At Pembroke’s JCR meeting, a motion was proposed to signal the commencement of every JCR meeting with a song entitled ‘The JCR Theme Tune’, composed by two Pembroke students. The two students in question were Pembroke’s own JCR President, Joseph ‘DJ’ McShane, and their JCR Treasurer, Nathan Wragg. The motion was passed with one amendment. 

The motion was proposed by the Pembroke Publications Officer, Millie McLuskie, and seconded by their JCR Vice-President, Charlotte Lanning. McShane, explaining the origins of the motion, told Cherwell, “Ready for the Fresher’s arrival in 2015, Myself and the JCR Treasurer Nathan Wragg composed a brief (but excellent) Garage- Band song to accompany our almost cultish JCR Committee introduction video. 

“I sneak this song into all my bop sets – however, it usually falls upon ears that do not recognise it. It was from here that the motion was proposed.” 

Despite overwhelming support for the idea of a theme tune, JCR President and composer ‘DJ’ McShane proposed an amendment. McShane suggested hosting a “Garage- Band or Windows equivalent” competition to decide the JCR Theme Tune for the coming year. Wragg and McShane have stated that they intend on entering their original. 

McShane continued, “The winning mix has to have a ‘radio edit’ that will be used to open JCR OGMs, and an ‘Extended Bop Mix’ that will of course be played at every bop.” 

The motion described the composition by ‘DJ’ McShane and Nathan Wragg as a ‘stellar composition’ and noted that it should be ‘‘more widely used in JCR aff airs (it being sadly overlooked during DJ McShane’s bop sets by amateur ears.)” 

A Pembroke second year told Cherwell, “ I feel this motion is a bit silly. It is naturally very funny. But silly, nonetheless. Suppose being silly never hurt anyone though.”

Students at Jesus College, Cambridge, have voted to repatriate a bronze cockerel statue to Nigeria, which was dubbed by one student the “New Cecil Rhodes.”

The cockerel currently holds pride of place in Jesus College’s dining hall and reflects the three cockerels’ heads on the College’s official crest. It was given to Jesus College as a reference to the surname of founder John Alcock, the bishop and architect who constructed the college.

The statue is a Benin bronze, among hundreds taken by the British in the late nineteenth century from modern-day Nigeria.

The Jesus College Student Union Committee proposed the motion in an 11-page document entitled “Proposal to Repatriate Benin Bronze,” which argued that repatriation would be “both intrinsically and instrumentally good.” It went on to claim that returning the cockerel to the “community from which it was stolen” was “just”, and that “the contemporary political culture surrounding colonialism and social justice, combined with the university’s global agenda, offers a perfect opportunity for the College to benefit from this gesture.”

The motion was amended after Jason Okundaye, a member of the Benin tribe and a theology student at Pembroke, claimed the comical language was “disrespectful to Nigerian culture.”

The College commented, “Recognising that ethical issues are of great importance, Jesus College has structures in place through which these matters can be raised by its members. The request by students is being considered within these processes.”

Wiltshire police are set to spend a year examining the Edward Heath archive at the Bodleian Library as part of an inquiry into alleged sex abuse claims made against him. 

Civilian investigators are being recruited to sift through the private papers of the former Prime Minister in an inquiry that could cost millions.

Wiltshire police are advertising a year-long contract, which could be extended to double that, for four civilian investigators to join the team examining the archives. Successful candidates will be assisting the operation and will need to be a “proven investigator with a demonstrable record in the serious crime arena,” the advert said. 

Heath, who studied at Oxford University and was the president of Balliol JCR, went on to lead the Conservative government between 1970 and 1974, and took Britain into what was then the European Economic Community during his time as PM. He died over a decade ago in 2005 at the age of 89. 

The Bodleian obtained the private papers, including diaries and personal letters, in 2011. However, it has not had the financial resources to catalogue the 4,500 boxes of material which may lengthen the time-span of the inquiry. 

A full-scale investigation into at least seven allegations of abuse by Heath was provoked last year after retired officers claimed that abuse allegations were covered up in 1990s. 

Heath was originally associated with Operation Midland, which has failed to find evidence to substantiate one man’s claim of a paedophile ring in Westminster, and which so far has cost Scotland Yard around £2 million. 

The material is currently stored in the Bodleian’s book warehouse near Swindon. 

Detectives allegedly believe that private papers may reveal witness accounts or evidence that verifies claims. 

Heath’s principal private secretary, Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, who had been interviewed by detectives, told The Times that he was sure that the police were “barking up the wrong tree.” 

He stated that the allegations he was aware of were “totally tenuous and not credible” and that he couldn’t believe “that it is worth spending a lot of resources in this way to pursue somebody who’s dead”. 

