A group of anti-arms investment campaigners have been committing acts of graffiti on University property. The acts come in response to the University’s decision to review the way it invests money.

Last Friday night, graffiti appeared on Magdalen, St John’s, New College, Teddy Hall and Jesus colleges, as well as on the Sheldonian. The campaigners were protesting against what they argue are unethical investments by certain Oxford colleges and by the University.

Magdalen, St John’s, New, Nuffield, St Anthony’s, Corpus Christi, and Wolfson all invest more than £100,000 in companies that deal with arms manufacturing or arms dealing, such as BAE Systems and VT Group, according to figures collected by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

The University does have a Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee, which is currently being re-examined. Campaigners wanted to raise awareness of the issue ahead of the review. One activist, who wished to remain anonymous said, “Basically, we think that as members of the University, students shouldn’t have to feel associated with such an immoral and destructive business, and that it is therefore our duty to campaign until these policies are changed. The first step in this campaign is to let people know (because most don’t).”

BAE Systems have a history of unscrupulous dealings, and are currently being investigated about allegations that they bribed many countries from Africa, to the Middle East and Eastern Europe in order to secure contracts. The University also has more than £5 million invested in other arms companies in the UK and USA, according to CAAT figures.

The activist said, “We think ‘ethical investments’ don’t include companies whose explicit purpose is to produce weapons that kill not just other soldiers, but innocent civilians.”

Emily Middleton, President of Oxford University Amnesty International said, “I believe every college should have a policy of ethical investment, and should look carefully at exactly what their money is funding.

Each year, at least a third of a million people are killed directly by arms and many more are injured, abused, forcibly displaced and bereaved as a result of armed violence. There is simply no excuse for colleges investing in corporations that could be fuelling this deadly trade.”

A spokesperson for the university said “the University supports free speech within the law; indeed, reasoned debate is central to University life. However, the University condemns illegal actions (such as vandalism).”

Merton students have been outraged this term by the hit of a sudden rise in rents due to a deal struck four years ago.

The JCR President, James Nation, has explained that the rents at the College increased this year by 12%. He described it as “regrettable and disappointing.”

The change was a result of a former JCR’s decision in 2005; a deal was negotiated whereby rent would be frozen for several years with no increases. Nation considered this unusual agreement “short-sighted… as you can imagine, [it] has caused frustration among the current crop of Mertonians.”

The JCR Executive has taken action to ensure the rent hike cannot reoccur, including producing a detailed rents report with recommendations for future rent discussions and advice on the considerable hardship grants available from the college.

They further gained assurances from the College that this type of rise would not happen again. The College have added a number of sections to their official handbook which state that yearly projections of rent will now be available. Nation assured students, “I’m told that rent will only increase in line with inflation for the foreseeable future.”

Nation says that the students at Merton “did not protest since most passively accepted that this had to happen.” A second-year Merton student explained, “The College didn’t really give the JCR many options as the decision was made several years ago.”

The JCR’s measures to ensure students feel supported during this period have had some success. Despite the hike, Tim Sherwin, a third year Classicist feels “perfectly happy and not bothered.”

He added, “The previous JCR committee probably did what they felt right at the time.”

Although one third year English student described the increase as a “shock,” they added, “Our College provides accommodation to students for the duration of our course, so we don’t have to live out at all, and this is not a big increase.”

Nation stressed, “We are still in the bottom third for rent costs compared to other Oxford Colleges – Mertonians do get a very good deal here and no doubt it will all turn full circle when other Colleges have to act. Who knows, we may be among the cheapest once again.”

Visa processing problems have prevented Pakistani students from taking up their places at Oxford this term.

Difficulties related to IT systems prevented the UK border agency in Pakistan from swiftly dealing with the applications over the summer. 5,000 people are caught up in the backlog, whilst a further 9,000 appeals against visa refusals are pending.

Pakistani student Razi Farooqui was due to begin his MSc studies at Oxford this term, but is currently stuck in Pakistan without a passport or visa. “Right now I should be a student at Oxford University. My classes started two days ago, but I am unable to attend, because I am stuck in Pakistan with no visa and no passport.

“I was informed by the university that they have deferred my admission until October next year, meaning I’ve lost a whole year. The university has been very supportive – they kept sending faxes and emails to the British high commission asking them to grant me a visa. God knows what is happening, but I know one thing – it shouldn’t take three months to check details that can be easily verified.”

Engineering student Murtaza Murad, based in Islamabad, has yet to receive his visa. His tutors at oxford have given him until 21st October to take up his place.

Oxford University Pakistan Society President, Qasim Raza commented, “I think the Home Office should be extremely ashamed of not being able to rectify the problems that are causing these insane delays in visa applications. Two months should be more than enough to sort out the IT problems that the home office said they were facing. They have to take this matter very seriously.”

