Jesus College JCR has issued a letter of apology to Lincoln College after homophobic chants were sung by fans at this year’s rugby Plate final. Both Jesus and Lincoln College authorities have been criticised for attempting to suppress dialogue on the issue, after emails were circulated asking students not to provide comments to the student media.

Concerns about offensive chanting were first raised in an email sent last week to the Jesus JCR and MCR presidents which referred to inappropriate chants “in relation to the name of Lincoln College” at the 2 May match. 

The chant deemed “homophobic” is understood to be a traditional slogan, typically directed at “Jesus boys” by female fans. The off ending line reads, “Jesus boys, they play one, they all take it up the bum […]”, sung to the tune of children’s song ‘This Old Man’.

At the rugby Plate final, “Jesus boys” was substituted for “Lincoln boys”, and reportedly sung by male and female Jesus supporters. Jesus LGBTQ Rep Jessica Parker Humphreys told Cherwell, “The line from the song is off ensive and inappropriate. However, it was written at a time when casual homophobia was more easily accepted than it is now.” Parker Humphreys continued, “I am happy to say that Jesus girls have been discussing changing the line and that it is actually an opportunity to acknowledge how easy it is to make mistakes. Whilst condemning what happened is important, it is also important to see that things are changing as a result.”

According to Jesus JCR President Leo Gebbie, the chants have nevertheless caused “serious upset to several members of the Lincoln College Common Rooms”.

Students have also expressed concern at apparent attempts by college authorities to prevent student journalists from investigating the issue. 
On Tuesday morning, Lincoln’s Senior Dean circulated an email which stated, “A student newspaper has become interested in a matter that is of considerable importance to the College and its student members. While there is certainly no cause for alarm may I politely ask that any Lincoln student approached by the press should not offer a statement but instead refer the matter to myself or the Rector.” A similar email sent to Jesus students requested that students “refer all press enquiries” to the Principal.

An anonymous Lincoln student told Cherwell that, “The idea that students are instructed not to share any views they have or experiences that concern them with a free press, without first going through college authorities, is frankly abominable.” 

Another anonymous Lincoln student remarked, “I suppose they want to keep a lid on any exaggerated reports or sensationalized comments as allegations of homophobia are obviously very serious.”

Lincoln JCR President Rachel Jeal stated that “both colleges are taking this matter very seriously”, but referred Cherwell’s enquiry to college authorities.
Jesus JCR’s apology letter, issued on Tuesday, was written by Gebbie and signed by various JCR representatives. It stated, “We would like to apologise unreservedly on behalf of the Jesus supporters for any inappropriate chants in relation to the name of Lincoln College that may have been expressed at this match, and for any offence this may have caused to players or supporters. At Jesus, we pride ourselves on being an exceptionally welcoming and open community, embracing and supporting both our members and those of the wider university community regardless of nationality, ethnicity, faith, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.”

Speaking to Cherwell, Jesus principal Lord John Krebs stressed that “the chant, whilst it was ill-judged and could have caused offence, does not reflect a homophobic attitude in college”.

He added, “I am very pleased that the JCR and MCR have written to apologise to their counterparts at Lincoln. I, too, would add my apology on behalf of the College to those who were upset by the chant.”

Jesus JCR’s apology concluded with an invitation for Lincoln to participate in “a supportive joint event in response to the concerns raised by the Cuppers Plate Final Rugby Match, as we believe such an occasion outside of the field will help to humanise and reconcile concerns brought forward”. Neither Lincoln nor Jesus administrators were available for comment regarding their emails discouraging students from speaking to the press.

The University and College Union held a national Anti-Casualisation Day of Action last week as part of a campaign to ‘Stamp Out Casual Contracts’.

Critics of ‘zero-hour contracts’ – termed ‘variable hour contracts’ by the University of Oxford – argue that such agreements threaten employment rights and job security for academic and support staff. UCU claims that the use of zero-hour contracts in the education sector, particularly with regard to post-16 tuition, has increased tenfold since 2004. According to a report by the union, 112 further education colleges employed almost a third of workers on these contracts, with one Welsh university’s English undergraduate programme taught entirely by temporary staff.

