Tuesday 7th October 2025
Blog Page 757

An interview with Bea Udale-Smith

Cherwell Stage
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An interview with Bea Udale-Smith

How does it feel to be directing an adaptation of a play by such a renowned living playwright?

It feels very exciting, and surprisingly not as frightening as I thought it would be! We were lucky enough to be introduced to Stoppard the week after we got our slot at the Playhouse, after his second talk at St Catherine’s in Michaelmas Term, and the very first thing he said when I told him about our production was that the trick to doing Travesties was to have fun with it. So I’ve very much felt able to take liberties and make Travesties our own!

Why Travesties, and are there any themes you think are particularly resonant at the moment?

I was set on putting on a Stoppard from the moment I found out he was Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor at our college for this year. I re-read many of his works, but Travesties stood out to me, since it very much felt like it had the most scope to be played with, as the whole play is set in the mind of its slightly forgetful narrator, Henry Carr (performed, in our version, by the incredible Lee Simmonds). This gives way to many moments of overt-theatricality, which has allowed us to introduce a physical theatre ensemble (Laura Henderson Child, Martha Harlan, Tom Mackie), who control the action and physically represent Carr’s mind. Thematically, I also think Travesties is fascinating in terms of its discussions on the value of art, which is pretty much always relevant, but especially so right now as arts funding, and particularly arts education, is so under threat!

What is special about your interpretation of ‘Travesties’?

Travesties is very much a play where every production is wildly different, but our interpretation has a couple of very obvious changes. Stoppard often shifts the genre, style, and characterisation in his play – and, since one thing past productions of Travesties have often been criticised for is not making these shifts clear enough, we’ve added a couple of explicit (and fun!) motifs to highlight them.

As well as adding an ensemble, another key change is that we’ve cast Joyce and Tzara with female actors. The one problem I had with Travesties was how few female parts there were, but we felt able to cast these two with female actors, as the James Joyce and Tristan Tzara of the play are very much creations of Carr’s mind, rather than the actual historical figures! This also means our production has been able to be in keeping with the Playhouse’s 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage (‘A Vote of Her Own’) season, which is a really incredible thing to be a part of.

What has been the most challenging aspect of directing this play?

One of the most challenging parts has probably been trying to find the right tone for each scene or section. As this play has many absurd moments each written in an extremely different manner, and even the “normal” moments usually need to be delivered in a highly stylised way, we’ve had to settle on a very specific style for each of them – which needs to work perfectly for that moment, work with the moments before, and also be very funny! So just the initial aim of trying to crack each scene has been difficult.

Do you have any favourite scenes?

The play has some really fabulous scenes, such as the scene in which all the characters on stage start speaking in limericks. Scenes like this are so much fun as soon as you read them, so they actually need a lot less work.

My favourites are probably the ones which we’ve really had to work on, such as the first proper scene in Carr’s story, where Carr’s memory keeps going wrong and the scene re-sets each time it does. We spent a while working on this scene and giving Carr and his butler, Bennett (Jon Berry), different characters for each re-set, and its become one of my absolute favourites.

Out of Lenin, Joyce and Tzara, who would you most like to meet?

After directing this play, definitely Tristan Tzara. This is mostly because Stoppard seems to have taken the most liberty with his character, making him into a figure straight out of The Importance of Being Earnest – while still espousing Dadaist views… and it would be very interesting to see what the real Tzara was like!

You’ve done some acting yourself. How do you bring your acting experience into your directing?

I think acting under a variety of directors is really useful in knowing which directing styles work and which don’t. You can then use/nick when directing whatever techniques helped you when you were acting… and it means you don’t lose awareness of how hard the things you ask people to do sometimes are!

What’s been the best part of directing this play?

The best part has definitely been all the moments where we’ve finally cracked the difficult scenes. Julia Pilkington, who’s playing Tzara, pointed out yesterday that in this play quite a few scenes don’t make any sense, until we make them make no sense at all – at which point they make perfect sense! The moment scenes move from ‘almost there’ to ‘there’ is brilliant – and a scene we’ve been struggling with for days suddenly become hilarious!

What advice would you give to those looking to get into directing in Oxford drama? Did you find it difficult to get started? What do you think can be done to encourage more people to get involved?

If you’re keen and have a play and concept you’re set on, the biggest hurdle is probably finding a team, as I definitely struggled in my first year to know who to ask or where to go for recommendations. As well as putting out a call via the TAFF mailing list (which you can join via their website), I actually think messaging or emailing people, who you’ve heard or seen good things about, is a really good way to get people on your team – even and especially if you haven’t met them! Our marketing manager, Alice Bate, is absolutely incredible, and is involved because I had loved her marketing for another show. I messaged her out of the blue to ask whether she’d consider running marketing for Travesties – fortunately, given that this was the day the bid was due, she said yes!

I think there’s something really amazing about creating theatre as a student, as you can get on board so many talented people (and without having to pay them). I found it quite easy to start directing as I basically began as soon as possible, directing a show in Hilary of first year after directing our Cuppers in Michaelmas – but I think the other big hurdle is feeling that it’s too late to begin. The effort OUDS puts into encouraging people who haven’t directed before is brilliant, however – and I can’t recommend enough auditioning to direct at the New Writing Festival, or going to one of the regular OUDS socials to meet other students doing drama. The move towards even more equal opportunities, and upcoming productions like Medea at the Keble O’Reilly this term, are also so exciting in terms of getting more people involved.

Universities minister says student loan ‘got me through university’

Isabel Morris
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Universities minister says student loan ‘got me through university’

Minister of State for Universities, Sam Gyimah, has said he could have been “thrown out of university” had his Oxford college not helped him convert his rent into a loan, which he subsequently paid back.

Gyimah told MPs on the Education Select Committee, who pressed him on support for disadvantaged students, that the financial support he received from Somerville College allowed him to stay at university.

He said: “I would have been thrown out of university because I couldn’t afford my rent.

“The only way I managed to survive and carry on was because the college converted my rent into a loan, which I paid when I left.

“Now, a personal anecdote is never the best foundation for policy – but I can describe my own experience as the first kind of maintenance loan which got me through university.”

Gyimah was responding to a question from Themla Walker, an MP on the committee, who said she would not have been able to graduate without support from a maintenance grant.

Maintenance grants for disadvantaged students will not be re-introduced this year. They will be replaced with loans that have interest rates set to rise to 6.3% from the autumn.

The decision has been criticised by both Labour and Conservative former education secretaries.

Committee chairman Robert Halfron, warned that there was still a “major social injustice” in access to university and argued for a need to focus on the collapse in part-time student numbers, which have fallen by 61% in the past decade.

