A motion “condemning the actions of the Junior Librarian” has been passed against presidential candidate Hasan Ali by the Union’s Standing Committee, followed by a motion which mandates the President to bring a disciplinary complaint against him.
The current Librarian, Ali, has been condemned for “failure” to host a guest speaker and providing “conflicting, contradictory and incompatible explanations of this failure to complete his official duties.”
In Monday’s meeting of Standing Committee, multiple members, including the Treasurer-elect, Cyrus Nasseri, demanded recognition that Ali had “not really been doing his job”.
In an emergency meeting held on Wednesday, the Standing Committee passed a motion of no confidence in Ali, on grounds of “dereliction of duty”. On Thursday, the Standing Committee met again and passed a motion which mandated the President, James Langman, to bring Ali in front of a disciplinary committee. Ali was not present at either of these meetings.
The minutes of the original meeting on Monday, sent to Cherwell by multiple Union sources, lists a series of angry exchanges by members of the committee. Amid allegations that Ali has repeatedly failed in his role, Langman informed the current Librarian “you know full well that in your position you are responsible for the speakers of the society.” Nasseri asked why Ali was 24 minutes late in hosting Tony Benn, commenting, “It is the Librarian not really doing his job.”
On both sides of the debate senior Union officials were said to have become “aggressive.” Numerous members of Standing Committee questioned the competence of the Librarian, while Ali told Nasseri that he was an “idiot.”
In response, a requisition was signed by six members of the committee demanding an emergency meeting to vote on the motion. One Standing Committee member, James Freeland, had previously emailed the President expressing concerns about the Librarian.
A close and unnamed friend of Mr Ali’s has suggested it is no coincidence that this motion was passed just days before the Librarian stands for election. “It’s been passed by the people running against him
and the people who don’t like him. This isn’t condemnation, it’s Machiavellian.”
Ali himself declined the opportunity to comment.
