A fund has been set up for Kentaro Ikeda, an Oxford University student who was brutally assaulted last summer.

The collection was initiated by Mary Clarkson, Oxford’s new Lord Mayor. She said the fund will be put to uses that will strive to improve Ikeda’s quality of life and ease the burden of medical costs faced by his family.

Clarkson said the Ikeda family invested a substantial portion of their savings in their son’s education at Oxford, and are consequently ill-equipped to deal with the costs of on-going treatment.

Although planning is still in its early stages, Clarkson hopes to raise money by holding an event in Town Hall and securing sponsorship.

Friends and acquantances of Ikeda expressed approval of the plan. “I totally support the idea of a fund,” said Chern Oon, a postgraduate student at Merton College. “Kentaro does not deserve to be in the condition he is in right now; we can only help him and support him in any way we can. I am sure the knowledge that he has the support of family, friends, and the Mayor will help him remain optimistic and hopeful.”

As the former ward councilor for Marston, Clarkson felt a special responsibility to the student, who was attacked in Marston by town residents. “It happened in Oxford, in my patch”, she said.

She reported that Ikeda remains in a rehabilitation centre and his widowed mother has had to leave her teaching job to care for him.

Clarkson said many of her constituents had also felt shocked by the attack.

“The local community was just appalled,” she said. “People in Marston got in touch with Kentaro and sent him cards.”

She added that a local Japanese family had initially suggested the idea of a fund a way to channel this sympathy.

Clarkson stated that Peter and Mieko Galpin, the owners of the restaurant Edamame on Hollywell Street, brought the former St. Edmund Hall student’s plight to her attention. Through their connections with the Japanese community, the Galpins established contact with Ikeda’s mother and brothers and sent Clarkson an email, prompting the idea for the fund.

“Traditionally the Lord Mayor chooses a couple of charities to support during the year,” she explained, “and this was one that was close to my heart.”

Kentaro Ikeda came to the University in November 2007 to read for a Masters degree in Educational Studies at St. Edmund’s Hall. He was assailed by two teenagers while cycling home from the Teddy Hall library along Mesopotamia Walk in the early hours of the morning.

The two pulled Ikeda from his bike, bludgeoned him with his bike lock and stole his rucksack, bike and laptop. Knowles and Mack, both 18, were sentenced in February to a total of sixteen years in jail for robbery and grievous bodily harm.

Ikeda, who was discovered unconscious by passers-by, was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital where he underwent four emergency surgeries. He remained in critical condition for weeks before being airlifted to Japan.

Oon, who was at the Radcliffe Hospital following the attack and met Ikeda’s mother there, described the situation as a “nightmare”.

“When we finally got to visit him, tears rolled down my cheeks,” she recounted “seeing his condition: unconscious, his bright future dimming out.”

Despite her faith that Mrs. Ikeda would “overcome the odds” to care for her son, Oon noted that “the fund would be very helpful for the family, for a mother who has given up her profession.”

Asked if she sensed that the local community felt somehow responsible for what had happened to Ikeda, Clarkson responded, “In terms of the sense of guilt, it’s people out in the suburbs, in the town part of the city, that feel that.”

Ultimately, Clarkson said she hoped that the fund will heal rather than highlight any tensions that may have arisen as a result of the incident.
“I would like to think that the University and the town can come together on this and do what’s best for Kentaro and his family. If it brings University and town together, so much the better.”

A group of student protesters marched through Oxford streets last Monday, demanding climate action both within the University and throughout the country.

Cycling under the joint banners of Climate Rush and OUSU’s Environment and Ethics (E&E) Committee, the students were dressed as suffragettes and chanted “Deeds not words”.

The choice of a bike-mounted protest was to criticise the government’s decision in promoting electric cars as a green solution and their proposals for four new coal fired power stations.

Jake Colman, a member of the E&E committee, praised the demonstration, saying “Bikes, drumming, chanting and saving the planet – I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon!”

The protests began in Wellington Square, with the protesters demanding that the Vice-Chancellor employs Sustainability Officer, a position which has been unadvertised for the past six months. They also wanted the University to follow a year-on-year emissions goals in order to meet a 20% reduction by 2020.