Gyimah also said that despite the £860m per year spent on university outreach, there was no clear evidence that this investment had been successful.

He told the committee that he wants universities to be more transparent with students about how their tuition fees are being spent.

The Inheritance review – ‘it is hard to imagine this play is really as universal as it advertises’

John Livesey
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The Inheritance review – ‘it is hard to imagine this play is really as universal as it advertises’

It is a not unproblematic cliché of gay art and life that desire and culture are passed down between generations. In his book Returning to Rheims, French intellectual Didier Eribon describes sleeping with an older man and, after waking up in his room, perusing the stranger’s personal CD collection. It was there, Eribon recalls, that he first discovered Barbara Streisand. It was also there that he came to understand how listening to her music might be a way of relating to a larger gay community. The encounter, though transitory, was more than just sexual: it was a step towards coming into one’s self and one’s culture, of adopting the practices of gayness or, at least, one specific type of gayness.

This cultural exchange is the main subject of Matthew Lopez’s new two-part epic, currently playing at the Young Vic. Its title, The Inheritance, is the name Lopez gives to that fraught but special relationship between generations of gay men. In a moving scene, in which this is explained, we are told of a history of silence and invisibility throughout which the only way for homosexuals to come to know themselves and others like them was to congregate in urinals and bars. It’s stirring stuff indeed.

Inspired by E.M Forster’s Howards End, the play follows the journey of one couple: thoughtful and sensitive Eric, and egotistical, fame-seeking Toby. The pair start off in love and lust however their bond is marred by the entrance of Adam, a rich and attractive twenty-something, and Walter, a warm-hearted, wise but dying older man. As the unpicking of Eric and Toby’s relationship begins, the narrative spirals outward to include multiple lovers and friends. Hearts are variously broken and fixed, bridges burnt and rebuilt.

The set, designed by Bob Crowley, is a simple raised platform around which the cast sit when not performing. It cleverly evokes a huge table and is used for the staging of several ensemble discussions. The motif reminds us of the primary intention of Lopez’s writing: debate. His is a play about history, community, and family, different homes, and how they are haunted by their residents. It is provocative in its portrayal of the crippling effects of narcissism, the cruelty of New York City, and the horror of AIDS. In fact, it possesses an emotional and thematic breadth that defies easy summarisation and, in turn, invites accusations of unwieldiness.

Perhaps appropriately for a play about changes over time, The Inheritance is also very long. Coming in two parts and lasting over seven hours, the drama has a muscularity which threatens to batter audiences into submission. Its structure also reminds us of that other AIDS drama in whose shadow it conspicuously lies: Angels in America. This connection is one I am certain Lopez intends for us to draw, not only for favourable comparison, but because his work is full of intertextual references. Having the characters list their predictable favourite books – Giovanni’s Room, Call Me by Your Name, The Swimming Pool – is one amusing moment which was well-received by the large number of gay men in the room. I amongst them recognised the itemised description of my teenage bookshelf and appreciated the characteristic honesty and self-awareness of Lopez’s dialogue, also evident in a shockingly exact anal sex scene and in numerous gags about Grindr.

The inclusion of E.M Forster, the author of Howards End, is the most prominent example of Lopez’s interest in the literary representation of sexuality. Also the writer of Maurice, a classic of the gay canon, Forster begins the show advising Eric, Toby and their friends how to ‘tell their story’, and reappears throughout as a mentor and quasi-preacher on the truths of gay life. His presence, whilst a surprise, helps to clarify the important political and intellectual issues at play. Moreover, the wit and warmth with which he is brought to life by Paul Hilton renders Forster an invaluable figure.

It is in the second-part of this production, as Hilton’s appearances becomes more spare, that the interest wanes. As Lopez dedicates more of his attention to a plot-driven adaptation of his source material, the portrait of gay-life he has built begins to lose its variety and chances of being relatable. Initially establishing itself as a document of modern gay experience, a discussion allowing everyone a seat at the table, The Inheritance slowly reduces to a single narrative modeled on an outdated mode of storytelling. It loses its keen eye for modernity and develops a bizarre obsession with the improbable and specific.

As an interrogation of identification across ages, The Inheritance is full of repetitions, reflections and foils. However, as Lopez tightens his focus on the plot, the grasp of his material starts to loosen and the identification I knew I was supposed to feel began to default. Particularly given his dubious attempts to cover class (dealt with in extreme and offensive juxtapositions of wealthy Long-Islanders and starving sex workers) and race (white men speaking over their African-American peers about intersectionality), it is hard to imagine that this play is really as accessible or as universal as it advertises.

The two most memorable sequences of the play, both in the first part, are abstract moments which feature multiple voices and bodies onstage. It is here that Lopez and director Stephen Daldry are most successful in capturing some new conception of what it means to be gay. Elsewhere, this production is prone to feel too individualised and somewhat confused. Maybe as part of a younger demographic, it is just not my life that is being put on stage. Or maybe, queer people our age simply demand more subtle, modern and intersectional art. For those weeping during the standing ovation, I have no doubt Lopez’s play is a gift. It is, however, one I do not feel I am qualified or keen enough to inherit.

The Inheritance will be at the Young Vic until 19th May.

“You have to really fight even to get a game”

Matthew Roller
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“You have to really fight even to get a game”

The County Championship started last week with typically little fanfare. The majority of games were rain-affected, and, as should be expected when the first round of games is played in mid-April, seam bowlers dominated. Only two of the ten counties in action picked a specialist spinner, and both of them – Middlesex’s Ollie Rayner and Warwickshire’s Jeetan Patel – were defensive off-spinners with first-class batting averages above 20. At this time of year, obduracy and grit are valued higher than risk and flair.

Should it be at all surprising, then, that England have only produced one genuinely world-class spinner in the past forty years, and no top-quality leg-spinners this side of the Second World War? The domestic calendar does not suit leg-spinners, who need thousands of hours of practice to hone the hardest skill to master in the game: why would a team take such a gamble? And while there are famous examples of English leg-spinners struggling to master their art – Adil Rashid recently gave up first-class cricket to focus on his white-ball skills, while seven years ago Scott Borthwick found he could only get into the Durham side by turning himself into a top order batsman – the county game is littered with cases of talented bowlers losing their way.

Michael Munday, who read Chemistry at Corpus Christi College between 2002 and 2006, is one such example. After what should have been a breakthrough performance at the end of the 2007 season, in which he took 8-55 against a strong Nottinghamshire side, Munday was thrust into the Somerset side at the start of 2008, and predictably struggled.

