Monday, May 12, 2025
Blog Page 201

Is a winter World Cup feasible?

Zoe Abereoje
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Is a winter World Cup feasible?

A typical World Cup is held in the summer between the previous season and the upcoming one. Instead of having months on end to lounge about an expensive, far away tropical paradise, the best of the best players jet off on a plane set to play for their country in the biggest tournament in the football world. This system works. The complex football calendar manages to fit domestic and international club cups as well as the top tier leagues allowing the World Cup to cause minimal disturbance.

That’s not the case for this year.

Hosted in Qatar, this year’s World Cup has been pushed to the winter. Why? Because the average Qatar summer sees temperatures of 40-50 degrees celsius. If this year’s World Cup had been hosted in Qatar, then all the players would have had the unforgettable experience of being roasted to a crisp. Not very interesting football might I say.

So, the World Cup had to be pushed to the wintertime, allowing the players and spectators to have a much more pleasant experience during the tournament. But the story doesn’t end there— the inability of Qatar to host a World Cup in November has had an enormous impact on the football year. All top tier domestic and international club tournaments have had to be suspended for the World Cup to go ahead because that is the only way players could compete.

This sounds like a simple enough solution, except in practice we are seeing that maybe winter World Cups haven’t happened before for a reason. In order to make way for this tournament, in the UK, the off season had to be cut short to make way for an earlier start of the premier league. Not only this but more midweek games needed to be hosted to make up for the month or so that the World Cup occupies mid-season. For clubs competing in European competitions like the Champions, Europa or Conference League they have found themselves playing a greater volume of matches in this shorter time to ensure the group stages are finished before the World Cup begins.

What this has meant is that players are finding themselves playing more games than usual before one of the most important competitions in their career. Not only is this a lot of effort, it’s also a fool-proof recipe for injury. Typically, players are accused of phoning it in in the run up to an international competition but this year there has been no room to do so because the system is rigged to overwork all the players.

Kante, Pogba, James, Chilwell, Fofana, Jota. Listing the players that have been ruled out of the World Cup due to injury, you can’t help but feel bad for those who have missed out. While injury is inevitable whether or not the World Cup is in winter, the system felt rigged against players, who, had the tournament been in summer, may have been able to compete.

However, some suggest criticism towards a winter tournament is wrong because it suggests that certain countries should be excluded from the World Cup. If winter World Cups are never repeated, then essentially all countries with extremely hot summers would never host large football tournaments. Countries like Kuwait, UAE, or Pakistan would be prevented from hosting it. For a sport that is labelled as being global, excluding certain countries seems counter-intuitive and unfair.

But surely arguing that excluding certain countries from hosting is unfair is actually unrealistic. Certain countries can’t host sporting events due to their environment and that’s been the way it is. Spain couldn’t host a winter Olympics, Greenland probably couldn’t host a summer one. Location and environments must be a dividing factor between hosting or not hosting. Perhaps if the hosting of football events was chosen on the basis of feasibility this winter’s wounded player situation could be avoided.

Image Credit: SpesBona/ CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Week 5 editorial

Cherwell Editors
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Week 5 editorial

Pieter Garicano, Cherwell Editor-in-Chief:

A feature of student journalism is the lack of distance between the journalist and their subject. The media in London get derided for being too chummy with those they’re reporting on, but that dynamic doesn’t start there. In Oxford, subject and object can live in the same staircase. One way it manifests itself, of course, is through favourable coverage. Many pieces which we’ll get will be flattering to the author’s favoured student society, play, or hack.

While not inherently undesirable — we rely on the unpaid labour of the people willing to write, and people like to write on things they like — it can lead to certain voices and biases been further amplified, whilst neglecting others. The writing of student journalists reflects their specific, broadly similar interests, rather than a representative sample of the broader University. Self-selection, and a perceived lack of accessibility, plays a large role in the composition of the staff at the student papers — that, in turn, affects the output.

But, worse, and much more common than when chumminess leads to favourable coverage, is when it leads to its suppression. Pieces about groups and colleges in Oxford will sometimes be scrapped out of an author’s fear of retaliation. Many students who profess to value free speech and the truth feel entirely comfortable harassing fellow students who write pieces they dislike. Living in the same staircase or sharing the same community can make it all too easy. Anonymous platforms such as Oxfess lower the threshold further, whilst reaching a much wider audience. JCRs are some of the most hostile organisations when they receive negative coverage — worse than the oligarchs, dodgy dons’ greenwashers, and other nefarious types Cherwell reports on. Many of these problems are structural; the intimacy between student-author and others students is definitional. But another part of it is learned — both excessively narrow coverage from authors and outright hostility from subjects does not need to be the case. A little understanding goes a long way.

Leah Mitchell, Cherwell Editor-in-Chief:

Last week, Pieter and I sat down to write a document with some guidelines for whoever Cherwell’s Editors-in-Chief next term may be. At the start of the document, we decided to include a distillation of what we believe Cherwell’s key values to be. Writing this down felt daunting – who are we to decide, or even to know, the values of an institution over a hundred years old? – but also slightly thrilling, akin to writing a manifesto or pledge. Components which fizzed to the surface immediately included editorial independence, transparency, free speech, abhorrence of bigotry, and ascription of goodwill apart from in cases of overwhelming evidence to contrary – lofty principles indeed, perhaps, but I think worthwhile ones.

Does this mean that our deeply well-intentioned but probably half-baked Google Docs notes should become some sort of binding canonical text for future editors? Of course not – our opinion holds no greater weight than theirs, and I think it is good for beliefs and practices to be constantly re-evaluated and recalibrated for an ever-changing environment. But the act of consolidating one’s principles – or at least, taking the time to think about doing so – is in my view of great importance in itself, despite how intimidating or impossible it might feel. It is also something that all of us can do, every day, even if only in the backs of our own minds. 

