By Angus Hill
University security staff have been posting online with comments supporting the portering cuts in attempts to stir up anger amongst students, according to a remarkable anonymous letter sent to Vision.
The controversial and potentially damaging allegations relate to online comments posted on the Nouse story ‘Ngwena and Humphrys face reprimand’, where a discussion has been sparked regarding the university’s portering cuts.
The anonymous author, who claims to be a member of university staff, specifically claimed that “nine-tenths of the most opinionated anti-portering messages have in fact been written by one particular member of security who, using various guises, enjoys goading students.”
The letter, sent through the universities internal mail system, specifically takes issue with remarks made in a previous edition of Vision, by the chair of the student services committee Jane Grenville, who stated that anger among students over the portering cuts was “finely balanced.”
It was also revealed in this article that campus crime had risen by 72% this year, compared to the same period a year earlier. In response to this, the anonymous author of these startling allegations has suggested that the “increase in crime can largely be attributed to the cuts in portering, as that has been the only variable.”
Since the portering cuts, university security staff have taken over some of the porters’ duties, but the letter also claims that they have failed to do this effectively. For example there was an outspoken attack on the author’s colleagues, where it was claimed that security staff have been “arsing around on the internet instead of doing their jobs.”
The university refused to comment on the allegations.