As the finalists start finishing and prelims approach, Cherwell can report that University staff working for the Proctor’s Office are actively attempting to catch students trashing in University parks, and issuing them fines. In a comment to Cherwell, the University confirmed that three students had received such fines. A student who spoke to Cherwell was fined £150 from University Proctors in the parks of infringing regulation 3.3(1), despite the student claiming that they did not partake in any trashing. 

The incident took place on the 6th May, when the Medicine students were celebrating the end of their examinations by trashing. Employees of the University tasked with maintaining discipline were spotted roaming the parks, looking for students to catch red-handed. Students engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, attempting to follow a University tradition whilst avoiding the hefty fines now attached.  

The student who spoke to Cherwell claimed that they were merely caught up in the chase, and were not even participating in trashing. Speaking to the publication, they said that they ‘poured roughly a tablespoon of lubricant on a friend’s head as we were leaving the park. I then put the packet of lubricant back in my pocket, before I was confronted by five proctor officers. One officer asked me to show him the packer, so retrieving it from my pocket, I handed it to him. He then proceeded to throw it on the ground behind him, and issue me the £150 fine’. 

The proctors issued the fine in accordance to regulation 3.3(1), that states that ‘no student member shall, in any place or thoroughfare to which members of the general public have access within six miles of Carfax, throw, pour, spray, apply or use any thing or substance in a way which is intended, or is likely, (a) to cause injury to any person, or (b) to cause damage to, or defacement or destruction of, any property, or to cause litter’. 

The student paid the fine on the 19 May along with a request to appeal the fine stating, ‘I did not however, as I explained to him, cause injury to anyone, damage any property (as the water-based lube was on his hair and washes out instantly), or litter’. The student claims that their actions did ‘not satisfy’ any of the criteria listed above. Therefore, the student believes that they should ‘not face a punishment’ and that the ‘fine should be reimbursed’ to them. 

The student fined for trashing was in University Parks where many other students were being trashed as it was the day on which many medical students finished their exams. The student notes that many of these students avoided fines by ‘sprinting past’ officers who ‘seemed aggravated’ at their actions. 

Whilst the student requested an appeal as they claimed that they were not intending to do any actions listed in the clause, the appeal was refused. The student claimed that ‘the officer had littered in front of me’. However, in the rejection of the appeal the University told the student that the behaviour was ‘likely to cause litter’.  

Exam season brings the return of the tradition dating back to the 1980s. Senior Proctor Professor Jane Mellor previously said to Cherwell that ‘throwing food and other materials in exam celebrations is wasteful and disrespectful. We know that our students are committed to sustainability and urge them to extend this to their exam celebrations this year’.

Whilst the practice has been officially banned for a few years already, it was reported by Cherwell earlier this year of the University’s now planned to enforce fines for students engaged in ‘trashing’, considering the action ‘antisocial behaviour’. This message has been reinforced on the university website with a page dedicated to ‘Exams: Celebrate Sustainably’. 

The website states that fines will be ‘strictly enforced this year, as a breach of the University’s Code of Discipline’. Failure to pay the fine will result in ‘further disciplinary action’.

The University has instead compiled suggestions for students looking to commemorate the end of their exams. One suggestion is that students should ‘have a night out’ and ‘make the most of this opportunity to celebrate with your friends’. Another that students should ‘enjoy Oxford’s outdoor spaces’ but make sure to take any ‘rubbish home with you’. 

Many JCRs still provide students with biodegradable ‘trashing’ equipment, despite University policy now meaning students run financial risk when ‘trashing’.  All money collected from the ‘trashing’ fines goes to the student hardship fund, which aims to assist students at the University who are struggling with financial difficulties during their course. 

Image credit: Richard Nias via Creative Commons

St Benet’s Hall announced on the 16^th of May via its official mailing list that the University Council has decided not to renew the Hall’s license as a Permanent Private Hall (PPH), raising the possibility of permanent closure for the Hall.

The email expressed hope that the Hall might continue to operate but said that “as and when this is no longer the case” the Hall would work to place current students at other PPHs or colleges to complete their studies. St Benet’s Hall was originally founded in 1897 as a place for the monks of Ampleforth Abbey and elsewhere to study at Oxford, having since welcomed students from all backgrounds.

Cherwell spoke to the Hall’s JCR President, Julian Danker, who said the Hall’s students had been “hit hard” – for the younger years by uncertainty and for finalists by “the news that their home for the past three or four years might cease to exist soon”. 

