Breaking: Oscar Bai not a USU Member, Ceases to Hold Office.

Ellie Stephenson reports.

Oscar Bai has ceased to hold office under section 7.5a(i) of the USU Constitution, which states that “A Director shall cease to hold office if that Director ceases to be a member of the USU”. The USU discovered Bai was no longer a member of the organisation on 15 May 2020, when they were checking the voting roll for this week’s Board Election. After he was given an opportunity to prove “some basis of eligibility to USU membership”, the organisation was nonetheless “fully confident that Zizheng Bai is not a member of the USU”. 

Upon legal advice, the USU determined that Bai could not simply pay his membership fee now in order to resume the position of Director. Rather, a vacancy opened when he did not pay his membership fee and therefore ceased to be a Director as of 1 January 2020.

The USU Board will now have an extra vacancy, which will be filled by whichever candidate comes sixth in the upcoming 2020 Board Election. That candidate will serve the remaining year of Bai’s term, beginning from the official announcement of the election result (whereas the other candidates do not start until 1 July). This means that six of the nine candidates will now be successfully elected, perhaps calming the candidates’ election week nerves a little. However, the quota for counting votes will not change this election, as Bai’s replacement will be the “highest polling unelected candidate”. 

This comes after a tumultuous week for the USU: Pulp also broke the news that USU CEO Alexis Roitman resigned after six months with the organisation. It also follows less-than-satisfactory performance from Bai as a Board Director. He was censured at the last regular Board meeting due to his poor attendance, which required him to forgo his Director’s honorarium and make a formal apology. He had previously received warnings from the Board Executive on the matter. 

Bai, who was the only postgraduate candidate in last year’s Board Election, also served as the Disability Portfolio Holder. The USU extended its thanks to Bai for his contributions over his five months as an eligible Board Director.

Update (as of 9pm 13 May):

Oscar Bai contacted Pulp with a statement expressing the belief that he had been discriminated against by the USU. He told us that he “was intending to commence further studies but this was impacted by the COVID-19 situation” and that the “extremely limited time frame to respond to this matter, and having not been provided with any options to resolve the issue” meant that he felt unsupported by the USU Executive. He added that “due to the failure of the executives and the HR to provide me with sufficient notification that my membership had expired, I feel that I am been treated with bias [sic]”. He also lamented the lack of avenues to appeal the decision and make his “voice heard”.

Pulp understand that Oscar was given three days to respond and that each Director has an obligation to ensure compliance with the Constitution and Regulations as set out in the Directors’ Duty Statements. The USU Board and USU staff are not responsible for notifying a person that their membership has expired, nor do they ordinarily do so. The USU followed external legal advice on the matter.