Monday 9th June 2025
Blog Page 817

Don accused of rape to continue teaching

Emily Lawford
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Don accused of rape to continue teaching

Students at the Oxford Middle East Centre have reacted in anger to the University’s response to the mounting accusations of rape against Islamic professor Tariq Ramadan,
accusing senior figures of acting “as if nothing had happened”.

Ramadan is currently being investigated by French authorities over two allegations of rape, sexual assault, violence and harassment. Ramadan has described the allegations as a “campaign of lies” and said he is suing the alleged victims for “slander”.

Since the first allegation of rape surfaced two weeks ago, the professor has reportedly taught a seminar in Oxford and been seen “laughing” with faculty members.

In response to requests from students, senior figures in the faculty held a meeting on Tuesday “to address implications for student welfare arising from the allegations”.
The faculty told students they intend Ramadan to continue to both tutor and supervise on his return to Oxford from Qatar – although students may ask for another faculty member to be in the room if they wish.

At the meeting, held at St Antony’s College, several students expressed anger at the “lack of communication” from the University, claiming they had heard of the allegations by “word of mouth” without any acknowledgement from the department.

Director of the Middle East Centre Eugene Rogan repeatedly apologised to students for taking ten days to respond to the allegations, blaming the delay on the fact that the controversy was happening in another country with a different legal system.

Rogan reminded students: “It’s not just about sexual violence. For some students it’s just another way for Europeans to gang up against a prominent Muslim intellectual. We must protect Muslim students who believe and trust in him, and protect that trust.”

Many staff members encouraged those present not to speak to the media about the furore. Professor Rogan told students: “We can’t tell you what you should say. But I encourage everyone to use their moral judgement about how they voice their concerns – not to victimise the women who’ve made the allegations or the men who’ve been accused of
things they’ve not yet had the chance to defend themselves against.”

One postgrad said: “There should have been a more open and frank discussion with female students about how to make them feel safer,” she said. “Women won’t come forward here and say how they feel.”

A number of students expressed concern about Ramadan continuing to teach and be present in the faculty. One claimed that immediately following the first allegation, Ramadan was seen “walking and laughing in the hall as if nothing had happened.”

Head of humanities Karen O’Brien told students that Ramadan is still a supervisor, but his doctoral supervisees could have individual discussions about how they would like their supervisions to proceed.

She stressed that their priority was that the students’ education could continue uninterrupted, adding:“The situation will be kept under review. We can’t prejudge outcomes.”

A Middle East student told Cherwell: “Frankly, I’m shocked by how badly the University has dealt with this incident. While Professor Ramadan must be assumed innocent until proven guilty, this does not excuse the absolute lack of communication between the Middle East Centre and affected students.

“This story broke two weeks ago. At very least, we should have received an email [from the faculty].

“Also disappointing is how Professor Ramadan was allowed to teach MPhil students as usual last week, despite these serious allegations having been made.”

In a statement to Cherwell, Eugene Rogan said: “Tuesday’s meeting was focused on addressing student welfare issues emerging from the allegations against professor
Ramadan, to ensure the Faculty responded to student concerns as we move forward.”

He added: “The Faculty has been in contact with all of Professor Ramadan’s supervisees to arrange meetings to discuss their concerns and wishes.

“The University acts to ensure that its welfare services and support systems are readily accessible; its harassment and sexual assault reporting systems are confidential, totally supportive and clearly understood. We have arrangements in place for confidential discussion of individual anxieties and for any questions related to immediate personal safety, and graduate student supervisory arrangements will always be responsive to the concerns of the student.”

Police break up Oxford SU pro-choice protest

Felix Pope
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Police break up Oxford SU pro-choice protest

Oxford SU has been accused of attacking students’ freedom of speech after demonstrators disrupted a talk held by controversial group Oxford Students For Life (OSFL) at St John’s
on Wednesday.

Police were called to escort pro-choice campaigners from the college after they prevented the start of the OSFL talk for almost an hour through chants and heckling. This followed earlier failed attempts by private security and college porters to move the event into another room.

The move has sparked accusations from demonstrators led by Oxford SU’s WomCam that St John’s actions were “a clear attempt to intimidate protesters” who had entered the
event “peacefully”.

In a statement they insisted they were “not protesting OSFL or their speakers’ right to free speech” but were instead “demonstrating that the speakers’ views deny millions of people bodily autonomy, that subject them to forced pregnancy, resulting in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, and sometimes death”.

