GSA Chair resigns in dramatic style
On Monday night, the second Council meeting of the year took place in the Union Dining Hall. The evening progressed with the usual mix of policy and report rubber-stamping until the final moments when the meeting finished in unexpectedly dramatic fashion as the Graduate Student’s Association (GSA) Chair, Jon Matthews, resigned and subsequently exited the building.
Mr Matthews had to produce a revised report to Council because the paper he submitted earlier in the month was rejected. The general feeling was that Mr Matthews’ original report didn’t justify the £2000 honorarium payment he was given for being GSA Chair, hence the need for a rewrite.
The first Councillor to voice his opinion on Monday night about Mr Matthews’ latest report was ICSMSU President, Tim Wills, who took objection to his work with graduate-medical students. As the discussion continued more and more people began to raise questions, giving an indication that Mr Matthews’ wouldn’t be getting off quite so lightly this evening.
After an initial round of voting, four people voted for the report with another four voting against, whilst the remaining Councillors abstained. Courageously, Mr Matthews called for a recount of the vote, probably hoping that the votes would fall in his favour, however it was to be his undoing; Council voted 6-5 to reject his report (with over 10 abstentions). The result meant that Council would automatically have to vote on whether to censure Mr Matthews or not; a censure is effectively an official slap on the wrist or a way of saying: “you’ve been a naughty person.”
However, before the Councillors even had a chance to wave their voting cards in the air, Mr Matthews stood tall announcing his resignation, before walking out of the Union Dining Hall leaving the GSA committee with precisely zero members.
Rather ironically, Mr Matthews’ was involved in a successfully passed censure motion in February this year, when he instigated disciplinary action against the former Deputy President (Graduate Students), Shama Rahman. By taking on the role of GSA Chair over the summer, Mr Matthews effectively took over from Ms Rahman as the figurehead for postgraduate representation, since the DPGS position was scrapped at the end of the last academic year. At the time, the censure passed against Ms Rahman was the first in twenty years, but the boot was on the other foot at this week’s Council and Mr Matthews was firmly on the receiving end.
Critics believe that Mr Matthews could have done much more to help the GSA’s cause over the summer. The ex-Deputy President has been condemned for the lack of a GSA stall at Freshers’ Fair, no postgraduate parties or events and a seemingly non-existent push to get people to stand for the empty positions on the GSA committee during the recent elections period. Mr Matthews has reiterated that he has found it difficult being the only member of the GSA, having to be the point of contact for postgraduates all by himself. His reasoning for not having a Freshers’ Fair stall is more dubious however. He stated in his report that he felt it would be better for postgraduates “to spend the day looking at the clubs the Union has to offer.”
Also brought into question recently was the manner in which Mr Matthews received the £2000 honorarium payment. It’s not known how exactly the money was awarded to the GSA Chair and the Union has repeatedly asked for an audit trail to be provided, but Mr Matthews has claimed to be otherwise occupied and unable to provide the necessary details. Although Mr Matthews was rather publicly mauled on Monday night, his lack of communication with the Union on this matter didn’t help his case.
The incident on Monday night has highlighted problems beyond Mr Matthews’ resignation though. Firstly, why did so many of the Councillors abstain from voting? Was it for personal reasons, having to work with or attend College with someone they wanted censured? Or did the Councillors not fully understand the situation? Was inexperience the cause?
Secondly, and of more immediate concern: where does the GSA go from here? The current GSA election has been suspended, although only one person was running for any of the positions anyway. At the moment, the Union Presidents are taking on the duties performed by the GSA until it can establish an interim board. Yet more GSA elections will have to be held and it will be at least a month, if not longer before the committee is reformed. This is all assuming postgraduates want to get involved with reviving the GSA anyway. Felix has approached a number of postgraduates asking them for comment in the light of Monday’s events and the response has mainly been: “What’s the GSA?” Or, “I don’t really care.”
The Union is going to have to work hard if it wants to bring back the GSA properly, plus it’s going to need to put in even more effort if it wants to improve the association’s currently dismal profile. The election for the next committee will be the fourth within a year and the Union will need to put together a strong campaign to elect someone for the cursed position of postgraduate student representative. The GSA needs a motivated leader and the Union needs to work closely with that person whilst ensuring that an effective permanent member of staff is employed to work alongside the part-time Chair.
