Ciaron Tobin has resigned as Magdalen JCR President in an email sent to the entire JCR. After coming under fire earlier today following the joint resignation of his Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, he issued the following statement:
“I came into the job thinking I could balance all on my plate. My Degree, My Sleep, and the JCR. I have not been able to. I thought I could still aim for a first and not fall into a terrible schedule of food and sleep, but I have. I am behind on Essays, and now JCR emails and duties. I have not been able to work effectively with the Exec and have been rash and broken down in communication, since the weekend on my end without resolving it.”
“The conclusion has been best to resign this week and to prepare a successor and to turn the term around. So, I resign from my position as President so that someone who can give the JCR total commitment can do so.”
“Thank you for understanding during this time and I would encourage anyone with the time capacity to run.”
The email followed the resignation of Vice President Madeleine Blackburn, Treasurer James Melia, and Secretary Aaron McIntyre this morning. Cherwell reported that, in an email to the JCR committee, they cited “alleged misconduct” and “ongoing welfare issues”. In the email to the entire Magdalen JCR, they said they had “collectively resigned due to the emergence of untenable working conditions within the JCR Committee Executive.”
Before discovering that Tobin had resigned, one student at Magdalen commented “The JCR President’s conduct has been absolutely horrendous”. Another said “I’d like to see an impeachment motion tabled”, while a final student commented “I literally cannot get over what has happened. It’s not acceptable behaviour.”
Tobin took over as JCR President at Magdalen in December, having held a number of other roles on the committee previously, including JCR Secretary. He had been writing a column for Cherwell this term about JCR. In it, he promised “I will write about every aspect of JCR life, including the moments when things go wrong.” However, Cherwell told The Oxford Student that they were no longer running his column.
Image description: Magdalen College, Oxford
Image credit: By Ed Webster – Magdalen College, Oxford, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73203877
