Balliol students were shocked to find this week that the college was proposing the introduction of an additional annual levy of £500 for each student.

The so-called ‘Domus Charge’ will not affect any current students, but is likely to be introduced in October 2011, meaning that next year’s freshers could be charged, despite not knowing about the extra fee when they chose to apply to Balliol.

The need for extra funding of between £300 and £500 per student has been accounted for by the financial crisis, the decline in public funding for education, the College’s need for refurbishment and its inadequate endowment.

Members of the JCR received an email from the College Master, Andrew Graham, on Saturday, which read, “I care deeply about Balliol. I also know that we exist to support and educate you, not to take money from you.

“At the same time if Balliol is to remain one of the best educational institutions in the world, the funding has to come from somewhere.”
Graham pointed out that “measured by endowment per student we are 13th in the list and easily outstripped by colleges such as Trinity, Corpus and University, not to mention Magdalen, Merton, Christ Church and St John’s.

“Yet we hear on the grapevine that even some of these wealthier colleges are currently considering comparable extra charges.”
He stated that the charge would fund “the general resources of the College,” and that it will be payable by both undergraduates and graduates, regardless of whether they choose to live in or out of College.

Students fear that such a charge will put off sixth-formers from applying to Balliol in the future. Simon Wood, JCR Admissions Officer, said it would be “naive” to think that the charge would not be a deterrent to applicants.

“College choice is largely arbitrary anyway and £500 is a large disincentive that becomes even larger the less well off you are,” he remarked.

Gross agreed, noting that “in schools with a low university participation rate, there exists a perception that Oxford is more expensive than other universities and this puts people off applying.”

“This charge would mean that Balliol would be a more expensive place to study than elsewhere, which has to have an impact on access.”

The Dean has said that the College would financially assist anyone who struggled to pay the charge, emphasising that Balliol has “a pledge- that so far we have been able to keep- that anyone we admit we keep, so no one has to leave because of their financial situation.”
Current JCR Treasurer, Greig Larmont, claimed that “not nearly enough has been done before asking students for money.

“Balliol prizes itself on its egalitarianism, and introducing a regressive up-front Domus Charge will have vast implications on access.”

However, not all students oppose the Domus Charge. JCR President Alastair Travis noted that the Master’s proposals had received a “mixed response”, with some feeling that the charge is “an obvious conclusion” to Balliol’s financial difficulties.

First year Classicist and incoming JCR Secretary, David Bagg, maintained that the charge would not have put him off applying to Balliol.

He commented, “I do not believe that new applicants from any background will be significantly deterred, since Balliol’s provision of financial aid is one of the most generous throughout the University.”
Bagg agreed that “obviously no-one wants to pay more money” but said it seemed reasonable that “students should shoulder some of the problems that affect not only the fellows, but the College as a whole.”
First-year Chemistry student Sam Ellis agreed, saying that if students “want to be able to study at a quality college that maintains a competitive position within the University and worldwide. Maybe £300 isn’t such a large contribution.”

The contentious issue will be dealt with by the JCR in its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, where a course of action is to be chosen.
The JCR Treasurer made it clear that the student body will challenge the introduction of the fee. He said, “I think it is fair to say that this will be fought hard, and no avenue of possible argument against it will be left unturned.”

Messages to Cherwell this week reveal a current member of Standing Committee acting in violation of Union rules.

Anthony Boutall, a student at St. Edmund Hall, has been canvassing support for the Union elections online.

The soliciting of votes, as well as campaigning by email, is considered electoral malpractice in Union elections.

In a Facebook message sent on November 22, Boutall asked people to ‘get down to the Union on Friday and bring a few friends along to vote the right way’.

Boutall wrote ‘I am running in the Union election for the position of Secretary on Friday this week’, emphasising that ‘this is against the rules to inform you, so PLEASE don’t tell anyone I told you!’

Boutall, who organised the Union’s ‘Acceptable in the 80’s’ Disco’ last Saturday, promised that as Secretary he would be in charge of organising the Union Ball next term, which ‘will be just as fun as Saturday but with about 8 times the budget!’

In other text messages sent earlier this month, he urged recipients to vote against the motion for the creation of a Librarian-elect position, which passed by 228 votes to 14.

In an earlier text message sent on October 22, stating that he is ‘not really allowed to ask’, Boutall goes on to say that if ‘youd [sic] sign the petition against librarian-elect, id [sic] very much appreciate it’.
In another message, sent on November 2, before the second vote for the Librarian-elect position took place, Boutall urged Union members to vote against the ‘wasteful, dodgy motion being put to a poll in the union tonight’.

‘The side of righteousness would very much appreciate it,’ he wrote.
‘Saying that, please dont [sic] tell anyone that i [sic] texted you.’

