Trigger Warning: Discussions of Sexual Assault and Harassment; Racism
At Tuesday’s first Conference of Common Rooms of the Academic Year, President for Communities and Common Rooms Roxi Rusu revealed that the University had been invited to send a representative to comment on Item E: Student Sexual Harassment & Misconduct, yet declined the invitation to do so. Rusu stated that the reasoning provided by the University for doing so, after initial interest in sending a representative from HR, was that the meeting did not “align with their schedule”. Rusu further claimed that the University then said they would send a statement to be read out at the conference, however despite several follow up emails from the Student Union (SU), no resp onse was received.
Item E was proposed by Magdalen JCR President Isabella Taylor, and seconded by the JCR Presidents of Brasenose, Lincoln, Pembroke, and St Anne’s. The motion called for “Oxford SU to support mandating policy change in relation to employed staff accused of staff on student sexual misconduct”. Taylor proposed the motion explicitly on behalf of It Happens Here, an anti-sexual violence campaign run by students. It called for the SU to sign the campaign’s pledge and lobby the University to do the same, whilst calling for the University to also enact the policies within. This pledge encourages investigations into accusations against individuals even if they resign, not signing NDAs to silence victims or anonymity orders to protect accused, and all final job candidates being required to declare any harassment procedure investigations against them in the past ten years at previous roles.
The motion follows multiple stories in the past 12 months relating to sexual harassment at the University, including academics being hired by the University despite having resigned due to sexual misconduct allegations at a different university, as well as an anonymity order being requested by the University to stop a survivor speaking about her experience of being harassed by two academics.
This request was later withdrawn following press backlash.
E6 of the Office for Students Conditions of Registration already requires higher education institutions to not put NDAs on students to restrict their ability to speak about their experiences of sexual harassment. However, there exists a loophole which falls outside the letter of the rule, which allows for a College, or a University at large, to sign an NDA with the perpetrator of sexual harassment.
Responding to the motion, It Happens Here told us: “We are very proud of the collaborative effort we have mustered for the campaign, bringing together voices from the SU and Common Room Presidents. The CR presidents we’ve spoken to have been so supportive, and we’re really grateful to everyone who’s worked on the motion. Should the motion pass, we look forward to working with representatives from the university to enact the most meaningful and impactful change for everyone across the university.”
Oxford University were contacted for comment, but no reply was received.
Another item debated at the Conference was the prospect of all departments providing at least 50% funding towards supplementary language courses. Item D, also proposed by Taylor, highlighted the current inconsistencies in funding across both departments and Colleges. A straw poll in the room highlighted this, with 10 colleges declaring that their colleges provided some funding, but some with qualifications on course, and six colleges declaring their colleges provided no funding under any circumstances. The item also called on the SU to encourage colleges to supplement the remaining 50% deficit, in an attempt to create a universal structure where students, regardless of course and college, can access supplementary language courses for free.
As the conference came to a close, the matter of Nathan Cofnas’ invitation to speak at an Oxford Reform Society event at Oriel College on 17 November arose. St Catherine’s College MCR OUSU Representative Max Wang drew upon the Student Union’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech to argue that the SU should make a statement on the matter, and that it went against their code of practice. Wang was advised by Farhan that this Code of Practice was under review due to changes of legislation regarding freedom of speech. Rusu thanked Wang for his intervention, and that the issue was of clear importance, but there was a need for the approach to not appear reactionary. The idea of an extraordinary Conference of Common Rooms, which could pass a motion to release a statement, or a policy on the matter, was mentioned by Rusu, and would require the request of at least five voting members of the Conference, as set out in Bye-Law 5.19 of the SU.
Green Templeton College GCR President Shubh Kumar also highlighted the ongoing Open Letter organised against Cofnas’ participation, signed by over 1,200 students and academics, both past and present, as well as many individuals not affiliated with the University. This was raised as a method of sharing dissatisfaction with the invitation in the absence of a SU statement, and that the more members of Conference that signed the letter, or any future letters, on behalf of their Common Room, the stronger the case against Oriel College could be. This was backed by Oriel College MCR President Preston Means. Oriel College issued a statement earlier this week addressing the invitation, but stressing that when an event is booked within their college it “does not imply endorsement by the College of the views of its speakers.”
The SU will host their BME Representative Committee on Monday, 2 November, and SU CEO Nikki Smith made a request to conference that any additional representation than normal be requested before the meeting, after already having clarified that University representatives had been invited to the discussion. St Catherine’s College JCR President Leroy Silika requested the presence of an Oriel College representative at the meeting, in order for BME Representatives from across the University to directly question the College. No other additional representatives were suggested.
The meeting was adjourned on time at 20:00 after two hours of discussion, and the next Conference of Common Rooms is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 24 November.