Discussions will take place at
OUSU council this Friday to review the number of schools invited to Open Days and Regional Events through the Target Schools Scheme.The Target Schools programme
currently aims to increase the number of students from state schools and
colleges applying to Oxford.
This is done by inviting students from all state schools to Open Days and
Regional events organised by the Target Schools scheme. The open days are
hosted by Oxford colleges whereas the regional
events are held further away, including Northern Ireland.The scheme has come under
criticism as some schools which are being invited to the open days already send
students to Oxford
University on a regular
basis. The agenda for the council meeting states that this is an inefficient
use of resources.OUSU Vice-President (Access and
Academic Affairs), Charlynne Pullen, said, “As [colleges and departments] run
their own well-attended open days, Target Schools felt it was inappropriate to
use its own resources to duplicate this work. Target Schools aims to encourage
applicants from state schools and we felt the best use of our resources would
be to focus on schools which have no Oxbridge tradition.” The agenda defines a
school with an “Oxbridge tradition” as one “which has had four or more students
accepted to study at Oxford
annually, taking an average of the previous three years”.Pullen also added that the
proposed motion “wouldn’t stop us sending [invitations] to grammar schools,”
reasserting the equality between schools that Target Schools is trying to
achieve. The decision of what schools are invited to Target Schools open days
is not affected by whether they are grammar schools.The aim of the motion is to
change the role of Target Schools from one of increasing applicants from state
schools to one of increasing applicants from state schools specifically without
an “Oxbridge tradition”. The motion does not specifically address the issue of
private schools that do not have an “Oxbridge tradition” yet are still not
invited by Target Schools to open days and regional events. Such schools are
not currently actively aided by the scheme.Pullen said that encouraging
applications from private schools without an Oxbridge tradition is “not an
access initiative, that’s normal recruitment and the University does it already”.ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

Exeter’s
security came under scrutiny last Friday after its JCR bar was van­dalised by
an intruder. The
culprit gained access to the bar during the day as it was left open for
students to use its facilities. He subse­quently vandalised the bar by break­ing
into the pool table and jukebox with what is believed to have been a crowbar. The
matter was discovered by the assistant domestic bursar and re­ported to Thames
Valley Police, who sent officers to Exeter
on Saturday to examine the scene of the crime. A spokesperson from Thames
Valley Po­lice confirmed the incident on Friday as “a break-in through an
unsecured door; cash was stolen from the juke­box and the pool table”. Eric
Bennett, Exeter’s
domestic bursar, said: “Around fifty pounds were stolen. The College has to pay
for that. The same goes with dam­age to the machines, which might be something
like a couple of hundred quid.” A
porter at Exeter
informed Cher­well that a similar incident happened in third week. On
that occasion, four machines in the lounge area were bro­ken into. In both
cases, the perpetrator was caught on the College’s CCTV. From video footage, it
appears that the intruder could have been the same person. The Police
spokesperson describes him as “a white man, around 30, 5’10” with balding
ginger hair.”The
break-ins have raised questions about security, although James Rob­inson, Exeter’s bar officer,
said: “The worry is not massive. The bar break-ins were isolated cases in the
sense that one man spotted a loophole in security and exploited it. And so far,
there hasn’t been any incident where student rooms were broken into.” The
porter said: “We try our hardest to keep an eye on who goes in and out of the
College but the large number of visitors from outside… and the fact that they
do not need to report to the Porters’ Lodge make that task diffi­cult.” Bennett
said: “We have planned long before the incident to set up a barrier by the
entrance so that all visi­tors have to walk through the Lodge. But that means
having to open up a door in the wall and because is Grade I listed, the plan
was refused permission by the City Council.” Emily
Pull, Exeter JCR President, said: “I think it’s awful that the City Council is
obstructing attempts to im­prove student safety.” Bennett added: “Our newest
plan is to set up a swipe card system so that only members of the College can
get in; others have to report to the Lodge. But it’s question­able whether even
that would have prevented cases like this from happen­ing. The person whom we
think was the thief looked ordinary and not at all scruffy and if he says he’s
a tourist most people would believe him. From the CCTV footage I actually
thought at first that he was an academic! “People
like him know the system well – they know what to say when they are questioned,
how not to at­tract unwanted attention and so on. So one can see that even with
check­ing non-members by the entrance is not going to be 100 per cent secure.”Exeter students have been
informed by the College since the incident that the bar will be shut during the
day and any College member who wishes to use it will have to collect the key
from the porters’ lodge.ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