Lord Armstrong added, “I very much regret the slur on Edward Heath and I always regret the consumption of public resources on this scale for what seems to be an unnecessary inquiry.” 

The Telegraph reported that Mike Veale, chief constable of Wiltshire police, wrote on his February monthly column for the Wiltshire police website that “our resources are under increased pressure and demand”, despite the decision to continue with the inquiry. 

Along with analysing the archives, detectives also want to question former political aids, household staff, musicians and guests who spent time at his house in Salisbury. 

Various claims have been made against Heath and investigated separately, including the allegation that he abused children on board his yacht, and a case the Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry is examining, which claims that witnesses to a court case were persuaded to withdraw their planned testimony against a brothel keeper, Myra Forde, in order to stop the exposure of Heath. These claims have so far either been undermined or dropped altogether. 

Wiltshire police are yet to respond to Cherwell’s request for comment, although they have previously told The Telegraph that they will not comment on an investigation in progress. 

The Bodleian Libraries told Cherwell, “The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford hold the papers of former Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath. The Libraries acquired the Heath archive i n 2011 with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. 

“It comprises 4,500 boxes and includes political papers from his time in office, in the shadow cabinet, as well as personal papers and general correspondence. Library archives will always be made available for police investigations on request.”

A collapse at Didcot A power station in South Oxfordshire Tuesday was responsible for the death of at least one person, with three others presumed missing.

Five more were seriously injured and taken to John Radcliffe Hospital. Their injuries have been described as non-life-threatening.

In a press statement made on Wednesday, Andrew Stevens, Director of Planning and Information at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said, “We can confirm that of the five patients brought to the John Radcliffe Hospital as a result of the major incident at Didcot on Tuesday, 23rd February, one patient was discharged last night, and three further patients will be discharged today. One other patient remains with us in a stable condition.”

Dr Bruno Holthof, Chief Executive of Oxford University Hospitals, added, “I would like to thank all our staff who responded so quickly and efficiently last night to the major incident. I would also like to thank patients and visitors to our hospital for their understanding and patience as we dealt with the situation.”

The Didcot A site has been in a state of disrepair and disuse since operations ceased in March 2013. Demolitions of its six cooling towers have been ongoing since last year.

The firm responsible for preparing the demolition, Coleman and Company, had never been responsible for taking down a power station previously.

In a corporate video posted to YouTube in December, project director Kieran Conaty said, “The client was made aware that this was our first power station – we’d never done anything like this. But we’re that type of a company that we learn to adapt.”

The search continues for the three who are missing after the accident. Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue service Chief fire officer Dave Etheridge said in a statement on Wednesday, “We are working with structural engineers and demolition experts to establish a safe way of working on site. In addition, the military is supporting the search for the missing people.

“They will be using a mini remote control vehicle to assist with the search for survivors at the site. This provides us with enhanced capability and their equipment and expertise will be invaluable.”

Professor Sally Mapstone, Oxford’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, has been announced as the next Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of St Andrews, a role she will begin in September 2016. She is replacing Professor Louise Richardson, who was in turn installed as Oxford’s new Vice-Chancellor in January. Mapstone will be the second female Principal in St Andrews’ history. 

Professor Mapstone took up the role of Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 2009, first for Personnel and Equality, then for Education in 2011. Since 1984, she has also been a fellow of St Hilda’s College, where her research focused on Older Scots literature, political literature and book history. She received her degrees from Wadham and St Cross colleges. 

Upon the announcement of the news, Professor Louise Richardson said, “I would like to thank Sally for the many invaluable contributions she has made to the University of Oxford over the years. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, she has been responsible for the University’s strategy and policies for teaching, learning, student support and admissions. 

“She has also led important efforts, both in this role and previously as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Personnel and Equality, to diversify the student body and the curriculum. I wish Sally every success in St Andrews. It is a wonderful University and I hope that she will be as happy there as I was.”

OUSU President Becky Howe, VP Graduates Nick Cooper and VP Access and Academic Affairs, Cat Jones, said jointly to Cherwell, “We’re really excited to hear about Sally’s new role: we’ve worked with her on a lot of issues, and she’s been a key advocate for student voice. We’d like to thank her for her support: most recently, she’s supported us on securing lecture capture and pushing for prelims feedback.” 

Speaking to the University upon the release of the information, Professor Mapstone said, “I will be very sad to leave Oxford after so many years, but am thrilled to be taking up the role of Principal of St Andrews. The focus on quality in education and student experience at St Andrews, its commitment to outreach, and its emphasis on independent-minded research all speak strongly to my own values. I have known the University for many years as a scholar of Scottish culture, and it will be an honour to be part of building its future.”

