Students at University College London have condemned the results of a referendum of No Confidence in their Vice Chancellor after university management sent an email to all students effectively urging them to vote against it. The vote eventually fell by 1185 to 1699, with 391abstentions.
Students had been calling for a vote of No Confidence in Malcolm Grant, Provost of UCL, in connection to his record on supporting higher tuition fees, refusing to pay the London Living Wage and taking a key role in the government’s health reforms. For more information on the campaign, click here: http://grantoutnow.wordpress.com/
However, in the critical days before voting closed, Rex Knight – Vice Provost Operations – used his managerial email privileges to email every student at UCL, singing Grant’s praises. He claimed that the no Confidence campaign was lying about the London Living Wage and claiming that Grant’s time at UCL had brought numerous benefits to the College.
Preliminary data shows that just after Knight’s email was circulated there was a 750 spike in hits on the UCLU website, higher than the margin of victory. Luke Durigan, the Chair of UCLU’s Trustee Board, said: “We currently investigating how many students voted immediately after reading Rex Knight’s email.”
In a response to Rex Knight’s email, No Confidence campaigners described it as “shocking that UCL managers have used the resources of the College to interfere in the democratic process.” A full response can be viewed here: http://grantoutnow.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/response-to-rex-knight/
Michael Chessum, the campaign leader for the no confidence campaign, said: “It has become clear that some university managers at UCL are using the resources and position of the College in order to protect their own position from criticism. If we have to re-run this referendum in order to at least get a fair result, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Ben Beach, a second year Architecture student and supporter of the no confidence motion said: “UCL security have told us explicitly that they were under orders to rip down our posters. There has been a clear attempt to interfere in the democratic process from the outset.”
ENDS
Contact: 07964791663
