Martin Williams - News Contributor - Vision

YORK VISION

NEWS

Wednesday May 6th, 2009

STUDENT HOUSE FOCUS OF MURDER ENQUIRY

BY MARTIN WILLIAMS SEVERAL YORK students could have links with the murder of an illegal immigrant, it has emerged. The body of 38-year-old Cai Guan Chen was found beaten and dumped in a Yorkshire canal in March. Last week police swooped on a York house that is likely to have had student tenants, as part of an on-going murder inquiry. Although the police could not yet confirm any details of the tenants, the property under investigation has been found listed online as student housing. The Accommodation

Office at the University of York also said they “have it listed as student accommodation.” Estate agency York Student Accommodation refused to comment. Cai Guan Chen had been living in the UK since 2001 using the fake name Bing Lin. An off-duty policeman discovered his body two or three weeks after he was murdered. A neighbour of the raided house told Vision that there were five Chinese residents but other people were “coming and going all the time.” “We said hello to each other, but there was no conversation between us,” he

TROUBLE AND STRIKE

BY EMILY FAIRBAIRN

said. The windows of the York property have now been boarded up by authorities. The murder investigation had been held back because police were unable to identify the body. However, after an appeal for information including a poster campaign on campus, North Yorkshire Police were able to reveal that “he is believed to have lived in various locations around the UK and his last-known address was in the London area.” Detective Superintendent Karnail Dulku, who is leading the investigation said: “It is believed he has been murdered elsewhere

and his body deposited in the canal.” “All life is precious and what this man has suffered I’m sure he didn’t deserve. It is a brutal attack and he’s been presumably dumped in the canal to prevent them being caught.” A police spokeswoman said: “Investigations are continuing to trace the people responsible for his death and police are following a number of positive leads.” If you have any information that may help the investigation, phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247 or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

CREDIT CRUNCH THREATENS STUDENT HOMES

REPOSSESSION,

REPOSSESSION,

REPOSSESSION BY SAMANTHA COWLEY REPOSSESSION OF rented homes has become yet another worry for York students to add to their lengthening list of recession woes. A group of Vanbrugh students living in the Tang Hall area returned from the Easter break to find that their house was being threatened with repossession, because the landlord had failed to pay the mortgage. “It was really stressful,” second-year Rachel Hessel-

wood told Vision. “Especially as no one seemed to know what to do. I spent a frantic few days ringing everyone I could think of and even had to write begging letters to the mortgage lenders asking them to let us stay.” Their housing contracts with letting agency Sinclair did not contain any protection for them. The notoriously impersonal agency was not even aware of the problem before the students told them. The University of York keeps spare rooms available for students who meet such strife.

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However, with the number of houses in danger of repossession set to rise as the economic situation worsens, questions are raised as to whether the University will be able to cope. YUSU’s Matt Burton has reassured students stating that in most cases student’s rent should cover the cost of the properties’ mortgage. Societies and Communications Officer Rory Shanks added that “YUSU will work hard to accommodate students in this situation.” However, it seems repossession is not the only

rising recession worry for students. There have also been increased reports of bailiffs turning up on student’s door steps. “One previous tenant of our house is clearly in a lot of trouble,” Sociology and Education student Eleanor Webster has reported, “On numerous occasions debt collectors have visited us looking for him and even though it’s not us who are in trouble it’s quite intimidating.”

STRIKE ACTION threatened by University lecturers looks set to endanger degree courses across the country. Huge disruption was caused by similar strikes in the summer of 2006, when lecturers boycotted student exams, marking and assessment. Fears that the same could happen this year, resulting in thousands of students being unable to graduate, has prompted condemnation by the NUS. “Given the effects of the current economic climate on the graduate jobs market, students need industrial action by university staff like a hole in the head,” says NUS President Wes Streeting. YUSU’s Rory Shanks added: “We will not support any action that is detrimental to students.” However, the proposed strikes are the result of threatened job cuts amongst academics, and an unsatisfactory pay rise. The University and College Union (UCU) had been hoping for a staff pay rise of 8%, but instead University employers offered only a miserly 0.3%. A UCU spokesman said: “They have failed to understand, or deal with, the full scale of the jobs crisis in the sector and left us with no choice but to ballot our members for industrial action.” The NUS is now calling for the financial crisis to be solved without negative impact on students. “It is vital that all parties get around the table to end the threat of strike action,” says Streeting.

THE BUCK STOPS HERE BY TOM MCDERMOTT EXPENSIVE DRINKS will not be imposed in York says YUSU, as the NUS reveals plans to set minimum prices for alcohol on University campuses. By encouraging Uni bars to increase their prices the NUS hopes to prevent binge-drinking, but these proposals have been faced with strong opposition from students across the country. YUSU’s Services and Finance Officer Matt Burton remains defiant. He told Vision that, even if the proposals were to go through, York should be safe: “The NUS policy can’t affect our University - we make the policies.” Concerns about the NUS’ proposals have been voiced by York’s JCRCs. Speaking to Vision, Tim Ellis, a bar rep for Goodricke College’s McQs, commented: “Sometimes it is a bit of a struggle to compete with town. If we didn’t have cheaper prices on our side then it could, potentially, spell the end for college bars.” Burton fears that the NUS’ proposals could do the exact opposite to their intended effect: “If we increased alcohol prices in campus bars we could see people flocking to cheaper bars in town and binging.” He told us that whilst YUSU doesn’t agree with such extreme measures they have already taken action in an attempt to keep students safe: “In principle we support national minimum pricing for alcohol. We already have sensible prices for alcohol in campus bars.”