In a world which sometimes feels like it increasingly values aesthetics over action, polish over principles, it seems to me perhaps more important than ever to stand for something. I for one would rather discover that I am wrong in good faith and have to modify my stance than be so afraid of disagreement, error, and even embarrassment that I do not dare to use my voice at all. So, this week, I urge you to adopt what we have determined to be the Cherwell spirit and do the same – write your own manifesto, if you will. What do you have to lose?

The power of the perfect song(s)

Freya Buckley
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The power of the perfect song(s)

Over the lockdown I decided to bring back blogging (well, I wrote three blogs that were just me sort of saying ‘we’re in a lockdown – how weird!’ – profound) and I was having a little read of it the other day when I found this gem of a line: 

‘I used to wonder what it would be like if I was actually living in a film. What kind of film would it be? A romance? A coming-of-age story? A drama about a teenage writing prodigy?’ I even wrote a poem about those very thoughts that I shall not be sharing here as it is quite frankly the work solely of my hormones and they steal enough of the limelight already.

The end of this little thought was that it turned out we were probably (sadly) in some sort of pandemic-based film, but that’s beside the point. The point is I have always been (and yes still am) obsessed with viewing life as a film: call me narcissistic if you like! (Actually please don’t, I’ll be really sad). And what is crucial, nay integral to a good film? A cinematic score obviously. Which leads me onto my thought of the week: playlists. 

I have many a playlist (a surplus one might say – a boring one mind you) and each one has a very specific vibe, a specific function, a certain “je ne sais quoi”. ‘In April we Dance’ obviously referred to dancing in April, but has since morphed into the ultimate pres playlist. ‘Bops but like chill bops but still bops’ does exactly what it says on the tin, and ‘NEW (old)’ is a new playlist where some of the songs are old favourites. I’m straightforward in my playlist naming. And each of these playlists has a moment. For example, my ‘film soundtracks’ playlist is what I write essays to. My friend has a playlist entitled ‘room’ which unsurprisingly she plays in her room. Another friend uses the classic playlist for the month format. 

If clothes are, as I discussed in my sparkly top article, something we swaddle ourselves in when we want to feel protected but also undeniably ourselves, then I think the playlists we curate are our audio equivalents. I have a playlist that I made to listen to on a train journey to London that is not only now synonymous with London for me, but is what I listen to whenever I need to feel powerful and BIG and like I can stomp through a city and really, really confidently use the tube. And it works. Playlists are just one of the many ways that I think we all compartmentalise our lives through what we are consuming at any one time. They are auditory scrapbooks and they’re so uniquely us. Only I know why Feist, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Mazzy Star demand to all be in a playlist entitled three star emojis (ok well yeah the last one might be a bit self-explanatory). 

They’re also collaborative! No matter how cynical you are, you have to admit doing a Spotify blend with your mates is fun – especially during exam season when you get to see everyones’ deranged revision music. And in this spirit of collaboration, I would like to invite you all to join the collaborative playlist linked here and in the spirit of honesty, in the spirit of people who are really cool being the people who do not try to be cool (yes, I sound like a mam, but mam’s are always right), put the songs you LOVE, the songs you dance to in your room to make you want to go out, the songs you listen to before a tutorial and maybe we can all have our ‘life-is-a-film-and-this-is-my-theme-tune’ moment. Because I don’t know about you, but I’d quite like to dance through life. 

What is Human Sciences?

Freya Jones
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What is Human Sciences?

This year, Human Sciences is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a degree at Oxford University. Founded in 1969, the programme saw its first cohort of students graduate in 1972 and has received a steady trickle of applicants ever since. But what actually is it? BA Human Sciences. Is it a science or is it a humanity? Or is it both? With an eclectic list of modules and a seemingly infinite number of career prospects on the course website, I wanted to know what you actually learn from the degree course and whether it really helps us to address global challenges. I spoke to three current Human Sciences students to try and find out.

Teagan Riches – 3rd Year, Hertford College

Freya Jones: Thank you for speaking with me, Teagan. Why did you choose to study Human Sciences at Oxford?

Teagan Riches: I was actually really indecisive about what I wanted to do in sixth form. All the way up until the age of sixteen I wanted to study contemporary dance, but then I got too many injuries to be able to do that. So suddenly I had to rethink everything. Then an Outreach Officer from Oxford came into my school and was trying to encourage us to apply, and my head of sixth form turned round and said, “have you thought about Human Sciences? It sounds like the perfect course for you.” At first I wasn’t sure, because I didn’t particularly want to go to Oxford, but I went to an open day and looked more closely at the course content. When I picked my unis, I applied for Biology or Genetics everywhere else but put Human Sciences here as my first choice, because it allowed me to keep both biological and social interests open.

FJ: What does a typical week look like for a human scientist?

TR: In a typical week you’ll have about nine lectures, sometimes all on completely different topics. You can go from anthropology to biology one day, and then the next day have one on geography and another on statistics. And at the same time you’ll be writing essays on human evolution and ecology. It can be really difficult in first year, because you’re getting hit by a lot of topics at once, but you get used to that. Being interdisciplinary, the different subjects are deliberately taught at the same time, because then you cab go to your genetics lecture while writing an essay about evolution and be like, wow, there’s some kind of link I could use there. And that’s the magic of it.

FJ: Do you find that having so many topics going on at once impacts your ability to specialise?

TR: It does detract from specialisation if I’m honest, but if it wasn’t done like this, it would change the purpose of the degree. They’re very clear from the outset that it’s interdisciplinary and I think this is just what we need, because being able to view things from both a scientific standpoint and a cultural standpoint means you can develop wider ideas in so many ways.

FJ: In terms of the teaching itself, and the lectures, how would you say it compares with any expectations you might have had before coming to Oxford?

