The visit of the former President of Pakistan, Perez Musharraf, to Oxford last Friday caused several students to voice concern over freedom of speech and censorship issues.

Musharraf gave a speech in the Town Hall on ‘The state of the Pakistani state: national and international implications’, an event organised by the Oxford University International Relations Society.

At the start of the question and answer session Musharraf removed his jacket, joking, “jacket off, I’m ready for a fight.”

An audience member soon challenged Musharraf over his plans to return to power. He told the former general, “You seem remarkably fresh for a man on the run, involved in the death of the Prime Minister, treason, and subverting the constitution.”

This opened a dialogue in which Musharraf lost his temper, dismissing the efforts of Pakistan’s other political parties as “damaging to the state”. Some of the exchange was conducted in Urdu.

When the student left the room shortly afterwards, Musharraf called out after him, “Thank you for going!”

Aranyani Bhargav, a student at Wolfson college, was displeased with Musharraf’s conduct. She said, “I accept that it was not a particularly comfortable question, but that was unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour.

It’s just not something you would expect from a former head of state”.

During the event Musharraf repeatedly stressed a desire for peace. He claimed “Pakistan is not a military state”, although he also said that “the military is the only organisation holding Pakistan together”, calling it the country’s “centre of gravity”. He stated that “military rulers have done better for Pakistan, there is no doubt”, a comment which was met with applause from some members of the audience.

Musharraf answered all of the audience’s questions, including sensitive subjects such as US and Indian relations.

The former general seized power in Pakistan in a military coup in 1999. He was forced to resign in 2008 following an impeachment over his declaration of a state of emergency in 2007, which postponed a general election and placed high court judges and their families under house arrest.

A United Nations report earlier this year found that Musharraf’s government failed to provide former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto with adequate security on her return to Pakistan, and that elements within the military establishment may even have played a role in her death in December 2007.

Kanishka Narayan, President of IRSoc, said that Musharraf was the most important guest in the society’s history. “He’s controversial but I don’t see that as a reason for denying his significance. Musharraf is a very significant figure in Pakistani politics.  He will have a massive impact in the upcoming future and it’s important people get to hear him.

“I received no complaints about the invitation; we did, however, receive congratulatory notes and more requests for attendance than could be entertained, despite the venue being one of the largest in Oxford.”

Narayan stressed that although some questions were submitted in advance, there was no vetting of difficult or controversial issues. He told student Ata Rahman before the talk, “We will be selecting questions we think are the best and most interesting, not the ones we feel President Musharraf wishes us to choose.”

However Rahman felt that the manner in which the event was organised amounted to censorship. He said, “I think the IRSoc committee has to accept responsibility for the fact that they allowed Musharraf to completely evade the most controversial aspects of his career thanks to the pre-screening of questions.”

Ticket-holders were required to sign up in advance and state their nationality. Questions for the question and answer session also had to be submitted in advance, although Musharraf did take an additional number of impromptu questions from the floor.

Guests were requested to bring only their ticket and Bod Card and no bags, phones, cameras or metal objects were allowed inside the Town Hall.

Ghazald Mirza, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, said that she believed that the full venue indicated the seriousness with which Musharraf was taken. She said, “The dynamics of Pakistan have changed so much that if he runs for re-election it’s very important to see if he has changed too.”

Musharraf’s talk gave a history of Pakistan’s involvement on the world stage from World War Two to the present day, with much focus on extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s troubled relationship with India.

He is not the only political speaker to have attracted controversy this year. The visit of the Israeli deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in Hilary term was marked by protests and interruptions such as “You are a racist” and “You are a war criminal” from members of the audience.

A recent poll has shown that 1 in 7 women students have been the victim of serious sexual assault while at university or college, yet only a small minority have reported it.

Only 10% told the police about the assault, and just 4% reported it to their institution, according to the data collected by the National Union of Students.

60% of these attacks were carried out by fellow students. OUSU Women’s Officer Yuan Yang commented, “It makes it more difficult for the survivor to handle the experience of sexual violence if she is locked into a university system in which she must see them often.

