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Blog Page 11

In conversation with Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P)

By
Cherwell News
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Image Credit: Tom Gardner

A member of the Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) press team spoke exclusively to Cherwell at the protest outside the Sheldonian Theatre on Tuesday afternoon. The interview covered topics including OA4P’s response to last week’s arrests, their demands for the University, and their future plans. 

When asked about the organisation’s future plans, the spokesperson told Cherwell OA4P demands that: “the Vice-Chancellor meets our demands and meets us for negotiations. That is our number one priority.” They explained that future actions by the group will “all depend on her [the Vice-Chancellor’s] complicity and her silence…if she responds, we’re willing to meet with her.” 

The spokesperson continued: “OA4P is not just the encampment…we’re not stopping until we meet,” explaining that the organisation has long-term plans in place “because we do want our demands to be met in part of our tenures here.” 

Regarding the University’s response to their protests, the spokesperson told Cherwell: “It’s very clear that we have not been satisfied with any of the responses from the University, particularly the University calling the police on our protestors last week.” Speaking more directly in relation to the arrests of 16 students last week after a sit-in in University offices, they described the police’s response as “brutalisation”, calling the University “ignorant, complicit, and scapegoating [the protestors].” The spokesperson said that this response has “only fueled the fire in terms of how we [OA4P] act [going] forward.” 

Focusing on the reasons for the protest this afternoon, the spokesperson described how “there are no universities left in Gaza while congregation meets… our aim today is to support the faculty members who are bravely standing up against the genocide in Gaza.” They continued: “a lot of the questions being asked in the congregation has to do with divestment, not only in the genocide in Gaza, but largely in illgeal arms manufacturing”, describing the event as “a continuation against the genocide in Gaza.” 

In response to the arrests of OA4P protestors during their occupation of the Oxford University offices last week, they said that “protestors did not go into a peaceful sit-in expecting to be arrested.” However, she acknowledged the risks some protestors face, saying: “we have continuously advocated for people to assess their own risk levels, and whilst doing so acknowledge that we are the privileged ones, and that we are willing to use our time and resources if it means that we can help alleviate the genocide in Gaza.” 

The spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations that some members of the encampment had used antisemitic language towards some Jewish Oxford Students, in relation to the St Hugh’s JCR Vice-President’s resignation a few days prior. However, another member of OA4Ps press team pointed out that an open letter was sent by “senior Jewish professors” at the University, describing a “disapproval in the way Irene Tracey has been weaponising antisemitism against the student protests”.

Oxford Africa Conference 2024

By
Bryn Mollet
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Image Credit: chensiyuan / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This year’s Oxford Africa Conference, titled Charting Africa’s Path Forward: A Journey of Possibilities, took place from the 24th to 25th of May. The annual conference, hosted by the Oxford University Africa Society (AfriSoc), garners global attention and provides opportunities for experts, leaders, and students to exchange and develop ideas, endeavouring to drive Africa’s progress.

Raila Odinga, the former Prime Minister of Kenya, and Godwin Obaseki, the current Executive Governor for Edo State in Nigeria, were present at the Conference. They were joined by politicians, prominent CEOs, charity leaders, and business people from across the continent and globally, who shared their insights on the future of Africa. These included Aïda Ndiaye, head of public policy at Meta, and Naana Otoo-Oyottey, Executive Director of Forward UK, a charity aimed at ending violence against women in Africa. 

Economic development was a key point of discussion, with an emphasis on promoting entrepreneurship and the integration of AI into African economies. The conference also addressed the state of democracy in Africa, especially with regard to the phenomenon of democratic backsliding.

There was also a strong focus on problems around gender equality and female empowerment across African nations. Dr. Khetwise Dlamini, former chief of staff at UN Women, along with many other notable African female figures, all spoke. 

The topic of climate and sustainability received due attention, given that African states tend to be disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change due to their geographical location, which makes their agricultural sectors particularly sensitive to changes in global temperatures. 

An important part of the conference was the announcement of the Innovation Seed Fund (ISF) recipients. The ISF is an initiative that offers three grants of £5,000 to fund development, entrepreneurial, and research projects in Africa. This year, there was a new collaborative focus that sought partnership with leading universities from all regions of the continent. Recipients of the grant are also offered technical support and mentorship from Oxford University. 

