Stefan Baskerville, the new President of the Oxford University Student Union, revealed that he will fully disclose the finances of the organisation and its commercial arm as “there is nothing to hide”.
This contrasts with the policy of ex-President Lewis Iwu, who kept the affairs of Oxford Student Services Limited, OUSU’s trading subsidiary, under wraps.
He said, “The position last year was that a fair amount of information was confidential and shouldn’t be released. I reviewed that at the start of the summer and I came to the conclusion that we are a membership organisation, we are a democratic organisation and it’s quite right that our members should be able to see quite a lot of detail about the commercial subsidiary.”
He added that OUSU would be developing a new reporting structure, which will include regular updates on the activities of OSSL, delivered to both OUSU Council and the University.
Baskerville also criticised OUSU’s current financial model. He pointed out that OUSU is “structurally underfunded” and agreed that finances were currently “unstable”.
He said, “We rely on affiliation fees to pay for activities, when in fact I think that colleges and the University between them should be paying for those activities, because they serve the interest of both colleges and the University and I think actually the burden on common rooms is too high.”
The President also explained his decision to take part in the Clarendon sit-in last January in the protest against Israel’s attack on Gaza. “The action that we took in January and that I took part in was a personal action on my part. I was asked numerous times by the student press to comment but I deliberately didn’t, because I was aware that OUSU didn’t have a position on it by that time and I didn’t want to give the impression that I was acting on behalf of OUSU or on behalf of other students. I did because I felt I saw an injustice and I thought we should draw attention to that injustice,” he revealed.
He added, “At that time I wasn’t OUSU president, I now am, I now do represent the students, I am very aware that many students will disagree with my opinion of the war in Gaza and I am aware that many students will disagree with the action that I took as a student of the university in January. I wouldn’t do it today probably, because my role is very different now.”
However, Baskerville did re-affirm his passion for representing the student body. He admitted that his decision to run in the elections last year was founded on “a self-confident, passionate desire to represent the student body”. While he emphasised the importance of building strong relationships with common room officers, he insisted that he was “not a hack” and that he did not make “false friends”. He did however admit that he possesses impressive “handshaking skills”.
Baskerville also talked about pertinent issues within the student body such as the gender gap, disaffiliation within colleges and basic teacher training.
When questioned about gender equality, Baskerville admitted that he “scanned” through OUSU’s report on women, yet denied that he is a feminist. He said, “No, I don’t think I know enough about feminism yet.”
On the subject of disaffiliated colleges, Baskerville emphasised the impact that breaking away from OUSU had on both individuals and common rooms, pointing out that this damaged “student interests” in a “significant way” by leaving the organisation with less money to spend on resources such as the student advice service. He urged disaffiliated colleges to “lobby their colleges to come in to affiliation [because] what we offer is valuable”.
Baskerville agreed that the unique structure of the college system contributed to the lack of enthusiasm for OUSU, but argued, “OUSU is relevant to students when it takes action on the issues that matter to students.” He granted that there had been flaws in OUSU’s communication strategy in previous years, but argued that this was by no means the only area where changes would be made, because “there’s always room for improvement.”
Baskerville was keen to discuss his manifesto promises, which included a push for basic teacher training for tutors. This move is seen as controversial by some, since many academics have enjoyed careers spanning several decades without possessing any formal teaching qualifications. He explained that while at the moment almost all new tutors undergo training at the Oxford learning institute, he would be working to “try and increase the number of current tutors” involved with the centre.
Baskerville hopes in his year as President to oversee the successful incorporation of OUSU as a new charity, which would establish “a formal relationship with the University” and lead to a “more stable funding model that allows it to develop the prospects for student representation, campaigning and services in Oxford.”
He added, “If I achieve those, I’ll be a happy man.”
