STUDENTS, lecturers and the general public have all voiced concerns about UCL’s proposed scheme for a city academy in Camden. So why is Education Officer, Ed Steward, so keen to alter a motion opposing the academy being proposed to Union Council?
A motion outlining opposition to the academy was proposed by Societies Officer, Sam Crews, at the Welcome General Meeting. After the motion was successfully passed, Crews was called to an informal meeting with Steward because he “want- [opposition to the academy]”. In fact, Steward seemed pretty clued up on the matter and was able to “blast” the unsuspecting Crews with facts and figures, quoting lines previously used by the Provost. Steward told Crews that an academy working group resentative from UCL, although it has yet to be publicised on the Union website.
Steward then went on to say that Crews would be compromising the position of the Union and damaging the close relationship with College if he proposed his motion to Union Council. Crews withdrew his motion, replacing it with a considerably toned down version in light of the information provided by Steward. Crews said he was given the impression that the original motion was far too political for the Union to be involved with and declared that it would never be made policy anyway since Governance Committee would deem it irrelevant to students.
Irrelevant? Even though College has suggested a special mentoring scheme existing between UCL students and pupils at the proposed academy? And how would Steward know what UCL students think? Until recently they were never explicitly invited to express their views on the matter and public meetings were not advertised to students by the Union or UCL.
There has been some confusion over whether it was College’s or the Union’s rewsponsibilty to make students aware of the proposals. After the WGM, Steward posted a link on the Union website to an online questionnaire. However, in the “who you are” section, there was no specific tick box for UCL students. Steward pointed out that it did however contain a box entitled, ‘other’ which UCL students would certainly qualify for.
But changes are afoot in UCLU. On 29th October, Steward posted an extremely lengthy note on the Union website, including seemingly all the information regarding the Camden academy he could get his hands on. The Cheese Grater hopes someone will be bothered to read it.