RIFT IN OXFORD’S CONSERVATIVES

Modernisation attempts lead to divisions within controversial OUCA

| UPDATED

OUCA looks to have finally achieved self-awareness, as officers wake up to the fact that membership of colonial dining societies isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

OUCA’s President-elect and Treasurer-elect have made firm moves to rehabilitate the beleaguered society’s image, warning them to stay away from secret dining societies.

Current President Rob Greig and Secretary James Heywood were left humiliated after a weekly business meeting descended into criticism of their actions over the long vacation.

President-elect Jack Matthews and Treasurer-elect Chris Frost joined the charge after a summer filled with stories about OUCA’s secret British Empire themed dining society, of which Greig and Heywood are prominent members.

ouca infographic non libellous

Matthews and Frost appear to be part of a new generation of OUCA reformers, with a higher degree of awareness about OUCA’s image than that shown by other current senior members.

Both refused to wear white-tie to OUCA’s Trinity Termly Dinner, the traditional garb for senior officers attending the event.

OUCA has had its share of self-inflicted PR blows, with the existence of the Viceroys and its colony-named members only being the latest in a long line of embarrassing revelations about the infamous society, the most well known being the singing of Nazi-themed Christmas songs at a party in 2011.

Who knows, perhaps the society is about to turn over a new leaf?