TR: I didn’t know what teaching at Oxford was going to look like really, but I think the tutorials for Human Sciences are brilliant. My only sadness, which I think a lot of people share, is that we become a kind of afterthought when we’re in class with students from other courses. For example, if we’re in a biology lecture, the teachers will help the students doing biology and then they’re like “Do we have time to help the people doing Human Sciences?” So going forward, it would be nice if we could start having more dedicated Human Sciences lectures. On the other hand, it’s nice to have classes with so many different tutors because you get to meet everybody and experience lots of different approaches.

FJ: Human Sciences is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary of being a degree this year. How relevant do you think the course content is now and what do you think the degree might look like in fifty years’ time?

TR: I think Human Sciences is probably going to become more relevant than ever as we go forward, especially as we study some of the biggest challenges our generation is going to face, like climate change and food insecurity. I also think it’s important to have people who can look at these issues on multiple levels. For example, if you have doctors who do Human Sciences as a first degree and then take graduate medicine, they could bring a lot of cultural and social insight to their patients. Or someone who wants to report on climate change as a journalist would have a good grounding in science. What I will say though, is that lots of our senior tutors who’ve been around since the foundation of the degree are retiring, and they’re not being replaced. Overall there’s a lack of human scientists, which means there’s little incentive for more colleges to start offering it and there’s a fear it will die out because of lack of funding. However, I really hope the degree will grow and people will see how important it is, because we really can’t lose it.

FJ: It’s so interesting to hear this! Before doing these interviews, I’d seen Human Sciences being labelled as quite an incongruous degree, but your subject content sounds fascinating. What’s your take on these sorts of stereotypes about the course?

TR: Well, it’s true that the first thing people ask about my subject is “What is Human Sciences?”. I also agree there’s a common assumption that it’s a “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of course. But what people don’t realise is that we cover what we do study on a really deep level, albeit a broad range of things. And while there’s a misconception that it’s kind of a floater degree, prospective applicants are often really interested in it. I do a lot of Access and Outreach work, speaking to school children, and when they hear it exists, they’re usually like “that sounds brilliant”. I just don’t think it’s talked about enough.

FJ: If there was one thing you could change or improve about Human Sciences at Oxford, what would it be?

TR: I think a lot of human scientists would love it to be a four-year course, with an integrated masters, so we could actually keep our studies broader for longer. Some people are unsure how a Masters of Human Sciences would look, but lots of students take on really interesting visitations and field work anyway, which I think could make a good final year after using three whole years to get through the content. I also think Human Sciences should be offered at more colleges, so we’d have a bigger cohort for exchanging ideas.

Charlie Hancock – 3rd Year, Hertford College

Freya Jones: Thanks for talking to me, Charlie. Why did you apply for Human Sciences?

Charlie Hancock: I didn’t know it existed until I got into sixth form, but I’ve always had very broad interests and spent a lot of my school career wanting to go into sciences. Then the real world started happening, and events made me think that I didn’t want to go in a purely scientific direction. I also figured it would make sense for me to do a degree which would give me lots of areas of knowledge to draw on, because I was pretty certain by sixth form that I wanted be a journalist, and I wanted to learn things that would make me an attractive person to have in a newsroom. Essentially, I considered Human Sciences, PPE, and History and Politics and I chose Human Sciences because it had the greatest number of modules – like genetics – that I couldn’t teach myself and where I would actually need to be taught.

FJ: Thinking about the breadth of your degree, what’s it like to jump between such a wide range of topics at the same time?

CH: Short answer, not easy! You have to learn very different styles of essay writing and studying for your different papers. Genetics essays are very dry and factual, so you’re essentially just memorising facts and regurgitating them as you go along. But essays for demography or sociology are far more like your “typical” Oxford essay, and those are two of my favourite papers. But overall it’s good to have the flexibility.

FJ: How often does the degree structure give you a chance to specialise in particular areas of interest? 

CH: I wouldn’t use the word specialise because I think it’s too narrow. But out of the seven papers we have to take for our finals, we only have a choice over three of them. Some of the compulsory options are really fascinating, like human ecology, and together they really show the potential of the degree. But I also wonder whether having so many compulsory papers is to try and stop us from specialising and force us to have broad interests. 

FJ: What does this look like in terms of teaching? I’d imagine it can be quite hectic if your teaching is spread between multiple departments.

CH: I never counted my contact hours exactly, but I remember having two or three tutorials a week in first year, which was intense. For Prelims, it’s a lot more like a STEM subject, with some lab sessions and a lecture every day, but later on in the degree it’s definitely about striking that balance between STEM and humanities.

FJ: That sounds like quite a balance! Obviously you plan to go into journalism, are you aware of the rest of your cohort having clear career plans?

CH: I think a lot of people want to go into NGO work, for which Human Sciences would be very useful, because it teaches you about nutritional anthropology in developing countries and so on. Lots of us also have plans to go on to further study, and quite a few are involved in consulting. But I think people choose Human Sciences because it’s a springboard which introduces you to lots of different things.

FJ: That’s interesting. And as someone who knows what they want to do, how useful has Human Sciences been for your career prospects?

CH: Well frankly there are many aspects of my degree which I’m never going to use. For example, a lot of anthropological studies might satisfy my curiosity, but I’m never going to return to them. On the other hand, I’ve gained a set of skills which should be useful in the newsroom, such as being mathematically competent and knowing how to analyse datasets. It also helps you to think outside the box and make connections between different ideas, which is very useful for journalism.

FJ: Is there anything you would change about the degree?

CH: I think I’d make it more customisable. The course has some pretty impressive potential, but it’s frustrating to have so many compulsory papers and that – when you actually get to make decisions – there are still relatively few options to take. So it would be nice to see a wider range of optional papers.

FJ: How important do you think Human Sciences is as a degree, both today and going forward?

