JCRC chairs and YUSU sabbbatical officers spoke out in a recent Senate meeting against the “aggressive” recruitment tactics employed by the Christian Union (CU) to recruit new members during Freshers’ Week.

Many of those present felt that CU representatives not only broke University regulations but acted inappropriately by attempting to gain access to housing blocks to distribute booklets giving advice on settling in and advocating the CU and its causes.

Matt Burton, YUSU Services and Finance Officer, stated that this posed a “serious security issue” and could be even be “deemed as trespassing”.

Security guidelines state that non-YUSU–affiliated societies require prior permission from the college provosts when entering residential blocks.

YUSU, who are keen to be considered non-denominational, felt that the CU’s recruitment tactics may have led freshers to believe that the literature was produced and distributed directly on behalf of the Students’ Union.

Jamie Tyler, Derwent JCRC Chair, said that the Derwent branch of the CU entered Derwent blocks to distribute material in advance of the freshers’ arrival without seeking permission to do so.

He expressed concern that this might have given freshers the “wrong impression” that the college was “endorsing” the religion.

Ben Wardle, Goodricke JCRC Chair, described the CU’s approach in Goodricke as “intimidating”.

Marco McAllister, Overseas Student Association President, told Senate that he was approached by CU members who wished to take part in an introductory session for foreign students.

McAllister claims that, despite being explicitly told they were forbidden from taking part, CU members attended the meeting in an evangelical capacity and, when challenged by two students from other faiths, allegedly invited them to become Christians.

Anne-Marie Canning, YUSU President, told Senate that problems with the CU’s recruitment strategy has been a “long running issue” that had been going on “for years and years and years”.

However, she was keen to stress the good relationship between YUSU and the CU, saying that their reasonable outlook would make it relatively easy to find a solution to the problem.

Daniel Gladwell, Evangelism Secretary for the CU, defended the booklets, saying that “Apart from the fact that it’s from a Christian group, I don’t think there’s anything in there that could be construed as offensive. I mean, some people get offended at just about anything, but the vast majority of people would find none of what’s in there offensive.”

However, Ed Veale, CU Male President, apologised for the transgressions, saying: “We don’t want to go against University regulations, I guess we’ve been lax in some of the colleges with ticking the boxes to make sure what we’re doing is fine.”

Friction between university CUs and their students’ unions has been an issue at several institutions in the UK.

Late last year the Exeter Christian Union attempted to sue the University and Students’ Guild after being temporarily removed from the list of University-affiliated societies.
The society was removed due to its practice of requiring committee members and speakers in the union to sign a declaration of faith which the Students’ Guild felt was in breach of equal opportunities policy.

Both Canning and Veale said that, despite their concerns, they hoped relations between the CU and YUSU would never escalate to that level in York.

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