Laura Winwood has been voted into the position of the President-Elect of the Oxford Union today. 

Winwood gathered 656 votes against Lou Stoppard’s 535. 

James Kingston has been voted into the position of the Librarian, Will Chamberlain will be the Secretary whilst Dharmesh Nayee is the Treasurer-Elect. 

It is still in doubt who will be the Treasurer. According to RO’s rulings, the position of the Treasurer will go to the person with the highest number of votes on the Standing Committee. 

However James Dray, the President of the society, has ruled that David Thomas will hold the position.

The Standing Committee results have been published today. Rishi Patel, Poppy Simister, Jocky McLean, Zara McGlone and Alice Thomas have all been elected.

A report released last week entitled “Oxford and Cambridge: How Different Are They?” has praised Oxford’s academic prowess, but criticised its access record.

The report, conducted by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), concluded that the two universities merited their reputation as the best in the country.

The HEPI research found that while some other universities share Oxbridge’s reputation for being ‘elite’, they “really are different from other universities in the sector, including the small number of institutions with which they are sometimes compared.”

The report states that Oxford students are “exceptionally talented”, and that the resources available to them are the best and most extensive in the UK. They are less likely to drop out of their courses and more likely to receive a high-class degree. Students were also said to be happier with their standard of teaching, and found to spend 30 per cent more time studying than those at other Russell Group universities.

However the HEPI also criticised the apparent lack of diversity at Oxbridge, claiming that it was “vulnerable to the charge of social elitism.”

In 2006 Oxford took in 42 per cent of students from independent schools, while only 7 per cent are educated this way. At Imperial College London 38 per cent were from independent schools, with 34 per cent at UCL.
Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of HEPI admitted, “There is some evidence to suggest that Oxford and Cambridge admit more independent school pupils than is warranted by their subsequent achievement.”

Some students reacted against this criticism. One said, “They can’t praise Oxford for being one of the best universities and then in the next breath start telling it to change the way it does things – that’s utterly ridiculous.”

Bekhradnia went on to suggest that Oxbridge should consider adopting the American approach to university admissions, “There seems no reason why Oxford and Cambridge should not take a leaf out of the book of some of the great American universities which are explicit that they aim to achieve the best social and ethnic mix they can while always insisting on the highest academic standards.”

Oxford, however, released a statement in response to this suggestion stating, “The [HEPI] report’s implication that the University should engage in positive discrimination to adjust its social mix is not something we intend to act on,” and adding that it remained committed to its “purely meritocratic selection process, admitting only those students with the very best ability and potential, from whichever background they come”. The OUSU representative for Access, Jonny Medland, agreed that positive discrimination is not the way forward, and the University should concentrate more on outreach activity.
For entry in 2010 there has been a significant rise in state school applications, with 1,110 more applying than last year. Of the UK students that have applied, 63.6% are from state schools and 36.4% from independent schools.
Furthermore, Oxford already has a system in place looking at applicants’ “contextual data,” though a spokesman stated that “we are only interested in using such data where it is shown to identify true ability.”

The University’s policy as of 2008 is to place a ‘flag’ by applicants who live in a postcode area identified nationally as ‘deprived’, go to a school whose overall GCSE and/or A-level results are lower than the national average, are in care, or who have participated in a specific Oxford University outreach scheme targeted at groups who are under-represented in higher education.
If an applicant receives three flags, is predicted three As at A-level, and is in the top 80% in any pre-interview aptitude tests, they are strongly recommended for invitation to interview. In last year’s selection process, 438 applicants were flagged in enough areas, of whom 284 were predicted three As and came in the top 80% of their written tests. These students were interviewed and 63 gained places.

While the HEPI report admitted that Oxford and Cambridge did not openly show favour towards independent school pupils or those from wealthy backgrounds, it nevertheless claimed that the universities “fall short of an explicit aim to achieve a better social balance in their student populations.” However, the report conceded that the disparity may have more to do with faults in the British education system than discrimination by the universities.
An Oxford spokesperson said, “We welcome the report’s clear confirmation that ‘there is no evidence’ that we are ‘socially discriminatory’ in our admissions.

