Today’s Union Executive meeting, officially pronounced informal by our new President Mustafa Arif, passed without any major hiccoughs.

E-commerce

The e-commerce project, previously mentioned on Live!, has been progressing slower than expected as there was never a written paper contract agreed between the Union and the web developers UK Presence. This unlikely situation, where a job that was initially expected to cost £15k and could eventually cost £22k-£24k has had no written contractual obligation to either party, could have serious repercussions for the Union, as they have paid almost the full amount due to UK Presence, who are now behind schedule for delivery. This chronic mismanagement of financial affairs is something the new President wants to distance himself from.

“I have withheld all further payments until a written contract is in place” asserted Mustafa Arif, who is unhappy about his role in managing the project after the end of August, when outgoing president, Senthooran Ganeshwaranthan, is relieved of his duties.

“I am engaged in brinkmanship with them [UK Presence] over it”, he added.

However one union source thinks that the new online shop could still be finished on time, and in any case, the source code is now safely in Union hands and ‘we could always get some DoC students to tidy it up and launch that way’.

The demonstration of the new site to Sherfield and ICT has been a success. Even the team from the Rector’s office were impressed, despite the presence of more than a few Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine coats of arms (a.k.a. the Crest) on the regalia, officially banned since the re-branding. Expect the shop to be live from the end of August, when you too can purchase your very own ‘crested pewter beer pitcher’ for a mere £115.

Budgets

Next year’s budget for the Union is still unknown, with only a best guess to go by, principally because the previous president managed to have most of his filing system in his head. The actual document stating the amount of money iCU is due to receive still has to be ‘dug out’, causing not inconsiderable headaches.

Joint Summer Ball?

Rumours abound that there could be a University of London–wide Summer Ball in the future.

Political Campaigns

The incoming president is no stranger to campaigns and he plans to bring iCU back to the top of the pack with respect to student demonstrations against tuition fees, and mass lobbying of MPs who said they opposed ‘top-up’ fees, only to vote in favour in the House of Commons. One such culprit is Mr. Martin Linton, Labour MP for Battersea, who pledged before his election in 1997 to oppose the introduction of higher fees for students, only to vote in favour of the current White Paper on education.