A statement from the University of Oxford said, “Variable hours contracts are full University contracts of employment that may be of permanent or fixed duration. They are used when it is not possible to predict the number of hours of work available.

“Many of those with variable hours contracts also have permanent contracts. Variable-hours contracts are effectively ‘hourly-paid’ but crucially they are employment contracts not worker contracts, and so bring employment protections and benefits.”

The spokesperson added that, “Oxford regulations limit casual letters of engagement to 12 weeks’ duration, as part of a policy to provide employees with regular employment contracts, providing benefits such as sick leave and appropriately graded pay.

“The University uses these contracts because the degree of flexibility they provide is important in enabling us to do our work.”

However, Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU, criticised this justification, commenting, “Employers often hide behind the defence of flexibility in justifying the use of casual contracts, but that flexibility is very much a one-way street. It might be good for employers but it leaves employees unable to make financial plans on a year-to-year, or even month-to-month and week-to-week basis.

“The UK’s excellent academic reputation has, unfortunately, been built upon the disgraceful exploitation of thousands of temporary staff, with universities and colleges using the fierce competition for permanent jobs to create a no-rights culture for teachers and researchers.”

Hunt also expressed concern that the casualisation of academic work impacted negatively on students, who suffer due to lack of continuity and reduced access to staff employed on minimal hours.

Second year English student, Charlie Jarvis, said, “Fortunately students at Oxford benefit from a culture of long-term academic posts, which tend to promote consistency within teaching.

“However, it is important that University staff, academic and otherwise, are assured of the solidarity of the student body when it comes to protecting employment rights – not just at Oxford but throughout the UK.”

A group of men, some of whom are believed to be members of the Wyverns, a Cambridge drinking society, is under police investigation for chanting about rape in Oxford city centre.

The group was filmed by an Oxford student on the High Street on Saturday 10 May. The video, which was subsequently uploaded to YouTube and posted to the Facebook groups ‘Misogyny Overheard at Oxford Uni’ and ‘Cuntry Living’, appears to show the men chanting “rape” , “fifteen years,” and “she’s too young.”

The men, in a group of approximately 25, were spotted walking from Cornmarket to the Sainsbury’s next to Magdalen Bridge, chanting the whole way.

They then stood outside Magdalen College freshers’ accommodation, chanting at Magdalen members leaving and entering the building.

The student who filmed the men told Cherwell, “I saw them cross Cornmarket and thought this was just silly behaviour of some drunk people, but then I caught them again in front of St Mary The Virgin and was shocked they were still singing the same song several hundred metres later. At that point, I thought that this was slightly ridiculous and decided to film it.”

She added, “The men I confronted were obviously embarrassed. They knew the rest of the group was acting in an inappropriate way once an outsider intervened, yet (perhaps because of peer pressure) had not confronted their peers.

“None of the men was directly threatening towards me, but I think their behaviour as a whole (a large group of big-ish men strutting down the street chanting loudly and obstructing passers-by) was intimidating in the street.
“This was in broad daylight on a weekend, at a time when families with children were walking down the centre of town just looking to enjoy a safe and peaceful evening. I have since heard that shopkeepers and people in libraries were also disturbed.”

A fresher at Magdalen told Cherwell, “There was a group of people outside our accommodation who started chanting, ‘You’re at the wrong Magdalen’ as we went in. At the time we laughed it off and then read about it later.”

There is speculation as to who the men were. The black and white hats worn by some in the video have been linked to the Wyverns of Cambridge’s Magdalene College. They are thought to be between the ages of 20 and 25. Cambridge college deans have been contacted and are looking into the matter.

The men are thought have been celebrating a stag party and many are believed not to be current students. The Cambridge Tab, reporting on the issue, claimed to recognise a number of the group as current university students.

A spokesman for Cambridge University told the Telegraph, “If indeed these students were from Cambridge, their behaviour is deplorable. The colleges and university will be investigating.”

The Wyverns attracted controversy last year when their garden party, “Suicide Sunday,” was banned from University grounds for being overtly sexist.
The event had previously included jelly wrestling between bikini-clad students, which received national news coverage. Last year, the jelly wrestling event was cancelled following a student petition, which gained 891 signatures, calling for a ban.

The petition also received support from the Cambridge Women’s Campaign and national news.