CH: I acknowledge Human Sciences is a weird degree, but I think it’s a very good thing that it exists. The basic principal of having people who are competent in both the sciences and the humanities is crucial. However, I do think the degree will have to evolve. The greatest threat to Human Sciences is that, by its very nature, we’re reliant on different departments for teaching and we’re a small course. There isn’t much impetus for colleges to start taking human scientists. Going forwards it will also have to integrate how technology impacts human lives.

Molayo Ogunde – 3rd Year, St Hugh’s College

Freya Jones: Molayo, thank you for speaking with me. Why did you choose Human Sciences when you were applying for Oxford?

Molayo Ogunde: Interesting. I think I decided to apply for Human Sciences more than I decided to apply for Oxford itself, actually. I originally applied for med school, but then I took a gap year and decided I wanted to do something which was a combination of my interests. At school, I was pushed towards medicine because I was interested in biology, but I wanted to do something else and I thought, why not give this a go?

FJ: How have you found the balance between sciences and humanities in your degree now you’re here?

MO: I think it’s largely dependent on which options you take. In the first two years of the course, there’s already quite a good balance, but in third year you can choose to concentrate more on humanities or on science. Personally I’ve tried to keep a balance with both, to explore my biological interests as well as more critical things.

FJ: How challenging is it to keep track of what I’d imagine is a very broad range of topics?

MO: It’s definitely challenging. One moment, I’m doing coding, the next moment, I’m reading about health economics, or writing an essay on anthropology. I try to structure my days so that I can delve into different topics at different times.

FJ: Do you have opportunities to go into as much depth as you’d like to in subject areas of interest?

MO: Not always, but I think that’s because we’re a three-year degree. There’s only so much you can cover, and going into the same depth as other degrees on everything would be quite intensive.

FJ: How does the quality and style of teaching compare to any expectations you may have had before coming here?

MO: I guess one thing I did expect was more lab work, but I’m not too upset about that because the course has been good regardless. It’s really nice to study with such a variety of different people and be taught by tutors from different fields. For example, you’ll get one lecturer who talks about how much he loves birds, and then you’ll be hearing what your tutor things about designer babies.

FJ: Thinking of the world beyond Oxford, how well has the degree prepared you for what you want to do personally?

MO: Well, I did a consulting internship in summer and I think it prepared me pretty well for that. Because it’s so broad, it really equipped me to manage interpersonal relationships with the people and clients I was working for. It’s also good to get more transferable skills, like a grounding in statistics, which you wouldn’t strictly pick up from, say, biology.

FJ: If there was something you could change about Human Sciences at Oxford, what would it be?

MO: To start with, I’d get a bigger building. At the moment we literally have our classes in a house, which feels a bit weird. It would also be nice to have our own consistent lectures, as opposed to just dropping into other people’s where Human Sciences isn’t really in focus. But equally, I think that’s part and parcel of being an interdisciplinary degree.

I was surprised by how much I learnt from these conversations. As a die-hard humanities student, I had my doubts about the substance of any BA with “Sciences” in the name, but HumSci really does seem rigorous, interesting, and supportive of outside-the-box thinking. The way in which interdisciplinary work (potentially a logistical nightmare) is viewed as the basis for employability and a uniquely attractive skillset was also striking. Thus, with current plans in the works for the launch of a student-lead Human Sciences Society, many hope to attract more applicants and crucial funding. Meanwhile, one wonders which course content and case studies will be used for Human Sciences in fifty years’ time.

Ahmad Nawaz clinging to Union presidency after vote forces his resignation

Freya Jones
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Ahmad Nawaz clinging to Union presidency after vote forces his resignation

Ahmad Nawaz, President of the Oxford Union, finds his presidency hanging by a thread after the access committee voted to reject his explanation for missing the previous meetings, triggering an automatic resignation. Now, he must find the necessary signatures to overturn the motion, which will trigger a vote on his presidency at the debate next Thursday. 

The Union Access Committee meets every Thursday and the President is obliged to attend. Failure to turn up on three occasions triggers an automatic resignation unless a valid reason for absence can be given. Under Union rule 23 (c)(ii)(2), “Any member of any Committee… having missed three ordinary meetings of that Committee without good reason in the same term, shall be deemed to have submitted his resignation from that Committee.”

Union rules state that a valid reason includes attendance at Public Examinations, “disabling or infectious diseases”, as well as other engagements deemed to be pressing, unavoidable or important to the Society. Nawaz claims he missed the meetings due to illness, but members of the committee disputed the truth of this. A senior member of committee called it “[Y]et another in a long string of derelictions from the President.”

Nawaz posted pictures of himself with a guest speaker, Bhad Bhabie, on Thursday 2nd November, the same day as the meeting he claimed to have missed due to illness.

He also chaired that evening’s debate in a filled chamber, but cited a high temperature as having prevented him from attending the Access Committee earlier that afternoon.

In an attempt to pass the validity of his excuse due to this alleged illness, Nawaz called to move it through committee. However, multiple members registered their objections, triggering a secret ballot among the committee; he required a simple majority to be successful. He lost with 9 votes against him, 7 in favour, and 1 abstention. This meant the auto-resignation would come in full effect on Friday 11th November.

Nawaz can attempt to prevent this if he can collect the signatures of 30 members, which would permit him to bring a vote on his presidency to the debate chamber on Thursday 17th November (Week 6 of Michaelmas Term). 

Union members who spoke with Cherwell were critical about the term so far, saying that despite the number of big names on the termcard, Nawaz’s interviewing rendered many speaker events disappointing.

One member of the committee said Nawaz’s leadership was “quite terrible” with “no predictable decision-making”. 

Remarking on Nawaz’s absence from Access Committee, a committee member told Cherwell: “It shows that he is irresponsible and in the Union for his clout rather than for the sake of [our] events or principles”.

