Oxford RAG has raised £90,000 this year for charity, it has been announced.

The society, which runs a range of fund raising efforts across the University, has reported a record fundraising effort from a variety of events ranging from the RAG Ball in Michelmas term to the RAG Casino events across the year.

In particular, the RAG skydiving event raised £9000 alone. Organiser Amy Watson said, “I think this is great – it shows how fun RAG events are and how much interest there is across the University for taking part in something whilst raising money for those who need it most.”

The society is also celebrating its success in helping Oxford to become the most successful University in the country in terms of numbers of people involved in Movember last year, an achievement which one RAG committee member called “bloody marvellous.”

The money raised has been given to both local charities, such as the Oxford Food Bank, and to global concerns, such as Education Partnerships Africa.

A spokesperson for Education Partnerships Africa said “we are truly grateful for, and amazed by, all the money which RAG raises on behalf of Oxford University students.”

“Itʼs an incredible achievement for the society to have raised so much, especially in this economic climate,” he added. “Without such generosity charities like ours could not exist,” he concluded.

The RAG President for this year said, “We are all really proud of the £90,000 raised. Itʼs only come about because of the hard work of a number of people across the University. Florence Avery was RAG President last year and her work should not be forgotten in reaching this incredible milestone.”

“The new committee are all excited to begin fund raising for this year, though, and hope to scale even higher mountains,” he added.

An Oxford imam has made claims in an interview with rt.com that there was no Islamic terrorism in the UK before Iraq.

Dr Taj Hargey was speaking in the aftermath of the Woolwich killing of Drummer Lee Rigby. The British soldier was attacked by men who are believed to be British-born Muslim converts. In a camera-phone video, one of the men claimed the attack was a response to the way “Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day”.

Dr Hargey condemned the murder in the strongest possible terms, but argued that there was “a linkage” between the events in Woolwich and British foreign policy.

The imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, claimed that “there was no Muslim terrorism in the United Kingdom until Blair went illegally into Iraq”.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in a media address outside Downing Street that the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby last week “sickened us all” and that the attacks were a “betrayal of Islam… that gives so much to our country.”

Cameron continued, “There is absolutely no justification for these acts and the fault for them lies solely and purely with the sickening individuals that carried out this attack”.

Dr Taj Hargey, who has provoked controversy for inviting the first ever woman to lead and preach at Friday prayers in Britain, and for marrying Islamic women to non-Islamic men, called for the Muslim community in the UK to confront the radical and extremist minority. He said, “Their [extremist] ideology and philosophy must be demolished”.

He also claimed that that Islam is a religion of peace: “You don’t kill someone in the name of God, Islam condemns that… it’s pure blasphemy”.

Zain Iqbal, a first year student at Brasenose College and a member of the Oxford University Islamic society told Cherwell that “under no circumstances do grievances justify bringing terror to our streets.”

He continued, “However, labeling terrorism as Islamic ventures into dangerous territory and is unjustified. Throughout history we have seen terrorism emanating from all quarters and we should remain acutely aware to not label entire communities.”

The six winners and highly commended individuals of the annual Vice-Chancellor’s Civic Awards have been announced this week.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Civic Awards, which are awarded by the University in partnership with the Oxford Hub and are now in their fourth year, are given to students who demonstrate exceptional commitment towards and achievement in producing positive social change, both in local or global communities.

Candidates are judged by a panel made up of representatives from the University and the wider community through a series of interviews, references and a judging panel. Students can nominate themselves, or be nominated by others for an award and over fifty applications for the award were submitted this year.

The six winners are Tatiana Cutts, co-founder of OUSU’s Mind Your Head campaign; Elisa Klein, founder and CEO of The Mali Initiative; Abi Sriharan, who champions Peace Through Health Initiatives; Neil Howard, who has worked on a number of political projects in Oxford; Helen Willis, who has campaigned around disabilities, and particularly improving access to higher education for death people and Joshua Oware, who has led OUSU’s Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality.

Tatiana Cutts, a DPhil Law candidate at Keble College, explained the significance of the award for her involvement in the Mind Your Head Campaign, which works to raise awareness of mental health issues in the Oxford community and remove some of the stigma surrounding them, “It is an honour to receive the award, but I cannot accept all the credit for the Mind Your Head Campaign. Seb Baird and I created this project together, and everything that it has achieved has been down to a joint effort, and the efforts of those who have worked with us over the past 18 months.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of laying the groundwork for change. If only a few students had felt the benefit, we would have been happy. Instead, we have had hundreds of messages from people – within and outside the University – to say that it has given them comfort, has enabled them to talk more openly, has encouraged them to seek help, even that it was the difference between them sitting their exams and dropping out altogether. That will stay with me forever.”

Seb  Baird, who also founded Mind Your Head, but who did not receive an award, said, “[Cutts and I] really felt that the last couple of years have been an ideal time to campaign on mental health stigma – indeed, when we started the campaign, we were both surprised that nothing comprehensive had yet been done for it. The national Time to Change campaign provided a useful example of how to achieve change on mental health stigma, too.  

Sarah Hewett, Programmes and Outreach Officer for the Oxford Hub, told Cherwell about the importance of the awards within the University, “The final Awardees represent a really diverse range of causes which students are engaged in. We hope this will highlight the opportunities available to students to get involved in volunteering as well as the capacity to start a project or initiative themselves.