The event will continue this year at a location, “in exilio”. A disclaimer on the event website says, “The Wyverns encourage our guests to drink responsibly.”

In a statement on the Facebook page of fictional character, “Johnnie Wyvern,” the society said, “The Wyverns would like to condemn the actions of those seen acting inappropriately in Oxford this weekend.

“This was NOT a Wyvern organised event and the video shows no current student to be taking part in the disgraceful chants.

“We find the behaviour seen in the video appalling and hope those who are involved are made to apologise.”

The incident has also been reported to Thames Valley Police, who are currently conducting an investigation into the disturbance and the use of offensive language.

A police spokesperson said in a statement to the press, “We received a call on Sunday which was a report of a group of men using offensive language in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, on Saturday evening at approximately 7.30pm.
“Our officers are in the early stages of making enquiries.”

St. Edmund Hall students were delighted by this week’s safe return of their MCR teddy bear mascot, who went missing under mysterious circumstances over two months ago.

It has since come to light that members of the Christ Church GCR abducted ‘Julian’ the teddy bear and took him on a day outing to Paris. The kidnappers revealed their plot by publishing a photo story of the trip on BuzzFeed, which has since gone viral.

According to ‘The Visitor of Christ Church’, an anonymous collection of Christ Church students linked with the theft, four students kidnapped Julian on a “midnight sting operation” on 8 March.

The Visitor told Cherwell, “During the past six weeks, Teddy has spent time with different members of the GCR, and all of us here at Christ Church have come to love him.”

“He made his first official appearance as a Member of the House on May Morning. It was around this time that we began to hear rumours that Teddy Hall were looking for their mascot and GCR Secretary Josephine Rendall began circulating notice of Teddy Hall’s desire to have him back. Teddy was heartened that someone had finally taken notice of his absence, and decided to return home.”

Rendall arranged this week’s handover with Teddy Hall, but not before Christ Church students had the last laugh. Last Friday afternoon, Christ Church members “moved by their overflowing love for the bear” arranged for an anonymous student to fly to Paris with Julian at 6am the next day.

“Teddy spent a lovely day in Paris (shout-out to the Minnie Mouses from Brenda’s hen do) and was back at Christ Church before dawn. He spent his last day at Christ Church in the loving embrace of our members,” the Visitor reported.

The BuzzFeed story shows Julian visiting various attractions and taking photos with tourists and Parisian locals. Dressed in a Christ Church hoodie, the Teddy Hall mascot travelled to the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs de Mars, the Eiffel Tower, and the Shakespeare & Company bookshop.

The photo story also shows an airport security guard handcuffing the bear, with the caption, “Teddy was shitting himself. He was worried there might be some trace substances on him after that crazy Freshers Week party!

The Teddy Hall MCR received their mascot on Monday, to great acclaim on Facebook. The official St Edmund Hall Twitter account welcomed Julian back, reporting that he had been returned with a souvenir photo from his captors.

The bear’s return has been greeted with joy, with Teddy Hall DPhil student Gemma Prata among those relieved by the bear’s return to the college this Monday.

“It’s great to have him back in one piece, although we would have appreciated having him back before the rugby Cuppers final which he always used to go along to – the Hall lost by a very small margin to St John’s/St Anne’s!” Prata
commented.

“We were going for our third year in a row as champions and Teddy’s presence could have made all the difference!”

Julian the teddy was unavailable for comment.

Exeter College has announced that its Governing Body has elected to grant J.K. Rowling an Honorary Fellowship.

The announcement comes after Rowling made a visit to the college in February of this year. During her visit she was in conversation at the Sheldonian Theatre with Jeri Johnson, fellow in English and Sub-Rector at Exeter.

The pair discussed the themes of ‘Mortality and Morality’ in Rowling’s work, including both The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo’s Calling, which was published in 2013 under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Exeter’s statutes state that honorary fellowships are awarded to, “any distinguished person,” and Rowling has been added to a list of honorary fellows which includes Queen Sofia of Spain.

In addition, there are a number of literary figures on the list who are alumni of the college, such as Martin Amis, Alan Bennett and Philip Pullman.

Queen Sofia of Spain visited Oxford earlier this term to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the college.

