Jack Fairey
Campus attendees will have noticed that the Election has commenced; but prior to it beginning, someone has been distributing unauthorised election material with potentially defamatory content, spreading flyers around on campus without any Guild group endorsing them.
No party has claimed responsibility, nor are they likely to. The Guild was unable to come to a conclusion on Friday, so today it has opened an investigation into their distribution.
Given the content of some of the flyers, its not an attempt at propaganda from a serious party – most express some level of opposition to one of the parties, to the Guild in general, or advocating against voting.
These sentiments are packaged with some potentially defamatory implications about the character of the groups, or calls for violence against Guild candidates, and whilst likely meant humorously, the Guild is treating it with greater gravity.
As the investigation is ongoing, anyone with information is urged by the Guild to contact the Returning Officer at [email protected]
This matter may also require university involvement; its been increasingly strict on other forms of leafletting, and was hesitant to allow it for the election anyway, so it may end up reacting quite strongly to the proliferation of this kind of material on campus. It’s currently in disciplinary proceedings with another student over similar matters, leafletting over Palestine; one thinks that it’s unlikely to treat this with any less sensitivity.
Some examples of the fliers are below; they obviously read as humorous to a younger audience, but one must keep in mind how these look on paper.
