A vote on whether to approve the OUSU admissions policy will be held at the council meeting on Friday.The admissions policy document was drawn up last term by OUSU Access and Admissions Officer James Lamming, in coordination with JCRs. There have been debates on the policy in JCRs across the University, and representatives from affiliated colleges will vote on it at the OUSU council on Friday.Among other things the new admissions policy recommends that applicants to Oxford are selected on the basis of their academic potential, but that their school’s overall results (“educational context”) should be taken into account when evaluating their A-level grades. It also recommends that tutors minimise the use of subject tests and stop using submitted essays in the admissions process, since these measures are likely to be perceived as an “additional hurdle to applying to Oxford.”The policy document will be discussed and possibly amended at the Council on Friday, before becoming official OUSU policy. Once this happens, James Lamming will use it as the basis for his discussions with collegiate admissions committees. He said, “It can be a very strong argument to say, this is perceived as being unfair by students who’ve been there and done it, so you need to take it into account.”Several colleges have already debated the policy in the last week, including Merton and Magdalen.
Merton Affiliated Organisations rep Josh Monahan said, “There is no doubt that the university needs to take into account the views of undergraduates when deciding undergraduate admissions policy.”Diana Walford, Warden of Mansfield College and Chairman of the Admissions Executive and Admissions Committee, said, “We work very closely with the student body on access issues […] The collegiate University and OUSU are in agreement over the aims of widening participation to attract the best students irrespective of their background.”Not all students’ views will be represented by the final document, however, but only those whose college is affiliated to OUSU. James Lamming noted, “Disaffiliated colleges are welcome to discuss amendments, but they don’t have a vote. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t listen to their views. So the policy will reflect the views only of affiliated colleges, but I will be minded of the views of all students.”Sometimes, though, the admissions policy goes out the window. One Magdalen student said, “I’m sure the only reason I got in was because my tutor fancied me.”by Jack Farchy 

The Teddy Hall summer ball has been cancelled amidst ongoing disputes between the JCR and the college.The decision to cancel the ball for a second year in a row has prompted anger amongst students, with the college authorities accused of being “unacceptable.” A ‘Summer Event’ at the college is expected to be organised instead.The head of the Teddy Hall ball committee, Jonathan Taylor, resigned after college authorities refused to accept a capacity for the ball of 650 people.Taylor commented “The last Teddy Hall Ball (in 2006) was deemed a huge success by those who went to it. Unfortunately the college deemed it a complete disaster (largely because an SCR window was broken.) The Dean then wrote a report recommending that the college should have no bops or balls for 2 years – hence no ball in 2008.”“This year the college have re-introduced bops and agreed to consider a proposal for a ball…[Last term] they suggested that the capacity should be reduced from 850 in 2006 to 400 in 2008. Obviously this prompted long discussions.”Last Wednesday he informed the JCR President that he would not be prepared to organise a ball for any fewer than 650. The President offered 700 and then 650 which were both rejected.” Hence the capacity fell below my limit and prompted my resignation”, said Taylor.Emily-Kate Morton, JCR Women’s Officer, explained the JCR’s new plans, saying that the committee were “looking to draw up a new, smaller proposal, which will be more of a Summer Extravaganza, rather than a ball. This proposal goes to the governing body on Thursday, and after that we will know if we are going ahead with any sort of summer event.”However, some Teddy Hall students have reacted angrily. A Teddy Hall second year, who wishes to remain anonymous, said “Everybody is rather annoyed.”The student explained that Taylor had resigned “because the college governing body were being unacceptable…The governing body was putting a limit of the number of people…which the ball committee believed to be too little, as there would not be enough people there to make it any good. Meetings ensued between the governing body and the ball committee, but the governing body wouldn’t budge.” St Edmund Hall authorities declined to comment.by Rob Pomfret 

Oxford University has refused to follow Cambridge and the London School of Economics in drawing up so-called ‘blacklists’ for ‘soft’ A levels such as media studies and dance. Cambridge University recommends that applicants do not take more than one subject from a list of 20 A levels, including accounting and tourism. The London School of Economics similarly runs a list of 14 “non-preferred subjects”, such as law. Oxford breaks A levels into three categories for a particular course: essential, recommended and helpful, but does not ‘blacklist’ any subjects. An Oxford University spokesperson explained that, “There is no list of A levels which says if you study these A levels you can’t study at Oxford but there is a recommended list. If people apply for courses where they haven’t got the recommended A levels it is harder to compete.” The Russell Group of top UK universities has been critical of so-called ‘soft subjects’, and has suggested that pupils at state schools taking a large number of them at A level are put at a disadvantage.Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, stated on the group’s website, “It is difficult for admissions tutors to choose between such excellent candidates. Students must not disadvantage themselves by choosing a combination of subjects at A Level which will not equip them as well as other subjects to excel on their chosen course, or which do not demonstrate as effectively as others their aptitude for a particular subject.“Clearly if pupils from certain state schools are increasingly taking a combination of subjects which put them at a disadvantage in competing for a course at a Russell Group university, the task of widening participation in our universities becomes even more difficult,” she added. Russell Group research found that 93% of media studies candidates were from non-selective state schools even though such schools only account for 74% of A levels in total, leading to suggestions that comprehensives are using such subjects to boost pupils’ grades.A statement on the Oxford University Admissions Department website said that admission was more focused on academic potential than subject choice.“Providing that any specific subject requirements have been met, all A levels are approved for admissions purposes, with the exception of General Studies.“Providing that you meet any specific requirements for your course, we recommend you to take those subjects that interest you most and in which you feel you have the ability to do best. Apart from the specific requirements shown, tutors are much more interested in candidates’ overall academic ability, and their potential and motivation for the course at Oxford, than the particular programmes which have been followed at school.”by Rob Pomfret

