May The Farce Be With You
TRINITY'S ELECTION SAGA continued this week with the election of Darth Vader as JCR OUSU/NUS Rep. Vader - aka former Entz Rep Jamie Fellows - made a grand entrance to hustings on Thursday, clothed in his famous black garb, and was met with such applause that he overshadowed the subsequent appearances of candidates for other positions.
Fellows was brief in his plea to the electorate, promising two things only: to work towards Trinity's disaffiliation from OUSU, and then to resign immediately.
'Vader' was elected after beating off stiff competition from his sole opponent 're-open nominations'. He was then as good as his word, announcing his resignation at Sunday's JCR meeting, after his motion calling for a debate on OUSU affiliation was overwhelmingly passed.
The motion read: "This JCR will have a full debate about the pros and cons of OUSU affiliation at the next JCR general meeting in 7th week, to be followed by a referendum on Trinity's JCR affiliation if and when decided upon at the meeting."
Fellows told Oxford Student that he'd dressed up as Darth Vader because "there's no-one more appropriate for a job as OUSU Rep than the leader of the Dark Side."
Conversely OUSU President Kirsty McNeill put the costume down to "different college cultures," and thought "the variety of representation you can get in Oxford is an asset."
When asked about the forthcoming debate, she said: "our line on affiliation is that students have the absolute right to do what they want with their money." But she still claimed to be "absolutely confident that if they know all the facts - and if we have our say - they'll stay with OUSU." OUSU subscription is good value for money, she asserted.
Darth Vader himself, Jamie Fellows, said, "we pay £1,050 for our OUSU subscription, and get very little for our money." He continued, "I'd like OUSU to explain exactly what it is they do for us."
His predecessor Rebecca McGerty echoed McNeill's view that a good defence for OUSU could be made.
"It would be a shame to lose contact with an organisation that is such good value for money and benefits every single student right from the start," she told Oxford Student.
But Fellows said all he really wanted was "to know one way or the other" what Trinity students thought - an aim which will now be realised in 7th week.
9th Nov 2000