“The unfortunate thing was that 8-for came on the last day of the season,” he says. “The next April, you think to yourself: ‘it’s cold, the pitches are green, and I’ve lost that form and groove from the previous summer’. I bowled OK in the first game, then came up against Kevin Pietersen at Taunton on a flat wicket after we’d been bowled out for 100.

“That wasn’t a great situation to be in, and probably quite rightly I didn’t play for a bit after that game. I shouldn’t necessarily have been in the side in April and May, but then you have to make sure come July or August you’re in the right place, and I never quite got into that situation. You have to really fight even to get a game.”

Two years later, Munday was unceremoniously released by Somerset, and has never played at the highest level again. His career trajectory is similar to a vast number of English leg-spinners of the past twenty years, and Munday takes issue with the country’s obsession with wrist spin.

“I don’t think leg spin is easy,” he says. “It is a tough skill – it takes time. Now if anyone breaks through in county cricket, there’s a culture of: ‘oh, let’s talk about him, he should be playing for England’, and it requires the individuals to be strong, resilient characters to live with those expectations. As soon as [Mason] Crane plays one game as does poorly, suddenly he’s written off, and then when he plays in a T20 and does well, he’s the next big thing. There aren’t many leg-spinners out there playing four-day cricket who haven’t been given a go in Test cricket.”

Similarly, Munday is happy to criticise the captains he has played under, and suggests that there is a general lack of understanding as to how a leg-spinner should be developed. “There’s this thing where people can get compared to Shane Warne – any leg-spinner who comes through gets compared to him,” Munday says. “When [Marcus] Trescothick is your captain, he’s thinking about what field positions would be there if he were facing Warne – a silly point, a short leg. The tendency was to kind of go down that route of having quite an attacking field, when that actually forces the bowler to bowl quite defensively.

“People often say you shouldn’t set a field for a bad ball, but I think you should set a field for where the ball’s going to go. If you think you might bowl a full toss at some point, and that will go to deep mid-wicket – why not have a man at deep mid-wicket? There’s not a huge culture and experience of too many leg-spinners playing in county cricket.

“It is made particularly difficult though when you come on with a field that is too attacking, and you go for a couple of boundaries, and suddenly you’re on the defensive, rather than starting more defensively, and bringing men in from there.”

I get the impression that Munday enjoyed his cricket most when he was still breaking through, and his time at Oxford epitomises that. As well as becoming the first man since 1866 to win four consecutive Varsities for Oxford, Munday pitted himself against some of England’s finest batsmen in the early season UCCE games against county sides, playing for the combined Oxford/Brookes side.

After taking the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah on his first-class debut, Munday took a five-for in his first Varsity Match, under the captaincy of future England all-rounder Jamie Dalrymple. “He instilled from an early point that there was a difference between getting your Blue and being a winning Blue, and I think he was right to get that across,” Munday says. “You need to take it away from a discussion about getting in the side and competing against the other students to get a spot, and instead make it all about actually beating Cambridge.”

The following summer, another Varsity win followed, and Munday was picked for an England under-19s side featuring Alastair Cook, Samit Patel, Luke Wright, and Ravi Bopara. Another Varsity win in 2005 was followed by his fourth and finest success, in which he took 11 wickets for 143 runs, including five-wicket hauls in both Cambridge innings.

Spin to win: how Munday fared in his four first-class Varsity matches

2003: 2/46, 5/83, Oxford win by an innings and 71 runs
2004: 4/36, 2/63, Oxford win by an innings and 77 runs
2005: 1/25, 2/45, Oxford win by an innings and 213 runs
2006: 6/77, 5/66, Oxford win by nine wickets

“It was really down to me to get the best players out – I made a really significant difference,” he says. “It was a big thing for me to be able to step up. Often when you’re coming through as a young player, you’re constantly moving up a level, so you’re never one of the best players. At that point, I was one of our better players, and if I’d bowled poorly, I don’t think we’d have won.

“Four-year course, four wins. To have played in all four was a really special achievement, more so than taking the wickets – I was pretty proud.”

While Munday’s cricketing career is one that he will ultimately look back on with some regrets, I sense that his path is one that many other leg-spinners will follow. They are the next big thing as a youngster, and thrust into the spotlight on the path for greatness, only for the system to chew them up and spit them back out again. English cricket’s tortured relationship with leg spin is not news to anyone, and it seems set to continue.

Racism amongst college porters must be dislodged

Leanne Yau
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Racism amongst college porters must be dislodged

“From late September when I arrived until early December, despite entering the college frequently, I would estimate I was stopped and asked for ID by the porters at least 50% of the time I tried to enter,” Hasan Al-Habib tells me.

“It was only when my then girlfriend walked in with me and saw this happen to me (whilst she, a white postgraduate also at Balliol was not asked for ID) did I realise something was wrong. She asked me if I was often asked for ID and I said yes, and she replied that this had never once happened to her, despite also being a fresher.”

The ‘Race’ section of the Oxford University website on Equality and Diversity claims that the University is working to ensure that the Oxford community is “inclusive and welcoming for everyone, whatever their background, to ensure equality of opportunity and experience for all”.

Oxford clearly has a diversity issue, and yet – if we are to take the University’s word for it – this is something Oxford is, at least, attempting to change. Though we are still miles from where we should be, Oxford’s students and staff are more diverse than they were fifty years ago: a project was launched in 2014 as part of the Race Equality Summit to diversify the curriculum, and there are various scholarships, access conferences, and admissions programmes specifically designed for students of colour. But, as Al-Habib’s testimony demonstrates, there remains a pervading sense of unbelonging amongst students of colour, something which is cemented by their treatment from some college porters. Cherwell has collated 14 submissions from students of colour across eleven Oxford colleges, and there are a total of six Oxfesses and Oxfeuds specifically on the subject, some with hundreds of likes and comments. Clearly, the issue is a prominent one.

There is no denying that porters have a respectable security role, and are perfectly entitled to check ID for people that they do not recognise. With porters seeing hundreds of people passing through the college each day, the job is undeniably difficult. A porter carding an unfamiliar student may not constitute racial discrimination in and of itself, but the accounts I received do show a bias toward carding students of colour. Al-Habib, a former master’s student, told Cherwell, “When a friend from my old university came to visit me at Oxford…I remember very vividly walking into Balliol with her and being called back to identify myself. She, someone who wasn’t even a student at Oxford, never mind at Balliol, was allowed to walk straight through.” At Magdalen, a student described how they never had problems getting friends into college events, “until some of these friends were male and black”.