Even if Nawaz succeeds in collecting signatures and bringing a vote on his presidency, it is “possible” he will be permanently removed.

If he is removed, the role of President will be covered by another member of the Union’s Senior Team for the remainder of term.

Rule 38(b)(vi) states, “The President-Elect shall be succeeded by the Librarian, the Librarian-Elect shall be succeeded by the Treasurer, and the Treasurer-elect shall be succeeded by the Secretary.”

Nawaz told Cherwell: “I am extremely disappointed by the manner in which the rules appear to be arbitrarily and selectively applied to some but not to others. For instance, the individual who objected to me passing an absence due my own illness had passed her own absence on the very same grounds, the previous week. This level of hypocrisy is completely unacceptable in any setting but is certainly not what members should expect from elected committee. I would also add that the role of President is extremely time-consuming often with multiple speaker meetings, events and internal meetings in the same day which is why I have had to miss parts of earlier internal meetings this term. It is clearly absurd that illness is not deemed an acceptable reason for an absence with a grossly disproportionate penalty. Nonetheless, I have acquired the necessary number of signatures to put the motion before the house where I am convinced that the membership will vote for common sense.”

Correction: This article initially claimed that Nawaz was pictured drinking. This claim was incorrect, as Nawaz does not drink, and has been removed. Cherwell apologises for the oversight. A full retraction will be published separately.

The conundrums of a PhD: student or employee?

Sofia Della Sala
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The conundrums of a PhD: student or employee?

Do you live to work or work to live? Hopefully the latter, although having a job you enjoy makes working that little bit better. Though an upsetting reality, money is what drives our day-to-day life: will you buy a coffee at Horsebox or are you saving those pennies? Will you opt for the craft ale or stick to Carling? And for most people the way to earn money is simple: you work.

However, there is a section of the population that live in a grey area within the job sector, one that has been contested time and time again – those trying to get a PhD. Are they students or employees?

The answer may appear simple; many will refer to themselves and others as PhD students after all. But then again, many will also say things like: ‘I am at work’ or ‘my colleagues’, both of which are not sentences you expect students to use when referring to their studies or peers. PhD students are trainees, novices in a niche area of research that get a stipend to compensate them for the work they do and allow them to pay their living costs.

We get paid, but don’t have to pay tax, carry out research but are not a member of staff, and sometimes even teach other year groups what we know. It sounds a bit like we are an employee without the benefits of actually being employed.

Even though the UKRI increased its minimum PhD stipend from £16,062 to £17,668 just before the start of this academic year, it is still below what you would earn as a graduate entering the job market. Currently, the UKRI minimum stipend is below what you would earn working full time in an Oxford living wage job. The Oxford living wage is currently set at £10.50 an hour. If PhD students calculated how many hours a week they worked and worked out how much money they could be earning in another job, the result might be extremely upsetting.

The disparities do not only concern pay. Employees also have a set holiday allowance, with companies choosing how much to reward their workers with each year. Oxford students have vacations that last for weeks at a time. PhD students have neither. Technically, some PhD students have a set holiday allowance but whether they take them or not is mainly up to their group and departments.

The role of a PhD student is more than just churning out data and numbers. It is about acquiring new knowledge and information, bringing in money and collaboration, and in general representing and enhancing the reputation of their institution. They may not be full employees, but they aren’t really full students either. They are trainees, like people on a grad scheme at a major company, getting to grips with what could become their career. This should be reflected in the rights and protections offered to them.

As unfortunate as it is, you hear horror stories of PhD students working 14-hour days, seven days a week to meet demands. To me that sounds like living to work, rather than working to live. You should be able love your research and be devoted to it without it consuming your life. Because the reality is that we aren’t being paid enough for us to let it.

Image Credit: Stanley Morales via Pexels.

I chose Oxford over free education in Germany. Here’s why.

Antonia Sundrup
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I chose Oxford over free education in Germany. Here’s why.

If you asked my parents why I applied to Oxford, they would tell you that I was a little too obsessed with Harry Potter as a child and that I have always had a drive to get as far away from home as possible. While they are not wrong, I would add that I also desperately craved the validation that came with getting in.

These kinds of reasons are most likely a factor for almost anyone who applies to Oxford – or prestigious universities in general – but they seem especially weak reasons for those of us who leave behind a whole life in a different country, and with it seemingly everything that is comfortable and familiar. Specifically, for me, I not only left a wonderful support system back in Germany, but also an education system that I was used to and that I still think is in many ways better and less pressuring than what I’ve gotten used to in the UK. And all this to move to a country, which does not seem to want me or my fellow Europeans here. Why am I here then? And why do I not regret staying here, even after I got Covid, had to rusticate and had a whole year to contemplate all my life choices and the reasons behind them?

Harry Potter and the need for academic validation

As a ten to 14-year-old I spent an absurd amount of time reading the Harry Potter books, watching the films and taking quizzes on ‘Pottermore’, which I am aware is a very unoriginal way to spend your childhood, especially among Oxford students. My local library had these massive books about the making of the films, which I checked out and spent whole afternoons reading and that was probably the first time the word Oxford caught my eye. As my parents keep saying, I would most likely not be here if it weren’t for whoever decided to film in the Christ Church Hall and the New College Cloisters. I would not have admitted that until recently and it was certainly not a conscious decision. But even though I today have a more complex relationship with the Harry Potter books (we all know why), the magic of the Oxford World is still very much connected to that world for me. Unlike many of my British friends, I did not grow up romanticizing Oxbridge and its archaic, yet charming, traditions. Celebrating the past to this extent is simply not a part of German culture – and thank god it is not. Without British films and TV shows, I would not find eating in hall, gowns and giant portraits on walls exciting or magical; I would just find them weird.