OSFL members rejected this account however, describing the protest as “a deliberate attempt to shut down discussion and dialogue through harassment and bullying”. Allegedly, pro-choice campaigners chanted from a prepared ‘chant sheet’ that included the lines “pro-
life, that’s a lie, you don’t care if women die”.

The heckling started almost immediately after the first speaker, Irish Times correspondent Breda O’Brien, began to talk. Around 15 students stood and began to chant continuously until O’Brien was forced to stop.

OSFL co-president Anna Branford said: “One minute into her presentation, a group of approximately fifteen protesters from the Oxford SU’s WomCam stood up and chanted
slogans to shout down Breda and prevent her from being heard.

“It was impossible for the committee or security to engage in any meaningful manner with the protestors. This continued for approximately 40 minutes: protesters shouted, jeered, stood in front of the projector and chanted.”

Matthew Kirtley, a student who attended the talk, told Cherwell: “The protesters banged on windows, placed themselves in front of the projector, and impeded access by guests to enter and leave the event by both taking up space and by obstructing the entrances and exits.

“They also strongly intimidated many people, who chose to leave rather than be subjected to some very mean-spirited chants.

Any attempt to claim or imply that this protest was peaceful is false. It was predicated upon intimidation and obstruction.”

In a statement provided to Cherwell, WomCam clarifed their position. They said: “Bodily autonomy is not up for debate; it is not a question of opinion. Access to healthcare is a basic human right.

“We will continue fighting until all people have access to free, safe and legal abortion in Ireland, and everywhere.”

In a statement published in response to the comments made by Oxford SU, OSFL said: “With their latest statement, WomCam have decided to double down on their attack on free speech, while claiming that they are doing no such thing.”

They added that they had “received legal advice that WomCam were breaking the law precisely because they were denying our freedom of speech.”

The furore comes as Ireland looks ahead to a national referendum on the legalisation of abortion that is set to take place next year.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the poll in September, stating that Irish citizens would
be given the chance to vote on the abolition of the eighth amendment to the constitution, which gives a fetus and its mother an equal right to life.

Thousands of Irish women every year travel to the United Kingdom in order to escape some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. In 2016 the UN ruled that Irish abortion law subjugated women to “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment”.

Revd. Professor William Whythe insisted that St John’s was “committed to protecting the freedom of speech at meetings within the College and the freedom to make
peaceful protest”.

He added: “neither speakers nor listeners should have any reasonable grounds to feel intimidated or censored”.

In a statement Thames Valley Police told Cherwell: “Thames Valley Police was called at 8.22pm last night… about a protest at St John’s College, St Giles, Oxford.

“Further investigation found that the protest was planned and arranged with the university. At 9.03pm all protesters had left the area.”

‘Death and the Maiden’ – ‘Intimately, excruciatingly personal’

Izzy Smith
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0
‘Death and the Maiden’ – ‘Intimately, excruciatingly personal’

Not all plays come across well on the page, but from the first time I read it I have found Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden electrifying. Dorfman’s play asks the difficult questions about what happens, what should happen, and what could happen otherwise, in the wake of revolution. With its cast of three and single location until the final scene, it renders these broad questions stifingly, claustrophobically personal, and I would love one day to feel the full effects of this in a staged performance.

Dorfman shows us the slower, limited, bureaucratic side of revolution, the story grounded inescapably in time and place. The play is set in an unnamed South American country, closely based on Chile, in the wake of a revolution that has replaced a totalitarian regime with a fledgling democracy.

The characters each speak to more than a single person’s experience: from Paulina, who saved lives during the regime by smuggling people out of the country, and was caught, tortured and raped; to her husband Gerardo, who did the same but wasn’t caught, and now works for the new government; to Roberto, a newcomer whom Paulina identifies as her torturer. These characters form a powerful kind of synecdoche throughout the play for the conflicts and uncomfortable coexistences that are being played out throughout the nation. This is not to say that they are allegories, and indeed it is their specific, personal experiences that are foregrounded: they are representatives of wider groups, not representations of something other than themselves.

We see in rawly individual ways how the rhetoric of compromise – arguably crucial in saving the young democracy from the lurking threat of the disempowered old order – becomes oppressive. As Paulina declares, acknowledging the shared nature of her experience with a plural pronoun, ‘We’re going to suffocate from so much equanimity.’