Andrea Wong, a student at New College, notes how “humiliating” it felt when she was “treated differently because of [her] appearance”: “It seemed to send a message…that I didn’t properly fit in, from the very people who are supposed to be keeping me safe”. Similarly, Elaine Wong was carded despite “holding a laptop and wearing college stash” on her way to a tutorial at Christ Church. An Asian member of academic staff wrote that while taking photos with a Malaysian friend on the front quad of Christ Church, they were “angrily asked…to go back on the visitor’s path” by the porter. Two Caucasian students taking photos on the same quad were allowed to carry on. This is not the first time the college has been accused of racial profiling, with allegations of racism against some Christ Church porters made in 2014.

To make matters worse, it appears that some college porters have a sustained disinterest in recognising students of colour from their own college, even after repeated interactions. At St. John’s, a student wrote that for four consecutive years, a certain porter would “come chasing after [him] (literally, sometimes)” whenever he entered his college. He wrote, “I tell myself this porter just has horrendous facial recognition skills, but it gets harder to believe every time.”

At Balliol, a third-year Korean student was similarly frustrated, adding, “Constantly throughout my first two years at Oxford, porters would stop me at the entrance, shouting ‘Oi! Excuse me!’ out their window and asking me ‘Where are you going?’ or ‘Who are you?’” At Exeter, a second-year student reported: “There’s this one porter who always stares at me suspiciously when he’s on duty and I walk into college during the day. One particular week, I got carded every day without fail by this guy for ‘security reasons’ – but the groups of white students walking in front of me never did.”

In addition to singling out students of colour and failing to recognise who they are, even after years of contact, some porters have been accused of needlessly intimidating or disrespecting students. A student of Indian descent wrote in about her experience at Queen’s where, after asking for directions to a room and giving the name of her teacher for a singing lesson, the porter seemed “really suspicious”. After repeatedly asking for her college and Bod card, he asked her, “Where are you really from?” Such a question seemed more suited to the gates of border control than those of an Oxford college, and the student described feeling “taken aback” and “uncomfortable” by this exchange.

A 2015 article by a black Rhodes Scholar in Times Higher Education detailed how a Christ Church porter assumed that he and two Kenyan friends were “construction workers”. A particularly damning account by a Chinese student noted how porters had spoken to them “really loudly and slowly” and gestured in an exaggerated manner, to indicate that they had to pay to enter college. The fact that some porters deem it acceptable to assume that people of colour cannot speak English is entirely unnecessary, and the high numbers of Asian tourists is no excuse for such egregious and condescending displays of discrimination.

The fact that students of colour are automatically assumed not to belong, or even to be a security threat by some porters, has a severely negative impact on their university experience. At an institution which has historically been overwhelmingly white, making generalised assumptions and taking unjustified security measures against ethnic minorities only reaffirms the insecurities that are already lying underneath. One student protested: “I am not here to entertain misplaced suspicions. I’m here to study, to flourish as an individual and a young adult.” Many students of colour experience imposter syndrome, meaning they feel a constant anxiety that they will be exposed as ‘frauds’ who do not belong.

Additionally, with all the access programmes that are available to ethnic minorities, many find it difficult to accept that it was their individual achievements, and not just the university’s efforts at inclusivity, that got them places at Oxford. An Oxford student who attended UNIQ Summer School in 2016 felt that “the main reason I was picked was because I ticked the boxes of being a black male, who is state educated, living in a low socioeconomic area who is also a young carer”. This sentiment is one familiar to many. With this in mind, being overtly racially profiled by college porters abruptly rejects any sense of feeling welcome in college, a place students are supposed to call home.

A submission to Oxfess explained it succinctly: “Being made to feel alien in your own college, in a study space that you literally frequented everyday for the past fortnight – that is something that makes students of colour occasionally (or, perpetually) question whether they truly belong at this university.” It is clear that some porters have not been made aware of how their actions – racially motivated or not – may affect others. Students of colour have also been unwilling to speak out about their experiences, for fear of not being believed or being ridiculed for their suspicions. Al-Habib expressed his regret that he did not report what happened to him, but added that he failed to do so because he felt that no-one would care. Many of the students who wrote to me expressed similar sentiments.

Only one person who wrote to Cherwell, Valerian Chen, reported his experience to the relevant authorities in college. Chen had complained after being “aggressively” questioned and carded by a Merton College porter, saying that the porter “was not only grossly impolite, but also overstepped his duties”. He highlighted the fact that the college had been sympathetic to his complaint, and he was mostly happy with how they had handled it. However, despite promises that inquiries would be made “with the intention that this does not continue”, he was not updated on the outcome of the issue, though he has noted that he has not been stopped since then. While it is important for students of colour to vocalise such issues, the problem of institutionalised racism and a lack of diversity cannot be resolved so easily.

Plenty of college bars have lists of underage undergrads (with names and pictures) to prevent them from underage drinking. An Oxfess suggested that each college create a list of students of colour for porters to reference in order to avoid future incidents of profiling. However, this misses the point. The problem is not so much a porter’s bad memory, but widespread institutional racism that supposes certain non-white students require a special category in order to be remembered.

It would also be of little help to students visiting other colleges for tutorials, co-curricular events or any other aspect of university life. Porters should instead be made aware that certain methods of gatekeeping can feel alienating to students of colour, who may already be prone to imposter syndrome. It is not an overreaction to feel unwelcome or unwanted when students of colour perceive that they are being aggressively profiled. Porters should not be letting people into college based on their race, but on whether or not they are a familiar face, and yet, white tourists are being allowed in without question, while students of colour are stopped multiple times and asked inappropriate, invasive questions that have nothing to do with security enforcement.

If current students of colour are unable to endorse Oxford’s claims of being a hub of acceptance and diversity to non-students, the university cannot expect to have greater diversity in applications. The fact that Oxford SU supported a pledge for Oxford to be a “sanctuary campus” for immigrants, when its students of colour are harassed and othered by the gatekeepers to their own colleges, is indicative of the university’s short-sightedness when trying to improve access.

A great deal of university money has been spent on outreach and events, but if Oxford does not look inward and scrutinise the many ways in which systemic discrimination has been allowed to perpetuate, such attempts are futile.

Racial profiling, perpetuated by some college porters creates many problems for current students, threatening their sense of identity as members of college and alienating them from their white counterparts, but it also creates problems for the university as a whole, which is already struggling to encourage applications from ethnic minorities.

If Oxford wants to make good on its claims of inclusiveness and diversity, it has a responsibility to examine the small, everyday interactions students of colour have with other members of the University, and ensure that a sense of belonging is created for both current students and potential candidates.

The sheer volume of these anecdotes from students across the University and the overwhelming response to the writing of this article has made it clear that these experiences of profiling are not isolated incidents. The University of Oxford must do better by its students of colour, not just so that more students will apply, but so that they will want to stay once they are here.

If you have been affected by this issue, please email Leanne Yau at [email protected], with the subject line ‘Porters’, and your college.

