Sarah Smith
Exclusive

Guardian has obtained minutes detailing the extent of the Hetherington Research Club’s (HRC) problems in the months before it was forced to cease trading in February.

The minutes, from a meeting of the Committee of Management (CoM) on January 25, 2010, indicate that the Club had been in trouble for months before any action was taken. At the meeting it was reported that there were “systematic failures in Club management”, with the Club’s manager, Fiona Dalrymple, attributing the financial deficit to “significant costs incurred due to the [CoM] not having time to run the club”.

The document also shows that the CoM knew by the date of the meeting that the club was operating illegally due to its “VAT issues and debtors”. After being made aware of the HRC’s financial situation, David Newall, Secretary of Court, commissioned a review by the auditing firm, Deloitte.

The HRC’s debts were so high that some of its suppliers refused to continue deliveries, leaving the Club without toilet paper, food and drink, and gas for the beer pumps.

The minutes show that the CoM was planning to use £10,000 of the Club’s annual grant from the University — which last year totalled £45,000 — to pay its suppliers as well as its outstanding tax.

The HRC was suffering from more than financial problems in recent months. The minutes also show that police were notified after concerns were raised regarding a sum of money that “disappeared” and was “unaccounted for”.

Strathclyde police confirmed that they are investigating a former employee of the HRC for alleged breach of trust and embezzlement.

According to the former staff representative, Eileen Boyle, the debt accrued was too much for one individual to be held responsible.

A statement released on behalf of the former staff said: “One of the main failings at the club was that accurate, verifiable financial records were not maintained and could not be provided to either the incoming Committee or the accountancy firm … appointed by the University to investigate the situation. In those circumstances, it is difficult to see how an allegation of theft could be made or substantiated.

“The individual concerned approached the police of their own accord in an effort to clear their name, and they have the support and confidence of the non-managerial bar and kitchen staff in their attempts to do so.”

At the January 25 meeting it was reported that cleaning had been “inadequate” for months, causing health and safety issues. The minutes say: “There is vomit and excrement in toilets for days after a major event, toilets blocked for days.”

As part of the audit, Deloitte requested a copy of the Club’s membership database, but this was “inadvertently deleted” by Dalrymple.

A petition containing 594 signatures for the return of the HRC’s facilities and for Hetherington House to be re-opened was submitted to David Newall on March 9. Newall’s response reiterated the University’s position that, whilst the Club’s closure is regrettable, it can only be re-established on the acceptance of a viable business plan.

He explained: “The University’s managers are also disappointed at the Hetherington’s closure and we have stated that we will give serious consideration should a business plan be submitted seeking support to re-establish a Postgraduate Club.

“Such a plan will require to be robust, particularly in the light of the business difficulties experienced by the Hetherington.”

The total debt is thought to be around £50,000 but the CoM is unable to confirm any figures due to a lack of paperwork as the Club’s accounts had not been audited since June 2008. Despite assurances that any money owed to those made redundant by the Club’s closure will be paid, the University has admitted that it cannot make any commitments to taking responsibility for the Club’s debts until the total owed has been calculated.

A spokesman said: “The University will provide funds to ensure that all the Club’s staff receive in full the sums they were due.

“The administrator for the Hetherington Club is in contact with the suppliers to establish exactly how much is owed. The University cannot make any decisions on how this will be dealt with until the full figures are known.”

At a general meeting on March 10, after only four months in office, the current committee members resigned and a new CoM was elected.

The HRC’s new president, Seumas Bates, was unable to comment on the events leading to the Club closing but was positive about its future.

He said: “The Club has been given the opportunity to reinvent itself, to renew itself, and to go on to provide even greater support for the students and staff of the University of Glasgow.

“By learning from the mistakes of the past we have the opportunity of developing a stronger and more relevant Club for our membership … it is important to remember that although the building we all knew and loved has closed, the spirit of the Club lives on in its membership. In a very real sense they are the HRC, not bricks and mortar.”