Harry Potter may have romanticised the idea of Oxford for me, but what actually made me apply was simply the fact that I could. I was very quiet in school and had average grades until about year ten, when they started going up. Until the end of my school career, my year saw me as some kind of underdog genius because of this. When it came to starting to think if and where I would want to go to University, I was one of the strongest students in my year and in a programme which allowed me to do both the German and the French equivalent of A-Levels. A little earlier, a teacher had tried to pitch us this programme and said that, many years ago, a student who did that programme got into Oxford because of it. Before that moment, I do not think I realised that Oxford was a normal university that you could just apply for, let alone that I could apply for. When my teacher essentially told me I could, I almost instantly knew I wanted to.

All it really was is that I needed a goal. I had never really felt like I was good at anything before and suddenly everyone seemed to think that I was smart and promising. Everyone has that need to prove themselves and I had finally found something to prove myself in, but I felt like I could not do it in Germany. Within my German state school, there was little opportunity to go beyond the curriculum academically. There are good, even great, universities in Germany, but none are as hard to get into as Oxford is. Places in German Universities are mostly distributed based on grades alone and instead of having competitive universities, there are usually particular courses which are hard to get into. I knew I wanted to do law, which was not such a course and therefore, considering the grades I was likely to get, every public University in Germany would have been open to me. Deciding that I was going to apply to Oxford gave me things to read, extracurriculars to do and a reason to keep my grades up. I don’t think I even wanted to get in that badly, I was just thriving on the challenge.

I am still deciding how I feel about my attitude at that time. Retrospectively, I found the application process quite fun, which I feel like not many people can say and I do think challenging yourself is a good thing to an extent – otherwise I would not still be here. But sometimes I do wish that I would have stopped to think about what I actually wanted to do after school, instead of thinking of University as something which was achieved during school. When I think of my sister, who is currently in year 12 and deciding what she wants to do after school, I hope she thinks about what her day to day life would look like during a degree or a job. I hope she does not get caught up in the idea of something and how it would look on paper, which is so obvious, but I still miserably failed at that. It worked out and I am by no means unhappy with my choice, but there was a lot of luck involved in that.

Reactions to my application – the good and the rational

I tried to keep the fact I was applying to Oxford quiet to not put unnecessary pressure on myself, but by the time I got back from the interviews everyone knew about it. Throughout the application process everyone was incredibly supportive, which I am still so grateful for, although it did increase the pressure. My friends got me a good luck charm before I went off to interviews; my best friend made me a cake when I got in; people in my year that I had never spoken to congratulated me and it seemed that a few hours after I had gotten an offer every teacher in the school seemed to know my name. The excitement that not just my loved ones, but everyone who was vaguely acquainted with me felt at the prospect of me even potentially going to Oxford is something which, at least to this extent, probably only comes about through a combination of being in a state school, where Oxbridge seems unattainable, and being international, which means for most people Oxford is almost synonymous to Hogwarts.

But that excitement did die down within a few weeks and I started having more conversations with people who were curious as to why I applied. These conversations continue to this day and at first I was completely thrown off by them. I applied merely because I thought I may get in, because I felt it was really cool to get in. But those people actually had very valid points. They pointed out that the country I was going to move to just left the European Union, therefore basically saying that they wanted nothing to do with us in Europe and that they were better off alone – not exactly a welcoming attitude. And not only was I moving there for my degree for three years, I was also studying law, which meant that if I wanted to become a lawyer, I would be stuck in the UK for the foreseeable future. I was making a huge decision at 17 years old, deciding to commit to a place where I had no ties whatsoever. Many of my friends say that they could never see themselves leave Germany, or even just our home city, because they would never give up being close to the people they knew and loved just for an education, a career or the prospect of meeting new people. Before I actually started Oxford, I vehemently defended my decision – the young people and academics I would deal with were not the ones who voted for Brexit (mostly true), there was no reason I should prefer to work in Germany rather than in the UK (less true) and I wanted to get out into the world and never got homesick (not true at all). I was not expecting that I would ever regret the decision.

Rusticating and questioning all of my life choices

But as it turned out, just a year later, I did regret it. I got Covid in my first term at Oxford and seemingly recovered quickly but discovered at the start of Hilary 2021 (which I was at home for) that I was suffering from heart and lung problems due to long Covid. This was six weeks away from my first year exams and it was clear pretty quickly that I would need to rusticate. My doctors recommendation for recovery was basically just to rest, which gave me a lot of time to think. Being in Germany, surrounded by the friends and family I was used to and having infinite amounts of free time suddenly brought to the forefront everything I had sacrificed to go to Oxford.

I realised how incredibly grateful I was that I was diagnosed in Germany, in a healthcare system which was not only familiar to me but also had capacity to actually take care of me (this was in January 2021, meaning I saw pictures of ambulances with Covid patients waiting outside London hospitals daily). I spent time with my friends who were going to university in our hometown, who comparatively seemed to have endless amounts of free time and did not feel the need to be involved in 20 student societies in order to get a fancy job at the end of their degree. Even exam season was not nearly as stressful as I was anticipating Mods to be like, as German students have exams each semester and lots of alternative examination methods, such as presentations and extended essays, to determine their grades, which is unheard of in the Oxford law degree. If I had been studying in Germany, I would not even have had to take a year out because of my Long Covid symptoms, but could have simply used the flexibility of a German degree and taken less classes for a semester. And it would not have been an issue financially, because – in case you haven’t heard – German university is free. Life and studies in Germany just seemed so much more manageable and relaxed and it made me realise that there is no value in torturing yourself through a degree.

At the same time, I was questioning whether law was the right choice for me. I had always been curious about most academic disciplines and while I was not disliking the degree, I was wondering whether other options might have suited me better. It was not exactly helpful that I realised that a degree in English law is difficult to apply to any job I could get in Germany, if I wanted to go back after my degree. My degree almost felt like a trap to me at that point.