An Oxford University spokesperson said, “The Student Information and Advisory Service is available to provide advice and assistance to any student who is having problems obtaining a visa.

“The UK Border Agency has admitted that there have been serious problems with the processing of visas for students from Pakistan this year due to problems with IT systems. The University is aware of a handful of cases where Oxford students have been caught up in the backlog and is working with the UK Border Agency to resolve these as swiftly as possible.”

The fact that visa applications must be made so close to the time of departure also seems to be affecting the speed of the process. Vice-President of Oxford University Pakistan Society, Ayyaz Mallick, commented, “One thing that has played a big part is not being able to apply for visa until 4 weeks before visa. This wasn’t the case when I applied four years ago.”

Home Secretary Alan Johnson visited Pakistan at the start of the month to discuss “counter-narcotics, crime and counter-terrorism”, but such is the fury over the applications backlog that the two-day visit threatened to be overshadowed by the visa row.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said, “During his visit to Pakistan Home Secretary Alan Johnson assured the Pakistan Government that the UK Border Agency is committed to providing an efficient visa service to its customers and is working hard to reduce visa processing times. He said he recognised and regretted the distress that had been caused to legitimate applicants due to IT problems experienced during the summer.

“We have introduced tough checks around the world for anyone applying for a visa to enter the UK, with applications checked for fraud and forgery, with individuals fingerprinted and checked against a range of watch-lists.”

Oxford’s new Vice Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton, has outlined his position on a number of Oxford’s biggest challenges this week. He announced that he has an American-style vision of “tying alumni [to a] life-long relationship with Oxford,” which he insisted is “not about money.”

Hamilton went on to talk to Cherwell about the future of University funding and the problems of his own image as an ‘outsider’ from America. He also discussed how he intends to tackle the University’s media image, its recent slip in an international poll of Universities and the lack of female academics in top University jobs.

Hamilton stressed the importance of University life; one of his chief ‘imported’ aims is to help current freshers to continue to feel connected with their University into their old age. “The three or four years that you spend at Oxford are often the three or four years where you find the passion in your life,” he said. “Also in those three years you make life-long friends, you engage in the interests that become important in your life.” He commented, “The American Universities have done this very well.”

While considering his vision to be part of a response to the funding problem, he argued, “People often think too quickly that it’s about money. It’s not about money; it’s about a life-long relationship with the University… The money comes later, the money becomes a natural deepening of the relationship that an alumnus or alumna who perhaps has been successful in their life feels the affinity with the University and wants to ensure that future generations have the same benefits and experiences that they had.”

He defended his ‘outsider’ status, saying, “You say an outsider as if that represents something foreign and problematic; absolutely not. I think it gives me a perspective of many different aspects of education, research and University administration which I hope will give me an advantage.” He added, “I am the first Vice-Chancellor not to have an Oxford degree. It’s not an advantage or disadvantage – it’s who I am.”

Since getting the job in June 2008, Hamilton has been trying to dispel the myth that he intends to Americanise the University. He pointed out, “the leading American Universities are, in fact, trying to become more like Oxford, they’re building colleges, they’re focusing on undergraduate education in an intense and excellence driven way in the way that Oxford does.”

He admitted to being frustrated recently by the Guardian’s description of his trans-Atlantic twang and shiny white teeth. “I think they were wishing to portray me as an American. While I have spent many years in America I still retain and have retained close links with the country of my birth.” He made clear that his teeth were “the product of 1970s British dentistry.”

In light of the recent ‘When Boris met Dave’ programme, he attacked the media’s often outdated depiction of Oxford. “The media has a perception that is much developed for their own purposes; that Oxford is an exclusive place with Sebastian and his teddy-bear on every street corner. That’s not the Oxford I’ve discovered; I’ve actually found a very modern, very vibrant, very diverse place that is firmly focused on the future.”

Hamilton lauded student ambassadors and bloggers who set about “busting the Oxford myth,” but agreed the University, too, had a duty to do more to tackle an off-putting ‘exclusive’ image. “We need to work harder to project the real Oxford. We’ve got to counter the perception of Oxford by a blizzard of stories of our own on the real Oxford.”

He was not worried by Oxford’s slipping in international league tables. “We should recognise that league tables are a very poor mechanism of judging the enormous complexity of a University and its many different dimensions. It’s very puzzling that here we have a University that only a few months ago achieved a remarkable performance in the research assessment exercise. It is odd to see that drop of one place. If one looks very hard at the details you will see that the only change that occurred from the previous year is a drop in the citations per paper.” Noting the drop had come in the very week of his taking up the job, he joked, “How careless of me!”

