A ‘free university’ set up by squatters over the summer has found a new home after being evicted from their previous building.

The self-titled ‘Pleb’s College’ was set up in August in an abandoned factory off Cowley Road with the aim of creating a space where anyone could go for free to participate in or lead workshops, discussions, activities or lessons.  It also provided an area for people to socialise and enjoy occasional free meals.

Despite getting a considerable amount of support from the local community, the group was evicted by the owners of the building on the September 6th and was homeless until last Thursday when they announced on their blog that they had found a new home in an abandoned office building on Union Street in Cowley.

There are currently around six people living in the building including some of the main organisers of the project.  They told Cherwell that they became aware that the property had been empty for some months and found that they could get in without any criminal damage. Current law which states that if a building is abandoned, the squatters get in without breaking and entering, and they advertise their presence with appropriate signs then it is simply a civic matter between the owners and the squatters rather than an issue for the Police. Pleb’s College therefore claims legal status as legitimate squatters.

However, not everyone agrees that this should be possible and there has been pressure on the government to criminalise squatting.

Christopher Pruijsen, a second-year PPE-ist from Univ, commented, ‘They should be prosecuted, in the civil court. But law should be reformed and squatters should be legally forced to pay the going market rental rate for every day they squat in any property’.

Ben Hudson from Regent’s Park takes a more sympathetic view to the dquatter’s mission: ‘We’re not talking about what the Daily Mail calls squatting, when someone pops out to get some milk and a family of eighteen gypsies move in and drink their Cava. By making use of empty buildings, squatters such as those staying at Pleb’s College can create something important for the community.”

Nicola Sugden, the co-chair of the Labour Club, agreed with Hudson and added, “squatting is generally a sign that the state has failed to provide people with the shelter and/or community space that they need.”

The national campaign group Squatters’ Action for Secure Homes (SQUASH) is trying to prevent the government from criminalising squatting and argues that the right to take shelter in abandoned buildings has been enshrined in British Law for over 100 years. They add that criminalising squatters would be very detrimental to the community particularly given that over 40 percent of people currently squatting suffer from mental health issues.

‘Pleb’s College’ is intended to be both a shelter for homeless or vulnerable people and a provider of education, discussion and skill-sharing in the community. Some of the organisers involved are graduates of Oxford University but, when asked how he felt about the University, one commented, “it is somewhere of privilege, elitism and hierarchy that is not open to everyone especially with the increase in fees.” He suggested that this was part of his motivation to open a space where “everyone can teach and everyone can learn.”

The Pleb’s college hosts a huge variety of events to which anyone can turn up and take part and also welcomes anyone who would like to start up their own activity. The next ‘free university’ session will be this Saturday.

Three Oxford students have come up with new smartphone apps, and both are intended to fit with the Oxford student lifestyle. One such app is buddhify, a meditation app designed by 2003 Univ Chemistry graduate Rohan Gunatillake. Mr Gunatillake describes his app as “the world’s first mass market modern meditation mobile app”, “designed for busy people’.

Mr Gunatillake first became interested in meditation at the same time he started a stressful City job in management consultancy. He began to attend meditation retreats and then to write a meditation blog.

Mr Gunatillake created the app in reaction to many people who he had met who were reluctant to meditate because they didn’t have the time for a class or course, or they found meditation “too hippy, too New Age”. He stresses the modern and “playful” focus of the app, and hired a visual design company to create a “fun and intuitive” feel for it. He seeks to adapt “traditional meditation techniques for contemporary urban life.’

Mr Gunatillake and his team ran a successful crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for the project. However, his involvement was not just in the business side- he designed the meditations himself, and is the male voice on the app.

The user selects one of four possible urban locations (such as at home or travelling), one of four styles, or ‘flavours’, of meditation and one of two sizes. The app plays an audio-guided meditation based on this selection. There is also a self-assessment option, a choice between male and female voices, and a “Two Player Meditation” mode.

Ryan Dunwoody and Shiv Pabari, both second years at St Anne’s, have created The Oxford Bubble, an app showing offers and discounts in Oxford. The app features a special deal every week and a term-long deal aimed at Oxford students.

The app is on the Apple and Android, and there are plans to release it on Blackberry “within the next month or so”. There is also a mobile website for smartphones and an online website that can be used by anybody with internet.

Mr Dunwoody says they had the idea based on the “huge voucher and discount culture” created by companies such as groupon and vouchercloud.  He and Mr Pabari thought an app dealing with students in just one city would be a lot more relevant and popular, and they state that “there’s not a more perfect place than Oxford to start this in.”

