Hallett comes from an illustrious background in the private sector. Currently, he is a director of HSBC, Cathay Pacific and Swire Pacific as well as the Chairman of John Swire and sons. A spokesperson for the Institute said he had put careful consideration into balancing his new commitments.

Already a member of the Governing Board of the Courtauld, he, like all members of the Board has made philanthropic gifts to the Institute. A spokesperson for the Institute declined to disclose how much the gifts amounted to.

Fundraising will be an important part of his new position – his predecessor raised an endowment worth £32m, making Courtauld, one of the highest endowments per head in the UK.  Its funding is further assured by an exemption in cuts on state funding for universities due to its public benefit. Hallett will be expected to take a hand-on approach to ensuring that the Institute retains its privileged position.

In a statement, he acknowledged the advantages the Institute currently had: “maintaining and augmenting this wonderful position had been, and will continue to be, a fascinating and demanding task”. Hallett also expressed excitement over taking over the post from Nicholas Ferguson.

Ferguson also had kind words, saying that, “The Courtauld’s Board and staff have greatly enjoyed getting to know James in his capacity as trustee and look forward to working with him on taking forward the Institute’s vision for study of art history and conservation in this new role.”

Nicholas Ferguson led the Institute to independence in 2002 while other smaller colleges in the University of London were being absorbed into the larger Colleges. Founded in 1932, Courtauld was for many years based in Portman Square and from 1947 to 1974 was under the directorship of the Soviet spy, Anthony Blunt.

This is in response to widespread criticism and the highly publicized blackout of wikipedia, reddit, tumblr and many other websites.

The coordinated blackout on January 18, in which over 115,000 websites participated, was a determining factor in congress’ decision to withdraw SOPA.

On the day, over 162 million people attempted to visit Wikipedia and were consequently redirected to a page that explained the purpose of the protest. Google, long-time opponents of the proposed legislation, provided a petition that over 7 million people signed.  Opposition for the proposed laws was based on fears that their content could damage online freedom of speech.

However, the decision to shelve SOPA and PIPA did not sit well with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Its chairman, Chris Dodd, has spoken out against the government’s decision, labeling it a “failure to act”.

In an interview on Fox News, Dodd said, “Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake”. This continued rhetoric indicates that the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA does not mark the end of American efforts to prevent and punish piracy.

Since the blackout, the US Federal Government has taken other steps in their war on piracy.

The FBI seized megaupload.com , the popular file-sharing site, on January 19 and its founder and chief executives have been arrested in New Zealand.

Following this development, hacktivist collective, Anonymous, launched a denial-of-services attack on the organizations that they held responsible for this latest measure. Anonymous successfully shut down several websites, including that of the US Department of Justice, the MPAA and the FBI; albeit for about 70 minutes.

Last week’s raid on megaupload.com has frightened several other file-sharing sites, including Filesonic and Fileserve, into closing down their own operations.

These conflicts come on the heels of news that a British Student, Richard O’Dwyer founder of streaming search engine TVShack.cc , could be extradited to the United States.

The question emerging from the flurry of recent activity is who should police the Internet and how you introduce legality to the digital frontier. The response from the online community is that of outrage.  The New York Times, suggests that the hacktivists recent efforts mark a “a political coming of age for the tech industry”.

The importance of this event is explained by Sarah Guise, Head of UCL Equalities and Diversity. “Diversity month recognises that our differences are to be respected and promoted… During February 2012, an exciting programme of events has been scheduled to both celebrate diversity and examine the on-going and evolving challenges some groups face in education, work and wider society.”

The events touch on a wide variety of disciplines and there are several notable participants: Matthew Todd, Editor of Attitude magazine, takes part in a panel debate on gay men and body image issues; Dr Katrina Scior, Academic Director & Senior Lecturer, UCL Psychology,  discusses how different cultural communities respond to mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities. There will also be an LGBT volunteering fair for all interested in helping out in this area.

This year’s theme is based on the UCL Grand Challenge of Human Wellbeing. In conjunction with this month’s celebration, a week of talks and workshop will be held in February to explore the nature of being human and consider the topic of wellbeing. This includes a public discussion on the controversial topic of extended lifespan.

All events are open to UCL students and the public alike.

Every second of on-screen action and sound is directed, produced, shot, lit, edited and designed by the MA Filmmaking students. The films range in length from 9.42 minutes to 19 minutes. In total, the films last just over an hour, covering creativity in turmoil; a showdown between good and evil; the domestic lives of assassins; and the search for undying love.

In preparation for the event, the students released synopses of their work: “Unfinished” centres on Charlotte McKay, a successful crime novelist suffering from a crippling case of writers’ block at a crucial point in her latest book. Unable to kill off her main character as planned, Charlotte seeks the help of her therapist to uncover why writing this particular death is proving so difficult.