She continued, “The Award represents how students at Oxford University are not only world class academics but also active, engaged citizens who can have a real positive impact in the world both during and after their studies. The official recognition this award received through the Vice-Chancellor shows the University’s dedication to social action”.

The winners will receive their awards as part of the Encaenia celebrations on 19^th June and the Oxford Hub will also hold a celebration for award winners and highly commended individuals of this year and previous years at the end of Trinity term. The Oxford Hub also offers personal development support and resources to the award winners and highly commended individuals following the award.

An Oxford University ‘Rate Your Shag’ page was taken down within 12 hours of  being set up on Facebook.

This was part of a craze that swept the nation earlier in the week – with as many as 8000 people Liking the Newcastle University ‘Rate Your Shag’ Page.

Posts consisted of a rating out of 10, the name of the “shagged’ and any general comments, whilst the name of the person giving the rating was able to remain anonymous.

Liam Burns, the President of the National Union of Students described it as “tantamount to bullying.”

Facebook removed many of the pages, claiming that they were in breach of their community. A spokesman said “We do not tolerate bullying or harassment. We allow users to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but take action on all reports of abusive behaviour directed at private individuals.”

However it remains unclear whether the Oxford University page was removed by its administrators, or by Facebook itself. The administrators have not identified themselves, or commented on the reaction. The company was warned by lawyers that it could face legal action if it failed to act.

At least one such Facebook page – ‘Rate Your Shag’ – still exists. It has 232 likes, despite being only a day old at the time of writing.

Some Oxford students expressed their disapproval of such sites. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, referred to the users of such sites as “c*nts”. Another student conjectured that the ‘shags’ described had probably been made up, and expressed relief that it had been taken down so quickly.

Balliol JCR has received £38,000 from the sale of ten pictures. The paintings, mostly bought in the 1950s, were part of the permanent collection of the Balliol JCR Picture Fund, which loans out paintings for students to hang in their rooms for a 50 pound deposit each year.

Liam Shaw and Sean Whitton, who are in charge of the Picture Fund, decided to have the pictures valued. Whitton commented, “Liam and I decided to catalogue the collection and get it valued, originally on the grounds that the JCR was paying art insurance for a value of around £13,000 from a valuation performed about a decade ago which we thought was probably wrong. We were surprised to learn how valuable the paintings actually are.”

They resolved to sell the paintings at an auction. They explained, “Given that most of the valuable paintings are not attractive to the eyes of the average contemporary Oxford student, and since we thought it irresponsible to keep loaning out such valuable paintings to students’ rooms, we decided to sell them off as a one-off sale.”

The actual sale of the paintings totalled a far greater sum than was expected. The most expensive painting was by the artist Lowndes and sold for £21,000, doubling the expected price.

Alex Bartram, the Balliol JCR President, told Cherwell, “There was and had been no demand for these pictures among students for a very long time, so they simply weren’t serving their purpose any longer, and indeed were at risk of further damage. The JCR just could not guarantee their safety, so from the point of view of posterity, it was important that we were no longer looking after paintings that were so valuable. I’m not suggesting the JCR can’t be trusted: simply that we were uncomfortable being the custodians of valuable pieces of art.”

Whitton added, “The JCR is going through a long process of deciding what to spend the rest of it on; there are numerous suggestions floating about, some serious, such as redecorating our studentrun bar, others not so serious, such as spending £38,000 on vodka.”

 Alex Bartram stressed, “Although joking suggestions have been made, the JCR will think very carefully about how it spends the money, and almost certainly will not do so all at once.”

A group of eight students are planning to run from London to Rome to raise money for charity. Their trek will include an eight-day continuous relay traversing the English Channel and the Alps, which the team named “The Italian Jog”.

This daring endeavour is aimed at raising funds and awareness for Access Sport, a charity providing quality local sports to children especially in the disadvantaged areas and “looking to harness the proven power of sport to tackle social exclusion, inactivity and obesity in areas where help is most needed”. So far, the team has raised £1375 with the goal of £10,000. The team is being sponsored by companies including DoRunning and Pro-direct Runnning, to supply top quality kit for the journey.

The team of eight will start at the Olympics Park in London and run to the Colosseum in Rome – a 1200 mile trip. The expedition constitutes 46 back-to-back marathons.

Claire Burley, a member of the Italian Jog team and researcher in Oxford University Psychiatry Department, told Cherwell, “I love adventure and being outdoors so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be a part of this challenge. It’s also for a great cause so that’ll really help motivate us when it gets particularly difficult and our legs have turned to either jelly or lead or are in immense pain.”

The team will run via Switzerland, and will traverse Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain. Matthew Gunn, originator of the challenge, told Cherwell, “Not ones to shy away from a challenge, we’ll be running over some of Europe’s highest passes. And all this will start once we’ve already been on the road for about 5 days, each running 20 miles per day and driving in between.”

He added, “Once we start doing almost a full marathon every day with no proper recovery time and altered sleep patterns our physical condition is bound to deteriorate pretty quickly, which is where our mental toughness really needs to kick in. Racing marathons has never involved running up a rainy alpine pass at 2.30 in the morning!”

The team will be accompanied by two caravans, which will provide beds and food for the participants. Each teammate will run for around three hours per day. In between shifts, the runners will serve as support crews for their teammate on action.

One runner, Matthew Gunn, expressed his optimism to Cherwell: “We are very confident about completing the challenge. We’ve managed to assemble a really strong team who, although varying in their running experience and speed, are all highly motivated, committed and determined to succeeding.”