Petition forces university-wide referendum
A petition of 500 signatures to the Student Union has forced a referendum on whether it should stop all activities that do not directly relate to students. Last week, seven JCRs debated a motion stating: “OUSU should have no policy on issues which do not directly affect Oxford students in their capacity as students unless approved by a majority of common rooms affiliated to OUSU.
The motion failed to gain support from the five JCRs needed to prompt a referendum, however 500 students signed a petition supporting the motion, which under OUSU guidelines means that the referendum must go ahead. It was originally presented to the Student Union at 1:20pm last Thursday, over an hour past the deadline, so Returning Officer Darryl Leeworthy ruled that the petition was void. Nevertheless, an appeal to a Junior Tribunal was successful and the RO’s decision was overturned.
As a result, the ballot papers for the statutory elections in 6th week will include the same ‘students as students’ question debated by JCRs last week. Student Union President Emma Norris said: “500 signatures is just as valid as JCR motions for bringing about a referendum, the OUSU rules are quite clear on that. “What can be defined as ‘students as students’ is always going to be subject to interpretation. Presumably we would have to decide on each motion to OUSU Council separately.
This would take considerably longer than just bringing a motion to OUSU,” she added. Alex Young, a strong advocate of the referendum at Oriel, said the intention was “to stop a clique at OUSU imposing their views on the student body. “The people at OUSU towers want to detract from student issues and campaign on their own ideas. “Council is a waste of time… the referendum will add a tier of accountability to OUSU.
With a majority of JCRs having to support a motion, issues that do not relate directly to students will have to be popular with a majority to receive union support. This is democracy.” Young said Norris was trying to “kill this motion”, and that she followed him as he petitioned JCRs. He also contended that at the Junior tribunal, Norris breached her rights by talking to the tribunal.
“The question we need to ask,” he said, “is why our President has already taken a view on this issue, and has done everything within her power and also without her power to stop the motion.” Norris said: “I was invited to speak at several JCR meetings discussing the motion by JCR Presidents, and I did so. That’s not trying to ‘kill’ anything - but making sure both sides of the debate have been heard.”.
10th Nov 2005