General Secretary of UCL Union, Sam Godwin has been suspended from duty. No justification has been given for this action and the nature of the charges against Sam have not been made clear as is stipulated in the standing orders for disciplinary procedures.
Sam has been under attack recently for her chairing of the Annual General Meeting of the students union (March 5th) at which motions to twin with Palestinian universities and to end military recruitment at freshers fayre were passed. These democratically passed motions have resulted in a backlash from students who oppose them and the tabloid press, but rather than attempting to overturn them through the democratic channels of the union, members of the executive of UCL Union are underhandedly attempting to get the whole meeting annuled by first suspending Sam and then passing an illegal motion to governance committee instructed it to overturn the resolutions of the general meeting.
Inaccurate reports of that meeting have been circulated which ignore key facts - such as the fact that illegal attempts to call quoracy while leaving the room were made.
The fact that despite all the attacks on Sam no reason was given for suspending her shows that no misconduct can be found in Sam\'s chairing of the meeting where she was faced with heckling, numerous attempts at disruption and a vote of no-confidence which was not upheld by the floor.
It is therefore obvious that this suspension is politically motivated. It is part of a wider attempt to get the entire proceedings of the agm overturned (including all the motions voted on democratically by ucl students) orchestrated by a faction of students who disagree with the way the votes went.
It is vital that UCL students stand up for our elected General Secretary against this shameful, unsubstantiated, and politically motivated attack and defend the democratic process at our union. We must resist any sinister attempts by the union exec to undermine decisions made at the AGM, the most democratic body of the union at which students can directly participate in influencing union policy. We the undersigned find this action against Sam disgraceful and demand that she be reinstated.
Seeing the momentum pick up proves that we refuse to let Sam be silenced by these backroom tactics. Please post this link to your social media circles right now so we can hit that five hundred mark before the next meeting.
March 13, 2008
The silence from the union leadership is becoming impossible to ignore while they continue to leave Sam suspended without a shred of evidence. It is clear they want to overturn our democratic votes by targeting her personally because they cannot win the argument through fair process.
Reached 100 supporters
March 13, 2008
6 Comments
S
Sarah Castro
18 years ago
Featured
shameful. if you dont like the results of a vote thats democracy for you. stop trying to silence people just because you lost.
M
Mark Guerrero
18 years ago
Featured
Where is the proof of any wrongdoing? None. This is political bullying plain and simple.
J
James Gupta
18 years ago
Featured
This is completely transparent. They just want to overturn the vote because they didnt like the result. Let the girl do her job.
E
Elena Yamamoto
18 years ago
Featured
Total BS. They are scared of the student voice so they suspend her. Bring her back immediately.
T
Tom Chen
18 years ago
Featured
Absolutely ridiculous. Sam was just doing what the students voted for. Why are they targeting her specifically?
C
Chloe Patel
18 years ago
Featured
we were all there. she handled a mess of a room really well under pressure. keep your hands off our union leadership.
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General Secretary of UCL Union, Sam Godwin has been suspended from duty. No justification has been given for this action and the nature of the charges against Sam have not been made clear as is stipulated in the standing orders for disciplinary procedures.
Sam has been under attack recently for her chairing of the Annual General Meeting of the students union (March 5th) at which motions to twin with Palestinian universities and to end military recruitment at freshers fayre were passed. These democratically passed motions have resulted in a backlash from students who oppose them and the tabloid press, but rather than attempting to overturn them through the democratic channels of the union, members of the executive of UCL Union are underhandedly attempting to get the whole meeting annuled by first suspending Sam and then passing an illegal motion to governance committee instructed it to overturn the resolutions of the general meeting.
Inaccurate reports of that meeting have been circulated which ignore key facts - such as the fact that illegal attempts to call quoracy while leaving the room were made.
The fact that despite all the attacks on Sam no reason was given for suspending her shows that no misconduct can be found in Sam\'s chairing of the meeting where she was faced with heckling, numerous attempts at disruption and a vote of no-confidence which was not upheld by the floor.
It is therefore obvious that this suspension is politically motivated. It is part of a wider attempt to get the entire proceedings of the agm overturned (including all the motions voted on democratically by ucl students) orchestrated by a faction of students who disagree with the way the votes went.
It is vital that UCL students stand up for our elected General Secretary against this shameful, unsubstantiated, and politically motivated attack and defend the democratic process at our union. We must resist any sinister attempts by the union exec to undermine decisions made at the AGM, the most democratic body of the union at which students can directly participate in influencing union policy. We the undersigned find this action against Sam disgraceful and demand that she be reinstated.
Seeing the momentum pick up proves that we refuse to let Sam be silenced by these backroom tactics. Please post this link to your social media circles right now so we can hit that five hundred mark before the next meeting.
March 13, 2008
The silence from the union leadership is becoming impossible to ignore while they continue to leave Sam suspended without a shred of evidence. It is clear they want to overturn our democratic votes by targeting her personally because they cannot win the argument through fair process.
Reached 100 supporters
March 13, 2008
6 Comments
S
Sarah Castro
18 years ago
Featured
shameful. if you dont like the results of a vote thats democracy for you. stop trying to silence people just because you lost.
M
Mark Guerrero
18 years ago
Featured
Where is the proof of any wrongdoing? None. This is political bullying plain and simple.
J
James Gupta
18 years ago
Featured
This is completely transparent. They just want to overturn the vote because they didnt like the result. Let the girl do her job.
E
Elena Yamamoto
18 years ago
Featured
Total BS. They are scared of the student voice so they suspend her. Bring her back immediately.
T
Tom Chen
18 years ago
Featured
Absolutely ridiculous. Sam was just doing what the students voted for. Why are they targeting her specifically?
C
Chloe Patel
18 years ago
Featured
we were all there. she handled a mess of a room really well under pressure. keep your hands off our union leadership.
Help this petition grow
Share it with friends to help reach
750 signatures.
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Couldn't copy automatically. Long-press to copy:
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shameful. if you dont like the results of a vote thats democracy for you. stop trying to silence people just because you lost.