The Librarian-Elect of the Oxford Union has narrowly avoided automatically resigning her position.
Mehrunissa Sajjad, an English and History finalist, has not attended a Library Committee meeting since the beginning of Trinity Term and has apparently failed to give “good reason” for her absence. This means that she has not attended three successive Library meetings, which under the Union rules leads to a presumed resignation.
Speaking during the Standing Committee meeting, Returning Officer Joshua Atkinson pointed out that “under Rule 23) c) ii) 2), Mehrunissa had automatically resigned from her role as Librarian-Elect, as no member of the Committee is allowed to have three absences from meetings without extraordinary circumstances being put forward as excuses”.
Rule 23(c)(ii)(2) states that “Any member of any Committee… having missed three ordinary meetings of that Committee without good reason in the same term shall be deemed to have submitted his resignation from that Committee”. As a result, Sajjad appears to have automatically resigned her position as Librarian-Elect, losing her position on Standing Committee as well.
The Returning Officer also pointed out that, “This follows a week after I mentioned in both Consultative Committee and Standing Committee that certain members if the committees should have disciplinary action brought against them for dereliction of duty”.
Despite this, the Librarian-Elect has yet to officially resign due to a Special Adjournment Motion posted on the Union notice board shortly after the end of the Standing Committee meeting. The Motion suspends the Library Committee’s decision to recognise Sajjad’s resignation, asking for the matter to be debated in front of the House on at the weekly Thursday debate.
The motion, signed by many high-profile Union members, says “We would like to move a Special Adjournment Motion to remove the decision of the Library Committee to pass the absence of Librarian-Elect the week prior as not extraordinary”.
The motion was proposed by President-Elect, Mayank Banerjee who commented “I was deeply upset to hear of Mehrunissa’s absences not being passed as extraordinary in previous meetings of Library committee. She has had finals this term and the Union rules clearly make allowances for those with public examinations to miss certain meetings. From my understanding, she had already informed the Librarian that she would not be able to attend but due to the unexpected changes in the position of Librarian these absences were never ratified by the relevant committee.
“I would hate for Mehrunissa to be forced to abandon her position in the Union for simply missing three meeting during her finals term and as such, I hope the SAM on Thursday passes and the automatic resignation is fully reversed. I look forward to working with her in Michaelmas, when I am sure she will do the job of Librarian to the best of her abilities, particularly when she no longer has a degree to balance with her Union commitments.”
Speaking to Cherwell, President Ben Sullivan, said, “I can confirm that today in Standing Committee the Returning Officer pointed out that Mehrunissa had missed three meetings of Library Committee and not had her absences from these meetings passed as extraordinary. I understand that Mehrunissa did provide a reason for missing these meetings but because these absences were not voted on by the Committee the Rules consider them to be de facto not extraordinary. Three such absences constitute automatic resignation. However, because a Special Adjournment Motion was delivered soon after the meeting of Library Committee today, their decision to not explicitly ratify her absences is delayed until the Motion is discussed by the House. The SAM will be debated this Thursday.”
Librarian-Elect Mehrunissa Sajjad, who may still be made to resign her position, told Cherwell, “In the past few weeks I have been unable to attend Library Committee as much as I would like due to a number of mock exams and illness. Unfortunately, although I did send my apologies in advance the Committee did not make any formal decision on the status of these absences. According to a technicality in the Rules, these absences must be considered extraordinary. Today a Special Adjournment Motion was delivered to the President to challenge Library Committee’s decision not to pass my recent absence as extraordinary, and I look forward to explaining the situation to the House this Thursday.”
When later asked on the issue of the Special Adjournment Motion, the Returning Officer briefly stated, “Union members could SAM the Committee’s decision” but that, as he had stated already in standing, “I presented this resignation as I thought it was right by the Rules and thus I will defend that position”
The House will debate the motion this Thursday.
