Thanks to truly top–class performances from Tom Hicks and Huw Jones Oxford crushed a good St. Mary’s side that ran them close last year. The pitch was low and slow but St. Mary’s got off the mark well in the first two overs, driving sweetly and clipping off the pads solidly. Alan Gofton and Toby Sharpe tidied up their act and the runs soon dried up: when the fielding restrictions were lifted, they were only on 33, barely over two an over. Then Tom Hicks reeled off his 10 overs unchanged, first taking an energetic caught and bowled off a mistimed slog-sweep, later a fanatastic hard-hit low chance back to him. Giving the batsmen nothing hittable, he did not conceed a boundary, and finished with 10–2–17–3 after dismissing their number 5 for 0 lbw. The slow scoring of St. Mary’s was partially due to their chunky opener James Watson, who typified all that could go wrong with limited overs cricket. He did not hit out during the first fifteen, instead choosing to play himself in, then did not accelerate the scoring, did not scamper cheeky singles, but simply waited for his own runs to come and be given to him. This abhorrent self-aggrandisement led Watson to 56 and he did not look like he was even playing for his team, with more inward reflection than happy celebration when getting to his fifty. Upon his fall the lower order enlivened matters, running well between the wickets and taking the OUCCE bowlers on. The graceful reverse sweep by Surrey–contracted Tim Murtagh off ex-colleague Joe Porter typified this rally and left Oxford 155 to win. St. Mary’s openers Robbie Joseph, a Kent 2nds player, and Murtagh were hostile and aggressive and it was a very good contest against Joe Sayers and Huw Jones. There were runs to be had from the wicket though, and when Jones lofted Murtagh over extra cover in the eighth over, the tension was released. The pair banished the memories of last week’s failed century stand with an enjoyable 120 partnership, as Sayers hit the ball crisply square of the wicket and Jones was good in the “v” between extra cover and midwicket. The other St. Mary’s bowlers lacked penetration, struggled for a rhythm and were not consistent enough to trouble the dark blues. Dalrymple finished matters with 20 of 21 balls while there was more than a hour to play. Some of the early season promise is now coming through, which can only be a good thing going into the county match, in 3rd week against Gloucestershire, the last first–class game before the 4-day Varsity match scheduled for the end of June.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

On the rebound from Varsity defeat, Dan James and Hertford soar to new heights Early on Saturday morning is perhaps the least likely time at which one might find a group of Oxford students bouncing up and down (with vomit-inducing abandon) of their own free will, yet this week Iffley Road played host to such a spectacle under the auspices of the trampolining Cuppers tournament. With the much vaunted panel of judges failing to show up, tournament organiser Lucy Raw was forced to assemble a motley crew whose lack of knowledge of the sport belied the commitment of the partcipants. Their inexperience was demonstrated in their setting a new record for the highest standard deviation of form marks in any trampolining competition in history. The event was split into three categories, novice, intermediate and advanced. Each group, in theory, had to perform a routine of ten moves, although, with the judges’ unfamiliarity with the rules apparently matched by many of the competitors, the number of skills performed by each competitor varied significantly. Yet the participants in each category showed considerable aptitude. In the novice section, Hertford’s welsh wonder Ellie La Trobe Bateman scored some of the best marks of the day to win by a clear four points from Oriel’s Felicity Bulmer. Keble’s James Kenny came third, his bitterness evident in shouting “Dan’s biased” when Herford captain Dan James awarded high marks to La Trobe. Kenny’s own college colleague Sarah Davis and St Hilda’s Jamie Brown finished fourth and fifth and a hard-fought contest. The intermediate contest was perhaps less hard fought, with the judges awarding the first three competitors 0.0, and Ben Arnold resorting to copying exactly the moves of Wadham’s Natasha Brereton, even falling on his arse at precisely the same juncture. Almost by default, veterans Kath Edward of Oriel and Alex Rowley of St.Annes won the section, with Sarah Day in third. In the advanced category, despite Univ’s Alex McAleenan’s attempts to impress the judges in her lycra, her efforts were only good enough for third place behind Wadham’s Elaine Bettaney [who scored her own personal best] and the winner, Hertford’s Dan James. The dimunitive James earned a truly massive points total, 59.2, finishing six points clear of Bettaney. Another Hertfordian, Emily Kemp displayed the athleticism familiar to fans of women’s volleyball [surely almost every man in the university] to finish fourth with 47.7 points, although the Essex girl thought she needed to do nine moves instead of ten. So Hertford claimed the trophy, taking it back to Catte Street where it will be lodged in the trophy cabinet alongside the fourth division rugby title they claimed last term and the third place pennant they won in shove ha’penny in 1956. Whether it was La Trobe’s poise, James’s good looks or Kempo’s east end contacts which decided the outcome, no-one can be sure. Yet, ultimately, trampolining was the winner, and the organisers can expect a higher turnout next year.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Runaway hostage braves media storm to start term at TrinityMatthew Scott, the student who so dramatically escaped from kidnappers in the Columbian jungle last month, came up to Oxford yesterday to start his degree. The engineering student arrived at Trinity College as planned, despite having returned to the UK only a fortnight ago. Scott was taken hostage by a Columbian terrorist group while trekking to the remote Lost City ruins in the Sierra Nevada mountains on 12th September. After two days of marching with seven others at gunpoint, Scott made his escape in low visibility caused by rainfall, “I saw a chance and ran. I heard the river on the right and I followed the sound. The sides were very steep. I jumped over the edge very quickly. I was lucky not to break my arms or legs.” Scott trekked alone without any food for 12 days to escape from his captors and was picked up by indigenous people from the local area, “The tribe that found me gave me soup and beans with a little salt and three oranges.” When found, he was flown by helicopter to a military base at Santa Marta in the Caribbean. Despite speculation that he might postpone starting university, Scott explained that his plans would be unaffected by the horrifying ordeal, saying “I’m going to be just fine. Life is looking pretty good.” Although he is still in pain due to trench foot contracted during his 12-day jungle nightmare, Scott’s sense of humour does not seem to have suffered. He told Cherwell, “I am looking forward to Freshers’ Week. I took some trouble to make it.” James Scott, Matthew’s father, said: “Matthew is a very lucky boy. We thought he might be dead. We did not know whether he was alive or being tortured. We are absolutely thrilled. It was a very risky escape.” The College president, Sir Michael Beloff QC, expressed relief at Scott’s safe return to the UK, praising his “initiative and determination”. On his return, Scott’s picture was featured on the front page of nearly every national newspaper. After arriving to a frenzied press conference at Heathrow, Scott spent the days before coming up in negotiation with the press over coverage of his story, courting five-figure sums. Cherwell can confirm that Scott’s own story of events is to be published in the Daily Telegraph and is expected to appear within the next few days. He was understandably reluctant to speak in detail about his experience, saying “For the moment I have to consider that some of the information I hold is still sensitive and the situation is very tense. I am worried about the safety of the other seven hostages. Any publicity that this story attracts could damage their position.”ARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003 