All the projects must be put forward by students from Oxford or leading universities across Africa, and offer “innovative and scalable solutions” to current issues. These projects plan to  help farmers optimise water usage in agriculture, to improve healthcare access and affordability for chronic disease treatment through the employment of remote monitoring and analytics, and to improve the quality of menstrual health products.

Oxford researchers test AI tool to treat depression

By
Roy Shinar Cohen
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Image Credit: Aishia Simmons

A team of Oxford researchers are testing an Artificial Intelligence algorithm to help treat depression. The system, known as PETRUSHKA, aims to personalise antidepressant treatment for adults with major depressive disorder.  

Data unique to patients such as their age, gender, and symptoms are collected. This information is then used to recommend specific drugs based on previous outcomes for similar patients and preferred side effects.  

According to the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry, the two most important factors of the trial are the side effects and perceived efficacy of any prescribed medication. The PETRUSHKA team believes the new system could help choose the right antidepressant for each patient and improve treatment adherence. 

Professor Andrea Cipriani, Chief Investigator for PETRUSHKA, said: “We want to treat individuals, not averages. We want to be as precise as possible and identify the best treatment for each patient sooner based on what we know works for patients with similar characteristics.” 

The research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Nyla Haque, the Trial Manager for PETRUSHKA, said: “The study lasts 24 weeks in total but after eight weeks we will see how many participants are still taking the allocated treatment.” Haque explains this measure will tell the PETRUSHKA team how acceptable and well tolerated a treatment is. Haque added: “We will also collect information from the participants about their mood, anxiety, quality of life and any side effects during the entire duration of the trial.”  

Nearly nine million people in the UK are prescribed antidepressants every year, but, according to the PETRUSHKA team, approximately four out of five of them stop the treatment after several weeks. According to NIHR, Professor Cipriani said the reason for it is “In real world practice, antidepressants are usually prescribed based on the clinician’s knowledge.” 

Cipriani added that of all the antidepressants available, “nine times out of ten, GPs prescribe one of just four antidepressants.” According to him, this means that “patients may not get the treatment that would be most effective or sustainable for them.”  

The researchers are now looking for 200 volunteers to join over 500 people who have been used to test PETRUSHKA’s performance. People interested in joining the study must be between the ages of 18 to74 and agree to try antidepressants. After signing up, they will go through a screening process and, if found to fit the program’s requirements, could participate in person or remotely. 

Oxford History Professor donates prize money to the Ukrainian Army

By
Roy Shinar Cohen
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Image Credit: 401st_AFSB / CC BY 2.0 via Flickr

Oxford history professor, Timothy Garton Ash, was recently awarded the prestigious Lionel Gelber Prize 2024 and donated his prize money to the Ukrainian army. His most recent book, Homelands, which was awarded the prize, “tells the story of Europe in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.”

Garton Ash, St. Anthony’s Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, received approximately £29,000 in prize money. He has donated the full sum towards purchase of drones and night vision equipment for the Ukrainian army. 

Garton Ash visited Kyiv and Lviv this week for the presentation of the Ukrainian version of his book. While in Kyiv, Garton Ash said: “I can think of no better use for a prize received for a book about recent European history than to donate it towards equipping the Ukrainian Armed Forces for victory. Because nothing less than the future of Europe is at stake in this war.”

According to Come Back Alive, a charity to which Garton Ash donated the prize money, it was used to buy four DJI Mavic 3T quadcopters, ten thermal imaging monoculars, ten night vision monoculars and mounts for PNB, as well as four  Minox monoculars. 

Garton Ash told Cherwell he chose this equipment because it is what Come Back Alive, who are experts in aiding the Ukrainian armed forces, said they most needed. He added:“this war is different from all earlier wars because of the almost total visibility of the front line for both sides, given by such reconnaissance drones.”

Regarding the  decrease in focus the Ukraine War has recently received internationally and in Oxford, Garton Ash told Cherwell: “Our students are absolutely right to be deeply, deeply concerned about what is happening in Gaza, but I would ask them not to forget about what is happening in the Ukraine.” 

