Queen's gadfly bitten

Queen's University Students Union - long the scourge of the institution over its saga of job discrimination cases - has itself come under criticism over fair employment.

Official figures after an internal university survey have revealed that only 16 per cent of the part-time staff employed by the students union are Protestants. The remainder are without exception Catholics yet the make-up of the population is about 60 per cent Protestant to 40 per cent Catholic. The statistics have reinforced the perception of Unionists that the students union is a "Republican stronghold".

Student union officials admit there is a "chill factor" problem facing Unionists. Deputy president Nigel O'Connor revealed that only 78 Protestants applied for positions in the students union last year compared with over 300 Catholics. And of the 78 Protestants applying, 24 were appointed.

The union argues the problem centres on applications rather than the process of making appointments and has launched a campaign to try to attract more Protestants. Future advertisements will state that applications are "particularly welcome" from Protestants. Queen's human resources director Harry McConnell has said there is a clear under-representation of Protestants in part-time posts in the union. The issue still has to be formally discussed by the university senate, however.

Senate member Chris McGimpsey, an Ulster Unionist councillor, said: "Protestants, in the main, simply do not go near the students union and to a certain extent this report bears out what many of us have been saying about the students union." United Kingdom Unionist MP Robert McCartney, who obtained the figures from the province's education minister Michael Anbram, said the problem was compounded by the bilingual policy of the students union.