The Not-So-Big Vote
UCL Union’s spring elections con- tinued their steady slide into obscurity earlier this month, as just 12 percent of the student body bothered to vote – the lowest turnout since 2011. In addition to this mass apathy, there was an embarras- ingly small number of candidates, despite the Union’s flashy branding of ‘The Big Vote’.
Of the 22 positions up for grabs, over half had just a single candidate running, and three eventually went unfilled. Cur- rent Sustainability, Engagement and Operations Officer Mohammad Ali Mumtaz told The Cheese Grater it was “dissapointing” and admitted that “we didn’t have competition in the biggest positions”. Mumtaz maintained that the turnout was decent however, insisting that students from the recently merged UCL Institute of Education probably didn’t bother to vote this time round.
Foul Play
Following the results, newly elected Sustainability Officer Tayyab Shafiq faced accusations of threatening behav- iour, with multiple students claiming he aggressively canvassed them and even grabbed their phones and laptops to vote for himself. Returning Officer So- hail Baddat called it “unfortunate” that the allegations were not made until after the election, but following more reports of misconduct in The Tab, Welfare and International Officer Tom Robinson has broken ranks and requested that Shafiq faces disciplinary procedures.
The Reviews Are In
UCLU hopes to adress the intense disinterest felt by students in its ongo- ing democracy review. At the last Union Council, a discussion paper was pre- sented with possible ideas for engag- ing students. One blue-sky idea run up the flagpole was student juries, in which students are picked at random to decide on particular issues, similar to court cases. Considering students often can’t be bothered to turn up to lectures, don’t expect student juries to become the next Netflix courtroom thriller any time soon. A recent NUS study bizarrely titled “De- mocracy is dead! Long live democracies” concluded that “It’s probably not that surprising that students don’t engage”. After UCLU scrapped the position of Democracy and Communications Of- ficer last year, it’s even less surprising that UCL students don’t engage.
BDS... erm?
Union Council returned to the heady, politicised days of old earlier this month when it voted to boycott companies and groups associated with alleged Israeli violations of international law. In a fiery exchange, around 25 members of UCL Jewish Society turned up to argue against the motion, put forward by Khaleel Mirza of the Friends of Palestine Society, freshly elected as part-time Activities Of- ficer.
Mirza spoke strongly in favour of the policy, highlighting Palestine’s need for support from the international commu- nity. Other students accused the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement of having sinister elements, with one claim- ing that “This is going to make UCL look like an embarrassing, anti-semitic university.” Veteran Union hack Ben Towse proposed an amendment com- mitting UCLU to back other organisa- tions that instead encourage Israelis and Palestinians to work together.
Towse’s amendment was voted down, and eventually – despite calls for the vote to be held at a General Assembly, which would give more students the chance to air their views – Council voted to support a policy of BDS by 14 votes to four, as a number of angry JSoc members stormed out. Immediately following the meeting, Towse set up a petition demanding that UCLU hold a General Assembly to reconsider the policy. In an email to members, JSoc President Adam Schapira wote “Few decisions can be more serious than the decision to boycott an en- tire country”, adding that “Jewish students will feel marginalised” if the policy doesn’t go before a General Assembly. The petition re- quires 770 signatures, but as of last week only around 400 students had signed – presum- ably in this case the Union Exec is thankful students aren’t engaging.