St Catherine’s College JCR has been refusing to stand for High Table at formal all week in an attempt to raise awareness of the ongoing dispute between the College and its JCR.

This follows the JCR’s declaration of independence last Tuesday and the decision of the JCR body to carry out collective action in part to protest the “threatening” treatment and “disregard” of some senior members towards the JCR and its president, Jack Hampton.

The primary purpose of the collective action is now to achieve specific demands at next week’s College Finance Committee meeting, which Hampton has been permitted to attend and address on this one occasion.

One such demand, as outlined in a motion at last Tuesday’s extraordinary meeting, is for permanent student representation on Finance Committee. Other demands include the implementation of itemised battels, as is widely carried out around Oxford, “to provide clarity and transparency”.

The payment of the £5,600 owed to the JCR for this term, which was raised from the JCR levy, is a further core demand, as well as the reversal of the decision to take control of JCR financing “until proper consultation of the JCR has been carried out”.

While the JCR has become an unincorporated association of the College, St Catherine’s is yet to relinquish its control of JCR finances.

The Oxford University Hindu Society (HUMSoc) has postponed OxHoli 2015 until Michaelmas term after a last-minute venue cancellation. The event was due to take place on Saturday 23rd May, but plans to hold the Hindu festival of colours at Brasenose College Sports Ground fell through and the organisers were unable to find a different venue at short notice.

A few days before OxHoli was planned to go ahead, a message was posted on the OxHoli Facebook page apologising for having to postpone the event, stating, “We are so sorry but we’ve been put in the unfortunate position of having to postpone Holi for the time being. Our original venue cancelled on us very recently and we’ve been frantically searching for a new one since (with little success).

“We’ve tried almost every college sports ground – so do hit us up with any ideas and in the meantime we will continue to work hard.”

OxHoli is an event where participants throw coloured powder over one another to celebrate the end of the Winter season. Following on from the previous success of OxHoli, HUMSoc was keen to replicate the event and was planning to introduce live music this year, with DJ Ravi Skanker and DJ Salman Kushti on the line-up.

Srishti Suresh, the president of HUMSoc, commented, “Our original venue was not able to accommodate us owing to prior commitments; we contacted almost every space in Oxford with the capacity to host Holi, but due to the short notice and similar difficulties with the proposed dates (given that they either clashed with exam timings or sports matches) as well as valid concerns about the nature of Holi (as it does generate quite a lot of mess!) they were not able to accommodate us either.

“We are deeply saddened that we weren’t able to host OxHoli this term, but HUMSoc is currently going over plans for other events (such as our Bollywood night in 6th Week), which we hope people will be able to attend. In addition, we’re redirecting all our creative energy towards Diwali Ball, which we hope to host in Michaelmas.”

Brasenose Bursar Philip Parker told Cherwell, “The College would have been delighted to host this event at our sports ground, but made clear from the first communication (in March) that it would have to fit in with the schedule of cricket matches and other planned events. As cricket schedules are not fixed until late April, we pointed out to the organisers that it might be wise to find an alternative venue. Unfortunately it turnedoutthatamatch was scheduled on the desired day. Our Domestic Bursar did what he could to assist with finding another venue.”

HUMSoc plans to rearrange OxHoli for Sunday 11th October during Freshers’ Week. 

Oriel College has voted against a motion to donate £100 towards bringing DarkMatter, a trans South Asian performance art duo, to Oxford as part of their tour.

The motion was one of three proposed at an open meeting last Sunday to request the release of more than £75 from the JCR budget, and as such had to be voted on by an online poll. The motion was defeated with 86 votes against, and 16 votes for.

The motion’s defeat by such a wide margin caused disappointment and anger amongst some Oriel students. Speaking about why he believes the motion was defeated, the proposer of the motion, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell, “The reasons people have given are that they did not have enough information about where exactly the money was going, that there were three simultaneous requests for money from the JCR and people started worrying about the budget (an unfounded worry, since it is my understanding that we are currently well under budget for the year), and that people did not feel it was relevant to them.

