The hand that giveth...
Thank goodness the Governance Review is done and dusted. For anyone who has been following its painstaking progress, this will come as a welcome relief. After months of campaigning, Students for Democracy at UCL got their motion passed on a cunning technicality, therefore returning power to the hands of the students, shitting on the egos of the sabbs, and ridding the kingdom of evil. But what will SDUCL turn their attentions to now?
Someone who won’t be short of things to do is Sam Godwin. A member of SDUCL and also the General Secretary of UCL Union, her recent behaviour has led people to wonder if this busy gal has a conflict of interests. At a council meeting where Jim Hunkin (the part-time replacement for the Finance & Administration Officer) was being particularly awkward – questioning Godwin’s decisions about a Governance ruling and generally being (according to Godwin) “extraordinarily belligerent and arrogant” she saw fit to immediately close the meeting and walk out. While this may be taking the moral high-ground (as no one expects a council member to accept abuse during a meeting), it’s just a pity that these petty battles are being played out at the expense of the representation of the members of UCL Union.
Union records show the number of minutes (quite possibly ticking into hours) that Godwin has spent turning Union meetings into pedantic farces, with attendees complaining that things take far longer to get done as a result of minor quibbles with agendas, protocol and just about anything else. But in an instance where a sabbatical officer was unable to vote in person, Godwin allowed him to vote over the phone – something that she recognises herself to be prohibited under Union rules. For someone who campaigned with so much vigour against a governance review that could have crushed democratic representation at UCLU, it seems a bit rich for her to be bending the rules. But perhaps the end justifies the means in some instances, eh? And of course, the real winner here is democracy at UCL… right?
Bye bye Glasnost
Democracy is also a hot topic at SSEES, which is honouring its commitment to East-European culture with some good old-fashioned in-fighting and a visit from the Thought Police. A row over coal – sorry – money, at the beginning of the year has led to relations becoming frosty between Samizdat and new kids on the block, Veche (“views and opinions from the SSEES”). Vigilante SSEES Site President, Gemma Blakey, confiscated copies of the magazine’s first issue, telling the editors that it needed approval from the union. Of course, no such thing is true, what with it being distributed on college premises, but it’s nice to know that SSEES has its own miniature version of the KGB – with students militantly policing themselves and safeguarding against the threat of emerging free speech.
All hail Pravda!
What a winker!
And finally, Andy ‘is it a wink, is it a twitch’ Fernando certainly knows which side his bread is buttered. At a recent Union Council meeting where an important vote was to be taken, Fernando was conspicuous in his absence. Thankfully, this little sabby hadn’t come down with a nasty winter cold, but was instead busy quaffing champagne… at the Provost’s birthday party.