Achieving a diverse student body at the best universities is something we cannot do alone. At Oxford we spend well over £5m a year on bursaries, nearly £3m a year on outreach, and last year ran 1,500 separate outreach events – but the challenge of social mobility must involve schools and indeed the whole of society.”

Oxford alumna Angela Palmer is taking her evocative art installation ‘Ghost Forest’ from Trafalgar Square to Copenhagen in order to draw attention to the impact of climate change.

‘Ghost Forest’ is a display of 10 stumps, some weighing over 20 tonnes, from the rainforest in Ghana. It is designed to draw attention to the impact of climate change, and specifically deforestation. This is what Palmer, a graduate of Exeter College and The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, calls “the removal of world’s ‘lungs’, responsible for a fifth of global carbon emissions. Laser beams will mark the heights the enormous trees would have stood at, had they not been felled.

The project was assisted by a number of Oxford staff, including Dr Yiannis Ventikos and Bob Scott from the Department of Engineering Science, and Professor Yadvinder Mahli from Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, who helped with logistics and advice.

The ten rainforest trees are made up of seven different species logged in Ghana. In the past fifty years, the West African country has lost 90% of its rainforest, in a polluting industrial process that destroys rare ecosystems and removes plants vital for taking carbon dioxide out of the air. Palmer told Cherwell that her “aim is really to inspire debate about rainforests and I hope that’s what all these videos/press/interviews will do. The response has been amazing.”

The ‘Ghost Forest’ will also be seen by 11,000 delegates from the UN climate change conference, people from over 192 countries who will be making many of the political decisions on climate change.

Mae Penner, Chair of OUSU’s Environment & Ethics Campaign said, “deforestation should be one of the first things people think of when climate change is mentioned. This beautiful and unusual exhibition may go some way to making this case. While I don’t believe the primary function of art is to promote political messages, I do believe that it can provide a space for reflection on the culture we live in. Deforestation is one symptom of a culture focused on never-ending economic growth, so it is a deserved subject for artists.”

Welfare provision at Oxford suffers from cross-college inconsistency and low levels of awareness, according to a Cherwell survey.

Tom Perry, OUSU Campaign Officer has said that this variance is “one of the biggest problems with Welfare provision at Oxford.”

Statistics show the benefit of the collegiate system, with over 50% of students rating their college as “supportive” or “very supportive” when it comes to welfare provision, but only 2.2% of students rated university-wide support in the top category.
One of the striking problems is the variation in support experiences which students with similar problems can experience, due to differences in individual college welfare systems.

“Everyone was really good and understanding, helped me get help and basically put me back on track”, said one St Anne’s student, who suffered with anxiety.

An LMH student on the other hand, who was prescribed medication for panic attacks, said that college welfare services were “utterly useless and offered no practical advice. My personal tutor told me I needed to ‘just do the work’ which was very unconstructive.”

Questions have been raised about whether colleges and the wider university believe welfare issues and disciplinary procedures go hand in hand.

In a number of colleges, one member of staff (usually the Dean) is responsible for both welfare provision and academic discipline.

Dani Quinn, current OUSU VP for Welfare said that this can lead to “a problematic conflict of interest and can also put students off approaching those staff members at an early stage.”

“For some students this presents a difficulty, but it also offers opportunities in the system for spotting welfare problems”, points out Elsa Bell, Director of Student Welfare and Head of the University Counselling Service.

Academic pressures are a huge source of welfare concern, with 79.5% of students citing work stress as a significant factor in issues they had been experiencing.
“My friend last year was struggling with first year Maths and used to get ‘are you fucking joking?’ written on her work when she made mistakes – and they ended up dropping out,” said a student at LMH.

