A planned upgrade by Oriel College to the Rhodes building on High Street has prompted complaints about its affect on the city skyline.

The Oxford Victorian Society warns that “plans by Oriel College to make major alterations to the Rhodes Building on Oxford High Street will unnecessarily damage a listed building and irreversibly alter views of Oxford’s skyline.”

The architects have defended the proposed modern style. The plans involve adding another floor to the building’s roof for eleven more student rooms as well as creating disabled access to every floor.

The college has identified the Rhodes building as the most suitable location for additional undergraduate accommodation and is hoping to modernise the building more generally.

“It will unnecessarily damage a listed building”

The Architects, Marcus Beale, have claimed the new roof will be “unashamedly modern” while avoiding any fundamental change in the look of the building.
But the Victorian Society feels the historic roofscape, visible from St Mary’s Tower, will be “harmed”.

It claims that the change would directly contravene the Colleges’ own policy on ensuring that alterations to buildings do not become an ‘intrusion’ on Oxford’s iconic views.

The building was designed by Basil Champneys in 1908. The upgrade will also involve resizing the ground floor windows to ensure that the building is better connected to the street.

The Victorian Society also claims that this resizing of the windows will damage the buildings facade. It is believed Champneys deliberately set the window sizes as they are to give the building a feeling of depth.

The upgrade will also involve moving the washing accommodation from the basement and remove the coal stores for each set, which are no longer needed.

The Victorian Society is hoping that its submission to English Heritage for a change of listed status from grade 2 to grade 2* for the building will be accepted. Oxfordshire County Council would then have to take this into account when considering planning permission.

This change of status means the building would be classed as “particularly important of more than special interest” and be considered in the top 5% of buildings that are considered worth protecting.

However this change in status will take some time to come into effect. 

Oxford colleges have published their accounts for the financial year, which reveal decreasing reliance on the income from investment.

The total income for the financial year ending in July 2009 was £281 million and overall the colleges had a surplus of £6 million. However, college endowments decreased by 7% amounting to £2.28bn.

The falling endowments have been a cause for concern. Clifford Webb, Merton’s finance bursar commented on the accounts, “The problem is reflected more in investment income (which is much lower last year and this year, for example lower dividends and interest rates), which has certainly made a dent in college incomes.

“The fall in endowment values was painful”

“Going forward the amount of money given to colleges by the government is not enough by far to cover teaching costs and this will get progressively worse in the next few years because teaching funds are being cut. But you can’t yet see the impact in last year’s figures.”

Other figures show that publicly funded tuition and research income fell by 0.7%, but overall academic income increased by 7.8%. The University claims income was “boosted by growth in fees from overseas students.”

Staff costs account for half of college expenditure, and these rose by 8.1% last year, which highlights Oxford’s “above-inflation national pay awards for academic staff and higher pension contribution rates,” according to a University press release.

“Teaching funds are being cut”

Although colleges receive public funding from the University to support academic activities, this accounts for less than half their income.

Colleges must rely on the return on endowments, fundraising and surpluses from conferences during the vacations. Conferences brought in £10 million for colleges across the University this year.

There is also a large discrepancy in the performance of colleges. University College achieved a surplus of £1,650,000, compared with Worcester’s deficit of -£1,268,000. Many of the University’s richest colleges also recorded deficits.

Univ recorded a surplus of £854,000 the year before and their huge surplus this year was partly due to disposal of fixed assets.

The University reports that collectively colleges have “a small surplus at the operating level” despite a 7% decline in endowments.

Oxford’s richest colleges, St John’s and Christ Church, also reported deficits this year. St John’s total funds stand at over £331 million, and their deficit was -£52,000. Christ Church is worth £268 million but had a deficit of -£371,000, despite recording a surplus of £995,000 the year before.

New College lost -£602,000 this year. One New college student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell, “We’re all quite shocked to hear that the College is in this sort of state. Our JCR has one of the largest budgets in Oxford, so the impact of the overall problems hasn’t been felt much by current undergraduates – but they’re starting make staff cutbacks now, which is a shame.

“What’s most interesting is that part of the problem is our links with New College School. Most people here didn’t realise that the School and the College share accounts, and it has angered a lot of people that the prep school’s problems could have an impact on us, even though we have basically nothing to do with them.”

