A series of vicious attacks on Oxford’s female students
has left police appealing for witnesses this week. Two women were
indecently assaulted in separate incidents and an Exeter student
was mugged. In the early hours of Sunday 25 April a young woman was
attacked by an Asian male thought to be in his mid to late
twenties. The assault took place on East Avenue, off Cowley Road.
Two days later another student was assailed in similar
circumstances on Princes Street, again just off Cowley Road. This
attack took place in the afternoon. The perpetrator is described
as an Asian male, approximately thirteen years old. Despite the age discrepancy between the suspects, the police
still believe the incidents could be connected. DC Mark Hill, who
is leading the investigation, told Cherwell, “We can’t
definitely say they’re linked, but they may well be.” “We don’t want to panic people”, he explained,
“but they do appear to be targeting females, regardless of
the time of day. We urge female students to be vigilant.”
Nobody has been arrested for the assaults and the inquiry is
ongoing. In an unrelated incident, an Exeter College student was mugged
last Saturday night. The attack took place at around 11:30pm on
Brasenose Lane, which links Radcliffe Square and Turl Street. The
victim’s handbag was stolen. Second-year English and History student Laura Morton was
returning to Cowley Road alone after an evening out in the centre
of town. She was unaware of the man’s presence until a few
seconds before the robbery. She pursued the thief onto the High
Street before returning to Exeter College to alert the porters. Despite an area search by the police around the High Street
and St Aldate’s area, the man has not been traced. The
aggressor is described as “wearing dark clothes, with fairly
nondescript features and lank brown hair.” Morton told
Cherwell that she was shocked and angry at the mugging. She said,
“Although Brasenose Lane is not well lit, I used to feel
safer there than outside the centre of Oxford. It’s
obviously a violation, one I wasn’t expecting, and it has
left me feeling tense and paranoid, even at earlier times of the
evening.” A police spokeswoman maintained that “Oxford is a safe
city” but advised students to “take a minimum of cash
and valuables out with you and wherever possible use cash
machines in well lit, busy areas. Travel on main routes
throughout the city and try to stick together with friends. Avoid
obvious use of your mobile phone; think before you use it. Stay
aware of your surroundings and remain in control.” The police have released e-fits of the men involved in the
first two incidents to Cherwell to help people identify the
suspects. Anyone with information on the indecent assaults should
ring DC Mark Hill on 01865 266118 or Crimestoppers anonymously on
0800 555111.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

St Cross College’s Common Room Committee (CRC) has
decided to affiliate to OUSU from Michaelmas Term 2004, after the
student union offered them a reduced membership fee. Minutes from the graduate college’s CRC meetings show
that OUSU offered membership at £700 per annum rather than the
full fee of £1200. As CRC Women’s Officer Verity Allan pointed out at the
time, “a fee of £700 saves us £10 per head”. The minutes also reveal that the CRC felt that they would not
have affiliated without OUSU’s offer to cut the membership
fee for the first year of affiliation. Nick Kruger, the senior
member of the CRC explained that “the fee of £1200 is
unrealistic for the CRC”. OUSU was quick to defend their fee reduction, claiming that it
did not constitute preferential treatment or discrimination
against the full fee-paying Junior Common Rooms of other
colleges, and that St Cross was a special case. Rodrigo Davies, OUSU’s Vice President (Finance),
explained that “the fee that St Cross is paying to OUSU is
the result of a temporary arrangement that is operating while the
college’s common room committee establishes a separate
student body.” “Once this process has finished, St Cross will be able to
affiliate as a Student Union under the terms of the Education Act
and will be liable for the same subscription rates as all other
affiliated common rooms.” OUSU President, Helena Puig Larrauri, explained that
“they do not receive the kind of government funding that
Junior and Middle Common Rooms across the rest of the University
receive for virtue of being student unions.” However the CRC’s decision to affiliate was not put to
ordinary members of the college. Nick Kruger argued at the time
that because “this would be a cost neutral change it would
not be necessary to consult the student body”.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

