The Oxford Student Union is set to vote this week on whether the body should hold a vote on disaffiliating from the National Union of Students (NUS) in the wake of Rebecca Tuck's shocking report into antisemitism.
The resolution proposed to the union's Student Council would, if passed, mandate that a referendum for all students be held on whether the union should remain affiliated to the NUS and continue its annual contribution of nearly £25k.
The resolution has been put forward by Ciaron Tobin and Mundher Ba-Shammakh; two students who have both been delegates to NUS for the past year. Mr Tobin is currently President of the Magdalen College JCR (student representation body), and Mr Ba-Shammakh studies Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Pembroke College.
In the resolution, they write that "saw first hand the value of the NUS" as part of their work as delegates, but they have also seen "the horrendous issues the NUS has continually been associated with, not least the long-term antisemitism of the body."
The resolution calls for Oxford Student Union's affiliation to the NUS to not be renewed for one year, "until the NUS is a body that truly represents all."
The Student Council, composed of over 250 Oxford student leaders, will also vote on a resolution to remain affiliated to the NUS as the union is obliged to consult its members annually on all affiliations.
Should both resolutions pass, the one mandating a whole student body referendum will take precedence, and it would have to take place with eight term-time weeks, according to an explanatory note in the session's agenda, published on Friday.
The session discussing the motions will take place on Tuesday evening and the results of the vote will be announced on Thursday evening.
On Thursday last week, the NUS published a long-awaited independent report into antisemitism at the national student union, following a months-long investigation by Rebecca Tuck KC.
The report branded the NUS a “hostile environment” for Jews, and found that the organisation had consistently ignored and dismissed antisemitism, often demoting complaints because of bias over the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
It quoted testimony from Jewish students in detailing a vast number of alarming and widespread instances of antisemitism. They felt “reduced to being only ‘the Jew’ in the room” and that they were “treated as a pariah at NUS events”.
In reaction to the report, the Oxford JSoc president is quoted by the Oxford Student newspaper as having said: “The report confirms, as Jewish students have long been aware, that the NUS has a problem with antisemitism. We very much hope that NUS use this report as an opportunity to alter the hostile environment that it has created for Jewish students, by following the recommendations made by Rebecca Tuck”.
The NUS itself described the 100-page report as “a detailed and shocking account of antisemitism” and has pledged to implement the KC’s recommendations in full. It has published a detailed action plan that it is consulting on this month before the implementation begins.
An NUS spokesperson welcomed the “clarity [the report] brings to enable to us to act with confidence to tackle antisemitism head-on.
“Our priority now is to take forward the recommendations from Rebecca Tuck KC’s independent report to ensure that there is a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism across the breadth and depth of NUS."
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