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News & Politics
THE
ISSUE
IN STATS
3479
The record amount of students who voted in the UWESU elections; but only around 10% of entire student body at UWE
NEWS >> 6
100
Weight in grams of chorizo in our rather lovely authentic paella
LIFE >> 10
1-7million
The estimated cost of policing the royal wedding...worth it?
COMMENT >> 15
18
The amount of days of rioting in Egypt before President Hosni Mubarak relenquished power
FEATURES >> 16
18
The amount more players Southampton Uni had than UWE at TaeKwonDo nationals, narrowly taking first place
SPORT >> 23
WesternEye 28.03.2011
Questions over complaints’ transparency > St Matts campus chair questions complaints against him continued from front cover.
A short while after the complaint was made, Paddy became aware of the possible disciplinary action against him and contacted the claimant who said “He went out of his way and apologised to me, which I really appreciated”. It was at this point after the apology that the complainant withdrew their complaint and thought the matter was resolved. The claimant was told by UWESU that this was the final of Paddy’s “three strikes” in his capacity as an elected member and that “they couldn’t take him out of the disciplinary process.” The claimant states that they asked the SU to withdraw the disciplinary against Paddy as in their mind the third strike was now irrelevant following the withdrawal of his complaint. UWESU insisted that the strike would stand and that he now faced disciplinary action. When Paddy asked what the other complaints were about and who had made them, he was told that they were unable to tell him either what the complaints related to or who had made them due to the confidential nature of the complaints process. It should be noted that Paddy has received two previous warnings for conduct before. Once for profanity at the AGM and once for unauthorised use of an SU rubber stamp which contravened Union policy, the latter which he has admitted to.
While it is undeniable that there is a need to provide a system that would not discourage people from complaining about something that they are not happy with. There have been questions as to whether a system that denies people a chance to confront their accusers can be wholly clear. SU Vice-President, Gail Wilson, told WesternEye “The system probably needs to be more transparent.” “The most important thing is that people feel able to make a complaint safely.” In contrast, the UK legal system is predicated on a defendant having the chance to refute accusations in court, and where applicable, face their accuser. When asked if there had been situations before where the system of anonymity had been abused, Gail said “I really don’t know. The complaints board is made up of two sabbatical officers and one member of the SU. There have probably been lots of complaints that none of us know about.” “In most situations people know what it relates to so anonymity is moot” said Gail. “The most difficult situations are when it’s one person’s word against the other. That’s very difficult to get to the bottom of.” “An investigation would happen before the disciplinary committee meets.” Paddy’s case has progressed
Corrections/Clarifications 1. In the article ‘The end of an era’ written by John Howell on page 4 of Issue 6, February 2011 of WesternEye we stated that Bristol’s Venue magazine was “set to close after 38 years”. The day after WesternEye went to print it was announced that Venue magazine had been saved and would continue as a monthly publication.
2. In the article ‘Professor David Nutt speaks at UWE’ written by Tom Williams on page 5 of Issue 6, February 2011, Simon Oxenham was quoted in reference to Prof. Nutt’s talk. This quote was actually from a different student and does not reflect Simon’s opinion with regard to the talk.
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WesternEye UWE’s Student Voice <<
Editor George Rowe george2.rowe@uwe.ac.uk
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St Matthias Campus Chair, Paddy Besiris
through all of the aforementioned procedures, with the resulting disciplinary action. He alleges that UWESU has insisted that he accept his formal warning regardless of his protestations and the withdrawal of a complaint. He has also stated that he is not willing to accept a warning for something that he does not know if he has done. The original complainant has since stated that they do not “understand how the SU could take the disciplinary forward, only having two complaints.” They also allege that they have subsequently offered support of Paddy’s case to have his disciplinary action dismissed.
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Paddy disputes that the other two complaints even exist and has requested proof of them, which the SU has refused. However, WesternEye can confirm that the incident with the unauthorised use of the SU stamp definitely took place. It is unclear just how effective the current system is. According to Gail “Most people aren’t interested until it affects them.” When confronted with complex and often emotional disputes, Gail states that “All we can do is try and follow policy and try and work out what the best course of action is.” How well that works in practice is something that needs to be closely monitored.
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WesternEye is published by University of the West of England Students’ Union, 4th Floor F Block, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol. BS16 1QY. Some elements of this newspaper are distributed under a Creative Commons License; please get in contact for more details. WesternEye is printed by Mortons Ltd, Lincolnshire. We believe in making WesternEye as accessible as possible. You can access this publication in PDF format at www.westerneye.net. If you require a different format please get in touch with the Editor (below). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent that of UWESU. We are all human, and sometimes we make mistakes; any problems please contact the Editor at editor@westerneye.net.