More on this story:

Editorial

Scotland’s only postgrad club shuts down

Anna Murray and Sarah Smith

The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) elections attracted the highest turnout in five years, after more than 2000 students cast their votes online.

The elections on March 3 and 4 saw seventeen students vying for the four positions on the SRC Executive and eighteen students standing for ten of the seventeen academic convenor and welfare and equal opportunities officer positions.

2073 people voted in the presidential election, in which Tommy Gore was declared the victor after winning 944 votes in the second round, defeating fellow candidates Sophie Hall and Philip Neal.

Tuula Eriksson was elected Vice President (Learning and Development), with 718 votes in the final round and the position of VP (Media and Communications) was won by Luke Winter, who received 759 votes in the final round. Fraser Sutherland secured the position of VP (Student Support) with 721 votes.

At the Heckling Meeting on March 2, Sutherland, in response to a question from Andy Gray, of the GUU Debates Society, pledged to donate 32.9 percent of his salary in order to receive only the minimum wage. The four sabbatical officers are paid £15,292 annually, but Sutherland will receive only £10,254.40 before tax, based on the minimum wage for the contracted 34 hours per week over one year.

After his election, Sutherland confirmed to Guardian that he would be standing by this promise. He said: “I will stand by the pledge that I made at the Heckling Meeting with the remainder of the money being put in a trust fund. This trust fund will then be open to students, club and societies of the University to bid into for charitable projects.

“These bids will then be considered by a yet-to-be-formed committee who will establish the benefit of what the individual bids will bring in a charitable form.”

Sutherland also promised that, upon assuming office, he will be focusing on reducing the current waiting times for the counseling services offered by the SRC.

Tommy Gore spoke of his happiness at winning the position of president, a role that he will take over from Laura Laws in July.

He said: “I’m delighted to have been elected as the SRC President, and I’m really looking forward to the challenges in the year ahead, working with what I think will be an excellent SRC Council and Executive team. I’d also like to congratulate Sophie Hall and Philip Neal for fighting excellent campaigns.”

He continued: “There are many big issues on the horizon, such as the challenges of restructuring, and ensuring that the University stick to their word and that it doesn’t harm the student experience at Glasgow.

“I also think we need to ensure that with the closure of Hetherington Research Club some form of provision and accommodation is made for postgraduate, mature and international students.”

The election turnout represents an improvement on recent years, which have seen a much lower level of interest, reflected in both the nominations and the number of voters.

Recent issues affecting the University including the restructure, perceived future cuts in funding, and the closure of the Hetherington Research Club, as well as the large number of candidates, contributed to the rise in interest, as was demonstrated by the subjects discussed at the Heckling Meeting.

Hundreds of students attended to hear candidates argue their platform, with the floor open to questions from students. Attendance was so much higher than expected that the room allocated for the meeting was too small to accommodate the number of students that came along.

With a lack of space and chairs, students were left standing at the back of the room and even in the stairwell in an attempt to hear the candidates. Issues raised in the questions to the candidates included the SRC’s temporary move to Southpark Avenue and Principal Anton Muscatelli’s salary.

Laura Laws, current SRC President, expressed her delight at the election turnout.

She said: “We are really pleased with the turnout at this year’s elections, which was the highest in five years. The general interest in SRC services is higher than ever before and we hope that this will increase further over the coming months.”

Laws also addressed the issue of the overcrowded Williams Room: “It was great to see so many people at the Heckling Meeting on March 2 and we hope to build on this number next year.

“The Williams Room has traditionally been the location for previous meetings but we will be looking at the possibility of using larger lecture theatres next year, given the recent high turnout.”

Despite the relatively high levels of interest, there are still six unfilled positions left on the Council. These will be opened for nominations in the Autumn elections.

A full breakdown of the election results are available here.

Craig MacLellan

Mike Russell, Scottish Education Secretary, has ruled out the introduction of top-up tuition fees to Scottish universities in his first major speech on higher education since being appointed to the role.

