NTU Student Union Member Suspended For 5 Weeks After Making Junior Intoxicated
A Nanyang Technological University Student Union (NTUSU) member was suspended for five weeks from Student Union duties after he made a fellow NTU student union member black-out drunk.
The 24-year-old had passed the junior member, aged 20, alcohol while telling her it was water.
This continued until she passed out and had to vomit.
Since the suspension, the perpetrator had apparently continued his NTUSU duties, leading to an online uproar.
In a statement, NTUSU said the university has concluded investigations, and there are no pending disciplinary proceedings against the member, who is part of the Executive Committee.
The victim, however, has objected to the perpetrator potentially running for Student Union president for the upcoming academic year.
NTU Student Union exco member suspended 5 weeks after making junior intoxicated
Allegations of the incident first emerged online on the SGExams subreddit in a post dated 14 Sep.
The OP brought up an incident that happened last year in NTU where an Executive Committee member kept giving alcohol to his junior in the same NTUSU team until she blacked out in his room.
A 23 Sep article on Soapbox.sg, a student-run news organisation in NTU, further elucidated what happened that night.
The incident purportedly occurred on 12 Oct 2022 in the perpetrator’s hall room after a union committee meeting.
Both members were on the same committee, according to checks by MS News. However, we will not be naming any of the parties involved.
According to the article, six union members were in the room and having a drinking session.
The victim told Soapbox.sg that she felt lightheaded after a few drinks and asked for water, but the perpetrator instead gave her cups of alcohol.
She said she could not remember the events of that night as she was heavily intoxicated. However, eyewitnesses saw what was happening, and the president apparently asked the perpetrator to stop giving her alcohol.
One of the eyewitnesses said the victim threw up and had to be brought out of the room. She later stayed unconscious for six hours in the room and was accompanied by the president and chief of staff, the eyewitness told Soapbox.sg
The victim said she only found out about what happened a week later and felt betrayed, as she had a close working relationship with the perpetrator and would not have had drinks with people she did not trust.
NTUSU issues statement
On 22 Sep, NTUSU issued a statement on its Instagram page addressing the assertions made online.
It noted that NTUSU had launched an internal investigation and suspended the perpetrator from Union duties for five weeks.
Source: Instagram
He was reinstated after the suspension, and this was purportedly agreed upon by all parties involved to move forward from the incident.
“We have been informed by the individual concerned that the university has concluded investigations into the incident,” the statement read.
Further, there are no ongoing disciplinary proceedings against him. “As such, we would like to clarify that the more severe assertions about misconduct of a different nature are unsubstantiated,” it stated.
The statement did not repeat these assertions about misconduct.
It further refuted assertions that the individual is running for or has attained the position of Students’ Union President for the upcoming academic year.
NTUSU noted that nobody has been elected thus far. Voting takes place today (24 Sep).
According to an Instagram post, the new student union will have its investiture on 27 Sep.
“Please rest assured that NTUSU is an organisation that seeks to serve the student population with the highest standards of conduct and propriety, and always puts the best interest and well-being of students above anything else,” NTUSU asserted.
It also asked that the privacy of the parties be respected.
Victim had raised objections to perpetrator running for president
According to Soapbox.sg, the victim had raised objections to the perpetrator’s reinstatement, which runs contrary to NTUSU’s statement.
“She was unhappy with how NTUSU had dealt with the matter and felt he should not run,” the article reported.
The victim also said she did not intend to file a police report.
“But I really want him to learn from it in the sense where he can’t just cover things up and think it’s okay to run for president,” she said.
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Featured image adapted from Nanyang Technological University on YouTube.