A referendum to introduce three new liberation officer positions within Oriel JCR has been delayed due to problems with the college online voting service BallotBin.
In the referendum, the JCR proposes to introduce three new positions to the JCR Committee including a Women’s Officer, BME Officer and Disabilities Officer.
Hustings for the referendum took place on Sunday at a two-hour JCR meeting, although Section 11(b) of the Oriel JCR constitution declares that, “Hustings must be held no more than three full days before polling.”
According to the motion, JCR members will be encouraged only to vote in those elections if they self-identify with the liberation group that each Officer would represent, for each of the Officer positions introduced. The Proposition felt that Officers are there to represent their liberation groups in College and that it would be only fair if each respective liberation group gets to decide who will be their officer.
However, issues have been raised within the JCR as to the wording of the referendum. In particular, the opposition has found that this motion, worded as one referendum rather than several separate referenda for three new roles, to be problematic and limiting in that it disallows for a student to disagree with parts of the referendum.
In addition, the voting rights proposed would not be inclusive for other college members where they are not actively encouraged to vote someone into a position that has a voting right within the JCR committee.
Concern was also raised by the opposition at the ‘fully-elected’ nature of the roles, meaning a poll would be taken online rather than in person at a JCR open meeting, which is referred to as ‘semi-elected’. However, JCR President Kate Welsh defended the nature of the online elections, arguing that they preserved anonymity for self-identifying members of the liberation groups concerned.
James Power, a second-year Computer Science and Philosophy student and designated opposition speaker, told Cherwell, “I am glad that Kate, our JCR President, has brought this referendum. It shows that Oriel is engaging with and beginning to start a positive process to further represent minority groups on our JCR committee. Sometimes I think people are quick to judge you and call you out for opposing a motion like this. But really, I, along with Kate, want to make Oriel a more inclusive place and it’s great that we can have a frank, honest and open discussion about the best way in which to do this.”
Semi-elected LGBTQ Rep of Oriel, Elliot Parrott, told Cherwell, “I was happy to notice the explicit inclusion of mental health problems and learning difficulties under the remit of the Disabilities Officer, as these problems are often not acknowledged or treated as ‘real disabilities’.”
Parrott added, “I was disappointed but unsurprised to hear the majority of complaints coming from people for whom these roles would likely be irrelevant – though of course it is impossible to tell how someone identifies with regards to race, gender or disability just by looking at them.”
The proposition noted that it is impossible to sufficiently represent every minority group, gender or disability on the JCR Committee. However, having one Equal Opportunities Rep was inadequate when attempting to create an inclusive and representative committee that represents the student body.
As a result, the replacement of this position with multiple officer positions will aim to enable the College to recognise the diversity within the liberation groups that they represent in a way that the proposition claims one Equal Opportunities Rep fails to do.
Parrott commented, “Oriel – the last Oxford college to admit women as undergraduates, the home of the infamous statue of Cecil Rhodes, and a college with virtually no accessible accommodation and very few accessible teaching rooms – has been behind the times for too long now, and I hope that the addition of a Women’s Officer, BME Officer, and Disabilities Officer (as well as the semi-elected role of LGBTQ Rep being upgraded to a fully elected LGBTQ Officer) will help the college become a more welcoming place for all of its students.”
The referendum has since been confirmed as taking place on Friday.
