Oxford University unveiled plans in a public exhibition last week to integrate the Park Hospital in Headington and the neighbouring Old Road Campus into a new medical research park.

The University is looking to combine the two neighbouring sites to create what university spokeswoman Clare Woodcock describes as a “centre of biomedical excellence.”

The Old Road Campus is the main site for the University’s Medical Sciences Division and one of the foremost biomedical research centres in the UK.

The University is in the process of purchasing the 28 acres on which the Park Hospital now sits. The new land, adjacent to the Old Road campus, will provide capacity for further research facilities to be developed.

According to Clare Woodcock “the Park Hospital is hugely significant for the University and the City as it will tailor medical research to the specific needs of the local population. It will also provide residents with access to cutting edge medical care within the University teaching hospitals.”

“The centre will attract the best and most talented staff with knock-on benefits to the quality of the expertise available to the NHS,” she added.

Park Hospital is currently occupied by the Oxford Health NHS foundation Trust and will relocate over the next 10-15 years.

The exhibition on the 28th and 29th May presented the University’s plans on the integration of the two sites. It was an opportunity for local residents to bring up their concerns at the prospect of increased congestion in the area as a consequence of the development.

Hilary Rollin, of Old Road and a member of the Highfield Residents’ Association told the Oxford Mail: “Congestion around here is already horrific. Our objective is to work closely with the university on this.”

The University has said it will review feedback ahead of submitting an outline planning application to Oxford City Council during the summer.

Dr Ian Finlay, research fellow at Harris Manchester, is due to cycle 300 miles between Glasgow and Oxford in memory of an Oxford scholar who made the same journey in the late 1930s, in order to begin his studies at the University. 

Ralph Glesser, who was brought up in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, at the time one of the biggest slums in Europe, won a scholarship to Oxford University in the 1930s. Unable to afford the train fare, Glasser bought a second-hand bicycle from a friend, then cycled more than 300 miles to Oxford in order to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Magdalen College.

Dr Ian Finlay will be repeating his journey, in order to mark the 10th anniversary of Glesser’s death. Accompanied by his son, he will depart from the Mitchell Library in Glasgow on Saturday 25 August and arrive at Harris Manchester College, Oxford on Monday 3 September 2012. 

Dr Finlay explained that his own father had experienced a similar fate to Ralph Glesser. Having grown up in a Glasgow tenement a few years after Glasser, he too had to leave school at 14 to help support his family, despite being the dux (top pupil) of the school. Like Glasser, Finlay’s father later attended Oxford. 

Commenting on the ride, Dr Finlay said, “It seemed appropriate on the 10th anniversary of his death to mark Ralph Glasson’s achievement by retracing his steps – or at least his wheels. Ralph made the journey in four days, but he had a few years on me and I plan to take a more leisurely pace”. 

He added that he hopes to make “good use of the opportunity on my way down to talk about Harris Manchester College to aspiring undergraduates, young and old, who may never have thought about trying for a place at Oxford.

“I like to think that if HMC had been part of Oxford University in the ’30s, it would have been Ralph’s first choice for his delayed education. It is the only Oxford college open only to mature students and offers anyone over 21 – irrespective of their age – the opportunity to study for an Oxford degree. For many students, it provides a second chance to gain the first-class education they missed out on first time around. I believe Ralph would have applauded its mission.” 

Dr. Finlay will be cycling in aid of the Harris Manchester College JCR Trust, which supports mature students by providing modest cash grants to those who have a pressing short-term need for extra funds.

A recent Oxford University Press study suggests that the use of American English is becoming ever more prominent among young Britons.

These findings came from the study of 74,000 short stories written by pupils, aged 7 to 13, for the BBC’s Radio 2 ‘500 Words’ competition. Researchers also discovered the overuse of exclamation marks and frequent references to celebrities such as Simon Cowell and Lionel Messi.

A total of 35,171 uses of an exclamation mark were recorded and a number of children were writing five in a row.

The references throughout the short stories seem to indicate the increasingly dominant influence of celebrity culture, as well as Hollywood lingo. It is thought that popular US fiction and movie series, such as the Twilight saga, may go some way towards explaining the greater use of Americanisms.