Other colleges reporting losses include Brasenose, Corpus Christi, Hertford, St. Hilda’s (though they recorded a deficit of only -£3000) and Wadham.

Wadham lost -£205,000 this year. One third year Wadhamite told Cherwell she was not surprised by the news. “We’ve noticed prices in the bar go up and they’re currently doing up rooms in college, meaning undergraduates can’t stay there.”

Colleges with very healthy accounts include Balliol, who recorded a surplus of £441,000, Jesus with £446,000, Lincoln with £566,000, Merton with £650,000 and Somerville, who reported a surplus of £794,000.

Exeter recorded an impressive surplus of £2,026,000 but this was only achieved after the disposal of fixed assets. The year before Exeter had a deficit of -£244,000.

Overall Oxford did receive more donations this year, which helped colleges through dismal financial conditions. Donations accounted for £53 million of endowments and colleges received £18 million in gifts and £8 million in capital gifts.

Frances Lannon, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall and Chairman of the Conference of Colleges, said of the accounts, “The fall in endowment values, though painful, was considerably less than that experienced by some of our peers. Many colleges are fortunate to have, serving on their investment committees, Old Members who have highly successful careers in fund management. This has undoubtedly helped us weather the storm.” 

The current Education Minister, Mike Russell, will be writing to the Oxford English Dictionary’s publisher to demand a reprint after it wrongly described Alexander Graham Bell as an American.

Bell, the Scottish scientist who invented the telephone, studied at Edinburgh University and patented the telephone in 1876. Although he later moved to America and gained citizenship in 1882, at the time of his invention he was staunchly Scottish, having been born and educated in the country.

The error appears under the entry for ‘decibel’; the latter part of the word coming from the inventor’s surname.

A spokesperson for Oxford University Press, the dictionary’s publisher, said the company would consider Russell’s request for an amendment.

Several leading universities, including Cambridge and York, have been accused of changing A-Level entry requirements subsequent to students applying.

This comes following the pressure of funding cuts of £915m, a surge of almost 12% in students applying, and potential fines for universities of £3,700 for every place over government quotas awarded.

Jonny Medland, Vice-President for Affairs at OUSU, said that the move is “an inevitable consequence of government cuts in higher education funding” and “is indicative of the desperation forced on universities”.

Oxford University has made clear that AAA has been the “standard conditional offer” at Oxford for “some time” and will remain so.

Britain is ignoring its dementia crisis, a recent study conducted by Oxford University’s Health Economics Research centre suggests.

The study found that each dementia patient costs the economy £27,647 per year; five times more than a cancer patient and eight times more than a heart disease sufferer. Yet only £50m is spent per year on research, compared with heart disease at over £150m and cancer at £590m.

The study has also shown that the number of people with dementia, at 822,000, is 17% higher than previously estimated and will increase to one million before 2025. It is expected that one in three people over 65 will contract dementia before they die.

Rebecca Wood, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust Chief Executive, said, “If we spend a more proportionate sum on dementia research we could unleash the full potential of our scientists in their race for a cure.”

An anonymous letter sent to Christ Church authorities has warned of a “considerable drugs culture” in the college, including the supply of Heroin.

The college Censors, deputies to the Dean, circulated an email among the student body last week with the subject “Urgent warning concerning drugs”.
It cautioned students against the use and supplying of drugs following the anonymous allegations.

“The law applies just as rigorously within college as elsewhere,” the message said. “The Censors have neither the power nor the wish to protect anyone who breaks it.”

Christ Church students have acknowledged drug use within the college, though those contacted by Cherwell expressed their surprise at the mention of Heroin in the email.

“There are quite a few people on it [drugs],” said one Christ Church third year, who asked to remain anonymous.

He denied that Heroin dealing or abuse took place in the college.

“I was pretty shocked about the Heroin”

“It looks like some nutter coming in, seeing a few people looking rough, and saying they’re all smack-heads. It’s palpably false – there is no Heroin in Christ Church.”

“There are quite a few other drugs going round,” he said, “but then Christ Church is a big college.”

The email, signed by the junior Censor Ian Watson said, “the Censors received an anonymous letter alleging the existence in Christ Church of a considerable drugs culture, including the supplying of class A drugs such as heroin.”

