Student Union Elections – Appeal against the decision of the returning officer

The following is an extract from the minutes of the Student Union Trustee Board meeting on the 7^th June 2010. This was attended by the full Board with the exception of the Chair – Anthony Worrall – who attended by conference call from Singapore. Mark Robson chaired this meeting. The following attended exceptionally - Tony Slater (UK Engage) and Frank Toop (University Secretary).

“Following the decision of the Returning Officer (under section 13-7-e of the City University London Students’ Union Election Regulations Spring 2010) to void and re-run the recent Student Union elections, a number of appeals, against this decision, had been made to the University Secretary under the Regulations. The Regulations were silent on the appeal process but the University Secretary had taken the view that the best approach was for the Trustee Board to consider the matter and make a decision as to whether to uphold the Returning Officer’s decision or not. He attended the meeting and noted in the minutes this section of the meeting to help ensure good process.

The Board received the Report on the spring 2010 elections from Tony Slater – Independent Reviewer UK Engage with a CV setting out his credentials. They also received copies of the emailed appeals against the Returning Officer’s decision.

The Board noted that this was the fourth election to be held using the electronic system. The Board reviewed the report and the appeals in detail asking questions of Tony Slater, Malcolm Cross (Returning Officer) and Aidan McDonald (Deputy Returning Officer). 

The meeting agreed that those with potential conflicts of interests should not take part in the decision making part of the meeting and the following left the room – Khaleda Boshir, Malcolm Cross, Aidan McDonald, Markus Mikely, Tony Slater. 

The Board decided to:

1. Endorse the report from UK Engage;
2. Uphold the Returning Officer’s decision and to declare the election void;
3. Make the report from UK Engage publicly available subject to minor revision for clarification following comments at the meeting, legal advice and confirming with candidates that there were no factual errors;
4. Re-run the election early in the Autumn term 2010 having established new regulations and processes in the light of recommendations in the UK Engage report;
5. Appoint to the key representative roles as contractual rather than elected positions for an interim period from the 1^st August 2010 until the results of the new election were known. Legal advice would be taken as to whether any constitutional change was required to affect this. The non sabbatical trustees favoured offering these roles in the first instance to the existing post-holders so as to ensure that the Union was appropriately staffed for the new intake of students.”