Oxford University Student Union - Former Presidents

Former Presidents

• 1971 – Emily Wallace was elected OUSRC president, the first president of Oxford students to be officially recognised by the University.

• 1973 – Michael Sullivan became the first sabbatical president of Oxford students and the first president of the renamed Oxford University Student Union.

• 1982 – John Grogan became the first president to succeed in obtaining a seat for students at the University's governing council, in June 1983. He and two other students chosen by OUSU became observers for most of the council's agenda, and this practice was enshrined in the University's Statutes, Decrees, and Regulations.

• 1993 – Akaash Maharaj became the first ever visible ethnic minority president and also the first president from overseas (Canada). He helped lead a successful national campaign that thwarted a 1994 government bill to restrict the ability of students' unions to comment on public policy issues and that contributed to the ultimate dismissal from Cabinet of the then Secretary of State for Education, John Patten.

• 1998 – Katherine Rainwood became the only known president to resign from office, leaving only days into her term of office after having been found by the University Proctors to have used "unfair means" during her Finals.

• 2003 – Will Straw carried out protests against the government's introduction of tuition fees for students, despite his father Jack Straw being a senior member of the government of the day. Before coming up to Oxford, Will Straw had made headlines for receiving a formal police caution for drug-dealing.