The election for the post of Oxford’s Professor of Poetry has started today amid calls from students and academics for candidates to withdraw.

Eloise Stonborough, the secretary of the Oxford University Poetry Society, wrote a letter to The Times asking Ruth Padel and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra to withdraw. The letter was signed by twelve Oxford academics.

“We believe the election for the new professor of poetry should not continue,” it stated, “and that the current candidates should withdraw from the race and allow nominations to be re-opened.”

The letter went on to say that if other candidates continue to run for the post, the reputation of the position will be damaged.

Stonborough explained, “The candidates will be acting more honourably if they withdraw. Then the race will be on fair, honourable grounds.

“Derek Walcott dropped out too close to the date of the race to allow for the re-evaluation of the position.”

She decided to write the letter after Thursday’s poetry society event, where people evaluated the candidates. “It ended up being a question of why people are still running in the light of one candidate dropping out in light of the smear campaign”, she said.

A C Grayling, an Oxford academic who nominated Padel for the post, has also urged her to withdraw.

He wrote in The Guardian, “In my view, the fact that Walcott was forced to withdraw, and the manner in which his withdrawal was forced, makes the election void. It is no longer a real contest. As a result I wrote to the candidate I nominated, Ruth Padel, and suggested that she and Arvind Mehrotra also withdraw in protest against those who had disrupted the election by discrediting Walcott on grounds other than his stature as a poet.”

He added, “My concern is with what should be the central fact here: that the election for professor of poetry at Oxford is about poetry, not morals.”

Pedro Ferreira, the campaigner manager of Ruth Padel, said the poet will not withdraw from the race. “No I don’t think she will withdraw. She had received countless letters, e-mails and phone calls asking her to stay in the race.”

An Oxford University spokesman confirmed that the election will be going ahead as planned, with results expected after 5.30pm. “Last time, 500 people voted so we’re expecting more than that,” he said.

The voting will take place between 10am and 4pm in the Examination Schools. All who graduated from Oxford University are eligible to vote.

A group of Christ Church boys were outraged at the behaviour of the Balliol porters and the Domestic Bursar who refused to readmit them to the ball, after they accidentally wandered out of the college.

Skomantas Pocius, Tom Morris, Tobi Neumann and another student decided to explore Balliol college grounds. They went through an open door and up a staircase leading onto a balcony. However, they failed to make sure the door didn’t shut behind them and were stuck on the balcony.

As no one could hear their calls for help, two of the boys climbed down the pipe, only to realise they landed on the grounds of Trinity college. Having explained the situation to Balliol porters, the students were reassured that once the porters had released the other boys, they would all be able to enter the ball. However, the porter refused to keep his promise later on.

Skomantas Pocius commented, “Not only did they break their word when saying that they would let us all back in, but also gave no explanation whatsoever why they threw out my two friends who were still inside college.”

He explained that the porters had shouted at them and refused to let them explain the situation.

He said, “Firstly, the porters slammed the door in our faces a few times, before I managed to speak to one of them. Secondly, the head porter who threw my friends out was extremely unpleasant and rude – he kept on shouting and yelling at us. Also, none of them even attempted to levelheadedly explain the situation or talk to us. Thus, their behaviour, and especially that of the head porter, was in my mind quite unacceptable especially seeing that we were paid guests of the ball.”

Tom Morris added, “the fact that the porters lied was utterly disgraceful. If porters expect respect, they should behave in a manner that deserves it, not act like angry school-children.”

Pocius, who has received the backing of Christ Church’s college junior censor, explained that he wanted to make sure that students have some channel through which to voice their complaints about mistreatment.

He said, “Ultimately, I want to make sure that the college staff will realise that they can’t get away easily with whatever they do, and that they apologise if that is deemed appropriate , which it in my mind is.”

Pocius was also ‘disappointed’ by OUSU, who failed to reply after he contacted them regarding his mistreatment.

He said, “You can often hear people complaining that OUSU doesn’t have much of a role in the lives of Oxford students, and I would imagine that especially in a case like this OUSU could try to make an effort.”

The matter is being looked into by Balliol’s JCR President, who declined to comment as the affair is still under investigation.

Balliol porters refused to comment on the matter.

