SOAS Students' Union
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SOAS Students' Union is the students' union for the School of Oriental and African Studies. Its officers are elected democratically on an annual basis, and it is the official representative body of students at SOAS.
Within the students' movement SOAS Students' Union is known for being the most radically left wing student union in the UK. It has for a long time campaigned on Palestine and the War on Terror.
Its controversal political stance has also caught the attention of Israeli and UK media, with its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often resulting in accusations of Anti-Semitism.
SOAS Students' Union and Goldsmiths Students' Union were the only students' unions that engaged in occupations of their buildings when tuition fees were introduced by the UK Government in 1999.
Its Honorary President for the academic year beginning 2006, is Aung San Suu Kyi, who succeeds Ken Livingstone. The local Student Respect group has on many occasions hosted talks by George Galloway MP.
The students' union also runs the school's infamous bar and a number of societies and sport clubs.
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[edit] Union Aims
The aims and objectives of the Union are:
- act as an official organisation promoting the interests of its members, and in particular to
- develop, foster and promote the cultural, intellectual, social and athletic recreation of its members;
- develop, foster and promote the education, welfare and general interests of its members;
- act as a channel of communication between, and represent the interests of, its members to the School and to any other bodies which may affect its members;
- endeavour to provide such non-commercial services as may from time to time be`required by its members;
- develop and foster among its members the formation of clubs
[edit] Union Organisation
The union has two layers of decision making the executive and the UGM
The Executive Committee consists of 3 sabbatical Co-Presidents and 16 part time officers. The executive officers are elected annually in the beginning of March.
The supreme policy making body of the union is the Union General Meeting or UGM. On this body all students have the vote. The union must hold at least 1 every term.
[edit] Union Services
In the SOAS Russell Square campus, the union has its main offices with welfare support and clubs and society support. The same campus also contains the bar and the union shops. It also runs the Junior Common Room and the Senior Common Room.
In Vernon Square it runs a common room and rooms for society events.
[edit] Union History
Established in the 1920s, the Union has played a vital role in SOAS life. The left-wing politics of the union first developed during the Second World War, when SOAS became a training ground for the army.
In 1957 the Union raised funds to support Hungarian refugees from the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets. In 1968 the union successfully managed to boycott the School catering services over the price of tea, resulting in the School giving in.
In 1971-72 the union treasurer was caught embezzling funds. This resulted in court action with the treasurer ending up in prison. Also in 1971-72 the union got its first sabbatical officer, which lead to a degree of stability with the union being given membership of a number of committees.
The 1970s fees debate led to an occupation of the Registry. SOAS took out an injunction on 32 students. The charges were eventually dismissed in court. At the end of the 1970s the SOAS Students' Union became arguably London's top Reggae venue. The 1980s saw reggae being popular again. The Union also hosted American New Wave Rock acts such as Tad, Soundgarden, and Nirvana's first ever London performance. This was stopped by the School due to people urinating in the main corridor.
In 1991 the union gained another Sabbatical Officer. The first of the 1990s occupations occurred in 1993 in the Library over book shortages and library fines. After three nights the School capitulated. Fines were reinstated in 1996. In 1994 the union ran several highly successful open meetings with representatives from Palestine and Sinn Féin.
In 1997 the Union demanded more money from the school, and the school forced the Union to replace a sabbatical officer with a member of staff. The Union suffered a credibility blow, with an attempted no-confidence vote against the Finance Co-President. The school refused to release funds without going through the school's finance department. Also in 1997 there was another library occupation. This time it was over the School refusing to buy Senate House library tickets. A compromise was reached after court orders had been obtained.
In 1999 the last of the occupations occurred in the administration offices, this time over tuition fees. This occupation was not fully supported by the majority of students. With only just enough students in the Union General Meeting (UGM) to have a quorum (50), the occupation ended when the organisers decided to have a party to swell numbers. The school found out, sending in the bailiffs to carry them out at the end of the party when everyone was too drunk or tired to resist. The following UGM had over 400 students attending and had to be held outside. They voted against an occupation. This resulted in the school breaking the union's pattern of occupations.
Since 2000, relations with the school have improved significately. In 2001 the union was given voting rights on the School's governing body.
In 2005 the union was also accused of being antisemitic over its views on Israel by Israeli and UK media. This was strongly denied by the Union, who claimed that when the media did visit, they found the students were not antisemitic, but that the papers failed to print it.
[edit] 2005 SOASSpirit controversy
In March 2005, the SU magazine SOASSpirit published an article by a Muslim postgraduate, Nasser Amin. The article controversially included a defence of a Palestinian right to violent resistance against Israel. It was written in response to an article in the previous edition on the problems of Islamophobia and the morality of violence in the Middle East conflict.
