Over the course of two days this week, students in University College Dublin (UCD) will vote on whether to impeach Katie Ascough, the President of University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU). Given the gravity of this situation and its potential consequences, it is worth relitigating the finer points of why they should decide to remove her from office.
The cardinal sin amidst the many, often bewildering facets of the Winging It scandal is that Ascough flagrantly broke a campaign promise. On the issue of the eighth amendment, Ascough had even gone so far as to say that she had “absolutely no intention of doing anything that will overtly misrepresent students on that issue”. It need not be said that her decision to remove the information so obviously contravenes the views of UCD students, who only last year overwhelming voted to retain a pro-choice mandate. Then, there is the issue of how much it cost. The thousands of euro spent on reprinting the guide is no pocket change for a union that recorded debts of €1.4 million just five years ago.
But what compounds the matter is Ascough’s unwillingness to actually stand over her decision in an honest way. First and foremost, she ascribed the move to legal advice. But students’ unions have been publishing this kind of information for decades without consequence, as those who know a thing or two about the law have pointed out. Most shockingly of all, we now know she brazenly lied when she said the union’s board of directors agreed with her decision to follow legal advice. In fact, they did not have any part in the decision.
If you are of the view that impeachment is a step too far, what exactly would Ascough have to do to warrant removal from office? If impeachment is not justified in this instance, when exactly would it be?
A more peripheral – but certainly not insignificant – question is whether members of Ireland’s largest students’ union want a president like Ascough mere months before the country is set to vote on repealing the eighth amendment. You would think not.
But there is no question of how students should vote. They should impeach Ascough.
