Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Freshers’ bus stalls after media hype

Oxford students were portrayed as molly-coddled and spoon-fed by the national press last week in the wake of foiled plans by the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) to ferry freshers a mere 500 metres by bus “in case they got lost.” The plan was intended to make the “trip to OUSU offices part of the freshers’ fair experience,” as well as to alert freshers to the new location of the offices in Bonn Square. But the project had to be cancelled just a day before the event after it emerged that Stagecoach Oxford had overlooked Oxford City Council’s stringent environmental regulations and “forgot” to ask the Council’s permission to drive through the city centre. The debacle provoked ridicule in the national press, with both The Daily Telegraph and the Oxford Mail stressing OUSU’s lack of confidence in their students. Student Union representatives have emphatically denied that they underestimated freshers’ intelligence and have accused The Daily Telegraph of misquoting OUSU President Helena Puig Larrauri’s fears that freshers would be unable to find their way. Nicola Johns, a fresher at Keble College, declared herself “insulted” by the plans, saying, “I’m sure that if they provided freshers with a map we could find our way around.” Fellow fresher Natalie Cobden said, “Everyone here should be intelligent enough to find their own way.” The project’s failure has left many freshers without the annual Oxford Handbook, which OUSU had planned to distribute as part of the bus scheme. When asked why no contingency plans had been made to replace the buses, OUSU said that it had considered a walking tour but had rejected the idea as “too labour intensive.” Although OUSU guides were stationed along the High Street, it is feared that the collapse of the scheme has compromised freshers’ overall awareness of OUSU’s location and function. No new plans have been made to distribute the handbooks and freshers are being asked to find the organisation’s new offices to collect it for themselves. David Whitley, Stagecoach manager, has accepted responsibility for the mistake, saying that the company should have been “more sensible.” However, he went on to say that the issue was “not a matter of blame” and implied that media hype had been the real reason behind the Council’s ban. The situation has also provoked an attack on OUSU’s environmental policies. Paul Sargent, City Councillor for Carfax, emphasised the high rate of pollution in the city and said that “OUSU needed to think more carefully” about their potential solutions. Due to Oxford’s complex one-way systems, the proposed bus route would have been over three times the length of the pedestrian route, raising fears over congestion. “We try to preserve the city centre by licensing only local buses to drive through the city centre,” he said. “This scheme does not comply with our regulations.” The oversight has attracted criticism from within OUSU’s own ranks. James Blackburn, Co-chair of the Environmental Committee, said that they had not been consulted about the issue and called the scheme a “bizarre use of resources.” “This is definitely not in the best interests of the environment,” he told Cherwell. “OUSU will have to plan more carefully next year.”ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles