The annual ‘Turl Street Dash’ took place last Friday without any serious incidents.

The Turl Street Dash, a bicycle race organised by students at Exeter and Jesus colleges and traditionally preceded by heavy drinking, has characterised the centuries-old rivalry between the two colleges flanking Turl Street.

The event has also proved contentious between students and administrators at both Jesus and Exeter in recent years. In 2010, both colleges cancelled the dash in reaction to student injuries and alleged violent confrontation between colleges in the 2009 race.

Frances Cairncross, Rector of Exeter College, commented on Monday: “The police and University Security were present as well as the Junior Deans of Exeter and Jesus Colleges.”

Cairncross offered no further comment when asked if Exeter plans to discontinue this tradition in the future.

Alice Nutting, a first-year English student from Exeter, stated, “It was strangely heartwarming to see an unruly rabble of drunk Jesus students shouting obscenities on Turl Street from the safety of our warm and comfortable rooms, whilst men in tutus lurched past on bicycles. Being the better college has perk; you couldn’t have asked for a more entertaining evening.

“The main problem was that none of us were actually allowed out of college until it had died down, and the whole thing was a bit of an anticlimax. A few people threw water from the windows, which resulted in a bin having to be retrieved from Brasenose Lane by a sheepishlooking fresher.”

Members of Jesus College declined to comment.

Demonstrators targeted Prince Charles’s visit to Oxford on Monday in an attempt to gain his support. The group of around 30 represented the Campaign to Protect Port Meadow from Oxford University (CPPMOU). The group gathered outside the Said Business School just before HRH The Prince of Wales and Lord Patten arrived at 12.15. As previously agreed with Clarence House, they then gave the Prince’s aide a letter.

The letter calls on Prince Charles to raise concerns about the University flats newly built off Port Meadow, and specifically for the top two storeys of the buildings to be removed. Prince Charles greeted the protesters and asked if they were from the local area, but did not stop and talk about Port Meadow.

The demonstration follows months of campaigning by local residents, including some students. An online petition to prevent “damaging views” of Port Meadow now has over 2200 signatures, close to its goal of 3000.

Protests against the flats began about five months ago. Although planning permission for the development was granted in 2000, a “variation” was allowed which approved two extra storeys. It is the extra height of the buildings which has particularly roused anger among residents. Despite the buildings being constructed on the perimeter of Port Meadow, campaigners believe that the environmental impact of the development was not properly considered. The development of Roger Dudman Way is also considered to be “architecturally ugly.”

In an open letter to the members and benefactors of the University of Oxford, CPPMOU write, “We have no objection to Roger Dudman Way being developed; we understand and support the need for the University to provide more student housing.

“We do, however, find it completely unacceptable that so many people’s enjoyment and experience of Port Meadow should be sacrificed, in perpetuity, because the University raised the height of the buildings by two storeys to create an approximate 100 extra rooms.”

The letter goes on to say that a “great majority of local residents and users of Port Meadow were completely excluded from any consultation process, and had no awareness whatsoever about the planning application until the buildings started to be built.”

The campaigners are asking for the university to lower the buildings voluntarily by two storeys. 

Campaigners hoped that Prince Charles’s interest in architecture and heritage would mean that he was sympathetic to their cause. In the letter passed to his aides, CPPMOU describe Port Meadow as a “spiritual and environmental haven, used by the people of Oxford for centuries”.

The letter continues, “The historic ‘Dreaming Spires’ view from the Meadow of the grade 2* listed St Barnabas church tower has been all but obliterated.”

The new buildings are described as “barrack-like blocks…twice as high as the mature trees.”

Toby Porter, who has been organising the campaign, told Cherwell, “I am a former undergraduate and graduate, as I think are a huge number of protesters, and I would say, how sad for the current crop of Oxford students that you and your children won’t get to enjoy it as so many generations have before you, as an unspoiled haven, thanks to the greed and/or lack of professional competence of the University’s Estates office, and the absolute lack of sensitivity and accountability to the uproar in Oxford.

“Port Meadow is loved by everyone, except, it would seem, the Vice-Chancellor and a coterie of advisors in Wellington Square.”

