As protests continue, Exeter College has offered its JCR and MCR an alternative to the catering charge.

The offer, which was made on Wednesday 26th February, proposes to replace the £840 mandatory annual flat-fee paid by students living-in with a £598 termly mandatory charge which would cover three meals in college on weekdays along with brunch and dinner on weekends.

Students living out would have to pay £150 per term, which would be redeemable against meals in hall. In this scenario individual meal prices would increase.

In an email to the JCR, the Rector explained the proposal. “College is now offering to replace the catering charge with two kinds of meal plan… For students who live in: a flat cost of £598 per term (added to your battels) will cover three meals a day, every week day in full term, and brunch and dinner at weekends. This works out at £10.67 a day and includes the cost of food and overheads.”

JCR President, Richard Collett-White, told Cherwell, “The JCR is pleased that genuine negotiations are now taking place, though I am doubtful we will come to an agreement just yet.

“We have yet to discuss the proposal as a JCR, but I know many students have reservations which we will need to thrash out.”

Other students were more openly condemnatory. Orock Nsoatabe, a second year, told Cherwell, “When I was living in college I barely went to hall at all. With this offer I would have paid £1,800 a year for next to nothing. Even if you were to go to hall, £10.67 is still a lot for a day’s worth of food.”

An anonymous Exeter student added to that sentiment saying, “The email we received told us ‘the student body needs to choose this solution, or stick with the catering charge.’ That’s a worse hostage situation than the first Die Hard movie.”

Owen Donovan, a third year English student, concurred, “I personally do have a problem with the tone of the Rector’s e-mail and the ultimatum that it contained. I hope that going forward college authorities will be open to negotiation rather than the offer of only two options.

“However, it’s important that we recognise that the college have come to us with a proposal, and hopefully they will concede to negotiations concerning the details of the proposal to make this an offer that benefits both the students and the college.”

As well as proposing this offer, the Rector has also offered to hold an open meeting next Tuesday at 1pm.

Although it is unclear exactly what form the meeting will take, the decision has attracted a positive reaction from students. Nathan Ellis, an Exeter second-year said, “This demonstrates that the action of students to show college how angry they are is working but also that we need to keep going, in order to secure a real reduction in the catering charge.”

In order to maintain the boycott, students have set up a ‘Hallternative kitchen’ in the JCR kitchen. In a JCR motion passed to provide a £150 float for the project, “Sam and friends” promised to “cook for everyone each night this week.”

Sam Perkins, the organiser, explained, “When we did the one-day boycott last trinity, we provided food all day for the whole JCR. It was a big task, but it really aided the morale of the event. We thought this longer boycott would benefit from having cheap and convenient food reliably every night – and the camaraderie of everyone coming together has cemented the student solidarity too.”

However, the success of the ‘Hallternative kitchen’ has sparked more confusion over college costs. One of the emergency cooks explained, “While the Catering Charge covers overheads, the prices we pay per meal are supposed to solely cover the ingredients – yet we have been producing comparable food for £1.50 a night (£1 on Monday), compared to £3.15 in Hall. Where does all our money go? If only we knew.”

The ‘Hallternative kitchen’ was established following its brief closure last Sunday. The kitchen, which is the only on-site self-catering provision was locked by the college’s Junior Dean due to an “almighty mess”.

Saturday 22nd February also saw a banner promoting the ongoing hall boycott controversially confiscated from a student’s room.

The banner stated “Exeter: Most expensive college #ctcc” and had been hanging from a window. The Rector explained the move: “Our attention was drawn to the banner, hanging from a window above Turl Street, by the University’s security personnel. The College rules forbid students from hanging objects from their windows. Our Junior Dean therefore removed the banner.”

Sunday night saw an emergency JCR motion debated which proposed, “That College provide redress for their failure to meet their obligations to a tenant”, and “That College refund students for the cost of the banner”.

Only 61% of Oxford students always ensure that they or their partners wear protection during sex, C+ has found. However, the survey suggests that only one in twenty Oxford students have contracted an STI, lower than the national average of around one in four.

