Tayyab gate: More freshers come forward citing Officer harassment

Last week The Tab reported how newly co-sustainability elected officer, Tayyab Shafiq, had coerced them in to voting for him in such a way that they did “not want to care about Union politics.”

One fresher told us he “wouldn’t go away” before he “followed me in uninvited”, whilst another felt “threatened.”

When we presented our findings to the Union before publishing the article, Returning Officer Sohail Badat -who is in charge of complaints – described the fact the complaints came after the hour deadline as “unfortunate”, adding “our Bye-Laws which govern our elections provide for complaints to be made to me so long as these are received no later than one hour after the close of voting.”

Twitter

However, since publishing the article, several more students got in contact with similar tales of harassment which we can reveal toady.

The first student, from Ifor Evans, told us:

“Regarding that UCLU voting guy. Bloke was a tosser – waited in the foyer at Schafer pouncing on people as they got out of the lift. Followed me to the washing machine area and watched me do my washing and shoving his phone in my face. He demanded I did it there and then.”

Another said:

“I read your article in The Tab and I remembered that this same guy was very insistent and rude about the vote.

“He knocked on my door, and I said sorry I’m busy right now (I was on the phone at the time), and he said it’s fine “it’ll only take a minute”. He was quite insistent and I finally just voted for him, he basically took the tablet back once I logged and voted for himself. I didn’t like what was happening, but I just wanted to get it over with.

“He did the same thing to several other people on my floor, but we didn’t want any conflict.”

Ramsay

A third fresher, from Astor, added:

“I was personally approached by Tayyab knocking on my door at around 10pm last week. I agree with what the students at Ramsay have said – we were not given the option of whether we wanted to vote or not. When I opened my door he told me was running for a position and that voting for him would only take 20 seconds – I was very hesitant but he kept pushing me to sign into my account and to vote for him so I agreed in order to be left alone.

“He did not justify his campaign or explain why he deserved my vote and made me feel extremely pressured into doing it. After I had pressed to vote, he selected the name of his friend and told me to press confirm, once again without explaining what he was doing, who she was or what she was running for and I did not realise that I had voted for a second person until I received the emails confirming my votes.

“I think their approach towards getting votes was extremely threatening and undermines the quality and integrity of the union officers. With regards to the statement given by the current union officer, I was not aware that there was someone to approach in the event of something like this happening and I am sure many students, especially first years, were equally unaware.”

Astor College

“I also filed a complaint to the Union against Tayyab. The response from the union was that they needed more details. I provided more details of the incidents and within 20 mins I recieved a response back from the union saying the allegations were unfounded and I had a right to appeal.

“I don’t understand how the allegations could have been unfounded within just 20 minutes of reporting it. I assume they did not investigate. Then I appealed. I was called to a hearing that same day – and was told that if I couldn’t attend, the hearing would go on without me. I said I couldn’t attend as I had classes. The hearing went ahead and they returned with the same conclusion – that the allegations were unfounded.”

Once again, we presented our findings to UCLU who could only offer an equally unsatisfying response that undermines their own integrity, and their ability to effectively represent the student body as a whole – particularly the freshers who have been harassed and coerced by Tayyab Shafiq:

“Thank you for forwarding on the further comments that you have received.  Unfortunately, we are bound by our Bye-Laws, which are democratically approved, to ensure we run fair and democratic elections.  Again, it is unfortunate that these allegations regarding harassment in halls were not brought up during the elections or shortly after as required for election disciplinary action to be taken. In terms of the allegation which was brought forward, I can confirm that this was investigated and as mentioned there was an appeal, which upheld my initial ruling.  I would like to reiterate that harassment and intimidation is a serious matter and should be reported as and when this occurs, for instance if this takes place in Student Residences, their first point of call is the respective Warden.  They also have the avenue of raising any concerns through the UCLU Disciplinary Procedures for Members which is outlined in our Bye-Laws.”

Further complaints were raised in the comments section of the original article

The Tab are going to investigate the Bye-Laws and appeal for, at the very least, a suspension of Tayyab whilst a thorough investigation takes place.