The male-dominance of the University’s staff was more of a concern. “I think it’s an area we’ve got to pay very close attention to; it’s a process that begins at the very beginning of recruitment, we’ve to be sure that we’re searching aggressively far and wide for candidates of the very highest academic quality but who come from different backgrounds.”

When pressed upon his position on student fees, he avoided committing himself to a side of the debate, “I’m not going to support or reject anything at the beginning of a debate – it’s too early for me to support or reject any part of that debate. I’m going to listen and consult… I want more information in front of me before I make any personal comments on the advantages or disadvantages of a particular strategy.”

He was, however, adamant in his focus on upping bursaries and scholarships. “I feel very strongly an important part the university has to play is in ensuring that, as the debate about fees unfolds, the issue of bursaries unfolds at the same rate.”

Oxford University has slipped beneath UCL in a world league table published this week, undermining its position amongst British and international institutions.

Oxford was placed joint-fifth with Imperial College in the Times-QS World University Rankings, whilst UCL assumed Oxford’s position from last year in fourth place, up from seventh.

Cambridge was ranked as the second-best institution in the world, the place occupied by Oxford just two years ago.

Phil Baty, editor of the table, explained reasons for the changes. He said, “UCL was only fractionally above Oxford overall. It gained points over Oxford for having a higher proportion of international students on its campus, and it achieved a higher score for its research excellence, suggesting that the work of its researchers has become more influential. Oxford comes out with perfect scores on reputation but citations per staff have slipped slightly while UCL has improved dramatically.”

Oxford achieved full marks in the opinion survey of academics, and in the survey where employers were asked whose graduates they most look to recruit, yet it lost points for research citations. Those compiling the league table concluded that while the top rankings were “very tight”, UCL’s investigations into issues such as global health and climate change, and its strong proportion of international students, merited its new position above the “global super-brands like Oxford”.

Oxford University has responded to the news by drawing attention to its high rankings in other tables. A spokesperson said, “League table rankings can vary as they often use different methods to measure success, but Oxford University’s position is surprising given that Oxford came top of the table for [research] funding, has the highest research income of any UK university, and has come first in every national league table.”

Jonny Medland, OUSU Vice-President of Access and Academic Affairs, was of the opinion that the league table should be considered within the bigger picture, “One result in a league table shouldn’t be viewed with too much concern. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise showed Oxford as being the most powerful research university in the UK and the THE-QS rankings use a methodology which don’t fully take this into account. There is, however, always room for improvement.”

The UCL President and Provost, Professor Malcolm Grant, was happy with his university’s position commenting, “We are pleased by UCL’s spectacular progression up the tables in recent years. [It] is a remarkable place. It has an edginess to it, a spirit of restless energy, and its traditions are of radical change and innovation.”

The table also suggested that Oxford faces increased competition from international universities, particularly in India and the Far East. Phil Baty pointed out, “Spending on higher education in Asia is phenomenal and that’s why you see their results going up.”

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group commented, “The broad message of these tables is clear – the leading UK research universities are held in high esteem internationally but countries like China and Korea, which are investing massively in their best institutions, are snapping at our heels.”

The announcement that Oxford had attained its worst placing since the tables began in 2004 has concerned some students. Anna Bone, a second year Human Sciences undergraduate said, “If Oxford really is struggling financially, that’s bad news. I’m surprised by this league table, because I thought Oxford was top of them all.”

The table was drawn-up on the basis of a survey of 9,386 academics, a poll of top 3,281 employers, staff-to-student ratios, recruitment of international staff and students, and research citations.

Outgoing Vice-Chancellor John Hood expressed his grave concern about the University’s finances at his outgoing speech.

Hood called many university facilities “unfit for purpose” and claimed that an investment of £1 billion will be needed to raise them to “world-class” standard. He also revealed that the University is budgeting for a loss this year, with an £8000 shortfall per undergraduate in funding the tutorial system.

These announcements overshadowed the news that the ‘Campaign for Oxford’, the University’s fund-raising initiative of five years, has raised over £120 million in the last year. Its total now stands at £770 million.
John Hood commented, “Across the disciplines, many of the University’s facilities remain unfit for purpose for the current and projected levels of research undertakings and graduate study. By my calculation, the investment that would be required to bring the University’s estate up to world-class standards for its current activities is quite considerably in excess of £1 billion.”

“If that is to be achieved during the next decade or so, considerable funding ingenuity and organisational development will be required. This is at a time when colleges too have substantial capital funding demands.”
The University was unable to say either which facilities were “unfit for purpose” or how the figure of £1 billion was calculated.

“Unfortunately we are unable to comment on the remarks made by John Hood as these are his own views,” said a statement.