He added that the Ukraine War’s longevity and casaulty levels in the hundreds of thousands make it one of the most significant wars in Europe since 1945. “I hope people will want to pay attention to it too,” he said.

Aside from Homelands, Garton Ash has written ten books mostly about Europe and European history. Additionally, throughout his career he has contributed to The New York Review of Books, The Independent, The Times, and The Spectator.

Garton Ash was also a columnist on foreign affairs in the Independent and the Foreign Editor of the Spectator. Before receiving the Lionel Gelber Prize, Garton Ash received, among others, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Prix Européen de l’Essai and George Orwell Prize.

Jewish faculty critique Oxford University’s response to pro-Palestine protests in open letter

By
Cherwell News
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Image Credit: Adam Saxon

An open letter from Jewish faculty members addressed to Oxford University and the Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, was published on Monday 27th May in response to the most recent University statement on Oxford Action for Palestine’s (OA4P) protests. The letter disputes the University’s statement that the pro-Palestine encampment has established “an intimidating environment” for Jewish staff and students. 

The letter accuses the University of failing to engage in conversation with members of the Jewish community who support the encampments and protests. It describes how Jewish academics, who “reached out to you [the University] recently to propose a conversation” were “ignored”.

Twelve prominent Oxford academics from a range of departments and varying political stances signed the letter. It said they were all: “deeply disturbed by the rising tide of rhetoric conflating criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza with antisemitism, and by the use of this rhetoric to justify government interference in higher education and repression of student protest.”

The letter rejects the University’s portrayal of the recent Jewish experience at the University, and said: “We therefore object to the University’s reductive and misleading claims to speak on our behalf. The characterisation of Jews as a uniform mass with a single viewpoint is itself a common and insidious antisemitic trope.”

Oxford’s Jewish Students for Justice (JSJ) also released a statement addressed to Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey. JSJ stated they: “Call for the University of Oxford to explore alternative analyses of antisemitism which offer a more nuanced approach and connect the fight against antisemitism with the fight against all other forms of hate.”

The open letter from faculty members called on the University to learn from “students who have been urging the University to reckon with its complicity in the catastrophe unfolding.” It also refers to other institutions, including the University of Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin, who, according to the letter, have engaged in “meaningful, good-faith dialogue with protesting students.”

Cherwell have contacted the University of Oxford for comment. 

RIP Dante, you would’ve loved fanfiction

By
Liz Lane
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Image Credit: Quinn Dombrowski / CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons.

When the trailer for an adaptation of Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel The Idea of You came out last month, it set the internet ablaze. Within a month, it became the most-watched trailer ever for an original streaming movie. As word of the film spread online, one question abounded. ‘Is this film based on Harry Styles fanfiction?’

The film follows 40-year-old gallery owner Solène Marchand (played by Anne Hathaway) and her love affair with 24-year-old boyband superstar Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine). They meet when Solène, a single mother, escorts her daughter to Coachella and unwittingly finds herself in the trailer of the heartthrob Hayes Campbell. She does not recognise him, but he takes a shine to her and an immediate connection is formed. Hayes then pursues Solène, they fall in love and try to navigate the media storm that follows their relationship.

As soon as Lee’s book was published, it was connected with One Direction’s Harry Styles. Lee, who once admitted that Styles acted as something of a muse, has now expressed regret over the statement. ‘It’s unfortunate because it’s being used as clickbait,’ she told Entertainment Weekly, ‘and when I’m writing for Hayes, I’m not picturing Harry Styles.’ A debate about the degree to which The Idea of You can be considered fanfiction has since emerged. But Lee’s desire to distance herself from the genre says more about the derision that surrounds the label “fanfiction”.

Some people have traced fanfiction back to Star Trek zines created in the 1960s but its history dates back much further. If “fanfiction” can be defined as ‘stories written about TV, film, or book characters by their fans’, Virgil, Jean Rhys and John Milton can be considered some of its best writers. Paradise Lost, Milton’s epic 1667 poem about Adam and Eve in Eden? Bible fanfiction. Inferno, Dante’s poem detailing his own journey through hell? Self-insert fanfiction. Tom Stoppard’s modern classic Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead? Hamlet fanfiction at its finest. Authors tend to shy away from the term “fanfiction” because it is so frequently used in a derogatory manner but on a very basic level, the concept has always existed in literature.

