OUSTED JAMES College Chair Dexter Clarke could be reinstated as soon as today after it emerged that his forced resignation due to a leave of absence may have been unconstitutional.
The JCRC Committee constitution stipulates that any student of James College can remain as College Chair as long as their absence does not exceed a year.
Kate Dodd, Academic Registrar of the University of York, took the decision to relieve Clarke of his duties on Thursday evening after it was revealed that Clarke would be taking a backdated leave of absence from June 2013.
The backdated nature of the leave of absence makes it longer than a calendar year; it is unclear whether the JCRC rule refers to an academic or a calender year.
It is common place for part-time YUSU officers to retain their positions during a leave of absence but the College rules have rarely been tested.
James College has a notoriously understaffed JCRC, with 12 unfilled positions out of a total of 23 currently vacant.
Ellie Lomas, Vice Welfare Chair of James College, commented: “The very sudden news that Dexter has had to step down has caused a lot of confusion for the rest of the JCRC members. Dexter has done some fantastic work as Chair of James College and it is unfair on him and the rest of the JCRC to ask him to step down when there is only a short time of his term as chair remaining.”
College elections take place in December and Clarke’s time in office would not coincide with his time away from the university.
“We are all just as confused as everyone else at the moment,” Rory Mercer, Student Development Vice-Chair, added.
“We can’t understand why this is happening now with 5 weeks left until the end of term. We’re trying to get on with planning events, as well as overseeing some significant changes to the committee for the future, which is increasingly difficult with all this going on. It’s really just come at the wrong time.”
Caitlin, a third year politics student, said “It’s obviously a huge breach of the James constitution. However, you have to think about why we’re in this situation. What is really going on in James College JCRC?”
“Clearly there are some outstanding concerns with how this whole process should be dealt with – and that’s concerning to the point of just how far the student voice actually goes.” Kallum Taylor, YUSU President, commented.
“Dexter’s well-being here comes first though, and I think there needs to be absolute clarity on a students’ situation should they enter leave of absence. The confusion here is embarrassing and hasn’t helped anyone at all.”
Kate Dodd was contacted by York Vision’s News Team but was unavaliable to comment before going to print.
This is just silly. First, students on LOA are meant to be spending time away from uni, how does continuing in such a position help?
Second, JCRC constitutions have absolutley no mening as far as the University is concerned.
Yet another YUSU/JCR/BNOC story. Who cares? Can’t wait until all these self-important nobodies graduate and discover that the world doesn’t care that they were JCR Treasurer with responsibility for Ents on the YUSU Constitutional Committee or whatever.