Following the approval of significant rules changes in a poll of members earlier this week, a complaint has been made against Mayank Banerjee, President of the Oxford Union.

Ronald Collinson, a former Returning Officer, formally accused Banerjee of misconduct in an email to the Union’s Returning Officer, Thomas Reynolds, stating, “I do hereby allege that the President, Mayank Banerjee, St John’s College, did commit disciplinary misconduct under the following headings.”

Collinson followed the disciplinary procedures from the Union’s Rule 71 to make the complaint.

According to him the President is guilty of ‘Dereliction of duty: serious failure by an Officer or member of any Committee to carry out the duties required of him under the Rules, by virtue of holding his post’ as well as ‘Other action liable or calculated to bring the Society into disrepute.‘ [Rule 71 (a), (i), (5) and (12)]

The complaint stems from the President’s decision to hold a poll on the rules changes instead of delaying them by a week to the debate on Thursday of 6th Week.

Collinson alleged in his complaint that “Mr Banerjee failed to fulfil his duties as President and Chair of the Public Business Meeting by totally disregarding a requisition posted to the notice-board…. Mr Banerjee instigated, promoted and publicised an illegal poll, purportedly taking place on 13th November 2014.”

Speaking to Cherwell, Collinson commented “I have launched this complaint with a heavy heart, after a great deal of thought. I like and respect the President, who has undoubtedly had one of the most successful terms in recent history, and works very hard for the Society. However, I believe that, in this matter, he has clearly both overstepped his authority and compromised the Union’s most fundamental democratic procedures.

“The SDC is the only body in the Union now able to remedy this situation. I am hopeful that the result of this complaint will be great clarity: that the President’s misconduct will be appropriately recognised and addressed; that there will be certainty about the electoral rules currently obtaining; that the Members will be able to vote on all aspects of a rules-change motion which has been thoroughly debated and publicised.”

As the complaint is against a senior Union official it will automatically be referred to a Senior Disciplinary Committee (SDC). The SDC must be summoned by the Returning Officer within seven days of the complaint, which in turn will meet within twenty-eight days of the summons.

All members of the SDC shortlist must have been members of the Union for at least 18 terms, and in principle at least one member of the Committee should be a qualified lawyer.

If the President is found to be guilty of misconduct, the SDC is able to issue a fine not exceeding £500, suspend or expel him, or disqualify him from serving on Standing Committee.

Banerjee declined to comment on the complaint.

More than twenty Oxford students are taking part in a rolling hunger strike as part of the Egypt Solidarity Initiative’s 1,000 Hours of Hunger campaign. The campaign is protesting against the repressive laws used to criminalise dissent and detain activists, destroying the freedoms that the Egyptian people fought for in the 2011 revolution.

During 5th and 6th Weeks, students are taking 24 hours of symbolic action to express their anger at the loss of basic human rights of free speech and free assembly for political activists and Egyptian citizens alike. There are over 140 political prisoners currently on hunger strike in Egypt and the 1,000 Hours of Hunger campaign is showing solidarity with them.

The strike started on 22nd September at SOAS and has already proved that solidarity — according to the Egypt Solidarity Initiative website — “makes a real difference” with three activists, including Alaa Adel Fattah, who launched the hunger strike campaign in August, being released on bail on 15th September.

However, according to Egyptian human rights activists, around 40,000 people have been detained since July 2013, many without charge or trial. For example, Sanaa Seif — a 20 year old student — was arrested on 21st June whilst peacefully protesting the jailing of her brother and 23 others for 15 years. Those that remain incarcerated, in often appalling conditions, are evidence of the assault on civil liberties being conducted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.

Amelia Cooper, an Oxford University Amnesty International member taking part in the hunger strike, told Cherwell that she is taking action out of a “shared sense of dismay [which] is rooted entirely in the audacious manner in which the Egyptian administration is abusing the rights of its citizens.”

She added, “The object of the strike is twofold — we want to raise awareness, as well as demonstrating support and solidarity to the strikers in Egypt.”

Alex Marshall, who is also involved in the Campaign to Close Campsfield and Oxford Migrant Solidarity, said he was striking because of his disappointment after seeing how the achievements of the 2011 Egyptian revolution have been “gradually and viciously crushed” in the intervening years.

He explained, “There is dirt behind the daydream of peaceful and democratic societies such as ours that we take for granted – part of any expression of political principles is a willingness to look at that dirt, or briefly experience it in solidarity”.

However, the campaign has been questioned by some members of the University. An anonymous second year told Cherwell, “Although I can appreciate what the campaigners are doing at the moment, I don’t exactly see how effective a group of Oxford students going hungry for a few hours will have any impact on events in Egypt. Maybe I’m just being cynical though!”

The campaign is also attempting to show solidarity with prisoners of conscience such as Mohamed Soltan, who is currently in intensive care after slipping into a coma, having been on strike for over 280 days. Along with numerous others, the hope is to reverse the trend towards an ever increasingly damaged civil society in Egypt, and the release of arbitrarily detained political prisoners.

Husts for this year’s OUSU elections have been moved to accessible venues after candidates from the For Oxford and Right to Education slates refused to hust at Hertford on Sunday.

Oriel, which held hustings on Thursday evening, and Univ, due to hold them on Sunday, confirmed this week that entirely accessible venues have now been found after candidates and JCR Presidents voiced their concern. 

