Corpus Christi undergraduates voted to continue their seven-year disaffiliation with CUSU in a referendum this weekend.

82.96% voted ‘No’ to the question “Should Corpus JCR affiliate to CUSU?”, 15.56% voted ‘Yes’, and 1.48% abstained. 47.5% of the total student body cast their vote. The margin of 91 votes of a total 135 votes cast was wider than in Michaelmas 2016, where disaffiliation passed with a margin of 80 votes.

Corpus’ JCR has remained disaffiliated from CUSU since a referendum held in 2010, primarily due to concerns about the efficiency of the college’s financial relationship with the student union. The college’s student body vote on the question of reaffiliation annually. For the JCR to reaffiliate with the council, a majority must vote in favour and a quorum of 40% must be reached.

Corpus students are still individually members of CUSU and have access to its support services, despite their JCR not paying affiliation fees. This may change, however, as CUSU and GU seek to implement a block grant scheme where disaffiliated colleges will be required to pay a set annual ‘levy’ proportionate to the size of their student body.

In addition to the annual referendum, the Corpus JCR constitution mandates that a debate must take place on a yearly basis. The debate on whether Corpus should reaffiliate took place last Tuesday, where CUSU President Daisy Eyre and CUSU Welfare & Rights Officer Micha Frazer-Carroll argued that a vote to reaffiliate would send a message of support from Corpus for the work CUSU does. The anti-affiliation side, represented by Corpus Gender Equalities officer Cici Carey-Stuart and Corpus third-year Samuel Deutsch, posited that the Corpus JCR could provide similar services more effectively and at a lower cost than CUSU.

Corpus Christi College and Gonville & Caius College are the only two Cambridge colleges whose Junior Combination Rooms are disaffiliated from CUSU.