Dr Hood also highlighted the £8 million loss the University is expecting to make this year commenting, “For the fourth year in a row the University is budgeting for a loss, again in the vicinity of £8 million or around 1 per cent of revenues. The situation is serious for the physical sciences and even more serious for the humanities … College budgets too are under pressure owing, in particular, to endowment volatility.”

Hood said the funding of the tutorial system costs £8,000 more per year per undergraduate than is received in tuition fees. He criticised other universities for increasing their intake of foreign students simply to raise more in fees.
“Unlike some of the leading Russell Group universities, Oxford has not (to date) succumbed to the temptation to fill out its teaching revenues by very substantially increasing its proportion of full-fee international undergraduates at the expense of Home/EU student numbers.
“Neither has it resorted to reducing its teaching costs by disproportionately placing responsibility for undergraduate teaching with graduate students and temporary college lecturers, although the pressure to do so is intense.

“From a financial perspective these are genuinely worrying times. Government budgets are over-stressed and endowments are extremely volatile, as are the markets for our entrepreneurial activities.”

Alistair Strathern, a second year PPEist said, “I would never complain at the prospect of better facilities, but as long as it wasn’t at the cost of higher fees which would inevitably deprive the opportunity of studying at Oxford to those who need it most.”

On the subject of the shortfall in funding for the tutorial system he added, “Given that we’ve managed to fund tutorials for centuries, it seems strange to have a pressing lack of funding for it.”

The forced resignation of The Queen’s College JCR President took a dramatic turn this week after 30 Junior Common Room presidents threw their support behind him.

Nathan Roberts had been due to take up office this term having been elected as head of Queen’s JCR during Trinity Term, but was forced to stand down by the college authorities after achieving a dissatisfactory result in his Prelims.

With the second-year PPEist set to appeal the decision at a meeting of Queen’s’ Governing Body next Wednesday, he was given the full backing of his fellow JCR Presidents, who issued a joint statement expressing their full confidence in him.

The statement read, “We the JCR Presidents acknowledge the recent case of Nathan Roberts, JCR President of The Queen’s College.

“Nathan has our complete confidence and support. He was elected with a strong mandate by the students of Queen’s and has received a further vote of confidence since then.

“It is the undeniable right of people to choose their representatives through their own democratic process. For the SCR to summarily dismiss the legitimate choice is neither free nor fair.

“We hope the SCR of The Queen’s College reconsiders its decision.”

The declaration was drafted after Wednesday’s meeting of OUSU Council and subsequently signed by 30 JCR Presidents. It is understood that the group rallied to Nathan’s cause after concerns arose about how the recent episode might impact on the independence of common rooms across the University.

Asked to comment, Stefan Baskerville, President of the Oxford University Students’ Union, added his voice to those supporting the ousted Queen’s president.

“I support the JCR Presidents’ statement and I think the authorities at Queen’s should reconsider their decision. Nathan has my full support and I have no doubt he will make an excellent JCR President for students at Queens.”

The news comes after Queen’s JCR held an Extraordinary General Meeting last Sunday to discuss the situation, which was sparked after Roberts received a 2:2, despite the college stipulating that he had to achieve a 2:1 to continue in his JCR role.

Roberts’ cause was boosted however when he received an overwhelming vote of confidence during the specially called meeting.

Rebecca Mackintosh, who is currently Acting JCR President of Queen’s stated, “The JCR passed a vote of confidence by a very clear majority of votes.” The Extraordinary Meeting was well attended by approximately 80 people, with standing room only.”

Roberts argued his case in the meeting, “It’s a grey area whether the college is allowed to dictate the choices made by a student outside of academic career and in the area of extra-curricular activities.”

He added, “I wasn’t a complete academic deadbeat last year.”

He added that he welcomed the support he has been given.

He said, “I am incredibly appreciative of the overwhelming support I have had from both the Queen’s JCR and the presidents from other colleges. I can in no way second-guess the decision that the Governing Body will make, but I do I hope to be given a fair hearing.”

Portia Roelofs, a third year student at Queen’s commented, “The fact that CR Presidents have united over this proves that no matter what a college does to evade fair and accountable process – such as issuing harsh and unprecedented ultimatums in the middle of the vac when the President is unable to consult or gain support from the exec or JCR – they will not get away with it.”

She added, “The college must remember that it is not a secondary school “laying down the law” for irksome school children, its job is to work in partnership with the adults who are paying a considerable sum to be here and who deserve to receive due respect and fair treatment in return.

“The only body which can rightfully remove Nathan from his position is the JCR. Were we to have concerns about his academic work we could have brought a vote of no confidence: in fact we did the very opposite, we voted wholeheartedly in support of him. He has organised one of the best freshers’ week in years.”