OUSU is seeking to make the distribution of the Exam Regulations book online-only.

Thousands of copies of the book are printed each year, and OUSU argues that the environmental and financial costs of the printing and distribution of this book are unacceptable given the book’s limited use.

The book contains regulations for undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, as well as information on term dates and for visiting students. Most of the content of the book is not applicable to each student, and all of the information contained in the book is already available online. The book is updated each year.

In first week OUSU passed a motion to make the distribution of the Exam Regulations book online only, and is now asking academic affairs officers to pass similar motions through their JCRs. If successful, the University will stop printing the Examination Regulations book altogether.

David Messling, OUSU Vice-President told Cherwell, “OUSU is working with the University to establish a fully functional online version of the Exam Regulations which can replace the current ‘door stop’. In the meantime we’re encouraging JCRs to follow the lead of colleges who have stopped distributing the Grey Book to all Freshers, and instead are keeping a few strategically positioned copies in libraries and common rooms, thus reducing demand and gradually eliminating the need to supply 10,500 copies a year!’

The motion is supported by several colleges. Tom Rutland, President of Jesus JCR and OUSU President-elect, said, “We passed this motion through our JCR earlier this year and it passed through the relevant college committees also. Whilst the University has been slow to act on this issue, individual colleges can help speed up the process by not ordering the exam regulations for their students.”

Natasha Rees, Hertford Academic Affairs Officer, commented, “Perhaps 80 of the 1125 pages are relevant to any one student, and many of the regulations change on a yearly basis, so the Grey Book is not relevant beyond first year. The whole, up-to-date Exam Regulations is available online, and in Hertford, every JCR student has access to the internet in college accommodation. Thus I would say that issuing each fresher with a copy of the Grey Book is rather a waste of money and paper.”

A spokesperson for the University said that printing the grey book would be reviewed in future, stating, “There is an online version of the Exam Regulations book: since this online version was introduced in 2006, the print run of the Exam Regulations book has been reduced by about one quarter and work is already well advanced on an improved online version with better functionality. This new version will be online as soon as possible – maybe as early as next year.’

A study conducted by Oxford medical researchers has found evidence that drinking while pregnant can negatively effect a child’s IQ level. While this has for a long time been assumed to be the case, this study is believed to be the first to isolate the medical factors from social influences.

The study was undertaken in conjunction with researchers from the University of Bristol, and was also funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, using data from the ‘Children of the 90’s’ project. This long-term projects began with collecting data from 14,000 expectant mothers over two decades ago, and has monitored them and their children’s progress ever since.

In order to overcome the problem presented by lifestyle variation the study used genetic variation to investigate the effects of moderate drinking (1–6 units of alcohol per week) over a large test group of over 4,000 women. Since DNA differs randomly across the population, using it as a test base eliminates the possibility of other factors affecting the results.

A strong negative correlation was found between four genetic variants in alcohol-metabolising genes and children’s IQ at age eight. The child’s IQ was on average almost two points lower per genetic modification they possessed. This effect was only evident among the children of women who were moderate drinkers during pregnancy. Researchers thus concluded that “even at these moderate levels, alcohol is influencing foetal brain development.”

Dr Ron Gray from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford said: “This is a complex study but the message is simple: even moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can have an effect on future child intelligence. So women have good reason to choose to avoid alcohol when pregnant.”

Dr Simon Newell, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, added that “this research serves to confirm that drinking even a small amount of alcohol whilst pregnant can do harm to your unborn child.”

This study’s impact on policy has been limited, serving as a confirmation of established assumptions about a mother’s lifestyle during pregnancy. Dr Newall advised, “don’t take a chance with your baby’s health – drink no alcohol at all.”

A number of controversial new words have been added this year to Oxford Dictionaries Online, as the website’s editors try to keep the site’s database of vocabulary up to date with common usage.

These additions include ‘lolz’, which can, according to the website, either be used as a noun meaning ‘fun, laughter or amusement’ (e.g. “the image was immediately posted on Facebook, just for lolz”) or as an interjection: (“Tell him to call his wife if you see him! Lolz.”)