“It can be even worse if the abuser didn’t recognise the effect of their actions, or acts as if they don’t.”

One Oxford student told of how she was assaulted last year. “I was at a house party last Trinity when a friend’s boyfriend pushed me up against the wall and pulled my knickers down without saying anything.

“I was so shocked. I tried to push him away and told him to leave me alone but he didn’t. He kept kissing me and saying how good I looked that evening like that made it OK.

“Somebody saw us and he let me go, but the story that got around was that I had seduced him somehow. I fully admit that I was drunk, but I in no way provoked him. I still see him sometimes. He was off his face and I don’t think he remembers it properly.”

Currently, 1.3 in every 1,000 Oxford residents have officially been victims of crimes of a sexual nature, compared with only 0.9 nationwide.

The recent controversy surrounding Thirst Lodge’s sex encounter venue licence raised fears within the University and the local community over women’s safety in Oxford. Studies in London, Nottingham and Scotland have shown that when clubs are granted lap dancing licences, there is an increase in violence, harassment, and sexual assault in the surrounding area.

However a male Law student who visited recently was left unimpressed. “While I was there I was putting on the façade that I was enjoying myself. I have no intention of going back.”

He said that he thought the trip “might be a laugh”, and was aware of the negative side of the sex industry, “but I didn’t really care. Now I’d say that I would look upon it less favourably because of my experiences.”

When asked whether he could understand why women may feel threatened by the presence of a strip club in Oxford, he said, “Yes. It encourages women to be viewed as objects and therefore I’d imagine that things like rape and sexual assault would be more common.

“But I think that within the Lodge itself it’s safely regulated and I wouldn’t think anything untoward happens there.”

Yang commented that negative portrayals of female sexuality take the moral onus away from the abuser. “Terms like ‘slag’ are put-downs that implicitly suggest a mould for female sexuality that, if not conformed to, makes the woman in question a deviant. Sexual abuse is a reflection of what we believe.”

The combination of alcohol and casual sex often involved in student relationships makes the issue of consent particularly relevant at Oxford. Many Oxford students asked had been in a situation where consent had not been clear.

One male student said, “I woke up in the morning with a girl from another college in my bed. We couldn’t really remember anything from the night before. I’ve always wondered about what happened – if she had claimed I’d forced her to have sex, I would have had nothing to defend myself with.”

Amnesty International research has shown that a ‘blame culture’ attitude exists over clothing, drinking, perceived promiscuity, and whether a woman has clearly said “no” to the man. 26% of those asked said that they thought a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was wearing sexy or revealing clothing.

Around one in 12 people believed that a woman was totally responsible for being raped if she had had many sexual partners. 30% said that a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was drunk.

More than four in ten student victims of serious sexual assault have told nobody about what has happened. Of the female students who did not report serious sexual assault to the police, 50% said it was because they felt ashamed or embarrassed, and 43% because thought they would be blamed for what happened.

Yuan Yang said, “Welfare services such as Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre recognise that self-blame is prevalent among survivors of rape: “I didn’t say “no” loudly enough”; “I didn’t struggle hard enough”; “I shouldn’t have invited him to my room” and so on.

“Challenging self-doubt is an important part of sexual violence rehabilitation, but it’s hard when victim blame, and sexual double standards, are such a prevalent theme of social discourse.”

More than 13,000 rapes were reported to police last year, although the true figure is thought to be in excess of 50,000.

Only 6% of cases reported to police end in conviction. 6 out of 7 people are unaware of this fact, and 98% underestimate the prevalence of sexual assault.

Yang reassured students, “In Oxford, the police have been helpful in working alongside us in providing sexual abuse workshops to educate students about the prevalence and results of abuse; we do not have the same issues with lack of thoughtfulness from police officers as other parts of the country might.”

Criticism has been voiced over Oxford City Council’s refusal to allow Tesco to sell alcohol at a planned new Express store in the centre of town.

The supermarket giant has recently been granted permission to set up a branch on St Aldate’s. It applied for a licence to sell alcohol between 6am and 11pm every day.

