Information AboutOuca |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT OXFORD UNIVERSITY CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION | |
| conservative future | |
| lists of people associated with the university of oxford | |
| oxford student societies | |
| politics of oxford | |
| conservative party uk | |
|
Former Presidents include Margaret Thatcher , Edward Heath , William Hague , Lord Rees-Mogg and Nick Robinson . OUCA's reputation has been tarnished in recent years by a number of controversies, which have attracted press coverage both within Oxford University and in some cases in the national press. Despite this, OUCA has more recently begun to repair its relations with the Conservative Party, and been visited by figures such as George Osborne , Alan Duncan , John Redwood , Ann Widdecombe , the Earl Of Onslow , Iain Duncan Smith , David Willetts , Oliver Letwin and Lord Patten . It was praised in the Mail On Sunday by Lord Rees-Mogg. p.67. OUCA's current-President-Elect is under investigation by the police for electoral fraud relating to the May 2006 Council elections {Link without Title} . OFFICE HOLDERS, TRINITY TERM 2006 COLLEGE INFLUENCE AND "VOTE BUYING" The collegiate nature of Oxford allows individual colleges to exert hegemony within student societies. Within OUCA, this has led to periods in which one or two colleges, traditionally including Oriel and Christ Church , have been particularly dominant. More recently, membership has filtered towards the Permenent Private Halls , with almost all of St. Benet's Hall and Greyfriars undergraduates being members. An increasingly large contigent of members is currently to be found at Keble . This arises in part from the electoral practice of "Vote-buying", in which candidates for office pay the membership fees of other students, in the expectation that these new members will then vote for their patron in the elections. The practice effectively ensures a minimum financial qualification for the office of President, and gives great significance to the Returning Officer’s duty of declaring the “Close of New Members” in the 6th Week of each University Term. This marks the last date on which a new member may join OUCA and vote in its elections that term. The list of new members announced immediately following this is usually lengthy and drawn mostly (though not exclusively) from the colleges of the leading candidates’ for the higher offices. The practice has historically driven membership numbers at individual colleges well above any normal level - such as the 102 members at Oriel in 2002-3, which represented one-third of the then JCR. Vote-buying is officially forbidden, but candidates in OUCA's elections are in effect expected simply to exercise discretion in the manner in which they go about it. Several internal disciplinary proceedings have been brought on allegations of vote-buying, though none have so far been successful. In part, the practice is tolerated because of OUCA's periodic financial problems, which mean that the it requires the proceeds of vote-buying to avoid insolvency. OUCA CONTROVERSIES OUCA has frequently featured in the student, local, and national media as a result of controversy. 2006 - Charlie Steel/Electoral Malpractice OUCA President-Elect Charlie Steel is the subject of a police investigation of alleged electoral malpractice; specifically, allegedly forging signatures on his nomination papers for the May 2006 Council elections [http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.745031.0.inquiry_into_forged_forms.php [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2155411,00.html]. 2005 - George Galloway/Anti-semitism In Michaelmas 2005, a visit by the RESPECT MP, George Galloway was cancelled following a dispute between the Oxford University Labour Club ("OULC") and OUCA, and the publication of an open letter by OULC's co-chairs calling on Galloway to boycott OUCA. Part of OULC's complaint against OUCA concerned the disciplinary action taken by OUCA following anti-semitic remarks made by an OUCA member (David Cochrane) to the then-Political Officer, Paul Stuart, at an OUCA event the preceding term, and also latterly involved an alleged claim by OUCA at the 2001 Fresher's Fair to be '...the largest student political body since the Hitler Youth...' [http://www.newstatesman.com/200102050021 . 2005 - Matthew Smith/Cameron Penny In Hilary Term 2005, Matt Smith, OUCA's then-president, used his termcard to attack another faction within the association. ''Cherwell'' reported this under the headlines "OUCA poised on brink of civil war" {Link without Title} . It was later reported that Smith had been accused by an un-named OUCA member of homophobic abuse and harrasment, an allegation which Smith denied {Link without Title} . Within a week of this complaint, Smith had been removed from office by OUCA's Returning Officer, following a un-related complaint by Cameron Penny, a member of OUCA's committee. Penny's complaint related to a technical qualification, known as ''Activist Points'', which OUCA officers are required to fulfil both before and after election. Penny alleged that Smith, whilst OUCA Treasurer, had failed to fulfil this requirement, and so should be deemed to have resigned. As a result of this deemed resignation, he would not have been eligible to stand in the Presidental election (which he won). On the Returning Officer's initial interpretation of OUCA's constitution, this complaint was upheld, but following a meeting of the OUCA Council (the associations governing body) this decision was reversed, and Smith reinstated {Link without Title} . 2005 - David Cochrane/Paul Stuart In Hilary Term 2005, an OUCA member, David Cochrane, was disciplined by OUCA for making anti-semitic remarks to OUCA's then-Political Officer, Paul Stuart, at an event which Stuart was chairing. 2004 - Anatole Pang/Avi Patchava In Michaelmas Term 2004, a candidate for President of OUCA, Anatole Pang, was the subject of an internal disciplinary complaint by the editor of OUCA's ''Blueprint'' newsletter, Junior Officer Avi Patchava. In article submitted for ''Blueprint'', Pang was reported to have written ''“...the problem with India is its culture... is ...stained by two main features which hold the country down continually with little sign of change: democracy and Hinduism.”'' Contemporaneous reporting of the incident highlighted that Patchava, a candidate for OUCA Secretary, was supporting Pang's rival in the election for President, and that his complaint did not apparently involve fellow OUCA committee member Robert Thompson, whose contribution to Pang's submitted article apparently included asserting ''"The problem with India is the natives. They are ugly, malodorous, fraudulent, and worst of all, brown! I was shocked to discover that there is an entire nation of over a billion people who are brown as the ace of spades."'' It is not clear whether any disciplinary action was taken against Thompson[http://www.cherwell.org/news/racism_row_mars_presidential_election]. Pang's remarks were condemmed by OUCA's then President, and the subsequent internal disciplinary committee found him guilty of bringing the society into disrepute {Link without Title} . 2004 - Sam Parr/Ken Owen In Hilary Term 2004, Sam Parr, a member of the OUCA committee, and then-President-Elect of the Oxford Tory Reform Group resigned his OUCA post. His resignation letter cited his other commitments, but ''Cherwell'' quoted him as having called OUCA "...insular and extremist..." and saying that it was "...in danger of becoming an irrelevance..." and "...unattractive to most of its own members and unable to appeal to the vast majority of students." The same Cherwell report noted that the TRG had only 30 members, to OUCA's 720 {Link without Title} . Later that term, OUCA member Ken Owen wrote to ''Cherwell'', to complain about the ''Port and Policy'' evening he had attended the previous day. His letter implied that those attending had demonstrated "...snobbery, racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia..." in addition to "...proclaiming the divine right of Kings..." {Link without Title} . 2002 - Emily Wentz/Jamie Gardiner In 2002, claims about the validity the appointment as Returning Officer of Emily Wentz, girlfriend of the then-President, Jamie Gardiner, led to public disputes within OUCA, and to a "constitutional crisis" and a number of internal disciplinary tribunals. 1999 - Will Goodhand/Christine Hamilton In Trinty Term 1999, one of OUCA's junior officers, Will Goodhand, was photographed kissing Christine Hamilton during a drinking session which followed the OUCA termly dinner at which she and her husband, former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton , had been guests. The photograph appeared on the front-page of The Sun .. 1999 - Nazi Drinking Song |
|
|