Ideas

As a member of a competitive sports team, and also as a student with a course at a Cheltenham campus, I have to been forced to choose between attending my lectures and playing BUCS fixtures for the university on Wednesdays. I don't think its fair that undergraduate students on Gloucester campuses (sports centered courses) have no lectures on Wednesdays, and those on Cheltenham campuses do. This means that these students do not have to prioritise sport over lectures. Additionally, numerous lecturers on Cheltenham campuses have expressed a dislike that students don't attend lectures to play sporting fixtures instead. This wouldn't be an issue if there were no lectures on Wednesdays. The SU also expressed during committee training that students on sports teams should be reminded that their academic pathway is more important than their sports commitments. If this is the case, why are some students being given time off to play sport, and others aren't. Sport at this university is said to be open and accessible to all. But this statement just isn't true when students on Cheltenham courses have lectures throughout the day on Wednesdays. I'm a student on a science course, but I know firsthand that students on a variety of non-sport related courses have lectures throughout the day on Wednesdays. This spans across all of the Cheltenham campuses, as students on arts courses at Hardwick, and tech-based courses at Park have all expressed the same frustrations regarding Wednesday lectures inhibiting their ability to represent the university at BUCS fixtures. This needs to be changed if sport at this Univeristy claims to be inclusive. Not to mention the fact its simply not fair to assume that students who didn't enroll on a sports related course, have no interest in playing competitive sport at university.