Charlotte Hendy, OUSU VP Welfare and Equal Oportunities, commented, “OUSU works closely with the local GUM clinic, enabling them to provide Common Rooms with chlamydia tests, and incentives. The ‘pee for a pint’ initiative, for example, was hugely successful across Oxford.

“Unfortunately, NHS cuts mean that incentives are no longer provided, but Common Rooms may still request chlamydia tests and run their own sexual health drives. OUSU is continuing to work closely with the GUM clinic, and in particular to establish regular city centre HIV testing, following its successful HIV and sexual health events last term.”

Free screening remains available to everyone aged 16-24 in Oxfordshire. Welfare officers can contact the Chlamydia Screening Office at the Churchill Hospital to organise in-college screening for free. The Churchill has also organised a pilot condom distribution scheme in three colleges, which is now available in all colleges at the request of welfare officers.

Chlamydia was the single most common STI contracted by students on a national scale last year, with herpes a distant second. Symptoms for the STI include pain in the testes and penis for men, and bleeding during sex and heavier than usual periods for women.

Chlamydia was the most common STI among students, with 7 students (1.39%) admitting to the disease. The most common response was a trip to the Genitourinary Medicine (GUM) Clinic in the Churchill Hospital. Gonorrhoea also made an appearance, with three students (0.59%) having had the illness. One student described how he’d had the STI cured: “I went to doctors, they put a stick up my penis and it was really painful. Then they gave me antibiotics and I was cured.”

Questions about STIs or contraception? Contact [email protected] or the local GUM clinic on 01865 231231.

A survey conducted by Cherwell has shown that the proportion of students that undertake paid work during term time is significantly lower than the national average. A report conducted by the NUS and Endsleigh Insurance showed that 57% students nationwide have a part-time job alongside their studies, with 90% of these students working as many as 20 hours a week.

Comparatively, only 20% of Oxford students surveyed worked during term time and the majority of those completed less than five hours paid work per week on average. Most colleges forbid students from completing paid work outside of the college; however those colleges that have opportunities for paid employment rarely offer more than ten jobs to the whole student body which can consist of 400 people, making competition for work fierce.

The proportion of Oxford students who work during the vacation, however, is almost identical to the national average at 56%. Many of those surveyed said that working in the vacations had a negative impact upon their academic performance. An anonymous Exeter student said, “I do English so doing the primary reading in the holidays is pretty key to managing the essays during term. Having to work often means I don’t get this all done as at the end of a 9-5 day I’m pretty knackered and can’t concentrate properly.”

A student at Keble also commented, “College don’t make it clear enough what kind of financial support is available for those who need it, meaning that many of us choose to work excessively during the vacations, compromising our academic success.”

Official estimations from Oxford University put the cost of living in Oxford for sixth months of the year (the average time undergraduates spend living in the city when accounting for vacations) at between £5,670 and £8,000. This means that students who are not eligible to receive grants or loans above the minimum amount offered by student finance face a shortfall of between £2,000 and £4,350 per annum. A student working on the minimum wage for 18-21 year olds would have to work over 850 hours each year on top of their degree to fill this deficit. This would mean working full time for 22 weeks of the year, giving students one week to devote to studying in each vacation.

Lizzie Mundell Perkins, a second year English student at St. Johns, sells tickets at the University church on High Street. She told Cherwell,

“I used to work as a waitress and did one ten hour shift a week – it definitely affected my work and made me tired and stressed but I managed to find a job at the University Church. I do one or two shorter shifts but they are very flexible… Obviously it still takes up time but I need the money. My parents are unable to support me financially and the student loan only leaves me with £150 per term after accommodation.

“I am managing fine with my academic studies, however, and my I think that the stigma that the university hold against part-time work is completely misplaced. I do sport and music to a university level and still manage to study with a job as well. Working is a great way to get outside of the Oxford bubble and I am proud to support myself financially.”

