Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Blog Page 2045

Students campaign to save Sikh Temple

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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 failing minorities

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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%.

Urgent new motion for Student Union passed

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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.”

Going Up, Going Down

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Going up:

Apple
The world number four became Britain’s first finalist in the Australian open since David Lloyd in 1977. Of course he didn’t win…but we were hopeful.

Andy Murray
The world number four became Britain’s first finalist in the Australian open since David Lloyd in 1977. Of course he didn’t win…but we were hopeful.

 

British Bubbly
The Classic Cuvée champagne made in Sussex became the Champion of Worldwide Sparkling Wines, beating well-known French giants such as Bollinger and Louis Roederer. At least one Brit became a champion this week…

Secret Oxford
Yes, Saatchi and Saatchi Facebook groups are getting annoying, but at least this one is useful. Discover hidden coffees, walks and everything else you never knew you didn’t know about Oxford.

Going down:

Beards
If you have seen Brad Pitt’s latest facial offering then you’ll know what we mean… No excuses about keeping warm blah blah, no girl likes stubble rash.

 

Pyjamas
Tesco has banned people from shopping in their pyjamas after complaints that under-dressed patrons were making other customers feel uncomfortable. Every little (bit of clothing) helps.

Politeness
Apparently politeness ‘costs us £3,000 a year’. Britons are missing out on possible savings of £74bn a year because they would rather lose money than complain, according to research. Screw scrooge, it pays to be a grinch…

Dictionaries
A Southern California school board has pulled the Merriam-Webster dictionary off its shelves after a parent complained about the entry “oral sex”. If that’s how the kids are getting their kicks these days, what’s the world come to? 

Doxbridge over troubled water

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Controversy has arisen in Magdalen College this week following a motion passed at their General Meeting last Sunday awarding £40 to every student going on ‘Doxbridge’, the sporting tour of Dublin involving Oxford, Cambridge and Durham colleges, at a combined cost of £960.

Proposals are to be made at a JCR Committee meeting next week to alter the college’s constitution and allow motions which have been passed at General Meetings to be reconsidered in subsequent weeks.

This proposal has been seen by many as the result of the ‘Doxbridge’ motion, which passed by only four votes.

Over 80 signatures on a petition calling for this to be overturned have since been collected. Under the proposed rule change this will be enough for the result of the vote on the motion to be suspended and considered at a later date.

However, the petition has caused anger amongst many Magdalen students, some of whom are even threatening to resign from the JCR if the motion is overturned.

Matthew Chan, ex-JCR Vice-President of Magdalen, who organised the petition and opposed the original motion, received an abusive email signed by “The Doxbridge Massive”.

Students from Magdalen’s football and netball teams plan to travel on the ‘Doxbridge’ tour, which costs £219 per person and takes place over the Easter vacation. It markets itself as a ‘Sportsparty’ and concerns have been raised over whether the JCR’s money would in fact be spent on sport at all.

The motion passed by the extremely narrow margin of 33 votes to 29. Many complained that the meeting was ‘mobbed’ by those going on Doxbridge and their friends, who left as soon as the motion had passed.

Beth Goodwin and Hannah Thompson, who put forward the motion, argued that the funding would encourage participation in sport and “help with team bonding”. They had already approached the college for funding and been turned down.

Chan said, “This whole motion is a peculiarly macabre joke and deserves to be treated like one. I am kind of baffled that it passed at all, and will be doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t second time around, including indulging in a spot of the old constitutional pernicketitude.”

He argues that the email notifying members of the time and agenda of the General Meeting was not sent out until a few hours before it was due to take place, twenty-two hours and fifty-five minutes after the deadline specified in the JCR constitution.

He told Cherwell, “This motion represents a gross abuse of the circumstance that if you get enough people with a vested interest (in this case, £40 each) to come and vote for you at a GM, you can push through measures that privilege the few at the direct expense of the many.

“Some of the people going are not by any stretch of the imagination regulars on the respective teams. There is no way that the JCR should be paying for this, regardless of whether it can or not. And it probably can’t; not without damaging our spending on more worthwhile things.”