It continued, “The letter named one individual. The police, whom the Censors consulted…have advised that this letter does not in itself constitute usable evidence with which to start an investigation.”

“I was pretty shocked about the Heroin,” said another third year undergraduate, who asked not to be named. “I really wouldn’t say [drugs] are a big thing, especially compared to other colleges.”

Lou Stoppard, a student at the college, told Cherwell that there was a feeling of “confusion” around the allegations of the supplying of Heroin.
“I was a bit surprised. It seemed like an over-enthusiastic Censor being over-dramatic,” she said. “The email was a bit extreme, a bit intense.”

“Maybe there’s a clique that uses Heroin that everyone’s oblivious to…it’s the kind of thing that does get reported.”

The Censors were contacted for a comment on the issue, but did not respond.

A new set of rules to try to prevent non-EU students and their dependents from using the student visa system to illegally immigrate to the UK has been announced this week.

This follows the suspension of student visa applications from Nepal, northern India and Bangladesh last week.

Last week’s suspensions came after a jump in applications of 11,700 in the final three months of last year in comparison to the same period the previous year, rising to 13,500 in northern India alone.

The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, outlined that non-EU students must speak English to a level just below GCSE standard, work only 10 hours a week on courses below degree level, and cannot bring dependents into the UK for courses lasting less than six months.

Courses must also be at an institution on the ‘Highly Trusted Sponsors List’, a new register designed to catch out fake colleges. Johnson said that 200 such colleges have been closed.

“I am from North India, and this sucks”

James Pitman, the Managing Director of Study Group, the UK’s largest independent provider of international students to the higher education sector, claimed the new laws “could be sensible”, but argued, “they should be carefully considered and applied only to those countries that represent a genuine threat to national security.”

Whilst agreeing with Pitman on the potential benefits of the new laws, Jonny Medland, OUSU VP for Access and Academic Affairs, was angered by the suggestion that students from high risk countries should be further deterred from applying to UK colleges and universities.

He commented “Students need to have good levels of English to make the most out of studying in the UK but this doesn’t need to be tied to crude profiling of students from countries deemed to be threatening to Britain. Students should be treated as individuals, rather than as possible suspects.”

Medland further protested against the visa application suspension, stating, “A blanket suspension of student visas is not the right way of dealing with a complex problem – if visa applications are rising then the government needs to commit extra resources to process them.”

Visa problems are not new. Last term, many Pakistani students had problems gaining entry to Oxford and other universities due to a backlog of 5,000 people as IT difficulties left many without a passport or visa. These problems are likely only to further the disproportionately low percentage of ethnic minorities at Oxford, currently 11.1% compared to a national percentage of 14.2%.

Radhika Goyal, a first-year Economics and Management student from Chandigarh, northern India, accused the UK Border Agency of inefficiency even before the recent suspension.

“I have had horrendous experiences with visa,” she claimed, adding, “it took me two and a half months… I received it on 3rd October, one day before my flight – I had planned to come on the 28th September previously. The visa made was incorrect – the UK student ID on the visa is incorrect so I have sent it to the border agency, over three and a half weeks now, no response.

“I am from North India, and this sucks. Part of the reason I had to travel alone was because my mum couldn’t get a visa. The suspension is outrageous; imagine someone applying for autumn application. Just because numbers have risen doesn’t mean you stop giving out visas.”

In response to the new laws and the problems facing foreign students, Oxford University responded simply “The proposed measures shouldn’t deter any of our candidates.”

This week two Oxford students launched their campaign to be elected to the Oxford City Council.
Sophie Lewis and Vincent Larochelle will be standing as Green Party candidates for the Holywell and Carfax wards respectively.

In challenging the current Liberal Democrat councillors, the pair hope to galvanise the student body into steering their support away from the dominant political parties by focussing on issues pertinent to Oxford students.

Larochelle, a graduate at Exeter College, specifically states his desire to tackle “the lack of interaction between students and the City Council”.

Lewis, a Wadham undergraduate, is encouraging students to engage with the May poll, by highlighting her stance on local issues that affect members of the university.