 A number of students are more entrepreneurial, and choose to establish their own businesses. Jamie Ohlmeyer Parker, a third year Classicist at New college, runs a business renting out white tie to students. “I was spending maybe 10-20 hours a week on it last term but there aren’t any balls this term… I treated it as a hobby more than as work… In my view it’s actually pretty easy to earn money while at Oxford if you’re creative about it. As an Oxford undergrad you can charge a minimum of £15-20 per hour for tutoring work for almost any degree and that work might be seasonal (i.e. only before exams) but it’s well paid and if you sweat your assets in the Easter and Christmas holidays I don’t see why you would need to work during term time.”

Sophie Lucas, a second year History and Politics student at Univ said, “I want to go into policy research which means doing unpaid internships in the vacations. I’d like to be able to do more paid work but it’s hard to manage with career stuff and academic work and a lot of places want students to commit for longer periods of time than is possible.” 

Oxford University Israel Society (OUIS) has come under fire for its links to NGO StandWithUs, which has been criticised in the past for its connection with the Israeli government.

OUIS has been coveted much controversy in recent weeks following the change of its constitution and the subsequent expulsion of several members amid criticism of the executive committee. This resulted in ten Israeli students, including PhD student Yishai Mishor, former president of the Jewish Society of Oxford, publishing an open letter to OUIS in the Oxford Student newspaper. In this letter, they claim the “Israel Society has been co-opted from a cultural society to a hardline political advocacy group”.

This story has continued to draw attention not only among the Oxford community, but also in Israel, where it has been reported in Haaretz, the country’s oldest newspaper.

It has now emerged that the OUIS constitution discusses their direct affiliation with StandWithUs. The constitution states, “Until amended by a future resident, the society will continue to receive funding from StandWithUs UK. Funding itself does not imply that OUIS subscribes to any political views that may be held by an external organisation or group”.

StandWithUs describes itself as “an educational organisation seeking to educate others about the daily life of Israelis, Israel’s challenges in the region and Israel’s bid to make peace with its neighbours”. StandWithUs denies that it receives funding from the Israeli government, stating, “We are a non profit organisation operating independently of government. We educate about Israel no matter who is currently voted into power”. However, its UK website has a video that opens with an endorsement from Israeli President Shimon Peres, and they also run campaigns directly “in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’”.

The Israel Society is also affiliated constitutionally to the Zionist Movement in the United Kingdom, which is part of the Zionist Federation. The recent Haaretz article discussing this issue states that ‘In December 2013, the Ministry of Finance [of Israel] approved engagement initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office with the Zionist Federation, for Zionist activity projects totalling an investment of seven million NIS [Israel New Shekels] for a period of two years’.

StandWithUs Israel Director Michael Dickson told Cherwell, “The Israel Society at Oxford is independent and free to work with whoever they choose. That an Israel society seeks to work together with Israeli educational organisations strikes us as distinctly uncontroversial.” However Dickson also said that SWU do “not directly” fund OUIS, contrary to what the Society dictate in their constitution.

Furthermore, OUIS state, “As part of this society’s relationship with StandWithUs UK, the society shall send representatives to the StandWithUs UK National Conference of Israel Societies or otherwise StandWithUs UK reserves the right to withdraw funding.” On their list of rules on the OUIS Facebook page they state, “We welcome members of all political or ideological persuasions, and individuals are free to use the forums of Israel society to express their own views.” Addressing this, Mishor responded, “if Israel Soc has turned into a political advocacy in the service of StandWithUs, then naturally it cannot have more than one clear voice, the voice of StandWithUs.”

Richard Black, President of OUIS, was unavailable for comment.

Jonathan Hunter, a current member of OUIS and Campus Director for StandWithUs, speaking as an SWU worker, said, “We are not an organ of the Israeli government – as some would like to believe”. He then added as an Israel Society member, “The Society requested to partner with Stand With Us – and democratically ratified this at a general meeting of its membership.

“Individuals who disagree with the majority can form their own society – they should not anti-democratically force others to conform to their world view.”

