Lincoln and Magdalen Colleges’ ball themes have received criticism this week.

Lincoln’s New Orleans-themed Ball has been labelled “problematic” due to alleged cultural appropriation, while Magdalen’s has been criticised on the Facebook event page for stating, “We invite you to come back in time with us at Magdalen.” This provoked a reply from one Magdalen student Arushi Garg, who wrote, “a college devoid of women and people of colour… what a place to be! Can’t wait to go back in time!!!”

Both ball committees are actively discussing the alleged problems and seeking to resolve them.

Garg told Cherwell, “1926 at Magdalen was a time when people of colour and women were entirely absent from college spaces. I felt uncomfortable with the advertising (‘Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!’).

“Obviously my demographic (woman of colour from a former colony that remains a developing country) makes me less likely than others to uncritically long for a past that privileged some more than others. But it would be nice if they cut down on the nostalgia a bit, because if we were re-living the past, the corridors of institutional spaces like Magdalen/Oxford is definitely not where you would find people of my gender, race and nationality.”

She went on to emphasise, “I wrote to the Magdalen organisers and they engaged quite respectfully with me, and are communicating with me to understand why I think this is problematic.”

Magdalen Commemoration Ball’s committee offered a statement, reading, “We have taken Arushi’s comments on board, and have spent time discussing as a committee, and with college authorities, what we think an appropriate stance would be. We simply wanted the ball to be boldly designed, and thought that 1920s art and design would enable us to do that.

“We will not be expecting people to dress in 1920s attire; we are simply using it in order to create an enjoyable evening for our guests, which they will feel is more of an ‘experience’ rather than simply a large event.

“We are of the opinion that to undertake changes now would be to undermine the considerable amount of work our design, catering and entertainment teams have already put in to what promises to be a very enjoyable evening. We have been planning the ball since February, and have taken a lot of care in planning theme-appropriate entertainment and food to date, and as such this would be a large undertaking.”

Critics of Lincoln’s Ball, including CRAE co-chairs, have claimed the New Orleans theme is showing “nostalgia for an era of history steeped in racism”.

Lincoln Ball’s committee was unable to give an official statement, but stressed they have not used any material based on ‘Dia de los Muertos,’ a Mexican holiday, or any aspect of Mexican culture, adding that this has been misinterpreted by their critic when looking at the poster.

The Lincoln committee further stated they had based their decision to use the theme on an article written by two scholars with “significant reputations on race relations” and claimed they “consider them authoritative on the topic of their city”.

Two Oxford Year Abroad students living in Paris have spoken to Cherwell about their experiences following the series of terrorist attacks in the city last Friday night which killed 129 people.

The Modern Languages department emailed all third-year linguists over the weekend asking them to confirm their safety amid reports that a recent LSE graduate was among those killed. No Oxford linguists are believed to have been directly injured.

Kenny Dada, a third-year linguist from Pembroke, who lives in Paris, told Cherwell, “I was at home in the UK when it happened. Gare du Nord, the station that I took the Eurostar from is one train stop from Stade de France, where some of the bombings happened. If my Eurostar had been later in the evening, I would have been right in the middle of everything. The other interns that I live with and I go into Paris for dinner/drinks all the time. What if we had decided to have a ‘big night out’ on Friday 13th? In fact, two of my friends did go into Paris on Friday and as a result of the events, they couldn’t return back to our residence and had to spend the night at the house of kind strangers.

“A few weeks ago, I was at a James Bay concert in Paris. What if the terrorists had decided to hit the Olympia Music Hall on 2nd November, and not the Bataclan on 13th November?

“To say that I was scared when all the horrifi c things occurred would be a massive understatement. An MBA student at the business school that I work in was one of the Bataclan victims. One of my colleagues lives a street away from one of the shootings and she was at Le Petit Cambodge for dinner the night before.

