Oxford University Student Union has been shortlisted for the UK Adult Sexual Health Project of the Year by the UK Sexual Health Awards.

The Health Awards are hosted by the sexual health charities Brook and FPA and are designed to reward bodies which demonstrate the best, most creative and innovative work in the field of sexual health.

The eventual winner will be presented with the award at the UK Sexual Health Awards ceremony and dinner on Thursday 14 March at The Troxy, an art deco theatre and concert venue in London. Comedienne Kate Smurthwaite will host the evening, and the UK Sexual Health Awards tweeted, “We’re excited to announce that the brilliant @Cruella1 [Smurthwaite] will be our host at @SHUKAwards!”

Brook shortlisted OUSU’s Sexual Consent Workshops for the UK Adult Sexual Health Project of the Year. The workshops have created discussion amongst undergraduates and post-graduates, and sports teams are also able to contribute, with a version for under 18s which is used in local schools.

The workshops allow young people to discuss what they believe sexual consent to be and the myths surrounding sexual consent and abuse. In the past year, over fifty-one individuals were trained as facilitators to hold discussions throughout the Oxford Colleges and sports teams. 

Suzanne Holsomback, Vice President of Oxford University Student Union, said, “It is a great honour to be recognised by Brook for the work Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) has done on sexual consent in the Oxford colleges and throughout the University.

“OUSU is committed to creating an environment where consent is discussed, understood, and practiced. We desire for the University of Oxford to become a place where students respect themselves and each other by communicating consent, but more importantly, we hope that through these discussions, students will challenge the culture that perpetuates sexual consent and sexual abuse myths.”

On hearing about OUSU’s nomination, Keble’s Michaelmas 2013 Fresher’s Week President Emma Alexander said, “I’m pleased to see OUSU has been nominated for this award, and it’s a good example of the great work they do that perhaps isn’t well recognised by the student body.”

As well as the award for Sexual Health Project of the Year, there are six other categories in the UK Sexual Health Awards. These include Sexual Health Professional of the Year, the JLS Young Person of the Year and the Rosemary Goodchild Award for excellence in sexual health journalism. An award for Lifetime Achievement in sexual health will also be presented. 

The motion stated that “All delegations to [NUS] National Conference must include at least 50% women, rounded down. Where a union is only entitled to send one delegate and this delegate is not a woman, the union’s free observer place must be taken by a woman.”

In a straw poll taken after the discussion 17 voted in favour, 44 were against, and 11 abstained. The poll is non-binding, meaning that OUSU’s seven NUS delegates can vote according to their own will on this motion when it is brought before NUS’ April 2013 conference.

OUSU currently sends seven delegates to NUS’ annual conference.Five delegates are elected in Michaelmas, and the OUSU President and President-elect are ex officio selected as the final two delegates. The motion would mandate that of Oxford’s five elected delegates, at least three would have to be female, in order to ensure that three of the seven total delegates are female.

The 2013 OUSU delegation to NUS conference consists of three elected women, two elected men, President David Townsend and President-elect Tom Rutland.

The motion was opposed by OUSU Vice President for Women Suzanne Holsomback, who described the motion as “insulting and patronising.” She told Cherwell that whilst the motion “address[es] symptoms of gender inequality and imbalance, it does not tackle the root of the problem.

“The roots lie at the individual student union level and it needs to be addressed at that level. We need to examine what barriers block women running for high level position or seeing themselves in positions of power. Exploring this will create the interventions that will address the root problem. We all want the best delegates go to the NUS Conference and not just the women near by that can fill quotas.” 

Wadhamite Emily Cousens supported the motion, pointing to the results of Scandinavian countries with similar ‘top down’ approaches. She added that it is patronizing to women to say that good quality candidates would not emerge from a quota system. An opponent of the motion countered that OUSU should not seek seven good quality delegates, but the best seven available.

OUSU President-elect Tom Rutland supported the motion, saying that female representation was vital when the NUS considered issues such as abortion rights. 

40% of delegates at the last NUS conference were female. Jack Matthews, a student at University College, said that the number “not good enough, but it hardly constitutes a chronic failure.”

A Somervillian stated that she was “not opposed to positive discrimination itself but to the restrictions this motion would place on a democratic vote”. She remarked that “it flies in the face of democracy to use quotas to restrict a popular vote”.

BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills delivered a talk on Thursday evening at St Anne’s on the dangers faced by gay men and women in Uganda.

The 38-year-old radio personality was invited by Exeter LGBTQ Society to speak to students about his 2011 documentary The World’s Worst Place to Be Gay?, which won an award from Stonewall, the UK’s largest LGB rights organisation.

The talk was held at St Anne’s after Exeter LGBTQ Society had to rearrange the venue at short notice.

