Mess left in a student kitchen in Pembroke was so appalling that the scout cleaning it was “physically sick.”

The state of the kitchen, described by the Home Bursar as a “squid and seafood extravaganza,” was caused by students cooking over the weekend.

Lauren Clark-Hughes, a Pembroke student said, “they left a horrible mess. There is a difference between a little bit of mess and this.” Another student mentioned the “fish guts” that were left lying around after the dinner.

Dr Bowyer, Pembroke’s Home Bursar urged the guilty students to admit to the mess.  He wrote in an email to the JCR, “until such time as those responsible come forward and take responsibility for the cleaning, or until I decide otherwise, the kitchen will remain closed.”

The students pleaded guilty only after Dr Bowyer threatened to examine the CCTV footage and button-key logs. The kitchens were reopened after two days. 

The Home Bursar stated, “I am pleased to report that someone has accepted responsibility for the mess in staircase 10 and I am satisfied that it was a matter of thoughtlessness not malice…I hope ‘fish-gate’ is now behind us!”

He added, “it was unfortunate that people had left the college and the kitchens in a mess.” The students were fined with an additional cleaning charge. 

College authorities suggested that the culprits may be students living out of college. An e-mail sent to the JCR mailing list stated, “as of now, let me also make clear that the kitchens on main site are solely for the use of main site residents and are not to be used by others. I shall advise porters and junior deans accordingly.”

If no one had stepped forward, a fine was to be imposed on the JCR. A Pembroke first year described this prospect as “not fantastic.” She added, “I hope the people guilty come forward… it might have been second years who are not supposed to use our kitchens.”

Caroline Daly, JCR President, commented “the mess left in staircase ten was an unfortunate incident which has now been dealt with by the Home Bursar. I am satisfied that no malice was involved in the situation and the students concerned have apologized.”

A divisive OUSU motion to condemn Israel’s recent attack on Gaza has continued to split JCRs this week, despite the fact that they will have to vote on it this Friday.

The motion would require the Student Union to condemn the Israeli attack and write letters in support of the ceasefire to Foreign Secretary David Milliband and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni.

OUSU reps must get a mandate from their colleges before voting on the issue at this Friday’s Council.

Fierce debate broke out at JCR meetings across Oxford, many only settling the issue after lengthy and heated discussion.

Although St John’s College voted to endorse the motion, it met widespread opposition elsewhere, as St Anne’s, Magdalen and St Peter’s all voted it down.

St Catherine’s even mandated its reps to vote against any political motion raised by OUSU. Balliol remains undecided, and has instigated an online poll to settle the issue.

St John’s students argued through a long and sometimes bitter debate, passing the motion only with amendments which criticised Israel for breaking a ceasefire with Hamas. They also called for an international war crimes investigation into the conflict.

A St John’s undergraduate said that the meeting had been “thoughtful, positive and very well-attended.”

The JCR also decided to donate £500 to the Disasters and Emergencies Committee’s aid work in Gaza and to ask the University for a scholarship for Palestinian students.

OUSU’s right to take a stance on international issues was challenged by students opposed to the motion.

JCR members at St Anne’s voted against it after speeches urging the Student Union to focus on student welfare rather than political issues.

One St Anne’s student raised concerns that steps had not been taken to ensure that representatives would know how the JCR wanted them to act if new amendments or motions on the topic were brought up. They said “it’s about how the OUSU rep interprets it, and I’m not sure that’s fair.”

At St Peter’s many also opposed the substance of the motion. One remarked, “we all agreed that the OUSU motion as it stands is very unbalanced and even with all the amendments it doesn’t send a clear balanced call to Hamas and Israel to both cease aggression.”

Like St Anne’s, many students at Peter’s felt it was not appropriate for a student union to pass political motions. Peter’s reps were instructed to make any motion at council as fair and balanced as possible at the amendment stage, but to ultimately vote against it.

An especially long and divisive struggle in Balliol JCR ended without any firm conclusion. Students voted to leave the choice of which way to vote this Friday to their OUSU reps. But the reps shrugged off the responsibility, subsequently deciding to poll the JCR by email to decide the matter.

Balliol affiliates rep Yuan Yang said, “the fairest way to deal with controversial issues is to publicise them in some way at a JCR.” She agreed with Balliol’s JCR President Iain Large that “1 hour 40 minutes of often misled debating at a GM was not a useful way forward.”

She defended the email poll saying, “it extends the effective franchise to everyone in Balliol, including those who couldn’t attend the GM, gives them several days to consider their opinions, and also has options for people to add on additional comments or criteria for their vote.”

