Wednesday, May 14, 2025
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The vac to-do list

Niluka Kavanagh
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The vac to-do list

Ah, and so we made it. Another eight weeks of non-stop madness. That is to say, a serious lack of sleep, an overload of essays (sugar + caffeine, we thank you) and one too many post-bop hangovers. Well, we did it. We’re still here – cue Beyoncé’s I’m a Survivor – and we haven’t annoyed our tutors that much.  And so the vac has finally come. If you are a humanities student, like myself, then I’m sure you have the absolute pleasure of reading [insert impossible number here] books before April.  Nevertheless, since it is the holiday that can most definitely wait. During term, there are always ‘tasks’ to do, but what about during the vac? ‘Tasks’ is a rather unfavourable word. There are, however, some necessary ‘criteria’ to get the most out of the vac….

  1. HIJACK THE FAMILY FRIDGE. Term time = student kitchen = gone off milk and perhaps some left over cereal for breakfast. Come the vacation, the fridge is well stocked, mum/dad’s the cook and you don’t have to pay. If there was ever an excuse to feast like a Roman this is it.
  2. MEET UP WITH OLD FRIENDS. There’s nothing quite like having a proper catch up with your friends from home, allowing you to vent any uni stress and reminisce over THAT guy you used to ‘fancy’…
  3. MAKE THE MOST OF WHERE YOU LIVE. Londoner? Take a trip to Selfridges and treat yourself to afternoon tea with the ma. Live in the countryside? There’s nothing like a walk in the fresh air to clear the mind. Situated in a town or village? Grab some mates and visit that local pub/restaurant you’ve been meaning to go to but never got round to. Embrace your surroundings!
  4. WARDROBE CLEAR OUT. Maybe this is just because I love clothes (so much so that I end up keeping virtually everything I own, no matter how old….). These six weeks are the perfect time to have a complete wardrobe clear out, keeping only the clothes that you actually intend on wearing.
  5. CATCH UP ON NETFLIX. With time on our hands, why wouldn’t you spend a whole day in bed watching just about every episode of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones?
  6. DENTIST/OPTICIAN/HAIR CUT APPOINTMENT. Okay admittedly a bit of an uncool one, but during term time who seriously has the time to book an eye test when you are literally up to your eyes (pardon the pun) in work? The holiday is the perfect time to get this type of nagging thing sorted.

And finally…

7. SLEEP. A pretty obvious one and by this time in the vac, probably something you have already done a lot of. Well sleep some more. Become a cat. Cat nap. Make up for all those boozy 3am nights. Scientists – lie in! Enjoy the luxury of not having those 9am lectures. If you do nothing else this holiday make sure to sleep.

 Thank you and good night.

Oxford Men’s Blues Regain Football Varsity Title

Charlie Wells
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Oxford Men’s Blues Regain Football Varsity Title

New season, same scenario. Or at least that’s how it seemed at the football Varsity matches on the 8th of March. Played once again at R Costings Abbey, the Cambridge United stadium, a similar sequence of events as last year unfolded, as the game was decided in a dramatic penalty shootout.

This was the fifth resort to spot kicks in the last nine Varsity matches. The closeness of the matches in recent years has been borne out by the neck-and-neck positions in wins Oxford and Cambridge hold. The Dark Blues now possess a narrow lead of 51 victories to 49 with 31 draws.

Played out in front of over 1300 spectators, the match was a pretty gripping affair from the start. Close passing by both teams and tight defensive play ensured a progression to a penalty shootout was a fair reflection of the tension between the Blues teams.

It was a close contest from kick-off, starting off at a fast pace with Oxford quickly coming close to taking the lead when Cambridge defender Richard Wostenhulme’s wayward pass headed clearance from an Oxford cross striking his own bar and nearly gifting Oxford an early goal. The Oxford Blues kept up the pressure for much of the first half with Cambridge only being able to break on the counter-attack.

