General Election 2010 Special The local and national perspective Palatinate, Elections
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PALATINATE
The official student newspaper of Durham Students’ Union since 1948
Thursday 6th May 2010 | Edition 718 | palatinate.org.uk
Undercroft’s Marilyn goes missing
Newsbox Students paying for essays
UKEssays.com reveals that Durham students have bought essays from academic ghostwriters Page 3
Pope declines invitation
The pontiff will not be visiting Durham when he makes his UK tour in September
Lyndsey Fineran
If you have noticed the absence of a certain lady during your latest visit to Castle bar, or a particularly glamorous new figure in the colleges of the Hill, chances are you are seeing the effects of one of Durham’s more daring stunts of recent years: the theft of Undercroft bar’s Marilyn Monroe mascot. The statue has been a feature of University College’s bar for as long as many of us can remember. A beloved fixture and mascot of the college, the statue was recently stolen by a gang of Hill college students. The idea occured to the group of four friends over a Friday night pint, the result of a conversation about the languishing Durham tradition of ‘trophying’ items of value from rival colleges. Feeling that the current friendly competition between colleges need to be upped a level, the group quickly hatched their plan to steal the Castle’s icon and began to stake out the fortress to plan the feat. The offenders have refused to give details of exactly how they made it past both porters and students on duty at the gate, noting only that “We’d like readers to imagine that we wore suits throughout and encountered some kind of alarmed laser grid.” The statue safely in their hands, the students proceeded to take pictures and set up a Facebook profile and fan page in its honour under the name Norma Jean. The group soon attracted almost 1,000 fans and became a site for inter-college debate. However, the group was shut by Facebook administrators, who viewed the page as an impersonation and thus a violation of their code of conduct. Once in the group’s possession, the question arose as to what should be done with the statue. One of those involved said: “All four of us are from Hill colleges so it seemed only fair that the Hill should get her.” The group then sent out emails (from ‘Marilyn’s’ Facebook account) to all Hill college presidents asking who wanted her, and who would guarantee her a suitable, secure spot. Following a crawl around Hill college bars, she was offered a new home on the roof of Van Mildert College. As a final act of audacity, the group Continued on page 3
Page 4
Salaries soar for VCs
Universities face criticism after a Guardian report reveals some heads have received a triple pay increase over the last decade Page 5
Durham goes to the polls
Ahead of today’s election, Palatinate speaks to the leaders of the three main student political parties about their campaigns Page 6
Election 2010: Just who will the British public give the keys to government to?
Full report pages 8, 9 & 13
Durham’s parting shot
NUS censures Black Students’ Officer after Union Society email debacle Ed Mason
The National Union of Students (NUS) National Conference voted last month to censure Bellavia Ribeiro Addy, the Black Students’ Officer who co-authored with Daf Adley, LGBT Students’ Officer, the email that prompted Durham’s second disaffiliation referendum and resulted in its withdrawal from NUS. Controversially, however, delegates voted against a censure for Adley. The motions were proposed by Durham Students’ Union (DSU) president, Natalie Crisp, on the final day of Conference as part of NUS’ Annual General Meeting. She immediately clarified that the motions were not a criticism of NUS’ No Platform Policy. Ms. Crisp said: “That’s elected policy of this Conference and we [Durham] fully respect that.” She argued that it is was necessary to censure the officers “because of
their conduct and the tactics that they used towards my union which resulted in our disaffiliation.” Crisp was interrupted by applause, before continuing by quoting from the offensive email, further citing Ribeiro Addy and Adley’s failure to contact Durham Liberation campaign officers. Ribeiro Addy apologised for “Any misunderstanding over the letter” and stated that she had received death threats after her email was circulated on the Internet. “My right to live free from discrimination and violence is not up for debate,” she said. On two occasions, the vote – delegates wave voting cards in the air – was too close for the Chair to determine the outcome. In line with Conference procedures, the doors to the chamber were locked and delegates were counted individually. The motion passed with 113 votes in favour and 107 against.
Adley was visibly furious when he spoke in defence of his actions as a proud anti-fascist against the separate motion of censure, also proposed by Ms. Crisp. He reiterated his regret that Durham students had misunderstood “a sentence, or two” but said that he worried “how the BNP would jump on this... you’ve just censured the Black Students’ Officer for anti-fascism”. Throughout his speech, delegates flooded into the conference hall. Of the thousand-or-so delegates at Conference, only some 250 had made the 9am vote against Ribeiro Addy after the previous night’s socialising. By the time Adley was finished speaking, the number of his supporters had doubled and the motion was easily defeated. Since Conference, several internet blogs and posts on social networking sites have Continued on page 3
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