EDUCATION AND Welfare officer Ed Bray resigned to avoid the fallout from a disciplinary hearing over electoral fraud, The Cheese Grater can reveal.
Ed ‘Runaway’ Bray, the second officer to desert the Sabbatical team this year, originally claimed that the pressure of the job had been detrimental to his health and that this, coupled with the death of a close friend, meant he could no longer continue in the- position. What the official line didn’t include was that Bray had voted twice in the first round of elections at the start of the year and was therefore guilty of electoral fraud. It also left out the fact that Runaway had resigned in order to escape the embarrassment of being slapped on the wrist for his offence.
The official line may have some inkling of truth; Runaway had certainly suffered a personal tragedy since the beginning of term. Nonetheless, it seems difficult to believe that he would have deserted his post so readily if were not for the fact that he had tampered with a democratic election and was therefore guilty of gross misconduct.
Even when the electoral discrepancies were announced Ed Bray on the Union website on 18th October, no mention was made of the fact that the fraud had been carried out by an elected student representative AND a trustee of the Union. In fact, the entire process was played down by the Sabbs and largely forgotten (apart from a cursory mention in the atrocious Union Bray is accountable to them.
But worse still, only a small handful of Ed’s colleagues were aware of the situation. Even ULU executives knew the truth behind Runaway’s disappearance before most of the exec at UCLU. Despite supposedly being on equal footing with the Sabbatical Officers, barely any of the parttime exec were aware of what was really going on until Union council on 27th November. Even then they only found out because someone had leaked the information.
Clearly then, when Media and Communications officer Nick Barnard stood up at Union Council and read out Runaway’s resignation letter, he did so knowing every word of it was a lie. When Barnard and Clubs and Societies Officer Robbie Swale were confronted by The Cheese Grater, both initially denied any knowledge of the matter before weakly claiming they were unable to comment.
Runaway’s resignation left the remaining sabbatical team close to tears; presumably because the pressure of trying to keep a lid on a festering can of worms was getting too much. They have argued that Ed had a right to anonymity whilst the process took place. However, the moment Runaway won his own election last year he implicitly waived his claim to privacy, especially when his offence is so closely tied to a democratic process of the Union. Clearly Runaway’s choice to flee the entire situation and leave his colleagues to pick up the pieces only further confirms his guilt. Yet if he had stayed to face the hearing (or at least bothered to turn up) it’s possible he could have scraped by without losing his job. The decision by the sabbatical team to keep silent on a matter that frankly demanded complete transparency is utterly despicable.
So what really happened? Following Union procedure, the case against Bray was heard by a disciplinary panel made up of members of staff and student representatives from other University of London colleges. A source close to the panel told The Cheese Grater that at the time of the hearing, the evidence strongly suggested Bray was responsible for voting twice and that worse still, Bray didn’t bother to represent himself. The reason why? He didn’t turn up.
But wait a second – in accordance with the Union Standing Orders, all this took place within 14 days of the fraudulent election result being recognised. Once the hearing is held within this period, a report must then be made to the Union Executive. So how come nearly 6 weeks have passed since the incident and no official notice has been made? Conveniently, one of the senior treasurer on the disciplinary panel ruling against Bray, Alasdair Gibb decided to take a holiday, thus delaying the entire procedure. The sabbatical officers must have been overjoyed when they found out that the Chair wouldn’t return from sunning himself in time for the report to be made anytime before the last week of term, thus allowing the whole situation to slip quietly under the radar in the pre-Christmas excitement.
So far, Runaway has completely deserted the Sabbatical Suite at 25 Gordon Street. Despite having pledged to serve his full one month notice, he has not been seen since the day his resignation was announced. Given that Bray didn’t defend himself or make any attempt to explain his actions you could almost be forgiven for thinking he voted twice because he was trying to lose his job. Unsurprisingly, Ed’s account of matters is thin on the ground. However an informed source suggested that any claim of the matter being an accident was “very unlikely.” Therefore the only other reasonable explanation is that Bray thought he could succeed in defrauding the electorare – something you’d have to be a complete fucking idiot to do. Until The Cheese Grater hears otherwise, it is hard to consider him anything else.