OUSU 'fury' at JCR rebellion
The Student Union is at war this week as more than a dozen JCR Presidents rebel against OUSU Council. This leaves OUSU with an uncertain future as the leadership, still reeling from last week’s shock disaffiliations of Trinity and Magdalen JCRs, fights to regain control of the beleaguered organisation.
The crisis was sparked on Friday by a seemingly innocuous debate over the timing of a poll on the future of the office of Vice President for Women, in which OUSU Council voted for a University-wide referendum in Michaelmas of next year. Amidst accusations of hijacking by Oxford University Labour Club, in the space of just 48 hours, a gang of 13 rebel JCR Presidents won the backing of their colleges in calling for the overturning of the motion.
OUSU insiders have slammed the action as “total gimpery” and “purely for political gain”. Under the constitution, the mandates of ten JCRs can bring about a referendum, meaning the crucial vote on the future of the sabbatical position will now take place in sixth week of this term. Of the 15 JCRs that debated the timing of the referendum, only St Hugh’s and Hertford declined to back the revised motion.
The unprecedented mutiny, which directly challenges the authority of OUSU Council to make policy, was sparked by what the rebel Presidents claim was an attempt by Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) to pack Council with loyalists who would support the club’s policy of a delayed referendum. Peter Surr, President of Univ JCR, slammed Friday’s meeting as “Labour Club’s plaything and an appalling display of democracy gone wrong.
He accused council members of failing to represent the views of their JCR. Despite overwhelming support for a referendum, the amendment to hold it in Michaelmas was narrowly passed by 54 votes to 47. The gang of 13 allege that it was driven through by the block voting of twelve OULC members, seven of whom were elected unopposed as council delegates on a Labour Club slate.
OUSU President-Elect Martin McCluskey, who was elected earlier this year as a Labour Club candidate, rejected the accusation of an OULC hijack. Despite Labour Club voting to support a delayed referendum two days before the OUSU Council meeting and acknowledging that an “unusually high” number of Labour Club members turned up to vote, McCluskey maintains that only seven of the twelve OULC delegates voted according to the club line. “Labour Club policy isn’t a mandate.
It doesn’t tell our members how to vote at Council,” he said. In an open letter to JCR Presidents on Tuesday night, McCluskey blasted the rebellion for “destabilising the work of the Student Union.” Signed by six of McCluskey’s incoming sabbatical team, the letter urges the rebels to abandon their campaign in order to “join the consultative process and build for a strong referendum in Michaelmas.
Prominent OUSU members are understood to be “furious” at the insurrection, which they claim was plotted from within PresCom, the informal committee of JCR Presidents. An OUSU insider told The Oxford Student: “PresCom is essentially a piss-up. There’s very little exchange of policy and advice. It’s about meeting up to drink and go out to Filth.
The insider also accused Univ JCR President Peter Surr and New College JCR President Lewis Iwu of leading the rebellion and “latching onto a legitimate and innocent debate purely for political gain.” “What’s annoying is that whether we hold a referendum on VP Women now or later is a pretty minor issue. It’s just total gimpery. “They’re happy to destroy everything and leave everyone else to pick up the pieces.” Iwu has flatly denied the charge. “I am not a ringleader.
It is insulting to JCRs to suggest they just follow me and Pete. We all independently decided that this is what needed to be done.” Garth Smith, President of Christ Church JCR, which joined the mutiny, backs Iwu. “There was categorically no pressure brought upon anyone by ‘ring leaders’.
“Our entire aim was that the issue could be properly debated and voted upon by the majority of students in common rooms, rather than the members of political interest groups who packed out Council last Friday.” “It’s time that minority interest groups and political parties realised they weren’t in charge of OUSU.” As the vitriol flew, last night OUSU President Alan Strickland sought to restore order, denying that the rebellion had plunged the Student Union into crisis.
“There is no split between OUSU and the JCR Presidents - two OUSU officers put a motion to Council to ask for a referendum this term and 13 common rooms have passed motions to ensure exactly that happens.” “JCR Presidents who are prepared to stick their neck on the line to ensure students have a say in a referendum deserve to be respected, regardless of whether students agree with their policy position.
Dave Green, Labour Club stalwart and incoming OUSU Business manager, said it was “saddening” that the referendum on the VP for Women had become the subject of a power struggle between Council and the rebels. But he denied OULC were seeking to control Council and defended his presence at the vote. “OUSU has a participation problem. Labour Club members are often the only ones getting involved. It seems strange that those who participate in the process are vilified for doing so," he said.
OUSU’s new splits come in the wake of Magdalen and Trinity’s shock disaffiliations from OUSU, taking the total number of independent Junior and Middle Common Rooms to eight. The defiant JCRs claimed OUSU are “extremely bad at listening."
This week, Oriel JCR, which disaffiliated five years ago in protest at OUSU’s decision to picket an Oxford Union debate featuring infamous Holocaust denier David Irving, proposed the creation of an “organic replacement for OUSU”, with Treasurer Cameron Penny claiming it would be “an informal confederation of JCR and MCR Presidents.” McCluskey called Penny’s proposals “completely ridiculous.” “They’d take OUSU back to 1969, and it just wouldn’t work.
3rd May 2007