An Oxford professor has been accused of hacking into the private computer correspondence of a member of staff.

Dr. Cecile Deer, an academic specialising in the political economy of education, claims that her Balliol college e-mail account was unlawfully accessed by her ex-doctorate supervisor Professor Geoffrey Walford, after she accused him of sexual discrimination.

Deer made the accusations after Professor Walford, a fellow of Green Templeton College, refused to give her a reference for a job application. Deer claims that his decision was influenced by the fact that she had previously sued the University in 2008 for sexual discrimination.

Deer won an out of court settlement with the University last year after they excluded her from the women’s football team. She claimed that she was excluded because having three young children made her an “unreliable player”.

She has now sued Professor Walford and the Chancellors, Masters and Scholars of the University for sexual discrimination again at a hearing that is taking place in Reading, saying that Walford’s decision not to issue a reference must have been influenced by discussions in the faculty about the previous hearing.

Natasha Joffe, representing Dr. Deer, said that her client believed negative remarks must have been made about her in the department.

She also claims that, when a questionnaire was sent to Professor Walford regarding the sexual discrimination accusation, he hacked into her email account to help him answer the questions. She holds that one of Walford’s answers must have been aided by private information found in her correspondence, including exchanges between herself and another referee for the job application.

However, the University claim that Professor Walford asked for a list of Deer’s academic publications since she completed her doctorate and having seen the list decided she was not suitable for the job.

According to Jane McCafferty, a representative of Oxford University, he then explained to Dr. Deer that this was the reason he would not provide her a reference.

She added that Professor Walford knew little about the previous case, saying that when he was asked about it Walford replied, “I know virtually nothing other than it was something to do with football.”

McCafferty said at the hearing that there had been little contact between Dr. Deer and Professor Walford since 2000, when Walford ceased to be Deer’s doctorate supervisor.

McCafferty suggested that Deer’s allegations have “little chance of success”, adding that claims made were “most serious”.

Judge Louise Chudleigh has decided that Dr. Deer must pay a deposit of £100 if she is to proceed with both of her allegations.

She told Dr. Deer to “reflect on each aspect of the issues she is trying to establish”, adding, “I’m not saying she has no prospect of success, I’m saying she has little prospect of success.”

Many thousands of students across the country are still waiting for their student finance applications to be processed.

The Student Loans Company has received a record number of requests for loans this year, a 16% increase on 2008, and has been unable to process them in time for the start of many universities’ academic years.

One Magdalen College second year explained, “I will not be receiving my student loan until January, and I think it’s appalling. I am fortunate enough to be able to live of savings until then, but it’s such a pain to have to have to re-organise my finances. I can’t imagine how disruptive it must be for those who have to find other means.”

Niall Igoe, a St Anne’s student whose loan wasn’t paid until Christmas last year added, “they do seem ridiculously disorganised”.

A spokeswoman for the SLC told Cherwell, “This year we have received a record number of applications and calls and an unprecedented number of late applications – 120,000 over a four week period. However, already more than 750,000 students have had their applications for funding approved.”

She further explained, “We have put in place a number of measures for students to follow the progress of their applications and to address the problems some people have had trying to get through to our customer advisers. These include additional telephone lines, additional staff and directing customers to the website to find answers to common queries.”

Ralph Seymour-Jackson, chief executive of the SLC, apologised to those affected saying, “The problems with phone lines are real. We’re not pretending any different. Students are struggling to get through and we can’t pretend otherwise. For that we apologise unreservedly and ask people to use the website as much as they can.”

He claimed that an unprecedented rise in late applications, caused in part by the recession, had caused the delays. He said, “We are telling out staff they can have all the overtime they want. But the applications are unprecedented.”

Wes Streeting, the President of the National Union of Students, has strongly criticised the SLC for the problems, “I’m absolutely furious at the bizarre claim of the head of Student Finance England, Ralph Seymour-Jackson, that delays to the payment of loans to 50,000 students are ‘reasonable’.

“Tell that to the students I’ve spoken to who are panicking about how to pay rent, pay bills and pay for food. He must have been speaking live from Cloud Cuckoo Land!”

OUSU President Stefan Baskerville has been working to ensure that Oxford students will not struggle until late loans arrive. He commented, “OUSU has been in contact with the University Funding Office and has advised common room presidents on the situation. Some students may begin term short of funding for reasons outside of their own control, and will be looking to colleges for support and assistance. Colleges should be sensitive to the difficulties that some students will face, and flexible with regard to battels payments until full funding comes through.”

Pauline Linières-Hartley, Wadham College Bursar, confirmed that the college was ready to respond to loan delays, “Students have been asked to let us know if they are having problems so that we can arrange deferral of payment where this is necessary.”

Chris Wigg, treasurer at St Anne’s College offered a similar response, “If a student is relying on a student loan for funding and has applied properly and timely but has not received the loan due to problems with the loan company, then of course we will make allowance for this in settlement of college accounts.”

This is the first year that the SLC has handled applications directly. Previously they were handled by local authorities. David Willetts, the Conservative shadow skills secretary, pointed out that the new system “did not appear to be working properly”.

