16 Guild members stage mass resignation against ‘certain individuals’

They said the ‘current framework and culture’ made their position untenable


At midnight last night, 16 members of the Oxford Guild Business Society simultaneously handed in their resignation to current Chairman Abbas Kazmi and President George Riley. 

Their resignation letter explains: “For a number of reasons, we have found that the current framework and culture within the Oxford Guild has made our continued presence untenable.”

The Guild is recognised as Oxford’s and the UK’s largest and oldest career society, and has hosted speakers as eminent as Kanye West and grime artist Stormzy, who will be giving a talk next week.

The decision will leave the society without two Vice Presidents and several other key roles.

Members resigning include Nikita Gladilin, Vice President of Sponsorship, Shakeel Hashim, Vice President of Speakers, and Nathan Caldecott, creative lead.

The reasons for the decision are laid out in the members’ resignation letter, addressed to Kazmi and Riley.

 

It reads: “We are against the continued counterproductive involvement of certain individuals that are no longer at the university and yet insist on being omnipotent within the Guild.”

The letter also states that the resigning members will launch a new society in Trinity called the Oxford Student Foundation in light of their walk-out.

The full resignation letter is reproduced below.