Controversial Women’s Officer candidate Kirk Sneade has withdrawn his candidacy less than 24 hours ahead of voting closing.In an email sent to UCL media outlets, current Democracy and Communications Officer Sam Gaus said:
As of about 30 seconds ago, Kirk is no longer on the candidates list. Sneade realises that his campaign has caused offence and as a consequence has decided to withdraw as a candidate. He apologises for the offence that he has caused. Any individuals voting for him will have that preference transferred to the next eligible candidate.
Sneade has added a statement to his Facebook group page saying he is ‘truly sorry’ for any offence caused by his campaign but states that his aims were ‘to uphold and improve the levels of equality at UCL’.
Sources told Pi that Sneade was called in to see the UCL Dean of Students yesterday, suggesting that this may have had something to do with his withdrawal from the elections. Sneade’s candidacy has been mired in controversy since the start of elections fortnight, with news of his running reaching much further than just UCL. There are now two remaining candidates in the running for Women’s Officer: Beth Sutton and Helen Chandler-Wilde. Voting closes at midday tomorrow.