Dark and unsettling, Alice Lacey’s production of Caryl Churchill’s play is a triumph from start to finish. Despite a very drawn out freezeframe at the beginning (with the actors looking as bored as you feel) the play soon picks up and proves to be riveting. Violent and shocking, the play portrays a girl whose life is plagued by violence, at war and at home. The staging of Churchill’s excellent play is helped in no small measure by fantastic performances from the cast and a subtle and understated soundtrack.From the first scene the audience is thrown into a terrifying and totalitarian world but provided with little explanation as to how it came about. At first, this appears to be an oversight on the part of the playwright, but as the actions progresses it becomes clear that you are supposed to understand as little about the situation the characters live in as they do. The plot follows the life of Joan and her experiences as she grows up. Setting the ominous tone that pervades the entire production, the audience first meets her as a young child, unable to sleep after being sent away to an isolated country house and hearing inexplicable disembodied screams from her bedroom window. Particularly worthy of mention is the parade of the prisoners, where the grotesque contrast of men trudging to their deaths with their garish headgear has all the visual appeal of a car crash, but at the same time is strangely mesmerising.The staging gives the production a claustrophobic feeling. Actors frequently come right up to the audience and bring them more directly into the characters’ world of violence and desctruction. By the end, we feel as frightened as they do. Although perhaps not a play to see if you’re feeling fragile, this is definitely not one to be missed for those of you who like your theatre slick, thought-provoking, and ever- so-slightly nightmare inducing.By Sarah Davies 

Tom Richards’s production of Edward II, by Christopher Marlowe, is complete with smoky night clubs, the sweet-sour smell of weed, star-cross’d lovers, and violence. Like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, the production has moved an Elizabethan play into a modern gangster setting. Edward II highlights the correspondance between the power game in Marlowe’s early modern court and the one-upmanship in the mafia world, adding in political controversy from Edward’s homoerotic affairs. However, exciting as this premise is, the actual execution of the play falls slightly short of expectation.The play explores the complications that love causes in a political context. Ben Galpin captures Edward’s anguish as a young man yearning, but is not so convincing when playing Edward as king. Krishna Omkar is convincing in the role of Gaveston styled as Edward’s melancholic lover. Arabella Lawson as Queen Isabella plays a bitter, desperate wife fallen from her husband’s favour, but the political intrigue surrounding her, including a connection to the IRA (a modern equivalent of Marlowe’s French intrigue) is not quite convincing. They portray passion, yet the shades of passions are rarely identified and distinguished.The staging of Elizabethan drama in a modern-styled production is problematic and aspects borrowed from both periods are never quite brought together. The actors change awkwardly between their dual identities, never quite sure whether they are playing nobles or gangsters. This is a production which overwhelms and excites the viewer with its modern adaptation of a Marlowe play, yet it has not quite fulfilled that potential. Just as Edward in the play could personally testify, it is never easy to balance politics and love in life; in theatre, the same applies. By Chen-yi Liu

A row has erupted after leaders at Oxford’s Central Mosque announced plans to install a loudspeaker to broadcast the call to prayer.

Despite opposition from locals, elders at the mosque in Manzil Way, Cowley, have pledged to go ahead with the plans and will submit a planning application in nine months, when construction of the building is complete.

A spokesperson for the mosque said that they did not want to upset the local community, and promised to keep the call volume to a minimum, but emphasised that sounding the call to prayer was “very important” to their religion.

If permission is not granted for broadcasting the call to prayer three times a day it is likely that the call will be sounded on Fridays when around 700 come to worship each week. Last month, dozens of people attended a Council meeting to express their anger at the proposals.

Earlier this month, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that non-Muslims faced a hostile relationship in places dominated by the ideology of Islamic radicals.

He implied that the public establishment of such Muslim practices as the call to prayer would make living and working in the area difficult for non-Muslims.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has said that he sees no problems with the plans. His spokesperson explained, “He believes there are no ‘no-go areas’ and that there are good inter-faith relationships in Britain and that we should be tolerant of diversity.”

Sazan Meran, co-President of Oxford’s Islamic Society, supported Rev Prichard’s comments. She said, “The society would welcome such a development as long as the establishment of a megaphone happened with full and proper consultation of the local community and authorities.”

She said that, should the plans be accepted, the call to prayer would be a “positive reflection of diversity in the community.”

Students at the adjacent St Catz graduate accommodation were unaware of the proposals, but one resident told Cherwell that he had no problem with the proposal. He said, “It could not possibly be more annoying than the Magdalen bell practices”

Lady Margaret Hall has lost its third student officer this academic year after the JCR’s OUSU officer stood down.Georgie Day said that she was standing down because her position had become “awkward.”
She said, “We stopped being happy so I decided it would be best to leave the team.”Her resignation comes just two months after the student body’s newly-elected Vice-President was pressured into standing down by the SCR, and means that there are now two vacancies on the JCR Executive.Alasdair Craig won the position of VP in the College’s November elections, but was subsequently pressured into resigning by the college’s SCR after the Dean described his campaign poster as “illegal”
and “obscene.”The posters showed him with a carrot protruding from his trousers.  His tutor Michael Broers, who was acting as Dean at the time, believed that the poster depicted Craig’s penis and withdrew his permission to run.Michaelmas also saw the resignation of Conor Kennedy from his role as Male Welfare Officer.
Kennedy stood down due to “academic commitments.”  He said, “Being a finalist, I just have a lot of work to do.”His position has since been filled by Jake Leeper, a first-year historan.  A by-election will take place on Thursday to elect both a new Vice-President and OUSU officer.A former JCR officer expressed disappointment at the resignations. He said, “People are just using these positions as CV liners. It’s a shame.”by Omotola Akerele