Oriel students went to the polls yesterday to decide whether
or not to re-affiliate to OUSU after three years outside the
student union. Votes in May 2001 and again in June 2002 revealed the
college’s anthipathy to OUSU. Yet OUSU President, Helena
Puig Larrauri, claims that the establishment has reformed itself
and that it is therefore time for Oriel to rejoin. Disaffiliation means that Oriel students cannot make use of
OUSU club nights, the Nightbus, OUSU publications, including the
OxStu, or any of the OUSU support networks for common rooms,
officers and campaigns. Tickets to the Fresher’s Fair also
have to be bought separately. However Oriel students are still
represented on University committees and can still vote and run
for positions within OUSU. Puig Larrauri said that, “OUSU does not need Oriel from a
financial point of view, we want them back because we think they
would benefit from affiliation.” She also pointed out that
“all the other 29 JCRs have re-affiliated this year, St
Cross has joined for the first time and Exeter MCR are holding a
vote on re-affiliating soon, leaving only Oriel and St
Benet’s outside OUSU.” One Oriel student, though, explained his reservations,
“it will cost us £1300 a year, which can be better used by
us instead of paying OUSU officials to occupy the exam schools
and disrupt our studies.” However as Oriel’s Chief Returning Officer, Mohammed
Khuram, said, “Under the college’s constitution a two
thirds majority is needed for a constitutional change” . He predicted a turnout of above 80% and said that he had tried
to ensure a free and fair election with a debate between OUSU
officials and their opposition and allowing the student
union’s ‘Yes’ campaign posters.ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

In the recent Wadham SU presidential elections, students voted
to reopen nominations rather than elect those standing for
election. No ostensible reasons for this result have emerged,
other than the dearth of candidates. Only one first year, Adam Craig, stood for election,
suggesting disillusionment within the SU. Many Wadham students
also feel Rob Vance’s role as former SU president would be a
tough act to follow. ==== St Hugh’s JCR President, Dominic Curran, resigned on
Wednesday, in the run up to his finals as his college continue a
rent fight. A quarter of the St Hugh’s undergraduates formed a 130 ft
long chain outside their governing body on Wednesday, as part of
a campaign to fight the ongoing rent increases. The governing
body will increase rent by a further 7 % in the 2005-2006
academic year, bringing battels up by 36% over the four years. ==== 200 students from St Catz also spent Wednesday lunchtime in
silent protest about a proposed rent increase of 10.2% next year. The protest came before the college governing body met to
discuss charging students the full economic cost (FECA) of their
rooms. Students lined the main quad with posters like “FECA:
Fearfully Expensive College Accommodation”. Pete Dale, JCR
President, said that the college has a duty to subsidise
accommodation.ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

An Oxford restaurant has been fined £17,000 for the filthy
conditions in which its food was prepared. The Liasion Chinese Restaurant in Castle Street was reviewed
favourably by Cherwell just two weeks ago, which admired its
“mess and fun.” Upon hearing about the prosecution one
student regular vowed never to eat there again, despite promises
from the management that standards had long since improved. Environmental Health Officers inspecting the establishment in
July 2003 found numerous serious breaches of Food Safety
Requirements. Cooked egg fried rice, cooked noodles and pork meat
were being stored outside in an alleyway, with no protection from
contamination. Mould and cobwebs were found on the roof covering
this food. Inside the restaurant the walls were smeared with
grease and the floor covers were torn and hard to clean. A set of
cracked, broken weighing scales and a rusty tray were used for
food preparation and storage. Charles Tsang, owner of the restaurant, pleaded guilty to
seven offences under food safety regulations. He was charged
£17,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 court costs. Tsang, who has extensive business intersts in Oxford, told
Cherwell that hygiene had long since greatly improved: “I am
the Managing Director of the company, and I sacked the manager of
the restaurant on the day of the inspection. We’ve changed a
lot since then and they wouldn’t prosecute me now.” He
was also keen to point out that he was very wellknown and
respected in the Chinese food trade. Questioned about the financial implications of the hefty fine,
Tsang said that he was seeking new legal advice. “I
don’t want to say anything yet,” he said, “but I
may fight back.” The damage to the restaurant may be even
more costly. One Christ Church undergraduate, said that he was
“very, very shocked” by the news. “I used to go
there a lot with my parents,” he said, “I won’t
now.” This publication had no such reservations. Just two weeks ago
Cherwell extolled the virtues of this small restaurant. “It
is so refreshing to find a restaurant in Oxford that is truly
authentic,” it was decided. “Socially this is top draw;
with lots of mess and fun.”ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