I had always been so eager to get out of my parents house, out of my hometown, out of the country, but suddenly I realised what it would mean if I worked in the UK. Studying in Oxford, I see my family and friends from home quite frequently in the vac, but that will all change if I get a full time job which has 20 vacation days. My mum’s family lives in France and we see them once a year, which also means we’ve never been on a summer holiday anywhere else. I now have close family members or friends in Germany, France and the UK and am slowly realising that I will never see everyone nearly as much as I would like again. Trying to get away from home was one of the main reasons I applied, along with seeking academic validation, which I progressively cared less about. My relationship with Harry Potter also got considerably more complicated considering what JK Rowling has been up to lately, so all of the reasons that had drawn me to Oxford had lost their relevance.

Basically, by the time I was set to go back to Oxford, I regretted ever starting in the first place. But I still went back, partly because it was too late to start a course in Germany that year and partly because my mum told me I should at least try it again, because I might find that in my misery, I forgot about all the good parts. I guess mums are always right – or at least mine is.

Why did I stay?

Now comes the romantic turnaround of the story: I went back and realised I actually really love it here. I was still contemplating the option of simply dropping out, which it turns out really took the pressure off of the degree and made me enjoy it way more. Whenever I feel stressed today, I tell myself that if everything gets too much, I can always just not do it, which is incredibly comforting. I also rediscovered all of the great things about UK university life and life at Oxford specifically: Living in college with all of my friends (a lot of my German friends found it hard to make friends, especially during covid and online classes), being offered three meals in hall a day (cafeterias back home just do lunch), having regular contact in small groups with those teaching me and receiving frequent feedback on my work, which makes it less of a culture shock from school, while my German friends have had to get used to feeling like they are just a number at their uni. Recently, every time I go back and spend time in Germany, I still see the things I miss about it and am missing out on, but I also am able to see all the respects in which I am lucky. I guess what I am trying to say is that despite all of the advantages of living in the European Union, university here truly is a great experience and I am thankful I get to appreciate the differences that are easy to take for granted.

Image credit: Liv Cashman

Strikes to hit Oxford University for three days in late November

Charlie Hancock
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Strikes to hit Oxford University for three days in late November

Staff at Oxford University will go on strike later this month after 81% of members of the University and College Union (UCU) voted to take industrial action over pressures on working conditions, pay and pensions. Walkouts will take place on November the 24th, 25th, and 30th.

The strikes form part of the largest wave of strikes to hit British universities, with over 70,000 staff at 150 universities walking-out. The National Union of Students have backed the strikes, although 2.5 million students will experience disruption over the period.

UCU members who will take industrial action include academics, tutors, librarians, researchers, and other professional staff. The union says the disruption can be avoided if Universities meet their demands. The walkouts could escalate a marking and assessment boycott in the new year if no progress is made.

“Our campaign is about protecting and improving higher education for everyone, and so we are extremely grateful for the solidarity demonstrated by students. UCU members do not want to strike, but will be forced to do so if employers continue to reject our efforts to create the healthier, fairer higher education system that students and staff deserve,” David Chivall, Oxford UCU Vice-President told Cherwell.

In light of the cost of living crisis, UCU members demand that they receive a pay rise above the 3% which has already been offered. They also want universities to stop the use of insecure contracts, and reverse cuts which the union says will cause employees to lose 35% of their future retirement incomes.

Universities UK, which represents employers at British universities including Oxford, said: “We appreciate this could be a difficult time for students, who may be anxious about possible disruption to their learning.

“Universities are well prepared for industrial action and will put in place a series of measures to protect students’ education, as well as other staff and the wider community.”

The Oxford University SU told Cherwell they are working with representatives of the Oxford UCU, University, and College Common Rooms to support students whose studies are disrupted. As mandated by the Student Council, the SU supports the strikes.

A spokesperson for the University said: “The University notes that the University and College Union (UCU) has announced a planned nationwide industrial action on 24, 25 and 30 November on pay and conditions and on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). We understand the concerns many staff have on pay, as well as on pensions, and of course also have a duty to ensure that our education and research activities continue as far as possible. We therefore have contingency plans in place to minimise the impact of any industrial action on staff, students and visitors.”

“A slap in the face”: Replacement of SU VP Women sparks fury

Freya Jones
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“A slap in the face”: Replacement of SU VP Women sparks fury

The OUSU’s sabbatical officer role reshuffle will see the role of VP Women replaced with VP Liberation and Equalities next academic year. This decision aims to improve inclusivity at the SU, making the role “broad and timeless”. However, many students feel that VP Women is still an important and relevant position in 2022.

This year’s VP Women, Ellie Greaves, currently works with a number of committees across Oxford, including those dedicated to welfare, equality, and tackling sexual violence. She is also a key point of contact for Oxford students with issues relating to women’s health, sexual consent, and night safety. 

Having been in the role since July 2022, Greaves said one of her biggest achievements so far has been the organisation of a women’s and non-binary club night at Oxford’s nightclub Plush. She also plans to organise events around International Women’s Day in 2023 to promote female solidarity.

However, Greaves has concerns about the decision to remove the role of VP Women going forward. After being elected to the position in Hilary Term 2022, she only found out that she would be the last person to hold this role after taking it up in July.

The role review, spearheaded by the SU President for 2021-2022, Anvee Bhutani, was carried out because sabbatical positions had not been scrutinised since the 1990s.  The role review proposal document set out the reasons for replacing VP Women, stating: “The VP Women role was created at a time when women couldn’t get full degrees and colleges were segregated” and “VP Women prioritises one minority / protected group over others”.

The changes were adopted after a six-month scrutiny period, which included a vote in Student Council in Week 7 of Hilary Term. A total of 11 students voted, with 9 in favour and 2 against. A current sabbatical officer described these numbers as “startlingly low” and indicative of poor engagement with issues that stand to affect the whole student body.

