News in Brief
Natalia Thorn, Vice President of King’s College Student Union, put forward a motion at the University of London Union General Union Council meeting on Monday to ‘do away with the position of Womens’ Officer as part of ULU’s executive committee’ with effect from the next election.
Ms Thorn’s motion proposed that ‘...Women now hold an equal status with men’ and that ‘any issues specific to women in ULU ...can be handled with thorough competence by an "equal opportunities officer" and thus called for the position of Womens’ Officer be replaced by one which covered all groups of people. At the moment, The ULU executive has no officer specifically appointed to address issues such as disabilities or racial prejudice.
An opposing motion was put forward by Paul Bates, ULU’s VP for welfare and representation. He explained that Student Union Womens’ Officers ‘promote sexual equality’ and that they were ‘vital’ to student unions. He went on to suggest that there should be a campaign to establish them at all colleges within the University of London.
The council voted for to maintain the post of Womens’ Officer with a two-thirds majority.
RCSU ELECTIONS
Hustings for the election of the executive committee of the Royal College of Science Union took place on Monday.
Standing for the post of President are Karl Stand (physics 3) and Charlie Joynt (maths 2). Physics dep rep Hooman Behnia failed to attain the proposer and fifteen seconders necessary to qualify for candidature.
Eric Watten and Rob Park (both Chemistry year 2) are jointly standing for the position of Vice-President, with Mo Mansoori (physics 1), Nick Swain (maths 3) and Poppy Buxton (physics 1) going for the posts of Honorary Secretary, Honorary Junior Treasurer and Academic Affairs Officer respectively.
As ever, new election is also standing for all posts.
Voting takes place on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th of February in all RCS departments. You will need your ICU card.
‘INTELLECTUAL RACIST’ CENSURED
A motion proposed by Damian Krushner, university councillor, at this week’s ULU General Union Council sought to "...oppose any attempt by organisations or individuals within the University of London to give a platform" to Cristopher Brand, an ex-lecturer at Edinburgh University. The motion alledged that Mr Brand was a ‘pseudo-intellectual racist’.
Brand had proposed a motion at Cambridge University on the 23rd of January this year in which he promoted the idea that ‘black people were inherently less intelligent than whites’. He also sought to deny the rights of Asians and Afro-Caribbean students to education and welfare.
The IC delegation at the meeting voted against the motion on the grounds of defending freedom of expression. Nevertheless, the motion was carried.
PANE FINALLY DROPS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS
A serious accident was narrowly avoided last Thursday lunchtime, when a large pane of glass fell from the Civil Engineering building and smashed onto the road below.
College security acted quickly to cordon off the wide area of broken glass, in the access road connecting Dalby Court and Imperial College Road. High winds are widely believed to have dislodged the pane of glass, which measured approximately a metre square. Although the road was busy at the time, no-one was injured.
ULU VP AIMS FOR MARS
Paul Bates, University of London Union vice-president (Welfare and Representation), has written to NASA to determine the possibility of his accompanying them on any future manned mission to Mars. This move follows a ULU mandate, expressing the desire of the London Union, as a student representative body, to further relations with extra-terrestrial beings.
Included in the Union’s radical new policy is the explicit instruction that the Carpenters’ hit, ‘Calling occupants of interplanetary craft’ be played at least once per day over the ULU building intercom.
So far, NASA have not responded