Mr Pabari has had experience in business through the Young Enterprise scheme and Oxford Entrepreneurs, and Mr Dunwoody also has some business experience and has created websites before, mostly for family members but also including a “YouTube type site” for talent videos.

They claim that the most difficult task was getting meetings with the businesses who have offer the website’s discounts, as neither of them had a track record in business start-ups. They have been working on the app for the last six months and released it for the start of term.

Mr Dunwoody asserts the “reception has gone very well”- the app has had 4000 page views on its website and close to 500 downloads. He expects these figures to increase significantly within the next week, due to substantial marketing.

Bhuddify will be available for £1.99 on Android and iPhone on November 3rd. The Oxford Bubble is free and already released.

Research by Dr Dagan Wells and his team at Oxford University has revealed new methods of screening for genetic abnormalities in embryos, which could enable doctors to implant only the embryos with a better chance of being carried to term.

In addition to checking for chromosome abnormalities via array CGH, the team’s new test includes two extra checks. One involves counting mitochondria, and the other test checks telomeres in the cells. Defects in these two structures could potentially cause failed pregnancies.

The array CGH process is currently available at 15 British fertility clinics and adds around £2000 to the cost of IVF; the new ‘3-in-1’ test is currently being assessed in a randomised controlled trial, and if data collected in the next year backs up the team’s findings, it could be made widely available in British clinics for a similar cost.

“If data holds up then there could be a pretty compelling argument to apply this to all patients undergoing IVF,” Dr Wells told Cherwell.

Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, explained how this “exciting” new technique takes the molecular assessment of embryos to a “new level”; and, although some further assessment will be needed, he praised the potential benefits for “patients, clinics and the health service overall”.

Currently only 24% of IVF cycles in Britain lead to a live birth.

Six siblings who all attended Oxford over a period of more than 20 years will graduate together next month. The O’Malley children went to five different colleges and none of them chose to graduate immediately after finishing their degrees, so have decided to attend the ceremony en masse. They will graduate from New College on 5th November, in what is thought to be the largest ever number of siblings to graduate all at once.

Charles O’Malley, who studied at Oriel, was the third sibling to attend Oxford. He explained their reasons for not graduating at the time, saying, “When my older brother and sister finished their degrees they went travelling almost immediately and simply weren’t in the country to graduate with their friends. Then I was at Oxford with one of my younger brothers and we began to think it might be worth waiting before picking up our degrees. After my youngest brother left about ten years ago, we then wanted to wait for him to qualify for his MA before we all graduated together.”

The family deliberated over attending a graduation ceremony for a while, but struggled to find a college which could accommodate the six of them. Two of the siblings attended New College and it was there where they managed to find space for the family to graduate together.

To the O’Mallleys’ surprise, they have found themselves the centre of a significant amount of media attention. The graduation featured in the Sunday Times, and both the BBC and Sky have expressed an interest in covering the event. Tom O’Malley said of the press coverage, “We realised it was unusual for all six of us to go to Oxford; the degree ceremony felt like our own celebration of that, but I hadn’t thought that six siblings graduating together would be of wider interest.”

Charles added, “obviously that’s adding a level of excitement to the day, but otherwise we’re just looking forward to a nice family day out.”

Rebekah Unwin, a representative of New College, said, “The staff here can’t remember the last time so many siblings graduated together and we were very happy to offer the family the opportunity to do so. It must be wonderful for the parents to see all their children round off their experience of Oxford together.” Tom reiterated this, saying, “I am looking forward to a family get together. I am more pleased for my parents – the collective achievement is theirs.”

Univ and St Hilda’s JCRs both passed motions to support the Oxford Living Wage Campaign at meetings on Sunday. These JCRs become the eighth and ninth in the University to back the initiative, with Balliol being the first in 2009.

Univ JCR President Daniel Tomlinson explained that the motion “passed with almost no opposition”, and commented, “I have been a supporter of the Living Wage for a long time simply because I believe that all people should be paid enough to provide their family with the essentials of life.”

He added, “the motion now means that Univ’s Living Wage Campaign has the backing of the student community in college. I intend to talk with college staff about how much a Living Wage would cost and then the members of the Living Wage Campaign in college and I can get together and figure out next steps.”

Tim Moyo, a Univ second year, told Cherwell that ‘The Living Wage campaign seems to be really popular in Univ. It’s definitely a really good cause and I think lots of people across all areas of college are supporting it.’