Chan’s actions have proven extremely divisive in Magdalen. Arnold Reigns, a 3rd Year English student, said “I support what Chan’s doing; rules should not be so strictly enforced or they become fundamentalist. ”

On the other hand, George Dix, a 4th Year Maths student said, “I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, including drunkenly pulling my dad, but none of them as stupid as what Chan is doing now.”

JCR President Tom Meakin told Cherwell, “In Fifth Week the JCR Committee will present a motion to amend the Constitution so as to allow motions to be re-heard if a proportion of the JCR wishes. This ‘cooling-off’ period will ensure that controversial decisions – be they costly, technical or otherwise – are taken only after wide consultation and are thus representative of the majority.

“It’s important to point out that whilst the Doxbridge motion was contentious, this move is sensible regardless. Whilst it might slow some areas of decision-making down, any increase in participation is a good thing.”

Equal fees for asylum seekers

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Oxford students are supporting a national campaign to grant asylum seekers lower University fees. The students intend to lobby the University to allow asylum seekers to pay home fee rates for their tuition.

Asylum seekers and some refugees are currently classed as overseas students and must pay fees of up to £20,000 per year.  Moreover, asylum seekers are unable to take out student loans, cannot apply for grants and most bursaries, and are not permitted to work.

A motion was passed at OUSU Council pledging its support. It argues “the current funding system, both nationally and within Oxford University, is unfairly punitive towards asylum seekers.”

It was proposed by Michael Walker, a representative of the Oxford branch of Student Action for Refugees (STAR), the group leading the campaign.
Speaking to Cherwell, Walker commented, “Considering Oxford’s current public effort to widen access to the University, we hope it will recognise the importance of the ‘equal access campaign’ in working to achieve this end.”

Jonny Medland, OUSU VP Access and Academic Affairs, commented, “Getting into Oxford is hard enough for students from privileged backgrounds – any asylum seeker who has got an Oxford offer should be given all the support that they need to make sure that they can come here.”

Manchester, London  Metropolitan, Liverpool, Manchester  Metropolitan, Middlesex and Edge Hill Universities have all reduced the fees they charge asylum seekers to the level of home students, and Walker hopes Oxford can soon be added to that list.

“STAR’s campaign in Oxford is part of a national movement that has already achieved success around the UK, including at Manchester University, where fees for undergraduates seeking asylum have been lowered to the ‘home rate’. We strongly believe that Oxford has a responsibility to add its weight to a campaign to persuade the government to change its punitive funding policy.

“Furthermore, until government policy has changed, we urge Oxford to follow the lead of other universities in offering those seeking asylum an education at home fee rates, thus helping to reduce the injustice caused by a funding regime that effectively excludes those seeking asylum from higher education. STAR looks forward to working with the University to achieve a positive outcome on this issue.”

Wadham and Somerville JCRs had declared their support for Walker’s motion. However, in an online survey at St Edmund Hall, the overwhelming majority voted against the motion. Students expressed concern that the University funding is limited and this may eat into it. However, Walker pointed out that the number of students this would realistically affect would be minor, and that this was more “a matter of principle.”

As well as campaigning on this issue, Oxford STAR is involved with other projects. According to Ellie Bates, a member of the group, the Oxford branch “has been established for many years and the current membership are really active with 50 people attending events.” 

The University had offered no comment on the issue at the time of going to press.

More money, better JCR?

Tabassum Rasheed, PPE, St John’s

‘The JCR has more resources at its disposal’

Yes. Obvious as this may seem, and hard as it may be to take from a St John’s student, there’s no denying that, all other things equal, having a rich JCR makes a huge difference to my life. There’s a difference here of course, between college and JCR. Whether it’s the annual book grant available for all students, or the £3.50 formal halls, having a rich college definitely makes a big impact upon my life. I don’t have to deal with the real world for that little bit longer – the security net provided by the college’s coffers is in general a weight off my shoulders. Having a rich JCR, though, makes every day that little bit brighter, because it’s spent on the members who make it up.