Jonathan Hunter has also been accused of making derogatory remarks against the Israeli student community in Oxford, in comments published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. He said, “The type of Israelis who study at Oxford come from an elite Ashkenazi, high income background. Maybe they don’t feel they have to defend Israel.”

Yishai Mishor, PhD student and former Officer in the Israeli Army, responded, “I expect the Israel Society to publish an apology and denounce Hunter’s racist remarks. I find it completely absurd that the leaders of the Israel Society in Oxford are now engaged in a full frontal attack on the Israeli community in Oxford.”

Merton’s JCR and MCR are to cover the costs of last year’s Winter Ball, after it was announced that the event had made a loss of almost £8000.

Oli Koo, Treasurer of the Merton Winter Ball, explained to the college at a general meeting that the losses were a result of problems with the ticketing system as well as communication issues amongst the organisers of the ball.

The college also took a delivery of £6000 worth of Carlsberg beer the day after the ball, without the Treasurer’s knowledge. Incomplete budgets resulted in the Treasurer being unaware of required payments until after the ball. There were also additional problems with the ordering of champagne for guests.

Speaking to Cherwell, Coo said, “It was a great pity that the ball ran a deficit, given all the effort and time committee members contributed towards its smooth running both in the run up to the event and on the night itself.”

He added, “However, the two major factors which vitiated my attempts at accurate budgeting, highlighted in my ball report, were out of my hands”.

The GM was told that confusion over the Ball’s refund policy made accounting difficult. Additionally, it was thought at first that more tickets had been sold than actually had been. This resulted in a £4000 hole in the budget.

“I was told that we were legally obliged to refund all guests… This meant my budget was constantly fluctuating up to the day of the ball itself. An issue that was further exacerbated by the fact that we were still accepting payments on the day of the ball”, Koo explained.

He further reported, “There was a technical glitch on the website. This meant that a significant number of unpaid ticket orders that exceeded the seven day payment window did not expire and were, therefore, counted as paid.

“A secondary and related issue was that this glitch led to fewer sales than would otherwise have been possible; around week four, I had been told that we had sold out of tickets, whereas in fact there were many tickets that were available.”

Chairman of the Ball Committee Tim Foot indicated that the lack of sponsorship was another contributing factor to the deficit in the budgets. “The lack of sponsorship meant that we were operating on a lower income, and with higher costs, than should have been the case,” he said.

“Our Sponsorship Officer resigned at the start of Michaelmas term, at which point it was too late to seek further funds. We did negotiate discounts for our guests at Shepherd & Woodward and The Student White Tie Company, but this is the absolute minimum that could have been arranged, and sponsorship largely failed.”

Foot went on to point out that committee members had instead gone to great lengths to make up for the dearth of commercial backing by negotiating discounts with suppliers instead.

Other last minute and unforeseeable problems were remedied swiftly. When the company contracted to provide Dodgems for ball-goers was unable to deliver, Victorian carnival games were sought as a replacement.

It was also suggested by the ball committee that the common rooms might recuperate significant funds from the ball’s headlining act. Crystal Fighters were contracted to play for a certain amount of time, but reportedly failed to fill the agreed time slot. The JCR may pursue legal action if the band declines to pay the £5000 which the ball organisers have calculated that the JCR is owed.

“Whatever the outcome of the negotiations and potential court cases, I think it’s fairly safe to say Crystal Fighters won’t be coming back to Oxford in a hurry,” noted one second year. “But at least the money would go some way to cover the JCR’s costs though if we won”.

The JCR and MCR are currently planning to split the costs equally.

One first year historian noted that the JCR seemed to sympathise with the organisers. They added, “I think it would be a bit unfair to be too harsh on the ball organisers. The sponsorship was unfortunate and while some of the other hiccups were surely avoidable the committee had very little experience to draw upon – the previous ball organisers left them no information at all”.

Plans to provide the next ball committee with more information have been drawn up.

One undergraduate told Cherwell, “I think that Tim and co are forgiven despite everything. As long as the JCR still has enough funds to provide the free alcohol it does throughout the term, everyone will be happy.”