Addressing delegates at the annual NUS Scotland conference in Dunfermline, Russell acknowledged that although university funding will come under increased pressure in the coming years, the Scottish Government did not see tuition fees as the solution.

He said: “We have to acknowledge that [a report on higher education funding in England and Wales due to be published shortly] will pose difficult questions for us in Scotland on how we fund our university and university students in the future. But this government does not believe that the answer to those questions is tuition fees.

“This government has re-established the principle of free education by abolishing the graduate endowment and will not introduce tuition fees.”

Since coming to power, the SNP administration has scrapped the £2,000 graduate endowment fee but have yet to implement their manifesto commitment of replacing student loans with grants.

Russell told delegates that alternative solutions to tuition fees should be fully explored in a debate involving the government, universities and students about how Scottish higher education should be paid for in the future.

He said: “I want to hear the views of the students, student leaders, university principals, unions and the entire stakeholder community about what we might do in Scotland to provide a long-term and sustainable solution — a uniquely Scottish solution — to funding universities in the future.”

The Universities and College Union (UCU) backed Russell’s tuition fee commitment, as well as singling out the business sector’s lack of investment in the higher  education sector.

A spokesperson for the UCU explained: “Increasing the financial burden on students and their hardworking families is unfair, particularly as a number of recent reports have exposed the failing of British business to pay its fair share for the numerous benefits it receives from higher education.”

SRC President Laura Laws welcomed the move, arguing that university education should be free to those who wanted it.

She said: “We fully support Mike Russell’s commitment not to introduce tuition fees to Scotland — a university education should be free.

“It is essential that Mr. Russell’s commitment will extend to ensure our universities and colleges receive proper funding by persuading the Scottish Government to make higher education a priority in years to come, ensuring that a free education is still a quality education.”

Russell’s announcement comes as Scottish universities have received an extra £42.9m for teaching and learning in the 2010-11 budget compared to their budget for 2009-10, bringing total university funding in Scotland to over £1bn.

The increase in funding for Scottish universities comes at a time when English universities are facing cuts of nearly 5% in their central government funding.

Russell said that the budget increase signifies the Scottish Government’s commitment to fund education during the recession.

He said: “This budget comes during an incredibly difficult economic climate. It follows a recession neither predicted nor in our control and a budget slashed by Westminster by more than £500m.

“This settlement is more than fair in the current climate. It is a real term increase; it’s the highest budget since devolution; and it recognises the pressures on colleges and universities as more turn to further and higher education during this time.”
“Scotland’s colleges and universities are central to our ambitions for economic growth. They are the front-line of building the skills, society and economy we need for the [economic] recovery and beyond.”
UCU also believes that universities will pay a key role in re-shaping the Scottish economy.

A spokesman said: “If Scotland is to build a new economy after this recession to replace the discredited financial economy, we must invest in higher education.
“To match the knowledge economy being developed elsewhere, Scotland needs more graduates and greater investment in research and development.”

Anton Muscatelli, Convener of Universities Scotland and Principal of Glasgow University, welcomed the budget increase.

He said: “The announcement, which protects university funding, is very welcome, as is the crystal-clear recognition made of the crucial importance Government attaches to universities.”

Sarah Smith

Hetherington House has closed its doors for business after the Hetherington Research Club (HRC) Committee of Management (CoM) were told that any continued trading would be illegal.

After 54 years, Scotland’s only club dedicated to postgraduate, mature and international students ceased trading on February 19, after a period of operating on a day-to-day basis whilst its finances were being investigated.

The results of this investigation revealed that the Club could no longer operate as a business legally, due to its debts.

Treasurer and Convenor at the CoM, Desmond McKenna confirmed to Guardian that a meeting would be held for general members in the next fortnight to explain the situation.

Although unable to answer any specific questions relating to the Club’s accounts, McKenna did admit that the decision to close the business was taken for monetary reasons.

He said: “It was basically a financial decision and to keep us within the confines of the law.

“If you’ve got a business and you’ve run up a certain amount of debt with your creditors and you don’t have enough money to pay […] you’re actually trading illegally. Every time you open your door you’re incurring more and more debt […] so that’s why the club shut.”