However, Oxford failed to take advantage on their more impressive first half display as it was Cambridge who opened the scoring a little before half time. It was on a counter-attack that Cambridge managed to score with the Oxford goalkeeper Ben Szreter being unable to stop Daniel Forde scoring after a flowing movement which saw Cambridge midfielder James May put Forde through by capitalising on Oxford’s lax defending.

Cambridge doggedly held onto this lead well into the second half of the match with the first half hour being played in a similar fashion to the first, with Oxford continuing to press far into the Cambridge half but with the Light Blues defending capably and threatening on the break. It is a testament to the Cambridge defence that the breakthrough that Oxford desperately needed came by way of a set piece rather than in open play. In the 75th minute Oxford were awarded a free kick to the left of the penalty box which Oxford captain Ezra Rubenstein stepped up to take. Rubenstein’s free kick ended up in the Cambridge goal without a deflection and levelled the match at a crucial time.

The remaining 15 minutes saw each side reluctant to gift valuable opportunities away to the other side with so little time left and so the pace of the game dropped slightly as safety replaced aggression as the priority of both teams.

The score stayed at 1-1 after 90 minutes and so it left to a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner of the 131st Varsity match. The penalty shoot-out was as close at the game itself with both Cambridge and Oxford scoring 4 of their first 5 penalties to ensure this intense game finished in the most dramatic fashion with a sudden-death penalty shoot-out. At 6-5 to Oxford, Cambridge defender Preye Crooks stood up to take the vital penalty. However, Cambridge-born Oxford goalkeeper Ben Szretes saved the spot-kick and thus gave the Dark Blues their first victory in 4 years.

This was a fitting climax to a match which reflected the competitive history of the Varsity match and sets the stage perfectly for another dramatic encounter next year. 

Rowing Round-Up Hilary 2015

Stevan Boljevic
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Rowing Round-Up Hilary 2015

The rowing scene this term has been in overdrive with strong performances from all the university squads and fierce competition at home on the Isis. Torpids this year was by many accounts the most action packed in a while with only three klaxons from forty-four divisions leading to lots of racing. On the first day of racing alone over two thirds of crews bumped! A record 31 crews achieved blades.

Moving outside the Oxford bubble Isis have been moving from strength to strength with a strong performance at Reading University Head where they put in a time close to that of Oxford Brookes’ top boat which, rumour has it, were a similar speed to the top Cambridge boat in match races the previous week. An impressive result for a boat containing no less than three freshers. Combined with a similar result in November the results so far suggest that the river should be running dark blue on the 11th of April.

The Dark Blue women have also been out in force winning the Elite and Senior categories at the Quintin Head where Cambridge did not race. A sprinkling of rowing maths suggests that the OUWBC reserve crew Osiris would be in touching distance of the Cambridge blue boat with the Oxford blue boat winning by some margin. The stage is set for the women to bring in a strong win on their first race over the Tideway course.

8th week sprung up some surprises in the college-rowing scene with the qualifying battles for the Henley Boat Races taking place on the 5th of April in Henley-on-Thames. Both headship crews were defeated by challengers from lower down the table. Oriel, ranked 2nd on the river, marched to a strong victory over the men’s headship crew Pembroke at Dorney Lake and Green Templeton women sneaked a one second win over headship crew Wadham racing on the Isis. All the data from the season so far points at 2015 potentially being Oxford’s first clean sweep in the collegiate races.

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Sticking with the theme of the Henley Boat Races the lightweight squads have also had a strong showing so far. Tethys, the lightweight women’s reserve crew, acquitted themselves strongly with a top 75 finish at the women’s Head of the River race with the blue boat no doubt even faster. The lightweight men’s team has recorded success at the Wallingford and Henley head races as well as a commanding display at Trial 8s over the winter vac. Whilst on training camp in Holland, returning lightweight Blue, Rowan Arthur, said that the squad “are confident about our preparations and crew” in the run up to the big day. This sentiment was echoed by teammate Alec Trigger who said he was “hoping to contribute to a dark blue whitewash”.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record 2015 really is shaping up to be the year the river runs dark blue through and through. Cherwell will be running live coverage of all the boat races this vac and if you want to check out the action first hand head over to Henley on the 5th of April for the Lightweight and Collegiate boat races and the Thames on the 11th for the grand spectacle. Alternatively keep in touch with the action on Twitter @CherwellSport.