She said, “It was always past Green councillors who’ve been behind the pro-student improvements in Oxford of the past three decades.”
Lewis’ flagship policy is student housing, she is calling for a co-opt scheme for which the City Council and OUSU would have joint responsibility, sparing inexperienced tenants the dangers of unscrupulous landlords and sky-high rents.

“We may be a transient population,” she said of students at the University, “But students are actually good neighbours – albeit poor ones often saddled with £23,000 debt. More often than not we want to give something back to Oxford.”

On the issue of climate change, Lewis slams Oxford University’s slipping green credentials, pointing out its position of 84th on the website People and Planet’s ‘Green League’, compared to Cambridge’s 50th and Oxford Brookes’ 3rd.
“With so much of the pioneering, world-league scientific research on the devastating effects of climate chaos coming out of our own ECI, James Martin and Smith schools, why isn’t the urgency trickling through to the policy-making boardrooms?” she asks.

“We are actually good neighbours – albeit poor ones”

Coinciding with launch of the campaign is the nation-wide university Green Week, as well as the first Oxford Climate Forum, running from the 12th to the 13th February at Magdalen College. The forum, which will be attended by around 100 students from around the UK, aims to create a dialogue between students and experts, including leading sociologist Lord Anthony Giddens and director of Power2010 Pam Giddy, to construct ideas for dynamic change not just within Oxford, but nationally.

University Vice-Chancellor Lord Patten expressed his support for the Forum, commenting that “It is important to bring together today’s student leaders to discuss how they can best, both now and in the future, make a contribution to building a sustainable economy.”  

However, the Forum’s organisers point out that the University’s progress in combating the issues surrounding climate change have been “criminally slow” since the 2009 Valentine’s Day petition, covered by Cherwell, forced them to pledge their support last year.

Lewis is not alone among Oxford students in vying for a place to represent the university in the wider community. As well as fellow Council hopeful Larochelle, New College undergraduate Emily Benn is campaigning to be elected as a Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham in the May General Election. 

The annual Turl Street Dash has been banned by both Jesus and Exeter College authorities, following violence last year’s event and national media attention.

The Dash is a long-standing tradition involving Jesus students participating in a bicycle ride around Oxford finishing on Turl Street, usually preceded by heavy drinking.

But students at both colleges were warned that any attempt to participate in a Dash this year would result in heavy punishment. This follows the events of last Hilary term, when the Dash escalated into a drunken brawl between students at Exeter and Jesus.

In response to the fight and the press coverage it received, Exeter’s Junior Dean and Jesus’ Dean outlined their intention to punish those responsible and ensure

that the incident would not be repeated.

Last week, Exeter students were informed by e-mail that the “Turl Street Dash is banned” and that any students found participating would be “heavily disciplined.”

Jesus JCR President received an email to similar effect. In the e-mail, the Dean of Jesus College warned that, “After the fracas and adverse national publicity of the event last year you should know that I promulgated a ban on the event.”

The e-mail also cautioned that anyone found organising or participating in the Dash would “incur my severe displeasure.”

In February of last year, Cherwell reported on the events of the Dash which ended in violence between the colleges. The Sun ran the story under the headline ‘Uni-Cycle Riot’. Jesus students were reported to have come out onto Turl Street to cheer on competitors in the bicycle race. Chanting and swearing degenerated into fighting between some Exeter and Jesus students. The subsequent fight allegedly left students injured and bicycles damaged after they were thrown around in the street.

Students were also reported to have urinated on the walls of their rivals’ college and a small group of Jesus students attempted to break into Exeter.

But rivalry between the two colleges dates back centuries. It is believed that in the 1960s, Exeter students fed a flock of pigeons laxatives before letting them loose in Jesus’ Dining Hall. The Jesus retaliation to this incident reportedly involved varnishing Exeter toilet seats.

Jesus College’s Alternative Perspective notes that “The Jesus/Exeter feud has been going strong for several hundred years after the initial street battles and shows no signs of abating.”

The Dash itself is not associated with violence. The nature of the Dash is one secretively protected by Jesus College members.

“The ban would have been re-imposed regardless”

One Jesus undergraduate, who wished to remain anonymous, said that, “only a few are privy to the whole story behind the Dash and I’m not going to share it!”