Now, however, several students have raised concerns about the role change after knowledge of the decision was made widely available.

Speaking about the SU’s decision, a female student said, “I fail to see how replacing the women’s officer with a ‘liberation and equalities’ officer provides adequate representation for students from all minorities … This just feels like a slap in the face, not only for women, but all minority groups for lack of proper representation in the SU.”

The SU explained that the role of VP Women has “not been replaced but augmented to include more underrepresented and marginalised communities who currently do not have sufficient representation”. A spokesperson also said that “the current officer team fully supports the outcomes of the role review and are looking forward to launching them for the 2023 sabbatical officer elections.” 

However, this does not align with Greaves’ interpretation of the situation. While the new VP Liberation and Equalities will still be responsible for issues concerning women, she said it would be up to the new officer to choose where their main focus will lie, telling Cherwell, “I really hope the issues I’ve been talking about this year don’t fall into the background,” before adding that she is “unsure what handover will look like.”

She also shared her worries about the future of women’s representation in Oxford, telling Cherwell, “I think there’s a risk that the removal of VP Women will send the message that “sexism is solved”, when it really isn’t”. 

Oxford University still has an academic attainment gap between men and women. Greaves also noted that the health of people with uteruses is not always understood by the university, saying “provision for conditions such as endometriosis and PCOS are not accommodated in the way I would like to see.”

A female student at Exeter College: “As a female student, it feels like we’re taking a step backwards in focusing on women’s issues in the university. Things like sexual assault, harassment and rape still occur here, the change away from Women’s Rep suggest that these are no longer issues that need addressing which is simply not true. An equalities and liberations officer would not be able to represent women’s issues adequately, the name itself is vague and lacks focus on a particular group or issue.”

Incidents of spiking are a concern in Oxford too, with over 500 students taking to the streets last year to boycott nightclubs in response to the national spiking epidemic. Greaves said this protest was a significant factor in motivating her to run for the position of VP Women. “We’re not where we need to be in terms of women’s representation and I think there’s a risk of moves to tackle sexual violence being left behind”, she said, adding “There’s a reason that the role [VP Women] has been around for so long and I think it’s as relevant today as it was in the 1990s”.

A female student at St Hilda’s College: “In general removing the position of VP Women is huge step back and dangerously overestimates how far we’ve come in tackling gender-based inequality. Of course it is necessary for the SU to be as reflective of its student body and the minority groups within it as possible, but the rightful increase in concern for their representation should not be enacted by cutting support for those who identify specifically as women.”

Attempts to remove the role of VP Women have been a challenge in Oxford for many years. Indeed, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss spoke in favour of abolishing the position when she was a student in the 1990s, calling the role “completely undemocratic”. She also criticised the position of a college Women’s Officer, although the VP Women for 1994 described this attitude as “very short-sighted and a huge step backwards”.

Today, however, the SU’s eventual decision to change VP Women is reflective of other student unions across the UK. Cambridge University is now the only SU which still has a designated Women’s Officer. 

Despite this, Greaves said her beliefs about the role’s importance should be evident from the fact that she campaigned for it last year, adding, “I will continue to prioritise women for as long as I’m in Oxford.”

A female student at Oriel College: “Following the news on the scrapping of the VP Women’s role at the SU I would ask for further transparency as to this decision. This will help all women*’s officers and gender reps feel more comfortable with the direction of the SU that we all rely on and work with so much.”

WomCam, It Happens Here, and The Oxford Period have all been contacted for comment, which may be provided pending approval by SU Communications. This article will be updated to reflect any responses received.

Image credit: Nils Linder

Oxford students launch campaign group to support Iranian citizens

Cecilia Catmur
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Oxford students launch campaign group to support Iranian citizens

Students have formed a new group to protest the Iranian government’s treatment of its citizens.

In a statement, pre-released to Cherwell, Oxford Students Against Repression in Iran (OSARI) “condemn the state violence of the Islamic Republic of Iran against its own citizens, especially women,” and express “solidarity and support for the brave protestors challenging this systematic repression.” 

The groups’ statement addresses the current, 43-year ongoing “systematic oppression, inequality, corruption, mismanagement, and hypocrisy” in the Islamic Republic. Iranian people have been protesting since mid-September in response to the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman by the Islamic Republic’s morality police. 

Furthermore they call for solidarity, for university students and staff across the world to “join (their) call in amplifying the voices of Iranians.” 

The statement details ways in which university members can help their cause. They call university students and staff to form collectives to support protestors. They also encourage the spreading of statements supporting protestors and calling “for the immediate release of all students, academics and activists arrested in the protests” from university administrators. The statement also encourages students and staff to contact local politicians to “call on their governments and the international community to hold the Islamic Republic to account for its abuse of human rights and crimes against humanity through all diplomatic and judicial avenues.” Finally, they ask for awareness to be raised on social media about the human rights abuses in Iran. 

Finally, they address “our compatriots protesting in Iran”: “We are standing by your side and are inspired by you courage. We will do everything in our power to amplify your voices and rightful demands and make them echo throughout the world. We will not let your sacrifices and heroic efforts to combat tyranny go in vain.” 

The campaigning group hopes to “work together to build a free Iran based on democracy and equality for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, or political orientation.”

Her death has sparked what the statement deems “rightful and repressed” anger across Iran and the world. However, this response in Iran has been met by brutal suppression. It has led to the killing of hundreds of peaceful protestors, and the arrest of thousands more. 

OSARI are “especially horrified by the murder of innocent children, attacks on universities and schools, arresting and torturing the students, and the complete disregard for fundamental human rights.”

The release of this statement follows a demonstration on October 11th where Oxford’s community gathered to commemorate and protest Amini’s death 

Image credit: Oxford Students Against Repression in Iran

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