The President of the Oxford Union Society has been cleared of misleading members over termcard speakers, but has been found guilty of abusing his office by giving away free Union party rooms to his friends which should have cost hundreds of pounds.
Josh Roche, a student at Christ Church, was tried by a Senior Disciplinary Committee this week, and may also face a vote of no-confidence by members next Thursday.
The tribunal late on Sundayevening was informed that rooms were booked for birthday parties held on the 17th and 18th October, the latter hosted by two of the President's undergraduate friends.
As Union members, Roche's friends should have paid £180 for the rooms, but instead were able to use them for free, and paid £300 for security and a further £700 on drinks for their 150 guests.
No official sentence had been issued as Cherwell went to print, but the President is expected to be fined and reprimanded.
But the President was acquitted however of misleading members over the Union termcard, with the panel ruling that he had not known that high profile speakers such as actor Jude Law and former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing were unable to visit the Society.
Union member Sarah Browncross, a Theology undergraduate at Wycliffe Hall, had alleged that Roche had knowingly included speakers in the Society's termcard who were not coming.
Last week the Cambridge Union President Adam Bott wrote an open letter to Oxford Union members alleging Roche had purposely mislead Oxford Union members, following revelations in Cherwell in 3rd week that Jude Law, Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko were not coming to speak at the Society, despite being featured in the Union's Michaelmas termcard.
Roche argued that he had cooperated in good faith with the Cambridge Union to secure the speakers. He was unable to produce any written evidence that he knew the speakers were coming, but the panel heard Standing Committee members Nouri Verghese and Anna Williams both testify that they had heard the President having several phone conversations with officers at the Cambridge Union to try and confirm the speakers.
The President is expected to face a vote of no confidence at next Thursday's debate after Sarah Browncross, who brought the initial disciplinary charges against Roche, filed the motion on last Wednesday night.
If passed, the vote would be essentially symbolic, but Roche may resign if on the wrong end of an overwhelming vote by members.
The full reasoning behind the verdict is set to be revealed when the panel issue a full report into the hearing on Saturday.
Speaking after the panel delivered their verdict, President Roche said he was delighted to have had the chance to clear his name, and said he was thankful that the panel had not thought his rule violations serious enough to warrant expulsion from office.
"I am sorry that some speakers in my termcard could not come to the Union this term.
"But I have always said we did not lie, we did not set out to mislead members and we did not put speakers in the term card that we weren't confident would be delivered."
Regarding the panel's guilty verdict over Roche's room bookings, a Union spokesperson said, "Josh accepts that the panel found that procedures had not been correctly followed regarding room bookings for external events, and looks forward to the correct procedure being clarified by the panel."
Meanwhile, complainant Sarah Browncross said she was totally shocked by the panel's ruling and hoped Union members would be able to have their own say at a no confidence vote next week.
"I really believed that justice would be done and that people would see the truth, but I think the wrong decision has been made," she said.
"The only defence Josh had was 'I believed everything I was told,' but that just makes him an idiot and you don't want an idiot as President of the Oxford Union.
"Being Union President gives you so many benefits later in life, but he hasn't properly worked for the Society; he's just brought scandal after scandal."
"I didn't do this because I wanted to become some sort of crusader - I just didn't think it was right for members like me and my friends to be deceived.
"All of the members I have spoken to feel very angry and very let down by this entire affair."
