UCL Referendum A referendum of Imperial College students will Of course, the College is under no obligation be held on 25th and 26th November over the to take the result into account - the referendum recently announced plans to merge with is only to register student opinion. When asked University College, London. whether the College was likely to take notice of The referendum was officially approved at an the result, Union President Sen Ganesh said Emergency Council Meeting - the second this that he was "sure the Rector would listen to the term - last Monday, but the details have since voice of the student body... especially given been set by the Union's Executive, a much recent developments". smaller committee which oversees the general The College has already seen one student running of the Union. protest partly motivated by lack of student con- The IC/UCL ballot comes just a few months sultation, but its impact has yet to become obvi- after Imperial students voted on Imperial Artist's impression of the referendum ous. Despite this, Mr Ganesh pointed out that it College Union's affiliation with the National was important to "feed student opinion into the Union of Students (NUS). That referendum had As it stands, there are already several people process". the biggest turn-out of any student ballot at interested in leading the merger "Yes" campaign Staff, however, will not be balloted despite Imperial for several years, but many are already but few are willing to lead the "No" band. This the Rector declaring the merger "nonsense" voicing concerns that the question of merger is surprising given recent remarks about the without approval of the academics - that voice may fail to capture the student body's attention. proposed merger (see letters, page 13). Past will have to come from the College Senate. Campaigning for both sides officially begins experience has demonstrated that a good Whether or not the student body's opinion, next week and will continue until the referen- turnout, and hence a meaningful result, often through this referendum, will be given the same dum itself which is due to be held in three comes with outspoken and vigorous campaign- weight remains to be seen. weeks' time. ing by both sides. AW Union Break-In Alex vents further spleen on the Significant damage was caused last shortly afterwards. subject of procrastination weekend when a thief ransacked the Ken Weir, Head of Security, said Union offices in Beit Quadrangle. that the situation was "a police Felix international begins it; The burglar took the float for the investigation", but indicated CCTV global journey with a review till at the front desk, as well as char- footage was unlikely to help appre- this past week's spectacular, ity collection tins. The haul is prob- hend the burglar. Instead, it is hoped Diwali night ably worth little over £50. However, fingerprints gathered at the scene in an effort to find more cash, filing may provide important links. Our new fashion pages cabinets and drawers were severely Forced entry around College is underway, starting with th€ damaged, mostly with implements apparently a small problem com- shop hotspots of London found in staff offices, several of pared with "walk-in thefts", where which were also searched. wallets and briefcases are stolen Never a cross word said... Boris The burglary was discovered on opportunistically. Security's advice gets down to business with Saturday afternoon by one of the is, as always, to lock doors even some crytpic conundra Deputy Presidents. College Security when leaving rooms unattended for 1st November 2002 was notified and the police arrived only a moment. AW Union Reception: Ransacked "Look, I'm bitch monkey and you're mitch bonkey... so you sit there." http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/felix/ [email protected] NEWS FELIX Top-up Fees Paper Delayed FELIX The governmental review critical to Issue 1246 the College's plans to charge top- up fees has been delayed after the Editor Will Dugdale resignation of Education Secretary Deputy Editor Alisdair Wren Estelle Morris. In the same week, Music Sajini Wijetilleka the Rector held a meeting with Nightlife Patrick Hoar staff and students to discuss both Film Simon North top-up fees and the proposed UCL Web Jenny Lewis merger. International Edmund Henley The Great Hall and at least one Fashion Louise Willingale other lecture theatre were packed & Gail Dawes as Imperial College members Science Rosemary Chandler attempted to ascertain how recent Coffee Break Mike 'n' Jim announcements would affect their Sport Alex Coby degrees and research. While many of the questions were fielded with- Thanks to Ee Lin out hesitation by the Rector, he rarely tolerated open hostility from Felix, Beit Quadrangle, Prince those questioning him, replying Sir Richard Sykes: The most heated meeting yet Consort Road, London "Good!" when former Union SW7 2BB President Andy Heeps declared charge fees above £1,050. Education policy is still a matter of that he was offended by the Estelle Morris is succeeded as speculation. However, where Ms Tel: 020 7594 8072 Rector's answers. Education Secretary by Charles Morris came from a background of E-mail: [email protected] The review is vital if the paper Clarke, former Labour Party teaching, Mr Clarke has a history recently passed at College Council Chairman, whose decision pushed including presidency of the NUS. Felix is a registered is to have any effect, and will have back the review's publication. The College staff were unable to com- newspaper: to declare the Government's inten- implications of this delay for any ment on how their plans would be ISSN 1040-0711 tion to give universities freedom to change of direction on Higher affected by the delay. AW Copyright © Felix 2002 [email protected] Halls and campus news, tip-offs and comments welcome! Printed by Witherbys, EC1 Marakon Associates offers final year students the opportunity At Marakon,the to participate in one of our Consultant Skills Training Days 15th, 22nd November 2002 word 'mindset' is in our London Office - An Introduction to Marakon Associates a contradiction - A look at Strategy Consulting - Interview and Case Study Workshops in terms. Application: CV and cover letter via website www.marakon.com/car_apply.html by November 8th For further enquiries please contact Emma Sorsky: [email protected] Marakon Associates strategic management consultants www.marakon .COm Chicago London * New York * San Francisco * Singapore FELIX COLUMN Q3 By Students, For Students UCL Merger tive , governance and associated making a decision on that day. of the students, so every student academic issues such as libraries. So what is the Union doing? The will the opportunity to have their As most of you know, last week it These subgroups will report to the Union has called for a referendum say. The proposed dates for the was announced that Imperial Board at the end of November and on whether the students believe ballot are Monday 25th and College was entering merger talks Tuesday 26th of November. There with University College London. will be two campaigns, one for Yes The proposed merger must not and one for No, so you will have come as too much of a surprise. the chance to hear all the pros This has been a trend within the and cons of the proposed merger. UK. Recent high profile mergers There will be debates and infor- have included UMIST and mation accessible to all. Similarly Manchester, and Guildhall and UCL Union will also be calling a North London. There seems to be referendum to gauge the view of a clear strategy to create large their students. higher education institutions that The Union will be neutral and aim can gain the "critical mass" to to provide facts and figures in an compete on the global scale. unbiased way. The same informa- These mergers would radically tion will be provided to both par- change the tertiary education ties who in turn will present their landscape in the UK. case to the student populous. The College is entering a wide Once the referendum is complete, consultative process to consider we will have a clear indication of the key issues relating to the pro- the students' views and be in a posed merger. A joint Board, con- position to represent them to the sisting of five members from each College and the Board. College has been set up to look at This is potentially the biggest the proposed merger and it will be change that Imperial College has focusing on the high level issues, faced in its entire history. It is crit- the so-called "icebergs" rather ically important that you are than the detailed implementation involved in the process and have issues. your say. Make sure you get The Board has set up subgroups the Board in turn will report to the that Imperial College should informed, listen to the arguments to look at key areas of operation, respective governing bodies on the merge with UCL. This means and make an educated choice. specifically academic, administra- 19th December with a view to there will be a college wide ballot Sen Ganesh, President Should Imperial College and University College London (UCL) merge? Do you have a view? Want to get involved with running the Yes or the No campaign? Contact Sen Ganesh ([email protected]) for more information. [email protected] The student newspaper of Imperial College i'&A 04 COLUMN FELIX And Alex Said... Why go to the effort of doing some- as long as possible. And keep a be seen in lectures. leak, with students unconscious on thing today, when you can safely large pan of water always on the At school, you were told off for A4 pads and a man at the front put it off until tomorrow and spend boil.