Emma Norris, President
of the Uni­versity’s Student Union (OUSU), has been accused of abusing her
position to prevent the forthcoming “Students for Students” referendum. Alex
Young, an ex-Returning Officer of the Union
and one of the leading proponents of the the referendum, said “OUSU as an
institution, and Norris in particular, have done their level best to prevent
this referendum even from reaching the ballot box.” Young accuses Norris of
improperly trying to sway the decision of an OUSU Junior Tribunal. The tribunal
convened last Thursday (3 November) to decide whether the referendum could go
ahead or not. The tribunal was attended by Young, OUSU’s Returning Officer, six
tribu­nal members and Norris, who took minutes. According to Young, “emma
Norris exploited the OUSU constitu­tion to turn up to the Junior Tribunal ‘to
take minutes’, and then proceeded to attempt to exercise improper influ­ence
over the tribunal and sway the panel members against me.”Norris
described this accusation as “absolute rubbish”, adding that “I can’t be
bothered to be drawn into this pointless bitching.” She insisted that she did
not try to influence the panel, and said: “The only point at which I did speak
was to ask for clarification of a few points made, so I could minute them correctly.”
However, one mem­ber of the tribunal, who asked not to be named, said that
Norris “made re­peated interjections and was acting as if she was a member of
the tribunal. If she was there to observe she shouldn’t have said anything at
all.”Young
said that following his depar­ture from the room, “Norris muscled in on
proceedings. Fortunately for de­mocracy the room the tribunal was in had glass
windows.” To prevent what Young considers Norris’ unconstitu­tional behaviour,
he held up a piece of paper against the glass, on which he had written, “Why is
talking so much?” The tribunal was called follow­ing the submission of a
petition for the “Students for Students” referendum. The OUSU Returning Officer
initially refused the referendum because the petition was handed in one hour
and twenty minutes after the noon deadline. Young said that “they cited some
vague rules in their Swiss cheese constitution. They were looking for excuses.”Young
brought the Returning Offic­er to the tribunal to repeal the decision, with
five out of the six members voting to overrule the decision, thereby allow­ing
the referendum to go ahead. The Returning Officer then told Charlie Steel, a
member of OUSU’s part time executive who proposed the “Students for Students”
motion, that the peti­tion was three signatures short of the 500 needed. Steel
went through the list with the Returning Officer and even­tually 511 signatures
were validated. “We feel like they’re throwing up every single possible
obstacle,” said Steel.Last
week the Returning Officer fined Steel £25 for speaking to Cher­well while
still a candidate for the part time executive, a breach of OUSU regulations.
The motion in question, which will be up for referendum next Thursday, states:
“OUSU should have no policy on issues which do not di­rectly affect Oxford students in their
capacity as students unless approved by a majority of common rooms affiliated
to OUSU.”Norris
has visited several JCR meet­ings to speak about the potential draw­backs of
the “Students for Students” campaign. She is also one of three offi­cial
campaign agents for the “No” cam­paign, which will run against the mo­tion. She
said, “I am in a good position to outline exactly how this referendum will
affect the students. If I strongly believe this would detrimentally affect
student representation, it is my duty to let students know.”She
explained that “such a motion would have to be passed though rough­ly 16 JCRs
and 16 MCRs – a total of about 32 common rooms. This would take considerably
longer than just bringing a motion to OUSU Council.” Steel says that his motion
would re­duce the distance between OUSU and the students they represent. “The
aim of the referendum is to make OUSU truly representative of student views and
to prevent clique views being im­posed in the name of the majority.” He
explained that “OUSU just wouldn’t be able to pass a motion in the name of
every single Oxford
student without consulting all the JCRs. We want some sort of practical direct
consultation with the student body.”Norris
said “Who is going to define what a ‘student as a student’ issue is?… OUSU is
there to represent students on the issues that matter to them – ALL of the
issues that matter to them.” Young dismissed this, saying “common sense has to
prevail. Manifestly something will either affect students or not.”ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

The JCRs of Exeter, Lincoln and Je­sus have united in retaliation against an article printed last week in The Oxford Student entitled “What’s the point of… Turl Street Colleges”.JCR Presidents Ollie Munn (Lin­coln) Emily Pull and Simon Hacking (Jesus) hit out against the ar­ticle with the declaration: “Given the high standard of reporting and com­mentary that the story encapsulates, perhaps we should instead be asking ‘What’s the point of the OxStu?’”In a letter to the editor of The Ox­ford Student, the Presidents of the three colleges propose that “a fight to the death between the combined might of the Turl Street colleges and the occupants of OxStu Towers would arguably serve a greater social function, as well as, we’d like to think, providing a damn sight more enter­tainment.”The letter was inspired by controversial observations, includ­ing: “There are enough dull people in the world already. Turl Street doesn’t need to provide three colleges full of them.”Ollie Munn told Cherwell, “When the story appeared, reaction in Col­lege was divided. There were those in Lincoln who thought we should pick a fight and take on the Ox­Stu. And then there were those who thought we should just massacre the scoundrels, one by one.” He added, “Lincoln’s been at war with Brasenose since about 1549 – we know a thing or two about conflicts.”One of the article’s main criticisms was that “someone needs to reassure Turl Street’s inhabitants that the air is breathable beyond the safe confines of that cosy road.” Pull said of Exeter’s perspective on the newspa­per’s attack, “OxStu will regret this – we will take them down brick by brick if necessary, even if it means stepping out of the confines of Turl Street.”One Jesus second year said in de­fence of his turf, “I love Turl Street; it’s small but perfectly formed, more than can be said about the OUSU buildings.” Munn continued, “The OxStu can bring it on. We’ll show them what Turl Street’s made of. Tar­mac, mostly.”ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

