Soc Bitch is in the foulest of moods, and it’s not just because she couldn’t book Mully’s for her annual Christmas gin-shindig. Unless you’ve been living under a UCLove-less rock, you’ll be no stranger to the claims made against Economics & Finance Society (EFS) in recent weeks – claims which Soc Bitch has so far been unwilling to touch, even from acrylic-nail distance. Well, the moment has come: a UCLU investigation of EFS has upheld a number of these damning allegations made against the society and its leadership. In an email sent to current committee members (although for some of them that role may be about to end permanently tonight), an official Union panel laid down the law.
Note: The results of the UCLU Investigation are subject to appeal, so do not yet apply.
The upheld allegations are:
- EFS failed its “duty of care to its members”, specifically failing to “follow safeguarding procedures for members under the age of 18″. They also failed to “encourage responsible drinking” or “responsible conduct”.
- There was “inappropriate conduct” during interviews for new committee positions (which, as Soc Bitch gathers, may have included asking candidates how many people they had slept with).
- The Society leadership failed to report “an extremely serious incident” at a society event “in a timely manner”. They also “intentionally hid the full extent of their knowledge” about an event.
- The society held initiations, which are banned at UCL.
The consequences include:
- Suspended disaffiliation from the Union for 18 months; any disciplinary action upheld in that period will result in immediate disaffiliation for one academic year.
- Removal, with immediate effect, of the entire committee (apart from the Bloomsbury Capital Committee).
- Though most of the committee will be eligible to stand in the January re-elections, the President and Social Executive are “barred from holding a leadership position” in any UCL societies “for the remainder of their time as a student of UCL”.
- A mandatory “tailored training programme” for all new committee members; failure to complete will result in a void election result.
To Soc Bitch, the extent of EFS’ detestable behaviour comes as no surprise. Indeed, as past events have demonstrated, there’s no place like home-ophobia for EFS executives. Last year, its former Vice-President told freshers in a group chat they were ‘gay’ if they didn’t attend McDonalds in the middle of the night… charming.
Meanwhile, Soc Bitch’s eagle-eyed little birds have informed her that the mother of the President may have liked posts on UCLove which came to his defence. Soc Bitch finds something about her misplaced trust altogether quite sad, and she has no doubt that trust in EFS will be in tatters for years to come.