Not a single SU Sabbatical Officer appeared at their well publicised event outside the Radcliffe Camera today. The event was due to be held between 13:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 28th October, but between these hours no Sabbatical Officers appeared to answer students’ questions.
At 14:22, the official SU Instagram account announced that a SU Vice President was on their way, but The Oxford Student can confirm that by 15:00 no Sabbatical Officers had turned up. There were students in attendance hoping to ask questions who were thus unable to do so.
The event was publicised on numerous accounts, including the official SU Instagram account, the SU President’s Instagram story, and the OxUniStudents account, all of which stated that the event would be happening from 13:00-15:00. The SU President announced an updated start time of 14:00 at around 13:30 today, after the event was supposed to have started.
At the previous “Ask us anything” event, when The Oxford Student asked the SU President Danial Hussain about changes to Student Council, he repeatedly declined to comment, instead simply staring silently at The Oxford Student’s reporters. This came despite earlier assertions that he was keen to be open and transparent with the student press.
A rule change passed by the Trustee Board makes it more difficult for no confidence motions to be passed against Sabbatical Officers. A motion has to be brought to two consecutive meetings before a referendum can be held, meaning that any no confidence motions submitted now could take until February 2024 to resolve.
The SU told The Oxford Student, “We apologies to any student who came along to the Radcliffe Camera whilst a Sabbatical Officer was not present on Saturday. This initiative is still new for the SU and we are welcoming all of the feedback that students have for us. We are looking forward to developing this event as term continues to allow students an opportunity to engage with the SU.”