But on Thursday a panel of city councillors refused the application, claiming that selling alcohol on this site could “add to the crime and disorder and public nuisance in the area”.

Student Sarah Rohde said, “I think it’s ridiculous that they’ve been refused a licence on the grounds of encouraging drunken behaviour when there is a supermarket with a licence less than 2 minutes away.

“This is a free market and the supermarkets should be allowed to compete fairly.”

Sainsbury’s is currently the only supermarket in the centre of Oxford, with a Local store on Magdalen Street and a large store in the Westgate Centre. It will remain the cheapest place for students to buy alcohol.

David Williams, chairman of the committee which refused the licence application, said, “It was the worst space you could have for selling alcohol. We have homeless institutions only a few yards away.

“Cambridge Terrace, behind, is a well-known spot for street drinking and crime and immediately across is Christ Church gardens where there have been a lot of problems in terms of people drinking in the gardens.

“Then there are the dangers of the river only a few yards away. Only two weeks ago a body was fished out of there after having been drinking.”

Tesco spokesman Michael Kissman said, “Tesco has pioneered responsible alcohol selling procedures, such as the Think 25 policy we have in stores now. We take these matters extremely seriously, and will listen to feedback and decide what to do next”.

Student, Louise Marchand, said, “Tesco is really cheap so in a city full of students it makes sense to have an alcohol licence there”.

Students have also noted that neither of the Sainsbury’s stores in the city centre stocks the full range of ‘Basics’ products, something which the lack of competition makes viable.

Colin Cook, the City Council’s executive member for city development, admitted, “The level of supermarket provision in the city centre is not as high as it probably needs to be.

“Certainly additional competition from somewhere like Tesco will only serve to help keep prices down for people coming to shop in the city.”

Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s run their own brand range of products including alcohol. While Tesco ‘Value’ and Sainsbury’s ‘Basics’ are the same price for gin (£7.78 for a 700ml bottle) and vodka (£7.97), other own brand ranges are generally significantly cheaper at Tesco.

Tesco Imperial Vodka costs £8.77 for 700ml, while Sainsbury’s Vodka is £9.84 for the same amount. Tesco Dry London gin costs £8.56, while the Sainsbury’s equivalent costs £9.84. Tesco charges £6.76 for a 350ml bottle of Smirnoff Red Label vodka, while Sainsbury’s charges £7.80.

A spokesman for Tesco said there was no proposed opening date for the St Aldate’s store, although a plan of its layout has been submitted to Oxford City council. Its purchase was announced in April.

The new shop will be the supermarket chain’s first city centre outlet and will join existing ones in East Oxford, Botley, Summertown and Cowley.

Tesco has also taken over the former Borders store on Magdalen Street to open a Metro store, which sells more products than an Express store.

They have applied for an alcohol licence from 6am to 12.30am Monday to Friday, 6am to midnight on Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday. The city council is set to consider this application on July 25.

John Partington, a director of the Covered Market Traders’ Association, warned that the opening of these two new supermarkets could threaten independent businesses in the city centre.

He said, “It kills off little traders like us. You can do a one-stop shop which is all very convenient and nice, and competitive on price, but everyone ends up with the same old food.

“It ends up sucking the energy out of places like the Covered Market, which are trying to do something unique, exciting and different.

“You can’t buy rabbit in Tesco or wild boar, but it has a knock-on effect on the meat people and the chocolate people and you actually end up with less choice.”

The Classics department at Cambridge suffered embarrassment this week as the £1.3 million renovation of their facility resulted in a misspelling on the doors of their new foyer.

Academics had chosen a Greek inscription from Aristotle’s Metaphysics which translates as “all men by nature desire to know” to grace the facade. However, the word “phusei”, meaning “by nature”, was spelled with the English letter “S” rather than the Greek letter sigma.

The glass doors of stylish new entrance on the university’s Sidgwick site have also been criticised for opening too slowly and causing queues of staff and students.  
University officials have declined to comment on the doors.

Television comedian Russell Howard was the anonymous special guest of an Oxford comedy show.

