A memorial to the former Czech President, Václav Havel, was yesterday unveiled at Oxford University Parks. The ceremony coincides with this month’s 25th anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which brought an end to over four decades of communism in what was then Czechoslovakia.

Dignitaries from the Slovak and Czech Republics, including the two nations’ ambassadors to the United Kingdom, were present at the unveiling of ‘Havel’s Place’, as were four current Czech cabinet ministers.

Commemorating the first democratically elected leader of his nation following the communist era, ‘Havel’s Place’ at Oxford is an initiative of the Oxford University Czech and Slovak Society (OUCSS), and supported by the Czech and Slovak embassies. Funding was provided by Mr LudÄ›k Sekyra, a Czech businessman and Foundation Fellow of Harris Manchester College.

In a nod to the spirit of free discussion and debate that Havel championed, the memorial takes the form of two seats linked by a round table through which grows a Linden Tree, the national tree of Havel’s homeland. It is the work of Czech designer, BoÅ™ek Šípek.

The table is inscribed with Havel’s 1989 campaign slogan, ‘Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred’.

Czech ambassador to the UK, Michael Žantovský, served as an advisor to Havel and is the author of a new biography of the former President. He told Cherwell that the “very modest” monument would be “a place of meditation, of reflection.”

He added, “It symbolises Havel’s devotion to the reflective process — the process of concentrating on our inner identity and our inner responsibility. It’s for everyone to draw conclusions for himself. There is no prescription in ‘Havel’s Place’ for what one should think about there.”

Walter Sawyer, Superintendent of the University Parks, said, “The parks’ Curators rarely agree to erecting any kind of structure to mark the life or work of an individual”. However they felt Šípek’s structure, entitled ‘Democracy Talks’, was “an inspired format.”

Sawyer added, “We chose a space near to the pond in the Parks as it is a quieter, more reflective area. One can sit overlooking the pond and river, but similarly the memorial can be turned to look into the adjoining copse of trees, or across the Parks to the city.

“The seats can be swivelled for the sitters to look inwards at each other, or to look outwards. The permutations are almost endless and the Curators hope that the seat will be used in the spirit that it was gifted to us for discussion and debate.”

With this week’s unveiling, Oxford joins Washington DC, Dublin, Prague, Barcelona and Venice as one of a network of cities to host a ‘Havel’s Place’ in memory of the former Czech president who died in 2011. The network was kick-started by Petr Gandalovič, Czech ambassador to the United States.

Hailed by former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, as “one of the most important figures of the 20th century”, Havel was instrumental in the toppling of communism in his country.

Ambassador Žantovský said, “Havel’s historic significance is enormous, as both a leader of the resistance to the communist regime and as leader of the Velvet Revolution. And after that as leader of the country, who oversaw its enormous changes to liberal democracy, a market economy, the rule of law and Czech integration into Western international institutions, be it NATO or the European Union.”

The Ambassador also highlighted Havel’s ties to Oxford, saying, “There are faculty in Oxford whom he knew very well and for whom he had a very high regard.”

Among them were the late philosopher, Isaiah Berlin, as well as Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European studies, “who was a witness of the revolutionary events in 1989 and became a friend and confidant of Havel.”

In October 1998, the President received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University.

At that time the playwright-statesman also attended a ceremony at Magdalen College and conferred honours on a number of Oxford academics for their work in establishing an underground education network in Czechoslovakia, facilitating the study of material considered subversive by the communist regime.

Roger Scruton, Visiting Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, was awarded the Medal of Merit (First Class) of the Czech Republic. In the mid-1980s, he had been arrested by communist authorities and placed on the ‘Index of Undesirable Persons’.

Prof Scruton told Cherwell, “Havel is one of the few examples of somebody who emerged as a leader of his nation without having that ambition and without having any desire for power at all. He is a symbol of another type of politics.

“He was an ordinary, decent person motivated by conscience rather than a desire to control things. He stands as a symbol of an honourable politics that the Czechs wish their country to represent.”

Former President of Magdalen and Chairman of the Jan Hus Educational Foundation that established the underground university, Anthony Smith, was “delighted to know that Oxford is commemorating Havel.”

Kryštof Vosátka, President of OUCSS, commented, “The lessons of Václav Havel continue to resonate even as many countries, including ours, often turn a blind eye to the transgression of human rights in seeking economic advantage.

“His legacy is that of firmness in the face of blatant injustice and oppression, a firmness which never resorts to violence yet remains vocal and persistent.”

