Do we need an independent inquiry?

Five months on from the Summer Ball, the wounds of such a financial loss are still fresh to see. Despite an official ‘debrief’ from Deputy President (Finance & Services) Michael Foster taking place at Monday’s Union Council meeting, areas of ambiguity still remain as to the exact loss that the Ball made, and how such a loss may be avoided in the future. It is for these reasons that Felix supports an independent inquiry into the Summer Ball, as passed by Council on Monday.

The passed proposal to launch such an inquiry made mention of the belief that ‘Felix should always strive to provide accurate information’, alongside the claim that Felix reported incorrect information. Felix would like to clarify that, throughout its reporting of the Summer Ball over the summer months, we did indeed strive to provide students with the correct information, and used information entirely provided by the Union which has since transpired to be incorrect. It has also recently come to light that the full financial report detailing the losses has still not been presented to either the Union President or the Union’s Trustee Board.

If the Union itself has not made available the full figures to its own Trustee Board (the governing body and most powerful committee of Imperial College Union) even after a ‘debrief’, then an independent inquiry must indeed be welcomed despite any protestations that Union officers may have. In the five months since the event itself, surely there must have been official figures produced, especially in the face of such a loss?

It is not enough to simply state that an attendance of three times as many people was ‘expected’, nor that a resulting over exaggerated budget was the reason behind a (as yet undetermined) loss. Opinions are valuable, but when it comes to a situation dealing in financial viability, facts and figures are just as, if not more, important.

It must be in the best interest of everybody concerned to see more concrete figures in order to determine what went wrong, from those in charge of organising next year’s Summer Ball (if it is indeed to be continued in its current form) to the students themselves. The Union must be open to full and frank criticism from the student body when it makes mistakes, especially mistakes in the region of £100,000. If an independent inquiry is what it takes to achieve this, then Felix fully reiterates its support for such a course of action.