Lord Vincent of Coleshill, the Chairman of Imperial College Council has banned Andrew Smith, the ICU Deputy President (Education & Welfare) from attending tomorrow morning’s crunch meeting. The meeting is due to consider controversial proposals for Imperial College to charge top-up fees of up to £10,500.
Under the College’s statutes, Imperial College Union is entitled to send a representative with non-voting rights, which must be a Deputy President of the Union. (The ICU President is a permanent voting member of the Council.) While the Union has usually sent the Deputy President (Finance & Societies) along to these meetings, it is nevertheless able to send whichever Deputy President it chooses. Last night’s packed General Meeting mandated Mr Smith to attend as, being the Education & Welfare sabbatical, he was considered to be the most appropriate.
This afternoon Lord Vincent ruled that Mr Smith could not attend as the Union’s representative claiming that “insufficient notice” had been provided for a change to the attendance list. A dejected Mr Smith expressed his "dismay" that he cannot represent the students of the College as he had been mandated to do.
A furious Andy Heeps, former ICU President, criticised the decision, which he described as “typical of the new ostrich mentality in Suite 5 [College administration] that they will not allow appropriate student representation at the highest level of the College. On an issue of this importance Andrew Smith should be able to represent his members.”
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