Breaking: (Cambridge Student) Union looks set to hold vote on Assange talk

[struggle4progress]

Over 150 Union members have submitted their names to the Union by email, requesting Assange’s invitation to speak next week be revoked.

by Alice Udale-Smith
Monday 19th November 2012, 20:43 GMT

As a result of the 150-strong petition to the Union a Special Business Meeting is expected to be called, for Union members only, where a vote will be taken on whether Assange should be allowed to speak at the Union on the 27th November. For the vote to pass in the meeting it will require a minimum 75% majority.

However, even the process of calling the meeting has been complicated, with Union members left puzzled by an email to all members this afternoon which stated that: “We would also like to inform you of a Presidential Interpretation to the Constitution, which will take effect at 14.20 tomorrow (pending appeal). As of that time, a requisition for Special Business Meeting will be valid if electronically signed in circumstances when the motion is time-sensitive and it would be impracticable to require 150 signatures in writing.”

This statement was released after Susy Langsdale, the CUSU Women’s Officer submitted the list of 150 names to the Union by email only to be told by the Standing Committee that they had to signed by hand.

Speaking to Varsity today Langsdale said: "I informed the Union that we had gathered the 150 signatures last night and I was astonished to be told by the Standing Committee that this was not sufficient as they had to be hand signed. Nowhere in the constitution does it say this. Nor did anyone in the Union, including several members of the Standing Committee who submitted their names by email to me, inform me of this beforehand.” ...

http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/5313

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. FWIW, this is not the "Cambridge Student Union"

CUSU is the Cambridge University Student Union, which is the normal student union for the university, to which all students belong. The CUSU Women's Officer has organised a petition of members of the Union Society (normally just known as the 'Union'), the debating society for which students can buy membership, to not invite Assange to speak (presumably via video).

Not that this deserves 'Breaking' in the headline at all. This isn't even a storm in a teacup.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Exactly

Just as the Oxford Union, which made itself notorious a few years ago by inviting Nick Griffin and David Irving to give talks is a similar debating society is NOT the same thing as the Oxford University Student Union!

In any case, Julian Assange's position is unlikely to be influenced one way or another by what some debating society with some links to a university does or doesn't decide to do!

[struggle4progress]

3. Thanks for the correction

[struggle4progress]

4. Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Founder Cambridge Union Talk Cancelled For 'Technical Reasons'

The Huffington Post UK | By Jessica Elgot Posted: 20/11/2012 15:33 GMT Updated: 20/11/2012 15:33 GMT

... On Tuesday, in an email to members, the union's secretary, Suyin Chalmin-Pui, said: "We would like to inform you that Mr Assange has cancelled the Q&A scheduled for November 27 due to technical issues with the videolink equipment."

According to the Cambridge student newspaper Varsity, the union posted on its Facebook event "because the Embassy does not have a strong internet connection, the only way to produce the live 2-way video feed was by relying on broadcast vans.

"The broadcast agency scheduled to handle the feed is no longer able to, and no other broadcast agencies with the capability have the equipment available on the 27th." ...

"We are disappointed that the union has not had the intellectual honesty to admit the real reasons for this disinvitation."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/20/julian-assange-wikileaks-cambridge-cancelled_n_2165098.html?utm_hp_ref=uk