The College issued a statement on its website, saying, “Ms Rowling was elected in recognition of the extraordinary contribution she has made to the field of literature, and in particular to children’s reading and literacy.”
A medic at Exeter said, “I understand the significance which the Harry Potter series has for many people, but it seems to me that making J. K. Rowling an Honorary Fellow is a bit like name-dropping.”

Grace McGowan, a Fresher reading English at the College disagreed, explaining, “I think it’s a great way to recognize her achievement, especially as her books have got so many children to start reading.”

This is not the first time that Rowling has been granted a fellowship to an organization. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a post for which she was elected in 2002. In total, she holds 6 honorary degrees, including ones from Harvard, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Exeter, where she did an undergraduate degree in French and Classics.

The release date for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film based on a 2001 Harry Potter spin-off that Rowling wrote in aid of Comic Relief, was recently revealed as 18 November 2016.

The book was billed as a textbook for Hogwarts in Care of Magical Creatures. Rowling has agreed to co-write the scripts, as she did for the Harry Potter film franchise.

Exeter announced that it is “delighted Ms. Rowling has accepted and is pleased to welcome her to the Fellowship”.

According to the college’s statutes, any person elected to hold an Honorary Fellowship is elected for life.

Groundbreaking research led by scientists including Oxford palaeontologist Dr. Roger Benson appears to have to revealed why certain dinosaurs became extinct and some did not.

The palaeontologists’ work shows that dinosaurs below a certain body size successfully evolved to become birds, while those with larger bodies became extinct.

According to Dr. Benson, the research team, “travelled all over the world on our mission to weigh as many dinosaurs as possible”. When full skeletons were not available, the researchers calculated dinosaurs’ weight by extrapolating from the weight of leg-bones.”

The key to the most successful evolutionary line seems to have been small body size. Direct bird ancestors were the only dinosaurs to weigh in at under one kilogram.

The researchers believe that this direct link with dinosaurs might explain why birds, compared to most other surviving classes of animals, have such extraordinary diversity. Birds are even described by the authors as being ‘extant dinosaurs’.

Dr. Benson explained to Cherwell why this report is so significant for solving the mystery of how and why the animal kingdom has developed from dinosaurs.

He said, “In their quest to understand the origins of ecological diversity, biologists have focussed on understanding exceptionally diverse modern groups such as birds or mammals. They have found that they diversified relatively recently, over about 100 million years, by a process called adaptive radiation.

“But animals have been evolving for over 540 million years, so previous work had been quite focused on what palaeontologists would view as relatively recent evolutionary events.”

However, Dr. Benson and his colleagues decided to take a new approach to tackling the study of evolution.

“We looked further back, analysing rates of evolution in extinct lineages related to birds – the dinosaurs,” he explained, “We found evidence of continual ecological innovation for over 170 million years along the dinosaur lineage leading to birds. This is different to the widely accepted ‘burst-like’ concept of an adaptive radiation that you get from studying only non-extinct species.”

Josie Dyster, a first-year French and German student from Hertford, questioned the research’s findings. “Dinosaurs are just a hoax to hide the existence of Pokemon,” she commented.

The Save Port Meadow campaign has complained after Longcross, the contractor involved with the controversial Castle Mill development, were awarded runners-up in the 2014 Considerate Constructor Award.

The award is issued by the Considerate Constructors Scheme, a non-profit independent organisation which aims to improve the image of the building industry.

The campaigners have complained about the company’s apparent lack of transparency concerning the diesel spill of 2013 which was, according to the Save Port Meadow campaigners, never adequately explained.

The campaign asserted, “Although we did not make a complaint to the Considerate Constructor award, complaints were made about the major breach of the Ground Contamination condition direct to Longcross, to Oxford University, Oxford City Council, to our local County Councillor, to Nicola Blackwood MP, to The Environment Agency (whose complaint to the Council about the Ground Contamination condition first alerted us to the issue) and to the Police, either formally by Save Port Meadow campaign or by members of the public independently who made us aware ex post facto.”

The complaints from Save Port Meadow are not directed against the Considerate Constructors Scheme itself, as the organisers of the award have shown that their criteria have been met by Longcross.

