Chris Lillycrop, former Chair of CUSU Council, resigned Wednesday afternoon after a controversial week for the Student Union’s democratic setup.

The resignation was prompted by the “unusual activities of the past few days,” which resulted in a CUSU Extraordinary Council taking place last night. Lillycrop also cited personal considerations in his resignation statement.

The Thursday meeting’s motion, which passed by a comfortable margin, proposed a “more formalised relationship between CUSU and the Graduate Union”, involving sabbatical representation for graduate students, and a full-time “caseworker”, who would free the Welfare and Graduates sabbatical officer’s time by dealing with welfare issues.

Concerns were raised, however, over the closed nature of discussions between sabbatical officers and the GU, and the lack of consultation given to the council and the Democracy and Development team which Lillycrop chaired.

Although CUSU sabbatical officers stressed that the motion was “not prescriptive” and merely grounds for continued democratic consultation, Lillycrop said aspects of it were examples of “fundamental dishonesty”. He asserted that the Sabbaticals’ opposition to dropping certain clauses, which concerned a change to CUSU’s electorate, proved they “did not mean what they said” about wanting to hear students’ opinions.

The issue was an element, he said, of why he “had to resign as chair”.

It seems that Lillycrop’s decision was further motivated, however, by fears that personal relationships could affect his role.

“Due to a close personal relationship with one of the sabs, I no longer felt able to fully commit myself to defending the interests of Council,” he said in a statement.

“This had not previously been problematic, but it became so when I was compelled to strongly advise the sabbatical officers at a time of heightened stress about the nature of their relationship with Council.”

Although he initially declined to comment on his resignation, Lillycrop issued a statement after news that Tom Chigbo had given JCR Presidents misleading reasons for the resignation.

“Out of a desire to protect CUSU’s reputation, it had been my intention to refrain from giving comment to the press on my resignation, but I was forced to abandon this position by the unfortunate fact that several JCR Presidents had an incorrect impression as to my reasons for resigning,” Lillycrop said.

“I was disappointed to find out that Tom Chigbo had been telling JCR Presidents that my resignation was unconnected to the Extraordinary Council, although I trust Tom in his assurances that this was not a deliberate implication on his part.”

As well as the reform of the relationship between CUSU and the GU, last night’s Extraordinary Council motion took care to stress the importance of consultation with Council and the Democracy and Development team, of which Lillycrop was a part. The motion resolved to “mandate the CUSU sabbatical officers to work with the Democracy and Development team in relation to possible constitutional changes and long-term development.”

Despite the controversy, many of those present at Thursday night’s meeting were pleased with the motion. “Despite many voices slowing things down, it was great to see some progress” said Gonville and Caius JCR External Officer, Hugo Hickson.

Who’s Who at CUSU

The CUSU Executive exists to carry out the mandates of CUSU Council, the governing body of CUSU. It is divided into groups of representatives, each focusing on particular areas of activity, including Democracy and Development, Welfare, and Ethical Affairs. Most teams are headed by sabbatical officers, who attend weekly Coordination meetings to organise the Council-mandated campaigns. There are currently six sabbatical officers, who are elected annually to work full-time for the Student Union. Any student may propose a motion to the council, which comprises representatives from JCRs, Faculties, and autonomous campaigns, as well as the CUSU Executive. Of the sabbatical officers only the Women’s Officer sits on the council.

The Graduate Union works separately from, but in complement to, CUSU, and is made of elected officers who each hold their posts for one year.