“When François Hollande announced on Friday that the French borders were closed, I was so set on delaying my return to France. Eurostar offered full refunds to those that wanted to cancel their trips to Paris, and my parents really didn’t want me to go back. However, over the weekend, I realised that cancelling my return would be letting the terrorists win. So, I decided that I would keep to my original plans and go back to France on Monday 16th. It was a hard decision that was made even worse by the fact that my seven-yearold brother cried his little eyes out worrying for me, as he didn’t want me to go back.

“I did the one minute silence on Monday at St Pancras, and the station, which is usually buzzing was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. The Eurostar departure lounge was deserted, armed police and security were everywhere and my passport and ticket were checked multiple times. I was shaking as I came through Gare du Nord, where there was even more of a police presence and everyone on the train was visibly on edge. The atmosphere in France is tense at the moment and security has been heightened everywhere, but despite all this, the French are still defi ant and definitely not broken.”

Huw Oliver, a third-year French and Linguistics student living in Paris, told Cherwell, “I was at home [in Paris] watching TV when I heard. A shooting in Paris, they said on Twitter. At first, I thought nothing of it. This kind of stuff happens outside the centre now and then. But as details trickled out on social media and newspapers, the more agitated I became. The reports were confused and contradictory, and even professional news sources had no clue about the exact goings-on. Yet it was immediately clear this was much closer to home.

“The first news that came in was about the shooting at Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge, ten minutes down the road from my place in Belleville. Many dead. At one point they said there was a shooting at the Jourdain Métro station a few minutes up the road too (there wasn’t), so it seemed I was trapped. My eyes and fingers were glued to my phone and my laptop – which was all I could do.

“As news of other shootings and the Eagles of Death Metal gig hijacking burst onto on my newsfeed, I began to think why. Why these places? Why these people? Why such innocent, normal, fun, Friday-night activities being impaled in the name of terrorism? Chances are, you can fudge an answer to these questions by now. You’ve read all the commentary and analysis. The bars of Canal Saint-Martin and Charonne, the music venues of central Paris, the black-blancbeur French football team: these are all glaring emblems of a liberal, young, mixed Western society, Paris’ enviably brilliant nightlife and its brilliantly diverse social fabrics.

“The only reason I wasn’t killed or injured on Friday is because I’m lucky, and lazy. Having just got in from working from my 10-6 job, I was pretty tired. I didn’t want to go out. But if I had, who’s to say I wouldn’t have wound up at one of these buzzing, relatively well-known addresses? One of my colleagues – Manu, a funny, kind man and big rock fan – was at the Bataclan on Friday and he got out with just a minor knee injury. An even luckier escape, but I dread to think what he’s thinking, and how his close friends and family must be feeling. Elsa, my boss and desk-mate, lost two friends on Friday and three others have been badly hurt. Everyone knows someone or someone who knows someone who’s died.

“The only way forward for Parisians is unwavering resilience, as far as I can see. Going to bars, going to gigs, watching the footie, that kind of thing. I’m going to see Spectre on the weekend – Saturday’s token act of defiance – and then maybe Canadian band Ought next week – that’ll be Wednesday’s. I expect to enjoy myself, but no doubt I’ll be placing myself near the exit. Métro commutes are awkward at the moment – everyone is looking each other in the eye and acting with a certain degree of fausse politesse – and I absolutely hate it.”

In Oxford, over 400 students and locals took part in a peaceful march from the Radcliffe Camera to the Maison Française on Sunday to show solidarity with the people of France.

Clara Paugam, who organised the march, said, “We wanted to organise this walk because we are all concerned about what’s happening, the victims of Paris. It could have been us. I had a friend of mine who was living on Rue de Charonne where 19 people were killed … A lot of us here are from Paris.” Many of those in attendance were French or had family in France, though a number of students without such connections joined the march to show solidarity.

A number of vigils for the 129 victims have been held across colleges, including Christ Church and Hertford.

In its 2016 Spring Exhibition, the Ashmolean Museum will display a private collection of Pop artist Andy Warhol’s works, including over 100 which have never before been publicly displayed.