The poll gave a choice of four responses allowing Balliol students to vote for opposing the motion, abstaining, passing the motion but apportioning equal blame to Hamas, or condeming Israel outright. Yang said that there had been 70 responses in the first day of voting.

Not everyone appears to be taking the issue with complete seriousness, however. One suggested JCR amendment to the motion mocked OUSU President Lewis Iwu, who was recently criticised for giving advice to Barack Obama in an online BBC video.

It suggested he “write to the President of the United States of America, Barak Obama, outlining his advice upon the conflict in Gaza and any other matters that might be troubling the United States at present.”

This week’s JCR uproar followed similar debate last week in which Wadham passed the motion last week, but Jesus College decided to abstain, and Hertford foreshadowed St Catz’s move against all politcal motions.

Wadham College has been hit by a spate of thefts this week, with over £1,000 worth of goods stolen from students.

One finalist had his camera, mp3 player and sunglasses taken from his room on the 28th of January.

The door to his first floor room was locked, leading police to conclude that the thief must have entered through an unlatched window, accessible from a nearby ledge.

But he said that the burglar had only taken items from one particular drawer, leaving him puzzled and unaware of the theft for some time.

He said, “they left the rest of the room completely untouched and there were no signs that anyone had been in there.

“I reported it to the college and one of porters called me later to check on details but apart from that I haven’t heard anything.”

He was critical of college security, suggesting that, “a little bit of maintenance needs to be done” to improve it.

A second year English student had her mobile stolen on 29th January. She said, “I spoke to the Dean, the porters and the police. The Dean was at first rather blasé, saying these things happen and students have to look after their property.

“The head porter called me into his office yesterday though, sat me down, and wrote down a statement from me, word for word. It took bloody ages but it was worth it. It was automatically sent to the police for me.”

Another student, Victoria Lupton, had her laptop stolen from the college library at lunchtime on 26th January.

She admitted that people could be careless when leaving equipment around college saying, “people in Wadham are very lax about their possessions because everyone’s so trusting.

“You have to use a Bod card to get into the library and there’s a lot of people around so people are happy to leave their laptops there. But it’s really easy to get into the college and the library by following someone.”

She suggested that attitudes were changing but criticised the official response to her theft, “people are getting a lot more conscious about security, especially with their laptops. But the police weren’t very proactive; they didn’t even come and talk to me about it.”

The college librarian has since sent an email to all students warning them not to leave their laptops unattended.

The second year added, “the library staff now go round the library at regular intervals and note unattended laptops. They found nine the other day and put notes on them to warn the owners not to leave them. They are also investigating other ways to keep them safe.”

Another student had her laptop and digital camera stolen from her room on the evening of the 1st of February.

The student in question had left her room door unlocked and return to find her possessions had vanished.

One first year linguist suggested that members of Wadham were too trusting, “people will often hold the door open for people they don’t know. The other day I gave a
staircase code to someone I’d never met before – they looked like a student but
in retrospect it was a silly thing to do.

Wadham is a large college with lots of students living out, so it’s impossible to be able to recognise everyone. You don’t want to shut the door in someone’s face because it’s rude and they almost certainly have the right to be there – but sometimes they don’t.”

The second year stressed the need for caution, “everyone thinks we are in a nice little bubble but we are in the middle of the city with a high crime rate. Anyone can walk into college.”

Thames Valley Police are cooperating with college authorities as part of their investigation. But they urged students to stay aware of dangers, lock doors and windows and be vigilant on behalf of others.

College authorities are studying CCTV footage in the hope of identifying the burglars. The police are also investigating the incidents.

The college declined to comment on the burglaries or their security arrangements.

Pembroke College is facing financial crisis following revelations that the college is currently owed £200,000 from unpaid battels bills.

At last week’s finance and general planning meeting, the true shortage left by late battel payments was revealed. It was decided that more punitive measures need to be put in place to draw in debts.

Despite the college rule that demands battels be paid on time, many students have managed to avoid paying their battels. Some students have admitted their backlog of payment totals thousands of pounds.

One Pembroke student commented that he had managed to avoid paying his battels for two terms, accumulating a debt of £3,500 to the college. During this period of non-payment he stated that he had received no punishment from the college, or even regular reminders.

Another student admitted to having not paid his battels for the whole of his first year. He said,

“I just completely forgot about it. If letters were sent then they certainly were not threatening enough.”

Adam Alagiah, a third year Pembroke student commented on the failure of college to ensure prompt payment from students, stating that it created a feeling of complacency amongst the students. He explained, “there is simply no incentive to pay battels on time. Nothing happens if you don’t pay.”

Freddie Krespie, a Pembroke student who is currently living out of college agreed, saying “the college doesn’t really seem to bat an eyelid.”

