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OUCA introduces Bullingdon ban

Members of the men's only drinking society will no longer be able to hold any offices within the association

The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) has added the Bullingdon Club to a list of “proscribed organisations” at a meeting held at Somerville College this evening.

This means that members of the club will no longer be able to hold any offices within the association.

OUCA’s President, Ben Etty, told Cherwell: “The banning of members of the Bullingdon club from holding office in the association – a club banned by the university and who’s values and activities have no place in the modern Conservative Party – will I hope show that we are moving towards a more open, welcoming, and tolerant environment for all.”

The meeting also saw OUCA adopt a new gender-neutral version of its constitution, in a move which its president said brought it “in line with almost every other university society”, and which he said he hoped “will symbolise our desire to become a more inclusive association”.

The Bullingdon Club is a men’s only dining society founded in 1780. It has become a symbol for Oxford’s excesses and elitism, with the 2014 film The Riot Club taking inspiration from it.

In June 2017, the club was barred from taking its traditional picture on the steps of Christ Church, much to the amusement of onlookers.

A previous attempt to ban Bullingdon members from OUCA came in Hilary term of this year, in the wake of negative coverage of the drunken behaviour of the Association’s members. However, the amendment was voted down by members.

At the time, then president and supporter of the amendment, Timothy Doyle, told Cherwell he believed some members “feared [a ban] would lead to maliciously-targeted prescriptions of student societies to prevent individual members’ holding office”.

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