Emily Packer peruses the problems of reading for pleasure as an Oxford studentI have been at Oxford only seven weeks, but as a fresher reading English, I find that my world has already contracted to Anglo-Saxon genitive plurals and the intricate social manoeuvres of the characters of George Eliot and Henry James. I have long ago ceased to read the news or the latest prize-winning novels with any regularity. An unread copy of the Economist peeks forlornly out from under my bed, a memorial to my noble resolutions to remain informed about world events a little more recent than the Battle of Maldon.

This state of affairs is especially surprising to me as an international student from America, where undergraduates do not specialise until their second year and are encouraged to take classes in a variety of art and science subjects. On the one hand, the English system demands greater intellectual focus, independent thought, and a deeper understanding of the chosen subject. On the other, it can sometimes reduce the degree to which students are broadly conversant on a variety of topics.

Aware of this problem, I try to determine whether my colleagues are becoming as poorly read outside their subject as I. At breakfast, I talk, over my soggy eggs and tomatoes, to a graduate fresher reading financial economics, who describes his outside reading as ‘one book every two months.’ Ashley, a first-year biochemist, concurs, cataloguing her recent bedtime reading as ‘organic chemistry textbooks, biochemistry textbooks, biophysics textbooks…’ Another biochemist confesses to bringing along a store of novels for quiet nights but in fact finding time for no more than a quick glance at the Cherwell in the JCR. (In an occurrence certain to please journo-hacks everywhere, I find that the OxStu and the Cherwell easily top the list of extracurricular reading material. Student editors, bear cautiously your burden of providing overworked students with their sole channel to the outside world). Kiri, a first-year lawyer currently perusing Virginia Woolf’s The Waves in her spare time, is one of the few to establish a healthy balance between required and extracurricular reading: ‘I would say that I manage to strike a pretty good balance between reading what I want to read and what I need to read. It also helps that my subject is throwing a lot of interesting documents my way…I’m reading things within my subject that I would never have encountered in my normal reading pattern.’

Nonetheless, most students feel a definite conflict between their personal and their curricular reading, and some have actively tried to redress the imbalance. The Christ Church Cavaliers, a newly formed book club at the aforementioned college, plans to create a forum for the discussion of books from a variety of genres, from classic novels to history texts. Founder Edward Charlton-Jones and the other permanent members hope to include students from non-arts subjects who might otherwise be unlikely to participate. The club, rumoured to feature swords and heraldic crests (only at the House…), will no doubt become a mainstay of inter-subject reading.

In addition, the average Oxford student can partake of a wide range of extracurricular activities designed to broaden his experience beyond the bounds of his subject. Debates at the Union provide students with a fair and balanced look at loonies from across the political spectrum. Clubs ranging from the Asia-Pacific Society to the Yacht Club cater to every cultural, recreational, charitable, or culinary taste, no matter how obscure, while the Law and Finance Societies offer abundant free champagne and canapés in exchange for advance rights to your firstborn child and immortal soul. In short, though time for extracurricular reading may be scant, Oxford students are only as much in thrall to their subjects as they allow themselves to be, and opportunities for a well-rounded education in and out of the classroom are available to all.

by Elen GriffithsI am hunting for an impossible word. It is ‘Tantenverführer,’ which literally means ‘aunt-seducer’. I pound through dictionaries, trawl internet translators, then finally check online language forums. I search in vain: it is nowhere to be found.
This is because the word does not exist. In his new book Toujours Tingo, the sequel to The Meaning of Tingo, author Adam Jacot de Boinod has collected bizarre expressions from around the world, which have no equivalent in English. He delights in novel expressions and quirky idioms. Yet some phrases that Boinod cites, such as ‘Maüsemelker,’ ‘Tantenverführer’ and ‘gwarlingo,’ seem either to be invented, or so obscure that native speakers do not recognise them. The book has caused anger among the internet community, as linguists argue online that words have been made up.

To my disappointment I could not find ‘Tantenverführer,’ which de Boinod claims means a suspiciously charming young man. It is not in dictionaries, and German linguists on online ‘Leo’ dictionary forum don’t believe it officially exists. ‘Gwarlingo,’ allegedly meaning ‘the rushing sound a grandfather clock makes before striking the hour,’ is similarly unrecognizable. My Welsh-speaking family have never heard of it; nor have readers of ‘Times Online’. Has Boinod actually found these expressions, or is he inventing them?