The exhibition will span Warhol’s entire career, and will offer a rare insight into the breadth and complexity of the artist’s works. The display will include many of his iconic masterpieces from the 1960s, such as works from the series Brillo Pads, and some of his most famous pieces on social and political themes, notably his Positive/Negative series.

Dr Alexander Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, commented, “The substance and significance of Andy Warhol’s art becomes more evident with each passing decade and this exhibition aims to add to what we know about Warhol by highlighting unfamiliar and surprising works from across his career.”

It is hoped that this diverse collection will shed some light on the thinking of an artist who lived a turbulent life in the public eye, from when he was shot and wounded by feminist activist Valerie Solanas in 1968 to the criticism he faced in the ‘70s and ‘80s over the philosophy that, in his own words, “Making money is art.”

Professor Hanneke Grootenboer, Head of the Ruskin School of Art, told Cherwell, “The upcoming exhibition of Andy Warhol is very exciting for students across the University and across Oxford, in particular students in fine art, history of art, and visual culture at Oxford and Oxford Brookes.”

Alongside these works will be some of his more experimental creations, including the Screen Test films, and a surprising array of commissioned portraits, picturing individuals from the West German Chancellor Willy Brandt to Farah Pahlavi, Princess of Iran.

Sir Norman Rosenthal, the Hall Art Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ashmolean, said, “Warhol feels like the decisive artist of his generation, who peered into the future and saw his world with all its glamour and with all its horror.”

Rosenthal stressed the particular significance of the screen print portrait of Warhol’s fellow artist Joseph Beuys, noting that “They were the two artists who were more than artists – they became symbols of their age.” Another important screen print on display will be ‘Heaven and hell are just one breath away!’, a reflection on death made especially poignant as it was one of Warhol’s very last works.

An Oxford art student told Cherwell, “I think it’s great that such a respected, influential and inspiring artist gets the recognition he deserves at such a prestigious museum.” Others have wondered what place Warhol’s works have in the Ashmolean Museum, with one student remarking, “I don’t see why they have decided to display such a modern artist in a museum mainly concerned with ancient cultures. They call it modern for a reason.”

Nonetheless, lovers of Warhol’s work will doubtless be delighted that some of his most intimate and provocative pieces will be placed: the products of an artist whose output has been described as “the most brilliant mirror of our times”.

College JCRs including St Catherine’s, Pembroke and Worcester, have urged students to register to vote following the government’s planned boundary review of voting constituencies based on the number of people registered to vote on 22nd November.

Students who registered to vote before September have now been taken off the list of registered voters, meaning currently around one per cent of students are registered. Cherwell understands that if not enough students register to vote before the 22nd then the government is likely to make Oxford’s constituencies bigger, meaning each person’s vote will count for less. Both Worcester and St Catherine’s JCRs have organised collective sign-up event for students to register to vote together.

Sarah White, St Catherine’s JCR President, told Cherwell, “I can’t stress enough how important it is that everyone registers to vote. For students in particular, it is way beyond time that we fully exercised our democratic rights to vote. With such low student turnout to national elections, we’ve already seen that governments don’t bother prioritise our voices – we’ve had one enormous fee hike in our lifetime, and you only need to glance at the new Higher Education green papers to realise it’s more than likely to happen again – and soon.

“These papers also propose that future increases in tuition fees no longer get discussed in Parliament, but go straight to the government to be decided upon. We really can’t maintain any level of apathy whilst the future of higher education is under such threat.”

Joseph McShane, Pembroke JCR president, told Cherwell, “With the boundary review changes fast approaching, if we aren’t registered then the constituency will likely grow in size, effectively diluting the intensity of the student vote in Oxford. ”

Under the new Individual Electoral Registration system introduced last June, everyone is now responsible for registering to vote themselves rather than the previous system of people registering everyone eligible to vote in the household.

Jack Hampton has been elected President of Oxford University Student Union, beating his rival Eden Tanner, with 1389 first-preference votes.

Turnout in the 2015 OUSU election was 3142, accounting for 14.2 per cent of Oxford students. Following weeks of campaigning, Hampton, leader of the BackJack slate, had secured 1389 fi rst-preference total votes by the time ballots closed at 6pm on Thursday, representing approximately 6.3 per cent of the eligible student body.