Islamic State’s war on cultural heritage

Elliot Langley
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Islamic State’s war on cultural heritage

Over the last few weeks, ever more shocking evidence has emerged of the systematic destruction of ancient Assyrian culture by Islamic State. Online footage appears to show militants smashing statues from the Mosul museum in Iraq, and a Winged Bull, believed to have stood at the gates of Nineveh in the 7th century BC, being defaced with a power drill. There are even indications that the ruins of Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have been bulldozed.

The international community was quick to respond, with the UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova denouncing Islamic State’s actions as a “war crime” and an “attack against the Iraqi people”. But media coverage has been fairly negligible. The destruction of a museum does not compare with the public burnings of prisoners of war, or executions of hostages, in terms of ‘shock factor’ or even public interest. Nevertheless, IS’s campaign against culture is a calculated and ruthless attempt to erase an entire people’s cultural identity. It is a threat not just to Iraq’s history but to the world’s, and one that the world cannot afford to gloss over. 

This form of cultural warfare is as ancient as the artefacts which are its current victims. When the Medes and the Persians sacked Nineveh in the 7th century BC, the city, and others like it, were subjected to a cultural whitewash. Temples, statues and other religious sites were pulled down and obliterated. More recently, the Bosnian War between 1992-95 saw the organised destruction of Muslim cultural heritage sites as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted mainly by Bosnian Serbs. In 2001 the Taliban infamously used dynamite to blow up the two largest standing statues of Buddha in the world. They were almost 1500 years old.

By destroying a nation’s past, you gain control over its future. By eliminating everything that a people’s identity is founded upon, you can wipe the slate clean and mould a new ideology and cultural identity shaped by ideas that you want to engrain. All a people have left is what you permit them to have.

It’s difficult to change a people’s beliefs. Islamic State know this, and have frequently made clear that their members are prepared to die for their warped ideological cause. But once the cornerstones of a people’s belief are taken away, the physical manifestations of faith and identity savagely annihilated before their eyes, then it becomes harder for them to cling to what once seemed a thing of great pride and power. IS want to create a people with no memory of their own history, and with a future that has been engineered for them.

When the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term ‘genocide’ in 1944, it had a slightly broader meaning than it has come to acquire. Genoice, according to Lemkin, is “a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups”. The objectives of genocide were, he argued, “The disintegration of political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion etc.”

IS’s attack on culture is a form of genocide; the systematic erasure of not just national, but also world history. It is important to remember that much of the West considers its earliest roots to lie in the ancient region of Mesopotamia. IS is undoubtedly targeting the West as well as the Middle East with its callous campaign. If, as the militants in the video claim, the destruction is a form of iconoclasm, then what need is there to publish the videos online? It is as much a part of the group’s ‘shock factor’ tactics as the horrific executions that have appeared on its propaganda web pages over the past year.

So what can be done to prevent such a crime? Mosul, Nimrud and other ancient sites lie deep in IS-controlled territory. It also doesn’t help that Iraq did not sign the 1998 Rome Statute, meaning that it cannot refer the destruction to the International Criminal Court. But then IS has shown itself to be in utter contempt of international law. It is hopelessly naïve to think that such a referral would do anything to change its attitude. Perhaps international cooperation could help to trace the black-market sale of antiques, which provides a major source of income for the group, but this would do nothing to prevent the eradication of ancient sites and artefacts like the Winged Bull.