McKenna was unable to confirm the amount of money currently owed by the Club to its creditors.

In a statement from the HRC’s staff representative, Eileen Doyle, it is claimed that the total debt is around £50,000.

“Staff were devastated to be told they had been made redundant and had to vacate the building.

Despite having to mortgage, rent, maintenance costs or council tax to pay, apparently the Club has been running at a loss for several years.

“The deficit is now somewhere in the region of £50,000 and the University and the Committee took the decision to close the club with immediate effect.

“The staff put forward a proposal to run the club as a co-operative, saving management costs apparently in the region of £40,000, but this was rejected by the University.”

Three full-time and twenty part-time members of staff have been made redundant as a result of the HRC closure.

A statement released by the CoM confirms that the business is no longer viable but that the HRC remains as an “entity”.

“Regrettably, the business is no longer viable and cannot continue in its current form. Therefore, after a period of consultation, the committee voted to wind down the business and asked for the assistance of the University in order that this be done in an appropriate manner.

“The HRC remains as an entity and the CoM will be meeting in order to discuss how this will continue in the future.”

For many members, the club provided more than simply somewhere to study or to drink.

Postgradate student Mark West explained: “I’ve been a postgraduate for a year and half and it’s a place we all go to […] It’s a great space for a postgraduate community — we’re not just lots of individuals working on our own. The Research Club allowed people a space that wasn’t just a study space or a bar.”

West also commented on the lack of communication between the CoM and club members.

“I’m in there two to three times a week and there was nothing posted on the notice board about this. Clearly [the CoM] could have been more communicative. Clearly they knew something might happen before [it closed]”

A University spokesman said: “HRC is an independent organisation, whom the University has supported with rent-free accommodation and an annual grant. It has been experiencing trading difficulties and the Club’s Management Committee felt it had no option but to cease trading.

“The University regrets the loss of the facility and senior managers will be considering the impact this will have on social facilities for postgraduate students.”

Sarah Smith

A Glasgow University Student has pled guilty to 32 charges related to the sexual abuse of children .

Andrew Byrne, 20, submitted his guilty pleas at the High Court in Glasgow on February 11.

The court heard that Byrne used the internet to groom children aged between nine and sixteen years and manipulate them into vulnerable situations where some were subjected to indecent behaviour and sexually assaulted.

Byrne also had unlawful sexual intercourse with several of his young victims. 591 indecent images were found in Byrne’s possession, around sixty of which were classed in the worst category.

Byrne enrolled at Glasgow University in 2007 and was studying Microbiology until his arrest. Upon conviction of a serious crime, the University has the right to act immediately according to its disciplinary code and Byrne is therefore no longer a student at Glasgow.

A student who shared a flat with Byrne in 2007, the year in which he began offending, said that the news came as a shock.

“It took a while to sink in […] He was a weird guy but you don’t expect that sort of thing from anyone.

“The funny thing was, considering what was on it, he was okay with me using his computer once when my laptop had broken.”

The student, who asked to remain anonymous, remembered Byrne as seeming “odd” and has not had contact with him since October 2008.

Byrne was caught under Operation Defender, a large scale major inquiry led by Central Scotland Police working in close co-operation with the National Sexual Crimes Unit, based at the Crown Office, and the Area Sexual Crime Unit in Stirling.

The investigation has so far resulted in the removal of a number of highly vulnerable children throughout the United Kingdom from the danger presented by sexual predators like
Byrne who use the internet to gain access to their victims.

It was through Operation Defender that the police were able to trace Byrne’s victims in Scotland, throughout the rest of the UK and also abroad.

Detective Inspector Charlie Mitchell, of Central Scotland Police, said: “Andrew Byrne was a prolific offender against young teens and children who he met on the internet using chat rooms.

“He had multiple victims, both boys and girls, who he groomed systematically over periods of time, committed offences against online and in some cases went on to meet and sexually abuse.