The Chancellor of St Andrews, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, also said, “I am delighted that we have been able to persuade Sally to graduate to St Andrews from Oxford! She is a scholar of considerable distinction and an inspired choice to lead St Andrews as it seeks to consolidate its place among the best universities in the world.”

Oxford University has stated that recruitment for Professor Mapstone’s successor will begin shortly.

Members of OUSU’s Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) are discussing plans to create a position of Tutor for Race in the University.

Wadham College already has its own Tutor for Race working as a member of the welfare team, but this project aims to guide all colleges towards more effective handling of BME students’ difficulties.

One of the problems frequently cited by students and staff of ethnic minorities in Oxford is the lack of a stable, trustworthy point of call, disabling them from communicating or reporting abuse. CRAE hopes that this will be changed by the creation of a university Tutor for Race. Yussef Robinson, who is BME Rep at St Hilda’s, told Cherwell, “Without these institutional roles exceptional and unrecognised levels of personal effort are required to combat racism. This places a huge burden on students and staff of colour. A Tutor for Race helps to alleviate this, that is why it’s so essential.”

Robinson added, “Racism is endemic within the University. Oxford has committed itself to diversity and yet has failed to enshrine anti-racist advocation at an institutional level.”

Dr Justine McConnell, currently occupying the position in Wadham, equally supports the idea of increasing the interaction between college and university student unions to respond to the problem of racism more directly. She mentioned Wadham’s Race Symposium held on 13th February this year as a successful example of collaboration between the two. She told Cherwell, “Colleges and the University working together seems to me likely to be the most effective approach. It seems to me that more interaction between groups concerned with racial equality is always a good thing.” She added,“That was one driving force behind the Wadham Race Symposium a couple of weeks ago. The event was organised primarily by three Wadham undergraduates.” As well as collaborating with the University Assessor Patricia Daley and the Chair of the Staff BME network, Nita Fisher, McConnell “also worked with those at other institutions, including SOAS, as collaboration and learning from each other is always a productive approach.”

CRAE told Cherwell, “As a wider student body, we are becoming more aware of racism being a serious problem at Oxford and that, as a result, many BME students report feeling uncomfortable and excluded, on account of their race or ethnicity. 

“It is equally clear that many BME students simply do not feel that there are sufficient effective channels through which they can report their experiences with racism (micro- and macro-aggressions alike) or raise concerns about race. 

“According to the CRAE 100 Voices report, 87.2 per cent of BME students would not feel comfortable discussing an issue of race with their college administration, and 60.9 per cent would be uncomfortable talking to their welfare team. 

“This is where the Tutor for Race comes in. At the moment, many BME students feel they have no point of contact with tutors, to address their concerns. 

“We envisage the Tutor for Race to act firstly as a contact and source of support for BME students – someone who can relate to these students. Secondly, they will act as a bridge between the student body and the college administration. This could include beginning conversations, with tutors and students at a college level, on decolonisation of the curriculum. 

“Equally important is the need for representation. The Tutor for Race does not need to be a person of colour (Wadham’s Tutor for Race, Justine McConnell, is white): after all, the fight for racial equality is one which we should all be part of. It does, however, need to be a person who will understand and represent BME students’ interests at Governing Body and push for race equality across the college, similar to the Tutor for Women role. 

“For racism to be countered, we need to be talking about race and other issues – a Tutor for Race, in collaboration with the student body, is a fantastic way for this to be achieved. Wadham is the only college with a Tutor for Race at the moment, but every college needs a Tutor for Race. Get in touch with us and help make that happen.”

University Chancellor Chris Patten has attracted controversy after writing an article in Project Syndicate entitled ‘The Closing of the Academic Mind,’ which criticises safe spaces and implicitly compares the actions of the Rhodes Must Fall movement with suppression of free speech by the Chinese government. 

Patten argues, “In the United States and the United Kingdom, some students and teachers now seek to constrain argument and debate. They contend that people should not be exposed to ideas with which they strongly disagree.” 

He adds, “Some people are being denied the chance to speak [by] so-called ‘no platforming’”, which he calls the “awful jargon of some clearly not very literate campuses.” He also identifies safe spaces for students as “an oxymoron in an academic setting.” 

He further comments, “Thomas Jefferson and Cecil Rhodes, among others, have been targeted” and that some activists think “history should be rewritten to expunge the names (through not the endowments) of those who fail to pass today’s test of political correctness. 

“Western students should think occasionally about their counterparts in Hong Kong and China who must fight for freedoms that they take for granted – and too often abuse,” he adds.