Ultimately, of course, these magnificent artefacts will only be truly safe when stability returns to the region, which may, unfortunately, take quite some time. In their wanton destruction of Assyrian culture, Islamic State have shown an almost inhuman lack of respect for the past and for the people to whom that culture belongs. Not to be in awe of these incredible works defies human instinct; to actively seek to destroy them is nothing short of barbaric.

We should mourn the loss of these great monuments, and remember the past that they represented. It is vital that, at the very least, we remember them, and that IS’s attempt to eradicate all memory of past cultures is not allowed to succeed.  

The double standards of the Left

Jan Nedvidek
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The double standards of the Left

I love political opponents. Being able to argue with people on the other side of the political spectrum is much more fun than just surrounding yourself with people who always agree with you. While we virtually never agree on anything, I respect people on the Left when they are open to rational discussion and free exchange of views. What I can’t stand, however, are the hypocrisy and the double standards of many Oxford left-wingers.

The government’s recent plan to introduce a new counter-terrorism bill has been subject to a lot of criticism from the radical Left in Oxford. It enables the government to shut down debates and mandates universities not to draw students to extremism. Practically speaking this means that they must avoid inviting radical speakers. Our university is based on free exchange of views and opinions and those nasty Tories, in particular their draconic Home Secretary Theresa May, want to shut down free debate.

And it seems that this is one of the rare occasions when I find myself in agreement with the student Left. The State should not tell us what views we are allowed to listen to. When a group of people tries to shield you from unsavoury views because they want to ‘keep you safe’, it stinks of paternalism and eventually of outright authoritarian rule. Though I understand why she did it – to appeal to the old fashioned right-wingers in the party – I think Theresa May got this one wrong.

It’s called double standards, and I suspect the reader already knows where I’m going with this.

This bill was drafted to fight the threat of militant Islamists coming from the Islamic State into the UK. For this reason, the whole debate has been centred around militant Islamists addressing students. While the Oxford Left believes that it is absolutely outrageous that the government prohibits radical Islamic speakers from campuses, it is absolutely fine to shut down a debate on abortion because it makes people feel unsafe. It is totally justified to try to stop Marine Le Pen from speaking to us, in the process putting us in physical danger. I’m not very keen on the particulars of this bill, but if you believe in ‘no platforming’, you should have a poster of Theresa May in your room.

Isn’t it just marvelous? The student Left mocks free speech by likening it to frozen fruit, by saying it’s not important to our society and that other considerations – like offence or emotional comfort – are more important. Yet when the government tries to stop militant Islamists from spreading their poison in the UK, they all of the sudden become staunch defenders of freedom of expression.

George Orwell nailed it when he realized the power of “holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them”. Some Oxford students, it would seem, have mastered the art of ‘doublethink’.

Israeli Election results spell disaster for peace

Sebastian Fox
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Israeli Election results spell disaster for peace

On Tuesday 17th March, Israel elected their parliament for the next four years. In essence this was a vote either for the continuation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government or for change. The result? A disastrous vote for more of the same.

Polls indicated a close-run election, but at the final count Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party managed to seize the win. With Israel’s proportional representation voting system meaning that a majority for one party is near impossible, Netanyahu now has 28 days to form a coalition. It will most likely comprise the Jewish Home party, Kulanu and other ultra-orthodox groups.

The Jewish Home Party is unashamedly racist and advocates the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements and the use of military force against the Palestinians. Their leader Naftali Bennett insists “on continuing construction in the West bank and Jerusalem”. He has also said that “there will never be a peace plan with the Palestinians” and that he “will do everything in [his] power to make sure they never get a state”. The other major member of the likely coalition, Kulanu, is focussed primarily on domestic issues and will do little to alter the course of the government, a course that currently flies in the face of international law.

The alternative prospect that was presented to the Israeli electorate symbolised change and progress and came in the form of the Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni. The Zionist Union is a coalition of left-leaning parties that promised to repair relations with both Palestine and the international community. Their defeat signifies the death of any hope for an improvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict any time soon. As Saeb Erekat a chief Palestinian negotiator in the failed peace talks of 2014 notes, “It is clear Israel has voted for burying the peace process, against the two state choice and for the continuation of occupation and settlement.”