When contacted for comment regarding the correspondence, Boutall told Cherwell ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘The Union takes any allegations of electoral malpractice extremely seriously,’ said a Union spokesperson.

‘The Returning Officer will be investigating any such allegations after the poll closes and invites any member holding evidence of wrongdoing to present it to him directly.’

St Catz student Camilla Turner has won Reporter of the Year at Guardian Student Media awards 2010.

Turner, a second year History student, was awarded the prize by a panel of judges including Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-Chief of Guardian News and Media, and Jon Snow, Presenter of Channel 4 News.

The judges said, “A unanimous verdict on far and away the best entrant….Camilla writes in measured yet authoritative tone. We have no doubt we’ll see her byline again.”

Georgia Lindsay, Editor of Cherwell, said, “I am super super proud of her.”

The awards were announced at a ceremony in London on Wednesday night. Past winners have included high profile writers such as Andrew Rawnsley, Jonathan Freedland and Emily Barr.

Turner said, “I am so surprised and happy; I really didn’t expect to win.”

Sir Mark Ellis Powell Jones, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has been chosen as the new Master of St Cross College.

Sir Mark, knighted in 2010 for his services to the arts, is due to take up his post in September 2011, following the retirement of Professor Andrew Goudie. The Worcester College alumnus, who specialises in the study of medals, said that he was looking forward to working with the students and fellows who are doing research “in areas of great interest and importance”.

During Ellis’ 10 years at the V&A, the museum underwent a £120 million refurbishment that saw it open a new wing of Medieval and Renaissance galleries. Its chairman, Paul Ruddock, credited him with helping to make the museum a world leader in art and design.

Students have been discovered dodging police fines handed out in a bike light safety scheme.

As part of the Lights on Bikes campaign, cyclists caught without bike lights are given the opportunity to avoid the £30 fine if they show police a receipt for new lights within seven days.

However, students have been attempting to return the lights to cycle shops after showing policemen their receipts. Although receipts are now stamped by police, bike shop staff have reported people trying to cut off the stamps in order to claim a refund.

Jim Tanner, of Bike Zone, in Market Street, Oxford, said, “We now refusing all bike light refunds.”

Last year, 159 people were killed or injured while riding bikes in Oxford. So far, 130 fines have been issued in the county.

Oxford students camped out on the street for 50 hours this week, braving sub-zero temperatures in order to secure somewhere to live for the next academic year.

The annual release of the Jericho student property list by North Oxford Property Services (NOPS), who operate on a ‘first come first served’ basis, has famously produced overnight queues for several years.
This week the queuing times broke recent records. One group from St. Anne’s College took to the streets at 7am on Monday in anticipation of the 9am Wednesday release.

NOPS moved the date of the property release forward from January to November for this year, following criticism over the system which resulted in students camping outside in wintry conditions. Unlike many other Oxford estate agents, NOPS do not warn against overnight queuing.

OUSU and college Welfare Reps have pointed out that North Oxford Property Services are not the only letting agency in Jericho and that students should not sign a deal without looking at a house first.

However, most students were unable to look at properties because NOPS’ viewing day is the same date as the list release. This, combined with the competitive nature of the release, has led to fears that there is too much pressure on students to sign deals without having time to consider properly.

Many students came prepared for the queue, with tents, sleeping bags, alcohol and even a television to while away the hours. Passers-by were confused by the spectacle, asking the campers what they were protesting against.

Sunny Gohel, a second year Psychology student, said, “It’s a terrible system. They could easily change it to a ballot or an online draw or something.

“It gets more and more hyped up every year – students think that if they don’t come down and queue they’ll be homeless next year. I have friends who have ended up making a decision based on two sentences and a thumbnail picture.”

However, some undergraduates praised NOPS for providing queue members with hot drinks and sandwiches, and a gazebo for shelter. A third year student from LMH said, “It’s not actually been that bad because we’ve made sure we stay warm enough. I’ve even managed to get lots of work done because there’s nothing else to do.”

Over a quarter of Oxford’s colleges cannot house undergraduates for the entirety of their course. Students with no choice but to rent alternative property pay between £300 and £450 per month for a single room in a shared house. The only eight bedroom student property let by NOPS costs tenants £500 a month.

Somerville student Jacob Williamson said, “All Somerville second years must live out. And given the proximity of Jericho to college, unless we want to isolate ourselves then we have little choice.”

St. Anne’s second year Jan Kaesbach said that NOPS had approached him and his housemates about renewing their tenancy for a second year just a few weeks after they moved in.

“They sent us a letter at the beginning of November asking us to decide whether we wanted to keep the house for next year when our tenancy doesn’t end until July. Term had barely started and we had no idea what we wanted to do next year.

“St Anne’s hadn’t done the room ballot yet so we didn’t know about college accommodation and we felt very rushed into either making a decision or going through the hassle of losing our house and having to queue again.”