Julia Koskella, chair of the E&E committee said, “We are asking for concrete, achievable changes in the University and town. The suffragette costumes are drawing a lot of support for our campaign – it’s a positive, engaging stunt.”

After riding around the city centre, the Climate Rushers finished on Cornmarket Street to highlight the energy wastage of High Street shops which leave their lights on at night.

The protesters had sent letters to each of the shops which had left their wares well-lit the night before. They asked the shop managers to “Switch Off Climate Change”, by saving energy through switching off their lights at closing time.

Two shops responded, Pret à Manger and Snappy Snaps, and these were awarded with Certificates of Appreciation. Those shops which did not heed the protester’s requests were given Certificates of Disapproval.

Lighting accounts for 20% of the UK’s electrical energy usage. That’s
equivalent to 10 coal fired power stations, or about 73 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Lucie Kinchin, a 2nd-year Pembroke student involved in organising the protests, said she was appalled by the actions of shops who had decided not to switch off. “Lighting that advertises products to empty streets at four o’clock in the
morning is not only completely unnecessary, but totally irresponsible in the
face of catastrophic climate change. These companies need to switch off.”

“Since climate change is happening now, positive change must
happen now.”

One passer-by commented, “The certificates are a great idea! It’s a really good action, as it’s achievable and fun. Using humiliation and ridicule to get stuff done is very effective.”

The University spokesperson commented on the protests, “The University upholds anyone’s right to protest, as long as that protest is carried out peacefully and within the law.”

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Britons have less freedom and privacy than East Germans did twenty years ago, according to an Oxford University Professor.

Professor Garton Ash warned that civil liberties in the UK had been eroded to the extent that those who lived under Communist rule in the 1980s were “more free” than we are.

“People have to fight back on that front and on others to claw back some of the freedoms we have lost,” he said.

He backed the idea of a written constitution for Britain and asserted the need for separation of powers and the importance of people to “mobilise for change”.

Derek Walcott has been offered the position of Scholar in Residence by the University of Alberta, after withdrawing from Oxford’s Professor of Poetry elections amidst allegations of sexual harassment.

He will teach intensive poetry courses and act as a mentor to staff and students.

Alberta University provost Carl Amrhein said it was an “easy decision” to appoint a “Nobel laureate who wants to work with undergraduate students.”

Oxford English Professor Elleke Boehmer commented, “You can’t reduce poetry to a character contest.”

Walcott plans to take up the three-year post in Canada from this autumn.

The benefits of long-term use of aspirin for healthy people do not outweigh the risks, researchers at Oxford University have concluded.

While aspirin reduces the risk of a non-fatal heart attack, it also increases the probability of strokes in healthy people. This is not the case for those who have cardio-vascular problems, for whom taking aspirin is beneficial.

The authors of the study concluded, “Aspirin is of clear benefit for people who already have cardiovascular disease, but the latest research does not seem to justify general guidelines advocating the routine use of aspirin in all healthy individuals above a moderate level of risk for coronary heart disease.”

Christ Church JCR has voted in favour of a proposition to “baptise” new JCR Presidents.

The motion, proposed by Tom Morris, stipulated that “Every new JCR president has to be baptised in Mercury at the start of the term in which they take office.” Mercury is the iconic college fountain in Tom Quad.

The baptism would involve “a dunking in the ceremonial font or, at the very least, a bucket of aforementioned font water being poured on their head.” They added, “The ceremony should be done as publicly as possible.”

The current JCR president, Alan Howard-Rimmer, will not be dunked; he pointed out, “this will go ahead well after my tenure has come to an end.”

Humans can hear shapes and sizes and taste words, Oxford University researchers have found.

The blending of sensory perceptions, known as synaesthesia, was previously thought to affect less than 1% of the population. Synaesthesia usually involves the stimulus of one sense leading to an involuntary sensory experience in another.

However, after finding that people associate certain foods and shapes with particular words, Professor Charles Spence has argued that we are all “synaesthetes” up to a point.

Spence has been working with a high-profile French chef to create new recipes that combine an auditory experience with eating.