Mr Vosátka also sees a wider significance in having a monument to Havel at Oxford. He added, “The freedom to study anywhere in the world, including the famous English universities, is one of the important outcomes of the Velvet Revolution.

“Among other things, Havel’s Place is thus an expression of the right to pursue good education, which Havel recognised as the necessary part of any society.

“Its significance in Oxford derives also from Havel’s unfaltering defence of the principle of human rights, along with his personal example of intelligent, non-violent political dissent against authoritarian interests: Oxford being one of the global centres of studying and debating politics, we believe that this modest memorial is more than suitable here.”

The Chancellor of the University, Lord Patten, said, “I was delighted to hear about the unveiling of “Havel’s Place” in Oxford. Vaclav Havel was one of the bravest champions of pluralism and democracy in Europe in the second half of the last century. The triumph of liberal pluralism over authoritarianism was the result of the courageous actions of Havel and others like him.

“When I say that, however, I should also add that there were not many like him because, as well as his political actions, he wrote brilliantly about his ideals. Wherever people campaign and fight for freedom Havel offers inspiration and encouragement – and that includes Hong Kong today.”

Over 40 public buildings in Oxford are set to transform into free Wi-Fi hotspots for tourists, residents and students by March of next year in plans unveiled last Thursday.

The proposal to introduce free Wi-Fi into institutions like Modern Art Oxford, Park and Ride sites and the County Hall, come as part of a planned £150m government investment across the UK.

This new Wi-Fi will not only benefit the tourists who visit Oxford’s world-famous museums and institutions, but Oxford University students themselves.

Leader of the City Council Bob Price explained how this new wider Wi-Fi coverage would directly advantage the student population.

He said, “Free City Centre Wi-Fi will mean that students can use all personal devices in the main facilities in the central area and have access to all web enabled systems.”

He continued to describe how these networks would also be extended further across the city to ensure that other areas are equally enabled for all- not just students and visitors, but residents and businesses also.

This could resolve the issues with Eduroam that plague some Oxford students, particularly when connecting to this cross-campus network via their mobile phones.

Fresher Pascal Foster complained of the unreliability of the current Wi-Fi network outside of college for him, saying, “Since I arrived here, Eduroam has been temperamental at vital moments when I needed to contact tutors, mainly when trying to access my emails through my mobile whilst walking between lectures or classes. It either refuses to connect or quickly loses connection.”

As a result he would be keen- like others who have found Eduroam can prove erratic- to find an alternative wireless solution when out and about in Oxford, however he doubted whether these particular new plans would impact him.

He added, “I’m not sure how far the Wi-Fi zone extends or how easily accessible it will be, but I’m unlikely to frequently visit the public places where it will be offered as I always seem to have so much on, so I’m not sure if t will improve my internet situation outside of college!”

However, History student Flora Raybould was quick to praise the new proposals, commenting, “I haven’t actually found Eduroam too problematic, but even so I think this new free Wi-Fi is a great way of encouraging students to visit different facilities in Oxford; either to work in or to look around.

“It’s also a great way of helping to integrate the student population into the Oxford community as it is something that will benefit all those who live, study and work in or are visiting here.”

The question of whether this new Wi-Fi will inspire students to visit more public institutions is definitely up for debate, as there are hopes that these proposals will not only positively impact those who connect to the new networks but the institutions that offer them.

Oxford Ice Rink, which already provides free Wi-Fi in its café, has said that the free network has played an important role in attracting more student customers and so has had a very important impact on their business.

Hopefully this will be the case for dozens of other institutions by this coming March, when their Wi-Fi networks are completely established.

Freshers housed in newly refurbished Oriel accommodation have had problems with their water supply and sporadic flooding due to ongoing construction work,

A history undergraduate commented, “there was a burst water pipe yesterday as a result of construction work, cutting off all water in the Rhodes building for several hours. This followed several days when the water had been randomly switched off intermittently and one day when there was only cold water.”

Speaking on Wednesday 5th November, he said, “Yesterday things got especially bad. Basically for some unknown reason all the taps came back on in a bathroom, causing it to flood and water poured down on the floor below through the light fittings, which was a major health and safety hazard. As it’s such an old and creaky building it really exposed its structural weaknesses. The water was three or four inches thick”

Another first-year commenting on f looding problems last week, said, “My room wasn’t that bad but there was definitely an excess of water. There had been no hot water all day so someone had turned a tap on and not turned it off again so when the water came back on their room flooded and so my room flooded. We went from no water to too much water pretty quickly! Luckily I escaped anything major though.”

