Oxford University and India
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Oxford Student Union
2021: Rashmi Samant, elected president
February 13, 2021: The Times of India
K’taka girl is Oxford student union prez
1st Desi Woman To Head Body; Bags More Votes Than Rivals Combined
Manipal:
Rashmi Samant, from Manipal in Karnataka, was elected president of the Oxford Student Union on Thursday — becoming the first Indian woman to occupy the postition. The alumna of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), MAHE, bagged more votes than the combined count of the other three contestants.
An MSc student in energy systems at Linacre College, Oxford University, Rashmi received 1,966 of the 3,708 votes cast for president. The student union election this year saw a record turnout of 4,881 students who cast 36,405 votes for all posts combined.
Rashmi has listed four main priorities: decolonisation and inclusivity, Covid interventions for all, access to quality mental health resources and decarbonising the university. According to her manifesto, Rashmi intends to lobby the university and Conference of Colleges to remove all statues proven to be imperialist, including that of Christopher Codrington, a Barbados-born colonial governor who attended Christ Church College in 1685. She has also sought residency requirements to be waived till WHO declares the end of the pandemic.
Daughter of Vathsala and Dinesh Samant, Rashmi did her schooling in Manipal and Udupi. Dinesh is a businessman at Parkala near Udupi while Vathsala is a home-maker. Rashmi completed her graduation in mechanical engineering at MIT (2016-2020) and was technical secretary of the student council at MIT. Rashmi was largely behind the launch of Manipal Hackathon, an event to incubate modern digital solutions for societal challenges. She was also instrumental in initiating a number of constructive activities at the institute. As Oxford SU presidential candidate, she had said she wants to lobby to increase funding for mental health strategies and to convince the Conference of Colleges to divest from fossil fuels as soon as possible.
May: Anvee Bhutani elected president of OUSU
Naomi Canton, May 24, 2021: The Times of India
Anvee Bhutani, a Punjabi whose family is from Delhi, has been elected president of Oxford university student union (OUSU) in a by-election. The by-election took place after the previous winner, the first Indian female OUSU president-elect Rashmi Samant, from Karnataka, was forced to quit after a public apology she made for historic social media posts was not accepted by students.
Bhutani won by 655 votes after 11 stages of counting in a close contest with Yannis Baur, social secretary of the OU LGBTQ+ society, who got 649 votes. Bhutani is a second-year human sciences undergraduate student at Magdalen College. She is co-chair of the Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality, president of the Oxford India Society and treasurer of the Oxford Hindu Society, all of which came out with public statements condemning Samant, causing her to step down.
Bhutani, 20, was born in California and her family still lives there. “Oxford has historically been a place for the white elite to attend university, so to even be here feels like a great honour,” said Bhutani. In her manifesto, she had pledged to push for a more diverse curriculum at Oxford.
Samant resigns amidst racism row
NAOMI CANTON, February 18, 2021: ’’The Times of India
Indian president-elect of Oxford students’ union quits after racism controversy
LONDON/BENGALURU: Rashmi Samant, who became the first Indian woman to be elected president of the Oxford University Students’ Union, has stepped down following accusations of making “racist” and “insensitive” remarks online and on other forums in the past, including a reference to the Holocaust.
Rashmi, from Manipal, apologised in an open letter as soon as the posts emerged but as the clamour for her resignation refused to die down, she announced on Facebook that she has decided to quit as president-elect.
“Instagram was my campaign page so it got sent to everyone. You had to scroll down really far to see the posts. I don’t know who found them. I don’t want to judge others because I know how much it hurts to be judged,” she told TOI from Heathrow airport on Wednesday night before boarding a flight back home to India.
“I have received lots of anonymous emails. Who would not be upset? I kind of expected this because you hear stories that when something good happens it can get taken away,” the 22-year-old rued. “I do not hate any community. Everyone thinks I am a terrible person and I am not.”
She has since deactivated her social media accounts. In one of the posts that has been flagged by her critics, Rashmi is seen posing at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial in 2017. The caption reads: “The memorial *CASTS* a *HOLLOW* dream of the past atrocities and deeds…” Rashmi said that was her first trip to Europe. “I was young and I didn’t know better. I did not mean to be insensitive. I was trying to make a pun on words and I am a non-native English speaker,” Rashmi explained.
In another post of herself outside a Buddhist temple in Malaysia, she had written “Ching Chang”, upsetting Chinese students who perceived it as an offensive term mocking them. Rashmi said she had translated it as meaning “eating plants” and was not referring to Malaysians. “The picture was of me at a Buddhist temple doing ‘namaste’. I am a vegetarian so I found it funny as it was difficult to find vegetarian food there,” she said.
In her open apology, published in ‘The Oxford Student’, Rashmi wrote, “I fully acknowledge my shortcomings over the years and the past few days in my capacity as president-elect. I come to you with an apology and a willingness to learn.”
That wasn’t enough, though. “Despite writing an open apology, students did not think I was sincere enough. I could not see the point of starting the presidency when people do not trust me,” she said. Rashmi, who went to school in Manipal and Udupi and graduated from Manipal Institute of Technology, is a student of MSc in energy systems at Linacre College, Oxford University.
Her election to the student union post, barely a week ago, was toasted by her friends, classmates, teachers and politicians back home. Rashmi said her parents — Vathsala and Dinesh Samant of Udupi — are very proud of what she has achieved in five months at Oxford.
The student union expressed regret and said it has a no-tolerance policy towards discrimination. There will now be a by-election. “I hope someone wonderful wins,” Rashmi said.