The JCR has been taking an active role, running additional welfare events and staying “constantly in touch” with Hall and University officials. Julian said he expected “certainty about students’ futures by the end of this academic year”. 

In the meantime, the Hall’s students had the opportunity to speak with the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, and steps are being taken to ensure students can claim mitigating circumstances for their exams. Julian felt confident that the “community spirit that has always existed at Benet’s is as strong as ever” but expressed sadness at the possibility that the Hall’s unique traditions, such as “the lack of a high table and the personal introduction of each guest at formals”, might be lost. He added that there “is also great concern about the future [of the Hall’s tutors and non-academic staff]”.

Cherwell also spoke to Mikyle Ossman, a first-year student who was quick to say he had enjoyed his time at the Hall and mentioned the active work of the Hall’s JCR. Ossman said his year group only found out about the financial issues over the Christmas break, triggering “panic on group chats”. 

He also expressed confusion with the Hall’s decision to accept students in 2021 if financial problems were already evident and criticised a lack of communication, saying “we were more or less in the dark over whether they would rectify the problems outlined in the Christmas email. […] Therefore when the [most recent] news came it hit us quite hard.” Ossman is anxious not to face a ‘phasing out scheme’ which would see his cohort remaining in the Hall as the final year group in a shrinking community. He indicated he thought most of St Benet’s first-years shared his preference to be moved to alternative colleges, if this becomes necessary, in time for Michaelmas 2022, giving them the best chance to integrate.

The University of Oxford’s governing body opted not to renew St Benet’s license at a meeting on the 9^th of May in light of the Hall’s continuing financial insecurity, confirming that the Hall will not take on any new students in October 2022. The decision to suspend St Benet’s undergraduate intake was initially announced in mid-December 2021 in a joint statement issued by the University and St Benet’s that said the Hall’s “financial prospects are so uncertain that the University cannot be confident that the Hall can support a new undergraduate cohort”.

The Hall’s financial troubles seem to stem from its efforts to legally separate from Ampleforth Abbey Trust (AAT), the owner of the Hall’s premises. It is unclear how much progress was made on this initiative, as according to the Hall’s website its governing body, St Benet’s Trust, is still a wholly-owned subsidiary of AAT. The planned separation was apparently meant to help the Hall become a fully-fledged college, but it also meant the Hall needed to prove it was financially viable on its own. Acquiring ownership of its premises was a key part of this mission, and failure to convince the University that it would be able to do so was important in influencing the December decision to suspend admissions.

Late in December 2021, Cherwell reported on the Hall’s apparent success in securing financial support in the form of an “agreement in progress” with Westminster College Trust to acquire the Hall’s premises from AAT and lease them to the Hall for £1 per year (with a view to later acquisition by the Hall). Westminster College Trust also “pledged” to underwrite the Hall’s losses up to £300,000 per year for at least three years. This agreement, however, was apparently not finalised before the University decided to pause the Hall’s undergraduate admissions. Westminster College Trust has not responded to Cherwell’s request for comment.

The email from 16^th May also informed students that AAT has now placed the Hall’s premises on the market. A spokesperson from the Trust told the Tablet that the University’s decision not to renew the Hall’s license placed the AAT at “an unacceptable level of risk”, and that while they had always hoped the Hall would be able to purchase the buildings, the Hall had not “produced the desired [funding] results within the necessary timescale”.

It seems the Trust has been aiming to sell the properties at least since December 2021, when the Hall’s Senior Tutor, Dr Gower, told the Oxford Student that AAT had taken an “independent” decision to sell the properties, unrelated to the planned legal separation and rather motivated by “not having sufficient resources”. 

The Hall’s August 2019 financial report stated that while it needed to increase its own fundraising income, it had “received a guarantee of support from … [AAT]”. The Trust’s financial report from August 2019, however, said their “overall level of free reserves”, excluding fixed assets, was a “£3.4 [million] deficit”. The report noted that “if it became necessary the Trust could potentially seek to realise some of the land and buildings not essential to the ongoing core activities and hence raise some funds through their sale”. 

A spokesperson for Ampleforth Abbey’s Trust told Cherwell: “In order for St Benet’s Trust to remain a going concern Ampleforth Abbey Trust has in the past provided sufficient funds to allow the Trust to continue its charitable objects. Financial support was provided with a view to St Benet’s reaching a position where it would be capable of generating its own reserves.

