Students at several Oxford colleges have been left fuming at the state of fire alarms.

Malfunctioning fire alarms in Oriel, Balliol and Worcester have been going off at all times of day and night and students are angry that college authorities seem slow to act. The situation has led to students ignoring the alarms because they are set off so often.

It is thought that the fire alarm in Worcester’s Mitchell building is being set off by spiders living in the loft. Students claim they have to regularly go up to wipe the cobwebs away. The alarm is not always loud enough to wake students up, posing a serious threat to safety. Additionally, the porters of the building have no way of knowing when the alarm has sounded. Students have to visit the lodge in person to report the alarm, raising questions about whether the fire service would be called in time in the event of a real emergency.

Tom Hosking, who lives in the Mitchell Building commented, “It’s getting ridiculous. We have to go and fetch a porter each time it goes off, which has been quite a few nights in the past week. One guy didn’t even wake up last time and he was more sober than a judge at the time. It’s actually pretty dangerous because if there was a real fire I don’t think anyone would treat it seriously anymore. And, it’s very irritating.”

There are reports that at Balliol alarms in one staircase went off 5 times in one night, and have been going off throughout the term. They are only now being repaired.

In Oriel, students complain that alarms in several staircases are so sensitive that they are being set off by steam from the showers. They have gone off more than 20 times this term, sometimes ringing for up to half an hour.

An Oriel student living in the affected area said, “It’s a nightmare – especially in some staircases, where the alarms don’t switch off with the rest, so we get stuck with it ringing for ages. A lot of finalists live in the staircases worst affected, it’s really disruptive to our work. It isn’t just annoying, it’s dangerous – I know several people who just ignore the alarm now. We could face a total disaster if we had a real fire. We’ve heard little to nothing from college about it, so we don’t really know what, if anything, is being done about it.”

It is a legal requirement for college accommodation to have well-maintained fire detection systems.

Christ Church’s naked charity calendar had to be hastily re-shot this week after the college censors deemed some photographs inappropriate.

The verdict on the calendar was delivered a few days before it was due to go to print, meaning three photos had to be retaken.

The calendar had been sent to the censors for approval a week before it was due to go to print and at an arranged meeting it was decided that certain photographs were inappropriate.

Organisers were told squashed bottoms were too erotic and the cover photo featuring a couple in Tom Quad had to be retaken with the pair standing up. The censors also told organisers that nudity should be a secondary feature in the photographs.

One student involved in the project pointed out that not everybody in the original photographs was able to make the retakes, meaning the calendar now has “a lot fewer people.” The student also commented that it was a shame as “people gave up their personal time” to the project and perhaps as a result of “bad experiences wouldn’t want to buy it.”

The student maintained this year’s photos were not “more explicit” than last year’s and that the censors had been “interfering”, especially considering organisers had “put thought into making it tasteful.”

The censors are expected to protect the image of the college. One fourth year Christ Church student thought that they had gone too far this year commenting, “I am outraged by the college’s act of pure despotic censorship of what can only perceived to be a work of art.”

Christ Church JCR President Evelyn Ashton-Griffiths remarked, “It was a shame that a couple of the photos were not approved, but the decision was taken to re-shoot these. All of the photos have been well received by the students at Christ Church, including the new ones. The outcome has been, I think, really positive despite the problems we faced.”

The censors were invited to comment, but have yet to respond.

Ashton-Griffiths added, “The naked calendar is supposed to be fun, and the decision to retake the photos as opposed to cause further tension seemed to be the best option therefore.”

Another student involved in the project said the calendar is “still very good” and in fact “better than last year” despite these setbacks.

This year’s naked calendar for RAG follows Christ Church’s successful calendar last year. Ashton-Griffiths says she hopes the calendar will be “just as successful this year” and that all the photographs are “witty, artistic and creative”.

The calendar will go on sale in seventh week and proceeds will go towards charities GUA Africa and Breast Cancer Research.

Oxford University is planning a comprehensive renovation of the Iffley Road sports centre, it has been revealed this week.

The plans include an indoor cricket school, fencing room, three squash courts, a weights room, climbing wall and a café. In total, over 80 sports will enjoy upgraded facilities if the project goes ahead.

University sports director Jon Roycroft commented, “We are now moving onto the challenge of fully developing plans for the University to fund-raise and build the highest quality indoor sports facilities for the 21st century.” He added, “It will be an absolute transformation.”

The current estimated renovation budget is said to be around £19m, but an Oxford University spokesperson said the university is “holding a public consultation and our final designs will depend on any comments made by members of the university and local community that we can take on board, and the budget will obviously reflect this.”

The consultation highlights the University’s sensitivity to concerns by Oxford residents regarding the impact of the construction work on the local area. David Barton, chairman of Iffley Road Area Residents’ Association commented, “Although we would not be against the development, it is a conservation area and everything would need to fit in with that.”