So what does the future hold for Israel, given the prospect of another four years of Netanyahu? Saeb Erekat described the incumbent’s campaign as a “platform based on settlements, racism, apartheid and the denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people”. Mr Netanyahu’s rhetoric has indeed taken a turn for the worse over recent days as he has explicitly stated that he will not allow the creation of a Palestinian state and has vowed to build more settlements. A hint of racist undertones was evident when taking to Twitter he warned his supporters, “Arab voters are coming in droves to the ballot boxes. Left-wing NGOs bring them in buses.”

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However, one only needs to look at the past four years to predict what the next four will entail. Under the guiding hand of Mr Netanyahu, the number of Jewish-only settlements existing on occupied Palestinian territory has grown by 23 percent since 2009. Israel has also carried out two large-scale military offensives in the Gaza strip over that time. Considering Mr Netanyahu’s clear stance, it is not difficult to envisage a future in which Palestine eventually becomes entirely consumed by an Israeli invasion to leave behind a single apartheid state in which Palestinians are treated as second class citizens.

The international community (including the UN, US and the EU) officially recognises a two state solution as the most desirable. This is by no means an easy or a quick solution, but it is the only one that is just. The barrier to achieving this and subsequent peace is purely political, and while it is undoubtedly a difficult stance to take, if an Israeli prime minister did support it, it would be entirely possible. The Zionist Union could have offered such a prime minister in Herzog.

Of course Israel do not deserve anywhere near the whole portion of blame for the continuation of this conflict. Hamas (internationally recognised as a terrorist organisation) have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in both Palestine and Israel. While this is clearly unacceptable, it is Israeli violations of international law that must be addressed before any change in Palestine can occur. So, it seems like the Israeli electorate have in effect voted to maintain Hamas and their devastating effects on both states.

There are three immediate short term steps that Israel must take to achieve peace. Firstly, they must stop building settlements on illegally occupied land. Then they must halt its military operations in Palestine. Finally, peace talks need to be reinstated.

In the long term, Israel must recognise the Palestinian state. From there it is then possible for a two state agreement to be reached whereby, with land swaps, Israel may keep the vast majority of its settlements. However, after Tuesday’s election we must now wait another four years before there is even the slightest possibility of the first of these steps being taken.

Emo: Not a dirty word

Tom Barrie
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Emo: Not a dirty word

If someone says ‘emo music’ to you, you might cringe. In fact, you probably do. You probably think guyliner, dyed black hair, melodramatic song titles (44. Calibre Love Letter, anyone?) and blood-spattered album covers. Whilst this might represent an accurate if harsh image of the emo scene in the early Noughties, nowadays there’s a large swathe of the punk community who would take issue with it. Emo has changed.

In recent years, there’s been a lot written about the emo ‘revival’, the way in which, ostensibly, emo in the vein that people in their thirties will remember the genre developing through the Nineties. It’s not My Chemical Romance; it could be Weezer. Emo never really went anywhere – rather, it’s returned to its roots in a twinkly, open-tuning riff-based guitar sound with confessional lyrics about high school and small town Middle America. Imagine pop-punk mixed with post-rock instrumentals and you’re not far off the modern emo sound.

For those understandably less familiar with older bands who really struck out and made emo its own genre as it branched off from hardcore about twenty-five years ago (the name of the genre itself is said to be a shortening of ‘emotional hardcore’), bands like American Football, Mineral and Texas is the Reason are a good place to begin. Old emo sounds like the uncertain younger brother of grunge, and was arguably overshadowed by it. Kids from the Midwest would write songs in their parents’ garages, isolated from the world in a way Seattle grunge wasn’t, but with dreams of escaping suburbia nonetheless. The dynamic made for an interesting, often heartbreaking vibe.