OUSU Council has refused to endorse a University proposed
“Code of Conduct,” clarifying restrictions to behaviour
during post-exam celebrations. The decision on Friday followed a
Cherwell opinion poll showing mass student opposition to the
plans. OUSU will now push for the ban on “fluid spraying”
to be dropped, and has informed the University of this, despite
agreeing to help in the distribution of the code. A University
spokesperson said, “We are disappointed that OUSU Council
has not endorsed the Code of Conduct after representatives helped
us to draw it up.” Oxford Mail held another poll this week, which asked readers,
“Should Oxford University students have to comply with a
code of conduct, to stop rowdy behaviour following the end of
their exams?” 200 people said that they should be more
considerate but just under 40% said they believed the students
were entitled to some fun. The Mail polled exactly the same number of people, 331, as
Cherwell had. The Code of Conduct, which will be distributed via
email to all students and staff by the end of third week, will
specify exactly what kind of behaviour is considered acceptable
under the University Regulations.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

A student at Regent’s Park College has experienced some
ghostly moments over the last two terms, leading to speculation
that her room is haunted. Edith Earl, who lives in room M13, claims to have seen an
object the size of a pebble fly from one side of the room and
crash into a window at the other end. A similar incident, which
was also witnessed by two friends, occurred half an hour later.
The object left no trace nor was any damage done to the window.
Matt Harris, who heard the object hitting the window, described
the noise as “unnerving”. “It sounded exactly as
Edith had described it,” he added. Earl, a first year theology student, said, “The things I
see are quite scary but I don’t think I believe in ghosts.
I’ve witnessed other strange occurrences and I’m
convinced my mind just plays tricks on me. I’ve no desire to
move out of my present room.” Another Regent’s student,
Kate Greville, was also reluctant to say that the room was
haunted, “I thought it was really weird, but I don’t
know what I think it is. Strange things do happen though and I
wouldn’t like to stay in Edith’s room. It’s a bit
shocking.” Earl also believes that she sees shapes moving in the mirror
and says that on one occasion she returned to her room to find a
previously locked window mysteriously wide open. One Regent’s student claims he was informed last year by
Revd Tim Bradshaw, senior tutor at the College, that the room had
been exorcised five to ten years ago. When contacted by Cherwell
on Wednesday however, Revd Bradshaw seemed unaware of any
supernatural occurrences, stating that he knew “absolutely
nothing” about the exorcism or the present incidents. He expressed his hope that the JCR were looking after
Earl’s welfare. Another member of Regent’s
administrative staff noted that during her fifteen years at the
college she had not been aware ofARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

A young man was stabbed to death in Oxford last Friday. A 23-
year-old local man has since been arrested on suspicion of
murder. Mosheon Cameron, who was married, was a resident of
Littlemore. He was stabbed in the chest following an argument
with another man outside the Blackbird Leys Community Centre at
about 6.15 on Friday evening. Mr Cameron, 23, was immediately attended to by passers-by and
paramedics but was pronounced dead at the John Radcliffe hospital
soon afterwards. The wound had penetrated his heart. The suspected killer, who vanished from the scene soon after
the attack, was described as being black, about six feet tall,
and of a skinny build. He also had black hair that was cut short,
sunken eyes and large lips. An Oxford resident was arrested on
Wednesday. Police originally suspected that the crime was in some way
drugsrelated, but this idea has now been dismissed. Detective
Chief Inspector Dave Lewis, who is leading the enquiry,
commented, “I believe this was a dispute between two
individuals. I don’t think there is a drugs war, gang war or
race war and I hope that this is of some reassurance to the
people of Blackbird Leys.” Blackbird Leys is one of the most notoriously troubled estates
in Oxford, but in recent years attempts have been made to improve
the area and to encourage community pride.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