Yussef Robinson, the BME officer for St Hilda’s College JCR and an active member of the Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford campaign, told Cherwell, “For Chris Patten to compare RMFO activists in Oxford to assaults on academic freedom and freedom of speech is disgusting.” 

Robinson added, “Patten joins a long line of people who have responded to our calls for interrogation of Oxford and Britain’s imperial heritage with smears. We perfectly reasonably state the statue should be in a museum, imperialism should be better taught, and the faculty should include more students of colour. 

“Patten shouts down that we are totalitarian. Yet he fails to target the British state’s ongoing assault on academic freedom. Prevent legislation for him appears conducive to debate, while our engagement in literal debate is a threat to freedom. Perhaps he is afraid to criticise anyone in Britain more influential than students. “I extend our [RMF’s] invitation for Patten to attend a general assembly, or participate in a debate against us. Yet I feel he would rather smear students at the University where he is Chancellor than actually have to speak to us.”

RMFO is holding a General Assembly today for the organisation of RMF’s next action, which will be a protest march on International Women’s Day, 8th March. 

Other students have taken issue with Patten’s statement that “I would wager that I have been Chancellor of more universities than anyone alive today” because he was Governor of Hong Kong from 1992-1997, which meant he was Chancellor of every University in the city. This, he argues, is why he has, “Strong views about what it means to be a university and to teach, do research, or study at one.” 

President of OUSU Becky Howe told Cherwell, “As a former governor of a territory of the British Empire, the Chancellor clearly has more experience of colonialism than I do. However, his repeated comments about Rhodes Must Fall suggest that he has completely ignored the seven campaigning priorities of the movement. This is not just about a statue; it’s about institutionalised racism and our response to it as an institution.” 

But Jacob Williams, founder of Facebook discussion group Open Oxford and a free speech campaigner, said, “Whilst the comparison is hyperbole, the Chancellor is right to point out worrying similarities. Chinese officials censor ideas in the name of Marxist ideology, because they don’t accept that people can legitimately disagree with it. British students are doing the same thing with their own ideal of liberation from structural oppression. What one person calls structural oppression another calls a just social order.” 

The University of Oxford Press Office declined Cherwell’s request for comment.

Corpus Christi and Exeter College JCRs have come out in support of remaining within the European Union following motions in JCR general meetings which received pro-EU majorities. The Oxford Students for Europe campaign is planning to bring motions of support to Mansfield, Hertford, University, St John’s, Worcester and New throughout Sixth Week. 

A motion was proposed to Corpus JCR resolving to donate £100 to Oxford Students for Europe. Following an amendment, the motion passed included a resolution to gauge support of the pro-EU cause within Corpus Christi JCR before donating the money. 

Subsequently, a referendum in Corpus JCR in support of remaining in the EU passed with 90 per cent support and a turnout of 90 people. 

Redha Rubaie, a member of Corpus JCR who seconded the motion, told Cherwell, “We ought to try to attain funding from JCRs because the EU referendum is something which transcends the traditional political divide between left and right. Through leaving the EU, it can be argued easily, the welfare of students at the University will be put at risk. 

“I am very happy with the result of the referendum, with 90 per cent of all students who voted arguing that we ought to stay within the European Union. This shows that Corpus wholeheartedly supports the internationalist and cooperative approach to multinational issues that is a defining feature of the EU.” 

The Oxford Students for Europe campaign indicated its support for Corpus Christi’s motion and the like in other JCRs, telling Cherwell, “We are very pleased by Corpus Christi JCR’s decision to support remaining in the EU, which reflects the strong support for the in campaign we have seen among Oxford students. It is great to see JCRs engaging in the issue of the referendum and we hope to see many more student organisations participating in the debate over the coming months.” 

Exeter College JCR followed suit on Tuesday, voting to “affirm its support for continued UK membership of the European Union” and to, “Provide the Oxford Students for Europe campaign with £100 to campaign to Remain in the EU,” with 38 in favour and 15 against. 

Sam Slater, a member of Oxford Students for Britain from Exeter College, made a speech during the committee meeting raising concerns with the EU motion. Explaining his concerns to Cherwell, he said, “I really don’t think that JCRs should be funding either campaign in the referendum. Exeter JCR, at least, is constitutionally banned from supporting political parties due to its charitable status. 

“Whilst it was argued that Oxford Students for Europe is not a political party, it is a political group, as is Oxford Students for Britain, and both of us will be doing many of the things a political party does: canvassing students, distributing leaflets, and asking for votes. If it looks like a turd and it smells like a turd, chances are it’s a turd.”