See all accounts collated by Leanne, published in full here: http://cherwell.org/2018/04/24/racism-amongst-college-porters-must-be-dislodged-appendix/

‘Racism amongst college porters must be dislodged’ Appendix

Isaac Pockney
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‘Racism amongst college porters must be dislodged’ Appendix

This week in Features Leanne Yau exposed widespread racial profiling of students of colour by porters employed by Oxford colleges. Accusations were received from 14 students from 11 colleges, some of them containing multiple and ongoing accounts of discrimination dating back years. Unable to recount every example in the feature, Cherwell has collated every story it received prior to publishing the feature. Many colleges provided comment, and their responses are attached to the accounts. As per their wishes, some students will remain anonymous.

In addition, five Oxfesses and Oxfeuds which report similar incidents have been imbedded as well as the articles which detail the discrimination faced by a Christ Church Rhodes Scholar in 2014.

 

Balliol College:

Hasan Al-Habib

I took a degree in Radiation Biology, a 1 Year Master’s course, at Oxford for the year 2016-17, for which I was at Balliol College. The college has a main site and a separate Postgraduate Centre at Holywell Manor (where the MCR is), about ten minutes walk away. The latter has a card entry system, so porters never profiled people (there was no need to). They did also, however, seem to be much friendlier towards me in general than those at the Main Site.

When I arrived as a fresher, I very quickly continued my interest in student theatre by directing Balliol’s Drama Cuppers entry in Michaelmas. As a result of this and going to halls very often for dinner (I still cannot cook), I would walk into main site of Balliol at least every other day. From late September when I arrived until early December, despite entering the college that frequently, I would estimate I was stopped and asked for ID by the porters at least 50% of the time I tried to enter. Since I was a fresher and new to the collegiate system, I assumed this was normal. It was only when my then girlfriend walked in with me and saw this happen to me (whilst she, a white postgraduate also at Balliol was not asked for ID) did I realise something was wrong. She asked me if I was often asked for ID and I said yes, and she replied that this had never once happened to her, despite also being a fresher.

I asked various white friends at Balliol (it’s a very white college) if they had ever been asked for ID; all of them replied that they had not, and in fact expressed shock that I had been.

I want to emphasise that this was often not a case of porters making absolutely sure I was a student, but rather assuming that I must have been a tourist, or simply someone who was not allowed to be there. I was asked multiple times for ID by every single porter of the 5 plus that perform shifts. Often, they would act completely bewildered at my walking in, asking: “Sorry, can I help you?” as though I were lost or trying to sneak in, and when I produced my ID be visibly in shock that I was actually a student here.

As a British person of Arab ethnicity, I cannot imagine how difficult the incoming recipient of the Balliol Refugee Scholarship will find this problem when studying at the same college, bearing in mind that I have lived in this country all my life and English is my mother tongue. It actually angers me that they have used this to portray the college as being wonderfully progressive and liberal; the actions of the people whose job it is to act as the first port of call at the college proves that this isn’t really the case.

It also frustrates me when people at Oxford complain that the lack of diversity is simply due to a lack of applications. If BME students that are already at the university are treated in this way by their own colleges, do they expect them to give ringing endorsements of Oxford to their friends back home? This idea that Oxford as an institution is doing all it can to combat the horrendous lack of diversity amongst is intake is evidently untrue.

I regret sorely not emailing someone at the college about this, but I also remember feeling very much that no one would care. This wasn’t a case of students being discriminatory and requiring discipline; it’s a different issue when you are accusing staff of discriminatory actions.

Anonymous

I’m a third-year British student, originally from South Korea, studying at Balliol. I’ve always been really conscious of greeting the porters every time I pass the lodge to differentiate myself from the tourists, especially those of my ethnicity, who visit our college every day. I absolutely adore one of our porters, who is a favourite amongst all the students here and puts a smile on our faces without fail. Some of the other porters are not so friendly.

Constantly throughout my first two years at Oxford, porters would stop me at the entrance, shouting “Oi! Excuse me!” out their window and asking me “Where are you going?” or “Who are you?”. I would always reply that I live and study in Balliol, the same two porters would fumble for a lousy excuse that they couldn’t see my face. I understand there are tourists who try to barge in, but after seeing me every day, you’d think that they would recognise a familiar face.

Then in third year, on Lunar New Year, I went to grab the music room keys from the porters’ lodge. One of the night porters asked me if I was Chinese, and I explained that I was from South Korea. Then he proceeded to say “Kung hay fat choi,” despite the fact that he knew it was a phrase in mandarin, and I’d already clarified that I’m neither Chinese, nor do I celebrate “Chinese new year”.

I don’t expect our porters to know everything about every culture, but it would be helpful if they could be more sensitive to the fact that we each have different backgrounds and different beliefs, just as not all English people do not celebrate Easter.

Anonymous

One evening last term I invited a few friends from other colleges to visit the Lindsay bar. We are all Asian. I’m not particularly sure about the rules here, but I’ve seen other Balliol students bringing friends from other colleges to Balliol at similar hours. The night porter stopped me and very rudely, without saying anything or asking for any information, pointed me with his judging looks to the ‘no visitors’ board. I appreciate it that he tried to safeguard college, however, first, any reasonable person could tell from the situation that I, as a member of college, was just inviting my friends to my college. I highly doubt that he would do the same with a different group. Even if taking friends to college at 9pm is forbidden by college rules, I felt offended by his rude behaviour. It would have been better if he said or asked anything, instead of just lazily pointing to a board with his looks.

After explaining the situation, my friends entered. Immediately he accused my friends of stepping on the grass in the front quad, while in fact none of them were and none of them would. I found it a weird thing for him to say. He presumed that we would misbehave and step on the grass without taking a good look – if this is the case, I wonder what he thinks of us. After I said they were not on the grass, he didn’t even apologize to me or say anything.

I think I am upset with the fact that he didn’t think my friends and I deserved being treated with politeness. I wouldn’t say I directly felt discrimination from this experience, but definitely micro-aggression. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Again, thank you for collecting our stories!

Balliol’s response:

“Balliol College and all its staff are committed to maintaining a community in which everyone is treated equally and fairly.  Only one of these complaints has ever been brought to our attention, through an anonymous student survey.  We immediately investigated and took action as far as we were able given limited information.  We would always want students to feel they can bring such concerns to our attention and we have a robust student complaint procedure which can be used to deal with them whenever college is informed.” 