Other new words include ‘tweeps’, referring to Twitter followers (“he told his tweeps he was going to a Bruce Springsteen concert”). This is believed to be etymologically derived from a combination of ‘twitter’ and ‘peeps’ (the latter itself a modern abbreviation of ‘people’.)

Among the more unusual additions is ‘vajazzle’, used as a verb to mean ‘adorn the pubic area (of a woman) with crystals, glitter, or other decoration’ (e.g. “the glamorous world of fake tans and vajazzling”)

One third year classicist commented, “I think adding new words to dictionaries is a very dangerous business indeed. If we start expanding our lexicon willy-nilly, we risk diluting the etymological purity of our language.”

He continued, “Vajazzle is a particularly unwelcome addition: it is an unfortunate hybrid of the Latin-derived word ‘vagina’ (‘sheath’) and the Anglo-Saxon-derived ‘dazzle’. I would favour a purely Latin compound such as ‘vaginastellate’ (combining ‘vagina’ with ‘stellare’, to stud or bedeck with stars).

The O2 Academy in Cowley is appealing against Oxford City Council’s decision to deny a proposed opening hour extension. 

In June the council rejected plans to extend opening hours at the Academy. The planned extension was to include opening an hour earlier each day, opening for four extra hours on Sundays before bank holidays and until 6am on May Morning.

The plans to extend opening hours were rejected by councillors due to concerns about crime, community safety and noise. The plans prompted 46 letters of objection from local residents who feared extended drinking hours would increase anti-social behaviour.

Residents’ complaints contributed to the move of Fuzzy Ducks from the O2 to Wahoo at the beginning of this term.

Planning officers originally came out in support of extending opening hours. In a report presented to councillors they wrote, “The variation would not significantly alter the existing operating hours of this venue with the Cowley Road district centre and, in the absence of any significant objection from Thames Valley Police and licensing officers, it would be difficult to demonstrate that it would have a significant impact upon neighbouring residential properties in terms of increased noise, disturbance, and antisocial behaviour.”

At the meeting vetoing the planned extension of hours, Thames Valley Police made no objection to the plan. 

William Pimlott, a student at Wadham, commented, “As a resident of Bullingdon Road I find it outrageous that our local night life opportunities should be so limited by priggish and party-pooping residents. Already one is often forced to travel across town to inebriate oneself and enjoy loud music, and if these draconian measures are pushed any further Cowley will become a desert reminiscent of those most barren of places: Somerville and Jericho.

“My only regret with local Nightlife pursuers is their cavalier attitude to our vulnerable wheely bins which often fall prey to ‘hilarious’ pranks and other such misdemeanorariness, but I am willing to sacrifice the poor and unsuspecting wheely bins to the greater good.”

A second year Oxford Brookes student added, “Extending the opening hours won’t make the O2 more popular with students. Everyone already goes into town for the better nights at Junction and Wahoo.’

Corpus Christi College has given the go ahead for the creation of 45 new student rooms in a former conference centre on Park End Street.

‘Cantay House’ will be converted into a series of 5 bedroom flat units for both undergraduates and graduate students. The build will be completed by shared kitchen and sitting room areas, landscaped garden areas, covered cycle storage and high levels of security for occupants.

Bursar John Harrison commented, “The design has been arrived at after consultation with SCR and MCR members. The project offers a significant opportunity to improve our accommodation stock by investing in an energy efficient and inherently sustainable build that is expected to incorporate CHP generation and very high levels of sound and energy insulation. Once complete, this project will create the space needed to continue the process of improvement across the remainder of our accommodation.”

The site’s recent history had been controversial. Cantay Investments, the original owners of the Cantay House property, had wanted to convert the building into nine residential flats. However, the change of plans came about over summer when Oxford City Council rejected them amid claims that the company was keeping the number of flats low  to avoid contribution towards a scheme of affordable housing.

Tony Nolan, of Cantay Investments, said, “We didn’t appeal the decision because on balance we didn’t want to hang around and wait. When we designed the scheme we felt we wanted to develop high-quality housing in the city centre. We submitted a viability report suggesting the contribution could not be afforded so we declined to make an offer.”