The annual budget covers subsidies for punting, finances a 200+ DVD collections for JCR members, and even provides for a college tv station, complete with broadcasting camera and studio lights. Every term in fifth week, the JCR get together to have cake and desserts to get over those blues; we’re in the process of buying a college tortoise; there was a subsidised trip to Amsterdam last summer and plans for Prague in the coming year. Of course the freebies are welcomed gifts, but, more importantly, it brings the members of the JCR together. The JCR budget isn’t spent on one or two people, it’s there to ensure we have fun as a college, have access to a strong welfare team, and, provide us with opportunities to try new and exciting things, from film-editing to tortoise-keeping. There’s also a lifesize cardboard cutout of Sarah Michelle Gellar, which I’m sure will add value to any student’s life.

What makes a real difference though, is having that money when it comes to financial motions regarding charities. Each year, the JCR donate thousands of pounds to charity, all motions put forward and debated by the members of the JCR, who set it aside from the budget. We may not have as big an Entz budget as other colleges, but we can make sizeable donations to worthwhile causes, and, yes, have fun whilst doing so.

It may be true that there are JCRs who manage to be happy and self-sufficient without these goodies. And it may be true that money isn’t necessary to having a JCR that’s close-knit. But if you’re really sitting there thinking it makes no difference, then I’m sorry you go to such an impoverished college. Money doesn’t define a JCR, by any means, but it certainly makes it a damn sight better.

James Pickering, ex-JCR treasurer, Oriel

‘It’s not how much the JCR budget is but how you spend it which counts’

Reading the Cherwell’s article on JCR wealth last week, one might be forgiven for being shocked to see the huge discrepancies that exist across colleges. Certainly at Oriel, where we have often considered ourselves rather well-off as a JCR, many students expressed vocal surprise that our JCR budget was so small in comparison to others’ that Hertford’s entz budget alone dwarfed it. But with that shock came a recurring comment: “What on earth do they spend it all on?!” And this is quite understandable, given that it seems many JCRs are operating in accordance with a policy which just isn’t true, namely that ‘money buys happiness’.

Every college will have certain crucial needs which need to be tackled by college and JCR budgets before anything else – welfare being a key one. So once these have been tackled, we are left to assess what is done with any surplus left over from the essentials. The great problem faced by a JCR with any amount of money going spare is that interest groups within their open meetings will want to glean off substantial portions of this wealth for what are often very specific pursuits which affect only a small number of the student body. Such pork-barrelling essentially detracts from the remit of a JCR – that it is meant to represent and support all of its students – and tends to indentify the JCR as capable of fulfilling this remit only in so far as it has the money to do so.

However, a JCR is not just some pseudo-governmental gravy train. Considering that JCRs comprise some of the most dedicated, passionate, and downright friendly students in a college, if you take away the distraction of money then you have a team of individuals who, bending to the democratic will of a college’s students, can be put to surprisingly creative use. Given the variety of tastes and interests of students (not everyone recognises the delights of a night at Park End), the financial muscle of a college or JCR will almost certainly have no correlation to how much fun individuals actually have in college. Bearing this in mind, huge budgets that throw thousands of pounds at club tickets, shop discounts, charities and subscriptions will often fail to have a lasting effect on students’ enjoyment. Think about what we, as students, really remember about our time at Oxford: be it punting, formal dinners, garden parties, crew dates, inter-college exchanges, sporting endeavours, or even setting up a club to celebrate your favourite all-singing American television programme. In the end, the willingness of individuals to participate and use the intelligence we are supposedly blessed with is what makes the Oxford experience truly worth having. This doesn’t need huge financial resources to achieve, just a little college spirit.

A grinding form of productivity

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News of these new brain boosting substances first hit Oxford about a year ago, but all has remained mysteriously quiet since. However, in the aftermath of the recent Nature debate which brought to light that 16% of American college students were regularly using cognitive enhancers, universities across the UK will soon have to get serious on the smart-pills debate.

‘The substances facilitate a pinched, unromantic, grindingly efficient form of productivity’

Students are turning to these substances in preference to the traditional stimulants of coffee and cigarettes to help them work harder, meet deadlines, and concentrate in exams. They don’t inspire new, original ideas. Rather, they facilitate a pinched, unromantic, grindingly efficient form of productivity. But what are the offending articles?