 

 

Christ Church College:

Anonymous

Was in Christ Church front garden with a Malaysian friend taking photos. Three Caucasians were there doing the same. A porter angrily asked me and my friend to go back onto the visitors’ path because he thought we were tourists. But the Caucasians nearby didn’t get the same treatment! The porter demanded to see my bod card. I irritatingly showed the porter my staff card. He walked away embarrassingly… So much for equality. Yes I’m asian and teach at Oxford, deal with it.

Elaine Wong

I have been bod carded several times when I go in to visit my friends or go to tutes, even when I’m holding a laptop, wearing college stash or heading in with non-Asian friends.

Donald Brown

Brown wrote about his experiences with porters and college security in Cherwell and Times Higher Education website.

Christ Church’s response:

“At Christ Church, we strive to be an inclusive and diverse society and we take any allegations of unprofessional behaviour in this respect very seriously. We work hard to train staff about unconscious bias, with our procedures strengthened after we received a complaint in Autumn 2014. This training is an important part of our induction process for new staff and of ongoing training for staff in post. We also encourage students, staff and visitors to report any incidents to us, which we will investigate.”

 

Exeter College:

Anonymous 2nd year, Asian descent

There’s this one porter who always stares at me suspiciously when he’s on duty and I walk into college during the day. One particular week, I got carded without fail by this guy for “security reasons” – but the groups of white students walking in front of me never did. Whenever I borrow a key from him, he’s always bossy and demands that it’s returned on time, something I know he doesn’t do with my white friends. Now, whenever I enter college and see him I make an extra show of striding in purposefully, just so I don’t have to deal with his nonsense. It makes me feel like I don’t belong.

Exeter’s response:

“Exeter College is committed to promoting equality. We plan to introduce training on such matters to all non-academic staff in the near future. We have not received a complaint pertaining to this issue. Any student who feels that they have been treated unfairly at Exeter is encouraged to come forward to discuss the issue in confidence.”

 

Magdalen College

Anonymous

Porters are, despite some may have you believe due to the non-academic nature of their work, an important part of Oxford and college life. They are likely to be the first people you encounter as you arrive with your boxes, dreams, and expectations of what life here is going to be like. They are part of the whole Harry-Potter-type fantasy; deliciously charming, old fashioned and ever so helpful. So you want to be on good terms with them. It comes as a slap in the face when it looks like that will not happen.

Plausible deniability is the name of the game. Dog-whistles such as ‘security concerns’ and ‘just checking’, which seem to be disproportionately applied to non-white students compared to the yet overwhelmingly dominant in numbers white ones. The first couple of times I was asked to show my Bod Card (I was going to get some packages at the lodge; I always use my card to get in college), I assumed that it was because they did not know me yet. Rationalise, this is what you do. You do not want to be ‘That Person’ who sees racial bias everywhere, even though you know far a fact that this is your reality. Everyone wants to assume the best and those who do not have your best interests at heart take advantage of that. They also benefit from apathy from others, including the college hierarchy.

Soon enough, it became apparent that being asked for their card had positively never happened to any of my new friends who happened to be white, but was very much familiar to those who were not. I wish I was halfway surprised.

In my college, it is common to meet friends of friends of friends during JCR or MCR Bops or Liquid Lounge. The attendance is such that it is doubtful that all of them were on the sacrosanct List if one had to be provided to the Lodge. I have myself invited people from my course or friends from other colleges to these events, and never had any problem getting any of them in, despite their absence from the List if List there was. Until some of these friends were male and black. One of them was on the list, but I still had to swear that I would take full responsibility for them (to the point of having to sign something off to that effect) and was told that the Deans would be alerted. Meanwhile, my white friend, who was with me at the time, casually strolled out the Lodge.

Nowadays, I limit my interaction with porters to getting packages. I do not use the lodge to walk into college. And when I feel like one of them is on some suspicious stuff, it becomes apparent in my facial expressions and my behaviour that I am not here for this and will not tolerate any of this while keeping nice and smiley. I am not here to entertain misplaced suspicions. I’m here to study, to flourish as an individual and a young adult. Oxford truly is a bubble, but more so for some students than other for sure.

Make no mistake; I am not saying that security concerns do not exist. It just seems apparent that some porters are more eager to vet some students than others. Ever ask yourself why is that?

Magdalen did not respond when asked for comment.

 

Merton College

Valerian Chen

I was walking through the porters’ lodge into college some time last year when it happened. A porter barked aggressively “Can I help you”, to which I responded that I am a student of the college. He then rudely demanded to see my Bod Card – I obliged. After which, I proceeded to leave, and he grew ruder still, demanding that I stop without justification. He was not only grossly impolite, but also overstepped his duties. I reported this to the relevant authorities in Merton, who were most sympathetic. After a meeting with the domestic bursar, I was promised that inquiries would be made “with the intention that this does not continue”. I have not been updated with the steps taken to address this issue, but it is worth noting that I have not been so rudely accosted since.

Merton’s response:

“At Merton our Porters work in a very busy and public facing role.  On a daily basis the Lodge team meet and assist a significant number of Fellows, students, staff and visitors from all over the world.  In doing so the Porters also have a primary responsibility for the security and safety of college members and premises.  We have clear expectations of the professional standards that our Porters (and other staff) work to.  We also welcome any feedback, which is used in our efforts to continuously review, develop and improve the services provided to the college.

“Merton is an inclusive international community in which great importance is placed upon equality and diversity – this is underpinned by college policies and monitored through the termly meetings of the Equality Forum, which reports directly to Governing Body.”

 

New College

Andrea Wong

I’ve been stopped by the college porters and asked for my Bod Card several times since I came to Oxford. Given the large groups of Chinese tourists in Oxford, as well as the racial diversity of the student body in general, I do understand why a porter might look at me and think I’m a tourist. But it’s not like tourists here are only Asian ones, and it gets really frustrating when it happens after three terms and almost daily interactions with the porters. It’s even more humiliating when you’re with a group of friends and you’re the only one who is treated differently because of your appearance. It seemed to send a message, unintentional I’m sure, that I didn’t properly fit in, from the very people who are supposed to be keeping me safe. The question of checking Bod Cards should not be one of race – it should either apply to all students equally, or not at all.

New College did not respond when asked for comment.

 

Oriel College:

Anonymous

One of the Oriel porters, who I knew definitely knew me, because he had spent a good 45 minutes with me a few days earlier doing first aid on an injury I had (can’t disclose the specific injury because it would definitely give me away). Even if he didn’t recognize me very well before, he 100% had to recognize me after watching me bleed out for about 45 minutes. Anyway, a few days after that, me and another friend of mine (both of South Asian descent) were walking through the main gate of oriel and he stopped us and insisted we show Bod Cards to make sure we weren’t “tourists.” The whole time I was thinking, dude like we just had this very extensive interaction a few days ago, how the fuck do you not recognise me. Fairly confident my friend and I would not have been accosted by the porter if we were Caucasian.

