Alison Smith, a Politics tutor at Lady Margaret Hall, is among one of a number of women who have spoken out against Lord Christopher Rennard in the latest sexual scandal to shake the country. Lord Rennard, former Liberal Democrat chief executive and currently a peer in the House of Lords, has been accused by various women of sexual harassment in a programme broadcast by Channel 4 news last week. 

Smith alleged in the programme that Lord Rennard had inappropriately touched her and a friend at a party six years ago at the peer’s home. She claims to have reported the incident to senior members of the party came to no avail. In particular, Rennard has been accused of taking advantage of his position of power in order to approach young women at training events for female political candidates. 

Citing one of her reasons for making her allegations public, Smith told Cherwell, “We had to think of the safety of future generations of women entering politics. I felt this very keenly as a politics lecturer, because some of the talented young women that I teach will hopefully stand for public office in the future, and they could find themselves at such events within a few years”.

The allegations, made by several women, refer to events which took place between five and ten years ago. They were reportedly brought up with senior Party leaders, including Paul Burstow, the Lib Dem Chief Whip, and the equalities spokesman Jo Swinson, now Minister for Women and Equalities. One woman claimed that when she informed senior party members about Lord Rennard’s advances on her, “they openly laughed and thought it was hilarious.”

The Liberal Democrat Party has launched two investigations into the allegations of sexual harassment, and how the party has dealt with these allegations in the past. In an interview with the BBC, Vince Cable insisted that these investigations will have an “independent element”, and denied that he or Nick Clegg had any knowledge of the allegations before they were made public. 

Speaking to Cherwell, Smith insisted, “We need to change the culture where people are prepared to turn a blind eye to such damaging behaviour. The ‘Rennard Issue’ is the main reason why the Liberal Democrats have one of the lowest percentages of female MPs of any mainstream political party in any Western democracy.  Hopefully that culture will now change.”

In a statement released on Sunday, the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg maintained that “the allegations made on Channel 4 concerning Lord Rennard last Thursday were extremely serious and distressing to the women involved. It is critical they are investigated thoroughly and dealt with properly and they will be. In the meantime, I will not stand by and allow my party to be subject to a show trial of innuendo, half-truths and slurs. The important thing is that we respect the women who have come forward and do everything to get to the truth.”

Lord Rennard has announced that he will step down from his position in the Liberal Democrat group in the House of Lords, and has resigned from the Federal Policy Committee, the body in charge of writing party manifestos. Lord Rennard’s lawyers dismissed the allegations as a “total distortion of his character”, adding, “Not a single complaint of misconduct was made against him to his knowledge during the 27 years he worked for the Liberal Democrat party. Despite the claim made by one woman in the report, Lord Rennard continued working closely with her for 10 years after the alleged event described.”

Georgia Luscombe, Female Welfare Officer at Lady Margaret Hall, told Cherwell, “Allegations of sexual harassment against women in Parliament, particularly those in a subordinate role to their male counterparts and thus more vulnerable to exploitation, should be taken extremely seriously. Failure to do so would be damaging both to political parties’ reputation but also to women’s political aspirations.”

Magdalen student Elizabeth Brierley said, “In their own Constitution, the Liberal Democrats reject discrimination of any sort and ‘oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality’, but this most recent scandal has shown that even the Liberal Democratic party tolerates misogyny. By covering up the situation and not dealing with the claims of abuse as they were made, the Lib Dem party has reinforced the prevalent male view that sexual abuse, and allegations thereof, are trivial. Furthermore, what has made this situation all the more tragic is that one of the women involved has said that she didn’t make a formal complaint because she didn’t want “any fuss”. It seems to me that it will only be when allegations of sexual abuse are no longer seen as a waste of time and a bit of a joke, that we might then be able to strive for real equality.”

Trinity College has announced in the last week their intentions to change their current accommodation system to introduce differential room pricing.

Currently, all rooms are the same price, regardless of size, location, en-suite or any other divergent factors. The College have now decided to introduce a more “fair” system, which colleges such as Exeter College employ, whereby rooms are priced on the basis of their individual merits. This would give students the opportunity to choose, to some extent, what facilities they want by deciding how much they are willing to pay.

JCR President, Andy Butler, sent around an email to students, stating, “The good news is that I have received confirmation that this change will make no difference to current students. So the first year housing ballot remains the same and you will all receive a flat rate.”

