St Andrews Radio

Update 9: The Union Debating Society has held an emergency debate: "This House Would pledge allegiance to the Kate Kennedy Fellowship."

In attendance: Sunny Moodie, Pat Mathewson, Sam Fowles, Patrick O'Hare, and Kate Andrews. The Kate Kennedy Club will not attend. Instead, they have issued a statement. The statement says just that their initial statement said everything they wish to say and will not speak until after they have met with the Kate Kennedy Trust.

Moodie: "The foundation of the Fellowship is for this University an occasion to be proud." "The Kate Kennedy tradition is owned by everyone in this room; everyone at this University."

Mathewson: "We are not maintaining the status quo. We are improving. We will be expanding." "We want everyone to play a role in the procession, including members of the Kate Kennedy Club." "...And we will be putting on the best May Ball yet."

Fowles: "If you are good enough to be at this University, then you are good enough to take part in every aspect of it."

Andrews on behalf of Moffat: "In their vehement resistance to change, all the good things they have stood for have been pushed aside."

The full debate is available on demand here.

Read STAR News' account of the debate here.

Update 8: Association President Patrick O'Hare has sent an email to all students clarifying the SRC's involvement in the formation of the Kate Kennedy Fellowship.

"I would here like to clarify what the SRC has voted upon. We did not agree to establish the newly formed Fellowship, nor include it as a subcommittee of the Union; the SRC doesn’t have the power to establish or disband independent external groups. We voted to support the Fellowship and recognise it as the official body associated with the Kate Kennedy traditions. We also believe that the new KKF should live up to the highest standards of inclusiveness, equality and openness – the same standards to which we try to hold ourselves."

He notes that the motion is available in full on the Union's website.

The motion resolved:

"To recognize the newly formed Kate Kennedy Fellowship as the official charitable body that is associated with the “Kate Kennedy” traditions."

"To support the Kate Kennedy Fellowship as they continue the old Kate Kennedy Club’s role in upholding the ancient historical traditions of the university and throwing the annual Opening and May Balls."

"To recommend that the SSC extends an invite to the newly elected president of the Kate Kennedy Society to sit on the committee as a non-voting member."

and "to take a further vote once the constitution of the KKF is written to confirm our support."

Update 7: We are learning more about the SRC's endorsement of the Kate Kennedy Fellowship. In provisional minutes of the Monday meeting, which are subject to (and quite possibly will) change will certainly change, various objections with the arrangement were raised including the the secretive nature of the proceedings, that all students would become members, and the recognition of the actions of two students above all others. The motion was proposed by Director of Representation Sam Fowles and seconded by Association President Patrick O'Hare.

While the motion initially allowed the Fellowship access to Union facilities, this was removed. Other amendments included notes that the SRC was not consulted on universal membership and a broadening of the language to support all students who stand up for their beliefs.

Perhaps most interesting to come out of the minutes was the promise that there will be a majority of SRC members on the interview committee for the Fellowship. This would create a stronger bond between the Union and Fellowship than previously announced. However, Fowles has told STAR News that this statement was perhaps premature. Since the Fellowship has been opened to all students, the exact makeup of the committee is yet to be decided.

The motion was passed 14 to 2 with no abstentions.

Important: It should be noted that the minutes are a summary of the proceedings, not a transcript. The minutes have not yet been approved by SRC members. We have learned that objections are being raised about the contents of the minutes.

Update 6: Rector's Assessor Kate Andrews commented on the legal question of whether the Kate Kennedy Trust, a Scottish Charity, can actually switch allegiances: "We've done our legal research."

Update 5: Moodie and Mathewson held a press conference at 7:30pm on Wednesday evening. The Fellowship announced that the drinks reception had been moved to Monday at 7pm in Lower College Hall. An email address for the club has also been created: katekennedyfellowship@st-andrews.ac.uk.

"This is the beginning of what we hope will be an incredibly constructive process," says Mathewson

The Kate Kennedy Trust will meet on the 13th of March to decide the path forward.

Moodie says he is leaving now because he has seen change be thwarted by the club before. Moodie also says it is not up to him to talk about other single-sex clubs.

The full press conference can be heard here.

In separate news, an emergency session of the SSC has been been called for Friday to discuss the Union's relationship with the Fellowship.

Update 4: Lady Catherine Erskine, Chair of the Kate Kennedy Procession Committee, announced her support for changes to the Kate Kennedy Club in a statement issued to Rector Alistair Moffat.

"I have consulted with several members of the Kate Kennedy Procession Committee and all are in agreement that we support changes to make membership of the Kate Kennedy Club fully inclusive and reflective of the whole student population of the university if the desire for these changes has come from within the club."

"Our main concern is that this unique Procession should continue and flourish with even greater participation of town and gown, with the entire student body supporting this celebration of the town and its historic university."