”In recent years St Benet’s Trust has been moving towards independence from the Abbey Trust initially as part of a plan to gain collegiate status within the University of Oxford. In order to do so the Hall would need to own its own buildings and be financially sustainable. The Abbey Trust took out a loan in 2018 to enable St Benet’s Hall to expand into a second building in Norham Gardens with clear timescales for that loan to be re-paid by St Benet’s Trust. It was always the preference of the Abbey Trust to sell both the property in Norham Gardens and that in St Giles to St Benet’s Trust if it could afford to buy them, but St Benet’s fundraising campaigns and funding options have not produced the desired results within the necessary timescales.”

The spokesperson insisted that “The University and the Hall are committed to ensuring that current students can complete their degrees at Oxford University with the same quality of education.”

The recent developments at St Benet’s Hall coincide with those at another institution linked to AAT. Ampleforth College, the boarding school founded by and built next to Ampleforth Abbey (which AAT represents), might also be facing a ban on taking in new students after it was rated “inadequate” by Ofsted following an independent investigation in 2018 that said it was “difficult to describe the appalling sexual abuse inflicted over decades [on the pupils]”. While Ampleforth College is now run by the St Laurence Education Trust, at least 5 out the 10 current trustees of AAT (as named on their website) have previously held roles in Ampleforth College. Between developments at Ampleforth College and St Benet’s Hall, the Sunday Times has speculated that the “network of leading Catholic institutions” established by the Ampleforth monks is “breaking up”. The AAT told Cherwell: “The situation of St Benet’s is unrelated to Ampleforth College.”

St Benet’s Hall was the last single-sex college in the University of Oxford, only admitting women in 2016. Until 2012, the master of the hall was always a Benedictine monk.  In 2013, the student barometer survey showed that St Benet’s had the highest overall student satisfaction out of all 44 constituent colleges and permanent private halls of the university. However, without renewing their license as a PPH, it is likely that the college will be unable to host students after the end of this academic year.

Image Credit: Janet McKnight/CC BY 2.0

St Catherine’s College has proposed a 11.8% increase in rent and hall prices for the next academic year (2022-3). College accommodation rent would increase from around £1480 to around £1654 per term. 

Each year the college reviews its domestic spending to estimate living costs for the following year. The 11.8% inflation in college living prices is an estimated figure for next year’s domestic costs which does not include any profit for the college.  

This proposal is in line with the current high inflation rates. The UK annual inflation rate increased to 7% in March 2022, the highest since March 1992. Currently, prices are rising by 9% a year in the UK.  

Other factors are also contributing to this figure. The Covid-19 pandemic meant the normal cost model for accommodation could not be used to predict this year’s costs. In Hilary Term 2021, the college received no rent.  

The college has found that the amount they increased rent by was lower than the costs increased by. The fees this year received from students were not substantial enough to cover all accommodation and domestic costs.  

Another aspect which has led to this increase in student living costs is St Catz’s recent commitment to paying all of their staff the Oxford living wage. This increase in staff wages will result in a greater cost to the college, which is expected to be covered by an increased price for student rent and hall.   

Rebecca Powell, a current JCR access rep at St Catz, found the news “disappointing”. She said: “While I appreciate that the college has financial needs and restrictions, I have serious concerns with regards to how this will impact the student body. The cost of living in Oxford is notoriously high and, in combination with restriction to work during term time, I feel that this will be another blow to students from lower-income backgrounds.”  

On being asked whether she was aware of the possibility of college accommodation prices increasing prior to accepting her offer, Rebecca commented: “I knew that it was possible for rent rates to fluctuate slightly but an increase of 11% was certainly not expected… [I am] completely sympathetic to the reasons that college have outlined [but] these factors should not be at the expense of those already in financially precarious situations.” 

Discussions between the college student body, and its staff and finance administrators, have begun. The JCR is running a survey to assess the financial standing of its student body. It hopes to use this information to inform the college about the likely impacts of this rent increase upon its students. This will inform further decision making. 

Rebecca does find it “reassuring” to know that negotiations between the college and JCR representatives are taking place, and she hopes the collection of data about students’ finances will provide “significant evidence that these rent increases are unacceptable”. Nonetheless, she does still have “considerable reservations about whether these negotiations will have a significant impact”. 

