LMH’s JCR is to hold a referendum on whether to allow a
mobile phone mast to be built in the College. The proposal from T-mobile would see an antenna constructed on
top of the College’s Sutherland building. If JCR members
approve the plans they will receive £4,000 a year, while the MCR
and SCR will each receive £2,000. The controversial offer has
provoked extensive and bitter debate in the JCR focusing on
scientific evidence over health concerns. The issue will now be
resolved through a referendum on the Thursday of Fifth Week. JCR Treasurer Craig Haffey is leading the support for the
plan. He told Cherwell, “The World Health Organisation and
virtually every industrialised country in the world have
independently spent millions of pounds on investigating microwave
radiation, and the overwhelming result is that it is of no
harm.” He claimed radiation will be “extremely
negligible”. A phone mast 100ft away produces 30,000 times less radiation
than a mobile held to someone’s ear. He said the extra money
could be used for “Blues Funding, new punts, student
bursaries, improved livingout support and much more.” Other
students are unhappy with the plans. Jamie Dear, who heads opposition to the mast, emphasised the
uncertainty of the research concerning the health effects of low
frequency radiation. He claimed there was compelling anecdotal
evidence of a detrimental effect on health. He pointed to a case
in Wishaw, North Birmingham, where “37 out of the 50
residents living in the immediate vicinity of the 70ft mast,
erected in 2000, developed some form of debilitating illness,
including 7 cases of cancer”. The mast proposed for LMH is 3 ft high, and over twenty times
smaller. Although there is no proof that the Wishaw mast was
responsible, Dear said “an extra £4000 a year would be
trivial in comparison to the health risks”. He added that
“the JCR has trouble spending its money anyway”, citing
a £2,600 budget surplus from last term. Opponents also dislike the fact that future JCR members
won’t have a free choice in accepting or rejecting the mast.
One languages student on her year abroad has already contacted
the college, requesting not to be housed in the vicinity of the
mast if the plan goes ahead. Lisa Oldham, Director of Mast Sanity, a group that campaigns
against masts being sited close to communities, said students
were not alone. “Thousands of people are trying to get masts
moved or trying to prevent new ones being placed near their
homes.”ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Yesterday’s OUSU VP Women byelection was mired in
controversy as it emerged that one of the two candidates had not
mentioned her anti-abortion links on her manifesto. Lucy Underwood, one of the two candidates for the post, is the
current President of the Oxford Pro- Life Society, whose stated
aim is “to campaign around Oxford for the protection of
human life”. However the role of VP Women involves “producing the
Unplanned Pregnancy: Your Options pack and overseeing the work of
OUSU’s Promoting Choice Committee” as well as always
being “available to see students to give confidential
nondirective welfare support, particularly on pregnancy”. Ms Underwood, who has not been involved in political campaigns
on any issue apart from antiabortion before, mentions cutting
student numbers and post-exam celebrations on her manifesto but
fails to mention her Pro-Life role. Her only mention of pregnancy came under the title
“Choice and free speech for women” where she said that
“the pregnancy advisory handbook and OUSU counselling
services should be open to all legal organisations who wish to
advertise.” It is thought this was a reference to
OUSU’s long-standing policy not to allow the anti-abortion
organisation Life to advertise in the pregnancy advisory handbook
on the grounds that it provides directional advice. At hustings Ms Underwood claimed her Pro-Life links were
irrelevant and that OUSU should not take a “political
line” on the issue. She did explain to Cherwell that she had
declared her Pro-Life role on her nomination form and had no duty
to mention it on the manifesto. She explained that she hoped to
be able “to provide all the choices” to Oxford’s
women. Bex Wilkinson, Ms Underwood’s competitor and a former
OUSU Council Delegate and Executive Member, states quite openly
on her manifesto that she has been a Pro- Choice Officer and is
endorsed by former Pro-Choice Officers. Wilkinson won by a
landslide majority.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