Oriel’s response:

“Oriel seeks to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all our students and staff. We have not received a complaint about this issue, but if a student has concerns about an interaction within the College then we would urge them to notify us so we can look into it.”

  

Queen’s College

Anonymous, first-year of Indian descent

I was going to queen’s for singing lesson (my singing lessons are at different colleges every week). I went to the porter to ask him where the room was and explained I had a singing lesson and told him her name as well. But he seemed really suspicious. He asked which college I was from repeatedly and asked to see my Bod Card. This is when he asked where I’m “really” from. I was a bit taken aback but just answered the name of my college again. He continued to scrutinised my bod card for some reason and this uncomfortable exchange ended up making me late for my lesson as well. There were two students behind me (both Caucasian) who I noticed asked for directions and they were sent through without a single question.

Queen’s response:

“The College is committed to inclusivity and condemns discrimination in any form. Our lodge staff are expected to be welcoming and open. Although security checks are necessary, these are not imposed based on race or any other criteria; the porters ask any visitor they do not know for identification. We have a diverse team of porters who are themselves not all British, native English speakers or Caucasian, and we actively seek to recruit a diverse team. We introduce our members of staff to the Equal Opportunities Policy and promote equality of opportunity, including training to avoid discrimination. The College has already planned further training on implicit bias. We have received no report of this incident and encourage any such incidents to be reported to College in future so that they can be properly investigated.”

 

St John’s College:

Anonymous

There is a porter at my college that has, for four years, repeatedly come chasing after me (literally, sometimes) whenever I walk into college. This includes whenever I walk with a certain white friend of mine, who herself finds no problem when she walks in with her white (even non-Oxford) friends! I tell myself this porter just has horrendous facial recognition skills, but it gets harder to believe every time… I thought this was perhaps only this one porter, or just me, but having heard from others online it is becoming clear this is a major problem in Oxford, unfortunately made even more difficult to really talk about due to the divided structure of the colleges.

St John’s response:

“The College is committed to avoiding any form of discrimination and takes equality matters very seriously. Part of that commitment is that all front-line staff are required to undergo equality and cultural/race awareness training.

“No formal complaints about race-related incidents have been received recently and the College does not recognise the accusation you refer to. The College will of course investigate in the event of a complaint being made and has processes in place to do so.”

 

St Peter’s College:

Anonymous

I had a tutorial at St. Peter’s college at 10am on a Thursday. It was not my college and was in a different location from where I usually have my tute, so when my tutorial parter (who is a white female) and I arrived at the lodge, I asked the porter for directions.

“Hi, may I know where staircase X room X is please?”

“Why? What are you there for?”

“I’m here for a tutorial”

“Right…”

The porter gave me a sceptical look which I was completely not expecting (I was not expecting him to even ask what I was there for), and did not proceed to tell me the directions immediately. There was a moment of awkward silence where he seemed to be deciding whether or not I was really an Oxford student, until he saw my tute partner and he showed us the directions without further hesitation.

I felt quite uncomfortable that not only did he ask me why I wanted directions to that room (this never happened with any of my other tutes, and knowing the specific address should generally evidence someone’s invitation/affiliation to members of the college), he also did not seem to believe me when I said I was there for a tutorial.

St Peter’s responses:

“The Porters have attended unconscious bias training . St Peter’s is committed to diversity and wishes all to be treated well.”

and

“We regret if any uncomfortableness was felt. The porters wish to be friendly and welcoming to all who come to the college to study.”

 

Wolfson College:

Anonymous

 I live in a house-style apartment and I have to open two doors to get to my room; both doors require the same key. One time I came home and I was able to open the outer door of my apartment but not my room door. So I called the porter to come take a look. He took a look at the key and kept insisting that there is no way this one key open both doors despite me telling him that I have used it for about a year. He started to get really suspicious and even asked me to show my ID to prove that I am a student at Wolfson before he opened the door to my room for me. This incident is weird because I had said ‘hello’ to this porter several times while roaming about in the college and asked him about my mail as well. So I found it very uncomfortable that he was suspicious of me being a student at college.

Wolfson did not respond when ask for comment.

 

Anonymous Oxfeuds:

#Oxfeud_699I know porters can't help it when they try to stop people like me from entering college or going back to my…

Posted by Oxfeud on Monday, May 8, 2017

#Oxfeud_2287All the 'bodcarding' complaints are valid but you're all forgetting a key demographic!!Imagine being…

Posted by Oxfeud on Monday, June 19, 2017

#Oxfeud_782I'm really frustrated with the porters at my college. I'm an international student of Asian descent, and…

Posted by Oxfeud on Thursday, May 11, 2017

 

Anonymous Oxfesses:

#Oxfess13787I have four tutes a week and they’re always at this other college (my college is small, the one I go to is…

Posted by Oxfess on Thursday, March 8, 2018

#Oxfess2735When I first got here, I thought that Oxford was a largely progressive place and as a student of colour I…

Posted by Oxfess on Saturday, June 17, 2017

If you have been affected by this issue, please email Leanne Yau at [email protected], with the subject line ‘Porters’, and your college.

Plagiarism is a modern malaise that must be avoided

John Mainland
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0
Plagiarism is a modern malaise that must be avoided

Oxford recently released a report which showed that a record number of students have been found guilty of ‘academic misconduct’ over the past year. 53 of these were cases of plagiarism. The figure reflects an increase of 47% from 2016-17, and an almost sevenfold increase since 2008-09. In the wake of these findings, many have questioned whether the results can be put down to the intense academic pressure felt by the students at this institution.

Academic pressure is nothing new at Oxford or at universities generally, so the idea that this explains such a vertiginous increase in plagiarism over the past decade can be pretty easily dismissed. Instead this, like so many modern social ills, is best explained by the Internet.

It is true, the Internet has increased the ability of institutions to detect plagiarism. A simple Google search can reveal copied work and on top of this Oxford has an arsenal of anti-plagiarism software at its disposal, designed to root out more advanced plagiarism techniques.

 

However, the Internet has also made cheating effortless. Not only do we now have a host of academic materials available to copy at our fingertips,but there also are a whole series of websites which are specifically designed to facilitate cheating. These sites allow students to buy ready-written essays and papers. What’s more, the hiring of professionals is now easier and quicker than ever. Students, especially well-funded students, therefore have a temptation to plagiarise that goes beyond simply copying passages from Wikipedia during an essay crisis.

Indeed, it appears that the many of those caught plagiarising are the most financially well-off – the majority of plarigarisers were found to be international postgraduate students at the Saïd Business School. It has been suggested that such students feel compelled to plagiarise due to their high fees and potentially having to deal with greater linguistic challenges in publishing academic work.