Thieves made off with two students’ credit cards and a
mobile phone from Jesus College, despite being questioned by
porters after arousing suspicions that they might not be members
of the college. The incident occurred at around 1pm on Monday of first week
when two intruders stole the items from the college library after
attempting to pass themselves off as students. The casually
dressed young men were spotted in the lower level of the library
by Jesus student, Ben Bell. He told Cherwell that the men were “taking random books
from the shelves in an effort to pretend they were
students”. The porters were alerted but the two men were
released before students realised that anything was missing. A student, who wishes to remain unnamed, had his credit card
stolen, and said he “wouldn’t have noticed for
hours” but for the fact that his mobile phone was also
taken. The men then attempted to spend £500 on another
student’s stolen credit card, buying camera equipment in
Jessops. The shop phoned the girl to check whether she intended
to spend such a large amount. A statement regarding the theft has been made to the police,
but the two men have not yet been apprehended. It is not yet
clear how the perpetrators gained entry to the College. A Jesus College porter said “in this case it is the
students’ fault, as the intruders couldn’t have entered
without someone letting them in through the Ship Street
gate.” Patrick Wilson, a first year student at Jesus
studying Languages commented, “You can’t know everyone
in College. When you see someone coming in through the side gate
you hold the door open for them.” Students received a cursory email from the JCR President
notifying them of the security breach from the College.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

Oxford’s traditional May Day celebrations went off
without serious incident, despite several people ignoring police
recommendations and jumping from Magdalen Bridge. 8,500 people packed onto the bridge on Saturday morning to
hear Magdalen College Choir welcome in the dawn at 6am. 12,000
are thought to have been in the nearby area at this time. Traditionally, Oxford students celebrate May Day by jumping
into the river Cherwell, but this has been discouraged in recent
years because of safety fears, after one person was paralyzed. A
two-metre high security fence failed to stop over a dozen from
taking the plunge. Thames Valley Police acknowledged that “no one was
injured” but admitted, “ideally we would have preferred
it if no one had jumped.” Matthew Balaam, who had wanted to do the jump for over ten
years, said, “it was fantastic, but it did hurt.” One
male jumper landed on the concrete but was not seriously injured. However, Oxford City Councillor Mick McAndrews told Cherwell,
theat despite being a “nice, Oxford tradition” it did
need to be “properly policed”. Currently, a private
security company employed by the Council provides the bulk of the
security on May Day. “The money spent on stewarding seems to
have been a waste,” he explained. Magdalen College Porter,
Bob Porter, agreed.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

Several parked cars were damaged in Jericho on Saturday as a
bus driver lost control of his vehicle after making a right turn
into a quiet side street. The driver of the Thames Travel bus
turned into Cranham Street to find a vehicle parked on
double-yellow lines. Attempting to avoid the vehicle, the bus
clipped the wheel of the first in a row of parked cars, before
hitting another and pushing it backwards. The bus eventually careered into a total of seven cars. Liza
Picard, the owner of the first car to be hit, told Cherwell that
two of the cars have been written off. She also expressed
sympathy for the driver saying, “I feel sorry for him, I
don’t know how this could have happened.”ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004 

A recent report by Oxford University academics has blamed
environmental charities for ‘sexing up’ the threat of
climate change in an attempt to increase public donations and
political influence. Well-known charities such as WWF-UK and Friends of the Earth
have been accused of exaggerating the link between climate change
and the threat of extinctions. The organisations’ claims
include the projection that one quarter of the world’s
species will be extinct by 2050. Dr Paul Jepson of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute
expressed his opinion that charities have “overstated the
evidence in order to meet fundraising targets.” Dr Richard Ladle, an Oxford University ecologist who also
contributed to the report, has said that most species cited as
being in danger of extinction by 2050 are, in reality, likely to
still be living. WWF-UK have defended themselves by claiming that they need to
simplify issues in order to appeal to the public effectively and
that the comments were “unfair”.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004