Currently this flat rate is £1,256.54 per term, but the College want to change this to offer a choice to students from lower income families. Although they will almost certainly introduce differential pricing, the final figures and bands have not yet been announced.

A general meeting was called on Monday 18th February where a resultant survey was held for all students to share their opinions on the room pricing issue. Butler told Cherwell, “Of the 139 students that answered the survey, 72% were against differential pricing, 22% were for it and 6% didn’t know.

“An even larger amount (77% of students) felt that differential pricing would cause social segregation. However, 19% of students said their financial situation would be significantly improved by differential pricing, which is quite a notable proportion.”

The survey asked for students’ thoughts on the principal of differential pricing, what gap should be enforced between highest and lowest priced rooms, what ideal features should determine the pricing, whether their own financial situation would be aided by differential pricing and what they thought about the prospect of “ghettoisation” caused by rich students in one block and poorer ones in another.

Estates Bursar Kevin Knott informed Cherwell that the issue of introducing differential pricing has been an ongoing process with the student body and that the College had had a presentation from the student governing body last February.

Nevertheless, the belief that the College has acted without the student body’s consent has caused some controversy within the College. Butler commented, “Most disappointing to the student body is the lack of consultation before this policy was implemented. It was discussed in the reserved section of the college’s governing body meeting which sees the JCR and MCR Presidents leave the room.

“Although the student body has been consulted in the previous two years about differential pricing (which measured 74% against two years ago and 68% against last year), this year’s student body and JCR committee were not consulted.”

Nevertheless, Butler agreed that the Estates Bursar had been forthcoming in listening to the students when the practicalities of room pricing and its implementation had been discussed.

Knott told Cherwell that the College were “not entirely clear” as to why the students did not support room pricing. He said, “The College has, for many years, charged differential rents on its outside properties. Given the variety of accommodation on the main site and the desirability of giving students the choice as to how they spend their funds, whether on accommodation or otherwise, the same approach is being adopted for the main Broad Street site.”

The implementation of this new approach is currently being settled with the student body.

‘Finalists Fling’ at Hertford had to be cancelled hours before it was due to take place onTuesday, after the drainage system under the college overflowed, forcing sewage into the  kitchen.

The black tie dinner, designed for Finalists to enjoy a stress-free evening before the ‘onslaught’ of exams, has been postponed until next week, following a decision by the Home Bursar to close the kitchen until it had been professionally cleaned.

The JCR Secretary sent out an urgent email to students which read, “I am incredibly sorry to report that I have just been called into a meeting with the home bursar and the head of catering who have told me that Finalists fling tonight will have to be CANCELLED.”

“Apparently the drainage system under college has overflowed forcing sewage into the kitchen, and Beau [the Home Bursar] has made the Health and Safety decision that the kitchen cannot be used until it has been professionally cleaned. I have provisionally rearranged it for NEXT TUESDAY. Beau has said he will talk to the bursar about getting us free wine for the rearranged fling to apologise for this catastrophe.”

It was later confirmed that, to compense for the cancelled dinner, attendees at the rescheduled event will be given half a bottle of wine each.

The ‘@whatisinhall’ Twitter account later tweeted, “For those of you who haven’t heard, Finalist’s Fling has been cancelled due to flooded drains in the kitchens.”

Students were able to observe through the kitchen windows that the floor was indeed awash.

Andy Turner, a third-year mathmetician who organised the dinner, told Cherwell, “Finalists Fling being cancelled was a real waste. The whole mishap was a huge drain on everyone’s time and enthusiasm.”

“The incident stinks of a conspiracy planned by the college’s main rival in food provision, the ATS. The meal has been rearranged to next week, when hopefully the funnel continue unabated, with the addition of complementary wine flushing any hopes of a quiet night down the toilet,” Turner explained.

Some students questioned when the incident had occurred. Third-year historian Callum Pirie joked, “We were beginning to wonder why the food had started tasting funny. We thought it was the horsemeat.”

In an email to Turner which was posted on the JCR Facebook group, Hertford’s catering manager addressed students’ concerns: “Please let me assure you that lunch today was not affected, and all food was prepared and cooked before the problem in the kitchen began. The council are currently working on the drains, and a professional deep clean company are due to clean the kitchen this evening. Meaning that service should resume to normal starting with breakfast tomorrow morning.”