Speaking to Cherwell in the immediate aftermath of his election, OUSU President-elect Hampton, covered in BackJack stickers, said, “The mental health platform got a mandate and we’re going to follow through on that.

“I didn’t think I’d be that nervous. Thank you to my slate – as a lot of people know here I’m not very good at hacking.

“My biggest thank you has to be to Catz – I’m basically sure it was Catz what won it. I’m looking forward to taking a million steps forward with OUSU with all my great colleagues.” Hampton then added, “I’m not going to remember this evening – I’ve just drunk an unbelievable amount of brandy in ten minutes.”

Hampton’s closest presidential rival, Eden Tanner, told Cherwell, “Thank you to all of the candidates for their efforts in this election, I know there are some really strong people who have been elected and I’m sure they’ll make a phenomenal team. I know OUSU will continue to go from strength to strength with their good work.”

The presidential result only partly reflects the wider picture of the OUSU elections, in which it was expected Hampton’s BackJack slate might take a clean sweep of positions. However, BackJack lost the important position of Access and Academic Aff airs Officer to Eden Bailey from the IOU slate. In an immediate reaction to her election, Bailey said, “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it. I’m so glad.

“I’m absolutely delighted. This is such an important time for higher education, and I’m grateful that the students of Oxford have decided that I’m the person to speak up for them all on the university and national level.” Orla White, also from the IOU slate, was elected to Vice President for Women with 677 first-preference votes.

Bailey continued, “The government are proposing some horrendous changes to higher education, but they’re not going to be able to go down without students shouting about it. And quite hopefully without students making a diff erence to their proposed policies.”

Sandy Downs, on the BackJack slate was elected as Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer with 858 final round votes. From St Catherine’s bar, Downs commented, “Genuinely, I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who’s been an absolute godsend since this ridiculous idea was formed.”

OUSU President-elect Jack Hampton ran on a platform that included strong emphasis on the importance of student mental health and a pledge to visit either the JCR or MCR of every college each term.

Oxford University Labour Club’s usual involvement in the OUSU elections was somewhat reduced this year, with fewer OULC-affiliated candidates fielded this year despite the inclusion of OULC co-chair David Klemperer in the Oh Well, Alright Then slate. Freshly elected as one of OUSU’s NUS delegates, Klemperer told Cherwell, “This is a spectacular triumph for student apathy.” The Oh Well, Alright Then Facebook page gave the following statement in response to their clean-sweep of elections; “On a stunning turnout of 14.2 per cent, all four of us got elected. Thanks. I suppose this means we have to go to NUS Conference now. Oh well, alright then.”

The results follow a tense two weeks of OUSU electoral campaigning with increasingly strong rhetoric. Marina Lambrakis, newly elected Vice President for Graduates wih 394 first-preference votes, posted harsh criticism of Hampton on Facebook prior to her election, saying, “I guarantee you, voting for Jack will take us a million steps backwards (BackJack is a pretty accurate description, inadvertently). He doesn’t care about grads, he doesn’t do his research, he doesn’t know what the issues are (local or national), and he doesn’t know how to tackle them effectively.

“My ability to do my job next year if I’m elected will be SEVERELY curtailed if a President is elected who doesn’t have a clue. One weak link in the chain will stop OUSU progressing and achieving all the things we’re capable of. Please, let’s have an entire sabbatical team who are committed to each and every Oxford student.”

Lambrakis has since been accused of negative electoral practice for her comments towards Hampton.

In addition, former OUSU President Louis Trup criticised the BackJack slate’s Tinder and Grindr campaigning as “pointless” as results came in.

A number of part-time positions did not receive any electoral candidates and will therefore receive appointments at the next available by-election, likely a campus-wide by-election next Hilary.

