Disturbing disparities have emerged in the quality of welfare and pastoral care provided by different colleges.

While some students have said that they are entirely satisfied with their college’s welfare provision, others have expressed deep concern with the way welfare is handled by their colleges.

One student at St Hilda’s said, “Hilda’s welfare is only structured to ensure the best results possible.”

She complained that moral tutors, whose responsibility is to look after the welfare of students, were sometimes far more concerned with their academic success.

“It’s not about what’s best for Hilda’s students but about what’s best for exam results. Several other people from my year feel quite afraid of their moral tutors.

“Unless you’re getting firsts they take the opportunities they see to tell you you’re not good enough, even if you’re doing well for you.”

She described how her own moral tutor had criticised her decision to stay away from Oxford for a few days to deal with family issues on academic grounds, even though she had missed no tutorials.

“She sent me a really unpleasant email about getting my priorities straight… It implied that I’d been deliberately shirking my work and I didn’t have a good reason which is obviously really unpleasant.”

Madgalen students have also complained that, in some cases, they do not even have pastoral tutors.

One fourth year said, “we don’t even pastoral tutors. Or if we do, I have no idea who mine is. I really just don’t have anyone to go to if I’m having problems with my work. At the moment I’m not that happy about how my degree is going, but I can’t talk to my tutors about it because I’m worried they’ll give me bad references for jobs if I’m negative about my subject.

“I’d never feel comfortable talking to peer support people – if I needed to talk to someone of my own age I’d just go friends.”

OUSU VP for Welfare, Rosanna McBeath expressed her concern about the college welfare lottery. She said that basic welfare provision is the responsibility of each college. As a result, “nobody knows exactly what each college provides – only welfare officers do. This shouldn’t be a lottery.”

Colleges are also plagued by failure to inform the students about their welfare provision. There is a “lack of clarity” as to where to go when there is a problem.

Sarah Bainbridge, Mansfield’s JCR president, when asked to whom a student can turn in case of a problem said, “there are different people for different things… We have a list of people whom to contact.”

In Blackfriars, the student welfare provision consists of the Dean and the Visiting Student Coordinator. Blackfriars’ website refers undergraduates seeking help to university services. Their code of practice stipulates to “contact the Harassment Officer whose name is advertised in the JCR.” No telephone contact numbers are listed as well as no information on how to obtain welfare supplies.

Welfare provision is often limited by college finances. Mansfield, one of the poorest colleges, has had no trained peer supporters for two years. Only this Hilary Term training have been re-introduced for six JCR members.

In colleges such as Regent’s Park and Merton the first point of call is the Chaplain. This raises concerns whether non-Christians would feel comfortable discussing their welfare with a religious person.

Some, however, think the religiosity of Chaplain may be an asset when dealing with welfare. Aisha Danga, a LMH student, said “I’ve been talking to the chaplain and he’s excellent. He just makes you talk. He’s a chaplain, he’s close to God and you feel like he understands.”

Other students have praised college welfare procedures. Female Welfare Rep at Merton College said, “our welfare divides between the Dean and the Chaplain who actually is responsible for welfare. Hence disciplinary procedures and welfare do not conflict.” An Exeter student said that he thought the colleges provision was “fantastic.” He added, “everyone’s really happy.”

A University spokesperson said, “colleges are often the first port of call for students facing difficulties, who can talk to many different people, including their own tutor; the senior member of college who is responsible for welfare; the college nurse; the student welfare officer; or fellow students who have gone through peer-support training.”

Corpus Christi College thrashed Exeter University 350-15 in last week’s University Challenge quarter final, staking their claim for the overall title with a very strong performance

Corpus quickly picked up a big lead, and were 100-150 points up in the first 10 minutes. In response, the Exeter team felt the need to answer the starter questions quickly, often getting them wrong. As a result, they spent much of the quiz on negative points.

Their score of 15 points is only 5 points above the lowest score ever achieved on University Challenge, achieved when the University of Sussex scored 10 points back in 1971.

Host, Jeremy Paxman, was expectedly dismissive of their performance, but did comment that Exeter “were thrashed by a very strong team”

Exeter had performed reasonably well in previous matches, beating the University of Sheffield and Pembroke College, Oxford, but were unable to match the knowledge of the Corpus Christi team.

Corpus Christi now have a semi final match against St John’s College, Cambridge, before a final against Lincoln College Oxford or the University of Manchester. Corpus must now be favourites to go on to win the title.

A man has confessed to carrying out a brutal attack on an Oxford student.
Kentaro Ikeda, a postgraduate student at Teddy Hall, was attacked and robbed while cycling home from the college. Ikeda, now 27, suffered injuries so serious that he is now in permanent rehabilitative care.

Craig Knowles and Thomas Mack, both 18, had been due to stand trial together accused of robbing and grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as a separate charge of actual bodily harm to Abdul Rehman, an Oxford taxi driver. Knowles changed his plea to guilty at a court hearing on Tuesday. Mack denies all three charges.