 

However, this doesn’t explain why the plagiarism is largely confined to Saïd, nor does it acknowledge the link between the disparity in wealth between international students, who make up a greater proportion of plagiarism cases, and domestic students, many of whom face enormous economic challenges in studying at Oxford.  

It seems to me, instead, the most likely explanation is that these wealthier Said students are also those who are entering highly competitive industries where success is too often prioritised over integrity. They have both the motivation and the means to cheat, and they deserve no sympathy for doing so.

 

Pembroke prevail on penalties to reach Cuppers final

Abby D'Cruz
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0
Pembroke prevail on penalties to reach Cuppers final

Pembroke Women’s Rugby team won a penalty shoot-out in the Cuppers semi-final against Keble to take a place in Saturday’s final against a mixed Brasenose and Wadham team.

The late kick-off started brightly, with Pembroke coming out strong and producing some powerful carries and big hits in the opening phases. Keble managed to weather the storm and soon came back in kind, with the breakdown fiercely contested by both sides throughout. There was nothing between the two teams in the first half, with probing runs being met with staunch defence all over the pitch.

The pace of the game increased in the second half, with attempts to spread the ball wide met with some quick-witted cover defence from both teams. One of the best chances came from a chip and chase from Keble’s fly-half, who collected her kick and drew the fullback before passing to winger Ellie Taylor for what looked like a certain try.

It took some last-ditch heroics from Pembroke captain Alice Mingay, whose desperate tackle right at the try line saw the navy-blue winger bundled into touch, to keep the scores level. The Pembroke forwards then turned up the heat, best exemplified by a storming run from prop Immie Hobby down the middle of the pitch, only to be met by an exceptional tackle at the last line of defence from Keble full-back Charlotte Rougier.

Keble received the kick-off again and worked it to their favour as they forced Pembroke to defend their try line through repeated phases. Despite a battering from Keble’s forwards, the pink defence continued to hold strong until the breakthrough came late in the first half of extra time. Shekinah Opara found an exquisite line for Keble and crashed through the Pembroke wall for the first try of the match.

Not to be deterred, the women in pink came out swinging for the last five minutes of extra time. Some incisive running from Pembroke backs Bethan McGregor and Jess Forsyth pushed play all the way back to Keble’s try line. With less than a minute to go, it was again a forward who found the glory, with a strong team build up for Pembroke finished off by prop Hobby for the equalising try.

The game went to penalty kicks, with five kickers from each teams stepping up in the most nerve-wracking of circumstances. The end result ultimately didn’t reflect the closeness of the game, with Pembroke taking the honours 4-1.

Pembroke’s Helen Cossar and Sydney Gagliano were both exceptional, and put in their best performances in the pink jersey to date, while Claire Castle, Nina Jenkins and Maddie Hindson were the standouts in navy-blue.

In the men’s tournament, St Edmund Hall beat Jesus to set up a final with St Peter’s, who came out on top against Hertford.

Merton defeated in University Challenge final

Matthew Roller
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2
Merton defeated in University Challenge final

Merton College were beaten in the final of University Challenge this evening, as they lost 145-100 to St John’s College, Cambridge.

After racing into an early fifty-point lead, Merton fell away as the show went on, as first-year St John’s student Rosie McKeown impressed with a series of correct answers.

The result means that the competition has now been won by a Cambridge college for four out of the past five series.

Merton had impressed throughout the series, and racked up the most points out of any team in both the first round and the quarter-finals.

They overcame Newcastle University in last week’s semi-final with relative ease, but an impressive St John’s side lived up to their billing as favourites on the night.

Tonight’s final was also the fifth in a row to be contested between an Oxford college and a Cambridge college.

Despite the college’s reputation for academic excellence, and the fact that they have regularly topped the Norrington Table in recent years, Merton have only won the competition once before.

That year’s team beat a Queen’s College, Cambridge side that included Stephen Fry in the final.

A member of the 1980 team, Steven Gunn, now works as a History professor at the college, and has taught two members of this year’s runners-up: Edward Thomas and Alex Peplow.

While the Oxbridge stranglehold on the competition has continued in this series, this was the final first since 2010 to feature a female-identifying student on both teams.

In the past few years, the show has come under the spotlight due to the lack of contestant who identify as female featuring in the latter stages of the competition.

Last year, St Hugh’s College was criticised for fielding an all-male team. Critics asked why a formerly-all-female college had chosen a team featuring four men.

In November, Wadham decided to enforce a gender quota for its entry into this year’s competition.

Last year’s series was won by Balliol College, who made headlines after refusing an interview with the Daily Mail, which they labelled a “fascist rag”.

Oxford student places 10th in London Marathon

Alice Bruce
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0
Oxford student places 10th in London Marathon

Oxford PhD student Eoghan Totten finished tenth in the 2018 London Marathon on Sunday, running the non-elite race in a time of two hours and 26 minutes.

One of over 40,000 runners completing the field, Totten will be the first Oxford athlete to earn a full blue in marathon. He completed the race, which was also his marathon debut, within the full blue standard time of two hours 30 minutes.

Earlier this year, Totten represented Northern Ireland in the Antrim International Cross Country.

Speaking about his debut, Totten told Cherwell: “I learned that you must respect the distance and that factors at variance with other, shorter distances, come into play over 26.2.

“For example, I was not aerobically taxed today but troubled by cramps from fluid intake, which impeded my running. I will learn from the experience and move forward.”

The marathon varsity match was won by the Oxford men’s team, however the Cambridge Hare and Hounds won the women’s match, bringing OUCCC’s varsity record this year to seven wins out of nine matches.

Katie Truslove, a junior dean at St Hilda’s College, led the Oxford women’s team, finishing in just under three and a half hours.

Rahil Sachak-Patwa was the second Oxford finisher with a time of two hours and 41 minutes, which falls within the half-blue standard and beats his personal best by one second. This is an improvement on last year, when Rahil collapsed during the closing stages of the marathon.

Eliud Kipchoge, who visited the Oxford Union for a talk about his marathon successes in Michaelmas, won the men’s marathon with a healthy lead, in a time of two hours and four minutes. 

Vivian Cheruiyot, the 2016 Olympic 5000m champion, won her first London Marathon in the women’s race.

The marathon was the hottest on record, reaching a top of 24˚C.

In related news, Alexander Betts, a professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs and fellow at Green Templeton College, completed the 2018 Boston Marathon earlier this month.

In doing so, Betts set the world record for running the six Abbott World Marathon Majors in the fastest combined time, averaging at two hours 41 minutes.

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