Louise Carey, a major supporter of the campaign at Univ since last year, stated that “I support the campaign because I believe on principal that everyone should earn a wage which will afford them a decent quality of life. As one of the richest universities in the country, Oxford can and should be paying its lowest earners the Living Wage.”

Carey praised Corpus Christi for paying its staff the living wage, but claimed, “the majority of colleges for which we have data are still paying their scouts and other staff below £7.20/ hour.” She said that “this is unacceptable, and the Oxford Living Wage campaign is hoping to work with colleges and the University to improve this state of affairs.”

She added, “The success of the motion demonstrates solid undergraduate support for implementing the Living Wage at Univ”, and that she hopes that “this indication of students’ views will strengthen our position in future discussions with the college.” She confirmed that they intend to continue to publicise the campaign over the coming weeks.

The motion at St Hilda’s, proposed by Josh Deery and Chris Barrie, resolved to “mandate the President and Financial VP to lobby college on our behalf to enforce a living wage policy in college, in the spirit of the OUSU Living Wage campaign”, and to do this with minimal battle impact.

Sarah Finch, JCR President at St Hilda’s, said that those at the meeting passed the motion “by an almost unanimous vote.” There was only one vote against the motion and three abstentions. Finch stated that “the campaign reflects the need for all colleges to be conscientious employers in the community, and our JCR’s respect and gratitude for the people who keep our college running.”

She went on to say that “I am sure that the issue was raised due to the prominence of the OUSU Campaign for Living Wage and the number of other common rooms who have successfully lobbied their colleges on this issue.”

Sarah Molloy, a second year undergraduate at Hilda’s, said, “the motion passed fairly easily with the usual objections from people claiming that we should ‘increase staff efficiency’ rather than pay more, essentially missing the point of the campaign.”

However, a Hilda’s student who wished to remain anonymous commented, “I would have voted in favour once upon a time, but now I’d probably vote against.”

“We don’t get higher student loans for going to Oxford, despite paying London prices. If scouts can’t afford to live in Oxford, then move elsewhere. There are loads of jobs in Oxford that pay the absolute national minimum wage. And scouts get loads of privileges and have it easy – I know, I’ve scouted in the vac.”

The campaign, set up in 2006, pushes for the establishment of a Living Wage for employees across the city. The website explains how the movement “seeks to strengthen relationships between students and workers. We campaign alongside workers, academics and community groups for improved pay and conditions for low-paid employees in the University.”

The national minimum wage for over-22s is currently £5.35 per hour, and the campaign website states that Oxford is “an expensive city — we therefore anticipate that a living wage for the Oxford area is likely to be substantially higher than the national minimum wage.”

The campaign’s research shows that “in most colleges, the wage rate is around £6 per hour, but there is no uniform standard rate”.

Fourteen academics have publicly backed the Campaign, as have Oxford University UCU, the union for those employed in Oxford colleges, as well as Oxford City Council and the Oxford University Labour Club.

Issues concerning social mobility were discussed this week at the Union on a panel including OUSU President Martha Mackenzie, Access Project Director Alex Kelly, two directors of Pinsent Masons, a law firm sponsoring the event, and chaired by Union Treasurer James Freeland.

The forum marks the first in a series of new events at The Union aiming to include a greater focus on audience participation.  A significant part of the discussion involved audience members addressing questions and concerns directly to members of the panel, and the main discussion was followed up by an opportunity to discuss the issues raised face-to-face with members of the panel as well as other audience members.

Discussion ranged from debating why certain schools dominate entry to leading universities, whether Oxford should positively discriminate based on socioeconomic background, to each of the panel trying to address areas in education they felt required greater focus.  Despite agreements about the need to improve social mobility across the board in education the panel clashed on other issues, such as whether the focus should be mainly on improving aspirations or grades, and if the fee issue will have a large impact upon social mobility in the next generation of students or not.

Students were able to put their own experiences to the panel, which highlighted some of the issues directly relating to Oxford. Adam Knight, a 1st year student reading Chinese at Hertford, as the only successful applicant to Oxford from his state school this year, pointed out that, “There were people at my school who got good enough grades, but were put off by a stigma of applying to Oxbridge, which is a shame because they would have had so much to add to the university.”

Regarding the new fees system, despite overall university applications on this time last year being significantly lower, OUSU President Martha Mackenzie said, “The drop in applicants for Oxford has not been statistically significant, possibly as for a lot of students, Oxford seemed unreachable anyway.” To improve the situation, she suggested that, “Targeted programs are the way forward, such as mock tutorials and mock interviews.” and especially, “…communicating that Oxford has one of the best student finance packages available.”