Five out of six
positions for this year’s OUSU executive elections will be uncontested. Only
one candidate was nominated for each of the Vice Presidential positions:
Finance, Wel­fare, Access and Academic Affairs, Graduates and Women. The
position of President is the only contested post, with two candidates
nominated. As
these positions are not contested the current nominees will automati­cally be
elected unless students vote to re-open nominations. This position is similar
to that of last year’s election when only two positions were con­tested, and
two VP posts (Women and Graduates) initially had no candidates nominated.Jo
Lee Morrison, ex-JCR President of Christ
Church, considered
running for a position in this year’s OUSU elec­tions but decided against it.
Morrison stated that the attitudes of those already involved has “ended up
alienating the people most qualified” to run in this year’s election, and
specifically noted that they had not built up relations with JCR Presidents,
who are the most likely to stand for OUSU posts. Ex-JCR
President of Somerville Nick Bell also contemplated running for OUSU, but
echoed Morrison’s sentiments, saying that “strong runners early on” had meant
he was deterred from running, believing that “scare campaigns” were mounted
early on to discourage other nominees. Bell
as­serted that this was “unconscious” and that it was natural for key
candidates to be very enthusiastic about running from an early stage, making
people reluctant to contest positions against them. Additionally, Bell suggested that a
perception of OUSU as a “clique” led to a “feeling that you can’t really change
much”. OUSU’s
Vice President for Access and Academic Affairs, Charlynne Pul­len, believes low
levels of participation in OUSU to be caused by Oxford’s collegiate system. “People get
involved in politics on a JCR level rather than on an OUSU level” she said. She
did however note that, although OUSU is “never satisfied with low levels of
participation”, there is at least one nominee to run for each position and that
at the moment OUSU is “doing very well in getting people involved in
sub-committees such as Target Schools.”Bell stated that he is happy
with the standard of candidates running and believes that “it will be a good
team of Sabs providing RON doesn’t win.” Bell
commented on OUSU’s successful ventures such as Zoo and Oxide Radio, and
suggested that these could be used as vehicles to get more students involved.Oliver
Russell, VP (Graduates) said “I am not aware of any underlying reasons why only
seven students have nominated as Sabbatical candidates this year. The elections
have been well advertised and many current exec officers involved in raising
awareness… of the opportunities available as elected officers.” Russell
thinks, however, that this situation will result in “the major­ity of focus
going on the Presidential campaign”, and reiterates that OUSU “have always
advertised the elections to the best of [their] ability and will continue to do
so in future years.”ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

A male first year student from Wad­ham is being treated in hospital after falling from the roof
of his College. Paramedics were called to Wadham at 1.55am on Wednesday, after the stu­dent fell to the ground from a wall.One student from Wadham, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “As I understand it, the student concerned fell off the wall at the top of the stairs, from a height of, I’d say, 12-15 feet.” It is believed that the student went to Filth on Tuesday evening then re­turned to Wadham in the early hours of Wednesday. It has been reported by fellow College members that he tried to jump from the top of the steps leading up to the JCR onto the roof of the Music Room. The College would not make any comments on the incident, telling Cherwell that they have “left the han­dling of the matter of communicating with the press to the University Press Office”.The University Press Office released the following statement: “A first year male undergraduate was injured fol­lowing an incident at the College on Wednesday morning (9 November). He is being treated in the John Radcliffe Hospital, where he is under observation. The College will be looking at the circumstances of this incident.”The police were called to Wadham to investigate the incident immedi­ately after it had occurred. Speaking to the Oxford Mail, a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said, “We were called at 1.59am to ensure there were no suspicious circumstances, and that the incident is not being treated as suspicious. “We believe the student fell as the result of an accident, and he is not thought to have fallen from a great height. He was conscious afterwards, but there are no further details about his injuries. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.”Kate Mieske, Wadham Student Union (Wadham’s Junior Common Room) Welfare & Housing officer, said, “I personally don’t know how he is at the moment. But the SU do hope that the student will be fine soon.”ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