These may be obscure or archaic words, which poses the question: how can we determine which words we officially accept as part of language? When an author invents words, as Lewis Carroll invented ‘galumph’ or ‘chortle,’ do they count? What about the archaic word ‘coruscating’ used by Stephen Spender, which I have yet to find anywhere else? If a word is so rare that no native speaker has heard of it, can we really accept it as a word?

This is an issue which de Boinod shies away from, yet it is vital in justifying his choice of obscure examples. Toujours Tingo is an interesting catalogue of idiomatic phrases from different languages, many of which are fascinating, but some of which are inane. De Boinod offers no analysis of his word-lists, other than claiming they will ‘change the way we see the world.’ I was interested to know that ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ translates as ‘il pleut comme une vache qui pisse,’ but this did not fundamentally change my perception of language or the world. Toujours Tingo is bursting with interesting trivia – like the fact that many French idioms contain the number 36 – but little meaning.

De Boinod researched his book by trawling through 130 dictionaries and 140 websites, and it is possible that he found his obscure words, which have caused controversy online, in dictionaries more wide-ranging than the ones I use. Yet there is a fine line between quirky, obscure expressions and disused, unrecognisable ones; in my opinion, Toujours Tingo frequently crosses this line.

AN OXFORD Professor and his family are “lucky to be alive” after two teenagers set fire to their home in a Halloween arson attack.
Three fire engines, a police unit and an ambulance were called to the Headington home of English Professor and Merton fellow David Norbrook on 31 October, after youths started a fire by putting fireworks through his kitchen door.
Norbrook, his wife and two young children, who were asleep in the house when the fire broke out, managed to escape unharmed, although their home may be uninhabitable for up to nine months.
Fire and Rescue Service Fire Investigation Officer Guy Dunkley said that the family had been very fortunate to escape the blaze. “Luckily this particular family had a working smoke alarm in their home which alerted them to the fire. They are extremely lucky to be alive,” he said.
18-year-old Jamie Matthews, and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested in connection with the fire, and appeared before Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where they were charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
They have been granted conditional bail to appear at Oxford Crown Court on November 19, and have been forbidden from contacting each other or Professor Norbrook. It is expected that they will face prison sentences.
A spokesperson for Oxfordshire’s Fire and Rescue Service said, “We received a call at 11:58 on the night of Halloween. When we arrived, the crew were faced with a serious fire in the ground floor kitchen of the house. The family had managed to get out of the house before we arrived. The property was severely damaged by the fire.”
One of Norbrook’s neighbours also witnessed the events. “It was 12 at night and there was a hell of a bang and a flash. Fire engines and an ambulance and the police came. Their [Norbrook’s] next door neighbour went like a flash to get them out but they were already out of the house because they had smoke detectors. They had to stay the night next door and then moved to a B&B. They reckon 6 to 9 months before they can move back in. The police cordoned off the area for a day and then it was boarded up,” he said. 
A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police warned that the case would be treated as a serious offence and not just a Halloween prank. “The court are treating it as arson with an intent to endanger life which is a very serious charge. What first appeared to be a Halloween prank has ended up with very serious consequences,” he said. 
Norbrook said he had no idea why the teenagers decided to attack his property. “I don’t even know the names of the teenagers involved and have no knowledge of why they did it. But it has happened and they are being charged,” he said. 
Neighbours have expressed their sympathy for the family. “It was a dreadful thing and very upsetting for them, with two little children. It’s a good job they got out safely as they did,” said one resident.
Another added that she did not think there had been any malicious intent behind the attack. “It was just a Halloween prank that went horribly wrong. Some kids put a rocket through the kitchen door and it just exploded, the windows completely shattered,” she said.
Incident Manager Richard Bowley estimated the cost of damage to the house to be thousands of pounds, adding, “The family were very lucky to escape without serious injury. The fire investigation team were called in and after a painstaking search, found a firework underneath the debris in the kitchen which is believed to have started the fire. The incident is now being dealt with by the police.”

