Apology to Council

Students' Association Representative, Bill Logan, has apologised to the University Council for any impression he allegedly created to the effect that the Academic Committee or the Registrar's staff were lacking in integrity in dealing with student exclusions.

In reply to a letter from the University Registrar, Mr Desborough, Mr Logan said at a Council Meeting on 23 March that he had never been under the impression that any individual or individuals in the University had wanted to get rid of students.

Referring to an earlier suggestion that the Registrar had notified some students of the exclusion perior to a meeting of the Academic Committee, Mr Logan said that he had seen four of the letters referred to. He said that the letters had not been posted before the Academic Committee had met. He had not known, in fact, on what date the Academic Committee had met and added an unreserved apology to the Registry if he had given the impression that the letters had gone out before the meeting of Academic Committee on exclusions.

Questioned by the Vice-Chancellor on the implication of his Memorandum to Members of the Students' Association in which he had expressed reluctance to publish details of the business of a Council Committee unless so instructed by the SRC, Mr Logan assured the Council that he would not disclose confidential business discussed in Committee.

In reply to a question from a Council member, Mr Jeffries, on his statement to Salient given after the Special Council Meeting on exclusion, Mr Logan said he thought it had been a most unwise statement to make. Nevertheless, he added, it was his impression that the Council's decision to review exclusion procedures had been made "because the Council was scared."

The Chancellor, Mr R.S.V. Simpson, told Mr Logan that he was not a 'delegate' to Council. Mr Simpson told Mr Logan that he was a full member of the Council and that he could thus be expected to be loyal to the Council. This meant, said Mr Simpson, that business discussed in Committee must be confidential to the Council until it has been dealt with.