The American words ‘tuxedo’ and ‘cupcake’ have already surpassed their English equivalents, ‘dinner suit’ and ‘fairy cake’, while ‘candy’ was referenced nearly as many times as ‘sweets’.

However, for the moment, ‘pavement’ is still used much more frequently than ‘sidewalk’ and ‘torch’ is much more common than ‘flashlight’.

Mentions of modern technology were also prevalent. There were nearly 150 references to the Blackberry mobile phone and characters in stories often used ‘apps’ and ‘googled’ information.

Samantha Armstrong, of the OUP children’s dictionary division, told the Daily Mail, “perhaps we are catching a glimpse of the language of the future.” The study will be compared with future research to examine how written language is evolving.

Despite a wealth of knowledge about contemporary celebrity culture, children had difficulty using the past tense correctly, often mistaking ‘thinked’ for ‘thought’. They also at times faltered at straightforward spellings, including ‘clothes’ and ‘does’.

Punctuation and grammar also proved to be stumbling blocks; semicolons were underused and some pupils were unable to use capital letters effectively.

A first-year student, speaking to Cherwell TV after a night at the Bridge, agreed that the semicolon was undervalued and said, “I literally cannot get enough of it. The semi-colon key on my computer is worn down, I love it so much.”

New College JCR has voted to support the creation of a lifesize cut-out of one of their students.

The motion, proposed by Joseph D’Urso and seconded by Patrick Edmund, was debated at the New College general meeting last Sunday. It requested that “Mef” (Medhi Badali-Magtalo) have “a permanent reminder of his membership” made and placed in the JCR as he departs on his year abroad.

The motion read, “This JCR notes that Mef is a much loved member of the JCR, and he will be missed when he goes to Russia. Incoming freshers will not know who he is or what he looks like. Even though he is abroad he will continue to be a member of the JCR.

“We need to have a permanent reminder of his membership of the JCR, and a life-size cut out is an excellent way of doing this. Also, this addition to the JCR will make it a more fun and funny place. And seeing as Mef is quite shy and underconfident, this might help him be more sure of himself and give his ego an essential boost.”

In an email to Cherwell, ‘Mef’ said, “I am very flattered by the JCR motion because it gives me a sense of belonging and is a great and welcome boost to my flagging confidence and self-esteem. I am a shy and introverted person and both my friends and I hope that the JCR motion will allow me to be a bit more out-going, although if I am to be honest I would have preferred a marble bust of myself.”

During the meeting D’Urso noted that it was “an egregious use of money”. He added, “It’s feasible that if not we can just do a whip-around and pay for it ourselves.” The cost of the cut out was estimated at £91.62.

The JCR voted not to pay for the cut out, as it was deemed to be too great an expense. However, the idea was lauded and students were encouraged to make personal donations towards the expense.

D’Urso told students, “I’ll post on Facebook. Like it if you’re willing to pledge £3 to contribute.” However, later, he was more pessimistic, telling Cherwell, “I give it a week before someone tears his head off, he’s famously quite rude to people. Our next JCR motion will be to ask for £2,000,000 to lower the mound by 50cm.”

Deaf student Helen Willis has been awarded the £6000 UK Graeme Clarke Scholarship to help her in her studies at Oxford.

Willis lost her hearing when she was only 18 months old due to meningitis. She said, “My parents were told I would never be able to speak and I would need special support for the rest of my life.”

Thanks to a cochlear implant Willis was able to achieve straight As at Mary Hare Grammar School for the deaf in Newbury and apply successfully to St John’s College, where she is a second year student of physiology and psychology. Willis is also currently the Disability Rep at St John’s. She has just started filming a documentary for St John’s TV station that aims to provide a first-person account of what it is like to have a cochlear implant.

She told Cherwell, “Previous television documentaries on deafness and cochlear implants have generally been third-person accounts, and I feel that the best way to understand how the cochlear implant works and the challenges the recipients face is to directly experience it for yourself.”

The scholarship Willis received was set up to honour the memory of Professor Graeme Clarke, the pioneer of the modern cochlear implant, and is presented to deaf students on both the basis of academic achievement and commitment to the foundation’s ideals of humanity and leadership.