Merton college has threatened to reduce the length of college BOPs if the students continue to break college rules by holding ‘inter-BOPs’.

The college issued the warning after the recent spate of ambulance calls to BOPs, linked to excessive drinking. It is thought that the Merton practice of ‘inter-BOPs’ had been a major factor in this.

Oliver Koo, Merton’s Charity Rep, explained, “Merton holds pre-BOPs before the BOP itself: one in the MCR and one in the JCR. These pre-BOPs are sponsored by the respective common rooms (free drinks are provided) and are a nice way for people to mingle and get in the right mood for the BOP.
“The JCR pre-BOP tends to end around 10:30… However, most Mertonians don’t end up going to the BOP till around 12am.

“In between pre-BOPs and the BOP itself, people tend to ‘inter-BOP’. Basically, this amounts to friends congregating in someone’s room, listening to music, playing drinking games etc.”

As a result, the college was concerned with people’s safety and threatened to reduce the time of the BOPs from 2am to 1am or 12pm unless this behaviour stopped.

In accordance with the college handbook any group of 10 or more people is classed as a party and must be authorised. Before the most recent BOP on Saturday night, the JCR sent out an email explaining that porters would be on patrol ready to shut down any interbops and fine those involved. Bouncers had been instructed not to let anyone in if they were too drunk.

Welfare Rep, John Brazier, commented on student reactions to this, “Obviously any perceived attempt to make BOPs less alcoholic is going to be met with negative student reactions.

“Being unable to stop students from legally drinking under uncontrolled circumstances, they instead crack down on unofficial gatherings; most of which have been regular events all year.”

However, he further noted, “I think it’s important to understand that what the College is doing is neither the end of BOPs, nor a real change of the rules in place. The rules were already there, they were just little enforced. The fact that the College sought first to warn, and didn’t simply have a crackdown, is highly telling; what matters to them is the appearance of the College and, ultimately, student safety and I think that we can all agree that its safer to have people enjoying themselves in a controlled environment.

Oliver Koo said, “I think this past BOP went extremely well, in spite of the negative attention surrounding it: attendance was high and there was a great atmosphere at both pre-BOPs and the BOP itself, no doubt a product of people spending more time together in the JCR/MCR, and not sequestering themselves in student rooms for a couple of hours for inter-BOP.

“No ambulances were called, so that’s always a plus!”

Keble students have been warned to remain vigilant after intruders broke in and stole a valuable candlestick from the college chapel in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The theft was accompanied by a noise disturbance as the intruders reportedly tried to open several doors of second year students, before promptly leaving the site.

The large candlestick, described by the college as a “very valuable item”, had been on display in front of the college chapel’s war memorial.

After the theft, the candlestick was subsequently found and returned to the college in what Senior Dean Stephen Payne described as a “seriously damaged condition”.

At present, both Payne and college Chaplain Jennifer Strawbridge have refused to comment further on the incident as investigations are still currently underway. However, in an email sent around the college on Friday, the Dean described the theft as one of “several incidents in college” in the early hours of Thursday morning. Payne was also thankful that “no-one was hurt”, as the college continues to treat the situation as a serious breach of security.

Much of the student body remains in the dark about the theft of the candle. JCR member Andrew Hall commented that “the student body in general (myself included) does not really seem to know what happened”, only informing Cherwell that the candle was “returned the next day”.

The college and its members have, however, flatly refused the notion that its own students were involved.

The incident has not yet been traced to any disturbance from within college. Keble rowing captain Paolo Spingardi explained, “That night the rowers didn’t have a crewdate going on,” explaining that the Keble crewdates that took place last week happened on Thursday evening, not Wednesday.

Speaking on behalf of his rowers, Spingardi continued, “I am certain that none of them would have stolen a candlestick from church.”

Spingardi also shared the shock and confusion of his fellow Keble students, agreeing that “this was an awful and sickening event and I struggle to think who would think this was ever a good idea.”