Sebastian Leape, Access Officer at The Union and organiser of the event, said of the forum, “I think this is a very exciting new format for discussions at the union to take as it allows the audience to participate and for speakers to be critiqued – No one can get away with bullshitting.”

John Lee, Treasurer-elect, agreed and said that the content of the discussion was also key, claiming that the Union is, “…getting more progressive and becoming less of a private social club, and emphasising much more the ballot system [that allows members to ballot to attend] President’s Drinks and speakers’ events.”

A mysterious safe which baffled Univ students for over a decade has finally been opened this week. Breaking into the safe cost over £100 more than the amount found inside.

The safe has been in the JCR President’s office since the late 1990s, but none of the current Univ staff can remember the safe being opened and its origins remain unclear.
A motion proposed by the JCR President to open the safe was passed during the first JCR meeting of term, as University College students voted almost unanimously to spend £180 on a locksmith.

The safe was opened during the middle of last week, but JCR President Dan Tomlinson ratcheted up the tension by refusing to reveal the contents of the safe until Sunday’s JCR meeting. Curiosity levels were running high prior to the revelation, as Tomlinson was seen “looking excited” about the safe’s contents.

Sunday meeting was attended by over 50 students, who watched with anticipation as Tomlinson played them the video link of him opening the safe for the first time. Breaking into the safe had proved to be far from straightforward, as the locksmith worked at the lock for over an hour before resorting to drilling though it.

The safe contained, according to Tomlinson, “just a bit more than £70”, all in 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p coins. Though this constituted a loss to the JCR accounts of around £110 Tomlinson remained upbeat, telling Cherwell, “It was quite exciting for everyone to find out what was inside: though we didn’t make our money back it was definitely worth it!”

The JCR Treasurer agreed that the expenditure was worthwhile, saying, “Obviously it was disappointing that we didn’t find a few gold bars in there, but I think it was better to open it and make sure.”

Most JCR members seemed prepared to overlook the damage to the JCR budget. Second year PPEist Nadia Odunayo commented, “The enjoyment experienced when the Univ community watched it together in the JCR was technically worth more than the monetary amount put forward to open it.”

However, some questioned the wisdom of spending such an extravagant amount on a locksmith. Thomas Cole, a second year historian, described himself as “disappointed” with the money wasted. He said, “I was prepared to give it a go with a crowbar and hammer for £20. The money could have gone on something far more important, such as outrageous rugby stash.”

The money from the safe has now been paid into the JCR bank account. There appear to be no particular plans for how to use it, with the JCR treasurer commenting that it would simply be made available for spending “like any other money”.

The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt visited the Ashmolean last week to discuss museum funding which is due to be cut during the current parliament as part of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Hunt is attempting to encourage museums to sustain themselves by increasing private investment, drawing upon the business model of American cultural organisations which have vast endowments.

Hunt called these large endowments a ‘buffer’ which could protect museums in uncertain economic times despite low interest rates not enabling the endowments to grow significantly.
Hunt visited the Ashmolean’s new Ancient Egyptian gallery, a a £5 million project funded by a variety of donors, most significantly Lord Sainsbury’s Linbury Trust.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is reducing the financial support provided to the twenty museums it directly sponsors by 15% over the current parliament.

Although the Ashmolean is not on this list it does receive significant help from DCMS, notably with a £272,000 grant in 2009 from the DSMS/Wolfson foundation which is a joint venture between the government and the philanthropic Wolfson fund that gives grants to museums and galleries in England.

Hunt’s senior press officer told Cherwell “one of the Secretary of State’s top priorities now is to help the cultural sector to strengthen its capacity to fundraise and cultivate donors. DCMS has put a considerable amount of money towards developing a match-funding scheme to encourage private donations and establish endowments.”

This “Catalyst” scheme is aimed at “helping cultural organisations diversify their income streams and access more funding from private sources.”

Some museum campaigners however, are concerned that in the current economic climate, private donations will not be sufficient to keep museums solvent.

David Butler, Co-Chair Elect of Oxford University Labour Club, commented “whilst I accept that some cuts are necessary to museum funding as part of reducing the deficit, I am concerned that the Big Society will be unable to fill the gap.”

There is also a concern that while large museums like the Ashmolean will survive, smaller institutions will not be able to cope with the projected spending cuts.

An example of a threatened museum is the University’s Museum of the History of Science on Broad Street which suffered a crippling £105,000 cut from the Higher Education Funding Council for England last year.

