A racism row has erupted in another Oxford college this week, with the editors of the New College bogsheet forced to apologise for an allegedly anti-Semitic article.

This is the latest in a series of incidents around the University, with many students expressing concern that casual racism is now widely accepted.

Following on from the controversy surrounding the under 21’s rugby social last week, the New College JCR bogsheet, the Newt, has received several complaints from readers this week for being anti-Semitic in content.

The article, entitled “Jewish Economic Policy,” published in the last issue of The Newt has been permanently removed from the paper’s website having caused serious offence to many readers.

The article played on prejudiced stereotypes of Jews being miserly, giving ‘advice’ on how to save money in Oxford.

The editors in this apology confessed, “we entirely accept that its humour was both inappropriate and distasteful and was representative of a type of humour based on prejudiced stereotyping that should not be perpetuated.”

They continued that although the article was “intended to be satirical” it was “at the same time deeply offensive”.
Yet there are many students are still concerned, with one comment on the Newt website hoped that “Oxford actually responds to the fact that it has allowed a culture of casual racism and elitism to flourish and will respond extremely harshly to the author.

“It is clear that the University must send a very clear signal out that this is simply not acceptable.” Yet many are worried that it is specifically among University students that racist ‘banter’ is becoming a more accepted norm. OUSU’s Vice-President (Welfare and Equal Opportunities) Rosanna McBeath stated that “‘Banter’ which stereotypes and degrades any member of society is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.”

International students have criticised the University for failing to help them successfully integrate into life at Oxford, and have complained that their fees are unjustifiably high.

In a Cherwell survey of international students from colleges across the University, almost 50% of the respondents admitted to having difficulties integrating with fellow students at Oxford and agreed that not enough was being done to help them.

A member of the OUSU International Students’ Committee (ISC), said that he felt support from the University was ‘seriously lacking,’ adding that ‘international students in Oxford are barely acknowledged, let alone catered for. Fees are huge but there is no help financially, and there is a serious lack of transparency.’

Anuvrat Rao, an Economics and Management student at Mansfield, said that although his experience of Oxford had been positive, he felt let down by the university and his college who had not given him enough support. ‘As an international student, I don’t really see what the university do for us. I felt a bit left in the dark when I first arrived here. I wasn’t given any induction or information,’ he said.

International students form 14 per cent of full-time undergraduates and 63% of the graduate population at Oxford. According to statistics compiled by former lecturer and Senior Tutor at the London School of Economics Mike Reddin, Oxford is the third most expensive university for international student studies in the UK, with students facing fees of up to £17,800 for science-based courses, while those studying for MBAs are charged in the region of £35,000.

Respondents to Cherwell’s questionnaire complained about the ‘extortionate’ fees they faced, with 37% stating that they were unfair. Students argued in favour of more grants and scholarships for international students, and several said they felt their fees were merely used to subsidise national students’ tuition.

Co-chair of the ISC Angel Sarmiento agreed that the issue of fees was a ‘valid concern’, but pointed out that Oxford tuition fees were not out of proportion with other top universities around the world, such as Harvard, which charges around £22,600 a year.

A Queen’s College undergraduate said that the lack of financial aid from the University made other institutions more attractive: ‘Many colleges, including my own, don’t offer any scholarship or bursary for foreign students from developed countries. This makes the US, where financial aid is more available for international students, a more tempting destination, and indeed, many good international students are lured away from Oxbridge by top US institutions.’

Students have called on the University to do more to help promote integration, with suggestions including the creation of a ‘buddy’ system, assigning each international student a British student to help them settle in, as well as the organisation of more ‘mixer’ events and greater provision of college accommodation.

Over a quarter of survey respondents agreed that it was difficult for international students to befriend nationals and commented on the divide which exists between the two groups. A Wadham undergraduate commented, ‘You really have to be proactive in order to integrate, and even then it can be difficult’ and she suggested the organisation of socials where international students could meet nationals.

In response to the survey results, a Oxford University spokesperson indicated recent developments in provision for international students, including a ‘meet at greet’ service at Heathrow and the prioritisation of international scholarships in its fundraising campaign.

She said, ‘The University takes these issues seriously. We are not complacent and will continue with our efforts to improve opportunities for cultural integration further.’