Oxford students believe they are the “worst behaved in Britain” suggests a recent survey conducted as part of a new MTV series, ‘The Freshers’.

The survey asked students from eight universities, including Bristol, Manchester and Essex, which establishment they thought had the most badly behaved students.

87% of responses from Oxford students named their own university, topping the poll.

One third claimed to get so “out of their heads” on drink that they urinate or vomit in public at least once a week, while three-quarters boasted of engaging in sexual activity “whenever they had the chance”.

The findings have been largely met with amusement by Oxford students, and most who gave their reactions to Cherwell felt that the survey must have been answered with a strong sense of irony.
Hector Page, the new Balliol JCR Dean, charged by the College’s constitution with “enforcing discipline in the JCR,” did not seem overly worried by the revelations.

“Working hard earns you the right to pints, and we work really hard.
“As a newly-elected JCR Dean, I plan to be extraordinarily understanding of loutish drunkards, to the extent that I vow to make full use of the college’s excellent bar to help me get into the mindset of such individuals”.

However, not all students were convinced about the appeal of this “mindset”.

One student, Chris Gross, remained unimpressed by it; “To be honest, I like nothing better than getting drunk, fighting with men, demeaning women and pissing all over Zizzi’s. My ideal night ends with running around trying to put tiny hats on small animals before falling asleep in a bush covered in my own vomit. And what makes it even better is that the tax payer is funding it all, and it’s not like it’ll impact on my work because I don’t have really have any”.

Yet the president of one college’s Maths Society, a self-described “nerd” disagreed with Gross. He argued that there was “only goodness” in the “laddish activities” revealed by the survey.

“I am a fan of the louts,” he said. “They enrich our bops, our bars and our lives”.

Most students strongly agreed with a University spokesperson, who said, “We think there might be a bit of exaggeration in the tellings of the survey.

One student stressed that, “Some of the stuff my mates get up to at other universities makes me look like a little schoolgirl”.

He was seconded by his college rugby captain, who argued vehemently that “in an environment of people who would rather listen to someone’s musings on the self than watch England play rugby, it is no wonder that some people consider themselves to be ‘top lads’.”

“The ability to down a pint is so hard to come by in Oxford,” he continued, “that whenever someone possesses it, they immediately think they are some sort of super-lad.

“I have seen many members of the sycophantically adored Blues rugby team not even come close to doing a strawpedo in a respectable time.
“On the other side of the coin, there are those people who leave their Cicero and Hume once in a blue moon.

“When that blue moon comes around however, they barely drink enough vodka-lemonade to make a small hamster tipsy and they then proclaim that they are so wild and fun, deluding themselves into thinking that they are breaking free from their self-imposed shackles of over-working.”

Students have concluded that “while there is undeniably a degree of loutishness in Oxford,” the MTV survey tells us “less about students’ behaviour and more about what they consider ‘loutish’ to be”.

Magdalen College JCR rejected a motion this week which would have seen them condemning the NUS President, Aaron Porter, and OUSU President David Barclay for promulgating a “misinformation campaign” about the cuts to higher education funding.

Henry Curr, the third year PPE student who proposed the motion, argued that it was “irresponsible to say that proposals are a “slap in the face” for students from disadvantaged backgrounds”, on the grounds that the guidelines set out in the Browne Review do not require students to pay back their fees until they are earning money.
The motion argued that “The £6.92 a week paid back by a graduate earning £25,000 under the proposals does not constitute a ‘crippling debt'” and claimed, “What can put disadvantaged children off university is poor information about how student finance actually works”.

However David Barclay, who was present at the General Meeting on Sunday, said that there is strong evidence to suggest that people will be put off by the cost of the proposed fees.

In response to the part of the motion which would have condemned him personally he said, “It is rather hypocritical to accuse me of hyperbole when this motion itself is full of hyperbole.”

Curr’s proposals also supported condemning the NUS protest on 10th November, saying, “Protests such as these serve to reinforce misperceptions about the system and thereby make the access problem worse.”

Barclay responded, “I did what I did because I wanted the student voice to be heard. I think access is at the heart of what OUSU does, and if the Government votes to implement these proposals, OUSU and I will do all we can to explain system and encourage access.”
An additional clause in the motion which claimed that “The NUS and OUSU are using access as a cover story to preserve middle-class benefits” was rescinded, along with one endorsing the Browne Review’s proposals on raising tuition fees.

A number of students present at the meeting spoke against the proposals. Matthew Shribman said, “Nothing good can come from this motion. The motion will paint Magdalen in the wrong light.”

Curr’s motion failed with 58 votes against it, 29 in favour and 10 abstentions.

The debate at Magdalen follows a motion passed on 7th November at Christ Church, which mandated the JCR officers to support the Government’s proposals to raise tuition fees.