The Oxford Baha’i Society held an open meeting this week following the media frenzy surrounding the death of one of its followers, Dr David Kelly, in Oxfordshire last July. Guest speaker Barney Leith, the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i of the UK, spoke on the topic of “The Baha’i Faith: Fostering Unity in a War-Torn World”. Mr Leith, a local Abingdon resident, told Cherwell that “the Baha’i faith is a religion and not a sect,” as reported by some areas of the press in the Hutton Enquiry into Dr Kelly’s death. “Some parts of the media view religion as easy pickings to draw a scandal, if Dr Kelly had believed in another faith then his religion would not have been an issue. “The Baha’i faith is a progressive religion based on rational thought and a universal ethos of tolerance. We believe that the teachings of the Baha’u’llah are the key to resolving conflict in the world and bringing about a just and prosperous society.” Juliette Doostdar, a member of the Oxford Baha’i Society said that since the Hutton Enquiry there had been increased speculation and interest as to what the faith was. “We have an obligation to share our faith and by holding an open forum we felt we could create a happy medium to meet those who are interested in finding out more.”ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

A new report reveals that for the large majority of working class graduates, the chances of getting “interesting and meaningful” work are slim. The report’s author, Professor Phil Brown of Cardiff University, identified a large “oversupply of suitably qualified candidates” which typically results in 50 talented graduates applying for every available fast-track appointment. While Oxford graduates had a one in eight chance of being chosen, the success ratio for those from ‘new’ universities with a higher working class contingent was one in 235. The study adds to concerns over the government targets to provide higher education for 50% of school leavers by 2010, at a time when technical skills are in short supply. The report also makes clear that simply being an Oxbridge undergraduate is not enough to gain the best employment. “The stereotype of Oxbridge man is no longer the gold standard in a number of organisations. Narrow experiences, even those of the upper classes, may now be discounted as lacking the flexibility to work in different social contexts.” Employers increasingly seek graduates with what the report calls a “cosmopolitan” status, achieved through work experience and travelling. OUSU Vice President, Josefa Henry-Bochan said, “People know that while getting any job is not that hard, finding something in the area they are interested may prove quite difficult.” But both she and Paul Brown, the Careers Service’s Assistant Director, were quick to point out that the University was hardly struggling in terms of CV-enhancing opportunities and motivated students.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Police put an abrupt end to Wadham’s freshers’ bop on Friday night following complaints from local residents over the “unbearable” noise. The organisers cut short the school-uniform themed bop at 12.30am following a warning from police under the Health and Safety Act. The incident has worrying implications for future Wadham events such as the celebrated Queer Bop in Michaelmas term and Wadstock, the popular open air festival which normally takes place during Trinity. Talking to Cherwell, Abby Green, Wadham JCR president said that it was questionable whether these events could continue. She said “Wadham students take great pride in their entz events and are keen for them to continue. The student’s union is very concerned about the complaints and we intend to work hard with college to find a reasonable solution to the problem.” Wadham has reported that a female resident living along Saville Road made the complaint, claiming that nearby residents were unable to sleep. She is suspected to be the Headmistress of New College School but she declined to comment on the matter. Sujay Pandit, a Wadham fresher from America said, “it’s kind of ridiculous that the residents didn’t think that living next to a college would be a problem. We don’t encounter this kind of thing back home and our parties can go on until 4am” The fortnightly bops have been subject to complaints in the past both from residents and other colleges including Hertford.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

A University wide campaign, launched to discourage freshers from joining the Union has been traced to anti-smoking campaigners. In a renewed attempt to ban smoking in the Union bar, anti-tobacco activists entitled ‘Students for an Honest Union’ (SHU) have placed posters and distributed flyers urging freshers “Please Don’t Join the Oxford Union”. These moves fulfil an ultimatum made to last term’s Union President Ambrose Faulks. In an email, the campaign’s perpetrator Patrick Mackerras, warned that if a referendum was not initiated on the issue, he would “run the biggest anti-membership drive Oxford has ever seen”. Patrick Mackerras, who completed his studies at Oxford three years ago, and was a former head of the student wing of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), organised the successful campaign that banned smoking in Michaelmas 2000, though this was subsequently overturned in a controversial referendum two years later. Union President Markus Walker responded that it was “pathetic that a man who left Oxford years ago cannot let the matter lie.” Although SHU have attempted to maintain anonymity, indeed naming their spokesman as the non-existent “R Smith of Balliol”, it is thought that a Mackerras family contact in Oxford has conducted the campaign in the city.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Clubbing students watched in shock as a tourist plummeted two storeys through a glass roof outside the Bridge nightclub on Monday night. The young girl in her twenties miraculously survived the fall from a backpackers’ hostel next to the nightclub, but she sustained multiple wounds to the arms and stomach. She was taken away in an ambulance after firefighters arrived at the scene to free her from the collapsed roof. A second-year linguist from LMH, described her witnessing of the event as a “horrific” start to a night out and is still traumatised as a result. Police believe that the fall was accidental, but environmental health officers have been called in to investigate the hazardous area. The Bridge was quick to dissociate itself from the incident, reassuring students in the queue that their premises were not the site of the accident.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