 

Four students have been assaulted in a random pepper spray attack at a Chinese restaurant on Cowley Road.

Stunned students were hospitalised after two men, described by police as white youths, sprayed the party-goers at private karaoke party.

Three restaurant staff in Lan Kwai Fong restaurant were also assaulted after they tried to intervene in the incident at 10pm on Saturday.

A barmaid at the restaurant said, “we heard some noise in the karaoke room so our staff tried to stop the men.

“One of them was punching a customer. When we tried to stop them, they sprayed us with pepper spray.”

Restaurant owner David Chu was left shaken by the experience. He told the Oxford Mail, “we tried to stop them, but we couldn’t, because they were spraying us as well… one of my colleagues found it difficult to breathe.”

His staff were also left traumatized by the attack. Mr Chu added, “the girls were quite scared, they were in pain … they went to hospital, because the police didn’t know what kind of spray had been used.”

One passer-by described the aftermath of the incident.
She said, “there was a big group of Chinese people outside the restaurant. Some of them were clutching their eyes, and being questioned by police.”

Chu suspects that the attack might be racially motivated. He commented, “the people in the private function room were Oriental, so it might be racist. It’s just Chinese people here, so I can’t think of any other explanation.”

He also suggested that the attack may have been premeditated, “the two people who did this were prepared. People don’t carry pepper spray around with them normally”.

Thames Valley police have not ruled out racist motives. A spokesman described the attack as a “peculiar incident.” He stressed that the police were “keeping an open mind.” No one has yet been arrested in connection with the assault.

The restaurant has since introduced CCTV in the hope that this will deter future attackers.

Oxford University is seeing an increase in the incidence of mumps. College doctors are believed to have diagnosed eleven cases in the last week, eight of which have been attributed to Oriel alone.

One Oriel student conmented, “It’s horrible. Everyone in my staircase is diseased.”

The viral illness can be spread through the saliva of an infected person. The Health Protection Agency offers oral fluid testing to confirm clinical diagnosis.

Whilst symptoms include a headache and fever one or two days before the swelling of the parotid glands, in some cases there are none.

OUSU has come under criticism for incompetence and inefficiency this week following the delay of the presidential elections.

The OUSU elections have been delayed after a candidate’s manifesto was omitted from the Joint Manifesto Booklet (JMB).

Students were due to choose this week between presidential candidates Stefan Baskerville, John Maher, Luke Tryl and Aidan Simpson.

But the manifesto of John Maher was not printed in the JMB that was distributed with last week’s issue of The Oxford Student.

This broke OUSU’s standing orders, which mandates that all manifestos be distributed in the 5th week edition of the paper.

Madeline Stanley, OUSU’s Returning Officer in charge of organising the election, said in a letter sent to all Oxford students, “Unfortunately, due to an error at the printers, the JMB wasn’t printed in full.

“As soon as we became aware of the problems with the JMB we took all possible steps to recall any OxStus that had already been distributed and to clear the remainder before they could be sent out.

“Given that the point of the JMB is to help students make a fully informed decision we reasoned that the best course, out of a lot of bad options, was to postpone the election by a week.

“Obviously this is enormously frustrating for everyone involved, but we decided as an elections committee that it was better for the election to be free and fair, with a fully informed electorate, than to press ahead despite the problem.”

Stanley told Cherwell that OUSU’s efforts to remove the OxStus had been largely successful.

“Inevitably there will be some copies of the incomplete JMB out there, but we’ve accounted for roughly 95% of them,” she said.

John Maher has not personally received an apology for the omission of his manifesto, although Stanley did confirm that a general apology was made to OUSU Council and to the candidates as a whole.

OUSU’s general email to the students expressed their hope that “the extra week’s publicity will hopefully drive turnout up beyond our original hopes.”

However, not everybody agrees. Xanthippi Choraitis, a second-year biologist, said, “This doesn’t help portray OUSU as the professional or efficient student union that we are always promised by the Presidential candidates every year.

“So few people vote in these elections anyway. Nobody knows when they are, nobody knows who the candidates are, and I think even fewer will bother voting after this.”

Richard Hardiman, OUSU’s financial administration manager in charge of printing The OxStu said: “I checked the files and ftp upload records and I’m satisfied that the correct files were sent through.