Mills, who is himself gay, insisted his sexuality was “not a big deal”, saying, “I don’t really ever want it to define me.” Nevertheless, he is no less passionate about his achievement. He continued, “I would do it all again tomorrow. I am really proud of what we did out there.”

Filmed in a week in late 2010, the BBC Three documentary exposed the endemic nature of anti-gay attitudes in Uganda, where it is illegal to be homosexual.

An ongoing anti-homosexuality bill in the small African state seeks to increase the level of punishment imposed on gay citizens. It has attracted widespread international condemnation, with US President Barack Obama describing it as “odious”.

In the capital city of Kampala, Mills met gay campaigners such as Frank Mugisha, and described his futile search for pro-gay voices in the community – which are practically non-existent in Uganda’s deeply conservative social and religious culture.

Mills also met highly vocal Ugandan figures, such as anti-gay preacher Solomon Male and the proposer of the latest bill, MP David Bahati. The politician attempted to arrest Mills after an interview for the documentary. “It did feel as though we were in some film. I’ve never been that scared,” he recalled. “He told our fixer that he was going to search every hotel in Kampala, seize the tapes, and arrest us.”

On Uganda’s future, Mills was pessimistic. He was sceptical of any viewership of the documentary in the country, and noted how, shortly after filming, one gay contributor was beaten violently to death with a hammer. He commented, “It was really scary at times, and actually quite depressing, because it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon.”

He did, nonetheless, affirm that the experience left him feeling “very lucky” by comparison.

As well as the film, Mills took questions regarding his career in radio. Talking about casual homophobia in the media, Mills defended BBC colleague Chris Moyles, who was criticised for using “gay” as a derogatory term live on air in 2006. “I know Chris very well, and I know it’s a cliché thing to say, but he loves the gays,” he remarked. “I remember the press calling me that day going: ‘Your friend’s a homophobe!’ and I was like, ‘He’s not.’ But he was right to apologise.”

Audience members were very positive about Scott Mills’ appearance. Fourth year St Anne’s linguist George Hicks thought the presenter was “very well informed” and noted, “He was obviously committed to portraying the situation in Uganda accurately and sensitively.”

Second year musician Toby Huelin found the talk “insightful”, commenting, “Scott is the jewel of Radio 1 and it’s fantastic that he is using his media power to highlight the horrendous treatment of gay people in Uganda. It is shocking to think that everything he describes is happening now – in 2013.”

Hannah Smith, a second year linguist at St Anne’s, agreed. “It was very different to see him speaking in person on a very serious topic, but his passion and honesty were really inspiring,” she said. “It was great to see another side to him and hear his views on homosexuality – I’ll be listening to his innuendo bingo and other work in a different light after that.”

Exeter’s LGBT rep Adam Ward, who organised the event, stated, “Scott is deservedly praised for his fantastic radio work and his brilliant contributions to Eurovision, but listening to his insights on the serious problems confronting LGBT individuals in Uganda was particularly rewarding. I’m sure his well-attended talk will make many reflect on the wider struggle for LGBT individuals in the world and appreciate that even though more can be done, we are fortunate to live in a much more welcoming society.”

OXFORD International Relations Society has “withdrawn an invitation” to George Galloway, following the Respect MP’s controversial behaviour in Oxford last week.

On Monday the President-Elect of the Oxford International Relations Society, Alex Harries, sent a letter to Galloway’s office informing him that he was no longer welcome to address the society because of his refusal to debate Israelis. 

Galloway had been asked by Harries in December to give a talk and he accepted the invitation shortly afterwards. In a press statement Harries said that although “the Society was very much looking forward to hearing him speak”, its members “value [the] ideals of free speech and honest, open intellectual enquiry and engagement.”

He continued, “It is not possible for us to grant a platform to a speaker who would, under certain circumstances, refuse to participate in the core activities of our society, or who would only do so if we undermine our fundamental purpose.”

Galloway had accepted an invitation to speak to the society on the 29th April, in Trinity Term. The precise topic had yet to be agreed. Harries told Cherwell that “in light of [last] Wednesday’s events it is inevitable that Israeli students would seek to attend our planned event in April.

“We cannot and will not refuse entry to our events to students of any nationality (Israeli or otherwise) and we would not stop them from seeking to debate with Mr Galloway in our Q&A session.” IRSoc’s serving President, Michael Coombs, endorsed the statement. 

Galloway made plain his refusal to engage with Israeli citizens after walking out of a debate with Eylon Aslan-Levy last Wednesday, upon learning of the Brasenose student’s nationality. Galloway branded Israel an “apartheid state” in a statement following the debate. However his fierce advocacy of the Israel boycott movement has led several students to accuse the MP of “racism”.