Robinne Lee’s rejection of the label “fanfiction” may stem from a fear that her work and its themes would not be taken seriously if it is labelled as such. Talking to Vogue, Lee explained, ‘This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles . . . It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole.’ The Idea of You is, in many ways, a book about the ways in which ideas and people can be shamed by society. Solène, Lee’s protagonist is quickly labelled a “cougar” by the press when her relationship with Hayes goes public. The media is incredulous, appalled by the idea that a middle-aged woman could be an object of attraction to a younger and highly desirable man. Part of the book’s purpose is to prove that it is possible to rise above ideas unfairly ridiculed by society. Why can’t fanfiction, surely the most ridiculed subgenre of them all, do the same?

In recent years, work that originally started out as fanfiction has produced some of the biggest hits in the publishing industry. Most famous, of course, was E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, which started out as fanfiction based on Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight. Since then, Ali Hazelwood’s TikTok sensation The Love Hypothesis, which started out as Star Wars fanfiction about Rey and Kylo Ren, has taken the industry by storm. In the same year, Neil Gaiman defended the legitimacy of fanfiction online: ‘I won the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for an H. P. Lovecraft/Arthur Conan Doyle mashup fiction,’ he wrote, ‘so fanfiction had better be legitimate, because I’m not giving the Hugo back.’ S. E. Hinton, the author of The Outsiders, who has written fanfiction based on her own novel, similarly praised the genre, arguing that ‘two of the best stories I’ve ever read in my life, published or not, were fanfiction’.

The key word here is Gaimain’s: ‘legitimate’. Though fanfiction is undeniably a popular form, and one that can easily be found in the canon, it is still not taken seriously by the media at large. This, perhaps, is where Anne Hathaway comes in. Anne Hathaway is a multi-award-winning A-list actor, known for her performances in Interstellar, Les Misérables and, of course, The Devil Wears Prada. Not only does she have a proven track record as a film star but she’s also enjoying what has gleefully been dubbed as a ‘Hathaissance’ in the media. Praised on social media for her iconic performances and ‘unproblematic’ celebrity persona, Hathaway may well be at the peak of her powers. Her decision to star in The Idea of You gives the film and book a kind of legitimacy: a premium label that can only be found in the brand of Anne Hathaway.

So, will this turn the dial in turns of how we start to view fanfiction? The film, though not universally praised, has not been derided in the way that it might have been five years ago. Instead, it has been lauded as an enjoyable piece of escapism and was even described as ‘deceptively courageous’ by Empire. Love or loathe it, The Idea of You is a mainstream rom-com about an older woman finding love. She is not laughed at in the film, nor is she an object of pity. In its own quiet way, The Idea of You is doing what fanfiction has always done on the fringes of the internet: namely, provided a space for people to express their desires in a way that mainstream culture may not allow. Fanfiction, as we know, has always been an object of derision but when it starts to dictate the conversation as much as it has done recently, perhaps it’s time we stop dismissing it and start paying attention to all the bizarre and creative things it is capable of saying.

Greeting the Imposter

By
Ted Holbrook
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Image Credit: Ninara / CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr

Is an Oxford degree truly worth the stress? What really should be worn for a lounge suit dress code? (spoiler alert, reader: I still do not know). Whether it manifests in academic or non-academic form, imposter syndrome has been, and always will be a notable facet of my Oxford experience. Despite being told (albeit, in a well-intentioned way) by one of my tutors that I shouldn’t be feeling imposter syndrome at this point in my degree, it hasn’t been something that I can escape. 