“Offenders such as Byrne exploit young people’s use of the Internet and social networking for their own sexual gratification.

“Our focus is on stopping that exploitation and raising awareness of the need for safety online amongst young people and parents.”

Speaking after the conviction, Michelle Macleod, Area Procurator Fiscal for Central Scotland, said: “Today Andrew Byrne has been convicted of some of the most damaging and disturbing crimes that prosecutors ever encounter.

“While using the internet to seek out his young victims, he sought to abuse and exploit more than twenty children, without any regard to their age, all for the purpose of fulfilling his own sexual gratification.”

After pleading guilty to the charges, Byrne was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on March 22.

Nick Sikora

President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), Laura Laws, has criticised the University’s decision to award Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti an honorary degree.

The degree was announced by the University in recognition of Archbishop Conti’s “significant contribution to the life of the University”, as well as his work within the ecumenical movement.

The SRC have condemned the decision, stating that it “makes a mockery” of the University’s focus on equality and diversity.

In 2006, Patrick Harvie, Green Party MSP, approached Strathclyde Police with a view to prosecuting the Archbishop following a sermon in which he criticised civil partnership legislation. The Archbishop had stated that the legislation “implicitly places homosexual acts on a plane of moral equivalence to marital love.”

SRC President Laura Laws said that awarding the degree may damage the University’s reputation.

“By celebrating the archbishop’s work without caveat, the University condones everything he has done in office — including his notorious discrimination against a huge section of our society.”

She continued: “By aligning themselves with the archbishop, the University runs the risk of isolating many students and staff.

“Universities often derive benefits by association with those on whom they bestow honorary degrees.

“We don’t believe that this negative aspect of the archbishop’s character is something that the University should associate itself with.”

Honorary degrees have been traditionally awarded to previous Glasgow archbishops, raising the possibility that not doing so would have been seen as a slight to the Archbishop. However, Laws believes that the University should have taken a stand over this issue, rather than simply maintaining the status quo.

She said: “Not awarding the degree in this instance may have been seen as a snub, but we don’t believe that that would have been such an outrageous statement to make.

“We believe that the decision to award a degree should be made on the merits of the individual alone and should not be expected: otherwise the award is rendered meaningless.”

The University has decided to stand by the decision, in spite of the criticisms from the SRC.

A University spokesman said: “The views of the SRC were taken into consideration before the decision was agreed by both the University’s Senate and Court.

“Archbishop Mario Conti will receive an Honorary Degree in recognition of his significant contribution to the life of the University through his preaching, support of the Catholic Chaplaincy and the Faculty of Education and the development of Inter Faith Relations.

“The award also recognises Archbishop Conti’s work with the ecumenical movement as President of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and as an active member of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.”

Archbishop Conti was appointed to the Archdiocese by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and already holds two honorary degrees from the University of Aberdeen.

A spokesman for the archbishop stated: “The Archbishop is delighted and honoured to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University.

“He has worked hard to build new links between the Church and the University over the years and is very grateful to the University authorities for their award.”

The honorary degree will be awarded by the University of Glasgow to Archbishop Mario Conti in June 2010.

Students are being charged more for their lunch at Glasgow University catering facilities than for equivalent products at premium food retailer Marks & Spencer, a Guardian price comparison has revealed.

Prices for many key takeaway lunch items, such as sandwiches, bottled drinks, and baked goods were found to be significantly higher at Glasgow University’s nine hospitality outlets, even taking into account the student discount on offer.

Basics, such as bottled mineral water, are over 50% cheaper at Marks & Spencer, while the core range of sandwiches are 25% less expensive in the high street store.

Buying a muffin at the Fraser Building, also referred to as the Hub by many students, will set students back 80p more, while a bottle of orange juice costs 50p less from the Marks & Spencer Food on Byres Road. Of the takeaway lunch products compared, only fresh and prepared fruit were cheaper at student catering outlets.

When asked for their reaction to the results of the price comparison, many students expressed surprise that the University’s catering services charged, in some cases significantly, more than the up-market store.

