Oxford Professor of Circadian Neuroscience, Russell Foster, has claimed that we are getting as much as two hours less sleep per night compared to sixty years ago.

In an article published by the BBC, Professor Foster and other sleep experts warned that in the modern world, too much use of gadgets late at night and reliance on caffiene to stay awake is evidence of us becoming “arrogant” in our attitude to our body clocks.

Citing teenagers as particularly bad offenders, Foster recalls meeting those who needed sleeping tablets in the evening and multiple energy drinks in the morning to function properly.

Cherwell spoke to some students with odd sleeping habits. One commented, “I was sleeping between twelve and fifteen hours a day, but this was during the day. So I’d wake up at night and generally go to bed at about 5 or 6 am. I only usually woke up if I had a tute to go to.”

Tom Nicholls, a first year physicist at Hertford, recalls having problems with sleep at the beginning of the university year. “In the earlier terms I had days when I just didn’t sleep. I even broke the forty-eight hour mark at one point.”

Alex Benn, a first year archaeology and anthropology student, cited access to technology as a cause of bad sleeping habits. He commented, “Generally, I browse the internet until I get so exhausted that I fall asleep.”

Another believed that the conundrum of balancing work and social life is the culprit. “Stuff builds up, and then also you’re so stressed that you can’t sleep. The only time you can socialise properly is 10pm onwards.”

Hertford Welfare Rep Gabriel Nicklin advised that students attempt to sleep better, especially during the exam period. He explained, “By that I mean getting into a good sleep rhythm. It may seem impossible during term time, but if I manage to get at least eight hours a night for three or four days on the trot I feel like a different person.

“Much better than sleeping for four hours for a few nights then lying in for twelve hours. If you can get into a good pattern in the run up to an exam, it will help you think more rationally and access that information you have been cramming in during revision much easier.”

Items were stolen from a student’s room in Christ Church accommodation on Monday evening.

A suspicious looking man was caught on CCTV footage walking around trying to open doors at the Blue Boar and Peck student accommodation at around 8pm on Monday.

He was reported by two junior members of the college. One of the students told Cherwell, “We saw him trying to force entry into the main doors of the first year buildings, even checking the laundry room. Two of us immediately went to inform the porters, and we trawled through the CCTV until we found him.”

The intruder was able to get into one student’s room and steal a laptop and an iPad. The student, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the intruder had broken in and stated that he discovered that the items were missing, “later that evening on returning to my room.”

The police have since taken someone into custody in connection with the burglary, however, the stolen items have not yet been recovered.

Christ Church Dean, the Very Rev. Christopher Lewis, commented that, “I am sorry to hear that such valuable items were stolen. It is very good to know that a suspect has been apprehended. However, students shouldn’t prop staircase doors open, or leave their rooms unlocked when they are out. We’ve got to be very careful about security within the college. We have good CCTV but people are coming and going through the entrance all the time so we need to be vigilant and that applies to everybody.”

Oxford students have voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students. 

The ‘No’ campaign, headed by NUS delegate and former OUCA President Jack Matthews, prevailed in this week’s affiliation referendum with 1780 votes to 1652 votes in favour of remaining affiliated. 

The elections had a 15% turnout and a 0.9% abstention rate.

‘No’ campaign leader Jack J Matthews told Cherwell, “I’m really pleased about the result. We’ve sent a really strong message to the NUS this week that there is the need for some real change in the NUS, and I really do hope they listen to us, deliver that change, speak to us, and hopefully one day we will have an NUS that Oxford will be more than happy to join once again.”

Commenting on the turnout, he continued, “I am absolutely astounded, really really pleased that Oxford students engaged with this referendum, because if we look back the turnout for this referendum rivals turnouts even for vice-Presidential elections, so I’m really pleased that we got a high turnout. Both campaigns worked really hard to turn out the vote, so I am grateful to everyone, no matter what side they are on, for being part of this process.” 

Tom Rutland, OUSU President and leader of the ‘Yes’ campaign told Cherwell, ”I’m obviously disappointed with the result, having campaigned for OUSU to stay in the NUS.  My year as President has shown me the benefits of NUS membersip, and that it  can be a real lifeline to me and the other officers, but also to Oxford students in general. I think the result is a shame, there’s some really great students campaigns still going, that this will be a brief uncoupling, and that next year we will be reaffiliated to the NUS.”