An 11.8% increase is, at this stage, a suggested figure. The college has not yet committed to increasing rent and hall prices by this amount. However, with colleges across the University facing financial pressures, St Catz is likely to be one of many to increase prices for its students. 

When asked to comment, St Catherine’s college told Cherwell: “St Catherine’s is committed to ensuring that the experience of students living in College is the best it can be. 

“The College is still working in collaboration with the JCR and the MCR on proposals for accommodation rates for the 2022-23 academic year.

“The current rates for undergraduate accommodation at St Catherine’s are the fifth lowest when compared to all other Oxford colleges. The College will continue to do everything it can to ensure that accommodation rates reflect only the actual cost to the College of the room and utilities, and will work with student representatives when doing so. When calculating these rates, St Catherine’s uses the actual predicted costs for specific services used, rather than an averaged estimate, which tends to be higher. 

“Our students are our first priority and we appreciate that the current financial climate may be challenging for them and their families. We will continue to support each of our students in any way that we can, including through initiatives such as the Student Support Fund.” 

Image credit: Munkfishmonger via Wikimedia

The Lincoln College chapel was vandalised in what the college chaplain has called an act of “abuse and damage”. 

A group of individuals, whose identities have not yet been released, entered the chapel sometime between 1pm and 9pm on Friday 13th May. The chaplain revealed in an email sent to students and staff following the incident that various acts of vandalism were committed.

The damage included the rearranging of furniture and furnishings, burning of Easter candles, writing of strange symbols on hymnals and service books with black makeup pens, defacement of the embroidered cross on linen used in Holy Communion, grinding of charcoal into the cloth covering the altar’s side table, and crumbling of charcoal (intended for use in burning incense) across the linen altar cloth. Many of the objects which were defaced were blessed for use in Christian worship.

Disturbingly, these actions took place during an unplanned power cut. Internal emails reassuring students that maintenance and IT staff were hurrying to solve the problem also reveal that their own battery backups went down for a time as well. 

Everything destroyed can be replaced, but Lincoln chaplain, Revd Dr Andrew Shamel, says it constitutes a “direct attack on God or at the least Christian faith itself” for some believers. Desecration of aspects of the Christian altar are offensive and hurtful to Christians. For example, the Paschal candle symbolizes a special form of Christ’s presence in the Church after the Resurrection at Easter and the destruction of this holy object is highly disrespectful. Destruction of any sacred object is akin to “a precious heirloom, a work of art, or a memento resonant of a loved one”, Revd Dr Shamel explained.

The college chapel was originally built in the early seventeenth century in a late Gothic, perpendicular style and consecrated in 1631. Statues on the front pews and ornate ceilings were added in the 1680s. Apart from restoration work that took place in the 1990s, the Chapel has remained mostly unchanged since the late seventeenth century. Notable features include enamelled windows by the master painter Abraham van Linge which depict various Biblical figures and scenes and a large organ in a pine ante-chapel.

Revd Dr Shamel raised particular concerns over the treatment of the objects on the altar table: the Paschal candle, linen corporal cloth, and the table itself. These objects are used in the rite of the Eucharist, which symbolises the last supper Jesus ate with his disciples, and a “mysterious recapitulation of the sacrifice of the Crucifixion”. Each object on the table is loaded with symbolism. The white tablecloth symbolises the special role of the altar table in the ceremony, while the smaller corporal cloth is used to delineate the focus of the blessing of the bread and wine and collect crumbs from the consecrated bread. “Many Christians regard each crumb of the bread of the Eucharist as precious and so it much not be lost or trod upon,” he said, adding “I hope it is clear how the scattered charcoal and deep marking marring these fabrics and surfaces set aside for the Eucharist would be so problematic”.

A similar instance of chapel vandalism in Central Oxford was reported on by Cherwell in 1984. Two Brasenose College students ransacked that college’s chapel and left behind a number of offensive images, included pentagrams and inverted crosses. The two students, who also had a history of disciplinary infractions, confessed the same morning to their “drunken prank”. They were each fined £50, plus an additional £15 for a separate incident in which they danced on the roof of the Principal’s lodgings. The JCR President at the time denied that the College was a “place for Devil worshippers”, and said “the incident has left Christians in the college very perturbed, very upset. The fact that these people infringed on spiritual beliefs is appalling.” 

Image credit: Remi Mathis