OUSU may cancel the referendum on the controversial No Platform policy, after OUSU Council postponed a vote on the issue last Friday.
This latest twist in the wrangling over No Platform comes after an amendment to the policy was drawn up and proposed at last week’s council by James Lamming, VP for Access and Academic Affairs. However, a vote on this amendment – which will no longer be called ‘No Platform’ – was postponed after it was suggested that most students did not know enough about the details of the policy to make a well-informed decision. At the next OUSU Council meeting, there will be a vote to decide whether to go ahead with the referendum, or to adopt the amended policy instead.
A number of JCRs passed a motion calling for a referendum last term. The No Platform policy has courted controversy in the past. It led OUSU to condemn the Union’s invitations to David Irving and Nick Griffin last term, and to force two Oxide radio presenters to take back their invitation to interview Nick Griffin on their show in Hilary 2007.
Joel Mullan, St Peter’s JCR President, said that OUSU needed to move on. “I personally support the No Platform policy – I do not believe that our student union's resources should be used to assist those who want to incite violence. However, OUSU has got to resolve this issue once and for all, so that it can stop wasting time debating No Platform and get on with the essential work it needs to be doing on things like rent, academic affairs, and welfare,” he said. by Jack Farchy Read this week's Cherwell for more in-depth coverage on this story.
