Christ's JCR - How does it affect Christ's?

How does it affect Christ's?

What does CUSU do for us at Christ’s? The answer to this can be divided into several sections:

Welfare

CUSU provides individual support on a wide range of issues such as financial issues, disciplinary hearings, academic concerns and local housing queries. On average 2 or 3 Cambridge students approach CUSU for support or help a day.
CUSU runs a series of awareness campaigns on subjects such as sexual health, cycle safety and reducing exam stress. In these campaigns CUSU supplies ideas, materials and support to CCSU and it is up to Christ’s JCR how much these are used.
CUSU provides disability support services which CCSU isn’t equipped to provide.
CUSU provide support and training to CCSU’s welfare team. The welfare officer benefits from weekly network meetings with CUSU and other college welfare officers. The welfare officer is also trained on sexual health and how to transfer this knowledge effectively to other students. Both the women’s officer and LBGT officer are given training by CUSU and its autonomous campaigns which proves invaluable in welfare issues among other things.
CUSU provides the cheap attack alarms, condom supply and the free pregnancy tests available to Christ’s students.
CUSU runs two confidential phonelines with trained volunteers manning them. These are eating disorders support and beeline which provides information on the subjects of sexual health, contraception, parenting and so on.

CUSUents

CUSU runs club nights at all the main Cambridge clubs, sets music policy and entry prices, as well as negotiating drink deals. These nights are popular with, and heavily attended by, large groups of Christ’s students on a regular basis.
CUSU Ents runs one-off nights like the Freshers’ week event.
CUSU employs an 'Entertainment Manager' who is available to act as “a point of information and expertise for … college unions”.

CUSU Services

CUSU provides the annual CUSU-NUS cards which are widely accepted as student ID and used for entrance and discounts both within Cambridge and elsewhere.
CUSU organises the societies fair during Freshers’ week where over 300 societies attend. Due to Kelsey Kerridge’s close proximity to Christ’s many CCSU members benefit from this.
CUSU provides the online catalogue of all Cambridge societies with a mailing list sign-up and “what’s on” sections.
CUSU organises the only free mail service for use by students, the CUSU mail service, which used to be called ICMS. This delivers to all 31 colleges usually within 36 hours.
CUSU provides black and white or colour photocopying for any student at the CUSU offices. There is also a wide variety of software available to students to use and a lamination machine.
Student groups can hire two people-carriers or and equipment van from CUSU.

CUSU Publications

TCS is produced and funded by CUSU, although it is editorially independent. This is delivered directly to Christ’s Porters’ lodge and provides a generally reliable news source alongside Varsity. TCS has a circulation of approximately 10,000 copies.
All Freshers are given a copy of the “Cambridge Survival Guide” as well as a “Survival Pack” upon arrival in Cambridge. These are produced by CUSU and Christ’s freshers have found these very useful in the past.
The Diaries produced by CUSU are widely used and show when CUSUents are running along with much other useful information.
The Careers handbook helps many students each year and is another CUSU publication.

CUSU Campaigns

CUSU campaigns on a wide variety of issues both within the university and nationally. These are issues which Christ’s JCR would be ill-equipped to deal with but which are nevertheless important to students within Christ’s. Below are listed the majority of campaigns currently within CUSU:

CUSU Women’s union
CUSU LBGT
CUSU International
CUSU Black Student’ Campaign
Campaign for Change
Mental health: give it some thought
Women in Sport
Graduates
HIV and Sexual health
Students with Disabilities
Mature Students
Student Parents
Students Living Out
Higher Education Funding
College Rents and Charges
Access
Anti-Racism
Green

Support for CCSU

Most CCSU officers have a CUSU equivalent who is available to provide expertise of pooled knowledge on relevant issues as well as acting as a point of contact to JCR officers from other colleges.
CUSU is vital to the position of the LBGT rep and the community in college. By providing effective training for the LBGT rep it allows him/her to more effectively deal with the problems often experienced by members of the LBGT community within college. As well as this CUSU is a necessary mediator between college and the rep, providing support and services in times of crisis or discrimination as well as a wider venue for social events and welfare issues.
CUSU organises the shadowing scheme where sixth formers visit Cambridge, sets up meeting and greeting, arranges some group meals and entertainment, produces a comprehensive document for students taking on shadows, organises a presentation workshop for visiting shadows and provides logistical support for CCSU’s access officer. There are also CUSU organised target schemes and other access-promoting trips which link with Christ’s Target School Initiatives.
There is a fortnightly presidents’ and externals’ meeting every fortnight where both the president and vice-president can find out what their opposite numbers at other colleges are doing about various issues, or how they have dealt with problems which may only be arising currently in Christ’s. This provides invaluable information and support for both CCSU’s president and vice-president.
The weekly welfare meetings have already been mentioned however these prove a great help to CCSU’s welfare officer.
The ents list can provide valuable information for the 1st year reps during freshers’ week about what CUSU will be doing and how to organise things around that. More generally this list can provide a link to other colleges so that CCSU can publicise other colleges’ ents or can use ideas from this list to improve our own ents in the future.
CUSU often provide information to Christ’s on subjects as diverse as how much each college pays for formal hall through to rent negotiations and how to deal with them. This kind of information is very useful to CCSU and allows these issues to be dealt with effectively.