Most notorious is Ritalin, a stimulant drug introduced in 1956 for the treatment of attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Ritalin’s less infamous accomplices are Modafinil (a drug used to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy), Donepezil (used to treat dementia) and Amphetamines. The most attractive aspect of drugs like Ritalin and Modafinil is that they seem to have no addictive potential.

‘Oxford students are already devouring instant-coffee granules off tea spoons in order to bypass the time-wasting water boiling stage’

If this study aid was endorsed by universities, it would probably spread like wildfire, particularly in an environment like Oxford where students are already devouring instant-coffee granules off tea spoons in order to bypass the time-wasting water boiling stage.

So why not just stock up on these pills? Well, coercion might be one argument against; if a significant number of Oxford students start ‘using’, then the rest might be simply coerced into popping pills in order to stay on top. There’s also the linked question of disparity in society and the fact that only wealthy people would be able to regularly afford the drugs. Also, what’s the difference between this and sport, where the use of performance enhancing drugs is considered grossly unfair in such a competitive environment? Mental activities are clearly competitive too.

Ethical considerations aside, I would prefer to wait and see how the long-term effects really pan out for the student guinea pigs. I also quite like the taste of Kenco medium roast, and feel that water certainly improves it.

OFS leaves thesps out of pocket

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The Old Fire Station Theatre has faced complaints over action which threatened to financially cripple members of OUDS.

A production scheduled for 7th week this term, Murder in the Oxford Poetry Society, a new play being written by St Catherine’s student Caroline Bird, recently had to be cancelled. This left the Producer contractually obliged to pay OFS a sum of £3,000.

University Drama Officer Barney Norris pledged, “it is my aim that no student should ever lose their own money on drama in Oxford”, appealing to members of OUDS to pull together to produce a new play within six weeks to avoid “a perilous financial hit”.

A production of Blood Wedding, originally scheduled for the Moser Theatre in Wadham, has now stepped forward to fill the empty week at the theatre. OUDS President, Roland Singer-Kingsmith, commented that although the situation was unfortunate, the cancellation charge was actually a very realistic figure given the financial loss that the OFS would have to endure.

He estimated that a producer is personally liable for a budget of around fourteen thousand pounds in an average production, and that the contractual clause is, in the majority of cases, “a formality, with a really slim chance of ever having to be enforced”.

Some students have expressed grievance about how OFS handles payments to students.

One producer of a show staged last term commented “we were owed our money fourteen days after the last performance…and I received the cheque last week”.

Members of the show’s production team were owed approximately two thousand pounds, and were unable to be paid earlier, despite making requests to OFS.

OFS contracts stipulate that, should the production make a loss, the deficit owed to the theatre will accumulate 4% interest for each day after the fourteen day time slot.

However, the same system does not apply to money owed by the OFS to students, meaning the theatre does not suffer the same financial penalty for late payments.

As the producer put it: “think of the interest we didn’t make in that time!”

The financial system surrounding student productions at the OFS can “lead to a general feeling of not being entirely control of your finances” commented Go Back for Murder producer, Clare Bucknell.

She labels the budgeting system OFS uses “disproportionately complex”, with OFS providing the initial capital for publicity costs which the production team must reimburse, meaning the production is indebted to the theatre very early in its development.

Bucknell remarked that “I felt pressured to repay my creditors as swiftly as possible (many of whom were students in the production company)… but the OFS took weeks to send me a cheque for the profit we’d made.  Our show was in 3rd week; I didn’t get the money until the end of 7th, despite receiving the final accounts via email in 4th.”

Suggestions of delayed payments have been stringently denied by the OFS, with General Manager Jamie Baskeyfield. He stressed that “[OFS is] in the business of working with, not against our valued student producers”.
Whatever issues students have had in their past dealings with the OFS, the Oxford dramatic community as a whole will mourn the loss of this convenient and invaluable performing space.

Ellen Jones, the producer of Blood Wedding, commented that the closure was “really sad” as it has been an ideal venue for many years.

The OFS is preparing to bow out of the Oxford drama scene at the end of May after almost two decades hosting student productions.

The theatre has been bought by the charity Crisis, which plans to turn the space into a homeless shelter incorporating a community theatre.

