I rise today, nearly six months after my expected final speech to this body, to offer a few thoughts on this topic that has been so close to my heart for so long. The issue is too important to stay away.
As some of you will be aware, 2 years ago we attempted to allow all students the chance to decide on Oxford’s relationship with the National Union of Students. That opportunity was robbed from them. For reasons that are now a matter of public record within OUSU, I sought to overturn the result, following the discovery of evidence proving the vote had been rigged. Thankfully, the result was declared void – that is to say, in Governance, it is as if the referendum never happened. To this day, the students of this University have yet to be granted a free and fair poll through which they can express their opinion.
There are some who have argued that the NUS is no different from OUSU – and that if we accept the decisions of this Council, comprised of representatives, then so too must we respect the validity of NUS Conference. However this fails to recognise the important differences between the systems, such as the ability of any student to come and speak at this body, as opposed to the remote and inaccessible NUS Conference. But more importantly, should there be a build-up of poor decisions at our Council, once a year we hand directly to every student the power to reinvigorate our democracy with fresh ideas through our Sabbatical Officer elections. This is not so for the NUS. There is no direct democratic contact with the students they claim to represent. Their pool of political thought has become foetid, stagnant, and distant from the fast flowing stream of ideas we see every day in the students of this University. It is therefore down to us to offer our fellow undergraduates and graduates an unmediated channel through which they can test the waters, and consent to their continued association with the NUS. The time has come for there to be a referendum.
Those who stand in the way of devolving this important and topical decision into the hands of every member of this Student Union need to answer why they do not trust the very people they speak for here tonight.
Upholding the democratic values of student Government has been my primary aim across the 86 meetings I have attended of this Council. And over those 8 years I often heard people talk of the principle of “empowering students”. Well now is the time, more than ever, to live by that creed and allow everyone a choice in setting our collective destiny. Anything less would be a betrayal of the trust placed in every one of us.