Sunday night’s ‘Ministry of Mirth’ student stand-up comedy night billed him as “special unnamed anonymous faceless reclusive” guest, but word of mouth spread quickly over the weekend and the Sunday night event at the Wheatsheaf was full.

The ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘Russell Howard’s Good News’ star told the audience that he liked to crash small comedy gigs in order to test new jokes. His material included the Cumbria shootings and Lady Gaga. He commented that he found Oxford “intellectually daunting.”

The Ministry of Mirth is a student run stand-up night which attracts both newcomers and professionals from the London circuit .

A sharp rise in the number of people admitted to university makes it impossible to compare degrees awarded by different institutions in different subjects, according to a report by the HEPI.
The report said that it was “unrealistic” to compare the standard of firsts, 2:1s and 2:2s between institutions, since courses at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge require “greater intensity of study”.
It concluded that the university sector “should press on” with finding alternatives.
However Janet Beer, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, said, “We know our 2:1 is of a national standard.”
The Press Office at Oxford University refused to comment on the difference between degrees at Oxford University and other institutions.

An American visiting student at Exeter College has been killed following an avalanche in Switzerland. 

Henry Lo, from Williams College in Massachusetts, was on a hiking trip with eight other students, including five Williams students and two Oxford students, when the fatality happened on Sunday.

The police have said Lo, from New York, was swept away by snow and fell down a 100 metre cliff. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Another student, Amy Nolan, was injured and subsequently taken to a Swiss hospital. Nolan has since been joined by her family.

The other Williams-Exeter students have written a tribute to Henry, a major in Maths and Religion, saying: “You made the most of your time here at Oxford: football, kickboxing, working out, wine-tasting, truly loving your academic work, not to mention all your socialising.

“This list only scratches the surface. To borrow some of your own words, you were not a gamer, you were a competitor. You made such a huge impression on all of us in less than a year – we all wish we could spend more time with you, get to know you even better. We can’t believe you’ve been taken from us.”

None of the other students were injured and Swiss authorities organised a response team to take the students to Bern. The students have since returned to the UK. 

International media has speculated that a skier above the group of hikers caused the avalanche. A police investigation is ongoing and the University has yet to confirm these reports. 

The Rector of Exeter College, Frances Cairncross, said: “Henry was a popular student who played on the Exeter College football team. He had many friends both on the Williams Programme and among Exeter College students. We will miss him greatly. Our thoughts are with his parents and with Amy and her family.” 

President of Williams College, Adam Falk has written a letter to the College community saying: “At this profoundly sad moment our hearts are first with Henry’s family for their sudden and devastating loss. As a parent, I can’t imagine the effect of such an occurrence.”  

Oxford University Chancellor Chris Patten is set to co-ordinate the Pope’s visit to Britain in September. 

The government is due to confirm his appointment this week. Lord Patten will organise the three day papal trip, which is expected to cost around £14 million.
The appointment of Lord Patten should prove a popular choice, as he is both a well-known practising Catholic and an experienced diplomat.

The papal trip was originally planned to cost in the region of £7 million but costs are believed to have doubled since then.  

It has suffered a series of setbacks after an offensive Foreign Office memo was leaked and costs spiralled. 

Civil servants formerly involved in the trip had to be replaced after 23 year-old Oxford graduate Steven Mulvian wrote a memo suggesting the Pope take a trip to an abortion clinic, bless a homosexual marriage and bring out his own range of condoms. 

Diplomat Anjoum Noorani approved the memo and has been suspended and banned from overseas postings for five years due to the severity of the case. 
The University has made it clear that Lord Patten is working in a personal capacity in relation to the visit. 

A spokesperson for the University said: “He will only be coordinating the Government side of things, not the religious side. He is very pleased to be able to help, particularly because of the Oxford connection with Cardinal Newman.” 

Third year St. Hilda’s student Ellen Hughes said: “In light of everything going on at the moment politically and economically it might be best that someone who is perceived to be an independent is indeed involved.

“Ultimately, I think it’s great that the Chancellor is involved.”