Gerardo, heading a commission to investigate the crimes of the old regime, explains that ‘the commission is not supposed to identify the authors of crimes.’ Running scared, he places the healing of the nation as an abstract whole and political entity before that of individual victims (including his wife) without a second thought, accepting on their behalf that they will never receive justice. We see this dynamic patterned throughout, as he continually makes decisions that affect Paulina without consulting her, such as taking on the commission, and inviting Roberto to stay the night at their house, insisting, ‘Paulina will be delighted.’ He tells her, ‘You’re still a prisoner, you stayed there behind with them, locked in that basement,’ using her trauma as evidence of her irrationality, and therefore his mandate, as the ‘rational’ one, to make decisions for the both of them. He treats her trauma as a sign of the need for her to ‘move on’ (by accepting that she will never receive justice), rather than as a real problem that this new society should be addressing.

The way in which Dorfman builds this dynamic, and then introduces Roberto as a catalyst for the explosion of tensions between the couple, must be incredible to watch played out on stage. The cracks in Gerardo’s self-image as the embodiment of moderation and fairness begin to show, as Paulina points out the inherent injustice of his tiptoeing adherence to due process: ‘And why does it always have to be people like me who have to sacrifice, why are we always the ones to make concessions?’

This, truly, is the problem that drives the play. In its desire for self preservation, the new government fails to use its institutions to protect and support its citizens. In Death and the Maiden we watch the pursuit of vengeance, but only because the pursuit of justice is rendered impossible. Through its confinement to the intimately, excruciatingly personal, Death and the Maiden plays out with chilling clarity the implications of the political, particularly in terms of what comes next after revolution.

Three Alternatives to Popcorn

Malak Khalil
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Three Alternatives to Popcorn

ChocoLOTS

The varieties are endless: the most appropriate of consumables if classics like Chocolat or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are on your viewing agenda. Smaller nibbles and sharing bags are often the way to go: Maltesers, Minstrels, and M&Ms tend to be the most popular options. Life can often seem like a box of chocolates: particularly if you choose Revels, as you really never know what you’re gonna get.

Grapes

In defence of this fruity option, grapes provide a source of both nutrition and the optimal sweet and crunchy balance! Clean up your diet after a classic post-club Hassan’s; a movie marathon with a punnet of seedless in hand is sure to be the perfect hangover cure. Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath pairs pretty aptly with this munchable, although a slightly more light-hearted and fool-proof option might be The Breakfast Club.

Chips and Dip

A combo as iconic as Netflix and chill, the beauty in this snacking option is its versatility. Opt for the humble tortilla chip with an accompaniment of salsa, or if you’re feeling decadent, splurge on a packet of Popchips, but don’t forget to grab some guac and hummus to pair. If you’re in the mood for something sweeter maybe give Oreos and peanut butter a go, it’s perfect when watching The Parent Trap. Lindsey Lohan would be proud.

In search of originality? Retreat into cinema’s monochrome past

Malin Hay
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In search of originality? Retreat into cinema’s monochrome past

It is a truth universally acknowledged that commercial filmmaking has recently entered a new phase of life. Countless articles and blogs bemoan the lack of ‘original’ content coming out of the Hollywood machine. It can be frustrating to feel that there are nothing but high-octane action movies and live-action Disney remakes in the cinema. I find that the lack of interesting films on release increasingly makes me want to look back, to examine what earlier filmmakers did.

The limitations of black-and white photography lend themselves to experimentation in lighting, angles and makeup. The concerns of films from the silver era, while sometimes unsubtle by today’s standards, are surprisingly diverse. And of course, having railed against the remake-heavy culture of Hollywood today, I am going to write about a remake: George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944). Boy meets girl. Boy and girl marry. Boy convinces girl that she’s going insane for shady ulterior motives.

In Gaslight Ingrid Bergman’s Paula loses her autonomy, her dignity, and finally her sense of self, as her whirlwind courtship with Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) takes a horrifying turn for the nightmarish. The original play gave rise to the term ‘gaslighting’, which is still used today. And the emotional and physical terrors that Gaslight documents are terrifyingly familiar. Gaslight is painfully tense. Paula’s sudden movements from frenetic delight to sobbing despair are intensely unsettling. Anton’s powers of suggestion are supreme: he dangles possibilities in front of his wife’s eyes, never quite articulating his suggestions. He whips her into a frenzy of uncertainty that nearly succeeds in breaking her grip on reality.

Part of why Gaslight is so disturbing is that it inverts Hollywood tropes that we all buy into on some level. Anton and Paula’s whirlwind courtship could, in another film, be deeply romantic. We don’t object to the idea of love at first sight, even though it exists only in fiction. Only recently has Disney begun to question its validity: “You can’t marry a man you just met,” says Frozen’s Anna to her sister. Gaslight portrayed the danger of doing just that, 70 years earlier; Paula’s recklessly blind belief in her husband is built on a foundation of ‘trust’, a touchstone of the modern romantic-comedy.