The front page of The OxStu last week dramatically revealed
plans by various colleges to raise rents, almost six months after
Cherwell first broke the story. Cherwell reported that the Magdalen JCR had been informed of
the college’s intention to raise rents by 38% over 3 years,
including the Van Noorden index of Oxford specific inflation,
back in November of last year, in the seventh week edition of the
Michaelmas term. Cherwell also revealed an independent audit conducted for the
University, and the likelihood that it would recommend rent
rises, last October, in the first edition of the Michaelmas term. The confidential audit carried out by JM Consulting showed
that the true cost of students’ use of college rooms is
actually between £3,873 and £6,006, more than double the
figures which are currently charged. The Oxford Estates’ Bursars Committee has considered the
report’s findings and has prescribed an end to subsidies on
rent. The committee had previously expressed a desire to eliminate
subsidies on rooms by 2006. If the full rent rise is carried through and combined with the
introduction of top-up fees, the cost of a degree might rise to
£10,000 a year.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

A Christ Church student who woke up next to a middle-aged
homeless person after a night out has vowed never to drink again. Adam Harris, a first year physicist, claims the unidentified
woman was “about 50 years old” and was “probably
an alcoholic”. Harris, who admits that some details of his
ordeal are still fairly vague, thinks he had been at the Park End
nightclub for the evening. He does know that he was
“completely hammered”. At around 3 or 4 am he stumbled to Sid’s kebab van, which
was parked on St Aldate’s opposite Christ Church. Harris
then became embroiled in a drunken argument with a woman over
whether he was a member of the college. Harris told Cherwell that he became “confused” and
somehow unintentionally allowed the woman back to his room at
Christ Church. “I don’t remember inviting her
back,” he added. Further details of subsequent events are lost forever, as
Harris’s own alcohol-maligned memory has completely failed
him. What is clear is that Harris fell asleep with the woman by
his side. When he woke up at 7am he was horrified. “It was a
nightmare. I told her to leave straight away,” he said.
“I was still a little bit drunk, so I led her out of the
front entrance.” Harris was hoping that nobody was going to
find out about his “little secret”, but was dismayed to
find that a women’s rowing crew had seen him leading the
woman out of the college. Returning to his room Harris discovered that his hospitality
had been generously rewarded – the woman had left him an
empty mini-bottle of gin and two Murray’s mints.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Pun writers had a field day this week as it was announced that
an Oxford public lavatory might be converted into student living
quarters. Prospective developers Mr and Mrs Cubby plan to transform the
former toilet block in Cripley Road into an affordable
one-bedroom student flat. The Council closed the city centre
convenience in 2000 partly because of its frequent use as a
rendez-vous for casual sex. Speaking to Cherwell, Cluttons estate agent Robert Harrison
claimed that either students or young professionals commuting to
London would be interested, despite admitting it was “quite
possibly” previously used for cottaging. “I would
certainly live there if it was a trendy, upmarket one-bedroom
flat,” he claimed. Oxford’s most famous toilet is a dream come true for
tabloid punners. The four-hundred square foot property, which
could sell for £135,000, has been variously described as a
building with “a wee bit of history” and a “flat
at your convenience.” The recent boom in property prices has sent the cost of
housing in Oxford soaring. An average Oxford house now costs
£250,000. This has boosted demand for lower-cost housing,
particularly for students. Students differed on whether they would be happy living in an
former toilet. Second-year Politics, Philosophy and Economics
student Robert Bassett mused, “It isn’t designed for
living in, it’s designed for having a crap in.” Univ historian Alex Beecroft was less hostile to the idea.
“I spend a lot of my time in a toilet anyway, so living in
one wouldn’t be much of a change.”ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Cambridge students are "living in fear” after four
people have been stabbed in apparently motiveless attacks in the
city centre. Police believe the attacks – which were all
carried out by a lone man on a bicycle – are probably
linked, and are advising all Cambridge residents to “review
their safety”. The first attack was on Thursday 29 April when an eighteen-
year old woman was stabbed whilst walking home alone late at
night. Five days later, a Churchill College student was stabbed in
similar circumstances. The college told Cherwell that the victim
is “still obviously frightened, but she’s putting on a
brave face.” Two further attacks took place on Saturday 8
May. A 36 year-old man and a 25 year-old woman were stabbed in
separate incidents. The man had been walking through the centre
of Cambridge with his girlfriend, while the female victim was
walking alone. All four victims needed hospital treatment. Det. Sgt Alan Page, who is leading the investigation, has
urged Cambridge residents to avoid walking alone and to be
vigilant if travelling through the city late at night.
“There seems to be no motive for this man’s
attacks,” Page explained, “he has not said anything and
nothing has been taken.” Students are advised to
“arrange a lift or call a taxi if possible” when
travelling home in the evening. Churchill College has revised its own safety measures.
Students have been reminded that the college runs a free taxi
service for any student who finds themselves alone in the city
centre and unable to get home. “The problem is that not
everyone takes advanatge of it,” admitted one member of
staff. Students at Cambridge are “incredibly worried”
about the incidents: Varsity Editor Reggie Vettasseri said,
“People think that this is just a sleepy university town and
these attacks have caused great fear all the way through the
university community.” Oxford, too, has recently suffered a series of attacks as
reported by Cherwell last week. A fresh incident occured in Watlington on 8 May at 9 in the
evening, when a female cyclist was attacked and sexually
assaulted by a white man though to be about 35. Police have
warned women to be on their guard when walking or cycling in
secluding areas, and have have advised against going out alone at
night.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

