Update: After this article was published on 11 April , the Exeter Students’ Guild apologised to the student on 17 June for releasing a statement that “unintentionally implied” the student’s comments at the conference were of a hateful nature. The Exeter Students’ Guild’s full apology can read here.
Exeter Students’ Guild has responded after an Exeter delegate to the NUS National Conference in Glasgow congratulated the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, 10 April.
Mathematics undergraduate Jack Morewood was subsequently suspended from the election pending a code of conduct investigation, which today resulted in his candidacy being allowed to continue.
[Morewood’s] views and actions on stage do not reflect those of the Guild or of the manifesto he was elected on by the student body.
A spokesperson for the Students’ Guild said, “NUS Delegates are elected by students based on their manifesto and although Jack Morewood is representing the Students’ Guild as an NUS Delegate, his views and actions on stage that caused his suspension do not reflect those of the Guild or of the manifesto he was elected on by the student body. The Guild President and lead delegate has reiterated to Jack that he is a representative of the whole student body we expect him to consider their views in what he says and does at conference. There is no place in our institution or in the national movement for hateful comments that may harm or isolate the students that we are here to represent.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government is under United Nations Human Rights Council investigation for humans rights abuses in the Palestininan Territories.
