Shock as UBU only half-apologise for VP’s prejudiced rant

UBU officers have released a VERY vague and reluctant apology following VP for Community Ellie Williams’ extraordinary attack on Bristol students who attended the AMM last Thursday, branding sports clubs ‘disgusting’ and saying she felt the audience was too ‘rich’ and ‘white’. 

The Tab’s  story last weekend provoked a media furore and left the UBU’s reputation in tatters.  Now the elected officers are pitifully trying to win back the favour of students, releasing an ‘apology’ for ‘the impression they gave’. However, they also say they ‘stand by’ some of the things they said on the night of the event and refuse to explicitly distance themselves from accusations the AMM was too ‘white’ and ‘rich’. 

Students were less than impressed with Ellie’s offensive comments. Now UBU is trying to win them over

Last week Ellie Williams attacked the ethnic and social background of all AMM attendees, calling them “privileged white rich men” who were “taking democracy for granted.”  She was furious democracy had prevailed and the UBU officers’ Role Review motion hadn’t passed.

But now it seems all the officers are sticking together and trying to downplay the incident.  The closest they get to admitting it is a passing reference to the tweet, just saying “we singled out certain groups.” The apology does not make clear UBU officers reject the sentiments contained in Ms Williams’ tweet. In fact, Alessandra Berti, VP for Welfare, has continued to retweet material discussing ‘white privilege’.

An angry Ellie Williams attacked Bristol students’ ethnic backgrounds

They waste no time in trying to make excuses for Ellie’s comments, blaming it on bad communication and emotions, writing “we need to be much better at communicating” and  “we were incredibly emotionally invested in this.”

Ellie still hasn’t personally apologised or accepted responsibility for the comments, although she has blocked The Tab Bristol on Twitter, presumably to avoid us picking up on any other tactless tweets she might make.

Sorry, not sorry – UBU’s less than sincere apology is embarrassing

The motion failed because sports captains vocalised their fears it would result in sport being marginalised by UBU.  Determined to have the last word on the issue, the elected officers prattled on about how much they “value” sports in the statement, released yesterday afternoon.

Never ones to accept defeat gracefully, they also boast they’re STILL pedalling the Role Review motion, despite it already having been defeated.

The motion failed after sports teams vocalised their concerns