Nonetheless, there is hope to be found. George Cukor, known as a ‘woman’s director’, approaches the story from Paula’s perspective. We rarely see her husband alone, and his designs are obscure until the end. The plot threatens to make Paula simply a passive recipient of abuse, yet in the film’s climactic scene it is she who holds the power to save or damn her husband. Of course Gaslight is in parts corny. The fights are old-fashioned and some of the drama is heavy-handed. Yet overall it is strikingly chilling. Joseph Ruttenberg’s cinematography, which constantly returns to that image of the hanging lamp slowly dimming, is full of dread. It is an exaggerated version of life, a gothic exploration of the way we trust those we love, and what happens when that trust is abused.

Confessions of a Drama Queen: A Change of Career

Katie Sayer
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Confessions of a Drama Queen: A Change of Career

Well, on the one hand my review didn’t exactly go down brilliantly.

But on the other hand, this has been a very controversial week for student journalism all round, so hopefully nobody noticed.

It didn’t start well. First of all, I couldn’t find the theatre – I mean, why call it the Keble O’Reilly if the entrance isn’t actually at the Keble lodge? – and then, when I did find it, half-way through, I seemed to be watching completely the wrong play.

I had been expecting to review Aeschylus’s Oristeia (directed by the bitch from last week) so imagine my surprise to find it was the Oralstya instead, an erotic ballet about the relationship between Clytenmnestra and Orestes, with incest personified by an interpretive dance to ABBA’s ‘Does Your Mother Know?’

I couldn’t use any of the pre-made insults I’d come up with, (‘the only way to describe it was “tragic“‘, ‘Clytemnestra was more wooden than the Trojan horse’, ‘save your money and don’t make an Aeschy-loss’). So I had to come up with a completely new review in less than ten minutes, as I had forgotten my deadline, and spent most of the evening watching Gossip Girl. Consequently, I did what any self-respecting reviewer would do and copied and pasted a template off the internet and changed the adjectives.

I have to say, I thought the stage editor was quite unreasonable. Even though I’d only used it five times in a 300-word review, I was told off for over-using ‘heinous’ as my adjective of choice, and apparently the title I had suggested (‘Orestes’ Heinous Anus’) wasn’t witty, and just read like shit journalism and fake news. As a result, it has been suggested that perhaps I should write for Cherwell instead.

I have decided to give stage reviewing one last try, and then perhaps try out pole dancing.

Balls are the clearest indication of Oxford’s elitism problem

Catherine Cibulskis
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Balls are the clearest indication of Oxford’s elitism problem

After purchasing a ticket to the upcoming Rag Ball, some of us will find our pockets lighter by £85. With carousels, fire breathers and psychedelic light shows, at Oxford we spare no expense when it comes to having a good time. In an evening of decadent excess, students can socialise and celebrate in beautiful surroundings. But who exactly enjoys these college events?

Many feel that these charity balls, along with college and society balls, are an integral, fascinating element of the Oxford experience. Though the night may promise free food and drink, which many will binge on to redeem their losses, the golden ticket is still a tall order for those living on a tight budget. And this begs the question of whether Oxford caters to all students, regardless of background.

Most college balls cost between £100-£150, which for many students constitutes a substantial part of their budget. As Oxford bars students from work during term time, students must rely on their maintenance loan to fund their Cinderella-esque journey. Whilst most universities do host balls, Oxford’s extravaganzas carry their own culture. And to some, it’s a culture of exclusion.

Former Education Minister David Lammy has recently accused the University of overarching and acute lack of diversity. The University has also recently been identified as being dominated by students from more affluent parts of the country, such as the South-East, with only 15% of students coming from Northern regions, 11% from the Midlands and 3% from Wales. Statistics like this bring the arguably elitist aspects of the Oxford experience into question.

Arguably, the attendance at commemoration balls is indicative of a wider problem within the University, that of access. While events like these are an important feature to retain, it is difficult to navigate doing so without excluding certain members of the student body.

However, by diminishing the cost, the experience itself may be diminished. Do the most lavish and memorable nights come hand in hand with the expense? Subsidising tickets for those who struggle to pay is also fraught with difficulties reminiscent of the stigma attached to free school dinners.