Matt Hull, a first year at Oriel said, “Lately the water supply has been disconnected on a periodic basis, owing to works being done on the third quad. While it was disconnected, someone tried turning on the tap, but forgot to turn it back off before the supply came back on… Cue flooded bathroom etc.”

The Grade II listed building is part of St Mary’s Quad in Oriel College and faces onto High Street opposite St Mary’s Church. The construction work started in June 2013 and was due to finish in September of this year. While the bedrooms have all been finished, work is ongoing on seminar rooms and a new cardio gym on the ground floor.

Oriel’s third quad is currently still a building site, while builders put down new stonework and grass, a project that includes the levelling out of the lawn where croquet is played in Trinity term. As a second year commented, “The sacrifice of a few freshers rooms is necessary so that our new croquet lawn can be pitch-perfect.”

The project is intended to conserve the Rhodes building for the Twenty First Century, providing more and better undergraduate rooms as well as wheelchair access to all three quads on the college’s main site. The construction work caused problems last year when a crane was p l a c e d and removed in the quad resu l t i ng in noise disruption for stud e n t s living in the surrounding acc o m modation

When contacted by Cherwell, both the JCR president and Oriel College declined t o comment.

Following a vote by the Church of England in July to allow female bishops, Rev Canon Rosie Harper has argued that after the forthcoming retirement of the current Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, the post should be given a woman.

The Rev Harper explained “We’ve got to look to the future… Obviously, you look for the best person for the job but having made the decision to have women bishops, the Church has to enact it not just leave it on the back burner.

“Oxford is seen as one of the senior posts, and the pressure is to give women more junior bishop jobs, however there are some very experienced and talented women and I see no reason why one of them might not be found to be the best person for the role.”

A public meeting will be held in Christ Church Cathedral on 11th November for people to give their views to the Church of England’s Appointment Secretaries, though the new bishop is unlikely to be enthroned until the end of 2015.

Until then the role will be held temporarily by the Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Rev Colin Fletcher, who looked after the post before the appointment of Bishop Pritchard in 2007.

The Rev Fletcher commented, “It is very exciting that for the first time in history the new Bishop of Oxford could be either a woman or a man, but as the Rev Canon Rosie Harper says the key is thing is to find the best person for the job and a great deal of thought and prayer will be going into that over the coming weeks and months”.

Hertford College Chaplain the Rev Gareth Hughes explained “There are six suffrage bishop posts also vacant (assistants to diocesan bishops), but there seems to be a will for the first woman bishop not to be appointed to one of these junior posts. The ‘stained-glass ceiling’ has left the Church of England with many talented women priests in the senior posts of archdeacons and cathedral deans and canons, and it is from among them that the first women bishops are likely to be appointed.

“The appointment process is complex, but there is desire among the bishops to have a woman among their number as quickly as possible, after the first vote for women bishops was an embarrassing failure. Oxford Diocese is well placed to get the first woman bishop in the church, but could be beaten to it.”

Chaplain Hughes added “Research shows that there are two main reasons why many people, and specially younger people find the Church of England distasteful. One is sexism and the other is homophobia. Saying that we are inclusive is not enough. We need to act in inclusive ways. This will mean actually making some women bishops.” The new bishop will be selected by the Church of England’s Oxford Vacancy in See committee, which includes both clergy and laity. Members of the public may suggest candidates by contacting the Appointment Secretaries.

Six members of the committee, at least three of them lay people will be voted onto the Crown Nominations Committee, alongside the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and members from the Houses of Laity and Clergy.

Apart from Oxford itself, the Oxford Diocese also spans Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

Larry Sanders, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon has sent Cherwell a strongly worded statement about the proposed plans to expand the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre in Kidlington.

Proposing to more than double the capacity for incarceration, from 276 to around 600, expansion plans for Campsfield House would turn it into what Sanders calls a “mini-Guantanamo”. He also says that: “Locking up 300 more asylum seekers without charge or hearing or crime proved is contrary to British traditions of justice and meaningless in face of the total mess created by the Home Office.”

Striking out against the Conservative & Lib Dem government’s plan, Sanders says that it’s “an expensive part of its attempt to win votes back from UKIP” whilst Bill MacKeith, of the Campaign to Close Campsfield calls it “wrong, inhumane and unnecessary”.

Student societies such as Amnesty International also voice their condemnation of the plans. Paul Ostwald, Amnesty International Press Officer, said “Larry Sanders is right in proposing that the solution is not constructing more cells, but enabling a more effective judicial process for asylum seekers”. Whilst Vera Wriedt, on behalf of OMS (‘Oxford Migrant Solidarity’) believes that “the expansion of Campsfield means the expansion of a racist regime which excludes, incarcerates and even kills those who are deemed not to belong… Campsfield should be closed down, not expanded.”

