This motion was passed at GUCU Branch meeting on 15/12/2023
Goldsmiths UCU branch notes that:
1. The College published an apology to Des Freedman and Gholam Khiabany signed by the Chair of Council, Dinah Caine, on 8 December 2023.
2.The apology has been significantly delayed. It is more than 17 months since they were suspended and more than 13 months since the KC leading the independent investigation into their suspension found that there was “no case to answer” and they were fully reinstated.
3. There was no consultation with Des and Gholam on the wording of the apology and although they were informed of the College’s intention to publish the apology, they were not told when it was finally published nor did they receive the link to its location in the ‘official responses and statements’ section of the College website.
4. The apology states that it wants “to assure all staff that lessons will be learned” but does not address precisely which lessons are being referred to nor how the College intends to carry this out in practice.
The branch resolves:
1. To write to Dinah Caine before the end of term expressing dismay at the handling of the apology.
2. To ask in that letter for a full explanation about the delay in publishing the apology.
3. To require the College to state explicitly what lessons were learned from the mistreatment of Des and Gholam.
4. To require the College to state that in the future no members of staff will be treated in the same way.