Campaigning has opened today for CUSU’s referendum on their stance on the public display of Class Lists, with the vote to take place next week.

The referendum, which will run from the 1st - 3rd November, will pose the question: “Should CUSU campaign to keep the Class Lists, with an easier opt-out process?”

The official No campaign, announced yesterday, will advocate for CUSU to maintain its current stance, which is for total abolition of publicly displayed Class Lists. 

The referendum will be conducted according to CUSU’s constitutional rules, which mean that the Yes vote will pass if it receives a simple majority, and over 10 per cent of the total eligible vote, or 2,362 votes. 

CUSU’s current stance on the issue, in support of total abolition, was decided after a unanimous vote on the subject at a CUSU Council meeting in November 2015.

This vote followed a petition by the ‘Our Grade, Our Choice’ campaign. It called for an easier opt-out system for Class Lists, arguing that they “completely ignore the right of privacy for Cambridge students, and their welfare.”

Their petition, which condemned Class Lists as promoting “a culture of grade shaming”, gained over 1,300 signatures.

In April this year, Varsity revealed that the General Board of the Faculties had requested that a proposal be put to the University Council recommending the complete abolition of Class Lists, a move welcomed by ‘Our Grade, Our Choice’, who called it “the final step in ending an archaic and outdated system.”

In response to this, however, a pro-Class Lists campaign was established. ‘Save the Class List’ launched a petition calling for a referendum on CUSU’s stance on the matter, arguing that its decision to support abolition was taken “without students being consulted.”

In July, the campaign announced that it had exceeded the 350 signatures required to force a referendum of the student body, triggering next week’s referendum.