Wellington Square Watch:

„für gemäßigten Fortschritt in den Schranken der Gesetze und Universitätsatzungen bzw. -ordnungen.“

Changes to university statutes and regulations, to pass on 17 June, and to take effect from 1 September, will ban the slightest dishonesty or disruption to university activities, permit urgent bans from university facilities when it is not urgent, and allow IT bans ‘pending a determination’—with no right of appeal or requirement of notice. Read more in our report.

WSW demands statutes that make sense. Find us on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

WSW scrutinises the bureaucracy of the University of Oxford. It seeks to promote, through lawful means in the fullest conformity with the statutes and regulations of the university—

• academic freedom;
• the democratic usages of the university, including the powers of Congregation;
• administrative accountability; and
• sound governance.

Updates and statements.

23 January 2025 · Following a vote in Congregation, a working group was charged with the redrafting of the proposals. WSW will submit evidence (draft) to the working group. In our view, the working group has made commendable changes: it is now seriously engaging with the text of the proposals, and has improved some of them. But much remains to be done. The current text could—

1. prohibit singing in a college-organised concert if it would disrupt a nearby tutorial,
2. prohibit a gay student from claiming to be straight to avoid outing themselves in a college bar,
3. allow Council to improperly interfere in disciplinary bodies’ proceedings in individual cases or to imoproperly seek to procure a certain outcome by the inducing of their members by changing the rules of procedure, and
4. allow seemingly arbitrary withdrawals of access to IT facilities even before disciplinary cases are properly heard.

In light of these difficulties, the draft evidence makes a number of recommendations.

11 June 2024 · Council concedes temporary defeat but is still in denial.

10 June 2024 · Oriel’s Junior Common Room denounces proctors’ charter of disciplinary amendments, backs Wellington Square Watch.

9 June 2024 · Wellington Square Watch announces findings of analysis of proposed disciplinary amendments.