Larry Sanders is not alone in the local political sphere in standing up and vocally opposing Campsfield and the plans for expansion. Conservative MP Nicola Blackwood clearly demarcates her position by posting on her website that “doubling the size of Campsfield would be wrong for Kidlington and wrong for detainees”.

Ending his letter sent to Cherwell last week, Larry Sanders said: “The Green Party wants all the Detention Centres closed and for the refugees to be with their families while waiting for speedy and fair hearing.” Concerning his constituency and voters as a whole, he believes that “taxpayers don’t want to waste tens of millions of pounds on the building plus tens of millions every year while the Government says there is no money for an adequate NHS or affordable housing or even food for the thousands queuing at Food Banks.”

Union members will vote this Thursday on new election rules, including the introduction of slates, electronic campaigning and a Re-Open Nominations option. The vote is going ahead in face of protest from some members that its organisation was against the rules. 

The complaint argues that the Union has not given members enough time or notice to vote on the changes. A requisition to delay a poll on significant electoral rule changes was submitted by former Returning Officer Ronald Collinson. The request has already received over 80 signatures on the Union noticeboard. 

The requisition asks that a planned vote for Thursday of 5^th week be delayed to Thursday of 6^th week, under Union rule Rule 67(b)(iv) and (v), which lay out provisions for cases where a rule change is decided to be “of such importance that it should be brought to the special attention of Members”. 

According to Rule 67 if the requisition is successful the rule changes will be considered at the weekly Union debate in 6th Week, while notices informing of the upcoming vote will need to be given to every College and Hall, as well as at least two newspapers.

If delayed until 6th Week, the rules changes will not affect this term’s Union elections.

Ronald Collinson, who is also an ex-member of Standing Committee, told Cherwell, “The proposed changes to the electoral rules are probably the most significant proposals since 1998, when campaigning was re-banned by a poll of members. They are also very long (originally 18 pages), and cover extensive ground – not just the legalisation of most forms of personal campaigning, but also the legitimation of ‘slates’ and a new provision to reopen nominations.

“The text of these proposals was only made public last Monday (3rd Week), with the intention that they be presented to the membership on Thursday of 4th Week.

“It was clear to me – and the 79 other members who signed this petition on a rainy Saturday afternoon – that such historic changes required heightened scrutiny, debate, and opportunity for amendment on both technical and substantive points. It was for this reason that we chose to invoke Rule 67(b)(v). This provides greater opportunity for airing concerns, and will ensure that all changes are as well-drafted, effective, and representative of the Members’ will as possible.”

However the leadership of the Union claim that the issue will be resolved by a poll in 5^th Week. Thomas G Reynolds, current Returning Officer, told Cherwell “It has been brought to the Union’s attention that rules made by a poll can only be changed by a poll. The current electoral rules were made by a poll and so the way to change the rules about elections must be via a poll. As such a poll will be held on the Thursday of 5th Week from 12-7pm at the Union in order to allow the members to have their say on these proposed electoral changes.”

Meanwhile the President of the Union Mayank Banerjee said “Whilst I fully expected the rules changes to be met by some opposition it is quite encouraging that people do not seem to have problems with the changes themselves, but rather they seem to be trying to delay them passing. However, the main reason previous attempts have failed is because they have been constantly delayed on technicalities and so I am glad that we will be able to hold a poll of the membership on Thursday, to settle the issue decisively.”

Under the proposed rule changes currently banned practices such as open campaigning and forming slates would be authorized, while the option of ‘Re-Open Nominations’ would be introduced for the ballot.

Collinson commented on the changes that “I believe that the changes should be used as an unique opportunity to crack down on – not to legitimate – the formation of the insidious electoral pacts known as ‘slates’. I am also unconvinced that the Union would be well-served by having campaigning regulations even looser than OUSU’s. More generally, I think that there are a number of drafting issues which need to be looked at in greater detail.”

Banerjee responded “On the issue of slates, far from being ‘insidious’, I feel that it is important that if a group of people have the same ideas for what they want to change about the Union, they should be allowed to campaign in a way that recognises their shared views. It gives the membership more information about who they are voting for and in my eyes that can only be a good thing.”

At the time of publication, President Banerjee confirmed that the vote would be going ahead despite complaints. If the 5th Week poll is found to have been in breach of the rules, members can ask for disciplinary action to be taken against those deemed responsible, which would be heard in a Senior Disciplinary Committee hearing later this term.