He also noted that the Dash is usually banned by college officials every year.
He said, “The ban would have been re-imposed regardless of whether or not there had been a fight.”

He also said that, “The punishments received as a direct consequence of the fighting were entirely proportionate.”

Second year Exeter lawyer, Alice Loughney summed up popular student opinion at both colleges. She commented that the so-called enmity is “definitely not taken seriously, it’s more of a harmless friendly rivalry.”

The future of the Turl Street Dash remains uncertain. 

An Oxford student yelled “Slay the Jews” at Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, when he spoke at the Oxford Union on Monday night.

According to eyewitness reports, the student was removed by security after he shouted the Arabic phrase, “IdhbaH al-Yahud”, which Cherwell understands to mean “Slay the Jews”.

A separate protest outside the Union, organised by the University Palestinian Society, began at 6.15pm. Demonstrators chanted slogans in support of Palestine, which could be heard in the Union chamber throughout Mr Ayalon’s speech.

One of those involved, Alex Barnard, explained that he was protesting against Mr Ayalon as “a representative of the state of Israel”, based on his opposition to the country’s policies on Palestine.

The alleged racist remark has been reported to the Proctors’ Office, who stated that they had “spoken to the University Marshal who has in turn been in touch with a senior member of Thames Valley Police.”

They confirmed that “an investigation into [Monday] night’s events has already been started, including the allegations of racist abuse.”

Mr Ayalon translated the phrase at the time with obvious disgust, and later posted it on his Twitter page. Nobody in the audience contested his translation.

Ashley Perry, Mr Ayalon’s spokesman, confirmed that footage of the alleged racist incident had been requested by the British police. However, he said no decision had been made about whether Mr Ayalon would take legal action towards the protestors.

However, the student involved has disputed the accusations that have been made against him.

The student said, “My version went: ‘Khaybar, O Jews, we will win’. This is in classical, Qur’anic Arabic and I doubt that apart from picking up on the word ‘Jew’, that even the Arabic speakers in the room would have understood the phrase.
“As you can see, I made no reference to killing Jews. It carries absolutely no derogatory or secondary meanings.”

The student stated that he believed that ‘Jew’ and ‘Israel’ were interchangeable terms.

The student also commented that there was a chance they had been misunderstood, “There was a great deal of confusion and several people were shouting at the same time.

“I do acknowledge that people may have misheard me and assume that I uttered something else – namely to ‘slaughter the Jews’ which is something that I do not believe. I express the deepest regret if my remarks were misunderstood or misheard.”
However, the statement the student claims to have made can also be viewed as racist as it refers to a Jewish community in Khaybar being conquered by Muhammed in the 7th century. These Jews were later expelled by the Caliph Umar.

News of the incident quickly reached Israeli media. The Israeli TV channel, Channel 10 broadcast part of the footage containing the anti-Semitic comment on Tuesday night.

Thames Valley Police are also investigating claims that a pro-Palestinian protester was injured in a collision with a ministerial car.

The Oxford Student Stop the War Coalition claimed that Mr Ayalon’s security services, who had complained to the police that they were being harassed, “drove their car directly at one protester”.

They also claimed that the protester, Ashley Inglis, was “carr[ied] a hundred yards along the road before he jumped to safety, only narrowly escaping very serious injury.”
Reports of the incident vary, with some sources alleging that the protester was attempting to snap the number plate off the ministerial car, and prevent it from driving away.

However, Mr Inglis denies claims that he was attempting to damage the car. In a statement he said, “I was attempting to photograph the car when it drove into me and carried me along New Inn Hall Street for a hundred yards.”

Thames Valley Police spokesperson Danny Donovan said, “Thames Valley Police are investigating circumstances surrounding an incident that occurred in New Inn Hall St. This was after the event had already finished, and the minister had left.”
Slogans chanted outside by protesters as Ayalon spoke ranged from, “1-2-3-4/Occupation no more/5-6-7-8/Israel is an apartheid state”, to “from the river to the sea/Palestine will be free”.

Within the Chamber, tempers flared throughout Mr Ayalon’s speech on “The Middle East: Hopes and Challenges”, as protesters continually challenged what the Minister said.

