‘Incompetent’ Overseas Students’ Committee under fire
The executive of the Overseas Students’ Committee faced the possibility of a vote of no confidence at ICU Council last Tuesday, after the Union’s Budgets Advisory Group recieved no annual budget from the OSC despite repeated reminders of the approaching deadline for budget submissions.
BAG, a subcommittee of the Union Finance Committee, recommended to Council that the OSC, who they described as "grossly incompetent", recieve a vote of no confidence, effectively sacking them. However, believing that this somewhat extreme measure might result in the total disintegration of the OSC, members of the Council turned down the proposal as there would be no-one to replace the existing executive.
In an attempt to defend herself, Despina Crassa, the present OSC chair, raised a myriad of points, some of which were confirmed by various members of Council. That the BAG does not provide a good ‘model’ budget, Despina claimed, is problematic for many of the Union’s clubs and societies.
Ms Crassa went on to confess "I’m useless at tax and VAT, I don’t know what’s going on."
Despina also told the Council how she had recieved last year’s OSC papers in a Sainsbury’s bag and asked how she was meant to write budgets, arrange International Night, and sort out the "mess" left by the previous years OSC, all with the help of "one competent, and one incompetant treasurer, who in effect cancel each other out."
Piers Williams, Deputy President (Finance and Services) who headed BAG this year, proposed that those clubs that behaved incompetently with regards to their budgets recieved either a "Slap", a "Big Slap" or a "Very Big Slap". The OSC were deemed worthy of a "Very Big Slap", and the beleaguered Ms Crassa was asked to submit the budget by next week at the latest. She was also informed that all the Overseas Students’ Societies for which she is responsible face having their budgets cut to two-thirds of the amount they recieved this year.
In defence of Despina, Sarah Corneille, Deputy President (Clubs and Societies) said that she did not think that the OSC had "neglected their duties over the year as a whole, not to the extent where a vote of no confidence would be the correct course of action.
