University of London: Home. UCL Provost’s leaving party costs nearly £18k. • Bizarre send-off sees Professor Grant dance to ABBA tribute band • £563 spent on cookies Photo: Kirsten Holst Moustache-shaped cookies, an ABBA tribute band, and t-shirts with a ‘70s look-alike of the guest of honour printed on them – Professor Sir Malcolm Grant’s leaving do had it all, and cost a total of £17,898.
Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals just over £2,000 was spent on 880 bottles of sparkling wine for the party on 19 June, which celebrated Grant’s ten years as University College London’s President and Provost. Pictures suggest the bottles far outnumbered the guests. Two hundred cookies in the shape of Grant’s famous facial hair were ordered for the event, costing UCL £260; the evening’s overall cookie budget totalled £563. £18.40 was spent on three buckets just to hold them all. Björn Again, an ABBA tribute act, entertained the guests gathered in the University’s Main Quad for a fee of £8,225. Comments comments. UCL spent £12k on vice-provost's leaving party. • University previously came under fire for provost’s 17k bash Ex-provost Professor Sir Malcolm Grant and Professor Michael Worton at the latter’s send-off.
Owebb : The escapades of that disaster... Revealed: UoL spent £14.5k on luxury spa trips for managers. Seven managers were treated to an ‘awayday’ at Luton Hoo, a five star hotel with spa.
Spending began under disgraced library chief Christopher PresslerManagers also claimed £2,477 for food and drink from Pret A Manger The University of London (UoL) has spent thousands of pounds on trips to luxury spa hotels for the senior management of Senate House Libraries (SHL), London Student can reveal. A Freedom of Information request showed that £14,562 of university money was spent on four trips to luxury hotels and spa resorts for SHL’s senior management, who earn salaries ranging between £45,000 and £100,000. The request uncovered that: The ‘away days’ were introduced by Christopher Pressler, the library’s disgraced former director.
Pressler quit this September after breaking financial rules by failing to declare that his partner worked at Bonhams, an auction house with which the library did business. They added that UoL did “not regard it as unreasonable expenditure.” NotPICNIC : @UoLondon must have know @owebb's... Spitzenprodukte: Uni of London Management and... LondonStudent : Police kettling protesters...
LondonStudent : Those kettled are now being... Livestream. Editor londonstudent owebb being arrested. LondonStudent: Our editor @owebb being arrested... Howardsaid : Here's @owebb, journalist,... @owebb showing presscard yet arrested. Oscar webb arrested while showing his press card. 8:08-8:19 showing press card yet arrested. LondonStudent : @Richardinlondon Hi Richard,...
LondonStudent: Our Editor, @owebb, was released... LondonStudent: These are Editor @owebb's bail... LondonStudent: 1.) 'Not to attend any building... LondonStudent: 2.) 'Not to attend Senate House,... LondonStudent: Here's our editor @owebb being... OCCUPY SENATE HOUSE: Photo. Bail Conditions point the way to the potential future of protest. This is a guest post by Harry Stopes (@HarryStopes) The use of restrictive bail conditions on protestors, many of whom have been arrested en masse, is a worrying trend evident in policing over the last two and a half years.
The most recent example to be reported was that of Michael Chessum, the President of the University of London students’ union. He was arrested under section 11 of the Public Order Act, for failing to notify the police of a demonstration, and was bailed on condition that he refrain from engaging in any protest, at any university, or within half a mile of any university. These bail conditions are supposedly designed to prevent re-offending, but in fact do nothing of the sort: the risk of a person committing a section 11 offence is unrelated to their ability to protest in general. Mainstream Media Blackout.
UK students protesting corporate attacks against their rights to education, control over their universities, and freedom of expression were brutally repressed by the British police in cooperation with university officials.
Sussex ASN @SussexASN25m: “#nuspolicylive Abolish the MET and then abolish yourselves. #copsoffcampus” Security pull on the legs of one of the occupiers. Photo: Oscar Webb, Occupiers barricaded themselves in the building’s main management corridor. They demanded free access to the occupation and senate house for students and staff, with the exception of senior management.
JoshAJHall : Journalists refusing to cover... Willsmith700 : Where's the BBC while... Digitalben : really enjoyed the thorough... Cdaae : No freedom of assembly, no... Batrachianlips: Hey kids, let's play a game... Batrachianlips : Freedom of speech #copsoffcampus... Batrachianlips : Freedom of expression #copsoffcampus... Batrachianlips : Freedom of the press #copsoffcampus... LondonStudent : We are hearing reports that... NotPICNIC : hmm, so @LondonStudent's @owebb... UK student newspapers (in media res) NotPICNIC : @TheMancunion @VarsityUK... NotPICNIC : @TCSNewspaper @GlasgowGuardian... NotPICNIC : techniques of (in)direct...
Oscar Webb : I received written confirmation... NotPICNIC : @beaveronline @Cherwell_Online... NotPICNIC : @LondonStudent reportage ? Jlo5739 : Journalist @owebb arrested... MiriamDobson : . @LondonStudent arrested at... _Bryony_ : Surprised there hasn't been... Jjarichardson : Journalist from @londonstudent... 12-journo-arrest. LondonStudent : @leept1 We're pretty sure a... Yesterday, Students Were Arrested for Protesting Against the Arrest of Students.
Library boss in hot water over undeclared auctioneer partner. • Director breaks financial rules for second time • Plan to sell off Shakespeare folios folds under pressure Senate House.
Photo: Hubert Libisewski The University of London was forced to abandon its attempt to sell four seventeenth-century Shakespeare folios earlier this month after widespread opposition from academics. The plan came under heavy scrutiny as it emerged that the person in charge of the sale, Senate House Library director Christopher Pressler, had failed to declare that his partner worked at the auctioneers appointed to oversee it. That scrutiny is likely to intensify with the revelation that the library previously bought an item from the same auctioneers for £15,750 over the high estimate.
The library purchased a manuscript of W. As with the editions of Shakespeare’s collected plays, Pressler failed to declare his relationship with an employee of the auctioneers – making it at least the second time he has breached the university’s Financial Regulations. Comments. 'Close look needed' at folio scandal library chief's hiring of friend. Joe Honywill, left, was made an associate director by a panel including recently departed Senate House Libaries head Christopher Pressler, right.
Photographs: University of London • Candidate had twice previously worked with Pressler • Newly-created post only advertised for a week There has been a call for the University of London to “look closely” at an appointment made by the former director of Senate House Libraries, who quit recently after breaking financial rules by failing to reveal personal links with an auctioneers with which the library did business. Christopher Pressler was involved in the appointment of a friend who he had worked with at two previous institutions to a newly-created senior post at the library which was advertised for the minimum time allowed.
Joe Honywill was awarded the post of Associate Director, Digital Futures, with a salary band between £45,000 and £60,000, in 2010. Pressler admits he informed Honywill the position was available. Library director quits following scandal. • Pressler broke financial rules • In charge of botched Shakespeare folio sale The director of Senate House Libraries announced his resignation last Monday after failing to declare his partner’s employment at an auction house the library did business with.
Last month, Christopher Pressler, who had been at the Library’s helm for three years, admitted breaching the University of London’s financial regulations when he did not reveal that his partner worked at Bonhams. The auctioneers had been appointed to oversee a recent and highly unpopular attempt by the library to sell four of its seventeenth-century Shakespeare folios for an estimated £5m.
Academics suggested that Christie’s or Sotheby’s would have been a more natural choice. Scholars strongly opposed the attempt to sell the books – which were donated to the library on the condition they would not leave it – with one branding it “an act of stupidity of the highest order”. Comments.