Porter also commented that he felt University press statements had misportrayed the campaign as being against student accommodation.
Sushila Dhall, who started the petition, commented that the campaigners “will not give up.”

The University has stated, “We recognise that the Castle Mill development has aroused some strong feelings and that these have every right to be heard. The skyline of our city, in keeping with the history of Oxford itself, is a constantly evolving blend of the old and the new, the natural and the built. Castle Mill will provide accommodation for hundreds of students, thereby reducing pressure on Oxford’s constricted rental housing market.

“The University has acted in good faith throughout, and in line with proper procedures as laid down by the relevant authorities for all the planning and building phases of the project.”

Clarence House declined to comment on Prince Charles’s opinion of the matter.

Trinity College’s hall is hosting an art exhibition which showcases
work by one of Oxford University’s first ever Aboriginal Australian students.

The exhibition by DPhil student Christian Thompson is the first to be held in the college’s Hall for 450 years. His paintings will temporarily replace portraits of alumni including Cardinal John Newman and two British Prime Ministers.

Thompson told Cherwell, “The exhibition in the Trinity Dining Hall is a survey show of my work spanning the last 13 years. It’s an amazing honour and massive vote of confidence that Trinity believe in my work in this way; a touching gesture and an opportunity to share my work with my college and the broader Oxford community.”

He continued, “I am one of the first Aboriginal Australian students to ever be accepted into the University in its 900-year history, and the first artist to hang his works in place of the formal portraits in 450 years of Trinity’s history. It is a generous way to celebrate these landmark historical moments.”

Thompson, 34, arrived at Trinity in 2010 as the inaugural Charlie Perkins scholar, and graduates this year with a doctorate in Fine Art. He has had
seven solo exhibitions since 2002, and won the 2007 Australian Postgraduate Award.

He stated, “My art is the space between my conscious and unconscious world. I delve into both realms and what I retrieve manifests itself in my work.”

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The exhibition was organised by Trinity’s Estates Bursar Kevin Knott, after Thompson’s successful exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum last year. College fellows voted unanimously to allow the hall to be used. 

Knott said, “As well as studying for his DPhil in Fine Art, Christian is a very successful contemporary artist. The College decided that it would like to show its support for him and, at the same time, to ring in the changes by showing his works here in Hall. Unsurprisingly, the student and public response has been mixed, but personally I think that they fit in very well and am pleased that Trinity’s governing body agreed to this break with tradition.”

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The decision to take down alumni portraits has been criticised by some
Trinitarians. JCR President Andrew Butler said, “Naturally the move to put Christian’s work in Hall has been controversial, yet in many ways this is its greatest attraction because it allows us to view a very traditional space in a new light. From the perspective of the undergraduates, opinion has been mixed but I feel that having something different to chat about and appreciate at dinner has been widely appreciated.”

MCR President Anna Regoutz agreed. “To replace the traditional portraits has shown what a great exhibition space our Hall can be. In my opinion, and I think most postgraduates would agree with me, we would love to see exhibitions like this happen more often.”

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Most undergraduates also responded positively to the exhibition. Crawford Jamieson, a first-year theologian at Trinity, commented, “It’s not my normal cup of tea, but there’s an interesting juxtaposition between Thompson’s artwork and Trinity’s architecture.”

Joel Scott-Hughes, a student at Ruskin School of Art, argued, “It’s important to keep things different, and expose people to as many styles as possible. Traditional portraiture is only considered superior because we live in a western society – it’s good to challenge people’s conceptions of what portraits should look like.”

Thompson’s exhibition costs £2 and runs until 8th February.

Worcester College has recently voted in favour of a motion to make a Russian dwarf pet hamster, named Luka, an honorary member of their JCR.

The motion was passed with thirty-four votes in favour and six against and was proposed by second year student and owner of Luka the hamster, Angus Barry.

Barry explained his reasons for proposing the motion, telling Cherwell, “As soon as I brought Luka back to Worcester I had a steady stream of people coming to visit him and before Facebook took down his profile (which Luka still maintains is the fault of an ‘evil bourgeoisie of  cats’) he had 123 facebook friends, many of whom were Worcester students.

