CUSU to hold referendum on Class Lists (sort of)

Is anyone else getting tired of these things? 

We’ve had AV back in 2011; we’ve had Scottish independence in 2014; we’ve had the EU Referendum last June (which, for reasons of preserving harmony and concord within this article, will not be discussed), and the SNP seem hell bent on dragging Scotland into another Referendum on Independence. And that’s just outside Cambridge.

This year, we’ve had internal referendums on disaffiliating from the NUS and creating a Disabled Students Officer for CUSU.

This could be a thing of the past.

In the face of this deluge of direct democracy, it might be fair to say that some of you are craving your regular fix of simplified questions, simplified arguments, and confusion as to how to actually implement the result (if you can agree on what the result actually is).

If you fall into this category, worry not- CUSU have decided to launch a Referendum on class lists.

However, to make sure that it really feeds the complexity fetish CUSU crave, they’ve given us a rather odd choice to make. The question will be “should CUSU campaign to keep the Class Lists, with an easier opt-out process?”, and CUSU members will be asked to choose between Yes and No.

This could be you… except you are voting online.

However, instead of a referendum on keeping Class Lists, it’s really a Referendum to choose CUSU’s position on keeping Class Lists – the University is not bound to accept the result.

Churchill described the battle of El Alamein in guarded terms, saying that “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” For class lists, this is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It might not even be the end of the beginning.

Safe to say, none of the campaigning from this Referendum will end up in these (not least because Orwell’s dead).

Instead (deep breath), it is the beginning of the end of deciding what to tell CUSU to tell the Proctors to do about reforming something which CUSU have already expressed a clear view on. We think.

Got that? Me neither. Nonetheless, the referendum runs from November 1st to November 3rd, so there’s plenty of time to read up on the issues at stake. At the moment, the “Yes” campaign is “Save The Class List,” (although they should probably add “under reduced circumstances”) and a bidding process is underway to find the “No” campaign.

Let the fun and games begin.