Keble JCR president Sean Ford was quick to quash any suggestion that Keble students were involved, telling Cherwell that he was “almost certain” that it was someone from outside of the college.

Ford told Cherwell that at this point he didn’t think the police would be getting involved. However, the Dean has subsequently told students to take extra security measures. In his email to the college, he stated that “If any locks are not working properly, please report them as soon as possible”, and that “If you are propping or wedging doors open, please stop.”

The theft appears to be the subject of much rumour and speculation, and will continue to be so while the college’s investigation continues.

Oxford RAG has removed a video from its Facebook page, after accidentally posting a link to pornography.

As a fundraising activity to celebrate RAG Week the charity organised a burrito eating contest at ‘Mission Burrito’. Teams of five competed to complete the ‘Mission Burrito’ challenges with all money raised going to charity. In an attempt to promote this event, the RAG posted a YouTube video titled ‘Burrito Song [10 hours]’ on their Facebook page. It was captioned ‘In an attempt to find Burrito related entertainment on the internet, this cropped up… I don’t know how or why it exist, but there you go… You could be singing this next Thursday’. The video is ten hours of the Burrito Song, running on a continuous loop. Unknown to those who had posted it, after the three hour mark, the video becomes graphically pornographic for around ten minutes, as the caption appears ‘YOU’VE FOUND THE HIDDEN PORN!!!’. It has since been removed from RAG’s Facebook page.

Despite the site’s strictly anti-pornography policy, it has stayed on Youtube. It has garnered comments such as ‘FAP FAP FAP 3:19:40’ and ‘the nude girl btw nice tits but a little bit moore [sic]’. Another reads ‘Go to 3:19:40 kids! Coolest picture ever!!’, dubbing it ‘fappable’. Many have registered their appreciation with comments such as ‘Tits at 3:18 lloovvee it [sic]’. Some however were disappointed with the video, questioning ‘why the nipple so flat’. In response to the question of ‘what am I watching? A SHRIMP WITH A BURRITO!!!!!!!!’ the uploader replied ‘NO I ALSO PUT PORN IN IT SEE IF YOU CAN FIND IT LOL’.

It would appear that the RAG’s organising members are not the first people to mistakenly post such a video with one user commenting ‘whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttt noooooooooooooooo( : go dam it [sic] now I have to take it down from fb’.

One of the Burrito eating competition’s organisers commented, “Unfortunately, it seems that in my search for a mildly titillating video about burritos, I instead stumbled upon tits. At lunch in college I was plugging the event, when someone in the conversation alerted me to the fact there was porn in the video, a few hours in.

“Obviously I didn’t believe it at first, thinking for a start that no one could possibly have survived that video for a few minutes, let alone a few hours, and that he could not have got so far into it. However, he explained that if you watched the video on YouTube itself rather than Facebook, the comments expressed a bizarre obsession with one small section of the video. So yeah, that was because of the porn.

“When I found out I was pretty shocked but could obviously see the funny side, and to be honest so have those on the RAG committee whom I have told. Apart from that one person who told me about the issue at lunch, there have been no comments so to be perfectly honest, I don’t think anyone else noticed. I suppose that in future I will check videos a bit more rigorously before posting them, but I think my naivety in this case wasn’t so unforgivable; I mean, who knew there was porn on the internet?”

The reaction from the student body has been mixed. One student commented, “That is honestly the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand what sort of person would have a children’s song on a continuous loop for ten hours then stick some pretty graphic porno in the middle.

“I feel bad for any kid who has watched it through. It’s fucking weird and makes no sense. Quite funny that the Oxford RAG didn’t realise what it was though but I doubt it’s been that big a deal for them.

“I mean who would actually watch the video through for three hours? It got annoying after ten seconds.”

Another mused that “The fact that people would find the porn at the three hours seventeen minutes mark means that they’d sat through three hours of it just to find the porn. And if they were willing to do that then they’d probably sit through for a further three hours to see if there was any more.”

Some students were adamant that this was not a big deal, with one commenting, “I don’t really know what all the fuss is about!”