Despite being early in the season, the standard of the competition was high. The men’s 100m freestyle which saw Oxford new recruit Josh Preston tie in first place with a London swimmer. There were also victories for Oxford’s Andrew Rroberts in the men’s 100m breaststroke, and Shannon Harris in the women’s 100 m freestyle. The close competition was won by the London team. However, Oxford coach Roger Howes said that the team performed excellently: “They can all be very proud of themselves.” Oxford’s swimmers showed impressive pedigree during their season opening friendly gala.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

The Refugee Studies Centre, a division of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Development Studies, has this month been awarded £2.5 million in government funding. The cash will be used to enable the furthering of several initiatives to increase public awareness of refugee issues.The centre applied for the support from the Conflict and Humanitarian Fund, a newly formed scheme of the Department for International Development, in April. The request was successful due to the RSC’s position as the only academic programme in the UK devoted to understanding the causes and consequences of conflict and forced migration in developing countries.The funding will be used to expand the Centre’s public information services such as the thrice yearly Forced Migration Review, published in three languages and distributed to 177 countries, as well as online. The periodical has a reputation as the leading practical journal on refugee and displacement issues.The RSC works closely with policymakers in government and international agencies, and intends to use some of the cash to employ a senior policy officer to make findings from research projects more easily accessible to these groups. It also aims to build partnerships with other researchers working on forced migration at universities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.According to Professor Stephen Castles, the Director, of the RSC, the funding was awarded to the Centre “in recognition of the RSC’s position at the forefront of knowledgedevelopment, analysis and understanding on forced migration issues.”He added: “It is our aim to listen to the voices of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people, and make sure that their needs and interests are not forgotten.We look for long-term solutions that help empower people, so that they can become independent and self-supporting. This funding will help us in our work.”Oxford has been a target for much of the controversy surrounding asylum seekers due to the existence of the Campsfield Refugee Detention Centre in Kidlington, six miles from Oxford. Protests against the treatment of asylum seekers there are ongoing.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Oxford 59-Cambridge 56: The Oxford Women’s Basketball team got their season off to a positive start in the University League with a close victory over Cambridge. The first two minutes of the game were indicative of what was to follow and despite Cambridge taking the initiative with the opening score, Oxford came back with a three. So when the end of the first quarter arrived and the score was within two points, the match was evidently going to be compelling. The second quarter saw a continuation of an interesting competition withgood outside shooting from Oxford players.Aclose match throughout, the Cambridge team kept Oxford on their toes, with Vicky Lister becoming the Light Blues’ top scorer. Cambridge worked hard but were unable to overcome the efforts of Oxford players. Tal Ofek of St Peter’s was Oxford’s top scorer with 25 points, with Mariel dator and Steph Topp also scoring well with 14 and 12 respectively. The game was aggressive and each team was very determined. There were some unfriendly clashes, but this is indicative of a game that ran so close, with the scored tied at 39-all at the end of the third quarter. Oxford played impressive full court press and during the fourth quarter took a runaway lead. an evidently exhausted Cambridge put a hard full court press on in the last two minutes, regaining seven points to break Oxford’s lead down to three. However, the Cambridge team, consisting of 90% new players, often lacked awareness as a team, resulting in opportunities for Oxford to steal balls. Cambridge also seemed confused over some of their own plays and their performance was not enough to beat a more organised Oxford.Both Oxford and Cambridge’s build-up and set plays were carefully calculated, although not always well orchestrated on the Light Blues’ part. The final score promises to make their next meeting on 30 an interesting game, with each team exemplifying communication skills and team spirit that adds another dimension to the sport. With four more away games before the two meet again, Oxford are expecting victory over their academic counterparts when they convene again at Iffley Road. However, Cambridge also have an opportunity to use this time to perfect what appeared to be a good game plan. Cambridge’s performance was all the more impressive considering they were playing their first competitive match together as a team, promising an interesting fight for Oxford next time they meet.Overall, the match was exemplary in displaying what makes competitive sports entertaining: the close final score and the varsity competitiveness all provided for a good forty minutes of entertainment.  ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Corpus/Somerville kept themselves in top flight rugby for at least another week with a 35-8 win over Exeter in a high quality relegation dogfight. eight, led by Guy Baker’s devestating charges. Behind the scrum, Lawrence Harris was a constant menace, combining with a physical and skilful centre pairing of Tom Charlick and Luke Bennett.   The foundation for the win was laid by the Corpus/Somerville pack which excelled to secure the lion’s share of possession from a larger Exeter From close in, the strapping midfielders were too much for exeter, powering over from short range for a brace of tries each, to which Harris added another, together with five conversions. Corpus/Somerville must now beat struggling Queen’s to ensure their safety. Exeter can still secure another season in the top division but will have to overcome high-flying St Catz to do so.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005