The Cambridge Students Union (SU) has introduced a new whistleblowing policy, designed to “provide an internal mechanism for reporting wrongdoing” within the organisation.
The new legislation strongly discourages reporting any wrongdoing to anyone external to the SU, and states that members of staff should “very rarely, if ever” find it appropriate to alert the media to a concern.
Issues covered in the policy as “whistleblowing concerns” include financial fraud or mismanagement, criminal activity, breach of internal policies and procedures, and conduct likely to damage the charity’s reputation.
This comes after Varsity reported on multiple allegations of bullying, racism, and financial mismanagement by the SU’s Senior Management Team (SMT) towards SU staff last term.
During this investigation, anonymous members of SU staff claimed that the institution’s Senior Management Team (SMT) fosters a “toxic environment of bullying, unfair treatment and discrimination”.
The SMT is made up of the SU CEO, Director of Membership Engagement and Deputy CEO, and Director of Enterprise & Services.
The policy states that concerned staff should go to the SU’s CEO with any concerns as their “whistleblowing officer,” but can go alternatively to the board’s deputy chair as a contact external to the organisation. It also discourages concerned staff from making anonymous reports.
There are provisions for protecting whistleblowers in the legislation, which state that members of staff “must...
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