Colleges and departments across the University are preparing for a second wave of the H1N1 virus predicted to hit the country in the autumn.

Estimates suggest that during the peak period of infection anywhere between 15-35% of university staff could be away from work as a result of having contracted the virus, or in order to care for sick family members.

The University is currently in ‘red 3 pandemic’, the highest alert stage possible. The move into phase 3 was made over the summer after the first cases of swine flu in the Oxfordshire area were confirmed. The first case of swine flu in the University itself happened in early June, when a postgraduate student contracted the H1N1 virus while on a visit to Arizona. Since then several other cases have been reported.

The University is unwilling to give out exact figures for the number of Oxford students and staff that have been diagnosed with the illness. They commented, “We do not think it would be helpful to provide a running commentary on a situation which is constantly changing.”
Colleges are also keen to avoid putting a number on how many of their students have or are predicted to catch swine flu. According to a statement from Balliol college “because there will be no way of telling whether any flu outbreak is swine flu, ‘freshers’ flu or a seasonal strain, it will be impossible to report back with any accuracy.”

As part of its preparations for a second wave of infection, the University has released a Pandemic Planning Framework (PPF) document, outlining the establishment of a Pandemic Planning Team, headed by prominent members of the University.

Many colleges have followed suit, setting up their own Flu Pandemic Committees. According to a representative at St. Peters College, “The college has a pandemic flu contingency planning committee – the committee has already met to ensure we are prepared for Michaelmas Term.” Other colleges have also confirmed that they are stocking up on face masks and gloves in preparation for the new term.

Some colleges have also been working with the JCR and MCR student bodies to try to contain infection rates, with networks of student ‘flu buddies’ being set up in order to maintain communications with other students should they fall ill.

“We have a ‘flu buddy’ system in place should anyone become sick with swine flu and need to be in isolation for a few days,” explained James Nation, JCR President for Merton College, who is confident in his college’s response to the flu pandemic.

“Merton College has been in contact with its students regarding the swine flu virus….We have been given assurances that College are suitably prepared should any staff member become ill.”

“Teaching might be disrupted if swine flu were to affect a significant proportion of students and staff this term,” said the representative from St. Peters, “In such an extreme case it may be necessary to vary term times and examination dates.”

Balliol has already set up ‘business continuity plans’ to make sure “essential functions and communications within college” are maintained in the face of a significant number of staff shortages. The college said it would be looking to the University “to advise if and when teaching should be suspended.”

According to its website, the University expects there to be a three to four month period during which it will need to continuously review the threat to its activities, and to adapt its operations and its plans accordingly.

“In a worst case scenario, when closure of certain operations of the University is under consideration, decisions may need wider publicity,” read a statement in the University’s PPF. In such situations the University would consider using local media, such as BBC Oxford and Fox FM, to communicate information about the status of the University to the wider community.

Many students are already voicing concern over the possible disruptions to their education that a second wave of swine flu might bring.

“Would we all just be sent home?”, asked a student from Hertford College, “That would be the sensible thing, college wouldn’t be where you would want to be.”
She added, “After all, they shut Oxbridge during the black death.”

A representative from Balliol college said, “The one thing we will be stressing to all freshers next week is, should they feel ill they should not go to inductions, and to reassure them that they will not miss anything.”
For now it’s business as usual for Oxford, “The University is continuing to operate as normal while, at the same time, remaining alert to any students or staff exhibiting flu-like symptoms.”

Oxford University Liberal Democrats will be using their stall at Freshers’ Fair to recruit the environmentally-minded amongst the new students.

For any student who signs up to the society for £1 at the Freshers’ Fair, the organisation will contribute to a reforestation project in Kenya. The aim is to offset the equivalent carbon dioxide emitted per person in an average week.

Mark Mills, Liberal Democrat councillor, OULD member and student of St. Edmund Hall is enthusiastic about the scheme, commenting, “People know that the Lib Dems care about the environment, and this is a practical chance to do something about it.”

The Green Freshers’ Week scheme is organised by Liberal Youth, the young people’s branch of the Liberal Democrats. The campaign is being implemented in roughly one hundred universities around the country. In addition to the offsetting initiative, every branch involved receives an environmental campaign pack containing bright green ‘switch it off stickers’ to be stuck next to light switches and appliances.

With the original goal of registering seven hundred new members to the party, the organisation has already exceeded its target. According to Joe Rinaldi Johnson, Vice-Chair Campaigns for Liberal Youth, Liverpool reported an almost 600% increase in new members compared to last year, with Glasgow, LSE and Reading reporting similar increases.

“These figures confirm a national trend,” said Johnson, “By joining Liberal Youth, students can choose to have a clear environmental conscience during the Freshers Week festivities.”

The scheme is not without its critics, however, with many seeing it as a green-wash for the Lib Dems, or an attempt to use climate change to draw freshers into party politics. One Magdalen student described it as “conscience-salving at best, conscience-exploitation at worst”.