In “Intra”, the last days of three assassins Bruno, Sophie and The Girl are told. These three lonely souls coexist in their isolation where the search for love is the only remedy. Set in an unspecified future and structured as a long flashback, the film takes place during the week prior to the team’s last job. In their shared apartment, tension mounts as the three characters come to conclusions about their dead end lives.

In “True Love”, Adam’s relationship with his girlfriend is being soured by doubt and mistrust. But when he meets an old man, he learns the secret of how to make true love last forever.  Lastly, in “Wild Dan”, Cowboy Dan embarks on a journey leading him to become a real hero.

Gerry McCulloch, Lecturer in Film Practice at Goldsmiths, said: “This year we have a particularly talented cohort of students who have worked tirelessly to produce these highly original films. We are delighted with the scope and ambition of the projects and are especially pleased to be presenting the first ever Western made at Goldsmiths. Our annual screening to a packed house at BAFTA is the start of the life of these films on the International Film Festival circuit; a journey which has delivered awards to Goldsmiths filmmakers in the previous two years.”

The MA Filmmaking course has been running at Goldsmiths since 2006. The work done by the teams of students is a major component of the students’ MA and it involves collaborations with the Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, as well as external collaborations with institutions such as the Royal College of Music and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

The films are made from the winning scripts of the Goldsmiths Best Short Script Competition, which is open to all Goldsmiths students. Entries are now open for the 2012 competition.

To mark the inaugural Wold Radio Day SOAS RADIO will be hosting a panel discussion ‘New Perspectives on Traditional Radio.’ A variety of practitioners, academics and tools providers will discuss how this traditional platform can be used as tool for development and empowerment even in the most vulnerable and remote communities.

Lucy Duran a SOAS academic and BBC Radio 3 presenter will be joined by Guy Berger, Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO, Dr Chege Githiora Chairman of the Centre of African Studies at SOAS, Birgitte Jallov  from Empowerhouse/ Panos London, Carlos Chirinos from SOAS Radio, Linje Manyozo from the London School of Economics and Amy O’Donnell FrontlineSMS:Radio.  The discussion will cover practical issues related to running a community radio station such as entrepreneurship in radio stations’ business models and obstacles of politicisation of the airwaves. In addition, radio as a tool for language revitalisation and volunteering in the radio and media sector.

SOAS RADIO works with volunteer presenters, producers and academics to create speech and music programmes covering huge variety of topics, conducting interviews with leading international figures in education, international politics, the arts and the media. These have included author and SOAS alumna Fatima Bhutto, influential Bollywood director Yash Chopra, acclaimed musician Manu Chao and BBC presenter Zeinab Badawi.

“As both a broadcast journalist and a SOAS alumna, I’m pleased to see the growth of SOAS Radio,” Badawi said. “It’s an outlet for the incredible diversity of voices at the School as well as a much-needed training ground for the next generation of broadcasters.”

A typical university radio station does not provide consultancy services to Indigenous Communities in Congo, host Middle East news shows in Mandarin or air an 18-part series on Korean hip-hop. But no one ever accused SOAS Radio, housed at the School of Oriental and African Studies, of being typical.

One of the newest additions to our stations is Get in the Groove hosted by French Londoner Healer Selecta and El Nino. The pair dive into their personal collections of original vinyl 45s to bring to the surface a whole host of eclectic, international, feel good records for the listener to enjoy. The station is also home to a veritable radio institution, DJ Ritu’s A World in London. Originally broadcast on BBC London, DJ Ritu now showcases the diverse musical tastes of London and its people from our studio at Russell Square. A World in London is recognized as an essential meeting place for world music fans and a hub for the industry. 

In tandem with World Radio Day, SOAS Radio will be launching their charity Radio Beyond Borders (RBB). Embodying the spirit of World Radio day, RBB will work with student volunteers to support the use of radio and new media to promote development, communication and social cohesion. RBB will work with community radio stations in developing countries to provide advice and support the setting-up of radio stations. We want to shareskills, build capabilities and promote cultural exchange, while providing a unique work and life experience for our volunteers.

Passion to Perform.

He told London Student that his decision to stand down 3 hours prior to the start of voting was due to feeling that Ross was the “best placed candidate to keep a commitment to anti-war, pro-Palestinian and anti-fascist activism central to ULU’s campaigning.”

He will release a full statement later.

His departure means there are now 3 candidates vying to become ULU’s next Vice-President. You can read their manifestos here. You can also view video interviews with two of the remaining three candidates here.

Opposing the motion were Petro Fassoulas, former member of the European Commission and newly appointed chairman of the European Movement, and Emma Reynolds, Labour Party MP for Wolverhampton and current Shadow Europe Minister. Tempers were running high throughout the event as both sides fought to the bitter end, blatantly ignoring the formal procedure on points of information, leading Reynolds to state with a disapproving tone that her opponents were “even less polite than her colleagues in the House of Commons.”

