2019 REVIEW
Feb 2019-Feb 2020
Hey everyone,
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Following the AGM election at the end of February 2019, the new POLSOC committee began its mission of engaging students, organising academic and social events, engaging with other university societies, and building a stronger relationship with the university’s Politics department. Our first few weeks entailed administrative tasks such as committee bonding, organising weekly meetings, and setting up sub-committee group chats to ensure a clear line of communication was established. Within a week of being elected, our first event was underway; Brazil and Bolsonaro: How did it happen? What can be learned? The panelists spoke on the recent election of Bolsonaro and what it would entail, not only for Brazil but in wider politics too. It was a great first event which shows politics students the type of events we wanted to host this year. Next came POLSOC’s trip to Prague. The trip abroad is an annual event for POLSOC and is always a success! POLSOC took over 40 students to Prague! The event had its own Instagram page and was an amazing way to end the Spring term for politics students.
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The term the ended, reconvening in April where the society continued in its efforts to bond with a bar crawl and cocktails. Committee bonding is a staple event of POLSOC, it ensures that our relationships encouraged communication and cooperation, the foundations of any successful society. To finish off April, we hosted our Shamima Begum event, the event was around the time Shamima’s citizenship was revoked, the panel discussed contrasting views and potential future implications the event could have. The event engaged students across the university, our events are not limited to politics student, in fact, we encourage all students to attend as it is a great way to learn more about current affairs.
In May the committee continued to work on our big summer event, POLSOC’s BBQ. The BBQ had over £400 worth of food and alcohol and was hosted on Alcuin Green. It saw students from all years and subjects come together and celebrate the end of exams and the academic year. We continued the party with a post-BBQ bar crawl. Iconic places such as Lowther, Stone Roses, and Dusk were stop offs before we all ended up in Revs that night. A few days rest before our final event of the year, the Indian election panel. The event was similar to the Brazil panel and allowed expert panelists to explain the significance of the 2019 Indian election in detail.
The university and POLSOC then took a well-deserved summer off, focusing on the new academic year and the new students arriving in York in September. This committee became the first committee to fully integrate into Fresher’s week. The President and VP were present at all the opening week talks, their first lecture, and hosted a departmental meet and greet where we sold POLSOC merch and advertise the trip abroad, this year it would be in Amsterdam. Following this week, we held our first ‘Cheese and Wine’ event of the year on Refugees in NGO’s, the department always deliver with a great selection of wine and cheese for students to have at our events! Our Halloween social was a joint one with Econ and Medics, it was a Saints vs Sinners fancy dress bar crawl, it saw over 100 students turn up in their best costumes as we moved from D-Bar to Lowther, to Kuda.
After the Halloween event we held an Extraordinary General meeting and elected more new people to our committee. We hosted various events on the run up to the New Year we held a UK Election Panel and a Winter social.
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In the New Year, we held our annual Winter formal at Ask Italian and had to keep opening up more places up to 80 people. Preceding the February Annual General Meeting - where all positions are available - we hosted numerous events. We brought together two rivalling societies: The York Tories and The York Labour Society, in a debate on austerity. Additionally, we hosted a political figures bar crawl, a Polsoc vs Policy event and our signature Quizingo event in Dusk.
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President of the York Politics Society
James Goldie