OUSU is now expected to follow through on a pledge to donate 50p to charity for every vote cast in the election, amounting to £1571. However, returning officers will likely be disappointed that a greater increase in turnout did not result following the introduction of this charitable incentive scheme. One graduate student, Lindsay Lee, tweeted, “There were 3142 voters this time, and 3138 last year? As a grad student in stats, that’s hardly statistically significant.

“Super quick and basic t-test gives p-value of 0.51, meaning the difference in voter turnout is not at all significant.”

But the modest rise in turnout comes in spite of a reduction in the number of eligible student voters from 22,348 in 2014 to 22,003 this year, suggesting a more noticeable rise in the proportion of the student body voting.

This year’s results seemingly represent a narrower margin of victory than in previous years. Last year, now-president Becky Howe won 1343 votes, beating her closest rival Will Obeney by 710 first-preference votes.

Anger over the treatment of Queerfest as a party rather than a celebration of queer culture has led to thwarted efforts by the event’s organisers to prioritise the LGBTQ+ community.

Queerfest is an annual celebration of queer culture run at Wadham, planned for Saturday 21st. The event is organised as part of Wadham’s ‘Queer Week’, which features events addressing the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community.

Queerfest is described by its Facebook event page as a chance to “escape heteronormative hegemony and cissexist society and ascend to queer heaven”. However, many LGBTQ+ Oxford students feel this aim is undermined by non-LGBTQ+ partygoers who appropriate the event. While the event specifically says that all are welcome regardless of sexual orientation or gender, there has been anger that the rapid sale of tickets in the past has led to LGBTQ+ students missing out.

Organisers of Queerfest, alongside Oxford LGBTQ Society, have made efforts to prioritise LGBTQ students this year. Joel Hide, President of Oxford LGBTQ Society, said, “This year the LGBTQ society has worked closely with Wadham’s SU LGBTQ Officer Olivia [Braddock], and the SU Entz reps to provide ways for LGBTQ people to get tickets before they go on general sale, as last year tickets sold out so quickly that a lot of queer people missed out.” Tickets for last year’s Queerfest event sold out in a matter of hours.

One way that the organisers aimed to prioritise the LGBTQ+ community was by selling tickets at an LGBTQ+ drinks event prior to general release. However, widespread anger resulted after these efforts were allegedly undermined by non-LGBTQ+ attendees who crashed the LGBTQ+ drinks in order to take advantage of the early ticket sale.

Comments on Oxford LGBTQ society’s Facebook page expressed anger at the crashing. Daniel Morris wrote, “The LGBTQ+ community would like to extend a massive thx to all tha cishets who showed up at drinks 2nyt, we felt so ***liberated*** as we were crushed by you while queueing for our queerfest tix. Looking forward to seeing you at future LGBTQ+ drinks to continue your excellent allyship work, and hope you’ve enjoyed attending all of the other Queerweek events!!!! [sic]”

Commenting on the anger, Hide explained to Cherwell, “I would view the problem as being that a lot of cis-het [cisgender and heterosexual] people come to Queerfest just because it’s a cheap party, without engaging in the any of the other events or talks that take place during queer week and without appreciating that the event is intended as a celebration of queer culture.”

A Tumblr page has been set up to stress the aim of the event, asking viewers why they want to go to Queerfest. It provides two options: “Join the party” or “Celebrate all things queer”. Pressing “Join the party”, the page reads, “Maybe give it a miss? Whilst QueerFest is a great party it’s the final celebration at the end of Queer week – so it’s really just for people who want to celebrate all things queer! If that’s not you then there are plenty of other things to do.”

Olivia Braddock, LGBTQIA officer, and Hannah Marshall, a Queer Week committee member, said, “It is saddening that [Queerfest] receives so much more attention than the events of Queer Week, and we would appreciate any efforts towards correcting this imbalance. It has also come to our attention that some people crashed the LGBTQ drinks this week… which is very disappointing and shows a shocking lack of respect.”

Analysis: Queer identities need space in a heteronormative society (Molly Moore)

Can I go to Queerfest? That’s a question many people should have asked themselves before jumping on the party bandwagon and joining the hot pursuit for Queerfest tickets this week. The event has triggered a larger debate on the nature of queer spaces and who should primarily be able to access them (well done if you answered ‘queer people’).