“An obscure, Byzantine bureaucracy!”, “A monolithic structure…based on the whims of the European Commission!”, “Intentionally undemocratic!” -  these were but a few of the damning judgements of the EU made by the proposition, whose main argument was the illegitimacy of the European Union due to its undemocratic structure. “There’s less point voting [in the European parliament] than there is in the X-Factor”, alleged Glendening. Oulds later backed him up, saying it is “bizarre” that democracy is so obviously “undermined in the modern era.”

Soon statistics were brought in to support these sweeping statements – Britain has only 9% of votes in Brussels, and the past five EU treaties were not put to a vote in England. The OECD states that Europe is declining. Countries outside the EU such as Norway and Switzerland attract more FDI per capita, and Peter Mandelson has stated that the EU holds back British GDP by 4%. While each of these statements was received with doubting looks from Reynolds and dismissive head shakes by Fassoulas, the proposition crossed the line with the allegation that “more UK laws are from the European Commission than anywhere else”, causing Fassoulas to burst out, “that is a lie.” When Glendening tossed over numerous sheets of paper covered in numbers to prove his point,  Reynolds, after a minute of scrutiny, shot the proposition down:

“In fact it here states that 17%, not 71%, of UK law is determined by the EU. I can understand the confusion if you read the numbers the wrong way around.” An awkward glance between the speakers and several chuckles from the audience later, Oulds ended with the message that we should “look to the more democratic world….to countries with greater prosperity”, in line with Glendening’s call that we, as Europeans, should “defend the legacy of the European Enlightenment.”

Fassoulas opened as first opposition speaker holding much less paper and speaking in a much more light-hearted tone. However, his conviction was no less strong. “Do we really want to stand alone? Why should we create borders?” he asked. “Democracy is a conversation”, he stated, and “25 out of 33 referendums have been pro-EU”. The answer according to Fassoulas was not to abandon the EU but to reform it from within. In an interview after the debate he freely admitted that the EU is not perfect; however, he maintained that arguing over its legitimacy was a waste of time and energy which could be better put into coming up with ways to improve it – a directly elected Minister of Finance, more power to national parliaments, and US-style midterm elections every two years were only some of his suggestions. “I’m a half-full kind of guy”, he said with a smile, yet towards the end of his speech he warned, in full seriousness, that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU would leave it “with its face pressed up against the window, looking in onto what is happening about us, but without us.”

Up stood Emma Reynolds, barely glancing at the notes she had been scribbling furiously during the proposition speeches, as she argued her case with a no-nonsense tone so dominant that the proposition took on the facial expressions of scolded children. “I spend a lot of time debating this with the same MPs over and over again”, Reynolds said, “and I can tell you that British membership in the EU is not only viable, but vital to our national interest.” Her list of benefits the EU brings – lower mobile roaming charges, rights to travel, and the ability to live in countries like Spain with far better weather – demonstrated that she knew her audience. Further advantages included access to the European Court of Justice, the ability for joint action on issues like sanctions on Syria, and access to the largest international markets. She accused Cameron of doing Britain a “great disservice” in December 2011 with his veto against EU Treaty changes, and drew heavily on her experience in politics to support her case. The proposition, however, did not lose confidence, continuing to let off statistics like there was no tomorrow. Alas, the vote left the proposition brutally defeated. Oulds nevertheless attempted to end the debate on a humorous note when, upon seeing a few stray hands go up for the proposition, in comparison to the majority of the audience for the opposition, joked that this must have been “the biggest landslide victory Emma has ever had.”

Here are the motions that will be debated, so you can follow the debates:

1.      Student Strikes, Feeder March and NUS Demo!

Proposed: Sean Rillo Raczka

Seconded: Stef Newton

Union Notes:

1.       The UCU has called its next day of industrial action over pensions on March 1st

2.       The NUS has called a national lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 7th March 2012 against changes in fees, education cuts, and the debt regime

3.       Further, NUS has called a week of action from March 12-16th and for a national student walk-out this term.

Union Further notes:

1.       The 52,000 strong national demonstration called by UCU and NUS in November 2010 was the largest education demonstration to date.

Union Believes:

1.       The fight over pensions is central to the fight against the HE White Paper as both seek to drive down labour costs. Private providers, for example, have warned Willetts that the HE market is inaccessible due to the current public sector pensions scheme

2.       The lobby is an important opportunity to show students’ continued opposition to the government in the face of the indefinite postponement of the HE Bill

3.       The call for a  national student walk-out represents a real shift from NUS in regards to the tactics it employs.

Union Further Believes:

1.       We are strongest when the official unions such as NUS and UCU alongside the unofficial networks such as CoR, EAN, NCAFC, No Confidence, Campaign for Public University mobilize and act together.

