ex-staff had led to seriousstudent complains regardinga lack of information fromthe agency.

Students were leftunaware of who to pay rentto and when to pay it.

Bennett told Nouse thatYRLA “wasn’t run like apartnership, it was more likea dictatorship”. He went on

Sinclair has “a very high pro-portion of houses with allmale groups”.

This is the second con-troversy to emerge in a mat-ter of weeks surrounding theshamed letting agent YRLA.

Nouse reported lastterm that a bitter legal battleamongst the directors and

FOR THE second year run-ning a group of students havelodged a formal complaint againstthe Economics department’s examprocedure, following theirMicroeconomics paper at the startof this term. The students, whohave approached the Board ofStudies and are still unsatisfiedwith the outcome, are claiming thattheir exam paper was “deliberatelymisleading”, that the module waspoorly taught, and that many ofthem had to pay for private tutor-ing in addition to their seminarsand lectures.

One second-year student toldNouse that in one of the questions

“the symbol for Wealth andEndowments were really very simi-lar and seemed designed to trickpeople”, and that “pretty mucheveryone I know has had privatetuition for this”, commenting thatsupervisors “didn’t seem to care”about many of the students’ con-cerns with the module.

Peter Spencer, Head of theBoard of Studies for Economics,has since spoken to Nouse, sayingthat “students brought this [mat-ter] to our Board Of Studies” andthat the department had “a longdiscussion with the student repre-sentatives there.” He continued tosay that the issue was given “a full

and serious discussion” but that he“can’t remember what the conclu-sion was”, adding that “as far as [hewas] concerned, there are no plansfor change”.

One of the main complaints ofthe students is that notation usedin their lectures and seminars wasespecially difficult for those doingcombined studies. “For people whodidn’t have a Maths background itmight as well have been French,”commented one PPE student.

“There’s a difference betweenhaving a hard exam and not beingable to understand it because it’sbeen written deliberately confus-ing,” she continued. “I went to see

my supervisor and it was prettymuch a case of ‘go and get a tutor’,but it’s such a niche area ofEconomics it was really difficult tofind someone who could teach mewhat I needed to know.

“I know some guy who runstutoring out of his house in Halifaxand charges students £3 a visit,”continued a second PPE student. “Ithought about going but wasuncomfortable with turning up tosomeone’s house. My parentsended up paying lots of money fortutoring over the Easter holidays,even though I’d done loads ofwork.”

As well as their discontent at

having to pay for extra tuition,many of the students told Nousethat they were more upset by theattitude of the EconomicsDepartment themselves. “Theydon’t really listen at all,” said onePolitics and Economics student,saying “they should definitelychange the format of the exam asthere seems to be problems with itevery year.”

“I know a few students whohave gone to their supervisors con-cerned about the exam,” her friendadded, “they said that they should-n’t worry because PEP knows theMicro exam is ridiculous and oftennot a reflection of people’s abilities.”

MacMahon’s practices. “Wewould never do anything likethat, we are strictly open toanybody,” stated a spokesper-son for IG Property.

Similarly, the owner ofSinclair Properties, NeilMcTurk, commented that itis “outrageous if people arediscriminating,” and that

“No Chinese or similar” say APYork

THE LETTING agencyAPYork has been accused ofracism and sexism, followingadvertisements placed ontheir website.

From January, the com-pany’s website featuredhouses with “no all malegroups”, specified in redunder their descriptions,which have since beenremoved.

Further data was exclu-sively given to Nouse fromthe records of the ex-agencyYRLA.

The document, whichlists properties to be let untilthe end of this academicyear, shows notes stating “noChinese”, “no all malegroups”, and “no Chinese orsimilar” next to numerousproperties.

YUSU Welfare Officer,Ben Humphreys, describedthe information as “shock-ing”, stating that “it revealsYRLA to have been racist,Xenophobic and raises seri-ous questions.”

He disclosed that thePro Vice-Chancellor for stu-dents and the Registrar ofthe University have beenaware of the problem forsome time, and that YUSU“look for immediate action toremove them [APYork] fromcampus.”

In response, theUniversity’s Press Officer,David Garner, confirmedthat the information hadbeen passed to the Registrarwho is “consulting solicitorsabout what action to take”,describing it as “clearly unac-ceptable”.

When confronted withthe information, MacMahoncommented that “it might bea preference stated by alandlord,” and that “in thepast we have taken that intoaccount.”

He went on to say thathis company “tr[ies] to edu-cate” the landlords, and thatthe advertisement online“shouldn’t say that.”

He added: “It wouldhave been a mistake, it won’tbe there now”.

One of his previouspartners from YRLA, AdamBennett of Adam BennettLettings, stated that his newcompany does not followsimilar practices toMacMahon.

“I don’t have a problemwith Chinese people but I dohave a problem with peoplewho do,” he stated.

He continued to saythat whilst problems canoccur when internationalstudents are unable to pro-vide UK guarantors, theUniversity frequently acts asa guarantor for foreign stu-dents and that there is “noexcuse for dealing withracists”.

York’s other major let-ting agencies have alsoexpressed their outrage at

Charlotte Hogarth-JonesEDITOR

SAM NEWSOME

to describe MacMahon’sleadership and work ethi-cas being of full of “smokeand mirrors”.

APYork developed as acompany when MacMahonsplit from YRLA last year.

LEADER >> Page 9COMMENT >> Page 9

“[The report] is shock-ing... it reveals YRLA to

have been racist,Xenophobic and raises

serious questions.”

Ben Humphreys,YUSUWelfare Officer

Documents disclosed to Nouse reveal that APYork have been engaging in racial and sexual discrimination

Formal complaint lodged against the Economicsdepartment for second year running

Charlotte Hogarth-JonesEntry for Best News Contributor 2010