News

A student-run initiative is pushing for pay of at least £7 per hour for all College workers.

Dean appeals for help after a student was attacked over a Tibetan flag.

Tom Callard has said he will be issuing “a full apology” after JCR members proposed a motion of censure against him.

 

The student was attacked by protesters before being fined £80 by police.

Students coughed up more £10,000 for trashings last year.

Double standards in network enforcement have left many students angry.

Union President says that he doesn't want “needless controversy”.

Oxford University has come top of The Good University Guide's national league table for the sixth time in seven years.   Vice-Chancellor John Hood said: "Oxford’s top position is the result of the commitment and enthusiasm of our outstanding scholars and students, assisted by committed administrative and support staff."   The University also came first in the subject tables for Geology, Middle Eastern and African Studies, Music and Politics.   More from The Independent

An Oxford scientist, Professor Gero Miesenböck, has made female flies produce the male courtship song using remote brain control.   The brain control techniques, which Miesenböck pioneered 3 years ago, use a laser to trigger certain actions. The ‘song’, which flies make by vibrating a wing, is never produced by females, so the findings indicate an astonishing similarity in male and female fly brains.   “Anatomically, the differences are so subtle,” Miesenböck told the Telegraph, “How is it that the neural equipment is so similar, but the sexes behave so differently?”   Researchers suggest that fly brains may have a ‘master switch’ that determines male or female behaviour.

Magdalen College voted by 98 votes to 28 on Tuesday to reaffiliate to the student union.   The college has been disaffiliated since Trinity Term 2007. 

Despite being dubbed the 'quad squad', they can only enter colleges if invited. 

All Souls and University Colleges, and Steve Howell, Head of Transport for Oxfordshire County Council, have publicly taken swipes at each other over the issue of signage and buses on Oxford's High Street. News that the Council wished to site more bus stops on the High Street, including one possibly in front of All Souls main gateway, has prompted a scathing attack on the Council's "vandalism" of the street, with All Souls bursar Thomas Seaman deriding the Council as being more concerned with bus passengers than they are with the environment or those organisations situated on the High Street. The Warden of All Souls, Dr. John Davis also expressed concern over the pollution control monitor at the front of the college, that he says the Council said was only temporary. Howell's reply cites the improvement in paving and road surfaces, and a claimed de-cluttering of signage as evidence of the Council's commitment to the welfare of the High Street, and cit

Tansey considering calling off event in light of Kidscape's comments.   UPDATE: Talk cancelled

Isla Kennedy slipped on ice during OTC trip.

A man was charged following the sexual assault of a 20 year old woman in Cowley on 10th April. Mark Edwards, 49, is said to have approached the woman from behind as she was walking along the Cowley Road at around 2am. He is alleged to have threatened her and forced her into the alleyway where he sexually assaulted her. Edwards is due to appear in Oxford Crown Court for a Preliminary Hearing on Friday 18th April. The police were unable to confirm whether the victim was a student.

Six new genes relating to type 2 diabetes have been discovered by scientists. Each gene increases the risk of diabetes by around 10%. The discovery followed a study carried out by  Nature Genetics involving 90 researchers and gathering genetic data from over 90,000 people. Diabetes affects over two million people in the UK and according to Simon Howell (Chairman of Diabetes UK),  “This research offers new opportunities for more effective ways of treating and preventing this condition.”

The University of Cambridge is proposing to abolish its admissions’ requirement for a grade A to C in a foreign language at GCSE, to attract more students from state schools. As national curriculum changes have meant a foreign language is no longer compulsory after 14, there has been a 30% drop, resulting in only half of pupils taking a foreign language to GCSE. Only 17% of state schools now enforce it. Cambridge is currently the only university with this requirement and as of next September proposes to leave the decision to individual departments.

One of Britain’s best loved butterflies, the small tortoiseshell, is under threat according to research which shows how numbers have plummeted by 80% in the last 20 years. Conservationists believe that the sturmia bella fly is to blame, because it lays its larvae inside the caterpillar until it cocoons. Dr Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation, told The Daily Mail that he was “deeply concerned”.

"The nicest touch was the shopping trolley we found in my friend George’s room"