Balliol College’s summer ball has been described as a “failure”, after the committee was flooded with furious complaints about the event.
Scores of students were angry about the shortage of food and drink, the unhelpful behaviour of staff at the ball and the poor quality of entertainment.
Tom Morris, a Christ Church student who wrote a letter of complaint, claimed that food ran out at 10.30pm and the alcohol at 12am.
He said, “Alcohol and food running out at any event (let alone a ball for which the guests have paid £70) is always a complete disappointment. If Balliol had any sense of shame, they would apologise for hosting a complete embarrassment of a ball.”
Another first year, Freddie Mason expressed anger about the alcohol running out by 12am. He compared the ball to the Cardinals’ Cocktails where for £13 students can drink as much as they want, whereas the Balliol ball “couldn’t provide a bottle’s worth of vodka.”
Mason also complained about the behaviour of the ball committee, whose members were unhelpful when asked about the lack of alcohol. He commented, “Committee members were off their faces, I couldn’t get any information from them.”
He said he had written a letter of complaint to the ball committee and that he had heard students from Magdalen were going to do the same. He added, “I’m really angry, I paid £70 and received essentially nothing for it, it’s really bad.”
Several students have also complained that the ball failed to provide the shisha den and the absinthe bar, which it had advertised as part of its entertainment.
Others have complained about the silent disco and the huge queues for it. Delays are thought to have been caused by a time consuming system requiring students to hand in their Bod cards to obtain headphones. Attendees then had to queue to retrieve their cards when leaving to get a drink or to go to the toilet.
However, some enjoyed the Ball. Katy Theobald, a Balliol student said, “I felt the license for alcohol running out at 1am was unfortunate but since the committee couldn’t control that it can’t be held against them. Until then I always found drinks were available.”
James Balfour, the co-President of the ball, denied allegations that the food and drink ran out by 10.30pm.
“Neither the food nor drink ran out at 10.30, in fact our caterers did not begin to serve the hog roast and Patisserie Valerie desserts until 10.30 specifically in order to stagger the food”, he said.
“We were legally required to stop serving alcohol at 1am as that is when our temporary event license was due to expire; the alcohol was served up until 12.45 when we began to phase it out in order to meet that deadline.”
Balfour added, “The vast majority of guests at the Balliol ball seem to have enjoyed themselves thoroughly and we have had many congratulatory emails and messages to that effect.”

Careers advisors at the Oxford University Careers Service have strongly criticised draft plans to transform the service, labelling the proposals “a disgrace”.

The plans, circulated to prominent members of the University, would aim to engage more students by drastically cutting the number of people receiving personal interviews with staff.

Over a third of students who use the service currently have one-to-one 45-minute discussions sessions – a privilege that will be available to only 3% if the changes, as currently drafted, come into force. Instead, careers advisors will organise spontaneous 5-minute drop-in clinics and one-to-many, group activities.

Some members of staff have expressed concern that the plans would threaten the quality of the service. One advisor said, “The document issued by the Director is a disgrace. Not only does it offer ridiculous proposals for the future, but it seriously misrepresents what the Careers Service does currently, and has done in the recent past.”

Another member of staff commented, “Many in the careers service have concerns, peculiarly over whether the increased quantity will not compromise quality.”

The document was drafted by the Careers Service Director, Jonathan Black, who has come under fire for the troubled rollout of the new OUCS website, as well as declining use of the careers service during his directorship.

Black vigorously defended the new proposals, stating that it is crucial for the service to increase involvement. He said, “We want to improve quality and quantity… It is unusual for people to go to the service. We have to go to you – to your college to your department.”

He added, “A successful example of our work is Oxford students consultancy programme – it’s a real experience. It’s an example of a programme we’ve launched and we have given a value added service.”

The document denies that the suggested changes are an exercise in cost-cutting. It states, “while the plans are projected to reduce the operating costs of the Service, it is worth emphasising that the key driver of this plan has been raising engagement levels, not reducing costs.”

The new model would not only reduce one-to-one contact, but also decentralise the service, with more events taking place in colleges and departments. This is in order to “increase the perceived value added to a much higher proportion of the student audience”.

Some college head have expressed support for the suggestions. Sir Michael Scholar, the head of St John’s college stated, “I think it is a good idea to involve colleges more. There still will be a centrally located venue.”

