BREAKING: No action taken against NUS or CUCA for breaking referendum rules

Voting is now open in the NUS disaffiliation referendum. Vote by following this link. Vote Yes for disaffiliation or No to remain affiliated. 

There will be no consequences after the NUS used a Student Switch Off mailing list to urge students to vote NO and CUCA did the same, asking students to vote YES. 

The CUSU elections committee said the NUS breach was “out of the control of Cambridge students, and [we] will therefore not be posing any sanctions to the [NO] Campaign”. The No Campaign had reportedly explained to CUSU that this was beyond their control and posted on their event page, reminding campaigners of the rules.

Uh oh. Naughty.

Various figures from the NUS have been spotted around Cambridge this week, campaigning alongside the No Campaign. The Elections Committee have said, “Should such an incident occur again, the NUS Officers will be asked to cease campaigning.”

Overseen at Sidgwick.

CUCA was also mentioned in the ruling for endorsing the Yes Campaign. The Elections Committee have emailed the student but will not sanction the campaign.

CUCA representative Nicholas Taylor told The Tab “It appears that we misunderstood the advice given to us by Charlotte Chorley. Chorley told CUCA that it was fine for societies to campaign for disaffiliation. We were not informed that using a mailing list was not permitted.”

Whoops.

Other complaints dealt with by the Elections Committee included posts in a pre-existing College Facebook Group, a Selwyn rep using a JCR mailing list to promote the help given by the NUS to an autonomous campaign and accusations that minutes of the No Campaign’s meetings had been leaked.

Penalties are imposed at the Election Committee’s discretion

Update: The Elections Committee has decided not to sanction Selwyn JCR after ruling that while the attached document was in favour of remaining affiliated, the email was not a  breach of Referendum Rules ‘as the content of the document provides factual information as to the Autonomous Campaign’s interaction with NUS over the past year’. Nonetheless, the Elections Committee ‘will be getting in touch with the representative to ensure that balanced information and both sides of the debate are advertised through the same mailing list’.

Is the content of both emails biased? You decide.

Results of the referendum will be available at 4pm tomorrow.