See the full by-election results

The Liberal Democrats have won the Holywell by-election, retaining their second council seat for this ward.

Mark Mills, a student at Teddy Hall and the Lib Dem candidate, won with 183 votes.

Polls were open 7am-10pm for the by-election, which was triggered by Lib Dem councillor Richard Huzzey’s resignation.

Richard Huzzey stood down just days after the local elections, announcing he had been offered a post-doctoral research fellowship at Yale University, which he described as “too good to miss”.

Mr Huzzey was elected in 2006, and was not up for re-election in 2008 as Oxford City Council is elected in halves, with one of the two seats for each ward elected every two years.

At the time, Mr Huzzey said: “It’s been fantastic to work with Holywell residents over the past two years, and I’d have liked to continue for the rest of my four-year term.

“Yet an academic job at Yale is just too good to miss.”

Lib Dem success

The win will be heartening for the Lib Dems, who lost administrative control over the City Council after the local elections in May, when they lost ground to Labour.

The Council, however, still remains under no overall control.

The Lib Dems are likely to have benefited from the timing of the poll, as most students were still eligible to vote. However, many were sitting exams.

In the local elections recently held, the Lib Dems performed well in the two main student wards, Carfax and Holywell, but fared poorly elsewhere.

Lib Dem candidate Nathan Pyle won his Holywell ward seat with more than twice the votes of the second place Conservative candidate, Alex Stafford.

Familiar faces

Apart from the Lib Dems, the other party’s candidates were all familiar faces, having all lost in the May local elections.

Paul Sargent, who defected to the Conservatives from the Lib Dems during his term, and subsequently lost his council seat to Lib Dem Stephen Brown at the beginning of May, came second place in the by-election.

Green candidate Chip Sherwood also had a second attempt, having come third in the race for the other Holywell seat in May.

Sarah Hutchinson, a graduate student, stood for Labour, having lost in the Carfax elections in May.

Canvassing

Many students experienced heavy campaigning in the run-up to the by-election.

On the day, the parties were canvassing outside many of the Holywell ward colleges as well as the King’s Arms crossroads. Despite this, voter turnout was just 11.7%. At the local elections in May, turnout was 26.9% for Holywell.

At Teddy Hall, the college of winning candidate Mark Mills, a JCR motion was passed on Sunday banning all door-to-door canvassing.

Results

Turnout: 11.7%

Oxford University will launch its new faculty for Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics on August 1 2008. The faculty will centralise Oxford’s research and teaching in the subject, which has traditionally taken place in separate faculties across the university.

The move, announced June 6 2008, is said to reflect current trends for interdisciplinary research in the area. Faculty members will work across the areas of linguistics and neuroscience, as well as working closely with the existing Experimental Psychology Department.

The creation of the new faculty should allow Oxford to extend its research into the areas of cognitive science, experimental psychology and computing in relation to the study of language. There are also plans to introduce new courses for undergraduates wishing to study this field.

Despite having had no centralised faculty until now, Oxford’s Linguistics department was named joint best in the country by the Times Good University Guide 2007. The new plans were welcomed by existing Linguistics staff and by members of the Humanities Division.

By-election result here as soon as it is announced

Mr Huzzey was elected in 2006, and was not up for
re-election in 2008 as Oxford City Council is elected in halves, with one of the
two seats for each ward elected every two years.

At the time, Mr Huzzey said: “It’s been fantastic to work with Holywell
residents over the past two years, and I’d have liked to continue for the rest
of my four-year term.

"Yet an academic job at Yale is just too good to miss.”

Lib Dem hopes

The Lib Dems will be keen for success in the by-election,
after losing ground to Labour in the elections in May.

They will not want their influence in the council further reduced.

After the local elections, Labour extended their majority over the Lib
Dems and took administrative control of the council, although they
still lack the majority needed for overall control. 

The Lib Dems may benefit from the timing of the poll, as many students will still be eligible to
vote. However, many will also be sitting exams.

In the local elections recently held, the Lib Dems performed
well in the two main student wards, Carfax and Holywell, but fared poorly
elsewhere.

Lib Dem candidate Nathan Pyle won his Holywell ward seat
with more than twice the votes of the second place Conservative candidate, Alex
Stafford.

Candidates

Several by-election candidates stood in the recent local elections.

Two losing candidates from the Carfax election, Sarah
Hutchinson for Labour, and Paul Sargent for the Conservatives, are hoping for
better luck in Holywell.

Paul Sargent defected to the Conservatives from the Lib Dems
during his term, and subsequently lost his council seat to Lib Dem Stephen
Brown at the beginning of May.

Green candidate Chip Sherwood is also having a second
attempt, having come third in the race for the other Holywell seat in May.

The Lib Dems are fielding a fresh face, in the form of Mark
Mills, a student at Teddy Hall.

Council

While the Lib Dems will want to retain their seat, Labour will be keen to further extend their majority in the hope of achieving overall control at the next local elections.

Meanwhile the Conservatives are seeking to regain a presence in the council, after having lost both their seats in May’s local election.