Peter Oppenheimer, a fellow at Christ Church commented, “If they have a plan for the reducing the number of jobs, then that in itself is a good thing with the university’s current financial situation.”

Some careers advisors also expressed concerns that the statistics included in the plans have been selectively chosen and misrepresent the service’s current status.

The document mentions that Oxford came 26th place in the High Fliers Survey in terms of levels of engagement. Yet, it fails to mention that it came 6th in the same survey in terms of student satisfaction.

Tim Wise, Research Director at High Fliers pointed out that to suggest that Oxford is 26th without any context is “somewhat misleading.”

“The right people go to the Universities service and they rate it very highly. To my mind, the Oxford careers service is very effective.”

Some have also suggested that the careers survey mentioned in the document has not been representative as only 3% of the student body was surveyed.

Black denied these allegations stating, “These statistics were checked by the Department of Statistics. Only 6% of students came in Michaelmas Term 2008 for one-to-one consultations.”

Black has been criticised by staff members over OUCS’s new website, as well as claims that use of the service has declined during his appointment.

One careers advisor said, “The Director also insisted on the rushed introduction of a new web and IT system which has been a serious failure, offering much reduced functionality and which is exceptionally user unfriendly – with far fewer students now making use of our website than prior to its “upgrading” in January 2009.

“The reduced usage of the website, and its lack of integration into other careers service activities has also contributed to lower physical usage of the Careers Service over the past four months.”

The director confirmed that use of the service has dropped recently. He refused to comment on website figures, but said that 50% of students have registered with the online service.

Lewis Iwu, OUSU president said, “OUSU is always committed to ensuring that the University delivers useful, meaningful and tailored services to its students and this will be reflected when I give formal feedback to the Careers Service on this issue.”

The new proposals have been met with scepticism by some students. One Physics postgraduate said, “I don’t really see the colleges as being different enough to warrant bespoke careers guidance, to be honest. This new college representatives idea would doubtless cost quite a lot but, as I see it, have relatively small gains.”

The Said Business School has come under fire for controversial appointments to an advisory board on corporate reputation.

The new hires include Douglas Daft, a former CEO of Coca-Cola company accused by campaigners of deliberately ignoring the murders of unionists in Colombia.

Oxford Amnesty International vice-president Ruth Simister accused the Said Business School of being “founded upon investments in the arm trade, having been donated £63 million by Wafic Said, and it looks like the School is set to further its links with individuals embroiled in violations of human rights.” She added that the school’s decision to appoint Daft “sends out a message that the University does not take the abuse of human rights seriously and is willing to support those involved not just in such abuses but in their silencing.”

John Tiner, the former director of the Financial Services Authority, has also been appointed. He is infamous for his support of ‘principles based regulation’, which many believe led the FSA to take an irresponsible approach to banking supervision.

Another new appointment to the board is Andy Hornby, ex-chief executive of HBOS plc. Hornby was widely criticised for his leadership of the bank, which lead to the emergency rescue deal with Lloyds TSB in January.

Both men were included in the Guardian’s ‘twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown’, published this January.

The appointments have been met with resigned cynicism by some students. One first year politics student commented, “If the Said Business School thinks that Andy Hornby and John Tiner are qualified to advise on reputation, then I can only laugh.”

OULC President Jacob Turner, however, expressed more serious concerns. “The phrase “Corporate Reputation” might be a contradiction in terms these days, but the least they could have done might be to select someone who is not a bastion of exploitative capitalism.”

Rupert Younger, Director of the Centre for Corporate Reputation, defended the choices, saying, “Those invited [to the board] are committed to co-operation with academia to help further the understanding of reputation creation, maintenance, destruction and rehabilitation within corporations.

Also important is their contribution to Oxford’s Executive Education and so we selected those who would bring a valuable perspective to the education programmes we are offering.”

The Centre was established in January 2008 to promote “a better understanding of the way in which the reputation of corporations and institutions around the world are created, enhanced, and protected.”

The members of the Global Advisory Board are appointed by the centre, and serve for a period of 5 years. They are selected from a wide pool of corporate experience, and the School proudly comments that the Board includes, “very senior executives who are internationally recognised in their fields from industry, the professions, journalism, the Civil Service, regulators and from the third sector.”

