Editorial: A broken union

OUSU is in disarray but there is a way out. Use it.


Last Thursday when we broke the story of Jane4Change’s theft of a website design, we at least expected some sort of strict response from the returning officer.  Of course we got it.  Jane Cahill, the Presidential candidate, was fined around £20.

She wasn’t more heavily penalised because she forgot to send in the document declaring that she hadn’t stolen her website from anyone.

She forgot.  But that’s fine, she probably forgot to put forgetfulness in her manifesto.  Instead she has a petting zoo.

The Cherwell described her as Jane4Chang…

Maybe it’s lazy to tar all the candidates with the same brush; it’s not like Alex Bartram was told to delete the part of his website where he erroneously claimed ‘I’m not a student politician,’ nor that Nathan Akehurst’s site went live with the tagline ‘Nathan Akehurst really sucks.’

It’s clear something is wrong.  Remember David J. Townsend from Trinity term last year?  He was slammed by the scrutiny committee (in a little publicised report) for being ‘aggressive and rude.

Images of this term’s President, Tom Rutland, celebrating his victory like the fucking world cup when turnout was under 16% show how polluted this whole shebang is.

So happy with 16% turnout

What’s written above is rubbish though.  OUSU has worked for you this term.  Look how well it did in sending a clear message to the vice-chancellor regarding #NoTo16k.

But that’s not what I want my union doing and nor should you.  If you look at the actual words of the vice-chancellor, he actually didn’t suggest that fees should rise to 16k, he merely referenced how much educating an undergraduate costs each term.

#NoTo16k is something Tom Rutland will use in future job interviews, but that wasn’t something that affected current Oxford students, the people he purports to work for.  It just suited his personal agenda.

Whilst their President complains about 16k fees that don’t exist, OUSU employ a communications officer for £40,000.

OUSU only has 1 communications officer (currently)

But what can we do about it?

This is not simple.  Here at The Tab we reject Bartram, Akehurst and Cahill because we just can’t believe that they exist outside of the OUSU bubble.

Akehurst comes closest, but in reality his election would lead to some terrific protests, with little actually done for the 19,000 students who don’t agree with his personal philosophy.

Anyway, his slate is so small he can’t really win – don’t waste your vote.

Which brings us to LJ Trup.  At face value he appears to be an idiot: he wrote his manifesto in crayon, wants to eliminate 5th week and has grand plans for an Oxford-wide monorail.

But you’d be wrong if you thought he didn’t care, as this perhaps overly serious letter suggests.

Here at Tab Towers we were sceptical though.  He backs OUSU’s work on fees, uses the word ‘simples’ and suddenly isn’t the funny man from his manifesto – he did away with his crayons and used the computer.

But we are great fans of JCRs and MCRs.  They are the bodies that best represent the interests of Oxford students, they are the most accessible.

What’s more they don’t need OUSU to unite them, the JCR Presidents meet regularly.  JCR committees are, on the whole, welcoming.  You see them around college, can interact with them informally and easily attend open meetings.

And you know what, so is LJ Trup.  He recognises the good work they do and understands then how that affects the role of our Student Union.

Are we actually backing this bloke? Sort of

It means our Union has to be about something else.

It needs to be a Union that helps us, the students.  We agree it needs to hire more councillors, it needs to be stronger on sexism in Oxford, supporting students against the University.  It also needs to be a Union about bringing people together, hosting events, fun.

It doesn’t need to be a Union about the candidate’s personal ideology or petty electioneering.

He’s spot on when he says ‘OUSU needs to be aware of the needs of the thesp, the journo, the Iffley gym keeno, the part-time scholar, the full time Park Ender.’

Let’s vote for Trup not because he’s the perfect candidate, but because he’s different.

He’s out of the bubble, he’s like us.  He doesn’t crave a job in Westminster. He wears funny clothes.  He’s approachable.

A vote for Trup is a gamble, sure, but we’ve tried everything else.

To vote you need to follow this link and be armed with your unique voter code.  This was sent to your Nexus on the 16th of November.