Later in the evening, the kitchen was successfully cleaned, with college hall reopening the next day.

A third year engineer, Tom Oakley, sought to make the best of the postponement. “My Mother always taught me that when the kitchen’s knee-deep in shit, you’ve got to cancel dinner – so although I was disappointed, I entirely understood Hertford’s decision. I managed to stave off disappointment by making a delicious dinner of pan-fried duck breasts with raspberry sauce, baby leaf salad and sautéed carrots. And then I went to the pub.”

However, not all students were able to see the funny side of the situation. Third-year mathematician Adrian Clayton told Cherwell, “it’s too traumatic an incident for me to think up any sewage based puns.”

Oxford University data has shown the continued dominance of men in achieving firsts at Finals.

Male candidates took most of the first-class degrees awarded last year, extending their lead over women in subjects including English, PPE and Modern Languages.

Chase Atherton, a second-year French student at Brasenose, described the data as “immensely worrying”.

She said that she was wary “of the masked glee that comes with the propounding of statistics like these–they seem to be intended to enforce gender stereotypes, or possibly to induce a mindset of victimhood among women.

“More than once I’ve been told, ‘Men are more assertive than women, which is why they do better in exam situations’, as if this dichotomy hasn’t been torn down by women like Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Marissa Mayer, Kathryn Bigelow, et al.

“I got a distinction in prelims and so did my friend James. Neither of our results should be attributed to gender, but rather our enthusiasm for our course. It would be dangerous to give this statistic so much credence as to make it a self-perpetuating myth.”

However female candidates achieved a higher proportion of firsts in jurisprudence and classics in 2012, reversing the gender gap in the two subjects for the first time in six years.

A third-year classicist at Corpus commented that, “much as the poetess Sappho was considered the finest of the archaic lyricists by ancient and modern literary critics alike, so today the women of Oxford have shown themselves to be of suppler mind and of greater muse than their male equivalents.

“varium et mutabile semper / femina,” he told Cherwell, conclusively.

More firsts were awarded in 2012 than in previous years in a range of core subjects. Music, Law, Geography and Medicineall saw significant improvements in the number of firsts and 2:1s awarded.

By contrast only 1% of History candidates failed to acheive a first or 2:1. Humanities subjects all saw significant falls last year in the number of finalists getting thirds. Students cite the fact that employers increasingly shun candidates who recieve the grade, which was once known affectionately as a ‘gentleman’s third’.

Excluding joint-schools students, music candidates are most likely to leave Oxford with a First. 43% of candidates in 2012 achieved the top grade compared with 36% in 2011 and 32% in 2010.

Francis Shepherd, a first-year Musician at University College, explained that the subject “is one of the only subjects in the university that requires a degree of practical skill usually gained in childhood, such as reading of musical notation, playing an instrument/singing, and listening (aural) skills.

“However, analysis and history are just as hard as any other arts subject, and of course there is considerable overlap with history itself. Music is perceived to be easier by those who don’t understand the contents or nature of the course, I think..”

PPE and Law emerge as the two subjects in which it is most difficult to achieve a first: in both subjects last year only 19% of candidates managed it. However in 2011 only 12% of lawyers got a first, a seven-year low.

James Burt, a second-year lawyer at Brasenose, said that the low number of firsts awarded to Oxford lawyers “puts them at a disadvantage compared to our peers at other top universities.” He said that many top graduate employers are put off by a ‘mere’ 2:1. “This disadvantages dozens of law students if they received a 2:1 when a ‘normal’ distribution would have secured them a first.

“Although the low number of firsts is reflected in employers’ expectations in many areas, there are still places where it seems to cause unnecessary hardship. These include Oxford’s master’s, the BCL, and pupillage at top Barristers’ chambers, with both requiring a first-grade degree (officially and unofficially respectively). Offers for the BCL are conditional upon finals’ marks and so the University has shown discretion before about entry – I think this problem would be better solved by increasing the number of firsts.”

In last year’s Examiners’ report, these concerns were acknowledged. “The unanimous view of this year’s Board was that steps should be taken to recognise that a higher percentage of our candidates in Law deserve to be awarded first class degrees than has previously been the case” it said.

