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May 2002
Contents: Prepare for freshers fair; Student European Election; Contacting your school; Support for pregnant students; Events
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here for our press contact details Dear all This is the fourth of our yearly newsletters and we've crammed in as much as possible to avoid inundating you with emails. Do get in touch if you have any news or ideas, or if you would like to be involved with Student LifeNet in any way. Thinking Ahead - Freshers Fair Student European Election - Vote Online Contacting Your School Improving Support for Pregnant Students Events - "Ten Bridges Walk" and "A Posthuman Future" Thinking Ahead Do remember that if you want a stall for prolife in freshers fair you may have to request one from the student union before the end of term. If there isn't a prolife group in your university do consider setting one up or publicising our website however you can. We recently contacted student unions to ask if Student LifeNet could be listed on the student union website and they said that students at the university would have to set up a group first, so it's over to you. A prolife stall in freshers fair is an excellent opportunity to spread the word in the space of only a few hours to hundreds of students. Student European Election Students all over Europe are involved in an election campaign on European issues. Our friends at the European Youth Alliance, and two students based at Brighton and Oxford, have formed a party called "Europa Rediviva" and are calling for students to vote online for a culture of life and give a soul to Europe. They are focusing on human life and protecting human dignity, and standing in defence of the weakest members of our society - the unborn, elderly, disabled, sick, and poor. Read more about them at www.eu-studentvote.org. Wouldn't it be fantastic if they won? Please give them your support and tell others. To vote you need to be a student and you must register with your student ID before May 21st and vote before may 23rd. One day after you register you will receive a code and a password which will entitle you to vote. Contacting Your School We have just put together a newsletter for Student LifeNet to publicise our activities so that more people will know we exist and in order to ask for donations so that Student LifeNet can continue. We are planning to send it out as widely as possible to universities, churches and schools - so that six formers heading for university know about us. If you would be willing to contact your school directly and tell them about Student LifeNet, please let us know. A personal recommendation from you is likely to be more successful than impersonal contact. If you have any ideas about fundraising or would like to make a donation to SLN, we'd be particularly happy to hear from you :o) Improving Support for Students Prolife students in Oxford have written to over thirty pre-schools and playgroups around Oxford, asking for donations of second hand baby clothes, toys, bedding and equipment for prospective student parents. They are collecting any baby baths and bouncers, changing mats, prams/buggies, cots, and blankets. Then these items will be sorted into sets, or 'layettes' and given out to requesting student parents, as and when required. The prolife society also plans to buy any other items with society funds. This aim is to provide practical support for student parents. The Prolife society are also researching what support is like within the university with the aim of improving support. Student parents need help in overcoming difficulties. The project is the first instance of cooperation between the student union and the Pro-life society on the issue of welfare support for student parents. The student union have offered the use of their minibus to collect donations of equipment from pre-schools and nurseries, and their storage space to store it and the prolife society is working with the student union welfare reps to publicise the scheme. This is part of a larger campaign that Student LifeNet is carrying out nationally to find out what support is available for pregnant and parenting students and how support varies across the country. Our findings are proving to be very interesting. If you would like to be involved with this campaign do get in touch. Events 9 June 2002 Jubilee 10 Bridges sponsored walk for Life. This is a major fundraising event for LIFE Care centres. Walkers cross 10 bridges, finishing at the Middlesex end of Albert Bridge. The distance is about 9 miles. It's a marvellous way to see all the riverside attractions, many of them quite recent. We need walkers and bridge stewards (and, of course, sponsors) Starting: 1.30p.m prompt. Assemble: Dolphin Fountain outside the Thistle Tower Hotel, City end of Tower Bridge. Contact: Tel: (020) 8287 0176 or e-mail: teeceedee@waitrose.com 30 May 2002 - A Posthuman Future From the end of history to the end of human nature? Examining the social and political implications of human genetics. Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History, and now Our Posthuman Future (May 2002) and member of President Bush's Bio-ethics Committee versus Gregory Stock, author of Redesigning Humans (May 2002) and former biotechnology advisor to President Clinton. Chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby (Both books are published by Profile Books, May 2002) Panel of discussants -Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times and author of Brave New Worlds: Genetics and the Human Experience -Mike Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust -Raanan Gillon GP, Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics at Imperial College London "What is going to happen to equality of opportunity when a non-musically enhanced child aspires to be a musician, which has become not just the territory of a guild of musicians, but of a subspecies of musicians whose total genetic identity is tied up in that form of life?" Francis Fukuyama "Enhancement is not wrong, and when such possibilities become safe and reliable, large numbers of people will seek them. ... When it comes to children, I trust the judgment of individual parents more than that of political or judicial panels." Gregory Stock Time: 7.00pm (doors open from 6.00pm) Location: Logan Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London,WC1H for tickets Telephone: (10am-8pm, Monday-Friday): 0207 269 9230/9229/9227/9220 Or visit www.instituteofideas.com That's all folks. Best wishes especially to those doing exams Fiona Pinto Director Student LifeNet |
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