Popular night club Thirst Lodge has received a new license allowing the performance of pole dancing and lap dancing on the premises.
A motion condemning the lap dancing plans was passed at OUSU Council on Wednesday.

The motion was put forward by Yuan Yang and Lizzie Bauer, who told Cherwell, “When clubs are granted lap dancing licenses, studies in London, Nottingham and Scotland have shown that it comes with an increase in violence, harassment, sexual assault and rape in the surrounding area. Because of this, passersby, especially women, may feel threatened walking past the area at night, and OUSU should fight to ensure that all the students it represents feel safe in Oxford.”

OUSU will now join the Women’s Campaign in urging students to refrain from visiting Thirst Lodge and holding University events at the bar while it is registered as a sex encounter establishment.

Thirst Lodge originally applied for the lap dancing license in January last year, but withdrew the application following local outcry. The second application was approved in December 2009.

The application provoked anger amongst local residents and students, especially members of St. Ebbe’s Church, which is opposite the lodge.
Church manager, Mark Abraham, said: “To have a pub right on our doorstep promoting lap- dancing would only serve to harm the Gospel at St Ebbe’s and Oxford at large.”

Residents were also angered as they felt Greene King, the brewery that owns Thirst Lodge, kept them in the dark about their intentions and did not leave them enough time to protest the decision.

Abraham said, “Once again, Greene King did not tell us of their intentions, leaving us with very little time to object.”

Elaine Beckett, a spokesperson for Greene King, commented, “We believe the operators of Thirst Lodge are experienced and as such will ensure the premises are operated in a professional manner at all times.”

In response to fears about the welfare of students and residents, Oxford City Council said, “The licence has conditions appended to it which, amongst other things, cover public safety. Licensing Officers will monitor the premises as part of our inspection programme and we will of course follow up any matters referred to us by the public.”

Some JCRs have supported OUSU’s opposition of the lap dancing license. St. Hilda’s passed an identical motion in their JCR meeting last Sunday.

St. Hilda’s JCR President Jesse Harber said, “We felt that if the statistics cited in the motion were true, then there was a clear and present danger to the women of Oxford in the granting of this license. Strip clubs use women as objects of sexual gratification, and contribute to a culture where women are regarded as such even outside of ‘sex encounters’ venues.

The danger isn’t that women will be snatched from the streets outside the club – it’s that men will leave the club believing slightly more that women are there for nothing but their own pleasure.”

However, not all students have expressed such concern. One third-year Christ Church student said, “I could not be more thrilled to hear that such refinements are now coming to Thirst Lodge. We have been starved for too long of such fine establishments in Oxford. I know where I’ll be having every one of my nights out.”

During OUSU Council, concerns were raised that it appeared to be a motion passing judgement on women working who may work at the club. Yang assured the meeting that the focus of the campaign was student safety and supporting the residential community around Thirst Lodge.

A third-year St. Hilda’s student said, “Oxford has always been a safe and fun place to go out and I think by introducing something that could be seen as derogatory then it could encourage unacceptable behaviour.”

Thirst Lodge were unavailable for comment.

Dame Eileen Atkins, DBE, is one of several famous figures to be given an honorary degree by Oxford this year. The star of numerous films, including Gosford Park and Cold Mountain, as well as hit TV show Upstairs, Downstairs and the BBC drama Cranford, is set to be given the degree of Doctor of Letters.

Professor Geoffrey Hill, one of the most distinguished poets of his generation, will also receive this honour. They are joined by Lord Sainsbury, a minister under Tony Blair and a major donator to the Labour Party, who receives a Degree of Doctor of Civil Law. Justice Stephen Breyer, an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, will receive the same degree.

In addition to this Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, Lord Weidenfeld and Professor Brigitte will also receive honorary degrees. All such degrees are subject to approval by Congregation and if passed will be awarded at Encaenia, the University’s annual honorary degree ceremony, on Wednesday 23 June 2010.

An online petition has been launched to save Oxford’s only Sikh temple. As Cherwell reported last week, the temple has been told to close due to irregularities with planning permission and the fact that the building was not designated as a place of worship. However, there was opposition to this decision due to the fact that it would leave Sikhs in Oxford with no place to worship.

The petition, started by Oxford University Sikh Society, states “we kindly request Oxford’s Council allow 69 Cherwell Drive to be run as a Sikh place of worship.” Sikh Society aim to present the petition to Oxford City Council as part of their efforts to prevent the closure of the Gurdwara. 

To view the full petition see: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/33821.html

Oxford is still lagging behind other UK universities in the recruitment of students from ethnic minority backgrounds.

A Race for Opportunity report from 2007-8 shows that 16% of students from the UK studying for degrees were from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background. This is higher than the proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the general 18-24-year-old population, which is 14.2%.

At Russell Group universities overall, the proportion of students from an ethnic minority background was only 14.1%. However, at Oxford, the percentage of students from an ethnic minority background is only 11.1%. At Cambridge the percentage is even lower, at 10.5%.

OUSU Council voted on Wednesday to pass Stefan Baskerville’s proposals for reforms to the OUSU funding structure which will end college affiliation fees. In a motion to support the paper “Urgent Challenges for OUSU and the University,” the student body also chose to back the OUSU president’s plans to incorporate the Student Union and include every student as a member.

The motion received strong opposition from Rob Shearer, president of disaffiliated Linacre College MCR, whose main complaint was OUSU’s lack of consultation with students, and who asked the passing of the motion be delayed until more consultation had been held. He pointed out that only one student had attended OUSU’s consultation meeting held just 36 hours after the plans were announced. “I know that because it was me,” he added.

Shearer further argued that the reforms were missing the point. “The underlying problem is that the budget keeps going up.” Dan Lowe of St Edmund Hall, one of numerous members who spoke out in favour of the motion, argued that this was misguided: “funding is the problem.”

OUSU’s funding structure is clearly unreliable and insufficient; as the report itself notes, even a massive cut in spending on services and firing several sabattical officers would not help OUSU back out of its current deficit.

The Council gave the motion overwhelming support. In opposing the reforms, Shearer represented a small but very vocal minority present at the meeting.
OUSU will now take the funding model to the University Joint Committee. There are no guarantees the proposals will ever be put into place; a similar model to this was rejected by the University authorities in 2007 and OUSU will be asking Oxford for a considerable amount of money. Baskerville admitted “I imagine the University will have some conditions” on the block grant, and suggested these may include evidence that OUSU continues to seek to save money.

However, it is hoped that the stronger student support this time will put more pressure on the University not to reject the model. Furthermore, by making these proposals in Hilary term rather than, as with previous attempts at OUSU reform, in Trinity term, the University will hopefully be more willing to listen, having not yet finalised its budget allocations for the year ahead.

Baskerville emphasised the importance and urgency of the reforms. “The way we are currently funded mismatches what we do… This is in the best interests of students, the best interests of common rooms and definitely the best interests of central student representation.”

Yet it seems Baskerville is already facing problems with his plans. He announcemed during Council that it was very unlikely that OUSU would be moving to new premises, despite seeking new premises being part of the Urgent Challenges paper. Baskerville said the University was “not willing to put up the funding.” However, Baskerville assured Council that, after passing the Urgent Challenges motion, OUSU would continue to put pressure on the University to consider funding a change in premises. The current offices at Thomas Hull House are both expensive and have no wheelchair access.

Jonny Medland, Access and Academic Affairs for OUSU, sees the success of the proposals as an opportunity for OUSU to stop endless debating over funding and budget deficits and focus on working for students. “We’ve been talking about this for years,” he said. “We’ve got more important things to talk about.”