Rag (student society)
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University Rag societies are student-run charitable fundraising organisations that are widespread in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Many universities about the UK, as well as some in South Africa and The Netherlands have a Rag. In some universities Rags are known as Charity Appeals, Charity Kommittees, or Karnivals, but they all share many of the same attributes, and together raise over a million pounds for charity each year.
Since 2000, students from Maastricht University in The Netherlands also raise money for charity in the Maastricht Rag. And since 2005, also students from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and the Utrecht University organize a Rag.
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[edit] Origins
It isn't known where the name Rag originates, but it is thought to be from the Victorian era when students took time out of their studies to collect rags to clothe the poor.[citation needed] The verb 'Rag' meant to abuse (humorously) someone, and early Rags collections may have 'ragged' passers-by until they made a donation.[citation needed] Much more recently "Rag" has come to stand for "Raise and Give","Raise A Grand" or "Raising and Giving", although this is a backronym. One story has it that the backronym was coined to convince a manager in a large charity of the value of working with student fundraisers.[citation needed] The first Rag in South Africa was started at the University of Stellenbosch by the male residence Helderberg. In South Africa the name RAG is sometimes thought to stand for "Remember and Give".
[edit] Fundraising
[edit] Rag Week
Traditionally fundraising activities have centered around an annual Rag Week, in which students would take part in many events (and often perform crazy stunts) to raise money for charity. Often these events are themed such as Warwick's 2005 'Carry on' Theme and their award-winning 2006 'TV' Theme. In most universities fundraising is now year-round and more professional, although hit squads, naked calendars and kidnapping often still play a role.
[edit] Rag Mag
Many people will have heard of Rag primarily because of a 'Rag mag' - a small booklet traditionally filled very un-PC humour sold to the local community during Rag Week. Some university Rags with a strong local tradition still sell their (substantially cleaner and funnier) Rag Mags, whilst others use theirs more as information-tools for new students wanting to know more about Rag.
A number of Rags claim to have published the first ever Rag mags:
Sheffield University Rag's Twikker was first produced in 1925. It is also claimed that Manchester University published the first Rag mag, in 1924. An issue of a Rag mag dating from 1923, called "Goblio", is said to be in the archives of the University of Southampton.
[edit] Charity Events and Sponsorship
Charity Events: The society organises and runs many events throughout the year for students and the public alike. The events organised vary from university to university, but typical examples include:
- Parties and club nights,
- Pub crawls, such as Bath Rag's Roman Romp
- "Jailbreaks," competitions to get as far from the start and back again within a set period of time, without spending any money on transport.
- City-wide processions,
- Pub Quizzes, such as Warwick's weekly quiz
- Duck races
- Expeditions
- Sponsored bungee jumps and parachute jumps.
- Manchester Bogle Stroll.
- Sponsored hitch-hikes, such as Sheffield's Bummit and Portsmouth's Amsterdam Hitch [1].
- World Record events such as Whoopee.
- Speed Dating, as organised by Portsmouth UPSU RAG Society [2]
[edit] Rag Raids
Street Collections: Currently known as 'Raids', collectors go out into the streets in different costumes to collect for a specific charity on any given day with buckets rather than the clipboards. Many Rags also organise week-long 'Tours' over the university holidays in which they will travel from town to town, collecting in each one, and raising thousands of pounds for the beneficiary charity.
Megaraids: A Megaraid is defined as a Raid where more than one Rag is present and in recent years these have been organised on a massive scale by charities with some events taking place consistently for over a decade. Charities which have a developed student fundraising events include Barnardo's, Help the Aged, Meningitis Research Foundation, Kidscan, The Meningitis Trust and Cancer Research UK. All Megaraids tend to include a social aspect and often attract former students who still take part.
[edit] Successful Rag Organisations
Most red-brick universities have an active Rag, although some like the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham still call themselves 'Carnival', presumably from when organising a student-led Carnival was their main activity. In the early years at the University of York, it was a condition of the funding of the Student Union that there would be no rag week of any kind. The current largest Rag organisation is Karnival from the University of Nottingham who made £567,000 for charity in 2005 [1]. For the 2005/06 academic year it is likely that Loughborough Students' Union's record total of GB£626,147.56[2] will make it the leading UK RAG.
UKRag is a peer-led support and information internet service, with over 1,000 members. The site provides help and peer-support on all aspects of student fundraising, including providing best-practise guides within its own wiki.
The Ragabonds is a group of around 20 graduates and non students who still take part in the Rag scene. Many of them have Rag careers of over a decade and include several members who have raised over £50,000 from street collecting alone.
This calendar year the Ragabonds have raised over GB£50,000 [3]
[edit] External links
- UKRag.net - Student Fundraising forum & peer support
- UKRag Wiki - UKRag student fundraising guides and information
- Ragabonds - Alumni organisation for Rags
- Free wiki for Student Volunteering information
British Rags
- Aston University RAG
- Lancaster University Rag
- Manchester Univerity Rag
- Kings College (University of London) Rag
- Sheffield University RAG
- University of Bath Rag
- University of Exeter RAG
- University of Kent RAG
- University of Portsmouth RAG
- University of Reading RAG
- University of Warwick RAG
Dutch Rags
