Conference Agendas

Date of Meeting:  

3rd March 2026 6pm - 8pm  

Location:  

HB Allen Centre (near Keble)  

Chair:  

Shermar Pryce (President for Community & Common Rooms)  

Deputy Chairs:  

JCR Deputy Chair – to be elected in room 

MCR Deputy Chair– to be elected in room 

Agenda  

Item A  

Introduction:  

• Introduction of HT W7 Conference of Common Rooms   

Item B  

Governance Matters:  

• Approval of CCR HT W3 Minutes  

Item C  

Matters Arising  

• Officer Updates  

• Officer Action Log  

Items for Discussion  

Need to submit an amendment?  

Please ensure that these are submitted no later than 10AM Monday 2nd March 2026. 

Submit your amendment 

Item D  

Wider Student Access to University Committees  

Proposed by: Queen's MCR President (Passed at Queen's MCR Meeting in Michaelmas 2025) 

Decision Type: Conference Mandate 

Presented by: Queen's MCR President 

Proposal  

To require the SU to lobby the University to widen attendance of non-Sabbatical Officers at key University committees. 

Which of the following aims does your motion or proposal hope to achieve?  

• Support the SU to build a collective voice between the Officers of the Students’ Union and the representative bodies of individual common rooms 

• Provide the views of students and a position deemed to be representative of wider students at the University of Oxford 

Conference Notes:  

• That the University Statutes and Regulations provide for student representatives on many key university committees, including (but not limited to) University Council. 

• Many of these committees (including University Council) have more than one seat reserved for Student Representatives.  

• Currently, all of the SU representatives at many of these committees are sabbatical officers. The “highest” committee that “ordinary students” currently sit on are the Divisional Boards. 

• At Cambridge, one of the attendees to University Council is an incumbent “lay” student, elected annually by the whole student populus.  

• That there is an upcoming university-led review of the ‘University Policy and guidance on Student Engagement’, which the SU will contribute to as the principal driver of student representation on these committees. 

Conference Believes:  

• That Student Representation would be strengthened by having both current students and sabbatical officers on key committees, particularly University Council, especially students who are not involved in the quotidian affairs of the SU. 

Conference Resolves:  

• To mandate the SU to lobby the university to widen the presence and attendance of non-sabbatical officers at key University committees where multiple positions are reserved for student representatives, including (but not limited to) University Council. 

Equality Impact Assessment: 

• Stated as net positive impact for all listed demographics 

Item E 

University Providing Guarantor Service for International Students 

Proposed by: Wadham MCR Seconded by: St Antony’s GCR SU President for Communities and Common Rooms SU President for Postgraduates SU President for Welfare, Equity and Inclusion   

Decision Type: Conference Mandate 

Purpose: 

• This motion mandates the Student Union to lobby the University of Oxford to establish a rent guarantor service for students lacking a UK-based guarantor by the 2026–27 academic year.  

• The proposal aims to mitigate the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which will ban upfront rent payments and remove the primary method international students currently use to secure private accommodation. 

This motion hopes to achieve the following aims:  

• Provide student-led direction for the Students’ Union work. 

• Gather the views of students and determine positions deemed to be representative of wider students at the University of Oxford.  

Conference Notes:  

• That from 1 May 2026, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 will prohibit landlords from requiring more than one month’s rent in advance as a condition of tenancy.  

• That while this provision is designed to protect tenants, it removes the primary workaround (paying rent quarterly or upfront) for students unable to provide a UK-based guarantor.  

• That this issue disproportionately affects international students, who constitute around two-thirds of Oxford’s graduate population (University of Oxford, 2024).  

• That a significant proportion of Oxford’s graduate students rent privately due to limited university/college accommodation, affordability, or personal circumstances.  

• That UCL, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Edinburgh operate in-house guarantor schemes, while Durham University and the University of Bristol partner with private providers like Housing Hand.  

• That Oxford currently provides no such service.  