The reaction from students involved in business has been supportive. Jordan Poulton, President-elect of Oxford Entrepreneurs said that he trusted the decision of the school, stating that Mr Hornby and Mr Tiner had previously had successful careers. He added that the criticism that Hornby had received “may indeed make him more qualified to sit on an advisory board for a centre focused on Corporate Reputation, since he will have experience of how easy corporate reputations are to damage, and one mustn’t underestimate the educational benefits that mistakes can bring.”

Many students agreed that advice on corporate reputation may be more valuable coming from those who have seen how easily reputations can be damaged. One Magdalen first-year commented that those appointed “know more than anyone about the difficulties that can be faced by firms in maintaining corporate reputation under challenging circumstances.”

The Said Business School, set up in 1996, is not a stranger to controversy: the involvement of Wafic Said in the Al Yamamah arms deals of the 80s meant many were reluctant to accept his donation of £23m. The offer was initially rejected by the formal parliament of senior academics due to his brokering role in the contracts between the BAE systems and the Saudi government. Although the Serious Fraud Office was investigating allegations of bribery and corruption related to the deals, the investigation was discontinued in 2006 on grounds of ‘public interest’.

Colleges have been experiencing clashes between administrators and students as annual rent negotiations have begun.

Colleges have been claiming that their endowments are not sustainable in the long run and in the current economic climate interest on these has been minimal. They have sought to recoup their losses from students instead.

OUSU Rent and Accommodation officer Jamie Susskind argued: “There is a certain hypocrisy in the fact that when the OCCI (Oxford Colleges Cost Index) is high, colleges insist upon using it, but when it is lower (like this year) they suddenly decide it’s an inadequate measure of inflation. Students have the right to feel hard done by in colleges where this is the case.”

At Merton, many students expressed dissatisfaction with the new rates. 4 years ago, rent increases were negotiated to be increased by 12%, to be implemented in the coming year.

Alistair Haggerty, JCR President commented “The rent increase was negotiated four years ago, so current students were not consulted. The JCR is displeased at the increase. We hope that in the future rent changes will be decided one year before the proposed implementation.”
Hertford also saw high rent increases. JCR president Will Hartshaw said he had negotiated the college down from a 10% increase over two years in real terms to the same increase over three years.

He was uncertain whether students felt this concession was enough and said, “I need to take this back to the JCR and get their opinions.”

At other colleges, however, students said they were happy with the way negotiations had progressed.

Negotiations progressed well at wealthy Magdalen College. According to JCR President Laurence Mills, rent was given top priority in the “JCR Agenda”, which was presented to the President, Home Bursar and the Deans.

“The conclusion of our negotiations with college meant that our rent has only gone up by 2.24% for the coming year. We will be working during this term and over the vac, and report back in Michaelmas. The changes that we recommend will be implemented from October 2010.”

“All in all, the college has been open to working with us in a constructive fashion. In addition to this, only having our rent go up by 2.24% in the next year is a huge bonus.”

The OCCI (Oxford Colleges’ Cost Index) anticipates that college costs will go up by 2.24% this year. However, the previous year’s figures (for 2007/08) were given as 3.91% last year, but have since been revised upwards to 5.92%. Given economics pressures, the figure for this year could also go up.

According to OUSU figures, many colleges run annual deficits of over £1 million per year.

Scientists at Oxford have discovered how the bumblebee flies contrary to the conventional laws of aerodynamics.

The study reveals that bumblebees rely on brute force to get off the ground. Fuelled by the high-energy nectar they consume, they flap their wings over 200 times a second.

This is a far more inefficient method of flight than that of most insects.

The team trained the insects and used smoke, a wind tunnel and high-speed cameras to observe in detail how real bumblebee wings work in free flight.

A newly discovered KGB document has revealed that a distinguished former civil servant masterminded a network of communist spies at Oxford.

Arthur Wynn, also known as “Agent Scott”married an Oxford student in 1938 and began to recruit agents during and after the war. His job was to identify young students who would become part of the British establishment to spy for the Russian government. He recruited dozens of young communists, but the exact number is unknown.

His existence was revealed in 1992 with the approval of the Russian intelligence services, but they refused to divulge his name until now.

The Times have said that the revelation of Wynn’s identity means that “one of the oddest mysteries in espionage history has finally been resolved.”