It was all put on hold. The likes of Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and Alexisonfire gave emo a whole new aesthetic and fanbase in the early years of the last decade. Gone were thick-rimmed black glasses and lumberjack shirts; in their place, skinny jeans, dip-dyed fringes and snakebite piercings took over. These bands, despite making excellent music, marked a departure in style from what came before. They were still the voice of a generation of outsiders, but these were outsiders who wanted to be noticed, who wanted the jocks and the cool kids to see them and to reject them, rather than a generation who were overlooked, quiet and introspective.

And then, for some reason, came the revival. New bands and songwriters from Philly and the Midwest toured together. American Football reformed. Heralded by artists like Modern Baseball, high school reject vibes returned and the poetic loser desperate to escape the small town was once again celebrated.

The question of why this resurgence in popularity happened is still unanswered. Perhaps it’s the genuine truthfulness of the songs that appeals after a decade of gutsy but overstated drama. Modern Baseball’s Hours Outside in the Snow ends with a message, fictitious or honest, to a girl called Erin. It seems melodramatic, the kind of tactic employed by a band who want their fans to see how sensitive and tormented they are, but a quick Google reveals Erin is a real girl, and in fact her answerphone is included in the closing, resignatory chords of the song. Gimmick or not, the bravery to write about someone real, about something real, is admirable. Other lyrics speak of high school rejection (‘I told you I loved you/Just outside your mom’s place/You laughed then you felt bad/As we sat there red-faced’ and ‘Is he here? Are you making out?/Shut up, make out, do something already/I’m waiting’) and conjure images of running through small-town America to ask a girl to prom, inhabiting that murky stage between teenage years and adulthood.

Having seen the band live in Kingston, the loyalty of their fan base is testament to the community that emo has become. Indeed, many of these bands are just kids playing out of their suburban or rural U.S. garages, liberated to experience and release music as the kids of the 90s never were by the Internet. Most can’t sing, but it makes it all the more charming, and more importantly, honest.

If Modern Baseball captures the iconic lyrical quality of 90s emo and the high priests of the genre American Football, then Prawn and others get the riffs right. Emo is as instrumental as is it is confessional. UK bands are prominent too, namely Nai Harvest and Moose Blood, both harnessing the raw energy of young men with guitars, left with nothing to do but write about their feelings. Small labels in the U.S. such as Count Your Lucky Stars, Run For Cover Records and No Sleep Records put out splits between bands, often on vinyl and cassette tape – just one more in a vast array of indicators that emo has not yet finished its love affair with the past.

All this serves to demonstrate one thing: it’s evolution, not revolution for emo music, and it deserves a fighting chance to win you over.

Clarkson and the cultural split

Ruth Hayhow
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Clarkson and the cultural split

Workplace propriety has proven to be a minefield of potential wrongdoing. Even the best intentioned of employees may stumble into the inappropriate. I am horribly unqualified to make any judgments on such matters. My experience of workplaces is restricted to a couple of summer jobs and a Saturday job in sixth form.

But even I am confident enough to venture that it is always unacceptable to punch a colleague in the face. I feel secure in the belief that I would have the backing of my employer, and public sympathy, if I was ever punched in the face at work. So why have nearly a million people flooded online to sign a petition, protesting against Jeremy Clarkson’s suspension for indulging in such an act?

Those who have rushed to defend Clarkson haven’t done so to reflect on this particular incident. Their reasoning is far more instinctive. Clarkson has become a symbol of something far greater than an interest in motoring. Declaring yourself to be a fan or a detractor of Clarkson is a statement of an entire set of values. The strength of feeling in the responses to Clarkson’s recent suspension is a symptom of a deeper divide in society.

Those who stand by Clarkson do so because they believe he is a figurehead for the everyman. The popularity of his defence is really the popularity of the idea that the average Joe is being maligned by our society.

However, this idea is a dangerous one. It is one that encourages a naive mentality of ‘us’ and ‘them’, and promotes irrational behaviour like defending those who punch their colleagues in the face.

