Howard Davies is the 7th Most Notable Uni Head

According to Garlik.com, a business that tracks your online presence and reputation, Howard Davies has the 7th highest online presence of UK University heads, says the Times. Davies’ page, seen here, gives him a QDOS of 2787, compared with a score of 4562 for Keith Burnett, the highest ranked University head. Davies has a strong Impact rating, presumably because of his predilection of being widely quoted in the media, however his lack of presence on sites like LinkedIn give him a relatively lower popularity (clashing with his usually generous reception at the Students Union meetings).

Something tells me he is not overly concerned with these rankings, and he can take heart in having bested the directors of Kings and Imperial, although not Malcolm Grant of UCL.

Voting Has Opened

Voting on the Motion for Divestment has opened in the Quad, and will continue until 6pm tonight. This time the SU has made pains to prevent any kind of fiasco such as during the previous vote when there were allegations of stuffing the ballot box and non-LSE students casting votes. Only students who attended the UGM (either in the Old Theater or to the video simulcast at the New Theater) and received stamps will be eligible to vote – IDs will be checked and names crossed off a list of students to prevent individuals voting multiple times. Ballots will be counted following the end of voting at 6pm and the results will presumably be announced shortly thereafter.

In the Old Theater, the audience downstairs was clearly in favor of the motion, and an entirely unscientific study would have to presume that the motion passes easily, given the support within the audience. It would seem that the decision of the Israeli and Jewish societies to sit out the vote could have costly consequences beyond the passage of the motion, as an amendment was voted down (with some support) that would have required a school-wide referendum on the proposal in week 8. Such an amendment would have provided those opposed to the motion more opportunity to organize against it and potentially dilute the number of the supporters. However, as it stands the Observer expects to learn later this evening that the Students Union will have a mandate to lobby the LSE and the NUS to divest from Israel.

The first glut of voters who came directly from the UGM appears to have subsided, but voting will continue throughout the afternoon.

Stalling Tactics on the Motion for Divestment?

It’s like deja vu all over again. Today the UGM will consider a motion of divestment from Israel on account of its abuses and internationally denounced occupation of Palestine. A very similar vote was held two weeks ago that very nearly passed, ultimately failing by just seven votes. However the story looks to be quite different this week, with just about everybody presuming that the motion will now carry, especially as the Jewish and Israeli societies will not be attending the UGM this week (the Observer has been told that it is not a ‘boycott’, but it appears to be so in everything but name). The aim here, presumably, is to harm the legitimacy of the motion should it pass, but your Observer is a bit bewildered by the strategy, considering the opponents of the motion prevailed last time.

The UGM order papers, which have been posted online, are interesting in that the motion on divestment is Business Motion 3. Although the first two business motions don’t appear to be particularly controversial (one mandates Fadhil to recite poetry – I’m not making this up – and the other is meant to force officers to attend meetings or face censure), sorting out three motions in one UGM with all of the reports from Sabbs and Officers seems a bit ambitious, no? One could only presume there would be pandemonium if the motion failed to come up for vote today, but stalling tactics could potentially be employed to prevent passage. Of course, absent the primary organized opponents of the motion in the Old Theater, who would coordinate such an effort? And for that matter, who is even going to be speaking against the motion?

Expect a full report following the UGM.