Coulthard’s circuitous career

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From the Scottish hills of Dumfries and Galloway to the timeless race circuits of Monaco and Melbourne. Growing up as a teenager these were dreams far beyond what David Coulthard could have ever imagined.

In a career spanning fifteen seasons, Coulthard achieved praiseworthy success: thirteen Grand Prix victories, sixty-two podium finishes and becoming the top British points scorer to this day. Yet one gets the feeling that ‘almost, but not quite there’ is perhaps destined to be the epitaph of Coulthard’s Formula One career.

When reflecting upon his career in Motorsport in his recent talk at the Oxford Union, he does so colourfully and candidly. Like most Formula One drivers, Coulthard started in kart racing competitions, and then came up through the traditional European single seater series, Formula Ford. In 1994, having spent the early months of his career as a test driver for the Williams-Renault team, Coulthard was thrown into the cauldron of Formula One in somewhat difficult circumstances. He had witnessed, like many millions around the world, the death of a Formula One great at Imola – Ayrton Senna.

Despite such tragic consequences, Coulthard did not shy away from the monumental task of attempting to fill the boots of a man who had driven himself into Formula One folklore. He wanted to fulfil his motto of “making the impossible possible”. His first Grand Prix victory in 1995 in Estoril, Portugal signalled Coulthard’s arrival on the Formula One stage and from there he harboured hopes of going on to achieve bigger and better things. That was, until a certain M.Schumacher emerged.

To his credit, Coulthard remained resolute and, alongside his fellow co-drivers at McLaren – Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen – they laid down some sort of gauntlet to Schumacher. Nonetheless, Coulthard, like his contemporaries, could only watch and admire from their cock-pits, the brilliance of ‘the Red Baron.’

In 2001, his best season in Formula One, he finished second in the Driver’s Championship – a massive sixty five points behind the German. In keeping with Coulthard’s humble nature, he remains “comfortable with the fact that I never won a Drivers’ Championship.” He unequivocally maintains that he “got used to finishing second”.

He apportions part of Schumacher’s success to the man himself but also to his car, so much so that he jokingly remarks that “Schumacher would struggle in an old Minardi.” Although Coulthard went on to record a number of Grand Prix victories at McLaren, his time there was spent playing second fiddle to his Northern European colleagues, and shrouded in controversy.

Followers of Formula One will no doubt recall the infamous ‘Overtaking-gate’ scandal at the 1998 Melbourne Grand Prix – something which he still regrets partaking in to this day. Following his turbulent time at McLaren many critics were calling for his retirement but in 2005 Couthard was given a new lease of life at the newly formed Red Bull Racing. Despite a promising start to his Red Bull career, he rather faded away into retirement in 2008.

But for Coulthard retirement has been a relatively easy pill to swallow. He asserts that for the first half of his life “Formula One ruled the way.” Now though, at the age of 38 a father for the first time, Coulthard wants to enjoy the second half of his life although “the inefficiency of everyday life,” does frustrate him.

Still, he is never too far away from Formula One. Working as a consultant for Red Bull Racing and as a pundit, or in his words “whatever that means,” for the BBC’s Formula One coverage, he admits that he now has more time to appreciate the technology behind the cars. When pushed on a possible return to the sport a la Schumacher, Coulthard remarks that “things are not what they were like before.”

His admission that he has “nothing in common” with the next generation of upcoming drivers, referred to by him as “The Playstation Generation,” reinforces both his paternalist attitude and acknowledgment that he has moved on from Formula One to new opportunities.

Through life in the fast lane, Coulthard had it all – supermodels, satisfaction and success. Whilst he fully accepts that some will regard his time in Formula One as a failure, one must not forget that he was, like many others, unfortunate or fortunate enough, however you see it, to be part of an era dominated by the Roger Federer of Formula One – Michael Schumacher. Yet, the modest man that he is, Coulthard does not want to reflect upon the past but to inspire and influence the next generation of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Call him what you like – the Tim Henman of Formula One to many – but he rightly remains humble and proud of his achievements to the end. Every sport has its nearly men, and David Coulthard is one of Formula One’s.