A former drug and gambling addict has been awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize by a committee chaired by Merton’s Professor of English, John Carey. DBC Pierre scooped arguably the most sought-after prize for English Literature with his first novel, Vernon God Little. The book, which describes a Texan high school massacre, was described by Carey as a “coruscating black comedy reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with America”. The judges voted four to one in favour of Pierre’s book. Carey insisted it was the quality of the novel rather than the author’s private life which captivated the judges. He commented, “The language is extremely vivid, most inventive, it’s extremely exciting and very funny”. DBC Pierre or ‘Dirty But Clean Peter’ is formerly known as Peter Finlay, but took on the pseudonym to hide his colourful past. He recently confessed to betraying his friends to fuel his drug and gambling addictions, running up huge debts in the process.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003

University of Cambridge Cambridge’s Christian Union has some useful ideas about exam ‘technique’, as students attempting to access its revision advice website have been taken to a hard-core porn site. The portal, set up without CUSU’s knowledge, features such finalist diversions as ‘just turned 18 cam’ and ‘fast schoolgirls ride ponies’. One History student was delighted, saying “it provides a marvellous method of stress relief.”ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

University of Melbourne, Australia A female Biology student was rushed to hospital last week after being accidentally shot by a friend with a James Bond-style gun disguised as a pen. The tragic accident occurred in a Bond-themed party in a local nightclub, organised by the University’s Film Society. Federal Police Detective Constable Naomi Binstead said the victim required surgery to remove the projectile, believed to be made of metal, fired from the pen gun.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

University of York York builders, previously featured in Cross Campus for innuendo and sexual harrassment, have stepped up their campaign against exasperated students. Last week, a computer room of students lost important work and emails after their screens suddenly went dead. Shortly afterwards, the panicking finalists heard the sound of laughter from the scaffolding outside, as the builders revealed that they had mistaken a vital ‘twist’ cable for some masking tape, and cut it off with a pair of pliers.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Students at Jesus were shocked to return to heavily inflated bar prices at the beginning of Michaelmas. A JCR mandate to reduce the price of a pint seems to have back-fired, making it the most expensive college at which to drink in Oxford. In a drive to bring their college bar within former University guidelines and fulfil their manifesto, Jesus JCR petitioned the governing body in Hilary to bring the average cost of drinking to twenty percent below that of local establishments. Relevant surveys by Senior and Junior Common Rooms were subsequently found to have marked discrepancies; the latter’s with the lower average price. Consequently the JCR’s report was thrown out by the governing body in favour of their own, and bar tariffs raised by fifty pence on alcopops, fifteen pence on beer and up to £4 on a bottle of wine, bringing the college in line with the original request. A source at the college told Cherwell that the JCR survey had been based on special offer rather than standard prices. However, the JCR President, Rich Davies, flatly denies this claim. The rise in prices comes alongside a college clampdown on binge drinking, highlighted at a specially convened meeting between the Dean and College Sports’ captains. Despite the hike in prices, the bar’s turn over on Friday of Freshers’ Week was £1200, Bar Rep Caroline Howe said that “Prices have had no effect on binge drinking, people are just poorer”. Disgruntled second year engineer Rhys Jones advises “Don’t drink? Come to Jesus.” JCR President Rich Davies, in an interview with Cherwell, admitted that the inflation “came as a major blow to the JCR’s campaign” but is “pleased the College now has a long term policy on bar prices to prevent future increases.” He added that the JCR enjoys a “much better relationship with our SCR than most colleges but we are seeking a compromise that will suit both the students and the SCR”.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003