But there is some truth in this idea. A didactic and intolerant tone has become increasingly common in many liberal campaigns. Cuntry Living provided a recent example when someone started a thread suggesting “banning cis-men”. This is the kind of uninspired, unengaged thought that feminist movements should be acting against. No particular group is exclusively guilty of this. Anti-feminists can be equally aggressive and intolerant. The labelling of feminist concerns as “femi-nazism” is just one recent example.

Whatever the cause, be it feminism, immigration or the role of welfare, we need to avoid this irrational herd-mentality. Critical thought, and the debate that democracy depends on for its existence, will cease to function properly. As a result healthy societal tensions will descend into cultural warfare. As Clarkson’s fans have discovered, if you are uncritically and unthinkingly loyal, you defend the indefensible and end up looking like a bit of a moron.

Olivia Merrett announced as Union President

Cherwell News Team
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Olivia Merrett announced as Union President

The Oxford Union has announced on their website that Olivia Merrett is to take on the role of President for Trinity Term. Merrett, who had formerly been elected as Secretary for the term, is replacing Roberto Weeden-Sanz, who was found to have automatically resigned at the end of last term.

Weeden-Sanz was due to be President next term. However, after missing three meetings, the Union’s Senior Disciplinary Committee ruled that he had automatically resigned his position.

It was expected that Stuart Webber, Librarian for Trinity, would take up the position as Rule 38(b)(vi) states, “The President-Elect shall be succeeded by the Librarian, the Librarian-Elect shall be succeeded by the Treasurer, and the Treasurer-elect shall be succeeded by the Secretary.” Webber elected not to, choosing to remain as Librarian. However, it has been speculated that he will run for President at the end of Trinity. 

Webber commented to Cherwell, “In the face of difficult circumstances, I am pleased that Olivia is now the Union President. I am sure that she will do a fantastic job, and I very much look forward to serving as Librarian with her next term as part of such a dedicated committee.”

Zuleyka Shahin had also announced earlier that she has accepted the role of Treasurer at the Oxford Union next term. Shahin, who had previously been elected to Standing Committee, is replacing Antonia Trent. Nikolay Koshikov has replaced Olivia Merrett as Secretary. 

Trent had taken up the position of Treasurer on Saturday of 8th week but subsequently resigned after she was found to have also breached Union rules regarding meeting attendance.

It is understood that both Merrett and Shahin will take on the responsibilities of their roles immediately.

Shahin won 207 first preference votes in the election for Standing Committee, the highest of any candidate running for the committee. Shahin is thought to be the first trans person to hold an executive position at the Union and is also the OUSU Graduate Women’s Officer.

 

Time for Vinnie’s to enter the Twenty First Century

Amelia Coe
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Time for Vinnie’s to enter the Twenty First Century

“Both women and men have equal opportunities to join sports-related drinking societies.” So argued an article on Cherwell.org last week, entitled ‘Why Vinnie’s should remain single-sex‘. This article runs the tired argument that has been floating around the sporting community ever since Vincent’s Club failed to gain sufficient support for removing their restriction on female membership. It argues that accepting women to Vinnie’s is not as simple as it seems, that there is more to it than voting for gender equality. A ‘Yes’ vote would actually ruin the “balance” of the gender-segregated “equivalent” clubs of Atalanta’s and Vincent’s.

The emotion felt by myself (and perhaps other sportswomen) upon reading this was one of pure frustration. Facepalm moment. Imagine your frustration at Eduroam failing to connect for a fifth time in a row; that equals about a hundredth of my anger at the continued gender exclusion prevalent in the most important sporting society in Oxford.