“Whether they weren’t properly received, or whether an earlier version of the filename wasn’t properly purged from the machine before the paper was plated up and sent to press I don’t know, although I’m working with the printers to find out.

“It’s true that we have had some pretty bad luck with the paper this term. The earlier incident to which you refer was due to one of the presses breaking down. Obviously that’s annoying, but it would be unfair to blame it on the printers – I’m sure they didn’t go to the trouble and expense of breaking their own press just to cause problems for the OxStu.

“Likewise, there was another edition which had to be pulled and reprinted at the last moment because new information emerged about a story which could potentially have had an adverse effect on the paper, the business, and the Student Union. In that case the printers made every possible effort to squeeze us into their schedule and we got the paper reprinted at very short notice – so it’s far from all bad news that we’ve had from that quarter.

“The problems we have had with printing this term are regrettable, but it would be both inappropriate and pointless to start throwing blame around without having all the facts – regardless of whether that makes it a more interesting story.”

Trinity Mirror Printing, who print the OxStu, refused to comment on the specific problem, saying only that “What we print is what we’re given. We can’t change it. If there was an obvious error in the template they sent, we would have referred it back to them.”

Although OUSU will put out general publicity for the election in the extra week, Stanley will not allow an increase in advertising budgets for the candidates.

“The campaign expenditure budgets are limited to ensure all candidates have the same budgets and to ensure that no candidate has an advantage by having more money than another,” she said.

Last week, Cherwell found that fewer than 18% of students knew when the elections were originally scheduled.

Only 36% of students intended to vote in the elections, despite their being online for the first time, although even this may be an optimistic estimate. Last year, Lewis Iwu was elected President on a turnout of less than 19% of Oxford’s 18,000 strong student body.

OUSU have come under further scrutiny this week as the manifesto of Aidan Simpson, another Presidential candidate, was somehow lost on their website.

OUSU’s website hosts each candidates’ campaign literature, but the link to Simpson’s manifesto showed only a poster with a picture of him on it, and no writing, meaning anyone wanting to see his manifesto must go to his Facebook group.

A friend of Simpson, who wished to remain anonymous, said that he was upset with the mistake.

The blank manifesto has been up for over a week, despite Simpson repeatedly requesting it be replaced.

However the OUSU RO blamed Simpson, saying, “he sent it to us without putting it into a PDF correctly. We are attempting to remedy the situation and put one up so you can read it.”

Former Labour politician Tony Benn has spoken out this week against the new animal laboratory in Oxford.

Benn met with fellow Oxford alumni Sir David Madden, and the Voice for Ethical Research group in Oxford (VERO) on Monday to express his concerns about the lab.

Benn, who studied PPE at New College, told VERO, “I have always been a believer in animal rights. There is now a lot of strong evidence that animal testing is not necessary, and could be done in a different way.”

Benn has spoken out against animal testing saying, “the tide is turning fast against those who still cling on to the view that experimentation and testing of drugs on animals is valid and necessary.”

Animal campaigners at the event on Monday wore academic dress to highlight the existence of what they believe is a large anti-laboratory sentiment within the University itself.

The University has insisted that the new lab will improve the welfare of lab animals. The new building will rehouse animals that were previously scattered around various buildings and to “set a gold star for animal care.”

John Hood said, “Where animals are needed in research, we are committed to the highest standards of care. That is why we have built this new facility.

“The fact that we have completed it in difficult circumstances reflects the depth of our commitment both to life-saving research and to animal care.”

The first mice have been moved into the laboratory on South Parks Road and it will become fully operational in 2009.
Yet the university has insisted that testing will not take place.

Animals will be bred, trained to complete computer-based tasks, receive medication, undergo MRI scans and some will be operated on.

The issue divides students and staff across the University. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous said, “I’m completely against the lab and outraged that Oxford would partake in such controversial activities.”

However another student admitted, “sentiment needs to be outweighed at some point, overall, finding a cure for something like HIV is too important.”

Oxford claim they support peaceful protest and discussion, but find the “intimidation, threats, damage to property, and arson” the University has been subjected to “entirely unacceptable.”

Some students have expressed anger at noisy and possibly dangerous protests, with one saying, “These protests are futile. Let’s face it, no one wants to do it, no one says ‘Let’s torture animals.’ Scientists want to help us.”