Katie Allen, a second year English student commented, “Museums are a great source of learning and entertainment. If funding to them were to be cut much would be lost in the way of knowledge, experience, and culture. Most importantly, I hope that budget difficulties don’t mean that free access to these venerable institutions is challenged. I would love to work at a museum in the future and hope that cuts today don’t make that an impossibility.”

The Oxford Street Pastors, an inter-denominational church group which aim to tackle urban problems have celebrated their one year anniversary.

The team, mostly members of local churches, try to engage “with people on the streets to care, listen and dialogue.” They are active in the town centre on Friday nights, helping drunken clubbers by handing out water, and giving flip flops to women who are struggling to walk in heels.

Though the Oxford group are only one year old, the Street Pastor scheme was started in London in January 2003, by Revered Les Isaac, Director of the Ascension Trust. They appear to have so far been effective, with drops in the level of crime where they act. The programme has expanded to over 100 groups across the UK.

Rob Winn, a Street Pastor, commented, “We work closely with the police, council, safety bus and other statutory organisations to make sure that people in the city centre at night are as safe as possible.”

“It’s great to be celebrating our first year of service; we have been pleased to consistently put out teams of volunteers each Friday night. Alongside our partners, we have helped to keep people safer, and we have given time to people who need someone to talk to.”

“There are many amusing stories of people having too much to drink and losing their, keys, phones, friends, oil paintings, and boats… [but also] sad stories where we’ve been there for people who were really struggling with work, family and relationships and we’ve been there to listen. Sometimes, we’ve been in the right place to diffuse confrontations or alert the police, sometimes we’ve found people in need of medical attention. My favourite part of being a street pastor is the variety of situations each time we’re out and the opportunity to be there for people.”

OUSU Health and Welfare Officer Laura Hancox championed the group, saying, “Clubbing does sometimes leave students in a vulnerable position, and I’m glad that this is increasingly being appreciated and that people are responding. I think the Street Pastors deserve thanks for the work that they’ve done over the past year.”

“They certainly make a positive contribution to the welfare of students, but they should not be seen as a substitute for the cooperation between students, police and the community that is necessary to further improve student safety.”

The Street Pastors argue that helping people in the city centre is a practical way to exercise their faith. Second year Theologian and member of the Christian Union, Andrew Hansford, commented, “Street Pastoring is certainly an excellent way in which people can demonstrate the love of God…it’s a fantastic expression of faith. Practically, the Street Pastors provide a somewhat unique service which is of value in guarding against injury, helping individuals stay safe, and hopefully reducing hangovers, while also being and emotional and spiritual support on the streets. They are of huge value to the community and reduce the burden on the Police.’

Luminar, the firm that owns Lava Ignite, has gone into administration following a failure to meet the October 27th deadline for its banking covenants.

According to a report published by the Financial Times, the group owes approximately £85m to Lloyds TSB, Barclays and RBS. The banks gave Luminar a temporary banking waive in May, which they then extended in August. The deadline has now expired.

The administration comes after several years of financial underperformance. Luminar was hit hard by the smoking ban, changes to pub licencing laws and the riots over the summer. In particular, the economic downturn has affected the chain’s core 18-24 year old customer base because of increasing levels of youth unemployment.

Luminar’s shares were supended at 0.7p on Wednesday, having fallen from over 600p in the last five years. 

Another recent incident saw the chain having to stand by its safety and security procedures when a stampede in its Northampton club led to the death of 22 year old Nabila Nanfuka. The crush happened in the early hours of last Wednesday as a fire alarm caused the crowd to rush for the exits. One 19 year old remains in hospital in critical condition.

Lava Ignite has maintained that “customer safety is the number one priority” and that the chain “already complies with and exceeds” stringent regulations on late night entertainment. The Northampton club remains closed pending a police investigation and an internal inquiry.

Lava Ignite’s “Shark End” on Wednesdays is one of Oxford’s most popular club nights. Izzy Fitzharris, a second year linguist, commented, “It’s scary that something like that could happen on a night out”. Classicist Keir Macdonald agreed, emphasising that the club’s responsibility is “not just getting people in but also safety”.

“The queue for Park End often stretches past The Junction and inside it’s like being on a Piccadilly line train at rush hour” said second year Adam Rachlin, however he rejected calls to lower capacity, arguing that to do so would “ruin the ambience”.

Tributes to Nanfuka, who was studying Leisure and Tourism at the University of Northampton, described her as “one in a million” and “a beautiful person”. It remains unclear what the future for Lava Ignite will be.