A New college student was arrested for running out in front of
a car which was part of the Chinese Prime Minister’s convey.
Second year Matt Sellwood was part of a group of protesters who
interupted Wen Jiabao’s visit to Oxford on Monday. The students, some of whom were members of the Oxford Tibet
Society, were demonstrating against the Chinese government’s
Tibet policy. The incident took place during Jiabao’s visit
to the new Chemistry research building on Parks Road. Having run
into the path of the oncoming car, Sellwood was apprehended
swiftly by officers, and taken by police van to the St
Aldate’s police station. He was held there until being bailed, awaiting charges under
the Public Order Act. His case will be heard at Oxford
Magistrates’ Court on 18 May, though he will not face
custodial charges. Meanwhile, the rest of the Chinese politician’s tour
proceeded smoothly, although protestors followed him to Christ
Church, where he took tea.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

A man assaulted two Lincoln students last week, one of them
inside the College grounds. Police were called shortly after 1am
on Saturday morning, when the man attacked a student on the
street before entering Lincoln House and assaulting another
student. He was restrained by one of the victim’s friends
until the police arrived. Jason Pawluk, a Lincoln Student, was crossing Turl Street to
Lincoln House directly opposite the college. He told Cherwell a
man approached him in his early twenties who “appeared to be
heavily intoxicated.” The student tried to avoid the drunken man but suffered a
glancing blow: “I was uninjured but a little shaken by the
experience.” Shortly after, the intruder entered Lincoln
House where he assaulted Alex Bates, a student from Hertford
College before another Hertford student, Andrew Macdonald,
wrestled the man to the ground. Witness Sasha Taylor, of
Magdalen, and friends were leaving after an evening spent at a
school reunion. The man sped past Taylor, but she merely presumed
he was a Lincoln student returning from a night out, until she
turned to see Macdonald fighting with the intruder. The police then arrived to find the man restrained and the
situation under control. Taylor explained, “I waited until
the police had intervened and then went across to see how Andrew
was, when I found that it was Alex who had the real shock in
taking the initial punch.” The police warned the drunken man that his behaviour was
unacceptable, but decided not to arrest him.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Both The OxStu and The Times reported last
week that two pictures were stolen from the Oxford Union Society,
but it would appear as though both newspapers may have been
mistaken. One of the ‘missing’ pictures is a portrait of
former Union President and British Prime Minister William Ewart
Gladstone, yet we are told it is not an “original”
print, despite having some sentimental value. The other missing item is the debate order of 9 February 1933
– a record of the day on which declared they would not fight
for the nation, passing the motion by 275 votes to 153. The
result of the debate lead Winston Churchill to famously condemn
the society. Georgina Costa, this term’s President of the Union, told
Cherwell that the pictures are no longer on the society’s
walls, but that there are copies in the Union’s archives.
She said that the situation “looked more serious than it
was” at that time. Meanwhile journalist Andrew Pierce, who wrote the article in The
Times, responded to users of website Oxford Gossip ridiculing
the story by emailing the site moderator stating: "if the
presidednt [sic] of the union says its the only one, i thought
that would be good enough". The archives are not at the Union’s buildings at Frewin
Court, and so it has not yet been possible to ascertain whether
the pictures, or copies of them, are definitely there.
Investigations are said to be continuing.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

30,000 people turned up to watch the sixth annual Oxford
Balloon Festival last weekend although strong winds hampered the
performance of the balloons, a record number of which were on
display. The two day event started at Cutteslowe Park on Saturday night
with a fireworks display and a light show. Sunday saw 36
balloons, including a massive Russian airship, launched into
Oxford skies.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004