8,000 revellers participated in Oxford’s traditional May Day celebrations on Friday morning.

Students and locals alike gathered on Magdalen Bridge to listen to Magdalen College choir sing Latin hymn ‘Te Deum patrem colimus’ at 6am.

The event was accompanied by heightened safety measures in an attempt to discourage those attending from traditional jumping into the river. The bridge was closed to traffic for three hours and more than 30 police officers were drafted in to control the crowds.

Supt Andy Murray, Area Commander said, “We had 30 police officers who were on duty throughout the night and early morning. They worked closely with the ambulance service, fire service and stewards who were there to ensure the public’s safety. There were no injuries and only one person was arrested for a minor public order offence.”

However, around a dozen participants dived into the river Cherwell after traffic was resumed and police left the scene.

The peculiar atmosphere of the day was felt by those attending. Hugh Trimble, staff at the University careers service described the morning, “In the centre of Oxford we had the usual sweet-voiced choirboys and bedraggled all-night ball-goers, a man dressed as a tree, and more morris dancers than you could shake a stick at.”

For many students it was the first time they participated in May Day celebrations.

Jan Deeg, first year Arabic student commented, “At the time I was really annoyed because I stayed up all night. But when I went there it was the best atmosphere. It was good to see Oxford from another side…the romantic, the poetic one. The performance itself was a bit of disappointment as the audio quality wasn’t that good and I couldn’t see much. But because it was such an Oxford thing, I was happy to attend.”

Many appreciated the opportunity to celebrate with the locals. Kei Hamada, St John’s student said, “Although I hadn’t been planning on it the previous night, I’m glad I made it to Magdalen to hear the choir – seeing everyone flocking towards the tower was bizarre, and it was a rare moment where town and gown were really enjoying themselves together.”

For some, May Day was an unforgettable experience. One member of Magdalen’s choir said, “Singing on the tower was exciting. It was amazing to finish singing and hear all the cheers from so far below. Although it was slightly scary when the bells started ringing and the tower started to sway.”

Vice-Chancellor John Hood has been appointed to lead a New York charity, the Robertson Foundation, after he leaves Oxford next year.

 The foundation states its belief that connecting people with a community of faith “reinforces ethical behaviour” and motivates a “concern for others”, and that these aims cut across all of the foundation’s areas of interest which include education, medical research and the environment.

Graduates on unpaid internships will soon be able claim job seeker’s allowance under a new scheme from Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Currently, after 6 months on benefits, job seeker’s allowance rules give a recruitment subsidy, volunteering or training to those who are unemployed. This will now be extended to graduates on internships of up to 13 weeks.

Recently, the NUS conducted a survey in which 8 out of 10 graduates described themselves as ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about graduate employment levels and their future career prospects.

A candidate for the position of Oxford University’s Professor of Poetry has been accused of sexual harassment at universities twice during his career.

Derek Walcott, the St Lucia-born poet, allegedly sexually harassed two female students whilst he held Professorial posts at Boston and Harvard Universities.

In 1992, an anonymous student in a creative writing class taught by Walcott at Harvard in 1982 claimed that the poet had propositioned her during a discussion of her work, and had given her a “C” grade when she refused his advances.

According to Harvard Crimson, the University’s newspaper, Walcott did not deny that the student’s testimony was correct. He is also alleged to have said that his teaching style was “deliberately personal and intense.”

The student wrote a letter that was published in the Crimson, which contained an account of the conversation.

It recounts how Walcott asked the student to “Imagine me making love to you”, before asking, “Would you make love with me if I asked you?”

The letter then claims that, after she refused, Walcott devised a code by which the student could let him know during classes if she had changed her mind.

According to the student, after she sent the letter, Walcott was “cold and distant”, showed “no concern for my education” and “did not fully evaluate my work as he did with other students of the class.”

She was given a “C” grade for the class. She later appealed to be given a pass grade after she made her complaint, which Harvard’s Administrative Board allowed. Harvard University has officially reprimanded Walcott.

In 1995, the poet was accused of sexually harassing a student in a class he taught at Boston University.
Nicole Niemi, a student of Walcott’s playwriting and creative writing class, pressed for half a million dollars in compensation and punitive damages after claiming that he had propositioned her before threatening to fail her and refusing to produce her play after she refused.

Professor Hermione Lee, a campaigner for Derek Walcott, said that these allegations should not interfere with Derek Walcott’s running for the post.

She said, “I ask myself how far this puritanism might go. Should students be forbidden to read Derek Walcott’s poetry, lest they be contaminated by his long past behaviour?”

“I am campaigning for a professor of poetry who will be a person giving public lectures to students and professors. I am not campaigning for someone who will be in pastoral relations to students.”

“This matter has arose in the past, when Derek Walcott was given a honorary D.Lit at Oxford and these issues were raised at the time as with the many awards and positions that Mr Walcott holds. These historic matters of previous bad behaviour were set aside.”

She added, “You might ask yourself as a student body whether you wanted Byron or Shelley as a professor of poetry neither of whom personal lives were free of criticism.”

Walcott won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and he has also won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and the WH Smith Literary Award in recent years.