Personal or family problems came second (41%) as a cause of health or mental health problems and 35.9% of students said that any concerns were down to social or peer pressures.

Provisions for mental health were highlighted with only 2.6% of students saying they were “very happy” with mental health services.

Helen Ginn, a student at Magdalen who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia said, “Sometimes complaints aren’t taken seriously enough. It is a little strange that welfare is mostly associated with handing out free lube. Welfare should be more than this.”

There are a huge number of services available to Oxford students, but awareness still needs to be raised. This problem is even more acute at university level which offers specialised help including the Counselling Service, Nightline and Safety Bus.

However according to statistics provided by the Counselling Service in Wellington Square, almost half (46.2%) of students are self-referred.

Last year 1163 students made an appointment with the service, which has received student satisfaction ratings of over 80%.

“One of my roles is to make sure that routes to support are more visible and obvious to students,” said Elsa Bell.
The role of welfare reps, often seen as “the first port of call” for students, was also emphasised by the survey, with the majority of students saying that they would go to friends first (65%) followed by family (54%).

Most welfare reps say they help between 5 and 15 students per term on an ongoing basis, while also conducting popular weekly events like welfare tea.

Although one welfare rep commented, “the main things we do, to be honest, is to pidge people supplies such as condoms and pregnancy tests.”

Some students have brought up the issue of trust compared with confiding in friends, commenting that the college community can work against itself with students concerned that others might gossip.

“I don’t find the Welfare reps approachable, but I don’t think this is specific to our current reps, it’s more that going to other students that aren’t my friends seems odd to me”, said a first-year Magdalen student.

Lack of comprehensive, university-wide guidance has also been raised. “Peer support training is badly organised and some students can’t apply for peer support as they have labs”, said one welfare rep, who didn’t want to be identified.

“We haven’t been given a lot of advice on what exactly is expected of us”, said another college welfare officer.
A university spokesperson said, “The University takes the welfare of its students extremely seriously and continues to invest significant resources in services to support students.”

Over 80 students and members of the public gathered outside the Clarendon Building on Monday to campaign against the millions that Oxford invests in arms companies.

The protest, organised by Oxford Anti War Action, Oxford University Palestine Society, and Oxford Stop the War, was taking place ahead of a meeting of the University’s Socially Responsible Investment Committee on Thursday. The organisers hope that pressure from students and members of the public will discourage the Committee from allowing further investment in companies such as BAE, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

Amy Gilligan, who took part in the protest stated, “The Socially Responsible Investment Committee has been finally set up after intense pressure from students, and I’m hopeful that this will finally lead to the University divesting from arms companies. However, even setting up the committee has taken two years, so I think it is important that students don’t let the University drag its heels on this issue, and that we show the University that we will not stop campaigning until they no longer invest in arms companies.”

Ashley Inglis, a campaigner speaking at the rally, called on the University to commit to more ethical investment. “If our University is that short of money, we’d rather we wrote out essays with chalk and sold off a few fine manuscripts, than it make a single bloody pound from investing in war crimes.”

The University has declined to comment at this time. The decisions made at its meeting will not be released until the minutes are published in Hilary.

In addition to the University’s investments, individual colleges invest over £100,000 in arms companies. Russell Inglis, a graduate at St Hugh’s, warned, “This is just the start of the campaign. If we are successful with the University, we can then go on to campaign against other college’s investments.” Ingris argued the way our funds were being used was “unacceptable”.

Cetta Mainwaring, one of the organisers, stated, “These companies are… linked to the death and destruction seen in wars from Gaza to Iraq to Afghanistan. Besides being ethically dubious, these investments are not compatible with the University’s own Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy which was passed in 2008.

There is concern that the University needs its current investment programme to maintain sufficient funding. However Russell Ingris pointed out, “There are many other alternatives open to the university, including investing in ethical funds or getting funding from the super wealthy alumni. Investing in arms should not be an option.”