One student surveyed said: “I would walk down to Byres Road now that I know that. You’d think it would be cheaper here because it’s aimed specifically at students.”

A second student added: “That’s quite a shock: it should be at least on a par with M&S, price-wise.”

Many of those questioned also considered the student discount offered by Glasgow University’s hospitality too low. Despite the higher prices, 100% of students thought that the quality of the food offered by GU hospitality services was only equal or inferior to that of M&S, while 64% thought that the University failed to offer good value for money.

Vegetarians and vegans found the range of products on offer at University outlets “limited” and “unimaginative”.

Other students had already noted the comparatively high prices at GU catering outlets, and preferred to purchase food elsewhere, either from Byres Road or at the QM or GUU.

One student explained: “I would never choose to come to the Hub to eat if it weren’t for the convenience of the location. I feel like they take advantage of that — they can charge what they want because it’s so convenient for students.”

Students did, however, appreciate the facilities provided within the Fraser Building, recognising that the seating area provided a pleasant atmosphere in which to eat and socialise.

A University spokesman explained that hospitality services are not subsidised and all costs have to be covered by the income generated.

He said: “Pricing is dictated largely by the cost of supplies and staff costs. Prices are also benchmarked against other universities and checked against High Street prices. The service is essentially not-for-profit and any money made over and above costs is reinvested in the service.”

He added: “Hospitality Services endeavours to keep prices within its catering facilities as low as possible, offering value meal deals and early-bird specials. The service is always open to suggestions as to how it can be improved.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that whereas supermarkets are able to sell certain key products as a loss, Glasgow University hospitality could not.

A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer said that the company was pleased to have come out favourably in a price comparison, and explained that it had been working hard to keep prices low due to the effects of the economy on shoppers’ budgets.

“Our competitive prices reassure our customers that they can economise at M&S, without compromising on quality.”

Forty-three per cent of Glasgow School of Art (GSA) buildings have been revealed as “at serious risk of major failure” or as not fit for purpose in a database obtained by the Guardian.

After the national newspaper won a legal battle, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) was forced to make the data, detailing the condition of Britain’s university buildings, public.

The report, from 2007/8, reveals that 34% of GSA non-residential buildings fall under functional suitability category 4, which Hefce describes as “poor, the room/building fails to support current functions and/or is unsuitable for current use”. 9% of its buildings are classed as in condition D: “inoperable, or [at] serious risk of major failure or breakdown.”

According to GSA, the high proportion of buildings in category 4 is attributable to the fact that they were not purpose built and have been recognised as no longer fit for purpose.

GSA is planning an extensive rebuild and has secured in-principle funding for the first stage of these plans for completion in 2013, with the second stage to follow soon after.

A spokesperson for GSA said: “The complete redevelopment of the School’s estate, centred around the recently refurbished Grade A-listed Mackintosh Building, will transform the current incoherent and inefficient scatter of buildings, into a coherent urban campus providing world-class teaching and research facilities and space for growth.”

Graphic Design student, Tom Stuttard, finds some of the buildings difficult to work in.

He said: “The ceiling tiles are hanging off and it’s either freezing or like a sauna [...] the studios are pretty cramped but when most art students at other institutes don’t even have their own studio space you feel pretty lucky. It’ll be great to have a swish new building. We’re all about aesthetics — we should have a nice workplace too!”

Sarah Smith

The founder of Scotland’s oldest public museum has been linked with murder and grave robbery in new research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JSRM).

According to respected historian Don Shelton, Dr. William Hunter, widely considered one of the fathers of modern obstetrics and founder of Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, and Dr. William Smellie were together responsible for the ‘burking’ murders of a number of pregnant women and their unborn children.

The resulting death toll is greater than the combined murders by Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper. “Burking” refers to murders committed on order, often in the name of medical research and named for the infamous Burke and Hare, who were responsible for seventeen murders in 19th century Edinburgh.

