Liar Liar!
The latest Welfare and Community zone meeting was cancelled on Monday 23 February, just an hour before the meeting was held, after Welfare Sabb Hana Mougharbel told members she was ill.
However, The Cheese Grater understands that Mougharbel was not ill, and the meeting was cancelled due to one of the policies being “legally sensitive”.
The policy aimed to adopt a formal sustainability and ethical procurement framework for all SU-run cafes, shops, and commercial partnerships.
According to a Union source, the policy was viewed as legally sensitive because of one clause calling for the implementation of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Union products.
The policy states that the SU should “account for BDS’ boycott list and follow it. This is a dynamic list; the SU should follow the most up-todate version on the BDS website.”
The BDS movement calls for “withdrawing support from Israel’s apartheid regime, complicit Israeli sporting, cultural, and academic institutions, and all Israeli and international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights.”
The policy statement argues that “This action follows the student body’s support for a greater focus on ethics when dealing with external companies, particularly large corpora- tions such as Coca-Cola.”
After Mougharbel was told by Union staff that the policy would not be up for discussion, it was allegedly decided there was no point holding the meeting, with only one other policy and two discussions on the agenda.
The other policy on the agenda was calling for creating a service to provide impartial and practical advice to Trans and Non-Gender conforming students seeking support with transition and gender expression.
A-booze of Power
Earlier this term, Activities Sabb Ana Boikova and Equity Sabb Eda Yildirimkaya got into a bit of trouble after they decided to sneak into Mullys after last orders.
The Cheese Grater was reliably informed by a source within the bars that Yildirimkaya was turned away by security guards, after the two sabbs had been to watch a show in the Bloomsbury Theatre.
Instead of complying with the security, Yildirmikaya sneaked in through the backdoor of Mully’s Basement Bar, with help from her accomplice Boikova, who was already inside the bar.
Using their all-access Union ID, Boikova was able to ‘A-booze’ her power to let the equity sabb in. Unfortunately for the two sabbs, the fun was short lived, with the security guards catching the break in on camera and kicking them both out just 15 minutes later.
Boikova and Yildirimkaya declined to comment. Lesson learnt — even the almighty sabbs are not above the wrath of the security guards at The Huntley.
Incumbency Bias?
Union President Anam Choudhary has decided to not run for a second term and instead run for Postgraduate officer at the upcoming leadership race.
The Cheese Grater recently reported that Choudhary had been having doubts about whether to run for President or instead switch over to Postgraduate.
When asked about the rumours at Union Exec, Choudhary told us, “I have no comments”.
Choudhary is running for Postgraduate Officer on a platform that promises to “work with UCL and employers to expand access to gradu- ate schemes, internships and sustainable careers”.
This means that of the six sabbatical officer positions, only Education Officer Sarah Jilani and Welfare Officer Hana Mougharbel will be running for reelection in their position.
For context, at last year’s leadership race, four out of the six positions had incumbents re-running — three of which were successfully reelected.
Time will tell if Choudhary’s gamble pays off, but risking the incumbency bias in the President’s race could potentially make her reelection bid harder.