Currently, local residents stand to benefit from the extensive works. Plans for the increased capacity and improvements to the Iffley Road sports grounds will allow a greater number of non-university members to enjoy the facilities. Currently, the Iffley Road gym has almost 500 external members and non-university teams also use the hockey pitches.

Amongst Oxford students, opinion is divided over the plans. Seamus Brightman, a student at Trinity College who makes regular use of the current facilities believes, “renovation is more than welcome, but the costs could easily spiral out of control.” Other students have stated that it is not the out-of-date facilities themselves that are causing inconvenience, but the distance one has to travel to benefit from them.

The University intends to apply for the planning permission in January. A spokesperson said, “We are planning to put in for planning permission in January but when work begins will depend on the planning and fund-raising processes.”

David Cameron, Conservative Party leader and an alumnus of Brasenose, addressed students of the college last Saturday.

His speech was entirely on politics. He explained how to achieve progressive results through conservative means and fielded questions on a diverse range of topics from the environment to social policy.

Surprisingly, no questions raised his membership of the Bullingdon Club. He asserted at the start of his speech, “I would not change a thing about my time here.”

Afterwards he met with smaller groups of students at Brasenose who talked with him about life at Oxford. One student, Johnny Isaac, commented that Cameron “gave a polished performance which could potentially have swayed any swing voters in the room”.

Earlier in the week the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg visited Oxford and addressed an audience of 350 people as part of his “Nick Clegg meets…” series.

The bosses of the Student Loans Company (SLC) have received £2million in bonuses at the time when as many as 70,000 students are still without receipt of their student loan.

Ten senior figures at SLC received bonuses between £10-£21k. 150,000 of students were left without funding at the beginning of the year.

The ongoing loans crisis has been blamed on the SLC’s poor administration, with many reported cases of lost documents and students receiving contradictory information from helpline staff. One student commented, “It’s terrible, especially for those living out, with unsympathising landlords. Many of us have had to rely on other sources of income for practically the whole term.”

The plans for a redeveloped Westgate Shopping Centre will not be completed until 2014 at the earliest, Oxford City Council has revealed this week.

The Council has admitted that the recession has rendered the £330m scheme unworkable at present. A deal is yet to be signed between Liberty, Westgate’s owner, and the John Lewis partnership, which was expected to open a department store onsite.

Current planning permission expires in March 2010. Even if new plans are approved on time, construction will not start until 2012. Plans no longer include housing, but council leader, Bob Price, has guaranteed £150,000 to improve car parking facilities.

A draft report for the centre will be discussed at a council executive meeting on December 2nd.

Last weekend saw Oxford swarmed, once again, by debaters for the annual Oxford IV competition.

The competition, held over 2 days, is part of the IONA Debating Circuit, one of the largest and most competitive university debating circuits in the world.

This year’s finalists were Yale A, ULU A and B and Cambridge G. The motion was “This house believes that terrorism is a legitimate mode of resistance for rebel groups with just causes” which Yale A won from second proposition.

Amongst the many logistical problems with holding a large-scale event like this is accommodation. Henry Curr, a second year student at Magdalen College, was in charge of finding the 350 visiting students a place to sleep. He said that it was a “huge challenge which consumed my life for two weeks”, but added “credit should go to the co-convenors Ellen Robertson and Jo Farmer who put on a fantastic weekend for all who attended.”

A collection of the manuscripts of Siegfried Sassoon is freely available online as of the Armistice Day this year.

The collection focuses on the poet’s war poetry, with highlights including variants of key war poetry anthologies and will be part of Oxford University’s ‘First World War Poetry Digital Archive’.

“Siegfried Sassoon ranked alongside Wilfred Owen as the most widely read of all of the poets of the First World War”, said Dr Stuart Lee, Director of the Archive. “It is fascinating being able to see the corrections and crossings-out he made to the manuscripts, invaluable to researchers studying the literature of the War, and provides a rich resource to enhance both teaching and learning of the period.”

Matthew Parvin, a first-year English student at Jesus commented, “It’s amazing being able to see such famous works as they were originally written, whenever and wherever you want. The manuscripts really emphasize the humanity of Sassoon, as well as giving an incite into his thoughts and how his works were created.”

Dr. Sally Mapstone, Reader in Older Scots Literature, lecturer at St. Hilda’s and Chair of the English Faculty Board, has been appointed Oxford University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Personnel and Equality).

The role entails ‘ensuring equality of treatment and embracing diversity’ across the University on issues such as race, gender and disability.

The position also requires Dr. Mapstone to chair the Task Force on Academic Employment, which aims to monitor staffing issues via an annual consultation exercise, including the gender inequality among academic staff.

Dr. Mapstone, who succeeds Dame Fiona Caldicott, began her initial five-year term on 13th October 2009.