Ben West, OUSU Environment & Ethics Officer Elect, agrees that the University should look to other options for investment. “Given its well-publicised financial worries, you’d think that the University would be a little more forward-looking about where it invests its money. $120bn was spent globally on renewable technologies like wind and solar last year, up by 60%. And yet rather than ensuring that Oxford is well placed to take advantage of the new green economy, the University, as so often, seems to be stuck in the past.

“Oxford can and should do better. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because we don’t want to see the University trashing its long-term-future for the sake of a quick buck or two.”

Magdalen College JCR voted to rename itself Gryffindor in a JCR meeting last Sunday. It will be referred to as such in “all official documents”. JCR President Laurence Mills has also been mandated to contact the JCR Presidents of Christ Church, St. Hugh’s and Merton informing that they should rename their common rooms Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively.

The move has created a great deal of interest outside Oxford, and has even made international new. On Wednesday, Mills had an interview with Danish radio station P3 Forside. It has also featured in The Daily Telegraph and on the BBC News website.

The motion, which was passed in the JCR’s General Meeting with only six votes in opposition, was proposed by a Magdalen t

hird-year. It noted that, “Magdalen College embodies the values of courage, daring, nerve and chivalry”, the characteristics of the Gryffindor house in Harry Potter novels.

The proposer said, “We found the resemblance between Hufflepuff and St Hugh’s to be particularly strong – they are, as the motion reads, ‘particularly good finders’. The amount of ‘pure wizarding blood’ at Christ Church is overwhelming, and our only conclusion was that they should be called Slytherin.”

The responses from the other colleges named in the motion have shown that the spirit of Hogwarts extends beyond Magdalen.

Christ Church has embraced the concept of being Slytherin; Evelyn Ashton-Griffiths, the JCR President, commented that, “Christ Church doesn’t deign to acknowledge the fancies of those mere Mudbloods. Forming much of the inspiration and some of the actual film set for Hogwarts, we are satisfied that others have finally recognised our superiority.”

There was also some suggestion that a motion accepting the name change of their JCR would be put forward at the JCR General Meeting on Sunday, but so far this remains unconfirmed.

St Hugh’s and Merton have also welcomed their new names, and the proposal has created a great deal of discussion in the colleges.

Third year St Hugh’s medic, Michael Allum, said “Though I’m not sure of the specific allocation of the house, we’re sure no muggles.”

St Hugh’s JCR President further commented that. “Some have suggested that an emergency meeting be called to ratify such a name change while others feel that such a move might for some reason undermine our credibility with college.”

However, the selection of Merton as Ravenclaw has caused some controversy, especially as they did not top the Norrington Table last year.

St. John’s JCR President Jason Keen expressed his outrage at Merton being chosen over St. John’s, stating, “Ravenclaw is famous for being the cleverest house, so to recognise Merton just flies in the face of fact. We’d also argue that members of Ravenclaw are marginally more fun than the students who attend the college placed 2nd on the Norrington Table, which makes us a much better candidate for renaming.”

He added, “I will be sending a Howler to Gryffindor about this immediately. If they do want to call themselves the bravest, then they should admit they’ve made a mistake.”

Matthew Shribman, the third year who originally raised the idea of Magdalen becoming Gryffindor during his JCR presidential bid last week, commented, “It’s not a question of whether we should rename to Gryffindor, it’s whether we should accept that we are

Gryffindor.”

During the debate on the motion, several amendments were suggested. One would have mandated the JCR President to write to the college President, Professor David Clary, asking if he would change his name to Albus Dumbledore.

Only one speech was made in opposition, and this was to suggest that the motion be changed to mandate the purchase of a sorting hat.

However, the opposition was withdrawn when a friendly amendment was added to the motion, stating that a sorting hat should be purchased. Matt Bilton, who proposed the amendment commented, “I think most of the JCR present agreed that a sorting hat was definitely necessary.”

Suggestions that this could become part of the admissions process across the University of Oxford were rejected on the grounds that it could be difficult to implement.