Union Resolves:

1.       To join others in calling for student strikes on the respective days of industrial action taken by UCU other unions.

2.       To welcome NUS’s call for a national lobby and support the call for a feeder march on the day of the national NUS lobby, and work together to ensure that maximum turnout for the day.

3.       To welcome NUS’s call for a week of action and help to co-ordinate in local university/colleges general union meetings and student assemblies and meetings to discuss what the most effective strategy and tactics for that week are.

2. No Confidence in Boris Johnson, the Tory Mayor of London

Proposed: Stef Newton

Seconded: Ian Drummond

Union believes:

1. Earlier this month Boris Johnson revealed how out of touch he is by suggesting soaring youth unemployment was caused by “{not} enough young people who have the skills and self-esteem to take what jobs there are – and there are too many young people who lack both.”

2. For Tory Boris Johnson, unemployment is the fault of an individual’s lack of “energy and appetite for work” rather than a result of the Tories’ cuts to public services and jobs.

3. In reality there are 234,000 Londoners fighting for just 33,000 jobs – that is more than seven people chasing every job vacancy.

4. The Tory Mayor of London’s extortionate tube and bus fare hikes are hurting London students who are already struggling to make ends meet.

5. Boris Johnson’s recent fare hike of 5.6% is yet another unnecessary, socially regressive attack on students’ living standards by the Tories.

6. Now the cost of a single bus fare is £1.35 with an oyster card, yet when Boris came into power it was only 90p – making this a 50% increase over 4 years and also making London one of the most expensive cities to travel around in the world.

This union resolves:

1. To issue a public statement stating that the University of London Union has no confidence in Boris Johnson, the Tory Mayor of London.

2. To demand Boris Johnson apologises to London’s unemployed youth for failing to acknowledge that the Tories’ job cuts are causing soaring unemployment.

3. To write to Boris Johnson inviting him to a public meeting at the University of London Union, so that he has the chance to explain himself to London’s students.

Proposed: Sean Rillo Raczka

Seconded: Arianna Tassinari (SOAS)
Union notes:

1. That the National Student Survey (NSS) is a key element of neoliberal proposals (such as those in the 2011 Universities White Paper) to transform higher education into a marketable commodity
2. That the NSS naturalises the idea of students as ‘customers’ and staff as ‘service providers’ and further embeds a culture of ‘measuring’ and ‘ranking’ inside HE
3. That institutions are increasingly using the NSS as a performance management tool with no obvious pedagogic benefits
4. That, as the former head of the Higher Education Academy put it in the THES, the NSS is a ‘pseudoscientific tool purporting to be reliable on the spurious psychologistic grounds that there is some statistical congruence between the responses on a small group of agree-disagree questions around a common topic’.

Union Resolves:

1. To oppose the NSS and to investigate the possibility of running a boycott campaign throughout the University with the support of local Unions.
2. To work with UCU branches in developing a campaign of opposition to the NSS nationally.
3. To work with other student unions and student groups to call for a boycott of the NSS

Proposed: Tom Liddell, SOAS and Student Activities Committee

5.     Foundation Day and Picket Lines

Proposed by Ian Drummond

Seconded: Sean Rillo Raczka

Senate Notes:

That the University of London held its annual Foundation Day for 2011 on November 30th, attended by UoL Chancellor Princess Anne, a number of eminent individuals to be awarded honorary degrees, and student guests

November 30 was the day of co-ordinated strike action on pensions by several major unions including UCU, and Foundation Day was therefore held behind official picket lines

ULU Senate has policy in support of the November 30 strikes

Although an annual celebration, Foundation Day is in fact in remembrance of the foundation of the University on November 28th, not 30th, 1836

Senate believes:

That ULU was correct to support our lecturers and other workers in the strike

That official picket lines should be respected

That this event should have been rescheduled in order not to be politicised by being held behind the picket lines of a long known major strike

Senate resolves:

To inform the management of the University of London of our displeasure at their strike breaking in continuing with Foundation Day.

6.      London Living Wage for Senate House Cleaners

Proposed: Ian Drummond

Seconded: Sean Rillo Raczka

Senate notes:

That the majority of London campuses now pay their cleaners London living wage, often after long campaigns by cleaners and students in solidarity

That even Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has supported the London living wage

That Senate House cleaners are still paid less than the London living wage

Senate believes:

That the London living wage is the realistic minimum wage for workers living in London

That the cleaners deserve no less than the London living wage as without them our campuses would soon be unusable

Senate resolves:

To campaign to the University for the Senate House cleaners to receive London living wage, and reconfirm Senate policy of 2009/10 and 2010/11 to fully support and campaign for the LLW throughout the University

You can also see their manifestos at www.ulu.co.uk/elections