In his paper, Shelton alleges that the probability of randomly locating the corpse of woman in the latter stages of pregnancy that had died before miscarriage or birth was only 0.1%. Despite such odds, the anatomical atlases of Smellie and Hunter indicate that the doctors “procured twenty undelivered and mainly ninth-month and healthy subjects in the five years 1750-1754, and Hunter another dozen pregnant subjects in 1766-1774”.

Shelton’s investigation into this area came about through research for his biography of 19th century surgeon and anatomist, Sir Anthony Carlisle.

He said: “I found [Carlisle] was a favourite student of John Hunter, younger brother of William Hunter and thus in the position to know ‘trade secrets’, such as the source of the subjects in the atlases of Smellie and Hunter.

“When I realised how many ninth-month dissected pregnant women appeared in their two atlases, and with the images all mainly drawn by the same artist, over the same period 1749-54, I became very suspicious about the number dissected and found no-one else ever seemed to have questioned the legitimacy of the subjects in the atlases.”

Hunter died in 1783 and bequeathed his collection to the University of Glasgow. The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery first opened in 1807, becoming Scotland’s first public museum.

Although the findings came as a shock to the staff at the Hunterian Museum, they are now reviewing the evidence put forward by Shelton before coming to their own conclusion.

A spokesperson said: “The Hunterian was concerned to hear of recent sensational allegations that its renowned founder, Dr. William Hunter, had been involved in murder to obtain bodies for dissecting and research. Being a mass murderer would see so out of the character of Dr. Hunter, as revealed by wide-ranging research over two centuries, that staff are confident the claims will prove unfounded.”

For more information on the e-book containing the detailed evidence supporting the JRSM article, The Real Mr Frankenstein by Don Shelton, see: http://therealmrfrankenstein.blogspot.com

The sabbatical positions at the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) have all received three or more nominations for each
vacancy, in a welcome change from the lack of interest displayed in recent years.

Whilst the four sabbatical positions will be highly contested, some of the other non-sabbatical roles have received little or no interest.

The sabbatical roles, which the successful candidates will carry out full-time for one year and receive a salary of £15,292, all drew strong interest from students.

The March elections will see three candidates running for the role of SRC president: Tommy Gore, Sophie Hall and Philip Neal.

The position of VP (Student Support) received four entrants: Ronan Radin, Fraser Sutherland, Saud Taj and Andrew Yates.

The positions of VP (Media & Communications) and VP (Learning & Development) both attracted five applicants for each role.

The VP (Media & Communications) applicants are Andy Davies, Gavin Lavery, Craig MacLellan, Gary Rodger and Luke Winter.

The VP (Learning & Development) candidates are Muhammad Ashraf, Stewart Bracegirdle, Lucky Dhillon, Tuula Eriksson and James Harrison.

However, four Academic Convenor positions remained unfilled. The positions of Education, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Faculty Convenors, along with the position of Postgraduate Convenor were unable to attract any applicants. The posts of Mature Students’ Officer and Part Time Students’ Officer also failed to attract any interest. Nominations for these positions will be re-opened in the SRC’s autumn elections.

Several positions on the council also received only one candidate. In these cases students will be given the option to vote to re-open nominations.

These positions include Arts Faculty Convenor, International Students Officer, LGBT Students’ Officer, Minority Ethnic Officer and Student with Disabilities Officer.

SRC President Laura Laws said: “I am delighted at the number of candidates running for positions on SRC Council. The choice in candidates this year and range of their manifesto pledges means that students can have a real say in what direction the SRC should take next year.”

She urged students to take part in the election process: “It takes two minutes to vote on any university computer or online at www.glasgowstudent.net.

“It’s important to me to see as many students as possible voting to shape the future of the student experience here at Glasgow.”

The heckling meeting for the four sabbatical positions will be held on Tuesday March 2 at 5.30pm in the John McIntyre Building. Voting will take place between 9am on March 3 and 5pm on March 4, with the results to be announced shortly after the polls close.

Manifestos for all nominated candidates are available to view on the SRC’s website and students can vote by logging on to