I am a proudly state-comprehensive educated, first-generation student, and whilst some may jokingly claim my degree consists of purely colouring-in, that does not mean I’ve never felt out of my depth in a tutorial setting. I distinctly recall the feeling of not understanding any of the words one of my humbly intelligent peers used in one of my first tutorials. After working myself to the ground to understand the topic beforehand, I was so incredibly fearful about admitting I had no clue what was being discussed, and instead left after the hour was up without making a significant contribution. Swiftly following this, I arranged a video call with the only person able to reassure my tiny brain about why the hell I was offered a place here (thanks Mum). Whilst I had expected the chats about privilege and family background, as a relatively self-assured person in my academic work, this meeting with the Imposter really threw me;I had no idea how to deal with him. 

Speaking to my (eternally wise) mum made me realise that working with rather than against these fears is the way to go from meeting the Imposter, to greeting and welcoming his presence into your everyday life. When you interviewed at Oxford, someone saw your potential and will have gone some way to back your corner in admissions discussions. You were chosen as someone with the potential to succeed in this environment;it would be a shame to prove them wrong. 

Whilst you will never escape the Imposter, it is, in my view, important to find ways to recognise and celebrate your successes, your efforts, and your journey to get to where you are now. Battling the experience to produce results is incredibly rewarding. In the sweltering heat of my final Prelims exam, I came across a word in one of the essay questions and had absolutely no idea what it meant. Instead of forcing myself to answer a different question, I used this doubt productively, providing my own (questionable) definition for the term and structuring my essay around it. Whilst it was by no means the highest mark I have received in an essay, a meeting with the Imposter in this split second could have forced me to, abandon all knowledge I had and lowered my mark significantly; instead, I embraced the feelings of doubt, finding ways to adapt to the encounter amongst the stress. In this moment, I accepted my failures, let go of my hopes of writing a perfect response and cultivated something that was the best I could do in the circumstances.

Leaving the exam, I was reassured by the fact that others had found difficulty in understanding this term too. Everyone meets the Imposter. 

Whilst it is true that some struggle more than others, it would be unfair to claim that it is an issue isolated to a certain subset of students. Imposter syndrome is a real, felt, unavoidable reality for everyone. I am, however, highly aware that this account of the issue is personal to me and I wish to note that reader, I still often meet the Imposter in a non-academic context;  it is a continuous, dynamic process of learning, with no one-fits-all method to solving these dilemmas. 

Nevertheless, I hope that one day you can greet, rather than meet your Imposter, whoever he/she/they may be in your many future encounters. And when you do meet again, take time to stop, breath, notice, reassess and respond to whatever they throw your way.   

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune

By
Arav Bhattacharya
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Image credit: Astronimation/CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

In 1984, shortly after the epic finale to the (original) Star Wars trilogy was in theatres, David Lynch’s Dune treated audiences to, in the words of one critic, “one of the most confusing screenplays of all time.” In contrast, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune series has received high praise from fans and critics alike. So how did Villeneuve pull this off?

The challenge of directing a successful Dune movie starts with the dense source material. In the original Dune novel, with a reading length of over 12 hours, Frank Herbert builds an intricate world around the fight on the planet Arrakis, where a cadre of factions each fight for their own goals with varying levels of moral ambiguity.

The complexity of relationships between factions in Dune is what makes it so difficult to condense into a movie. Two to three hours is just not enough time to familiarise the audience with everything in the novel at a comfortable pace. Hence, the director has to decide what bits of the source material to cut out in order to capture the audience’s imagination.

This is the first place where Villeneuve shines: while Lynch tries his best to fit a majority of the novel into his film, Villeneuve purposefully omits some of the details of the book in order to underscore the details he does show. For example, Villeneuve omits a lengthy dinner hosted by the Atreides, freeing up the screen time for him to flesh out Lady Jessica’s character.

Additionally, David Lynch’s film relies on inner voice narrations to give key details to those watching the movie, and while these can be informative, they sometimes disrupt the pace of the film. On the other hand, Villeneuve’s films convey information to the viewer with a much more “show, don’t tell” approach. Villeneuve also aligns his films with Frank Herbert’s message in the original Dune series, namely that “the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.” Audiences still have to pay attention to fully understand what is happening in the new Dune films, but thanks to this reframing of the events portrayed, piecing together the subtleties of what the films convey is now much more satisfying.