Will Obeney, For Oxford’s presidential candidate, explained his slate’s decision to not attend any hustings at inaccessible venues, telling Cher- well, “We’re running on a platform of accessibility and we don’t think it’s fair to attend hustings that not all members of our community – and not even all members of our team – can attend and hear the points we raise about accessibility.” 

The controversy surrounding the Trinity College student marriage system continues as efforts by the College’s JCR Council to reform the system were comprehensively defeated.

A motion, which was put before the Trinity JCR on Sunday 9th November, specified, “This JCR would introduce a ‘free marriage’ system instead of the current marriage ballot,” aiming to reform a marriage system labelled “antediluvian”, “past it” and “no longer fit for purpose” by students speaking to Cherwell.

The current Trinity marriage system operates through a random ballot. In effect, every marriage is ‘arranged’, with the JCR President responsible for drawing names from a hat. The system is designed to promote an inclusive college atmosphere so that no-one feels ostracized by the college marriage system.

This term, however, students have criticised the ballot system, calling it “heteronormative”, “thoughtless”, and “oppressive”. One Trinity student told Cherwell, “This system seems to me far too rigid. There isn’t enough flexibility — what if I end up with someone I can’t stand?”

Another explained, “This actually makes me quite angry. The college assumes we have no social skills and have to be forced together — it’s all very medieval.”

In 3rd Week’s JCR meeting, one student reported not having met his college father for two years, whilst others pushed for the introduction of an opt-out system, arguing a sizeable bloc opposed college marriages altogether.

Tensions flared over whether it was better to have college parents who were friends or for them to be chosen randomly so as to be more diverse. Another claimed that he had never met his wife before their ‘forced’ marriage, and one man claimed his parents had never met.

The marriage ‘opt-out’ system was adopted 30 votes to seven following the meeting.

However, subsequent attempts to reform the system have come unstuck. On Sunday 9th  November Eleanor Roberts proposed that Trinity JCR switch to a ‘free marriage’ system.

They issued the following guidance, “Every member of the JCR will be free to marry whomever they want, with marriages arranged solely by the prospective couples. Marriage proposals may be made at any time from the start of Hilary Term of first year onwards.

“Each second year who has not opted out of the college children system will then be assigned, independent of marital status, one college child from the same subject.”

However, the motion failed with 18 votes for and 39 against. The defeat seems to suggest that the agitation expressed by some quarters of Trinity is far from representative of its entire JCR. One first year student present at the vote informed Cherwell, “This is a victory for democracy — it just goes to show those who shout loudest don’t always win.”

Eleanor Roberts, Trinity JCR President, told Cherwell that she could not “comment on the opinions of JCR individuals regarding the results of these motions”.

The motion’s failure was met with consternation amongst LGBTQ campaigners across Oxford. Annie Teriba, co-editor of NoHeterOx**, which campaigns for gender and LGBTQ equality, told Cherwell, “I would like to think that  opposition to the proposal was based on the concerns raised in the 2nd Week meeting that an opt out system will leave students with apathetic parents.

“Still, gendered marriages force non-binary people to be mis-gendered; that is not okay. They still contribute to a heteronormative culture in which queerness is seen as beyond the realm of the acceptable. Trinity, at the very least, please de-gender your balloting process.’

An anonymous Trinity student suggested, “Many members of Trinity JCR are frankly outraged by this decision. It’s oppressive and suggests that a mixed gender family is the only viable unit.”

She added, “Many of my friends were stuck with people they didn’t particularly like as spouses — I feel like our complaints have just been railroaded.”

Merton College was forced to evacuate students from some of their first year accommodation on Thursday night, as a result of a gas leak. Merton College’s Warden, Sir Martin Taylor, was also required to temporarily relocate.

Some students were later able to move back into their rooms, although the College decided to move students from one house into other rooms for the night. These students were housed in other college-owned properties or, according to the manager, in the nearby Eastgate Hotel. The Warden was the last person to return to residence, after being given the all clear at about 4:30 on Friday.

The gas leak was reportedly detected early on Thursday, but the seriousness of the situation was not realised until later on.

Merton College told Cherwell, “We understand that the Eastgate Hotel reported the smell of gas to the National Grid; this had also been noticed by the Warden and housekeeping staff.

“Engineers attended and under their instructions we evacuated Nos. 20, 21, and 22 Merton Street, and the Warden’s Lodgings. Residents were initially allowed to return to these buildings, but after a further build-up of gas we were instructed to re-evacuate these properties; temporary accommodation was provided in vacant rooms within the college.

“We believe that some University College properties were also evacuated.”

Merton Modern Languages fresher Olivia Williams told Cherwell, “There was a gas leak – I’m pretty sure it was a burst pipe because they had to dig up the road to fix it.

“The smell of gas was taken gradually more seriously as the afternoon progressed. First there were tiny signs warning people not to smoke, and then a few hours later a whole fleet of gas vans turned up.

“The Warden spent the night in the new 750^th anniversary room.”

Porter Tony Richardson explained that, “the gas vans turned up, they went up and down the street with their sniffers and determined there was a leak”.

The SGN gas network later confirmed that the gas leak had been fixed, but that Merton Street would be closed until Sunday whilst repairs were undertaken.

It is understood that a new gas main is scheduled to be laid in next summer. Merton College added,” The management of the situation by the engineers in attendance, and their communication with us, was excellent throughout.”

A Mertonian fresher told Cherwell, “It was potentially a bit of a pain, but at least I’ve got an excuse to turn next week’s essay in late now”.