Cam Union Responds To Glasgow Sexism Scandal

UPDATE:

An online petition has been set up, calling for the GUU to expel those members responsible for the sexist abuse suffered by female debaters at the Annual Ancients Competition.

The petition, put forward by Glasgow University student Caroline Moore, quotes sections of the university’s Code of Student Conduct and calls for those involved to be “brought to justice.” 

Full details of the petition can be found here.

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The Cambridge Union sent an open letter to the President of the Glasgow University Union on Monday night, boycotting all future events and withdrawing their reciprocal membership.

The letter is in response to the way female debaters were treated at the final of the inter-varsity competition, held at the GUU this weekend. Marlena Valles (a law undergraduate at Edinburgh University) and Rebecca Meredith (a politics students at King’s College, Cambridge) were subjected to sexist heckling by students from Glasgow. Students are alleged to have shouted “shame woman” and other insulting comments. Valles reported that at one point a man, whose friends had just apologised for his behaviour, said “get that woman out of my chamber.”

The Cambridge Union described the abuse as “egregious and utterly unacceptable” and detailed their “incredible disappointment” that the debating event had been marred by the sexist interruptions.

The Union went on to withdraw its reciprocal membership, by unanimous vote from the Standing Committee. Understandably, no Cambridge debaters will be heading to Glasgow in the foreseeable future.

The GUU have released a statement regarding the incident, saying: “We would like to offer a full and unreserved apology for the incidents that took place at the Glasgow Ancients final on Saturday evening. We will be contacting the individuals concerned to apologise personally. We would also urge anyone present on Saturday evening who wishes to pass on a complaint to please contact [email protected] so that we can fully address what took place. We are currently undertaking measures to investigate the incidents so that we can take actions to address these.”

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More to follow