An alleged attempted drug rape has driven a wedge between the students' union and college authorities at the University of Ulster.

The facts of the incident remain unclear, but a leaked letter from students' union president Geraldine Dolan to the provost of the Jordanstown campus, Ann Tate, demanded to know why the university authorities consistently maintained that the woman at the centre of the incident was a visitor to the campus.

The incident allegedly occurred on the night of February 17th, but came to light when a number of students called a Northern newspaper claiming the university authorities were engaged in a cover-up and were failing to notify students of the potential risk.

Several female callers said they were concerned that those who may have drugged the young woman concerned were still at large on the campus.

However, despite a rigorous investigation into the incident by the university, Dolan said she was not informed that the victim of the alleged attempted drug rape was a member of her union.

The letter states: "I contacted student affairs, security and the communications department to ascertain further information. All of which confirmed to me that the person involved in the incident on February 17, 2000, was not a student.

"Why were all these departments insisting that the person involved was not a student? Why now, 12 days after the incident occurred, is it only emerging that the person was a student?"

Dolan has asked for a full investigation into the whole circumstances surrounding the incident, which she agreed is still unclear. She stood over the content of the letter, she said. However, she denied she leaked it to the press: "It would be better if the matter could be resolved internally."

A spokesman for the University of Ulster described the issue of whether the woman was a student or not as a "red herring".

"It is wrong to suggest it took us too long to establish that this woman was a student," the spokesman said. That was not the most important issue because we have a duty of care to all people on our premises, students or otherwise." He pointed out that the students' union also had this duty of care in relation to its premises.

The spokesman also commented that "there are only two hard facts in this whole matter". These were, first, that a woman left the students union at 2 a.m. after having taken drink and, second, that she was taken away in an ambulance called for her by university staff.

"No complaint has been made to the RUC or the college as far as I'm aware," he added.

College news is compiled by Paul Tanney