A recent paper published in Oxford Journal of Archaeology suggests that Britain’s aversion to horsemeat may have originated almost 1500 years ago from the diffusion of Christianity.

Dr Kristopher Poole of Nottingham University led the research which involved studying dated records of animal bones in England to try and understand the diet of Anglo-Saxons. He found substantial evidence of humans eating horsemeat during the early era when the German tribe first settled in Britain. On one-third of the sites investigated, butchered horse bones and heads were discovered instead of intact horse carcasses.

Horsemeat consumption among Anglo-Saxons reduced steadily between the sixth and eighth centuries as Christianity gradually gained more followers than paganism in England. From the eighth century, when Christianity dominated Britain, the English rarely consumed horsemeat due to its associations to Paganism and its condemnation by the church.

Dr Poole writes in his paper, “While many ‘pagan’ beliefs became integrated into Christian practices in England, the possible veneration and eating of horse seems to have been too much of a challenge to Christian perspectives.”

Professor Helena Hamerow from Oxford University’s Institute of Archaeology and a leading expert in early Anglo-Saxon England communities, explained the significance of the research, “This is an important paper that shows how far back in history the aversion to eating horses seems to go amongst the English.”

She added, “In Anglo-Saxon England, it appears from Poole’s study that the aristocracies were the first to abandon eating horse, presumably because they were the first group to espouse the new religion.”

However, in other Christian-dominant European countries, including France and Germany, consuming horsemeat is fairly common practice. When asked to explain the popularity of eating horse meat in these countries, Hamerow told Cherwell, “It appears from written sources that the early medieval Church tried to put a stop to the practice of consuming horsemeat in France and Germany too.”

“Without studying the animal bones from settlements in these countries,  it is hard to know what impact the Church’s disapproval had on the behaviour of ordinary people.”

Kyle Wehner, an English student at Magdalen, shared his thoughts on the recent horse meat controversy, “I think the extent of the aversion so many people have to the idea of eating horse meat stems from the human race’s intrinsic relationship with horses. There’s a connection there that we don’t have with other animals. It makes the notion of eating horseflesh that much more repugnant.”

When asked whether he would give the ‘pagan’ meat a try, Wehner answered, “I’ll stick with a salad.”

(video report published 28-02-2013)

Oxford University Student Union voted against a motion calling for support of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), the campaign for the boycott of Israel, at the termly meeting on Wednesday.

The motion asked OUSU to advocate for the BDS campaign at the annual conference of the UK National Union of Students in April. It was defeated, with 69 votes against, 15 abstentions, and 10 for.

The BDS movement was started in 2005. Its official website calls for boycotts against “products and companies that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions” until Israel complies with international law. The motion proposed that the NUS further “conduct research into Higher Education institutions’ contacts, relations, investments and commercial relationships that may be implicated in violating Palestinian human rights as stated by the BDS movement.”

It was initially proposed at an OUSU council meeting two weeks ago, but an amendment was passed to postpone the final vote in order to give JCRs more time to debate the issue.

James Newton, Keble JCR President, proposed the amendment to delay the motion. He told Cherwell, “I feel that it was a far more complicated issue than it looked at first glance and am therefore very glad that I got the chance to consult with the JCR before being expected to vote on the issue.”

Several colleges, including Worcester, Corpus Christi, and Balliol, split their multiple votes in order to reflect the sentiment in their JCRs more accurately.

The original proposers of the motion, Emily Cousens and Sarah Pine, did not attend the meeting and were unavailable for comment.

OUSU President David J Townsend was equivocal when commenting on the proceedings, saying, “There have been strong emotions on either side of this issue. A fulsome debate was had, there were ample opportunity for colleges’ student bodies to decide how to mandate their delegates, and a decisive resolution was achieved by the vote of those delegates today.”

Questions were raised at the debate two weeks ago about how an academic and cultural boycott would be implemented in practice. Some students expressed concern that it could result in the boycotting of student societies and academic research.

Benjamin Crome, President of the Oxford University Israel Society, said, “I am very pleased with this evening’s result, which shows quite clearly that Oxford students reject the exclusionary values of the BDS movement. As befits students of a university which has held a mutually beneficial relationship with Israeli academia for many years, JCRs and MCRs have decided that to conflate of the actions of Israeli civil society with the policies of the Israeli government is fundamentally flawed.”

