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Thursday 31st March, 2011 • Issue 255 • Twitter: @Concrete_UEA
Union election controversy • Union officers called into question over conduct during elections • Complaints made over unequal treatment of candidates James Schofield News Reporter This year's Union Elections have been held amidst controversial circumstances which seem to suggest that some candidates have had an unfair advantage over others. The allegations most prominently surround the use of Facebook by some Union officers involved with the elections. At the centre of the controversy are the current Finance Officer Rob Bloomer, and Tom Dolton, the current Communications Officer and Deputy Returning Officer for this election. The first breach of the election rules occurred when it was discovered that the Facebook page for the annual Derby Day competition 'liked' the page for Rob Bloomer's re-election campaign. The 'like', which has since been removed, contravenes the rule that prohibits officers of the Union using any tools given to them through their position in the Union . As current Finance Officer and an administrator of the Facebook group in question, Bloomer has access to a group currently 'liked' by over a thousand people, giving
him the means to campaign more effectively than other candidates. However, Communications Officer Tom Dolton found him to have committed no wrongdoing, saying: "Current Union Officers cannot use Union channels to campaign. When I first found out about this, Rob was with me at the time. As an admin for that group, he logged on to Facebook for me and I tried to remove the link. Rob states that he did not add the like. "There's no way a Facebook page can like another Facebook page - it's done by people in it. Under the admin section, there's no section for you to add likes or anything like that. I believe it's a Facebook function to recommend likes to students that are in common with others in the group. "I imagine what the case actually is is that a large proportion of students in that group also like that and the Essex SU page. Apart from that, I looked into trying to get it removed. I believed Rob when he said he didn't like it personally. I've spoken to the Returning Officer and he is satisfied that it wasn't a breach of Union election rules."
Continued on page 6 For a full list of the 2011 Union Election results, see pages 6-7
Lecturer discontent revealed Danny Collins Editor Over 100 UEA lecturers have backed a petition sent to Vice-Chancellor Edward Acton condemning the University's record on gender equality. Signed by 112 academic staff, many of whom are highly respected professors, the petition questions the lack of female representation within the upper echelons of the UEA executive hierarchy. Currently, within the Executive Team, all eight positions are taken up by men, with the letter also questioning the lack of ethnic diversity within this body. of female The omission representation within the UEA executive comes in stark contrast to that of other UK higher education institutions, with Cambridge having six females at executivelevel, and Oxford three. Statistics provided by the letter showed that Exeter, Birmingham, Warwick and York had at least one female representative. In response to the claims, a University spokesperson said: "The University is keen to tackle openly and constructively any barriers to the promotion of equality and diversity in the workplace. "Pro-Vice-Chancellors have historically been appointed by the Vice-Chancellor proposing names to Senate/Council in line with corporate needs.
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