The grant will allow Willis to pursue her education beyond undergraduate level. She commented, “As a result of the fact that I no longer have to pay for my undergraduate study it means that I can now afford to enrol in a DPhil programme, which is something I’d very much like to do.”

Willis continued, “I hope to use my personal experience with the cochlear implant to inform understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in this process. “

She emphasised the importance of the implant to her, telling Cherwell, “It has totally transformed my life. Meningitis had left me no residual hearing whatsoever, and as a result, no voice.

“Thanks to the implant giving me back some sense of hearing, I can now better appreciate environmental sound, understand what others are saying and learn how to speak.”

Life at Oxford still presents challenges for Willis as the implant still does not give her perfect hearing. However, she said, “I would not be a student at Oxford and be living my dream without the cochlear implant.”

A leading Cambridge don has attacked the “toff image” of Oxbridge promoted by politicians and the media.

Professor Robert Lethbridge, Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, has warned that bright state school pupils might be put off from applying to Oxford and Cambridge due to outdated and harmful caricatures.

Lethbridge emphasised the importance that the two universities place upon access and equal opportunities. He commented, “I think we need to constantly stress that, at the very top of our education system, we are utterly meritocratic. We need to counter the self-deprecatory dimension of Englishness and we need to no longer retail the Brideshead Revisited, toff image of Oxford and Cambridge which some misinformed people find as a lazy target.”

Hannah Cusworth, the Vice-President at OUSU for Access and Academic Affairs, commented, “Oxford’s access work does much to combat this ‘toff’ image and the amount and quality of this work is improving every year. The best way Oxford can show the university is not full of toffs is to let students from a diverse range of backgrounds lead its access work.

“If Oxford wants to dispel this idea that all students here are toffs it needs to change the perception of Oxford undergraduates and convince the media to stop running silly stories that perpetuate this image. Another way, of course, is to make sure our access work is successful so that more bright students from ordinary backgrounds win a place at Oxford”.

An Oxford University spokesperson echoed Lethbridge’s sentiment and was similarly optimistic about Oxford’s access work. They commented, “Media coverage of Oxford does tend to be somewhat weighted towards the negative and stereotyped. However, the University is working hard to communicate the messages that Oxford’s recruitment and selection procedures are about merit, not background, and that state school students are in the majority at Oxford.

“As part of this, the University spends millions of pounds each year on outreach and access work, holding over 1500 events for potential students annually.” The Independent Taskforce on Student Finance has recently shown that Oxford offers the most generous financial help for the lowest-income students out of any university in the country, which amounts to over £22,000 over three years.

Leah Lazar, a fresher at New College, commented, “The social inequality found at Oxbridge is not down to its admissions process but is symptomatic of the British school system as a whole. Politicians need to stop Oxbridge bashing and start addressing the inadequacies in British schools.”

Brasenose students have voted in favour of a motion whereby students would have to gain permission from the college parents of the student they wished to ‘marry’ before proposing.

The motion, which was passed last Sunday and will come into effect in Michaelmas, aims to combat the “geographic gap” between first years living in college and second years residing in Frewin Halls, located next to the Union, which “hinders the fostering of relations between year groups”.

The motion, submitted by Brasenose student Russell Black, stated, “In this, Britain’s second ever Diamond Jubilee year, the power of traditional institutions has never been higher.” It added, “The University of Oxford is a bastion of colourful and archaic tradition.”

However, the motion also acknowledged the need to modernise certain traditions due to “patriarchal overtones” and thus will be completely gender neutral. Black also told Cherwell that the JCR had agreed on a pact of silence never to tell incoming freshers that the motion was new that year, but rather to pretend that it was always the case.

Louis Trup, who seconded the motion, told Cherwell that as part of the new rule, “freshers may court their partner’s parents with the purchase of a drink or gift”, explaining that the motion was put forward to increase mixing between first and second years, outside of the family structure.

He added that the motion would also prevent the “inevitable occurrence of unions between two bright-eyed freshers occurring in the drunken abyss of Park End which, 86% of the time, end up with very awkward college family events in the future” and that it would be unlikely permission would be refused unless due to “extreme circumstances”.

