On Monday 26th of January, Union Council accepted to vote on whether or not to remove the full time officer in charge of Academic Affairs, from her position in what has been seen by many as an attempted coup.
Union Council, the student policy making body on campus accepted an emergency motion to hear the case for and against the removal of the Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), Sabiha Teladia.
Chris Haines, a part time student rep on Council put through the emergency motion which until then had not been seen by members of Council let alone the VP Academic Affairs, whose job was at stake.
The allegations were outlined as lack of campaigns, poor punctuality and for working on campaigns deemed to be out of her remit.
Sabiha had however anticipated a coup was likely after increasing hear’ say and as a result gathered support from societies, friends and students to counter the barrage of criticisms put before her.
Council questioned the accusers and asked where information had been obtained, which led to the unraveling of the truth and exposed the origins of the coup.With only Bonolo Woracker the VP Welfare at hand to stand up for Sabiha it became obvious to those in the room that the silence of the other Sabbaticals confirmed their guilt in all of it.
Sabiha and her allies spoke against the motion calling it unfair, baseless and blamed rumours and self interest of some councillors for the motion getting that far.
Many on Council saw it as personal problems spilling out into the open and after heated debates voted the proposal down. Leaving Sabiha in her job and leaving the Union and Sabbaticals divided.
This attempt to remove the VPAA which was backed by prominent officers clearly backfired causing many students to question the intentions of many on Council and become suspicious of the intentions of those working for the students.
After voting it down, another motion was swiftly sneaked onto the agenda by the Vice President Sports and Societies Colin Geenes, calling for a motion of censure (warning) for 3 officers for their involvement in a sit in protest over Gaza at a national event. The vote went through giving Sabiha along with Bonolo Woracker and the Womens’ Officer, Jennifer Okojie, did however receive a warning for taking a stand on this issue.
Although Sabiha had led 70 students on a protest to London over the Gaza issue Geenes and delegate leader Richard Buridge told council that the protest was not what students wanted or cared about. Council subsequently agreed with two and passed the motion to warn the 3 on their behaviour.
This was put on the front page of the source newspaper which did little to calm the situations and no doubt made the situation worse as the Vice President for Communications can put forward whatever he wants as he has total control of the union media.
This has left ordinary students questioning why a sabbatical has the authority to manipulate what students hear from the union.
This attempt to remove the Vice President Academic Affairs clearly failed which was surely a victory for the union, yet the front page story was another apparent attempt to divide the union yet again based on a sleazy attack on officers behaviour.
Many students are now asking whether the editor should be allowed to vote in political matters on council or in the union if their job is supposed to be impartial and balanced. The behaviour within the Sabbatical team has posed questions about their ability to work as a team and has left many wondering why more was not done to stop this situation spiralling out of control.
Union Council is now in danger of becoming known as a ruthless organisation that is out to get other officers and is out of touch with student opinion. This has been made worse by the Source newspaper which has left the Union divided and at the future of the union at a crossroads.
No comments:
Post a Comment