He added that “Israeli academics have played a leading and influential role in criticising the static nature of the peace process at present.”

Similarly, Sarah Chaplin, a second-year PPEist at LMH, said, “I am proud of the result that was reached tonight. Oxford students have shown that prejudice against individuals of any nationality is wrong regardless of feelings towards their government.”

Speaking on the matter of implementation, a spokesperson for the Palestinian BDS national committee said that the BDS movement calls for “an institutional boycott of Israel, not a blanket boycott of individual Israelis. We do not condone boycott of individuals based on their identity, no matter what. Rather, we focus on Israel’s academic and cultural institutions, all of which are complicit, to varying degrees, in protecting and maintaining Israel’s occupation and apartheid. Consequently, BDS does not call for boycotting a book or a film just because its author or director is Israeli! We look for institutional connections to see whether any cultural product, say, is funded by the state of Israel or its lobby groups for re-branding purposes.”

Supporters of the BDS movement have viewed the motion in a different light. Hind Awwad, a graduate student in Political Theory at St Edmund’s Hall, said, “What we’ve seen in our MCRs and JCRs is that BDS has brought people together to discuss this issue and has started a real debate on Israel’s violations… the debate on BDS has resulted in some of the most well-attended common room meetings, vibrant debates and interest in Palestinian rights.”

Despite OUSU voting against the motion, Awwad argued that “the discussion of BDS at the University of Oxford is in itself a significant achievement, and an important stepping stone for Palestine solidarity activists in the University.”

Cheerleading is the latest sport to enter the realms of Varsity fame, as the Oxford Sirens took on the Cambridge Cougars last weekend. They competed at the Future Cheer Saturday Night Fever competition in Loughborough where teams from nearly 60 universities participated.

Sirens’ President Susan Hawkins commented, “Our routine went almost perfectly, all our stunts hit, and we were all really proud of what we’ve achieved in such a short space of time – especially as almost every new member of the squad learns cheerleading from scratch in October.”

As well as being judged in the general competition, a special ‘Varsity Trophy’ is to be awarded to either Oxford and Cambridge, who were judged alongside each other.

Victoria Morrish, a member of the Sirens team at Varsity, explained the subsequent complications. She told Cherwell, “This year was the first year we’ve had the opportunity to cheer competitively against Cambridge’s squad, but unfortunately we’re in different divisions. The Cambridge Cougars compete in a level two division, while we compete in level three – the only difference in this is the difficulty of the stunts involved in the routines. Level three is one level ‘harder’ than level two, and unfortunately this has meant we cannot be judged directly against Cambridge.

“However, the judges of Future Cheer (the organisers of the Loughborough competition on Sunday) have agreed to mark us against each other. It’s a shame we cannot compete in a head-to-head match against Cambridge but hopefully in future years this can be arranged at one of our home turfs.”

Both the Oxbridge teams are still relatively young; the Sirens, who are Oxford’s self-proclaimed “Number 1 cheer team”, formed in 2004, whilst the Cougars were set up in 2007. The first ever Varsity match, in cricket, dates from 1827. Since then Varsity matches in more than 70 different events, including life-saving and mixed lacrosse, have been set up.

Last week, Brian Cox attended Balliol’s Snell Dinner as a guest.

Cox is currently a Professor at the University of Manchester and a particle physicist involved with CERN. He is also the presenter of a number of BBC science programmes on astronomy and physics. His legacy is not confined to
the realm of science: in the 1990s he was involved as a keyboard player for
D:Realm.

Balliol JCR President Alex Bartram, said,“I think his presence – and that of the many other eminent and distinguished guests at the dinner – reflects how Balliol, 750 years on, is still very much holding its own in the glamorous world of academia.”

Though as JCR President Bartram was lucky enough “to have the opportunity to sit a few places along from Prof Cox”, for some members of the JCR, catching a glimpse of the professor required more extreme dedication.

One second-year commented, “Apparently someone waited outside with a lighter for ages to light his cig, which is creepy.”

Phoebe Grant-Smith, Lottie Dodd and Andrew Kirkman sneaked round the back of the SCR in order to get a glimpse of the eminent scholar. Grant-Smith said, “Waiting in the freezing cold (it was snowing at one point!) and getting odd looks from the SCR was definitely worth it when he appeared!”