There is no doubt that Queerfest will deliver the amazing party it has promised, but something that all students in Oxford need to account for is the limited number of queer spaces available to LGBTQ+ people in Oxford. Sure, there’s Plush. Once, there was Babylove too. Aside from LGBTQ Society events, internal college gatherings and liberation events, the scale of access to queer-only spaces is limited.

As the LGBTQ Society’s Women’s Welfare Rep and Christ Church’s LGBTQ+ Welfare Officer, protecting the safety of my community is my main concern at any queer event. I’m sure countless students have been exposed to the chaos of Plush on a Friday night and the influx of cis/straight-identifying students who have turned up post-crewdate just to enjoy the party.

Something that almost inextricably occurs is cis-het people taking offense at the queerness around them, or fetishising normal aspects of queer life that really aren’t their business. Having straight guys comment on how sexy they find my sexuality is something I have been exposed to more times than I could count. It’s time to sort it out. Please lads, no more.

Prioritising access to tickets for LGBTQ+ students this year was an immensely positive move by Wadham SU and the LGBTQ Society. It means that people who have most likely attended other events in Queer Week will get the chance to celebrate queer culture in all its radical, glittery glory this Saturday. So we all thought. On Tuesday night at drinks I saw some familiar faces: cis-het faces that don’t normally appear at Tues-gay drinks. Either way, surely it occurred to them that LGBTQ+ events should first and foremost be accessible for LGBTQ+ people? After all, every Queer Week event is of equal value and Queerfest is but one of them.

It is a complex issue, given that queer identities are numerous, non-binary, and not adherent to the boxes hegemonic society would like to place us in. But there is no way to know how queer anyone is. When accounting for the safety of LGBTQ+ individuals, it is no one’s place to assume anything about anyone’s identity. Policing queer identities is the last thing any LGBTQ+ person needs. We should not have to prove our identities, or evidence of our queerness in order to gain access to environments such as Queerfest, nor should we have to worry about being judged as ‘straight-passing’. But nor should we have to feel as though our queer spaces are threatened by cis-het people who don’t understand the significance of queer events to queer people.

The solution can only be that cisgender, heterosexual people think more about fixing the imbalance between queer spaces and cis-heteronormative society. Queer Week celebrates the LGBTQIA community. Queerfest is simply the finale in a series of the amazing events which comprise Queer Week. Are you going to Queerfest to engage with queer culture? If the answer is no, maybe just take a trip to Camera instead.

SABBATICAL POSITIONS

President
Jack Hampton (BackJack) – 1389 (meeting quota) Elected
Eden Tanner (The Big Picture) – 741 
RON – 288

VP Access and Academic Affairs
Eden Bailey (IOU) – 865 Elected
Duncan Shepherd (BackJack) – 759
RON – 159

VP Charities and Community
Beth Currie – 1297 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 210

VP Graduates
Marina Lambrakis (The Big Picture) – 394  (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 38

VP Welfare and Equal Opportunities
Sandy Downs (BackJack) – 736 Elected
Jessy Parker Humphreys – 504
Jenny Walker (Welfair) – 403
RON – 145

VP Women
Orla White (IOU) – 677 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 56

Part Time Executive Positions

Academic Affairs Campaign Officer
Tom Wadsworth (Welfair) – 1030 (meeting quota) Elected
Gareth Sessel – 562
RON – 219

Access and Admissions Officer
Adam Kellett (IOU) – 940 (meeting quota) Elected
Samuel Sanders – 495
RON – 227

Black and Minority Ethnic Students Officer
Hilal Yazan (IOU) – 1245 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 281

Community Outreach and Charities Officer
Yoni Stone – 1332 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 230

Disabled Students Officer
Ronak Patel (Welfair) – 671 Elected
Iggy Wilde (IOU) – 644
RON – 159

Environment and Ethics Officer
Fairlie Kirkpatrick Baird – 1293 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 247