OUSU President-elect, Louis Trup, commented, “The voice of students is my priority. A majority of the student voice wanted us to disaffiliate. It may give a lot of people, especially those working in campaigns, a harder job, however, I reckon OUSU is up to the challenge. The people you have elected to serve in OUSU will still work hard for every Oxford student and we as a student body will have to step up and prove that we can have a voice at a national level. If we want to give the NUS a wakeup call, we need to show them how great we can be without them. Get involved next year to make sure this happens.”

The Sabbatical team-elect commented, “We as a sabbatical team were supporting the YES2NUS campaign, but we also passionately believe in and love Oxford. We remain completely committed to serving Oxford students to the best of our abilities. #Yes2Oxford.”

Eleanor Sharman, of the No campaign, commented, “We are delighted with the result, and I am so proud of Oxford for standing up and making itself heard. The ‘Yes’ campaign worked incredibly hard and the close result is testament to its passion and commitment. I look forward to Oxford’s development next year.”

Nathan Akehurst, who ran for OUSU presidency earlier this year told Cherwell, “I think this sends bad signals to the outside world. It’s a classic case of Oxbridge arrogance. I think Oxford will lose a lot from not being part of a national student movement. However, we’ve got to accept that this is what students wanted, there was an incredibly high turnout, and the close result is something to be proud of. It shows that both campaigns tried incredibly hard to engage students in a way that you don’t always see in student politics.”

Joe Miles, also from the ‘No’ campaign told Cherwell that the NUS had “massive problems with democracy” commenting, “I am extremely happy that we are no longer part of an institution that has shown time and time again that it is not interested in listening to us and shows no signs of doing so in the future. I thought voter apathy would lead to a Yes vote so I’m pleasantly surprised.”  

Returning Officer Alex Walker told Cherwell after the results were announced, “In my report I’ll be quite damning of them. People were breaking the rules left right and centre and there was nothing I could do about it”.

OUSU Council decided to call a all-student referendum in Hilary Term, after the defeat of a motion to hold a Special Council, to which JCRs would have sent delegates to vote on their behalf. Proponents of a Special Council had argued that given historically-low OUSU referendum turnouts, it would have been more democratic for the debate to take place in common rooms. However, OUSU Council decided that because opting for a Special Council would exclude members of disaffiliated JCRs from voting, holding an all-student referendum was the preferable option.

Oxford students have written an open letter calling for the Oxford Union President, Ben Sullivan, to resign. The letter appeared on the website of the New Statesman, but was subsequently taken down for legal reasons.

The letter follows accusations of rape and attempted rape against Ben Sullivan. Sullivan was taken in for questioning by Police on Wednesday 7th May. He was later released on bail and without charge on the same day.

Students who have signed the letter include OUSU Vice-president for Women Sarah Pine, former OULC co-chair Helena Dollimore, and President-elect of OUSU Louis Trup , as well as OUSU Vice-president elect Anna Bradshaw and OUSU Women’s campaign officer Lucy Delaney.

Other signatories of the letter include journalist Laurie Penny and feminist activist Caroline Criado-Perez.

According to the New Statesman, Pine and Dollimore have also contacted around 30 upcoming speakers at the Union, calling for them to reconsider attending.

A preamble to the letter states that it is “open to all members of the Oxford community” who wish to sign it.

Reference is made, in the letter, to the attempt by Sullivan to use Union funds to help pay his legal fees. An extraordinary meeting of the Union’s Standing Committee was subsequently held to withdraw the motion.

The letter concludes by saying that Sullivan should not remain in office.

History and politics student Helena Dollimore, who signed and helped write the letter, commented, “We decided to organise the open letter and speaker boycott because we believe the current situation is untenable.”

Oxford Union President Ben Sullivan commented, “ I have at no point ‘misused Union funds’. I was advised by our Trustees to contact lawyers because they believed an article about me, which contained a number of claims, was damaging to the reputation of the Union.

“These claims were not primarily related to membership of the ‘Banter Squadron’ (which is clearly not a real drinking society) and involved other claims including the claim that I somehow opposed the Union’s harassment policy which I helped to write. I have since agreed to pay the fees myself despite the fact that these funds were passed through the correct channels and that our Trustees still do not believe I should have to pay.

“At this point I am unable to comment on what is an on-going police investigation. However, as I said last week in the Chamber, I have the utmost faith in the English legal system and know that justice will be served.”