By Ruth Murphy | Oct 16 2017
The facebook page “UCD Referendum Fact Checker” has stated on their page that the Board of Directors of the Students' Union did not back President Katie Ascough’s decision to have information removed from the Winging It in UCD Handbooks.On October 11th Ascough published on her #Fight4Katie facebook campaign page that when deciding whether or not to reprint the Winging It in UCD handbooks “I also asked the Board of Directors for advice, and they agreed with the decision to follow legal advice.”The Fact Checker Facebook page sought confirmation on this issue. They said to COO of UCD Students’ Union Fiona Hammond "I would just like to confirm whether the board did indeed back Katie's decision regarding the wingin it handbooks?"Hammond responded by email “As COO, I am not a Board Member, but report to the UCD SU Board therefore, with agreement of the Board, I respond as follows: At a meeting on 18th September the UCD SU Board were informed, by way of a management update, of the Presidents actions to seek and follow legal advice to remove items from the Winging It handbook. The Board does not have a role in political decisions of the Students' Union, the Board were never presented with legal advice and therefore did not have any part in the decision.”After legal consultation, Ascough made a decision without advice from the board of directors to remove the books from circulation and to issue a redraft that did not contain the illegal abortion information.