And that is what Vinnie’s is. Let’s be frank here; Vinnie’s is the heart of the social side of Oxford sport. To correct the previous article, Vincent’s Club is not “a drinking club for male Oxford Blues”. It is a centuries-old institution that offers the only space preserved for the sporting community to meet, mingle and discuss. And it is not solely for those who have achieved Blues; Vincent’s themselves have assured in a recent statement on this very vote that “members have always been elected for their all-round qualities: social, sporting and intellectual”. Synonymous with Vincent’s membership is supposed to be a level of personal quality and contribution to Oxford sport. Just only for men.

The reason I emphasise the unique importance that Vinnie’s holds in the sporting community of Oxford, and how membership of Vinnie’s is so much more than a place for male Blues to drink, is to refute the notion of Atalanta’s being an “equivalent” club. Atalanta’s admits any woman who has ever played a varsity match. Conversely, Vincent’s members undergo a selection process by the current committee for their all-round qualities: social, sporting, and intellectual.

Sporting achievement is preferable but not required. By not allowing women to become members of Vincent’s, sportswomen of Oxford are denied the opportunity to become members of a club that transcends merely sporting ability, based solely on their sex. This is ludicrous in 2015 when the true definition of equality is having equal opportunity and equal access. Vincent’s and Atalanta’s are not equivalent clubs. They serve different groups with different objectives. 

For those unfamiliar with the clubs, Vincent’s lies through the famous ‘Blue Door’ on King Edward Street. One buzzes through (of course members have a swipe card, and women have to state the name of the male member they are visiting) and travels up to a beautiful, and recently refurbished, clubhouse, complete with leather sofas, a bar and another floor of dining/meeting room space. Vinnie’s offers an extensive menu (including a wonderful £6 Rump Steak) for lunches and dinners for members and guests every day, as well as the option to book dinners, and use the bar facilities at will. That’s not mentioning the vast array of reciprocal clubs Vincent’s members have access to: 12 at the last count, from London to Johannesburg. Pretty snazzy stuff. 

Although we should by no means underplay how far Atalanta’s has come in recent years, due to the hard work of Oxford sportswomen, it is undeniably a far cry from “equivalent”. For starters, Atalanta’s has no permanent clubhouse. On Thursday and Friday afternoons, the second floor of The Varsity Club (No. 9 to old hats) is turned into a dining space for Atalanta’s members and guests. Although crew dates and dinners can now be accommodated, with the lack of a permanent clubhouse, and such a huge disparity in club resources, one cannot compare the two. And there is little on the horizon to suggest that this will change. No promise of a clubhouse, no imminent increase in resources.

​So when it comes to arguments of ‘the same but separate’, it is all too easy to prove just how far Atalanta’s has to go to become anything similar to Vinnie’s. But more importantly, this misses the crucial point when it comes to arguments for gender segregation. In order for gender segregation not to be the equivalent of gender discrimination, there has to be free choice. Women should be able to join Vinnie’s, and men, shock horror, Atalanta’s. 

And Atalanta’s has not done itself proud in this debate. This is meant as no personal attack on any member, or the committee, but the flaws in the ‘surveys’ conducted by Atalanta’s were astounding. Before the vote, Atalanta’s presented to resident Vinnie’s members the statistic that 89 per cent of Atalanta’s members wanted the clubs to remain distinct. This survey came after a discounted first survey, which presented 53 per cent in favour of women members, and was presented as a vote that represented the views of Oxford sportswomen. In fact, with only 91 registered members compared to the 1,114 sportswomen registered with Sport Federation this year, Atalanta’s membership makes up only a slither of Oxford sportswomen. And for the society to support a decision that has any kind of bias based on gender is even more baffling. These actions from Atalanta’s have stifled the real voice of Oxford sportswomen.

Lets get real and stop stating how nuanced and complicated this is. Yes, there are considerations to be made for the future of Atalanta’s, but that is far from the principal concern here.  That concern, plain and simple, is equality. Denying women the  opportunity to become a member of Vinnie’s is to discriminate against them purely on the basis of gender. No one should stand for that. Not a single Vinnie’s member, Atalanta’s member, or any sportsperson in Oxford. No more fudging this, it’s time for change.

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