Friday 22-10-2021 - 17:51

We are aware that numerous conversations are taking place around safety in Bangor. Our priority at the Students’ Union is the safety of students here in Bangor, and we’ve been listening and addressing your concerns, especially regarding drinks spiking and safety in nightclubs.

There have been recent reports of drinking spiking nationally and closer to home in Bangor.

We want to take a moment to explain what the union, are doing for your safety and how we see the next steps of further action to ensure students can feel safe whilst on a night out in Bangor.

• We are working work with local services and the police to create a safe environment in Bangor. We’ll tell you more as we further develop this relationship. Drink spiking is a crime and should always be reported to the police and to any venue’s management. We strongly encourage students to report any worrying incidents on nights out - whether to the venue itself, to us at the Students’ Union and/or to the police.

• We have had positive discussions with Academi on how students can feel safer on their nights out and they have agreed for more substantial checks on people entering the club, compulsory student card checks to ensure only students are using the club, and we are currently looking into developing a volunteering project to ensure students have a safe space in Academi where they can easily access water and support. We are also looking to have similar conversations with Cube nightclub and other venues across Bangor.

• The university responds quickly to any breaches of the student code of conduct. The students’ union will ensure that any breaches of this code are appropriately reported to the university. There is a zero tolerance towards spiking.

• If you think that you, or someone else, have been spiked: Tell someone you trust, and please report a suspected case to the police as soon as you can.

• The university has a variety of support functions available, and the Student Equality and Diversity Officer is specially trained to respond to all reports of sexual violence and harassment and can provide expert advice and support, if you want to report an incident to the University contact h.munro@bangor.ac.uk. If you’re unsure of who to go to, contact us on undeb@undebbangor.com

We are supportive of the Girls Night In campaign and are putting on a ‘Saturday Night In’ event this Saturday 23rd October which will be a film night, and will be an environment where students can feel safe, have fun, and eat free pizza in solidarity with the boycott. The film night will be taking place in Main Arts Lecture Theatre and there is a link to the event here: https://fb.me/e/1Up10KWTd

We are also planning to organise a Student Solidarity March on Wednesday 27^th aiming to get as many people as possible to support action against spiking, and the attempt to make nightclubs and nightlife a safer and more enjoyable experience for students.

We want our students to feel as safe as possible in Bangor, we are here to listen to students’ concerns, if you have any feedback or ideas and would like to support our campaign, please get in touch with undeb@undebbangor.com