Medfest comes to UCL


We speak to the founder to the UK’s only medical film festival, pg 18


Est. 1945 | pimedia.org.uk PI March 2012 Samuel Johnson THE legality of last month’s “pro-


choice” vote in the UCLU referenda has been called into question, after a group of students from over a dozen societies wrote to UCLU’s board of trustees protesting the rules that would result from the vote. By a margin of 2,001 votes to 818,


UCLU voted to adopt a motion proposed by the Women’s Network, affiliating UCLU to the controversial campaign group Abortion Rights and adopting an offic ial “pro-choice” stance. The motion also stated that in


future events organised at the Union should invite speakers from both sides of the argument and an independent chair, “to ensure there is a balance to the argument”. This has raised fears that the Catholic Society, for example, would risk disaffiliation from the Union if it were to invite a priest to speak from a pro-life perspective. In a response sent to Catholic


Society, which organised the letter, Rex Knight, the vice-Provost of UCL, said that enforcing this last point “would not be consistent with the law”. “The obligation to secure freedom of speech under [the Education Act of 1986] is placed on universities, not student unions,” he wrote. “In my opinion, if a speaker with


views on abortion were to be invited to speak on campus, then UCL would


Is Israel Apartheid Week just?


We hear two opposing arguments about whether it’s an anti-Semitic lie or an endeavour for justice, pgs 25-6


OF F ICIAL NEWSPAPER OF UNIVERS ITY COL L EGE LONDON Abortion vote unconstitutional Poor turnout π Angeliki Kapoglou No bull.


Straight talking from KPMG. Graduate Programmes – All degree disciplines


We close for applications once we are full. To secure a place at KPMG, be sure to apply early. To find out more head straight to: www.kpmg.co.uk/careers


for student democracy


Ashley Cowburn News Editor


THE two latest events in student


politics have failed to interest the student population. University College London’s


annual members’ meeting was cancelled due to lack of interest and the recent University of London elections managed to attract a disappointing 1.5 per cent of its electorate. According to UCLU, the annual


members’ meeting is held to ensure that “ any member of the Union has the opportunity to vote on motions relating to something really important, when it’s necessary to be able to say that a large number of the students agree or disagree with something.” With only approximately 45


London voted second best student city, see pg 3


be legally obliged to take reasonable steps to enable the event to happen, as we would do with any other speaker, provided that we were confident that there would be no risk of violence or some other breach of the law as a result. “While I think it would be highly desirable for the Union to rethink this


policy,” Mr Knight added, “in practice I think it will have no effect, as if you or another society were to invite a speaker on abortion we would simply apply our normal processes.” Mr Knight also called into


question the Union’s affiliation with Abortion Rights, a campaign group whose stated purpose is to “defend and


extend a woman’s rights and access to safe, legal abortion”. The Union’s constitution forbids it to affiliate with “any religious, political or other sectarian organisations, other than the NUS and the University of London Union.”


Continued on page 5


attendees and a quorum set above 460, the annual members’ meeting was cancelled. Pi Newspaper spoke to James Skuse, Democracy and Communications Officer, who suggested that the failure of the meeting was “unfortunate but almost inevitable.” Skuse blamed its failure on the particularly high quorum which was set above 460, and stated that he intends to lower this quorum to around 114 on the 1st March, pending


Continued on page 4


Win a copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Major Works


Competition courtesy of OUP, pg 33 NEWSPAPER No. 40


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