Update 3: Rector Alistair Moffat has announced his resignation as a Life Member of the Kate Kennedy Club and his support for the Fellowship in an email to all students.

"When I joined the Kate Kennedy Club forty years ago as a student, the world was very different. In those days the University still had beauty competitions to elect a Charities Queen and all manner of other relics now swept away by the tides of history. Then – and now – I admired the aims of the Club and all the hard work its members did and still do. Whatever disagreements there are, the achievements of the present members should not be forgotten. But the continuing refusal to allow women to join has seemed increasingly at odds with all the Club aims to achieve."

"When some members told me that they wished to see women students admitted to the Kate Kennedy, I immediately offered my wholehearted support and asked if as a Life Member I could attend a meeting to listen to all views and offer my own. Now that the new Kate Kennedy Fellowship has been established with the explicit aim of admitting women students so that their work and talents can enrich all their activities, I have resigned as a Life Member from the Kate Kennedy Club and will now support enthusiastically the establishment of the new Fellowship and all the good things it proposes."

Update 2: Five SNP MSPs have introduced a motion welcoming the establishment of the Fellowship. Richard Lyle, Humza Yousaf, Dennis Robertson, Jean Urquhart and Colin Beattie introduced Motion S4M-02082 on Tuesday evening.

The motion suggests that Parliament "welcomes what it considers a move that will lead to the end of gender discrimination in one of the oldest and most valued traditions at the university, and understands that although the Kate Kennedy Club will continue to exist as a male-only organisation, it will now operate along with the new Kate Kennedy Fellowship, to which every student at St Andrews will be allowed to be admitted with immediate effect."

This is not the first time the Kate Kennedy Club has been discussed in the Scottish Parliament. In 2002, a motion was introduced applauding "the celebration of Scotland and Scottish and local history that takes place in the annual Kate Kennedy procession in St Andrews."

Other members then proposed an amendment, adding that the body "hopes that one day the Kate Kennedy Club becomes open and non-discriminatory in its membership policy to truly represent the male and female students from all backgrounds who are studying at St Andrews."

Update: Principal Louise Richardson, in an email to all students, publicly endorsed the new Fellowship and praised the two students for resigning from the Club.

"It takes real personal courage to stand up among your friends and disagree with them on a point of principle. It takes even more courage to take the next step and walk out of a Club that has been such a large part of your student life. I think that these young men deserve our admiration."

"In an effort to ensure maximum student involvement in the Kate Kennedy traditions, the SRC and the former members of the Kate Kennedy Club have developed the idea of a Kate Kennedy Fellowship. All students would be eligible for membership and they would elect a core group of 36 Fellows. Initially, current members of the Club would be invited to be a Fellow. This arrangement strikes me as altogether more in keeping with the values of our university. I have been asked to endorse the Kate Kennedy Fellowship and I am delighted to do so."

The University was aware of Moodie and Mathewson's intentions over the weekend and had privately endorsed the move, support which was reiterated by Director of Representation Sam Fowles at the announcement of the Fellowship early Tuesday morning.

"I can confirm that the Kate Kennedy Fellowship will have support from the SRC... and the University itself."

Earlier: Two Kate Kennedy Club members have resigned and announced the formation of a new Fellowship where every student will automatically become a member. The split is the result of an internal rift over the Kate Kennedy Club's policy of only considering male applicants.

Sunny Moodie and Pat Mathewson made the announcement after resigning.

The Club itself has announced it will continue and not embrace the new Fellowship, which has been endorsed by the University, Students' Association, Lady Katherine Erskine (Chair of Procession Committee) and "key members of the Kate Kennedy Trust".

Read the Kate Kennedy Club's statement here.

"I hope that they wake up, that they realise that we are in the 21st Century," said Moodie. "I hope that some of them will wake up and join us."

The male-only policy has long been a source of contention for the club and ultimately led to it being disassociated from the University of St Andrews in 2009. At the time, Principal Louise Richardson said "I look forward to the day when membership of the Kate Kennedy Club is open to every student of St Andrews at which point the university will be delighted to treat the Kate Kennedy Club in the same way as all other clubs and societies."

Moodie's and Mathewson's prepared statements stressed that the changes mark a turning point, not an end, in the Kate Kennedy tradition.

"This is a new era. An evolution. It is something that has been coming for a long time," said Moodie.

"The club was founded on beautiful ideas, but as it stood it could not live up to its potential," said Mathewson.

"From tomorrow, all students will become members of the Kate Kennedy Fellowship."

The announcement was made following a 5-hour long meeting that was attended by Rector and former Kate Kennedy Club member Alastair Moffattt.

Director of Representation Sam Fowles confirmed that the new Fellowship has been embraced by the SRC and University.

Further details will be announced at a drinks reception on Saturday at 7pm, location TBA.

Moodie and Mathewson will serve as acting Presidents until the new body has been fully formed.

The full press conference is available as a podcast below.