A Hertford JCR motion to mandate the JCR President Hugh Baker to get a stag, the animal featured on the college crest, tattooed on his body was proposed and defeated at a Hertford JCR meeting.
The motion was proposed and discussed at Hertford JCR meeting last week by Omer Sheikh Mohamed and Tom Adams. It cited claims made in Hugh’s election manifesto about the possibility of being emblazoned with a stag tattoo. Had it passed, the motion would have had the JCR note “that a tattoo is a form of self-expression and that Hugh acts as the living embodiment of the JCR”.
It observed that “the current political climate is one built on broken promises and that the JCR should act as an example to parliament on how to hold its elected officials accountable.”
The JCR would have voted on a selection of tattoos, and seen a recording of the process but the body part to be tattooed was left up to Hugh’s discretion.
After various amendments that included mandating the proposer to get a Henna tattoo every week for the duration of his degree, the motion was eventually vetoed on welfare grounds.
Hugh was relieved with the outcome. He told Cherwell, “I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed that the motion didn’t pass, although had it not been vetoed I would of course, without a doubt, have upheld the utterly complete binding mandate that would have been placed upon me in order to maintain the honour of the JCR.”
Tom Harrison, from Hertford, said that if the motion were to apply to every new president, it would be a good way of identifying “those who aren’t truly committed to the Hertford cause.”
Imogen Beecroft, an English finalist at Hertford expressed her dismay at the result. She stated, “Oh deer. What a doe-lful ending to a staggering motion. I can’t believe Hertford chose to pass the buck on this one, it makes us look quite be-hind as a JCR really. It would have been a great way of rein-ing in the President, who really is a deer.”