Currently, all students at Pembroke who owe more than £1000 can be fined for late payment.

However, in light of the £200,000 deficit, the finance and general planning committee have decided that this threshold should be lowered so that students with smaller battels to pay are encouraged to do so on time or else receive a fine.

More drastic punishments are also to be considered for those who continually fail to pay. The college has suggested that these could include being banned from living in college accommodation or being refused permission to continue their course.

Pembroke bursar, John Church, emphasised that treatment of those who could pay but refused, and those who could not afford to pay ought to be markedly different. He stated,

“it should be stressed that at all times I and the College Finance team remain alert to issues of hardship and allow extended periods for repayment where reasonably justified in the circumstances.

“In those cases penalty charges are not levied. In some of those cases the students concerned have received a hardship award”

But one student who fails to pay his battels on time has said that not paying is a result of the college’s “grossly expensive” rents.

Currently at Pembroke, room rents range from £2352.00 to £4191.03 per annum. The student explained that, “by the time I had spent money on holiday, I didn’t have enough left to pay my battels.”

At no other college have unpaid battels amounted to such a quantity.

At St Catherine’s College, Bursar James Bennett estimated that unpaid student bills amounted to £4,000.

Christopher Wigg, Bursar of St Anne’s College, estimated a similar figure. He also commented that a debt of £200,000 could not be withstood by any college.

He said, “given that for colleges, battels are often the main source of income, a higher default rate simply couldn’t be afforded.”

He commented that for the sum of unpaid battels to exceed even £10,000 would be “very surprising”.

University members were surprised that the amount should be so large. Freddie Krespie estimated that at most, there might be £20,000 worth of unpaid battels.

However, despite the increased stress on a tighting of punishments, students have remained sceptical about the College’s ability to enforce punishment.

Krispin commented that the college was justified in in removing a student from their course if they were able to pay their battels, but simply refused to do so.

But he said that this was more of a threat than a likelihood. Another Pembroke student echoed this statement, arguing that it was common knowledge that “getting chucked out of Oxford is far harder than getting into Oxford.”

Christ Church authorities have this week lost their battle to have a kebab seller relocated away from college, to the delight of the JCR.

College authorities have complained that the smell of the food form he van, known as ‘posh nosh’, distracted students trying to work and sleep, as well as being unpleasant for visitors to the college.

They also claimed that it attracted drunkards to the college entrance who made too much noise and littered the area on the gateway to the college, adding that some students had been attacked at the van.

The college authorities requested that the City Council ban the owner of “posh nosh”, Saeid Keshmiri, from obtaining a license unless he agreed to move his van further down the road and distance himself from the entrance to the college.

Heamn Hassan, an employee of Saeid Keshmiri who works at Posh Nosh stated that he was “very pleased” that the kebab van had been allowed to stay, but spoke of his unhappiness at having his right to serve outside the college questioned. He said:

“I was not very happy. After it happened, many students came by every night and asked us not to move away from college. They said that we are part of the college here. I feel part of the life and college too.”

Saeid Keshmiri has also stated that he enjoys working outside Christ Church. He admitted that the drunkards that visited the van had caused problems and acknowledged that litter was generated around the van.

However, he stated that such anti-social behaviour was generated by those who hung around the bus stop, and not specifically by those who visited his van.
Christ Church students have spoken out to defend the van’s presence outside the college, stating it to be a fundamental part of their time at university.

One a third year student at Christ Church, claimed that the kebab van constitutes an important part of student life.

He said, “Posh Nosh is very much seen as a tradition amongst the college’s undergraduate population, as much of a feature of college as life as, for example, Mercury Foutain. And it’s a damn sight more useful.

Many of us are fed up of the college authorities doing things without taking our wishes into account, so I say hurrah for something happening that reflects our enjoyment.”

Past students have also defended the van’s right to stay. Ex-JCR President Garth Smith who graduated last year reminisced about the college’s role in day to day life.

He said, “when I was there, everyone used it and was grateful that it was there. I never heard any complaints at all, about the smell or otherwise. I knew students who lived in rooms that were right next to the van, but no one ever complained that the van shouldn’t be there.”

Whilst the Council authorities have not forced Keshmiri to relocate, they have nevertheless suggested that he moves his van elsewhere in future to avoid further controversy within the city. He has moved 200 yards further down the road in a compromise agreement.

An Oxford University spokesman said, “the van is outside the college seven nights a week and the smell lingers on long after it has left for the night.

“A number of staff have raised concerns over whether it is suitable for students to work best in such conditions.

“We encourage students to eat healthily but the issue with Sid’s Kitchen has nothing to do with that. The college is concerned with students having the best possible environment for study.”