One scene where Villeneuve’s approach is especially effective is when Paul rides Shai-Hulud. This climactic scene, after which Paul is fully accepted by the Fremen, is almost entirely dialogue-free. On top of that, our view of Paul trying to mount the beast of a sandworm is often obscured by sand. Despite not saying a single word, though, Paul’s growth is apparent to the viewer in this scene: he has become a confident desert warrior.

The new Dune films also look better. Not only is there better CGI, but Villeneuve experiments with film techniques to make the film look as convincing as possible. To emphasise the barrenness of the Harkonnen homeworld of Giedi Prime, he filmed the scene on that planet using an infrared camera. In conjunction with the decrease in dialogue, this new look more effectively presents the colossal scale of the planets in the movie. Hence it is not only the changes in pacing and tone that make these movies more immersive, but the greater care that was put into their visuals.

On the whole, the new Dune films are an example of a “less is more” approach gone right. By focusing on making a more cohesive whole rather than fitting in every detail from the source material, Denis Villeneuve has treated moviegoers to one of the best sci-fi experiences of this century.

Loaded Words

By
Glenn Armstrong
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Image Credit: PDM 1.0 DEED

Where now those sentences, those syllables,
Loaded like cannon balls on the field of Austerlitz?
Full of the weight and confidence
And destructive power of centuries
Of thought, they were.
If thrown, in seconds they would
Rip through that sheath of wary silence
And the meeting of unsure eyes
Across the battlefield. Much depends
On the ground, the air and the preparedness,
The steadfastness of those opposite,
But also on the surety of the gunman.
Primed himself, by himself, now
Confronted with the chance
To batter down those built illusions
Of peace, the weight of those cannon ball syllables
Returns. The prospect of their release
Had lightened their load on the journey,
But merciless gravity held them now
In the barrel of his throat.
Their choking weight would leave for a moment only,
Returning inevitably with a thudding and crushing
Upon impact. They could not be delivered.
The ground was wrong, the air too quiet.
Peace would rain down weightless,
As those cannon ball syllables retreat
And tear out craters in his heart.

St Hugh’s JCR Vice-President resigns due to the College’s ‘antisemitism problem’

By
Cherwell News
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Image Credit: MaxWeber&AdamSmith / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

St Hugh’s College Junior Common Room (JCR) Vice-President, Madeline Bryant, announced her resignation via email following a JCR meeting on Sunday 26th May, which she described as an experience of “blatant antisemitism.”

At the meeting, which Bryant reported as three hours long, the JCR debated a motion supporting the demands of the Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) encampment.

The motion at St Hugh’s is now up for an online vote among JCR members after it was amended during the meeting to include explicit condemnation of antisemitism in Oxford. Similar motions have been passed in dozens of colleges.

Bryant put forward her own motion during the meeting, which asked for “co-existence, dialogue, and a condemnation of the clear antisemitism that has come from some of the members of the encampment.” That motion was discussed first.

Her motion states that some members of the OA4P encampment “minimised students’ lived experiences of antisemitism or used language that intimidates Jewish students like ‘intifada.’” 

It said: “By not actively opposing such harmful rhetoric, the camp has given space to rhetoric that is antisemitic, justifies/refuses to criticise acts of terrorism on civilians, and denies the right of the state of Israel to exist.” It further characterises the slogan “globalise the intifada” as “a call for violence against Jews.”

The motion to support OA4P included a demand that the college cut academic ties with Israel. At the meeting, Bryant argued that St Hugh’s College’s Hebrew language program would effectively end under this demand to which one JCR member allegedly responded “‘So what?” Another member “laughed” when Bryant and another student spoke of their experiences with antisemitism.

Bryant wrote that her resignation “isn’t about Palestinians. It’s about the Jews in Oxford” and concluded her statement by remarking that “St. Hugh’s College has an antisemitism problem.”

The student who proposed the motion to support OA4P, who is Palestinian, told Cherwell that their “voice was minimised” during discussion of the co-existence motion. They also said that the language of the discussion of Bryant’s motion was “appalling to me as a Palestinian Muslim.”