Making steps to ensure that Oxford’s college balls are available to everyone, regardless of their wealth or background is an important step in Oxford’s progression towards a modern, diverse and equal environment, whilst preserving the charac- teristics that give the University its own distinct, traditional atmosphere. Despite the criticism that these occa- sions attract, they are still a treasured milestone for many.

The more salient fact is that Oxford as a whole has to consider how wealth and class affect the overall experience of students as individuals, whether this limits their prospects when it comes to application, acceptance and life within college itself.

The new Westgate Centre is a failure for social housing

Simon Neumaier
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The new Westgate Centre is a failure for social housing

When the plans for the redevelopment of the Westgate shopping centre were discussed in 2008, they were met by multiple heated town hall debates attended by large crowds of residents, concerned by a multitude of worsening issues in the city.

Those who opposed the plan discussed alternative uses of the additional space, the most pressing of which was affordable housing.

Fast forward nine years, and the problems facing the city and its housing market are even more severe. Rents have increased continuously, and the number of rough sleepers in the city has more than tripled.

In hindsight, it seems that the space which is now dedicated to a high-end shopping centre should instead have been used to mark a much-needed step in the right political direction. The uncomfortable truth is that affordable accomodation, or even council housing, may have eased the pressure on local tenants, but it certainly wouldn’t have boosted Oxford’s commercial or aesthetic image in the way that an enlarged Westgate shopping centre does.

It’s true that the developers did include new flats in the redevelopment plans – 59 flats were built as part of the new site.

The only problem with this newly created space is that a one or two-bedroom flat would set you back between £350-£500k, extortionate figures which even break council provisions mandating that a balance be struck between affordable housing and expensive construction projects.

According to the Oxford Mail, the new high-end flats featuring private balconies and rooftop gardens have their most promising clientele in the parents of university students, those looking to house their children and provide themselves with a long-term real estate investment.

The terrible cynicism of this is that this space could have been used to remedy the effects of student housing and its ever-growing demand for facilities on local residents.

Instead, it is now being used to further a culture of monetised student living, meanwhile ignoring the needs of ordinary citizens.

Housing conflicts on Iffley Road were a painful reminder of the role that the University and colleges play in Oxford’s housing crisis, occupying an increasingly large portion of the scarce space near the city centre. The acquisition of new spaces exclusively dedicated to students are putting an additional strain on the rent market in the city.

While more students live as close to the city centre as possible, more permanent residents get pushed to the outskirts, feeling increasingly overlooked. Oxford is known as a student city, but moves such as Westgate further the narrative that permanent residents are not a priority.

Heralding the Westgate as a miracle for jobs and opportunities is misplaced. Among other reasons, it ignores its social consequences and overlooks the fact that the ones hit the hardest by a lack of affordable space in Oxford are not those who will be able to indulge themselves in this new consumerist utopia.

Only a minority of students will be able to afford these kinds of flats, but all share a responsibility for colleges’ housing policies and our impact on the local community as a group of temporary residents and consumers.

The new Westgate centre projects a problematic message: profits can be made from the city’s students, and they are willing to ignore local communities in order to continue a pattern of frivolous consumption and luxury living.

If we do not acknowledge our responsibility for our local environment, if we don’t challenge both our institutions and ourselves in how we use the limited space this city can provide, we are complicit in the social cleansing of Oxford, driving many further towards the outskirts.

Oxford’s new social and commercial hub comes at a cost. We should all acknowledge that a large part of the local community is paying a price for our casual spending.

New access scheme founded for BME applicants

Eve Webster
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1
New access scheme founded for BME applicants

A Pembroke student has founded a new initiative to widen access to Afro-Caribbean students.

Hope Oloye, a third year Biomedic at Pembroke, said “Oxford needs to take an active approach” in tackling racial inequality at university level. She is one of many students taking active steps to do so.

Oloye has created a mentorship programme and prize scheme – the Afro-Caribbean Tyler Prize – to improve access for black students. The programme involves an essay competition in which each entrant is given one-to-one support from a current or former Afro-Caribbean Oxford student. This aims to assist the improvement of academic writing and essay skills in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

Oloye began working on the new scheme before Lammy accused Oxford of “social apartheid” last week, but emphasised that his comments have helped to highlight the need for change. The data may have been shocking to many, but according to Oloye: “The data’s hardly surprising, you only have to look around Oxford to realise it has a diversity problem.”

Oloye’s decision to found this programme came when she “realised nothing was being done by my college to combat their incredible whiteness”. She emphasised that one third of black offer-holders do not take their place, in contrast to an average of 13% for all other ethnic groups.