The prosecution told the jury at Oxford Crown Court that Mack and Knowles attacked Ikeda at around 1.45am following a night out in Oxford city centre. The victim had been working late in his college library and was cycling home with his rucksack, academic work and laptop when the attack happened. John Price, prosecuting, claimed that Ikeda was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The court heard that Ikeda was stopped on the cycle path and struck with a single blow from his own bicycle lock, fracturing his skull. His possessions and bicycle were then taken from the scene. The rucksack was later found abandoned outside garages near to the defendant’s home. The bicycle was never recovered but the lock was found in the grass nearby, covered in Ikeda’ blood.

The jury were told that Mack, Knowles and two other men had spent the evening in the Red Lion pub before heading out to The Bridge nightclub. There they then were involved in a minor disturbance and left the venue. On the way home the prosecution allege that the men assaulted taxi driver Abdul Rehman. The group split, with Mack and Knowles continuing home together.

According to the prosecution they then turned onto Mesopotamia Walk shortly before Ikeda entered on his bicycle. The attack occurred soon afterwards.

Mr. Price said that Mack and Knowles had been drinking heavily and “were gratuitously looking for trouble.” He added that the pair had boasted of the attack afterwards and that Mack had been seen soon after the attack with a “computer organiser” that fitted the description of a device owned by Ikeda. Mack’s fingerprint was found on the victim’s academic papers which had been dumped nearby.

The court heard that the two youths had sent a series of text messages to friends in the hours following the incident.

In one text, allegedly sent by Mack to his friend James Smith less than an hour after the attack, he wrote “mate, you missed out. We threatened a load of men in The Bridge. I punched a Pakistani man in the back of the head and knocked him out. I gave him an uppercut to his face, he could hardly walk to his taxi. LOL.”

“Then we saw a Chinese man on the way back and beat the shit out of him and robbed his bags and bike.

“Mate, you should have been there. That’s how Marston boys roll.”

Oxfordshire Fire Services is making surprise visits to clubs this week to check their safety procedures. This follows a Cherwell investigation last week revealing not all clubs adhered to rules.

The Station Manager of the Oxfordshire Fire Services has made an unannounced ‘during performance’ inspection of three of the main clubs on Wednesday night. John Nixon started his inspection at 10.30pm and finished at 12.30am.

He said, “I can confirm that I personally went out to conduct a ‘during performance’ inspection of Escape, Kukui and OFS. The main purpose was to find out the staff’s understanding of what they should do when the fire alarm goes off. I spoke to the managers and the staff and it is ongoing.”

Steve Harrison, the Fire Risk Manager for the Oxford City Fire Brigade said his officers had made an initial visit to both Kukui and Escape last Tuesday.

He explained, “The records were as we would expect them to be. We got the assurance and confirmation that before the staff started working that night the managers would confirm that everyone was aware of fire safety training.

There is a Fire and Safety Order which has arranged a full fire audit of both Kukui and Escape. One is programmed for Thursday and the other for Friday. There will be a full fire audit of OFS next week.”

He confirmed the Station Manager’s unannounced inspections of the clubs while they were trading and stated the goal was to question staff on their fire safety training.

He said, “The Station Manager will visit all three clubs, either tonight or tomorrow night, while they are trading and with no prior notice to the clubs. They will have a personal chat with staff to make sure they are aware of fire safety training and so we can confirm for ourselves.”

He added that the fire services routinely inspect a selected number of licensed premises every six weeks under the Nightsafe partnership. He said, “We do on the spot checks to make sure for example the door staff are aware of the procedures and the DJ is aware of what to do if the fire alarm goes off.”

The Nightsafe partnership was launched in October 2004. The partnership includes Oxford City Council, Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Oxford City Primary Health Care Trust. Oxford Nightsafe carries out multi-agency inspections on selected licensed premises.

A fire broke out on the Odeon cinema on George Street last Sunday morning.
The fire is thought to have began when a motor in the projector room caught fire.

Two fire crews were called to the scene in the early hours of Sunday morning. However, cinema staff managed to extinguish the fire in the projection room shortly before the fire-fighters arrived.

No serious damage was sustained to the building, and the cinema was able to open as normal the same day.

Amorous students found themselves under threat at Exeter this week when a motion proposed at a JCR meeting on Sunday recommended that kissing be banned in the JCR.

Welfare Officer Beccy Taylor suggested that demonstrations of affection were isolating for singletons and provoked feelings of loneliness. The change was rejected on the basis that it would trivialize the constitution.

An Exeter student who attended the meeting commented, “I thought the motion was amusing but I don’t think embittered singletons should take their anger out on us JCR members in happy relationships.” 

Scientists have discovered the chemical signal that triggers the transformation of locusts from antisocial insects into monstrous swarms.

Scientists from Oxford University, Cambridge University and Sydney University monitored the behaviour of locusts. They have discovered the trigger is serotonin, a chemical which anti-depressant drugs aim to keep at a high level in humans.

“The question of how locusts transform their behaviour in this way has puzzled scientists for almost 90 years,” said co-author Dr Michael Anstey, from Oxford University, “Now we finally have the evidence to provide an answer.”

A survey conducted by Cherwell has revealed that up to eighty percent of Oxford undergraduates are not aware of the university funding available to them.