The Green Party will be aiming to make up for a lacklustre performance in May.

Canvassing

Many students have experienced heavy campaigning in the run-up to the by-election, and the parties have been canvassing outside many of the Holywell colleges today.

At Teddy Hall, a JCR motion was passed on Sunday banning all door-to-door canvassing.

The Holywell polling station at the Magdalen Auditorium on Longwall Street is open from 7am until 10pm.

Cherwell will have the by-election result as soon as it is announced.

Results

Nejra Cehic investigates the plight of failed asylum seekers in the UK,
focussing on community activity around the issue in Oxfordshire.

During the video, Harris, a failed asylum seeker from Sierra Leone, recalls a violent incident he claims to have witnessed while inside Campsfield House, the detention centre just outside Oxford. 

A spokesperson for GEO Group UK Ltd., which manages Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre, declined to comment on the alleged incidents of violence mentioned in this programme.

This investigation was originally filmed for Cherwell24 in Hilary Term 2008.

University College’s new boathouse, which was unveiled to the public at Summer Eights last year, has been awarded a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award.

The boathouse, which was designed by Shahriar Nasser for Belsize Architects, was rebuilt at a cost of £2.7m following an arson attack in 1999 that left the old building unusable. The money was raised through a combination of insurance pay-outs and donations from Univ alumni.

The building is modern in appearance, featuring panoramic views of the river and a thin copper roof, and includes facilities for boat storage and repair as well as a gym and accomodation. It is used by students from University, Wolfson, St Peter’s and Somerville colleges.

Oxford has made slow progress in boosting the number of state educated students it takes on despite large Government spending and campaigns by the University, figures show.

Performance figures for 2006-7 released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), show that the proportion of state educated students at Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol and several other universities actually decreased.

In 2006, Oxford had 53% state educated students, with Cambridge having 57.6%. The figures fall well below Government-set benchmarks of 76.7% and 77.4% respectively.

The disappointing figures come despite the Government spending large sums on schemes dedicated to widening university access to those from poorer backgrounds.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “Over the past decade, in England alone, nearly £3 billion has been spent on measures to widen social class participation in higher education.

“We welcome the priority that has been given to this area. But there has been little progress, despite a lot of hard work by universities to attract and retain a wider range of students.

“The bottom line is that the punitive cost of higher education is putting the very students who the Government wishes to attract off applying.”

Oxford also has many access schemes in place, and recently launched an ambitious funding campaign to ensure students from poorer backgrounds are not deterred from applying.

A spokeswoman for Oxford University told the BBC: “For our part, we are doing our utmost to encourage academic ambition from a young age by working with students from 11 up, and by working closely with parents and teachers.

“One element of the picture is making sure that those who do study at Oxford from all groups, especially under-represented groups, are well supported and reach their potential.

“One of the lowest drop-out rates in the country indicates that our efforts in this respect are bearing fruit.”

The period for which the HESA figures have been released coincides with the introduction of top-up fees of £3,000.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell emphasised overall figures for UK universities showed that the proportion of students from state schools had increased.

“It is particularly encouraging to see that the proportion of young entrants from the lower socio-economic groups and from state schools has continued to rise and is in fact at their highest ever levels,” he said.

For 2006-7, the proportion of state educated students at university increased from 87.9% to 88.3%.

Both Oxford and Cambridge stress they are doing all they can to widen access. In their defence, some dons have attacked the Government’s targets as unrealistic due to the way in which they are calculated.

They also cite inequalities at early stages of schooling and in teacher’s attitudes towards encouraging students to apply to prestigious universities.

The figures also show that overall nearly a quarter of undergraduates fail to complete their degree, despite the Government spending large amounts on improving retention. At Bolton University, the drop-out rate has reached almost half.

Oxford has one of the lowest drop-out rates in the country, at 1.2% for 2006-7.

LMH second year Charlie Holt has won the race for the title of President of the Oxford Union, following Friday’s election. He will commence his duties in Hilary Term 2009.

Leo-Marcus Wan was elected Librarian for Michaelmas 2008.

 The full results of the elections are as follows:

President, Hilary 2009

Charlie Holt: 767
Ed Waldegrave: 574

Librarian, Hilary 2009

Leo Marcus Wan: 665
Guagua Bo: 620
Spoilt, blank, void: 175

Secretary, Michaelmas 2008

Tom Hartley: 712
Simon Millar: 429
Spoilt, blank, void: 322

Treasurer, Hilary 2009

James Langham, unopposed

Standing Commitee, Michaelmas 2008

Nouri Verghese: 153

Ronald Collinson: 137

Ngu Atanga: 133

James Kingston: 114

Niall Gallagher: 113 

Runner up: Katy Minshall 

Secretary’s Committee, Michaelmas 2008
William Parry: 109

Judd Fischer: 88

Justine Potts: 85

Laura Winwood: 71

Sam Cullen: 68

Fenella Corrick: 68

Julius Hugelschofer: 67    

Han Yu: 64

Emily Gardner: 53

Runner up: JD Appleby