Rumour-Mongers

Although the matter was debated in closed committee, within 24 hours many people both on and off campus were aware of every detail of the discussion.

Rumours and counter-rumours spread far and wide and fairly soon the real issue was clouded by stories of personal vengeances and hatreds that located the association office in the midst of the 1920's Chicago gang wars, rather than on the edge of a dull university.

Fuelling the intrigue were all sorts of ideas on the reasons for Mrs Goodall's dismissal. I was informed of the 'facts' (which seemed to me more like a burst of rhetoric!) in a letter from Christchurch, which called upon me to 'expose this terrible injustice'. Other people, such as Publications Officer John Henderson, informed me that it was an ideological battle in which capitalist Underwood was imposing his will on the revolutionary masses (i.e. John Henderson and Gyles Beckford).

Accomodation Officer Scott Wilson summed it up at the last executive meeting when he commented on the 'cloak and dagger attitude that surrounded the whole affair' and he suggested that for the association's sake it would be better if it was brought out into the open.