Cantay Investments had to deal with issues of social housing. Policy dictates that constructions involving 10 or more properties have to ensure that half of the available units are designated as social housing. Corpus Christi as student accommodation is exempt from these regulations and permission was granted.Pete Johnstone, a second year medic, commented, “It is the perfect location for the station and the clubs. I hope they’re not going to give it to the graduates.” Rosie Oxbury, another Corpus student, said, “We don’t need housing for another 45 people. This seems like a way for college to sell off the small student houses.

St Hugh’s students have voted almost unanimously to move their college to  Christ Church Meadow.

A motion proposed at Sunday evening’s JCR meeting by first year Alexander Kirri noted that “The only feature of College which holds it back is its location” and claimed that “The College simply had no choice but to move, considering the current damage inflicted by distance jokes.”

Students at the college, situated a mile beyond the city centre, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move, with only one student voting against, voicing concerns about the welfare of the cows currently residing in Christ Church Meadow. 

Kirri explained that the cows could live under the raised platform on which the college would be placed. Other students suggested that the cows could be relocated to the college’s original site on St Margaret’s Road.

The other worry students expressed was the distance of the new site from Ali’s kebab van on Woodstock Road. This was resolved by a decision to relocate Ali to a houseboat on the Isis.

French student Kirri told Cherwell, “I must say that I am incredibly pleased that my Christ Church Meadow renovation plans have been passed. The Meadow has blighted the Oxford landscape for nearly 500 years now, so I figured that it was about time that the luscious grounds of St Hugh’s replaced it as a spectacle for all to marvel at.”

The motion was part of St Hugh’s annual “joke motions” meeting, which marks the changeover in JCR committees. Other motions passed included mandating two members of the JCR to participate in a fist fight “until exhaustion or death” and making the outgoing JCR Vice-President don glittery hot pants and wear a rainbow flag as a cape to a soundtrack of various “gay anthems”, including Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way.’

Though various punishments should the challenges not be completed were mooted at the meeting, it is understood that there is no obligation for students to fulfil the terms of the meeting’s motions.

A leading independent school headmaster claims that independent schools are unfairly “demonised.”

In an article in the Telegraph on Saturday 17th November, Dr. Christopher Ray, Chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), an association of mostly British, but also a number of international independent schools, argued that HMC schools “are the envy of the educational world, even though we are demonised by some at home.”

In a piece that covered some of the most high profile contemporary educational debates, Dr. Ray, who is also High Master of Manchester Grammar School, claimed that demand for independent schools is so intense as, under Tony Blair, state education had become “an abject mess, mess, mess.” As a result of independent schools’ “success”, including the fact that, “one in five of those attending Britain’s top 10 universities come from Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) schools”, it is unsurprising, he argued, that 57% of parents “would send their children to an independent school if they had the financial means to do so.”

Some privately educated students do not agree with Dr Ray on the issue of independent schools being “demonised”. One student, who studied at Manchester Grammar School, claimed, “I wouldn’t say independent schools were demonised at all. But perhaps this is the perception people have, given that the media is fixated on discussing the ratio of people who get in the best of the Russell Group unis.” He continued, “Less attention is paid to the excellent state schools, with more emphasis placed on the underperforming ones.”

Dr. Ray argued that one of the reasons HMC schools do not deserve their current image is due to the “excellent links” they have to state schools and the “opportunities they provide” for those from lesser financial backgrounds. One former Eton student supported such a view, saying, “The system isn’t perfect but most [independent] schools recognise this; providing outreach programs and bursaries to alleviate the image of privilege. As long as they exist they will be classed as agents to the detriment of social mobility, but through bursaries (Eton has about 50% people on them) prospective pupils can be presented opportunities academies would be hard pressed to match.”

An Oxford University spokesperson claimed, “Oxford University does not take the type or category of school that an applicant went to into account, whether state, independent or academy. Selection is based purely on academic ability and potential.”

However, the spokesperson added that Oxford does take contextual information into account in inviting ‘extra’ students to interview. They contined, “A ‘flagging’ system flags things like low school performance, deprived postcode, or being in care. If someone is flagged in several areas they will be invited to interview to allow them the extra opportunity to show their potential there (this only affects quite a small number of applicants). The flags play no part in the final decision to make an offer.’