When asked for comment, St Hugh’s College responded that they had “not received any report of alleged anti-Semitism by any St Hugh’s student”, and emphasised that they had “urged any student who experiences or witnesses any unacceptable conduct to report it as a matter of urgency so that the College can investigate.” The College also expressed its commitment to maintaining its Hebrew language courses despite the pressure to cut academic ties with Israel.

Bryant’s resignation follows recent reported instances of antisemitism in Oxford University, including antisemitic graffiti at Regent’s Park College. On 9th May Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Vice-Chancellors from UK universities, including Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, about tackling antisemitism on campuses. 

Bryant’s full statement is as follows: 

Dear St. Hugh’s JCR,

I am writing to you today to inform you of my resignation, effectively immediately, from the JCR Committee.

I have been serving you since my first term of my first year, first as Environment and Ethics representative and then as Vice President.

As soon as I started at this university, I wanted to work on making it a better place for all students. I can no longer serve this aim.

Last night, I endured a three-hour JCR meeting regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a Jewish student, I aimed to explain my own experiences of antisemitism which have been directly related to the way in which such debates have been conducted.

I also put forward my own motion asking for co-existence, dialogue, and a condemnation of the clear antisemitism that has come from some of the members of the encampment. I urge you to read this motion, titled ‘Coexistence,’ in full (appended to this letter).

I have watched my peers at this university chant to ‘Globalize the Intifada’ – a call for violence against Jews – but I was not prepared for it to come to St. Hugh’s College.

It is clear to me that some of the students last night did not come in good faith. At one point, when I pointed out that the St. Hugh’s Hebrew language program would effectively end under the Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) motion, the response I received was ‘So what?’ with a smile.

It is beyond the pale the blatant antisemitism I experienced in that room – my lived experiences were completely dismissed. Up until this point, I believed that people were just ignorant of reality: the living nightmare that many Jews, myself included, are living. We have faced hate on unpreceded levels in recent months; myself and Emanuel Bor exposed that truth last night, on the record.

Our vulnerability, honesty, and humanity were ignored.

My motion, asking for the basic principle of equal treatment and peace, was sent to a working group – effectively thrown out. The OA4P motion will now be voted on by the whole JCR – a motion that defames and delegitimizes the Jewish people. It denies our ties to our ancestral homeland, dehumanizes Israeli academics and students, and neglects to call out the actions of terrorists.

To every OA4P protestor reading these words, I ask of you: try your best not to dismiss me because I am a Jew who stood up for her people. It is not enough for you to reply by saying there are Jews at the encampment or insisting that Friday night dinners are available.

My Judaism is more than a Friday night dinner. My lived experience is more than a talking point. My humanity cannot be shrugged off.

I recognize that you seek justice for Palestinians, a minority group affected by destruction, displacement, and trauma. Palestinians have suffered immensely, but my resignation isn’t about Palestinians.

It’s about the Jews in Oxford. We sit next to you at lectures. We compete in Torpids with you. We dine in Hall together. We are here and we are human too. We are hurting. And while you will continue to demand justice for Palestine, I asked you to listen to both the Jews in Israel and the Jews in Oxford.

It is clear to me that this JCR either refuses to listen to my experiences, or just doesn’t care. Just as we recognized your suffering, we asked for recognition of our suffering too.

While the Israel-Hamas conflict might be thousands of miles away, the Jews of Oxford are right here. To every bystander reading my words, consider standing up for a small minority who have been bullied for our entire existence.

I won’t give up on trying for dialogue and fighting for my place in this college community. I want you to fight too. Check on your Jewish friends and ask them about their experiences. You might be surprised to hear a silent minority speak up.

And if this letter infuriates you, then check your biases. Why does it bother you when a Jew rightly points out antisemitism? Why is my lived experience worth any less than yours?

I will not serve a JCR that has treated me so cruelly. A JCR that laughed when Emanuel and I spoke. A JCR that refused to engage in productive debate and instead decided to shut down peace and progress.

The meeting last night was an insult to social justice and a win for antisemites everywhere.

Last night, the JCR refused to live up to the values and the community it ought to serve. It is a stain on this college’s history and it should be a stain on your consciences. St. Hugh’s College has an antisemitism problem.

With a heavy heart,

Madeline Bryant

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