THE UNIVERSITY has spent over £40,000 re-branding itself with a new corporate identity and website, despite criticisms from senior academics that doing so was “naïve”.
The cost breakdown, obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Act, includes £35,000 on consultancy fees, £1,500 for the production of the style guide, and £6,000 on the purchase of new fonts for use within the University.
The re-branding involved a redesign of the University crest and the commissioning of a new font, and coincided with the launch of the University’s Internet homepage.
It has also developed a single logo, dubbed the ‘Quadrangle’, to be used as the ‘primary branding device’ for all public relations material, and has specified the exact colour and font sizes to be used. In addition, it provides a ‘branding toolkit’ website for staff, which includes a style guide and exact instructions how the logo is to be used.
But a professor at the Saïd Business School has criticised the decision to spend the money on a new corporate identity. Douglas Holt, L’Oreal Professor of Marketing, called the branding exercise “trivial” and said that the University’s reputation did not depend on its brand image.
“It is an unfortunate misperception of branding that it is largely to do with visual images,” he said. “Visual identity can be a very important aspect of branding if you’re talking about vodka or fashion. But usually brands are forged in the hard work of delivering a superior product over many years. This is certainly true in the case of Oxford.  Oxford’s trademark is the vessel that carries hundreds of years of experiences with, media reports on, and discussions about the University.
“The value of the brand didn’t come from having a nice logo, but for creating knowledge and delivering education in a distinctive way and becoming famous for doing so. For brands with trademarks so deeply embedded in historical meaning, it is usually quite dangerous to mess with them much, which thankfully they didn’t.
“To think that a modest tweaking of the visual identity system will have significant impact on how people perceive Oxford would be naive.”
A spokesperson for the University said that the re-branding was necessary for commercial reasons. She said, “The purpose of the re-branding is to ensure that the University’s visual identity reflects Oxford’s rich history and its ambitions for the future. We hope that this new branding will make Oxford University stand out in the competitive global arena.”
 
Additional reporting by
Tom Seymour

Terrified students were injured after a stampede in the queue for Filth nightclub last Friday night, with OUSU officers blaming the club’s owner for ignoring student safety.People were crushed against metal barriers and suffered bruised ribs after the busy queue became a surging crowd on the Westgate Centre staircase. One student described the incident as a “smaller version of Hillsborough.”
Hundreds of people are thought to have made their way to the club late on Friday night, including many who had been drinking at Cardinal’s Cocktails at the Town Hall. The club’s bouncers were operating a ‘one out, one in’ policy, and tried to prevent disgruntled people in the queue from leaving. The crowd became aggressive, pushing and shoving, causing people to be crushed against the barriers and fall down the stairs.
Kate Denham, a third-year student at Lincoln College, said, “It was really dangerous, and they didn’t deal with the situation, which was escalating, for a whole hour. Then suddenly all of these security guards in bright yellow jackets, at least four on my section of the queue alone, appeared and started just shoving at the crowd. People were getting severely winded on the metal security barrier.”
Denham said that she approached a security guard and asked him not to push people, as it was making them fall down the stairs. The guard laughed at her and refused to let anyone out of the queue.
“They repeatedly ignored me until I finally managed to let one of them see that I actually couldn’t breathe because the metal bar was pressing so hard against me, then he panicked and lifted me out of the crowd. If anyone had fainted or passed out in there they would have sustained severe injury, if not been trampled to death,” she said.
One Lincoln student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that she sustained bruising and abdominal pain after being caught in the crush. “I was winded and got a bit bruised on my side,” she said. “We were queuing and the queue was so big that no one could see there was a metal bar. Everyone was trying to push forward and shoving backwards and forwards. A bouncer came over to sort it out and shoved me, so I got the full force of the bar.”
She added, “They [the club’s management] weren’t very safety conscious at all. A lot of people were shouting to get out of the queue.” 
Brasenose student Karen Angus blamed drunken students who arrived in the queue after Cardinal’s Cocktails. “I lost the other three people who I was queuing with because so many people tried to push in. One guy jumped over the barrier in front of me and was trying to pull some of his other friends over the barrier so I said to him that it wasn’t fair and that I’d lost all my friends in the queue now because they’d all pushed in. He replied by saying, ‘Well just go and get some more friends then,’” she said.
Louise Randall, OUSU Vice-President for Welfare and Equal Opportunities, said, “Filth is run for profit by an independent club promoter, rather than a service for students. We’re really sorry to hear that it was an awful night because we want all students to have a good night regardless of where they go, and the student safety concerns are obviously worrying.”
She added, “If Balreick [owner of Rock Oxford] is unwilling or unable to provide adequate protection for students at his nights then students should vote with their feet. There are a number of alternatives on a Friday, including OUSU’s own Zoo night at Risa. No student should have to go to a night that they feel is unsafe or just not fun.”
OUSU Vice-President (Finance), Rich Hardiman, also criticised Balreick Srai’s promotion nights at Filth, saying, “We spend the majority of our profits from Zoo by putting it back into services. That’s the difference between us and Balreick.  It sucks that somebody feels they can take students for a ride and treat them like dirt. I think it’s a really sad thing that anyone can get away with treating Oxford’s students that badly, just to make a bit of money.”
Balreick Srai, owner of Rock Oxford, declined to comment on the incident.