The first interruption came only a few minutes into the speech. A woman stood up and read from the Goldstone Report, a UN report critical of Israel’s conduct during the recent Gaza war, to a mixed reaction from the crowd. Many in the audience were supportive of her, but others were critical.

One person shouted, “I didn’t come to hear you talk.”

Reacting to the interruption, Mr Ayalon criticised the protester for just reading out someone else’s work, saying “I’m not sure she even understood what she said.”
Other interruptions included a man holding a Palestinian flag shouting “You are a racist,” “You are a war criminal” and “You will be tried”, to applause from much of the crowd, before being ejected.

Ashley Inglis’ twin brother, Russell, quoted a question posed to Senator McCarthy, “have you left no sense of decency?” as he was removed from the chamber by security. He took the pole that separates the “ayes” and “nays” in the Union door with him.

“He is a representative of the state of Israel”

During the question and answer session that followed Mr Ayalon’s speech, one student, Hengemah Ziai, spent around ten minutes attempting to have a ‘dialogue’ with the Minister, who did respond to many of her questions.

She criticised him for attempting to duck Israel’s responsibility for problems in the Middle East, asserting that, according to the UN, Israel is occupying land that doesn’t belong to it.

Justifying her interruptions to applause from much of the crowd, she argued that “this is not a small academic debate about Plato, people are dying.”
After the speech, she told Cherwell that she felt “10 minutes was an insufficient amount of time to take Ayalon up on the lies he was feeding the audience.”
On the other side of the debate, one student stood up near the end of the talk, saying that he needed to shout to be heard, and apologised to Mr. Ayalon on behalf of the Oxford Union for the constant heckling throughout the evening.

The Union has issued a statement in which it “[apologises] to Mr Ayalon for the actions of its Members and [thanks] him for the professional way in which he handled the situation.”

Opinion after the talk was divided on what had occurred.

Rhea Wolfson, President of the Oxford Israeli Cultural Society, explained that she believes “it was the wrong way to go about the issue. Protesters had a fantastic opportunity for dialogue last night and wasted it by shouting at the speaker, reciting prepared monologues and one member even launched a personal attack on his political career.”

She added that this “did not allow Danny Ayalon to discuss the remedies or the future, only the past; this kind of ranting and anger will get us nowhere.”

On the shouting of “Slay the Jews,” she remarked that “This is a disgusting thing to have happened. This student was obviously not representing the majority of the protesters … [and] crossed lines that should not have been crossed.”

Hannah Massih, President of the University Palestine Society, also condemned the statement “Slay the Jews.” She said, “Oxford Students’ Palestine Society condemns racism in all its forms.”

However, she commented that, “We consider our protest to have been a massive success. Outside, over a hundred people joined together to oppose Mr Ayalon and his party, carrying banners condemning Israeli policy and chanting pro-Palestinian chants…we showed Mr Ayalon that he was not welcome in Oxford and we demonstrated our continuing solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”

One of those who spoke up during the talk, Nabeel Qureshi, explained his side of the story.

He said, “If a Holocaust denier came to the Union I would call him out on his lies rather than sit there treating him respectfully and letting him change history. Same principle.”

In reference to some of the more chaotic elements of the evening, one of those moderating the talk, explained that he found the whole thing “a little embarrassing”, that although he “understand[s there are] passionate opinions”, the behaviour of some of the more disruptive protesters “prevented” the evening from being a “forum for discussion”. He said the evening was “a sad day for the Oxford Union.”

“We consider our protest to have been a massive success”

Danny Ayalon represents Yisrael Beitenu, a nationalist party, and is a controversial figure even among supporters of Israel.

Though his talk was frequently interrupted, he managed to convey a combination of moderate and hardline views on the subject of the Middle East. He blamed Iran for “everything bad going on in the Middle East at the moment”; and claimed that instead of meeting the Israelis halfway on the subject of peace, Israel is giving 95% and Palestine 5%.

However, he also admitted that Israel has to make some concessions to the Palestinians. Arguing that “I do feel for the Palestinians”, he said that he blames successive Palestinian leaderships for their present plight.

His visit to the UK, where he also spoke at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, was notable given the reluctance in recent months of Israeli officials to come to UK.

After the Gaza war last year, warrants for the arrest of politicians involved under war crime legislation were issued.