The motion appears to have been received favourably by Brasenose JCR. First year biologist, Alice James said, “I think we all reckon it’s a really lovely idea, it means not only that we’ll get to talk to our parents and other parents a bit more but that college marriages will be a more considered affair.

“It’ll also probably guarantee a stronger friendship with your spouse at least in the early lonely days of Michaelmas.” She added, “We don’t seem to do things by halves at Brasenose, so if you’re going to get married, do it properly!”

Trup, who also described the motion as “wonderful” and “a great opportunity for second years to get a free drink”, recommended that the idea should be rolled out to all colleges due to it being a force for the strengthening of relationships between year groups.

Members of the Brasenose JCR committee were contacted, but did not wish to comment.

A historic library owned by All Souls College was stripped of all its books and furniture in the early hours of last Tuesday morning. Council workers backed by the police cleared Kensal Rise Library between 2 and 3am, removing thousands of books and the plaque commemorating its opening 112 years ago.

However, the library was given a lifeline on Saturday after the council agreed to talk with campaigners about a possible community-run project. The project is also dependent on an arrangement being reached with All Souls.

In 2010 Brent Council announced that six libraries in the borough would be closed owing to “dwindling visitors and the state of the buildings themselves”. Despite the efforts of local campaigners, the supreme court ruled that no further appeal would be heard against the council’s decision.

A spokesperson for the college stressed that it was a purely legal process, stating, “We donated the property to the borough of Brent under the 1854 Literary and Scientific Institutions Act. There was only one condition: the building was to be used as a library and for no other purpose.”

He added that the college had warned the Council in the past, “If you close it, you lose it.”

Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, said, “Our libraries have to bear a share of spending cuts, and I make no apology for that. The deep reductions of over £100m in Brent’s budget imposed by the government mean we have to make difficult choices about all our services.”

The college has said that it never wished to be part of a local political debate. The spokesperson stated, “Our predecessors would be shocked: most people do not give back gifts.”

A motion calling for the immortalisation in bust form of all current and future Christ Church JCR Presidents failed to pass last Sunday.

Second year lawyer Thomas Potter tabled the motion, which resolved to commission a bust of JCR President Tosin Oyetunji, “preferably created by a Junior Member reading Fine Art”. This would then introduce “a tradition of commissioning busts of the JCR President.”

The motion noted that Deans’ portraits in Christ Church’s Great Hall “add an air of history and tradition which is extremely valued by senior and junior members alike.”

It went on to assert that a bust of the JCR President “would do much for the aesthetics of the [JCR] environment”, justifying the rationale for the buy on the basis that the President was “similar within the JCR to the Dean in the College”.

In defence of his proposed tribute, Potter insisted that the bust could “only add to the glory of Christ Church and its members.”

Potter added, “In the long term everyone in college will have their days brightened by constant reminders of our Glorious Ruler.

“The image and reputation of the college will be raised to new heights as we express our undying love for our President to Oxford and the world.”

An amendment involving the commissioning of caricatures for all JCR Presidents still at the college was eventually accepted. Another amendment suggested that stray croquet balls serve the same commemorative purpose instead.

“A few people were worried the JCR budget might go bust,” explained historian and first year representative Lawrence Houldsworth.

In response to the decision, Oyetunji stated, “The job is reward enough in itself, but I am humbled and deeply grateful to have this honour bestowed upon me. All I hope is that my work as JCR President has merited such an honour.”

Ceremonial busts have recently been in vogue, with Brasenose JCR considering a motion to turn the college into a constitutional monarchy under the bust of former President Paul Gladwell. However, the motion failed at the second hearing, with a number of students expressing their “disappointment” at the decision.

First year George Greenwood welcomed the amendment as evidence that Christ Church “are not slaves to fashion. And more importantly, that we have better ideas than Brasenose.”

Fellow Christ Church first year Jack Cottrell, however, was disappointed. He said, “With the heritage of the college, it would have been much more fitting and entertaining to have full-size, classically inspired sculptures.”

Magdalen historian Fred de Fossard drank to the proposal, saying, “There’s a certain glory to a bust which caricatures clearly lack.”