One student from St Catherine’s said that the university had “not been very forthcoming” with information on funding available, while another student from Exeter described the application process for certain grants as “amazingly bureaucratic.”

Sixty students from different colleges, years and economic backgrounds took part in the survey. Half of those questioned had received funding from the university, in the form of hardship or travel grants or the Oxford Opportunity Bursary.

Of those who had never been given or applied for any college or university funding, around thirty percent said that this was because of lack of information. A further thirty percent claimed the application process was “confusing,” while the remainder said that they had never needed financial help.

Over half of the respondents claimed to know the funding available for them at their college, but only twenty percent of those questioned could name any of the funds, or knew specifically what they were for.

A student at Jesus said: “I know there is somewhere to get money from.” When shown a list of the thirteen separate grants at the college, which fund academic and non-academic travel as well as sports and music, he said he was “amazed.”

“I have never seen these before,” he said.

Another of the students questioned said that they had received a £500 travel grant, but was “not sure of the title” of the fund.

Sixteen of those surveyed received the Oxford Opportunity Bursary, which gives students up to £3,145 pounds a year depending on their household income. Of this, only five were aware that they were entitled to apply for an ‘Enhanced Bursary’ which offers students up to an extra £1000 a year.

“I wasn’t made aware,” said one Wadham undergraduate, although he admitted that missing out on the bonus may have been his own fault. “I can’t work out why [I have never heard of this]…whether it was just me being unobservant of emails in my account,” he added.

The £1000 top up is sponsored by multinational companies such as Citi Foundation, IBM and Man Group.

Sixty percent of all the students questioned said they had not been emailed or informed of the grants by their colleges, but had had to research them themselves.

An Exeter undergraduate spoke about how he was put off applying for a travel grant which is be given to students to fund a trip round the world, meeting college alumni as they travel.

“There’s a very slim chance of getting it and you have to spend literally hours writing a plan of exactly where you’re going to go,” he said. “You don’t know where these alumni live so you may find out later that your plan isn’t even possible.

He added that the additional bureaucracy surrounding the application “put me off completely.”

The unwillingness to fully research and prepare applications for grants was described as “lazy” by another student, who asked not to be named.

“We are so privileged in Oxford with all the opportunities for travel we are given, and all these hardship grants on offer. It’s just lazy when people think they’re too complicated to find out about or apply for,” he said.

Other students, though, praised the way the university advertised the funding available. “All our grants are widely publicised,” said the St John’s student.

The student also admitted that she and other students received grants they did not need. “My parents own a company abroad,” she said, but explained that only their UK income was entered into consideration for the Oxford opportunity bursary. “This means that I get the get the full government loan, the full government grant and the bursary from Oxford [worth £3,145 a year].”

“In lower-sixth I went to a boarding school,” she added. “There’s also a Hilary Book Grant which gives St John’s students up to £292 pounds if they present the receipts for books they’ve bought. Everybody knows about it.”

She said that it was important such grants were available and widely advertised as it meant Oxford students, who are not allowed to work in term-time, could get some extra money. “We’re not allowed to work so we have to supplement [our income] somehow,” she said.

Another of the respondents to the survey said they were grateful for the grants available but claimed they were badly advertised. “I know a lot of people who would not be able to travel if they couldn’t get these grants,” they said. “But they need to be openly advertised.”

Oxford University U21 rugby team attended a cultural diversity course last week, following investigations into their infamous “Bring a fit Jew” and “Safari” themed socials.

Members of the team sparked outrage after players were told to bring a “fit” Jewish woman to a team dinner last term. The following week, pictures emerged of some of the same team blacked-up and wearing loincloths at an Africa-themed bop.

After proctors’ investigations, the U21s attended a three hour-long seminar-style session at St Anne’s college last Thursday lead by the University’s Diversity and Equality unit.

“We basically just had a talk,” said one of the players, who had attended the allegedly racist and anti-Semitic socials.

“There was a woman who told us how she felt she had been discriminated against in the past, and how the people who did it to her didn’t even realise it was discrimination.”

Another squad member said he believed that the team had benefited from the course, “I think we all learnt something.”

“I understand from the members of the team present that the evening was successful,” said Steve Hill, director of the Oxford University Rugby Football club.

He praised the proctor’s decision to send the squad on the course, saying, “it was definitely worthwhile.”

All members of the squad that played at Twickenham for the Varsity match last year were obliged to attend, whether or not they were present at the socials in question.

However, some students have questioned why the training was necessary. One Wadham undergraduate said, “as a member of an ethnic minority, I find it ridiculous that twenty-one year olds at Oxford University need to be told what discrimination means.”

But she conceded that the exercise would have been worthwhile if it meant an end to potentially offensive behaviour from the squad. “It’s great if they felt they have learnt something,” she said.

But others have raised concerns that the seminar could become a badge of honour for the team. One LMH finalist said, “I think a cultural diversity lesson will just make the team think that their behaviour is even more of a joke – it will probably just become a legendary event for them to boast about.”

She added, “the team should learn about anti-Semitism in history.”