Mae Penner, chair of the Environment and Ethics committee, warned that “providers of carbon offsets have often been shown to have flawed systems of calculation, which don’t take into account the permanence of offset projects or their own carbon footprints.”

She also expressed concern of over the choice of Kenya for the reforestation, “There are many concerns with such projects which can reduce biodiversity and contravene indigenous land rights.”

Penner emphasised, however, that these should not be a problem as long as the scheme has been thoroughly researched adding, “It is certainly positive that the Liberal Youth are trying to address the desire of young people to live more environmentally-considerate lives.”

Johnson remains emphatic about the scheme stating, “Environmentalism is a cornerstone of Liberal Democrat policy. We are the only major party today that is serious about climate change. We have been consistently ahead of the curve on environmental issues. [We] would take the tough steps necessary to build a new green economy based upon sound environmental principles.”

Nathan Roberts, Queen’s ex-JCR President, has been pressurised to stand down from his position as a result of a dissatisfactory result in prelims.

Following below average results in his Trinity collections, the PPE student was given the target of obtaining at least 60 in all Prelims papers by the Tutorial Review Committee(TRC). He was told if he failed to meet the target he would lose the presidency.

Roberts obtained a mid-2:2, yet he refused to resign from his position. He explained, “I informed the Senior
Tutor I would not resign and asked to present to the TRC again before returning to Oxford. I had spoken briefly
once so far on the issue and felt it important that I could make the case outlined in the letter.”

However, Roberts claimed that the TRC did not wish to see him and he was informed that if he did not resign he would face rustication or expulsion.

“I was also told that I would not be able to attend this meeting, not because of formal procedure, but at the committee’s discretion”, he added.

The ex-President concluded, “It is my opinion that the decision made by College has not been the right one, nor has it been legitimate. There is nothing in college literature that specifies that the President or any
other Exec member can be removed.”

The second year PPEist met with the college executive last week and stood down from his position last weekend.

He declined to officially comment on the situation until the extraordinary meeting of the JCR on 11th October,
the Sunday of first week.

Rebecca Mackintosh, acting Queen’s JCR President and ex-Vicepresident said, “The JCR executive met on Sunday and reviewed and approved the hard work of Nathan Roberts and as such the executive passed a vote of confidence.”

Joyce Millar, the academic administrator at The Queen’s college, refused to comment on individual cases.
However she added, “It’s an academic institution and we have to concentrate on academics. We review each
case individually.”

Many students disagreed with the decision taken by the college. One Queen’s student commented, “They
don’t seem to be applying the rules uniformly. I find it difficult to believe that there were other people getting
2:2s who were also stopped doing extra- curricular activities.”

Oxford scientists researching breast cancer vaccines have been awarded a £2.5m grant by Cancer Research UK.

Dr. Alison Banham, who heads the Oxford team, seeks to create new vaccines that work by mimicking the body’s immune response to cancer. Vaccines can be especially useful in the treatment of breast cancer and lymphoma.

“They are proving to be some of the most effective new treatments for cancer patients,” said Dr. Banham.

News of the grant is likely to boost Oxford’s international reputation as a centre of excellence for cancer research. Professor Gillies McKenna, Director of Radiation Oncology commented, “There’s no other centre of this size and scope.”

A new drama series, set in a fictional college of an ancient English university, has hit British television screens.

Trinity, shown on Sundays on ITV2, follows the lives of a group of freshers as they settle into life at
Trinity college, Bridgeford University – a hotbed of arcane ritual, secret societies, recreational sex and liberal drug use.

One Magdalen lawyer said, “It’s very ridiculous but funny.” Others are unimpressed, citing a poor
script, bad acting and blatant stereotyping as reasons for switching off.

Trinity is the latest serial to tap in to the widespread fascination for Oxbridge mythology, and will be shortly followed by “When Boris met Dave”, a film about David Cameron and Boris Johnson’s years at the University, which will be broadcast this week.

Exercising in a group boosts happiness levels and increases tolerance to pain, according to a new study by Oxford University researchers.

Scientists working at the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology analysed the pain threshold of two groups of rowers following a tough workout. One
group rowed together, the other trained individually.

The team then tested the rowers by timing how long they could tolerate an inflated blood pressure cuff on their arm.

Exercise increased both groups’ability to tolerate pain, but the difference was significantly more pronounced among the team rowers.

The research report notes, “This heightened effect from synchronized activity may explain the sense of euphoria experienced during other social activities.”

Merton College is to welcome a minor celebrity this term when Countdown octochamp Jeffrey Burgin joins its ranks.

Burgin has won the popular British quiz show eight times. He’s currently the 4th seed for the quarterfinals, which are due to take place in November.

“I’m hugely looking forward to joining Merton, it obviously has a very prestigious history of academic excellence which I hope I can live up to,” said Burgin, who will be studying Economics and Management at the college.

For Burgin, who is currently being considered for the Philippines national football team, life in Oxford will not all be about studying.

“The people I’ve met at Merton were all very welcoming and some definitely look as if they can party with the best of them!”