Race row don may face dismissal A professor’s job hangs in the balance after an investigation into his rejection of a student solely on grounds of race. Andrew Wilkie, Nuffield professor of Pathology and a fellow of Pembroke College, refused to consider 26-year-old Amit Duvshani for a PhD because he is Israeli. It will be announced shortly whether the professor is to be dismissed. In an email sent in June to the student he said “I am sure you are perfectly nice at a personal level, but no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army.” The decision has shocked the academic community and appalled Duvshani, a student at Tel Aviv University, who has completed a compulsory three years army service and was looking to study at Oxford for his PhD thesis in molecular biology. Dr. Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College said it was a “gross violation of admissions policies.” He added that academics should never “vet students by their nationality.” Wilkie has issued a full apology but following a preliminary hearing in July, Vice Chancellor Sir Colin Lucas decided that an investigation was necessary. Wilkie, who was appointed in May of this year, has been banned from future selection decisions. As the university is unable to discipline staff, a visitatorial board is being summoned. Wilkie’s actions follow calls from several prominent Oxford scientists for a boycott of Israeli academics. The unofficial boycott originated in April 2002 from an open letter published in The Guardian from scientists including Professor Richard Dawkins and Professor Colin Blakemore from Oxford. The letter states that there are “ways of exerting pressure from within Europe” against the “violent repression against the Palestinian people,” and calls for European agencies to cease funding Israeli scientists. Wilkie said that he had “a huge problem with the way that Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust” and has strongly criticised their “human rights violations”.ARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003 

New balls pleaseA St. Anne’s fresher reduced his chances of achieving fatherhood during an animated game of pool. Following the first few pints in the college bar, his inebriated antics resulted with a painful groin injury. Although showing both pain and embarrasment following the event, one female witness told Cherwell “he has certainly made an impression – at least he’s got something large enough down there to complain about”.ARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003 

Helena Puig Larrauri, student union President, followed a defiant stand against top-up fees at last week’s Labour Party Conference by working towards the creation of an alternative White Paper with Cambridge student union. At a fringe meeting the OUSU President challenged the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, to explain what will happen if (or when) the White Paper fails. Clarke’s angry response simply asserted that the paper will pass, indicating that the government will yet again bring out the thumbscrews against the predicted 170 rebellious backbenchers. In the debate, Helena defended the position of students against Clarke’s claims that they do not understand the real economic choices faced by governments. Afterwards, an impassioned e-mail to campaigners said she was “tired of the irresponsibility of a government which refuses to consider alternatives.” With Cambridge University Students’ Union, OUSU will provide that alternative through an Oxbridge ‘White Paper’. Based on the belief that some changes are required to meet the £10 billion funding gap facing universities, the report will urge consideration of progressive taxation as the fairest means of regaining university costs. CUSU officer Jo Read declared “we must show that it is not cost-effective to screw us over”. A Rough Guide to the White Paper Top-up fees are part of a White Paper brought forward by the Government as a means for increasing university funding. Under current proposals, each academic institution would be able to charge its students up to £3000 per year as compared to standard level of tuition fees. Unlike the present system, all charges would be paid by the student after graduation with most students leaving with a debt of over £21 000 by government estimates. Although the legislation has been praised for removing the up-front charges loathed by parents, the allowance of Universities to charge differing amounts according to academic prestige has caused fears of the creation of a two-tier system of higher education. A clause within the proposals would remove the £3000 limit after 2012, effectively offering universities a back door to privatization. The Russell Group of elite academic institutions, which includes Oxbridge, broadly welcomes the proposals and their head has recently stated that if top-up fees fail in Parliament, it would consider privatisation. The legislation will come before the Commons in November, with votes expected in December and February. Compiled by Eleanor Jupp AARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003 

Oxford University looks likely to reject government plans which urge top universities to lower offers made to applicants from state schools with low university acceptance rates. While Bristol and Edinburgh have taken the plunge, a spokesman for the University stated that “there is no intention of systematically making lower offers.” Government plans published recently argue that universities should take each applicant’s case into context upon admission, considering criteria such as GSCE grades, school league positions and even SATs results. The focus of university admissions offices would be close research of school success. This bias towards state schools has been condemned by independent school authorities as discriminatory and unfair.Whilst the report states that positive discrimination would end the idea that a high-grade student from a high-achieving school would be considered worth ‘more’ than his state school counterpart, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jane Minto told Cherwell that the University is “completely opposed to anything formulaic or mechanistic that inadvertently discriminates against any specific group of candidates.”ARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003