A JCR bop at St John’s which was originally given an ‘XXXmas’ theme has caused substantial controversy within the College.

The bop, held on Saturday 22 November 22, is reportedly an annual tradition at the College, with costumes usually “scantily-clad” but “festive themed”, as described by students. The theme was changed to ‘Xmas Bop’ just a few hours beforehand, after the College’s Junior Dean was forced to step in.

The controversy began when one student posted on the JCR Facebook page on Friday expressing dissatisfaction that the title unnecessarily endorsed an overtly sexual theme, which “would make some students feel uncomfortable”. Many of the student comments on the Facebook post expressed opposition to the said student’s suggestion of a name change. 

Oxford students have reacted to news that policeman Darren Wilson who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, will not be charged.

OUSU’s WomCam Women of Colour Group released a statement online early on Wednesday stating that they stand “in solidarity” with the parents of Michael Brown and the protestors in Ferguson.

Riots have broken out across America after a grand jury voted not to hold criminal charges against Wilson, who, as put by WomCam, “shot the unarmed teenager six times and left him in a pool of his own blood for four hours”.

The Women of Colour Group’s statement began, “The criminal injustice system in America systematically fails black people. The system repeatedly allows white police officers to murder with impunity. It denies black people employment, decent housing and education, and criminalises and marginalises black lives. It is a system built on the back of black slavery that pushes black people into poverty and prisons. It is a system under which you will serve more time in jail for protesting than you will for the murder of a black person.

“Michael Brown’s murder is not an exceptional case. Police brutality against black bodies happens every day — to people of colour of all genders, of all ages, of all intersecting op- pressions. Time and time again, justice is denied. The criminal injustice system in America is founded on white supremacy.”

The statement was also used to promote a protest on Saturday at noon on Cornmarket with the title, ‘Oxford in Solidarity with Ferguson: Black Lives Matter’. The event currently has around 700 attendees on its Facebook page, which describes itself as a “symbolic gesture of allyship and solidarity with the activists and protesters in Ferguson and across the U.S.”

Protestors are standing “as allies, activists, and supporters of wider radical anti-racism movements and struggles for the rights of people of colour around the world against violence, injustice, and systemic oppression.”

WomCam’s statement added, “We will not be silent. We will not allow this injustice to continue. Our solidarity is with the protestors of Ferguson and elsewhere — people all over the world who are subject to America’s racist imperial violence — when they refuse to be bowed.”

Merton’s Georgiana Jackson-Callen, of The Women of Colour Group, told Cherwell, “It’s not even the fact that there were no criminal charges: that would entail that a trial had actually taken place. Centuries of injustice leaves the Black community expecting the worst in a trial situation, but there won’t even be one. ‘Justice’.

“I am sick at the hashtags and articles co-opting and derailing Black pain. I am wondering how many so-called “colourblind” deniers I will have to interact with who cannot and will not see where the injustice is, or where it comes from, and will think this an overreaction.”

She added, “I am unable to get the thought of the same thing happening to the Black men and women I know and love out of my head. I am exhausted from living at the painful junction of two oppressions; I am longing for a lasting peace and justice that no earthly power can provide.” 

Jesus is celebrating 40 years since it first admitted women to the College in what was known as the “Jesus experiment”, with three events for current students and alumni having been planned for this weekend.

Women from the JCR and MCR hosted a drinks reception to celebrate a donation of portraits of the college’s first female fellows on Thursday, while a bar party is planned for Friday and a panel discussion on Saturday.

Although the first women-only colleges, LMH and Somerville, opened in 1879, there were no co-ed colleges until Jesus, Brasenose, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine’s opened their doors to women in 1974.

Organiser Ellie Armstrong told Cherwell, “Celebrating steps towards equality is always important, and this milestone allows us to look back at the advances that have been made through women’s admission and to look forward to see what we still have to do to get diversity and equality in the University.

“So many of us are grateful for the opportunity to study at Jesus College, Oxford University and the women of the community wanted to give something back. We also wanted to make sure that Jesus did something to commemorate the opportunity in the college, as Hertford and Keble have also done.”

The drinks reception on Thursday celebrated the donation of portraits of some of the first female fellows to the College. Taken by a female undergraduate photographer, Liberty King, in Jesus Fellows’ Library, it is hoped that the portraits will be hung in the Porters’ Lodge.

