The Special General Meeting of the OD Union
Updated 20 September 2026.
On 17 September, 122 Old Diocesans requisitioned a Special General Meeting of the Old Diocesan Union. Under the Union's constitution the Committee must now convene it. We have asked for notice within 14 days and for the meeting to be held within four weeks of that notice, with online attendance and voting. The date will be posted here as soon as it is set.
Why an SGM
The Old Diocesan Union belongs to its members. Its constitution says the Union exists to bring Old Diocesans together, to keep them connected to one another and to the School, and to support the School. It gives the Union no role in governing the School.
Over the past year the Committee has gone well beyond that. It wrote to Council to end the flying of the Pride flag. It backed litigation against a Rhodes Scholarship settlement the School had accepted. Some of the Committee objected to the School hosting an Iftar during Ramadan. It asked the members to change the constitution to give the Committee a formal role alongside Council, a change that has not been adopted. And through all of it, members of the Committee have run a WhatsApp group, and one of them an anonymous website, campaigning for one side of these questions while the Committee says it speaks for all Old Diocesans.
We tried hard to settle this without calling for a Special General Meeting. In July, with the backing of a ballot of our members, we first asked the Committee itself to hold fresh elections for every seat, and put a resolution to it for a formal vote. The Committee did not take it up, but we kept talking, including a three-hour mediated meeting in August, many calls and exchanges, and five drafts of a compromise document. The final version of that document, the so-called "Statement of Intention", was written by the Committee itself, and would have committed it to fresh elections for every seat, by worldwide electronic ballot, under independent returning officers, concluded at the 2027 AGM. In a second ballot, our members chose to give that process a chance rather than call a meeting. In the end, the Committee declined to sign its own document, and declined to give any assurances that it would keep within its mandate in the meantime. That left one route open under the constitution: a Special General Meeting called by the members themselves. It takes 50 Old Diocesans to call a SGM; 122 have elected to do so.
What the meeting will decide
Two resolutions, each needing a simple majority of those voting:
- That the members no longer have confidence in the Committee as a body, that its mandate is returned to the members, and that every elected seat falls vacant.
- That the Union's Executive Director runs a fresh election for every seat, open to every ordinary member worldwide, with nominations open for three weeks, a fourteen-day electronic ballot, and the results certified by the Vice-Presidents.
The resolutions are not directed at any individual and make no finding against anyone. They ask for nothing the Committee had not already proposed in its own draft Statement of Intention. They ask only that the election happen now, under the authority of the members.
How we got here
- 5 February 2026. An SGM requisitioned by 50 Old Diocesans passes a censure of Council over the Rhodes settlement, with most votes cast online in advance.
- 18 March 2026. At the AGM, three candidates stand for five Committee seats and are declared elected. Members joining online cannot hear most of the proceedings and are unable to vote.
- 23 June 2026. The Committee writes to Council asking for a flag policy that would end the flying of the Pride flag.
- 20 to 27 July 2026. Our first member ballot: 63 per cent ask us to invite the Committee to hold fresh elections now, with an SGM only if it refuses.
- 27 July 2026. We put a Fresh Mandate resolution to the Committee.
- 4 August 2026. A three-hour mediated meeting with the Committee.
- 20 August 2026. The Committee's third draft of its Statement of Intention.
- 24 to 27 August 2026. Our second member ballot: 73 per cent choose to work within the Committee's new structures towards fresh elections at the 2027 AGM, on the basis of that Statement.
- 1 to 3 September 2026. The Committee declines to adopt the Statement. We call for an SGM.
- 13 to 16 September 2026. Old Diocesans sign the requisition online.
- 17 September 2026. The requisition is lodged with the Committee, signed by 122 Old Diocesans.
What you can do
If you are an Old Diocesan, make sure you are on our members' roll so that we can send you the meeting details and remind you to vote, online, in person or by proxy. Tell other Old Diocesans. And if the resolutions pass, consider standing.