Conference Believes:  

• That without the ability to pay rent upfront, there is a real risk landlords will decline to let to students who cannot meet guarantor requirements once the Act is in force.  

• That the guarantor requirement is already a substantial barrier, and legislative changes will make this considerably more acute.  

• That without institutional intervention, this issue will affect Oxford’s ability to attract and retain the best international talent.  

• That the current situation places affected students under significant financial and psychological strain during their studies.  

Conference Resolves:  

• To mandate the SU to formally write to the University requesting the establishment of a guarantor service available to all students who lack access to a UK-based guarantor, aiming for operation by the 2026–27 academic year.  

• To mandate the SU to request that the University undertake a feasibility assessment of both models (in-house scheme vs. third-party partnership) and report back to the SU on its findings by the end of Trinity Term 2026.  

• To mandate the SU to work with college common rooms in the interim to compile and distribute guidance on alternative options available to affected students ahead of the Act’s rent-in-advance provisions coming into force on 1 May 2026. 

Item F 

University Email Preservation Motion  

Proposed by: Xiangyue Wang (St. Catherine’s MCR) 

Seconded by: Alec Elías Sigurðarson (Wadham MCR), Jessica Ryan-Smith (Lincoln MCR), Jairus Tristan Patoc (Somerville MCR), Marcell Szakály (Merton MCR), Nick Lang (Keble JCR) 

Decision Type: Conference Mandate

Proposal:

The motion mandates the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the permanent preservation of students’ university emails, or to allow alumni to set up forwarding from their old university address to an Oxford alumni address.

Conference notes that: 

• The Oxford University email for undergraduate and graduate full-time students expires three months following the expiry date of your SSO.  

• Many prestigious universities – including the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, , University College London,, University of California,, New York University, and Rutgers University – allow students to keep their university email for life at little to no cost, or allow the students to transition to an alumni email. 

• Until as recently as 2021, Oxford graduates had the option of creating an Oxford alumni email address, which would forward emails to their existing personal email address. That service is no longer active as of 2026. 

Conference believes that: 

• Postgraduate students' academic and professional identities are inherently linked to their university email. While updating ORCID contact information is fairly straightforward, in many cases, direct contact information is provided in publications, conferences and more. Given that students are unable to set up automatic forwarding, losing access to their Oxford University email can sever their link to their journal publication, vital networks and potentially lead to missed opportunities - both of which are important for those in their early careers. 

• Although the University of Oxford retains policies regarding data transfer, in practice, students may resort to downloading their email inbox and/or content of their OneDrive to their private devices to preserve past emails, important conversations, and key contacts – posing a data security risk to the university. In some cases, actions like this could result in a breach of data protection laws when transferring emails concerning sensitive research or data. 

• Continued access to the university email post-graduation will strengthen the university’s alumni outreach, as graduates are more likely to stay connected with the university, their college, and any university club/society/organisation after graduation, and the university can easily reach out to alumni via the university email.  

Conference resolves to: 

• Mandate the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the permanent preservation of students’ university emails, or to allow alumni to set up forwarding from their old university address to an Oxford alumni address. 

Item G 

Oxford SU 15-minute sessions on:  

1. Student loan reform (President for Welfare, Equity & Inclusion) 

Below the Line  
These are items which will not be discussed unless requested.  
Members can request a discussion by request to the Chair (supresidentccr@oxfordsu.ox.ac.uk).  

The following motions did not pass at the previous Conference of Common Rooms due to not meeting quoracy. They will be submitted for CCR vote again without debate unless requested.  If we do not meet quoracy a second time the motions will be deemed to have fallen.  

Item H 

No motions below the line.  

AOB: 

• CCR Voting review (President for Communties and Common Rooms) 

• Is the current timeline appropriate? 

• Does the current timeline allow for meaningful common room membership engagement? 

• Where would you like to see us communicate CCR activity such as promoting the event, publishing successful motions and sharing call to actions (ASE, website, social media)?  

• JCR/MCR Committee Reward and Recognition from colleges, call to engage.