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In mid-2015 it was raised that there was a possibility of the removal of both criminology and legal studies positions. This was because it is officially not a degree under Bcrim law anymore but now a bachelor of arts. It was suggested that it could possibly be removed due to the fact of the name change but also because of how small the portfolios are. Although in saying that Aj and I argued the point that it was still under the school of law school. It was mentioned that these two roles though small do you have an impact on the society. As by the removal of these positions it would take away the voice from these members in the law school and also a potentially cause loss of members. Therefore it was decided to keep these portfolios on the committee for the time being.
Many of the events run by MSLS are irrelevant to Criminology students, simply because they are targeted towards the needs of Law students. These mostly include events run by the Education and Competitions portfolios. A continuing issue within the CR and LSR portfolios is getting the Criminology and Legal Studies students involved in
MSLS events. Posters have changed and have listed that it is welcome to all students within the law school.
Previously some events have just mentioned law and nothing else about other degrees. A recommendation I have to possibly help this issue is to have a criminology e-mail newsletter sent out monthly or read out in core units in lectures. This is just to make sure that there is direct consistent contact as I believe just the standard MSLS newsletter students get lost in all the law related items. Potentially this could improve the attendance for criminology related events.
This year the guide for criminology was included in the careers directory. Feedback from this year is that there wasn’t a section for criminology it was “lost” amongst the firms. This has caused some confusion for some students because as they flick through it at a glance they only see law related jobs. This could possibly change for next year by keeping it in the same guide and directory but having a separate section so it is convenient to find. It was understood that the reason why it was mixed amongst everything else was to not segregate the degree but include it. Although the feedback that was received would implicate that the degree’s job prospects has been neglected and has hardly been recognised properly. I don’t suggest that these should be in separate guides like in previous years, I just believe that it just needs to be separate so it can be fully appreciated.
Events

Aim
Result of event
Sem1: Quiz night Sem2: Prison tour
The purpose of the quiz night was an all educational.
Information was gathered from lecturers of all the content that was being taught that semester from various units. The questions of the content and the general facts knowledge would make up different rounds.
The quiz night ran unsuccessfully even with the positive response gained from students when spoken at lectures. The reason for the failure of the event was due to numerous factors. These included an poor interest followed by lack of sign up of students and lack of communication between the LSR when it came to organizing parts of the quiz night.
For semester 2 a different approach was taken which was a social side. The tour was well supported by the committee saying that it was a great idea.
This event was unsuccessful due to lack of interest.
We only had 8 people sign up. This event was advertised greatly with posters, sign-up sheet was out for two weeks, Facebook posts their websites announcements and talks at lectures. I also don’t think that there was enough support when it came to the event there was only one other committee member signed up to this event.
1) I believe that there is a bit of a problem with roping in CS and LS students due to the fact that from second year that there aren’t tutorials and also due the lack of students attending lectures. I personally spoke to one of the lectures and they estimated that only ¼ actually attend. So to overcome this I believe for next year try and maintain relationships by going to lectures regularly and creating a newsletter just for criminology that goes out every 6-8 weeks.
2) Try and gain the committee’s support a bit better next year. We are expected to attend majority of their events so why shouldn’t they attend ours? It was a bit disheartening to say considering they were in agreement with the prison tour.
3) Lastly maybe try a different approach with an education and social angle. Possibly try run something that’s small first and easy to attend then branch off into something bigger. It might be of interest to run a first year mentoring program for first years so we can get them established into the society from the first year.
4) In regards to the careers guide and directory it would be wise to make a separate guide to the law one. It was found that last year it was difficult for students to navigate and find ones that were specific to the degree. By having a separate guide it removes a lot of the irrelevant information for students and it is clear on what jobs there are on offer.