In the context of a wider international campaign by supporters of Israel against the School, Amin was heavily criticised because of his article. Several newspapers that are sympathetic to Israel condemned Amin’s article as anti-semitic and supportive of Palestinian terrorism, and symptomatic of a general hatred for Israel on the London campus. However, Amin and others have always vehemently denied such allegations as false and politically motivated.
As an apparent result of a campaign initiated by pro-Israel activists on campus, SOAS Director Colin Bundy publicly claimed that Amin had been reprimanded for his article. He and his lawyers denied any reprimand was ever issued. Amin's lawyers raised the possibility of legal action against the School should his name not be cleared by the internal grievance procedures. The demands included a public apology to Mr. Amin, not least because he says that his health and studies had suffered as a result of SOAS's actions. [1]
Amin and his lawyers argued that SOAS's claim of a "reprimand" against him was unlawful since he had been denied due process and the right to defend himself against the charge. Moreover, he said that he had not even been informed by the School of the reprimand posted on the SOAS website. Amin's representatives maintained that in order to state that a student had been reprimanded, the University's disciplinary code ought to have been followed with a judgement of formal guilt in respect of a charge being established, and yet no such disciplinary process was ever followed by the School, in contravention of its own stipulated codes.
Amin's treatment led to strong denunciations in Britain's Muslim community and beyond, as news of the case spread. [2] The Islamic Human Rights Commission denounced the treatment of Amin by sections of the media and SOAS, and demanded the reprimand be retracted [3].
Within the institution, academic members of staff publicly expressed disquiet about the implications for freedom of expression following the SOAS administration’s actions. Senior Politics academic Mark Laffey said: ""It is part of the job description of an academic institution that you are willing to give offence. Our job is to seek out the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or unpleasant for various groups or interests." [4] Indeed, following a discussion, not a single academic member of SOAS's Department of Politics and International Studies considered the article to be in any way objectionable.
SOAS teacher John Game, in an open letter to the Director, strongly criticised the School's approach to Amin, suggesting that a Muslim student was being dealt with in a special way. He added:
"Most importantly however I believe that if this student is to be subjected to investigation and harassment then so should I and so should many full time academic members of staff at this institution." [5]
In a further article, Game called on the School to apologise to Amin. [6]
Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, intervened in the dispute and publicly pointed to what he saw as double standards in SOAS's apparent censure of Amin. [7]
In November 2006, SOAS's former Director and Principal, Colin Bundy, issued an apology to Amin on behalf of himself and the School which was published on the SOAS website, retracting his claim in spring 2005 that he had reprimanded the student over the article Amin had written.[8] The full statement from Bundy, under the heading 'Clarification of SOAS Statement on Freedom of Expression', read:
"Professor Bundy, the immediate past Director and Principal, sincerely regrets, in the context of allegations of anti-Semitism at SOAS, the reference on the School's website to the author of the article entitled "When only violence will do" in the Spring 2005 issue of the SOAS SU 'Spirit' Magazine. He further regrets the use of the word 'reprimand', which he acknowledges was inappropriate." [9]
Amin told London Student newspaper: "I am pleased to say that the dispute between myself and SOAS has been resolved in a way I find to be highly satisfactory. A public apology has now been published on the official SOAS website."
London Student reported in late January 2007 that Amin received financial compensation from SOAS as part of the grievance settlement agreement, under information the newspaper had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. [10]
[edit] The SOAS Bar
The SOAS bar used to be one of the most famous students' union bars in the UK due to frequent incidents of drug use. Control has passed between the school and the union a number of times. It was finally handed back to the union in August 2001.
The rate of drug use and dealing in the bar got to such levels that it was raided by the police a number of times in the 1990s. A big turnaround occurred when in 2005 the government introduced a new licensing law that gave local authorities new power over alcohol licenses. Potentially fearing the licence being withdrawn, and due to the school's new requirement to have all the buildings become smoke free, the Students' Union decided to make the bar smoke free.
[edit] Clubs and Societies
The union boasts a range of over 70 clubs and societies, a large range for the size of the School. It has, however, got far more non-sporting clubs than sporting clubs.
Sports in the union do not feature greatly, with only 4 competitive sports clubs. The teams compete in BUSA and in the University of London leagues.
[edit] References
- Curtis, Polly (2005). Education Guardian. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- LAPPIN, YAAKOV (2005). Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
- SOAS Students' Union (2006). SOAS Students' Union Constitution. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