“I thought it was silly for him to be such a large part of college life and not be an official part of it.  So I had a look through our JCR constitution and found a clause which allowed non humans to become honorary members.”

The motion read,  ‘This JCR notes that: Hamsters are incredibly cute’ and that ‘Adopting a hamster would therefore be beneficial to the happiness and general well-being of the members of the JCR.’

It continued, ‘Angus Barry, member of the JCR, is in possession of a young Russian Dwarf hamster (called Luka) that is in need of adoption.  Luka is already well loved by many JCR members’ and noted that, ‘Luka’s personality fits well with the spirit of the College.  He is adventurous, enjoys cuddles and likes grapes’.

Luka’s personal hero is Abrahamster Lincoln and he enjoys moving cotton wool around his house, scratching his nose and going on adventures

As an honorary member, Luka will not be able to run for election but there is nothing to prevent him from attending and voting in JCR meetings, although Barry explained that, “he often has difficulty following proceedings as English is his third language after Hamster and Russian.”

Luka plans on continuing to make the college happy through his cute appearance and hopes to propose a motion demanding hamster-sized portions in Formal Hall.

Members of the Queen’s College JCR have unanimously voted in favour of the ‘Ball for All’ motion this week.

The motion seeks to support any Queen’s student struggling financially as a result of the expense of buying a ticket for the college’s ball this Trinity term.

JCR President Jane Cahill told Cherwell, “The proposal came about because I thought it was important to recognise that ball tickets do not represent the same financial commitment for everyone, and the Ball Committee agreed that if anyone were to face financial hardship [after buying a ticket], they’d be happy to help out with that.”

Stephanie Jackson, JCR Social Secretary and Ball Marketing Director, added, “The ‘Ball for All’ motion has been designed in order to aid Queen’s students who, as a result of attending the Ball, might suffer slight financial hardship.

“We realise that £120 might be a greater sacrifice for some students than for others, but we are determined to give everyone the opportunity to participate in what is going to be the most important event at Queen’s for the next three years.”

A £250 donation has already been made to the college’s JCR Hardship Fund by the Ball Committee itself, with funds having been drawn from the profits of the college’s previous Ball.

The ‘Ball for All’ motion itself pledged that the JCR would equal the amount already donated, bringing the current total to £500. There are also high hopes that the college will agree to add more money to this fund.

Cahill continued, “I will be lobbying the college this week; I’m fairly hopeful of success but it very much depends on their approach. Even so, I think a £500 pot is a nice one to start with, and represents an appropriate commitment from the students.”

The motion is concerned mainly with retrospective welfare provision, rather than with any kind of ticket drive for the Ball itself

As one Ball Committee member pointed out, “Since we’ve sold out of tickets already, the grant kind of works as a ‘get money back on your ballot’, which might help some people with managing their living costs for the rest of the year, but (this is an important point) it’s not going to make anyone buy more tickets or suddenly choose to buy a ticket now (since, obviously, they won’t be able to as the tickets are already sold out).

“Basically the grant and the JCR/Ball Committee’s decision to contribute money for it isn’t a profit incentive for Queen’s in an attempt to get more students to buy tickets, but it is recognising that the Ball is an important event for Queen’s students and, although it is an optional event, it is one that we hope that everyone who wishes will be able to go to.”

Welfare Rep Maria Newsome added, “I’m excited to extend the excellent work of our Hardship Fund to the Queen’s Ball, continuing our efforts to make Queen’s an inclusive and affordable place to both study and socialise.”

Although the Ball has now sold out, those who might have been swayed by the possibility of such a provision are still able to join the waiting list and file their claim once they do have their ticket.

Money will be allocated to students on a case-by-case basis. Members of the college will be able to file a claim to an ad hoc committee, comprising the JCR President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Welfare Reps. Depending on the outcome the student might be awarded anything between £20 and £50.

Money remaining from the fund will be kept as welfare for the 2016 Ball.

Stephanie Jackson clarified, “If any money is not spent, it will roll over to the next Ball, thus starting a tradition in Queen’s of helping students attend what should be one of the most special nights of their entire college life. The Ball Committee and current JCR Exec are proud to have worked together in order to start this tradition, and hope it carries on for many years.”