Ruth Padel has claimed that she will be able to lead the position of Professor of Poetry for Oxford in a “new direction,” in an interview with Cherwell.

She suggested that, as the post has never to date been filled by a female poet, she might be able to bring something new to the position. “The post has been held so far by 43 men and no women,” she said. “My supporters think I might take the post in a new direction, make new links for it and for the university.”

However, she was quick to praise both of her male rivals for the post. Of Arvind Mehotra, she stated, “He is a good essayist and friends of mine admire his work.” Of Walcott’s work, she said, “I admire and have written about Walcott’s work, especially the early stuff. Oddly enough, when my daughter heard he was running too, she said my poetry reminds me of his!”

Nevertheless, she also took pains to explain where she felt she could offer more than other candidates. “My supporters are keen on my scholarly, scientific and classical background, my links with science and conservation, and the fact that I have promoted the close reading of poetry in a wider context than universities.”

Padel said she would reach out to other academic disciplines with poetry readings in botanic gardens and museums, and that she was enthusiastic about involving more students, especially graduates, in poetry.

“I’d love giving the lectures, but I also love making informal links for students. Especially, perhaps, those in other faculties who might feel they have no formal entrée to poetry.”

“I am particularly thinking of graduates. I was a graduate at Oxford-being a graduate can be a lonely business, the university is set up for undergraduates, graduates have to sink themselves into their own lone subject. Poetry can offer a mode and moment of reflection for new ideas and thought.”

Padel praised the uniqueness of the post and of the University, saying “One of Oxford’s great strengths is its resistance to quick change.” She added, “The beauty of this post is that it’s up to the individual. That does run the risk of someone who does not such a good job. But it also means anyone can do anything.”

The battle for the coveted post of Oxford Professor of Poetry begins in earnest this week after nominations closed on Wednesday.

Ruth Padel, Derek Walcott and Arvind Mehrotra will compete on 16 May in an effort to win what is seen as the most prestigious position in poetry after that of Poet Laureate.

It is the first time in the post’s 300-year-history that a woman and a Caribbean have been campaigning for the position.

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, a little-known Indian writer, livened up the race by joining less than a week before the nominations closed.

The race has been somewhat overshadowed, however, by opponents of Derek Walcott claiming he is an unsuitable candidate for the position as he has been reprimanded for sexual harassment.

Current Professor Christopher Ricks will step down from the position in September to make way for the new incumbent. In the past, the post has been held by such poets as Seamus Heaney, Robert Graves and W. H. Auden.

The position comes with a salary of £6,901 and a requirement to deliver three annual lectures. The Professor of Poetry is unique in Oxford as the only elected academic position.

Candidates must receive nominations from at least 12 Oxford graduates to be eligible to stand. The successful poet is then chosen by election, in which all Oxford degree holders are eligible to vote.

Prize-winning poet Ruth Padel was the first to be nominated this year. She is supported by the philosopher AC Grayling and the eminent scientist Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Padel, who has a particular interest in the links between poetry and science, has said she hopes to encourage connections across the arts and sciences within the university. Her latest volume, ‘Darwin: A Life in Verse’, was written to mark the bicentenary of her ancestor, the father of evolutionary study. She has been dubbed “a voice of great authority and integrity” and placed “among the most gifted poets of her generation” by literary critics. A vigorous campaign is behind her candidacy, with supporters having created a website to promote her cause.

She will face competition in the form of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, the West-Indian poet and playwright. Walcott won the Nobel prize for literature in 1992, founded the Trinidad Theatre Workshop and has worked as a critic and lecturer. In a statement, Walcott’s nominators said that his appointment would be “a very significant and distinguished event for Oxford’s place in the literary world”. If chosen, Walcott would be the first African-American to take up the post.

Indian poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra made a surprise third entry in the contest. Mehrotra, a poet and critic currently lecturing at the University of Allahabad, has held poetry posts around the world and been described as “one of the finest poets working in any language”. His poetry is described as “a rich, fraught world history of cosmopolitanism”. Supporters have said that his interests in multilingualism, translation and creative practice would make him a “timely” choice for the position.

May will also witness the announcement of Andrew Motion’s successor as poet laureate. Unlike the elected Oxford position, the poet laureate is appointed by Queen on the recommendation of the Culture Minister. Speculation that Motion might put himself forward for the Oxford position was ruled out in February when he announced his intention to take a break from “public poeting”. He criticised the professorship as being in “drastic need of an overhaul”, saying that it was “too vague” in its teaching requirements, and that the pay was “lousy”.

Dr Sally Mapstone, chair of the English Faculty Board said, “The high level of interest in the Professorship of Poetry in Oxford, in the UK, and across the world indicates how much poetry matters to people and how much relevance this chair still has. With three strong candidates, it looks like the election may be a close run thing on the day.”

She added, “We hope that as many members of Convocation (graduates of the University) will come to Oxford on the day to vote in the Examination Schools – where most of them will have sat their examinations in the past. There is a good chance too that the Proctors will be able to announce the result on the day, so we are in for an exciting 16th of May.”