At the Student Council meeting held on Tuesday 9th May, the SU passed a motion of Financial Independence from the Oxford Union with 78.1% of the vote. 

The motion’s proposer, the SU’s VP for Access & Academic affairs, Jade Calder, has now told The Oxford Blue that this decision was “prompted by recent allegations of the Union signing an exploratory agreement with the Future Investment Initiative [Institute], a think tank funded by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund”. 

Calder’s comment illuminates a previously unrecognised dimension of the SU’s split from the Oxford Union, a move which will deprive the Union of access to a commercial stall at the Michaelmas Freshers’ Fair at least until “the mandate expires in three years”. Neither the fourteen points of the Council’s notes, nor the eight points of the Council’s beliefs, nor the two points of the Council’s resolution mention the Union’s alleged ties to offshoots of the Saudi crown. 

Rather, the wording of the SU’s motion focuses attention on the Union’s “toxic environment which seems to encourage bullying, harassment, racial profiling and a systemic abuse of power.” Commenting to the Blue, Calder did cite these “alleged issues” in addition to the purported exploratory agreement, only now suggested to have been a factor in the SU’s decision.

The Blue has previously reported on links between the FII Institute and the Oxford Union. In October 2022, a representative of the Union, Michael Li – President during Trinity Term 2017 and current member of the Bicentenary Committee – was photographed signing an agreement in principle with the Institute’s Head of THINK, Safiye Kucukkaraca. 

Press releases put out by the FII Institute in 2022 declared that this “agreement…entitles collaboration on publications, research, events and an overarching strategy”. The Oxford Union has denied the existence of any such agreement and stated that these press releases “contain conflicting information” and “errors”. 

The FII 2018 edition was widely boycotted on account of the Institute’s affiliation with the Saudi government, accused that October of assassinating journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In November, the CIA concluded that Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince and de facto ruler, had indeed ordered the killing.

Calder’s comment, in the wake of the Council’s overwhelming support for the highly critical motion, expresses broad dissatisfaction with the running of The Oxford Union, currently celebrating its bicentenary.

National news outlets including The Times, The Telegraph, and the Daily Mail have linked the SU’s action to the upcoming Union address by Kathleen Stock, whose views on transgender individuals have drawn condemnation from JCRs. However, in a statement to Oxford students, the SU has made clear that their motion is “unrelated to Dr Stock’s intended talk” and that media coverage “erroneously conflates” two separate events. The SU reiterated that its decision was due to the “long-standing concerns” outlined above.