Armstrong explained, “Getting in touch with these fellows has been really inspiring as it’s shown how important their positions in Jesus were to their academic careers.”

The fellows had interesting stories to tell. One explained how, after dining at high table with the other fellows, she was initially expected not to join the men when they went for coffee in a separate room, much to her dismay. Meanwhile, Susan Ballard, who joined the college’s GCR in 1977, commented, “It was a shock to the college that we wanted irons and ironing boards and sewing machines!”

Friday’s bar party will involve creating a college-collage with memories and photographs about experiences of co-education for current Jesus students. With regard to costume theme, organisers have told students, “Take a great woman as your inspiration and get creative.”

The panel discussion, meanwhile, sees Ruth Saunders, a member of the 1974 matriculation class, and Susan Ward, one of the two fellows admitted in 1974, sitting on a panel with current fellow Patricia Daley, post-grad Rohini Giles, and undergrad Kathy Page. Armstrong explained, “We hope to discuss how College has changed over the intervening 40 years, how attitudes and expectations have been influenced by the presence of women at Jesus and how their memories and experiences have been shaped by attending Jesus.”

JCR President Leo Gebbie told Cherwell, “It’s fantastic to see Jesus students celebrating the contributions that women have made, both within and beyond our college, over the last 40 years. The events which have been organised are encouraging people to think of those women who have inspired them, and it’s great to see so many JCR members coming together to celebrate the achievements of our alumnae.” 

Oxford Union President Mayank Banerjee appears to have backed down from threatening to resign his position after deciding that new electoral rules are in place for today’s (Friday) elections.

At the meeting of the Consultative Committee on Monday, Banerjee announced his intention to resign if the recently passed electoral changes were not in place.

The changes involved the introduction of a ‘Re-Open Nominations’ (RON) option, and the legalising of campaigning, including slates. The changes were approved by 92 per cent of member voters on Thursday November 13th, although the validity of that poll was questioned when Returning Officer (RO) Thomas Reynolds issued a rule interpretation on Saturday, declaring the electoral changes invalid.

The ballot papers for Friday were printed earlier this week without a RON option.

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However, after consulting an advisory board on Tuesday, and after the majority of election candidates signed a declaration saying they are standing by the rule change, the President declared that he would be ignoring the Returning Officer and running the election under the new rules. This, in his view, seems to have removed the need for his resignation — despite the fact that there is no RON option on the ballot paper.

Furthermore, when Cherwell requested the minutes of Monday’s Consultative Committee meeting in which Banerjee reportedly threatened to resign, the Chair of the Committee refused to hand them over — despite the rules stating that the minutes have to be available at least 72 hours after the meeting.

Banerjee told Cherwell on Wednes- day that, “On Monday, I considered resigning if the new electoral rules were not in place by Friday’s elections. This was because I believed they were being blocked undemocratically. 

“Yesterday, an advisory board asserted that the new electoral rules were in place, and as such, Friday’s elections would be run as per the wishes of 92 per cent of the members who voted in the poll. I am glad that all of the candidates in this election have expressly recognised that the new set of rules is in place, and that they will campaign accordingly.

“I would like to thank the Returning Officer for all his hard work so far, and look forward to his administration of the new set of rules on Friday. I will do everything I can to help him to that end.”

If Banerjee is to resign, he would become only the fourth Oxford Union President ever to resign, and the first since 1972.

Banerjee also issued a ruling at the Union on Wednesday, stating, “On Sunday 23 November 2014, the RO issued a series of interpretations and a ruling reguarding the validity of the poll which occured on Thursday 13 November 2014.

“After consulting with an advisory board made up of the Senior Officers and a member of OLDUT (the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust, which owns the Union’s buildings), which has strongly asserted that the interpretations and ruling were outside of the RO’s jurisdiction, I rule that the interpretations and ruling were outside of the RO’s jurisdiction.

“This is the final ruling or interpretation on this matter until a Senior Disciplinary Committee rules otherwise.”

Hours later, though, Reynolds responded with another ruling; in its Preamble, he insisted, “I unambiguously have interpretative power over Rule 32(e), which describes my duty.

“In the same way that an SDC or a Tribunal has the power to over-rule both the President and me, I have the power to over-rule the President in matters pertaining to the conduct of the Election.

“The President is appealing to the authority of a so-called advisory board, comprised of a Member of OLDUT and the Senior Officers. This is clearly problematic for a variety of reasons. The most important of which is that this has no basis in the Rules.