JCR President Lawrence Mills has been seeking to calm the hype over the name-change. “This motion was a bit of light-hearted fun. We definitely aren’t changing our name.”

However, Tom Meakin, President-Elect, has not spoken out against the motion, and commented, “Magdalen does after all look a little bit like Hogwarts, and not to put any noses out of joint, but my Vice-President does look a little bit like Hagrid.”

Ash Sangha has resigned from the post of Treasurer-Elect at the Oxford Union after missing three Standing and three Consultative Committee meetings.

Although the Treasurer-Elect was at first allowed to retain his position within the society due to a technicality over what were believed to be incorrectly called meetings, it has since emerged that the meetings were properly called. Sangha therefore has no choice but to resign.

During the Emergency Standing Committee held earlier this week it also emerged that Sangha was unsure why he missed the meetings. Although at first he claimed that his absence was due to illness, Stuart Cullen, President-Elect, produced an apologetic text message from Ash from that day claiming that he was busy dealing with JCR business.

Sangha then claimed that he had another defence, namely that while the Secretary had sent out details for all three of the committees in the appropriate manner, on one occasion there was no time given for the meeting he subsequently missed. James Dray, the President of the Oxford Union, was then asked to decide whether the absence of this detail was enough to render the committee meeting invalid.

Dray confirmed, “It is indeed unfortunate that Mr Sangha has had to resign, and he has done an enormous amount for the society, but in line with the rules I had no choice but to act in the way as I did.”

Ash was disappointed about his dismissal. He said, “I suppose it’s inevitable that people will look for political motivations behind the accusations. To be honest, I think it’s more important for officers to concentrate on running the Union then to speculate on their political futures.

“Faced with the choice between delivering the best deal for members or fulfilling some of the more arbitrary requirements of being an officer I think it makes sense to prioritise members.

If that means missing the odd meeting because you’re helping to look after speakers or getting in a van to help deliver publicity materials for the membership drive then you’ve got to ask what’s the best for members. I’m convinced that I made the right choice.”

A member of Standing Committee commented, “Turning up to Union committees is the basic requirement of a Union officer. Failing to turn up is a violation of one’s duty and is simply wrong. He was obviously very, very incompetent.”

Charlie Holt, the society’s ex-President, has defended Ash. He said, “I am deeply uncomfortable with the way Ash was dismissed on Monday for failing to attend the requisite number of committee meetings. ‘The rules are the rules’ is a favourite retort of the returning officers, but this trivial rule – a rule which carries a grossly disproportionate penalty – seems to be applied in an increasingly selective and arbitrary way.”

David Thomas, currently on Standing Committee, will be assuming the role of Treasurer-Elect next term. It was offered to him after current Secretary Lou Stoppard and Standing Committee’s Dharmesh Nayee both rejected the position.

David Thomas will also feature on the ballot for the Librarian, despite requests to be removed from the ballot. He has spoken at length about the situation during yesterday’s hustings.

Scientists from Oxford University and George Mason University in Virginia are aiming to use human talent to match up images of colliding galaxies in the hope of finding the best models.

The Galaxy Zoo Mergers site will allow the study of what astronomers call “galactic mergers”. Examining them may explain why the universe has such a mix of galaxy types.
The team behind the site believe that the human eye is more useful than computers for the task of matching up images of real mergers with randomly-selected images of simulated mergers.

“These collisions take millions of years to unfold and so all we get from the Universe is a single snapshot of each one. By producing simulations, we will be able to

watch each cosmic car crash unfold in the computer,” said Anthony Holincheck, a graduate student at George Mason University and member of the team behind the site.

“Whilst we’re challenging the 250,000 existing users of the original Galaxy Zoo site to take part in this new project, anyone is welcome to join in – you don’t have to be an expert, in fact our evidence shows that not being an expert actually makes you better at this sort of task,” said George Mason astronomer John Wallin.