However, the Save Port Meadow campaigners continue to assert that their concerns were never addressed, and that by awarding any prize to Longcross the Considerate Constructors Scheme is discredited. According to the Considerate Constructors Scheme, “The Considerate Constructors Scheme’s National Site Awards are given to sites who have achieved the highest scores following visits to the sites by one of our experienced Monitors.

“They visit each registered site twice during a 12-18 month registration period and look to assess the site’s performance against our Code of Considerate Practice based on what they see and hear at the time of the visit, and on their discussions with the site manager.

“We are unable to assess sites on a continuous basis due to cost and logistical constraints and these visits therefore inevitably provide a snapshot of how that site is performing. Our Monitors attempt to take into account the context of each site and any constraints or issues they have to deal with based on that particular project.”

The Scheme’s Public Liason Offi cer David Crook commented, “The Monitor who visited this site was aware of the strength of public feeling against this project and the many challenges this created for the contractor. A number of exceptional initiatives were introduced and a very high standard of performance was witnessed by the Scheme’s Monitors at both visits carried out.

“We therefore feel that the award presented to this site is also appropriate and refl ects the hard work and eff orts made by the site team in what was clearly a diffi cult situation.”

However, Save Port Meadow have continued to oppose the decision, telling Cherwell, “We are stunned that this award has been given to Longcross for the Castle Mill development because serious contamination risks to students and their families are ongoing following the diesel spillage for which we understand Longcross was responsible. Longcross did not report the spillage for 3 months potentially putting public health and the environment at risk.”

The Considerate Constructors Scheme and Longcross were unavailable for comment when approached. Oxford University have declined to comment.

Christ Church has appointed the Reverend Canon Professor Martyn William Percy as the new Dean to replace the outgoing Reverend Christopher Lewis, who has been in the position since 2002.

Professor Percy has been the Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon since 2004, and is married to Dr Emma Percy, Chaplain of Trinity College.

He also holds the distinction of being the only real-world theologian to be quoted in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Commenting on the “exciting and challenging” nature of the job, Professor Percy stated, “I am very much looking forward to serving the unique foundation that is Christ Church – a college of the University and the Cathedral of the Diocese. I am particularly looking forward to working together with colleagues throughout the College and the Cathedral, as well as with the senior staff of the Diocese.”

Christ Church has a unique status, being the only academic institution in the world that is also a cathedral. As the Visitor of Christ Church is the reigning monarch, the Dean of Christ Church is one of the few academic positions that must be personally approved by the Queen.

David Nowell, Senior Censor at Christ Church, commented to Cherwell, “Martyn is an excellent fit for the Deanship of Christ Church in a number of important respects: he is an active academic, committed to the importance of teaching and research; and he has experience of college life at Cambridge and at Cuddesdon. Martyn also has wide experience as a priest.”

He further noted, “We look forward to welcoming Martyn and his family to Christ Church in the autumn.”

A second year philosopher at Christ Church commented, “We look forward to welcoming the new Dean to Christ Church and I am sure the dean will enjoy his time here. Christ Church often attracts media attention for all the wrong reasons, and I hope he will be a good fi gure to attempt to challenge this.”

Percy is due to take up the post at Christ Church in October 2014.

Cambridge has beaten Oxford to the top of a recent University League table.

The Complete University Guide creates the league table each year ranking universities in a number of areas, including graduate prospects, student satisfaction and entry requirements.

Cambridge has topped the table for the fourth year running, with an overall score of 1000 compared to Oxford’s 993. They outperformed Oxford in the categories of entry standards, graduate prospects, student satisfaction, research assessment, student-staff ratio and facilities spending.

However, Oxford beats its rival in the categories of good honours and academic services spending.

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford told Cherwell, “University league table results all vary, depending on the factors they use to calculate their rankings. For example, the Times Higher Education world rankings has rated Oxford as the strongest university in the UK for the past three years and the second strongest in the world for the past two.

“Despite the differences between them, all league tables consistently show Oxford in the very forefront of the world’s universities, both for the quality of its teaching and the excellence of its research.”

The London School of Economics has retained its place in third and St Andrews have moved from sixth to fourth in the space of a year.

London Metropolitan was ranked last in the table of the 123 UK universities.

Oxford fresher, James Edmonds, commented, “Cambridge doesn’t have the allure of Wednesday Night Park End to contend with.”