, Bsc Economics In our world today it’s becoming increasingly easy and common to isolate human input from economic activity. While commerce has been digesting the leaps and bounds we have made digitally since the late 1970s, consumer service has, in many cases, morphed into arms-length automated assistance.