Oloye went on to say: “I think we have to be careful not to further propagate the idea that Oxford isn’t a place for black students, because lot of the current discourse has the potential to deter prospective Afro-Caribbean applicants.

“I know so many capable students that didn’t even consider Oxford because they felt like it was an institution solely for white students, which breaks my heart.

“The reality is that not only are they missing out on one-on-one time with leading academics, the university is missing out.”

Speaking about her initiative, Oloye said: “The ultimate success of this scheme will be measured in the evolutionary changes in Oxford’s demographic intake.

“Through the development of academic skills, the creation of culturally relevant contacts at Oxford and the demystification of the University, we hope to increase the submission of strong, confident applications made by Afro-Caribbean students.”

The scheme operates at a specific school in East London but is open to any Afro-Caribbean students across the capital. It concludes with a celebration day held at Pembroke, when those taking part will be able to tour Pembroke and other colleges.

The day will also include a Q&A with a panel of Afro-Caribbean students. The impetus behind the prize giving is to give pupils the chance “to become more familiar with Oxford and, perhaps more importantly, feel that Oxford is in fact a place for them”.

After this year’s success, Oloye wishes to expand the project to inspire younger children across the country in order to “better combat the complex set of societal issues that affect young, black pupils across the UK”.

The programme is aiming to “demystify” the University and to address preconceptions which Oloye believes “can often prevent Afro-Caribbean students from accepting a hard-earned offer”.

Oloye further criticised the University for inequalities amongst their academic staff, saying: “Only 6% of Oxford’s teaching staff are BAME and even fewer are black. How can Oxford claim to be a world leading academic institution, when their research is conducted by the same voices?”

Speaking more about the need for the programme, Oloye said: “As much students hate to admit it, Oxford is a place that opens doors. “Leading law makers, politicians, journalists and academics, have studied here and to break down the deeply entrenched systemic inequalities that Black people face in this country, we need to be in these positions. Only then will we truly see the change we need.”

University hits back at claims of regional access disparities

Jeremiah O'Mahony
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University hits back at claims of regional access disparities

Statistics obtained by MP David Lammy last week show that four out of five students at Oxford and Cambridge are from the top two most privileged economic groups.

The data also shows that Oxford made only 193 more offers to applicants from the whole of Northern England than it did to applicants from the five home-counties, while Cambridge made 334 fewer offers to the whole of the north of England than it did to four of the homecounties.

Lammy said: “Whilst some individual colleges and tutors are taking steps to improve access… in reality many Oxbridge colleges are still fiefdoms of entrenched privilege.”

While nationally about 31% of people are in the top two social income groups, applicants from these two social classes received 81% of offers in 2015.

The figures also reveal the enduring prominance of regional divides, with applicants from London and south-east England receiving 48% of all Oxbridge offers. By contrast, the Midlands received 11% of Oxford offers and 12% of Cambridge offers, while the North West, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber between them received 15% of Oxford offers and 17% of Cambridge offers.

A University spokesperson told Cherwell: “David Lammy asked for and focused on very small figures from a subset of the students who apply to Oxford (British students taking A levels), when the data we publish online (and we do publish more than any other university) looks at all applicants and can be broken down in many different ways – but always comparing like with like wherever possible.

“Similarly, Lammy has chosen a socioeconomic indicator (NS-SEC class) that most universities (and indeed HESA, the Higher Education Statistical Authority) no longer recognise as being very useful, because it classifies disadvantage by parental job occupation rather than looking at the indicators that most universities track, such as socioeconomically deprived postcodes or areas with very low participation in higher education.”

They also told Cherwell that, while it is “very easy to focus solely on the raw numbers – ie. the total number of students from any given group who end up here… one of the most important things to look at in admissions is the fairness of success rates, not just the raw numbers..

“In our case, figures for the latest admissions round show that students whom we flag in the admissions process as being particularly disadvantaged (because they attended an underperforming school or live in an area of high social deprivation) actually have better success rates when they apply than their more advantaged peer applicants.”

According to a new analysis by Ucas “Oxford and Cambridge are two institutions that do not appear to show systematic or consistent bias against black or less privileged applicants”.

Figures also showed that Wales had fewer than 100 offers from Oxford last year.

Gareth Molyneux, a second-year Wadham student from Wales, told Cherwell: “In general my view was many people in Wales have faced a lot of abuse and jokes from many English people in general, they found that enough of a deterrent to not apply to many English institutions, let alone one as old fashioned as Oxford.”

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