OUSU referendum falls at final hurdle
The OUSU ‘Students as Students’ referendum will no longer take place after senior members of the university ruled the petition that prompted it was void. The motion, which proposed that OUSU should stop all activities that do not directly relate to students, was to have appeared on ballot papers in Thursday’s statutory elections. Its inclusion followed a petition of over 500 signatures, presented to the Student Union at 1.20pm on Thursday 3rd November, over an hour after the official deadline.
Returning Officer Darryl Leeworthy ruled the petition was void, but after an appeal this decision was overturned by the Junior Tribunal. However, a meeting of the Senior Tribunal on 14th November overruled the Junior Tribunal’s decision after deciding the late presentation of the petition was in contravention of Standing Order C.7.4 in the OUSU constitution.
Part-time OUSU Executive Officer Charlie Steel said he was “disappointed” by the ruling, which he saw as directly opposing the Proctors’ and Assessor’s Memorandum which dictates OUSU should be “fair and democratic.” “It is bewildering that no right of representation was given to Junior Tribunal or the original appellant Alex Young during the entire Senior Tribunal proceedings.
However, VP (Grads) Ollie Russell said, “the OUSU constitution clearly states Junior Tribunal members are not competent to deal with the internal workings of the Senior Tribunal. “We asked the Senior Tribunal if they wanted the leader of the Junior Tribunal to come in and explain, and they said they felt that everything they needed was in the written submission.” Steel says he will not be appealing against the decision.
“Had the Referendum gone ahead, it would have been far from the wording as laid down on the petition signed by 511 students,” he said. “In its latest form it would not have beneficially helped to reform OUSU in the long term; in fact, quite the opposite.” His views were echoed by the five other students behind the proposals, who said: “The Senior Tribunal’s ruling means that students will be saved from what had turned into a travesty of the original question.
“We are disappointed that OUSU have done all they can to block this referendum and then gone out of their way to ensure that even if there were a YES vote there would be virtually no change from the status quo. “Nevertheless, we are confident that students wish to have a say on whether OUSU should continue to pass policy… without the approval of most common rooms.
Steel remained confident, and said, “although I have been hindered at every possible corner in tabling this Referendum, I will not give up. For this term at least, the battle seems lost, but the war will be won.”
17th Nov 2005