Eighteen months after the issue of Class Lists was catapulted into the spotlight by a petition launched by the Our Grade, Our Choice campaign, the saga may soon be at an end.

Members of Regent House – the University’s preeminent governing body – will be able to have their say on whether or not to abolish the publicly-displayed Lists from Monday, and will have until 8th December to cast their votes.

Regent House will be the final hurdle to clear for the proposals to abolish Class Lists, which have already been given the green light by the General Board of the Faculties and the University Council.

Last November, CUSU also backed abolition, with its Council voting 20 to zero in favour of scrapping Class Lists, with four Council members abstaining.

This vote established the policy of campaigning against Class Lists that was overturned by this term’s referendum, in which 55.23 per cent of students that voted sided with the Save The Class List campaign and mandated CUSU to instead campaign for an easier opt-out system.

Yes campaign binds CUSU to lobby for Class lists

Following the referendum, CUSU Council resolved to produce a fly sheet – a document circulated to members of Regent House before a vote – outlining the student union’s new stance and pushing for the retention of Class Lists.

The decision before Regent House, however, is simply whether or not to abolish Class Lists, and in order for the easier opt-out system that students voted for to be enacted, the plans to abolish Class Lists would first have to be rejected before either another vote or a revision of the University’s statutes and ordinances.

The latter of these possible scenarios hinges on the wording of a University ordinance that says the students need ‘good cause’ to opt-out of the Class List. What this currently means in practice is that students wishing to opt out must prove that inclusion on a public Class List would be “likely to seriously endanger their health or well-being”. However, the Save The Class List campaign have claimed this definition could be easily relaxed.

Though students voted in favour of retaining Class Lists with a simplified opt-out process earlier this month, it will be senior academics and administrative staff from across the University that will decide the future of Class Lists.