Health and Welfare Officer
Katy Haigh (BackJack) – 1426 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 256

International Students Officer
Meera Sachdeva (BackJack) – 1365 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 203

LGBTQ Officer
Catherine Kelly (Welfair) – 766 Elected
Will Andrews (BackJack) – 716
RON – 166

NUS Delegates
Rowan Davis (Welfair) – 321 (meeting quota) Elected
David Klemperer (Oh well, alright then) 226 Elected
Harry Samuels – (Oh well, alright then) 215 Elected
Vivian Holmes (Welfair) – 215 Elected
Matt Sumption (Oh well, alright then) – 175 Elected
Anne Cremin (Oh well, alright then) – 153 Elected
Tom Turner – 137
Amran Hussain – 109
RON – 96

Student Trustee
Alex Bishop – 1038 (meeting quota) Elected
RON – 302

It’s the end day of voting in the OUSU elections and I am exhausted. I’ve spent the past two weeks flyering in the rain, going from college to college husting, and awkwardly messaging people to persuade them to vote. As a candidate for VP Welfare and Equal Opportunities, the irony about the toll these past few weeks has placed on my welfare is not lost on me. The fact that OUSU has a crisis with engagement is often discussed but to be honest, having run in these elections, I can see why you wouldn’t want to.

Over the past week, myself and others running in the election participated in 12 hustings at various colleges across Oxford. Average turnout was about 10 people everywhere and OUSU central hustings was notably lacking anyone who didn’t already know one or more of the candidates. Gearing yourself up to talk to an empty room is difficult, and the time consuming nature of hustings means that what should be a fun and enjoyable opportunity to engage with students across the university quickly becomes a drag. I’ve been lucky to have been running against two wonderful candidates, Jenny Walker and Sandy Downs, and we agreed early on that if any of us needed to take a welfare break from husts, none of us would go. People running for other positions were not as fortunate.

Another problem has been the financial burden that OUSU elections places on candidates. Sabbatical candidates running on their own can spend up to £135 with £10 extra for every other sabbatical candidate on a slate. Thankfully, limits are placed on spending with receipts being required to be submitted at the end of the election but £135 is no small amount of money. OUSU offer some financial support for candidates to apply for but I was not informed of how much money I would be receiving until Monday, a day before the polls opened. Fortunately, I had launched a crowd-funding campaign a week before and thanks to generous donations, I was more than able to adequately fund my campaign. Yet, there was a large amount of time where it looked like I was going to be unable to utilise the amount of money all candidates were entitled to.

The financial situation in OUSU elections also favours slates who can split the amount they are entitled to spend between them. Slates are groups of people who are registered to campaign together; candidates running on their own then can’t endorse anyone running. When I decided to run independently, I was told it was my ‘political death.’ Ignoring whatever that means, running independently is seen as being useless and impractical because you are considered unlikely to win. Now I don’t know what tonight’s result will be but I do know that I have had some great conversations throughout this campaign. I’ve been given a platform to talk about what I think needs to be changed at this university, which has been an honour. And a number of people have said lots of lovely, complimentary things about me. All of this will be true regardless of the outcome. Because independent candidates are not allowed to endorse others for fear of being accused of ‘cross-slating’, OUSU elections become about individuals rather than ideas. There is, of course, an element of scrutiny required with the individuals running in an election, but I believe that the strength of ideas often gives a good indication of what the individual will be like.

Running independently has meant that all of the burden has been placed on myself. I haven’t been able to voice my opinions about who I would want to work with should I get the role, despite the fact that we have to be part of a team and having watched everyone hust 10+ times, I have a pretty good idea about who is the best. Everyone acknowledges that elections are tough but I think there are a number of things that can be done to make OUSU elections more accessible for everyone. Firstly, reformulating the way husts work, either by geographical location or moving to a more online web-based system of videos. Secondly, considering how much money candidates really need to spend on a campaign. And thirdly, either ending slating or relaxing cross-slating rules. People should be able to run for OUSU without being emotionally or financially put off, and currently that is not the case.