Cox signed a book for Kirkman amongst others, and agreed to have a photo with the girls. Grant-Smith continued, “In my babbling, starstruck state, I did tell him about my mother’s Brian Cox cuddly toy which was a joke Christmas present from my brother, although I only realised how creepy this sounded when his response was, ‘I’m not sure you should be telling me this…'”

Olivia Baddeley also gave her account of the evening: “He was a bit tipsy, and I was a bit starstruck, so I couldn’t think of anything cool or interesting to say when we started talking about thermodynamics and his new TV show.”

Baddeley revealed that they discussed the wine at dinner: “He said it was great and asked us to take a sip (we then basically had an indirect kiss with him, which we were very excited by).We said that the wine is normally awful so they must have brought out the posh stuff for him. He was lovely.”

A survey has shown that first-year students in the UK are going out and drinking less frequently than finalists, and that student spending on alcohol has decreased overall.

The survey, conducted by student finance website Save the Student, reported that freshers are going out an average of 1.23 days a week compared to the finalist average of 1.57. Across all years, an average of £19 a week was spent drinking whilst out, in comparison with the average of £28 found last year by the NUS. The decrease in spending is believed to be linked to the increase in tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000, which came into effect at the start of this academic year.

Owen Burek, Editor-in-Chief of Save the Student, said, “I would think that the fall in spending this year is a kind of a knee-jerk reaction to the tuition fees trebling and the wide media coverage which came with this over the summer, which probably frightened quite a number of first-years into watching their spending. Some students may choose to forgo a night out to save money but in the main we believe students are turning to cheaper ways of drinking, such as the pre-drinking method.”

The website’s report on the survey further indicated that the fee rise may have prompted students to consider the quality of their university education, stating, “The fact that the fees have risen may have caused more students to think carefully about how much time they spend studying compared with going out drinking.”

LMH Welfare rep Georgia Luscombe shared this opinion, telling Cherwell, “Perhaps higher tuition fees are making people compromise and they have less money to spend on social activities if they’re prioritising a better education.”

Nevertheless, she did not report seeing a decrease in freshers drinking at LMH, and opined, “If anything, I think a rise in tuition fees will make the kind of people coming to £9,000-a-year universities like Oxford more likely to have disposable income, as people with more limited resources might be forced to go to a less expensive university.”

“I know a lot of them are very aware that they don’t have to pay back fees until after they have jobs.” However, she also noted, “At Keble we have had far fewer alcohol-related deanings. In fact, we had none in Michaelmas. I know that they were at least 3 alcohol-related deanings across Michaelmas-Hilary last year [all three incidental incidents involving freshers] and there haven’t been any this year.”

Last Sunday St Anne’s College JCR passed a motion which expressed
its desire to bring animals into college in order to reduce stress during the exam period.

The motion read: “The JCR resolves to permit the supervised presence of animals on college grounds during official JCR events, so providing students with another healthy source of stress reduction therapy.” The motion passed with 33 students voting for, 0 voting against, and 6 abstaining.

The motion was purely designed to express the JCR’s feelings on the issue, and is yet to be condoned by the college’s senior management team.

However, the proposal, if enacted, would see puppies, rabbits or kittens being brought to St Anne’s by a local animal shelter. It was agreed that only “de-wormed, flea-free, and vaccinated” animals would be permitted on college premises. Concerns have been raised about having pets in students’ rooms or in the JCR, and as a consequence the alternative of setting up a temporary pen on the quad has been suggested. 

The initiative was prompted by Johannes Osterrieth, a first-year Chemist, who proposed it during his hustings for Academic Rep. When later asked about the motion, Osterrieth said, “Everyone loves dogs, especially puppies, and leaving the desk to play with one is quite possibly the nicest way to take a break.”

Certain members of the JCR were particularly excited by the idea of having animals, particularly puppies, in college. Bethany Cox, a second-year English student, said “I love puppies, they make the world a better place. Oxford is a very stressful place for the average young adult and I just can’t wait to get my hands on some puppies. St Anne’s: Our dog-free days are over!”

Other St Anne’s students, however, were not impressed by the proposals. Ben Rosenbaum, a second-year PPEist, said that “I hope that this motion will not detract from the importance of other issues at hand. Although puppies are wonderful creatures, my concern is that people are putting their hearts before their heads on this issue.”