Full Time Executive: President

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After Three Rounds, with the following first preferences:
Lewis Iwu 1154
Olivia Bailey 761
Tom Lowe 551
Dean Robson 392
RON 67

LEWIS IWU ELECTED

Full Time Executive: Vice President (Welfare and Equal Opportunities)

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After First Round:
Roseannah McBeath 1111
Kat Matfield 599
RON 212

ROSEANNAH MCBEATH ELECTED

Full Time Executive: Vice President (Access and Academic Affairs)

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After First Round:
Paul Dwyer 1600
RON 340

PAUL DWYER ELECTED

Full Time Executive: Vice President (Charities and Communities)

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After First Round:
Jack Welby 1288
RON 280
JACK WELBY ELECTED

Full Time Executive: Vice President (Graduates)

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After First Round:
Kaushal Vidyarthee 98
RON 22
KAUSHAL VIDYARTHEE ELECTED

Full Time Executive: Vice President (Women)

To take office in June 2008 for one year
After First Round:
Rachel Cummings 815
RON 57
RACHEL CUMMINGS ELECTED

Part Time Executive: Women's Officer

To take office on Saturday, 9th Week Michaelmas 2007 for one year
After First Round:
Kate Halls 334
Katherine Wall 386
RON 32
KATHERINE WALL ELECTED

Part Time Executive: Graduate Academic Affairs Officer

To take office on Saturday, 9th Week Michaelmas 2007 for one year
After Second Round:
Sarah Hutchinson 46
Herman Tam 49
RON 0
HERMAN TAM ELECTED


Results taken from http://www.ousu.org/news/election-results-2007-last-updated-at-04-47
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New RESEARCH has revealed that a 16th century Oxford student made significant contributions to some of Shakespeare’s best-known plays.
The study shows that Thomas Middleton, who matriculated at Queen’s College in 1548 but never graduated, wrote hundreds of lines in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Measure for Measure. 
The research, conducted by 75 scholars worldwide with the help of a computer database, compared words and phrases used in other works by Middleton but not by Shakespeare, as well as allusions to historical events that took place after Shakespeare had written the plays.
Middleton’s contribution is considered so significant that both Macbeth and Measure for Measure are to be included in a new two-volume complete works of Middleton, which will be published next week by Oxford University Press.
For many years it has been suspected that the playwright, who had some success in his own right, contributed to Shakespeare’s work, but recent studies say that Middleton authored many more lines than previously realised. 
The research shows that in Shakespeare’s original Macbeth the ‘weird sisters’ were not witches but female fairies or nymphs played by boy actors.

OUSU’s Vice-President for Access and Academic Affairs has been reprimanded by the Returning Officer after attempts to promote a new initiative violated electoral rules.
James Lamming is responsible for a new section of OUSU’s website where current students can submit profiles of their experiences applying to and being interviewed at Oxford.
At hustings held last Friday, Lamming asked the candidates for President to send in profiles of themselves, suggesting that it would provide good publicity and that he would publish on his blog the order in which profiles arrive.
However, Returning Officer James Dray ruled that Lamming was in direct violation of electoral rules as the blog would give unequal publicity on a media platform.
Lamming said, “Early on Saturday afternoon I sent each of the candidates who had said yes to my request an email reminding them of their promise in hustings the previous day, and explained the details of what was needed in an interview profile.”
He added to candidates that by doing so they would be engineering positive exposure for their up-coming election.
“In the emails, I said that I would publish in my blog on Monday the order in which profiles arrive, giving the implied threat that the student body would know which candidates matched their words with deeds. I also offered ‘bonus points’ for candidates who solicited further profiles from their friends to help me collect dozens and dozens of profiles,” he said.
The Returning Officer was forced to contact Lamming as his actions flouted electoral rules.
Dray said, “I banned the candidates from submitting the profiles as soon as I heard what was happening, as it violates the restrictions on certain types of electronic communication as well as the need for fair and equal coverage.”
Lamming criticised the regulations’ implications, saying, “James Dray is justified in enforcing the rules, which turn out to be fairly clear against what I was light-heartedly suggesting to do. However, on a more serious point, I think it is a shame that students can’t discover which candidates are just hot air; promising much but doing little.
“The website is becoming really valuable, so it is a shame some of the candidates aren’t helping out when they said they would, but I hope other students across Oxford will act and send in a profile,” he added.