“My suspicion is that it was largely the latter, which may seem an innocuous enough reason at first glance, but the fact is that the minorities to whom this would be relevant (queer/trans people and people of colour) are those whose voices are disproportionately overlooked at Oxford and in the wider world.

“It would seem petty, for example, if I were to refuse money to an event primarily for the benefit of Chemists simply because it’s not relevant to me as an Modern Languages student, but it’s so much worse than mere pettiness when oppressed minorities are denied the funding to access things that are central to their liberation; regardless of intention, it can end up feeling like an attack on our right to be here.

“It is interesting to me that Oriel is the only college so far to have turned down the motion, and especially by such a high margin. This is the main reason why I felt let down by the JCR’s decision, because – whether or not this actually is the case – it implies that there is something different about how Oriel viewed the matter, since they were given word-for-word the same motion as the other colleges.”

Kit Owens, Oriel’s JCR President, explained to Cherwell, “I will not presume to know the reasons why JCR members who took part in the poll voted the way they did but being present in the meeting, there was definite concern from some members over the vagueness of the motion. I would also like to take this opportunity to reaffirm Oriel JCR’s commitment to LGBTQ liberation. We successfully campaigned to fly the Pride flag from the college flagpole and have given at least £119 to LGBTQ causes in the past academic year, supporting Oxford Pride and the work of our LGBTQ Rep.”

WomCam Officer Aliya Yule told Cherwell, “It’s very disappointing that Oriel has voted not to support DarkMatter coming to Oxford. It’s rare that we get an opportunity to give a platform at our University to voices that are constantly side-lined in our curriculum, and in society.” 

A motion was passed by the OUSU Council’s 5th Week meeting on Wednesday 27th May in favour of setting aside time on Wednesday afternoons for students to pursue extra-curricular activities.

The policy was proposed by Louis Trup and called for Wednesday afternoons to remain free from any mandatory course commitments.

This would allow students “the opportunity to take part in extra-curricular activities”. The motion proposed that these might include taught and research courses.

The motion began by mentioning OUSU’s previous adoption of this policy, “OUSU once had policy in support of having Wednesday afternoons free for course commitments for students”.

This referenced OUSU’s last affiliation with the idea of free Wednesday afternoons which ended in Michaelmas of 2003. This was because the motion lapsed when no one campaigned in favour of it.

Louis Trup, OUSU President and proposer of the policy, told Cherwell, “I’m proud to be bringing this motion alongside the legend that is Hector Bagley. Wednesday afternoons are free in other universities, and it certainly enhances the student experience.

“It allows for more people to get involved with extra-curricular activities like sport, which I believe can only be a good thing. That is why I think it should be OUSU policy.”

During the meeting he also defended his motion, saying it would “give us more choice”. He also said that students shouldn’t be forced into doing things by timetabling, concluding that “it’s a start to bringing about change”.

OUSU’s return to this policy was sparked by a meeting between the President and the University’s Sports Strategic Sub-Committee, where the issue was raised.

Wednesday was suggested as suitable because it is the day many national universities choose to allow students time to pursue extra-curricular activities.

It is also the day that the majority British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) league matches take place in many sports.

When asked whether he thought he was representing students’ wishes, Trup responded by citing OUSU’s role as representing students. The agenda for the meeting concedes, “as OUSU has no policy on this, OUSU’s representative, Louis trup, could only speculate as to what students want”.

First-year English and French student Emma Millington commented, “The idea of having delegated time where you’re not working is quite radical and could benefit students’ physical and mental health. I have two and half hours of French class on Wednesdays when I would like to go to our college’s Zumba class.”

However, she highlighted how the motion may be short sighted in its understanding of the logistics behind the way the university creates its timetables.

She said, “If the class wasn’t in the evening it would clash with some English contact hours.”

This debate comes in the wake of calls for a reading week, which so far have remained unanswered.