Say NO to a nightclub on campus. The University of York wants to spend an undisclosed amount (the figure originally given was £200,000) of money on building a nightclub on campus, and we think this is a terrible idea.

The proposal involves demolishing the Derwent Squash Courts, which are currently used by several societies, and are right next to Derwent's accomodation. The club is supposed to be open "at least two nights a week", which is at least two nights a week of sleep deprivation for those students that live nearby.

It is claimed that having a club on campus will stop students going into the river, forgetting that we have a lake that is rumoured to be so toxic that it's cheaper for the university to pay the fine each year than to clean it out. This is not safer at all! Surely a better solution would be to promote responsible drinking. It seems as though every society social is a bar crawl of some description. Every YUSU event is a club night. Every event ends at Willow.

Another claim is that a campus nightclub will save students taxi money, but from personal experience, when a student knows they don't have to pay for a taxi, they spend an extra £6 on drink. Do we as a university really want to be promoting this? 

There are so many areas within the university where the money could be better spent, so below is a non-exhaustive list:

1 - Put more funding into the Open Door team and other welfare areas

Being a student is harder than people think. For most people, it's the first time you're away from home. A lot of people find the workload stressful. Some feel like there is nobody for them to turn to when things get difficult. The Open Door team is a great service that could really benefit from extra funding, yet the University are seriously considering blowing the equivalent of 22 years tuition fees on a nightclub.

2 - Free sanitary products

Sam Maguire has confirmed that it would not be possible to affordably do this, but that YourShop would soon be stocking sanitary products at cost price.

YUSU already provide free condoms to students, but considering over 50% of York students are female, this idea should really have already been implemented a long time ago.

3 - Open a pharmacy on campus

It has been confirmed that planning has been applied for to build a supermarket and pharmacy on Heslington East. This is good for students, but still doesn't get rid of the problem of not having a pharmacy near the Health Centre.

The nearest pharmacy to campus at the minute is Melrosegate, which is around a 15 minute walk from the Health Centre. For students in Halifax College, for example, it could be a 25 minute walk to pick up medication. That's almost an hour-long round trip. The idea of a pharmacy on campus was floated around during the YUSU elections two years ago, and has only been mentioned sporadically since, but we feel that this would be a much more useful investment for students.

4 - Holding a promoting an Alternative Freshers Week

Sam has dismissed this idea, as he claims it would segregate drinking and non-drinking students, but he seems to have missed the point entirely. Non-drinking students don't want to be forced to go to drinking events to mix with drinking students. There should be a decent selection of non-drinking events provided on campus to encourage students not to get drunk every night.

There are a lot of students that don't drink (or don't enjoy going out and getting drunk), yet there are no publicised, free events for these students during Freshers Week. The YUSU Comedy Night has proved successful, but this costs £8 per ticket, and has an open bar, so can not be considered a non-drinking event. We want to promote non-drinking and responsible drinking events, rather than a week long annual piss-up.

5 - Cheaper buses for off-campus students

It costs less to walk from Tang Hall to campus and then catch the 20 to Monks Cross than it does to catch it from Tang Hall. First and Transdev (Unibus) provide cheap fares between campus and the railway station, which are great for students living on campus. But compare a student living in Tang Hall, where a single to town costs over £2, and a return trip £3 (with a student day ticket). Travelling from campus, this would only be £1.50 for a single and £2 for a return.

6 - Cheaper and larger on-campus supermarket

It has been confirmed that planning has been applied for to build a Nisa and pharmacy on Heslington East. This petition still asks for a cheaper supermarket.

There's a lot of open space on Heslington East, and currently, the students living there have a long way to travel to the shops, which is hardly convenient if you only need a pint of milk. Last year, there was a suggestion that the B&Q on Hull Road would be turning into a Sainsbury's, but this doesn't seem to be materialising, so we propose speaking to Aldi or Lidl to find out if they're interested in opening a supermarket on campus. This would not only reduce the cost of living for students, but would also create precious jobs.

7 - Somewhere on campus where students can cook themselves a hot meal

Currently, to get a hot meal on campus, you either have to spend a lot of money at one of the colleges' catering facilities or a lot of money at either the Courtyard or the Glasshouse. If you only have one hour between lectures, then you don't even have time to visit the Courtyard/Glasshouse. Setting up a room with microwaves, kettles and other simple kitchen equipment would allow students who only have a one-hour gap between lectures (or who choose to remain on campus during the day) to have a hot meal.