Angry finalists forced Lincoln College to change the time of
the fire drills this week, after discovering that they were
planned for 8.50am, half-an-hour before they had to be at
examination schools for finals papers. Lincoln finalists on the High Street and Bear Lane Street had
to express their anger to the Bursar and the Senior Dean before
the times were changed. As one student explained, “What was
really upsetting was the timing – 8.50am – when they clearly knew
finals start at 9.30am. College authorities seem completely
oblivious of the fact that the college exists for us to study
in.” The finalists sent messages to the Senior Dean, Peter
McCullough, and the Bursar, Tim Knowles. In an email to the
affected finalists, Knowles argued that the decision to go ahead
with the fire drills, which was originally made by the Domestic
Committee in a meeting on 4 May, was not taken without
consideration of finals. “If the Domestic Committee can be
said to have ‘got it wrong’ from your point of view,
efforts are now being made to ‘put it right’”, he
wrote, but warned of the disturbance the rescheduled time would
cause shops. McCullough sent an email of his own to the finalists and did
offer his apologies, stating, “I must take full
responsibility for arguing that the drills wouldn’t affect
finalists because I had forgotten the unusual case that there are
finalists above the Mitre this year.” In light of the
complaints, the Bursar and the Dean reorganised the times of the
drills affecting finalists, ensuring that the fire drills took
place at 9.25am on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to JCR
President, Mairi Brewis, all went “smoothly” and there
were no further drills that affected finalists. Lincoln’s fire policy was questioned last term, when a
fire burned unnoticed overnight and porters, believing there was
no fire, turned off five alarms. Firefighters took two hours to
put out the blaze.ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

A plastic surgeon has been accused of “serious
professional misconduct” this week, after beginning a sexual
relationship with one of his patients he was treating at
Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital in July 2001. Consultant surgeon Dr Henk Giele, 39, allegedly used his
rounds at the hospital to secretly fondle the married patient,
identified only as “Mrs A,” whom he was treating for
the flesh eating bug, “necrotising fasciitis.” From October 2001 Giele was involved in a sexual relationship
with the emotionally fragile businesswoman, who had an unstable
background, and the couple had sex up to twelve times at the
surgeon’s Oxfordshire home, the General Medical
Council’s professional conduct committee was told. A friend of Mrs A, Oxford company director Amanda Spriggs told
the central London hearing that the relationship was clearly an
“abusive” one in which her friend was being used for
sex. Describing one hospital visit with Mrs A, Spriggs
recalled,“She said that he was particularly familiar with
her. He took risks. He came to her bedside to see her on ward
rounds and sometimes put his hand over the top of the sheet and
stroked her leg. She said she thought it was risky.” Giele on the other hand denies commencing an inappropriately
flirtatious relationship with the mother of three. He claims that
the woman was stalking and harassing him, sending text messages
and making over 400 telephone calls in an attempt to prolong the
affair. She even continued to try and contact him after the
complaint to the medical authorities had been made he told the
tribunal. Giele denies the allegations of serious professional
misconduct and abuse of trust.ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

Scantily dressed men and women strutted down the catwalk at
the Union last Friday. The hallowed Debating Chamber, filled to
capacity with 350 onlookers, showcased designs modelled by Oxford
students. The event was held to raise money for Cry, a
children’s charity. The show’s grand finale was a revealing display of
lingerie, unprecedented in the Debating Chamber. The lingerie was
designed by a Merton graduate. This part of the show attracted a
great deal of attention from Hello, Tattler and a number of
men’s magazines One of the organizers, Oxford Entrepreneurs Press Officer
Kulveer Taggar, told Cherwell , “It was great to see
like-minded students coming together to put on the fashion show.
The team behind the event, Unique Fashionable Objects, set up
through Oxford Entrepreneurs, all gained excellent experience
especially relevant in the fashion world.”ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

Residents of North Oxford have been protesting vigorously
against the property development plans of St John’s, fearing
the harmful effect on the community. St John’s plans to turn a former artist’s studio
into a five bedroom house, but residents claim that the road to
the property is too narrow for safe vehicle access. There is also
anxiety among residents that this is the first step on a slippery
slope to further potentially innocuous development by St
John’s and other colleges. Residents claim that children are particularly at risk from
the increase in traffic associated with the development, given
that there are nine schools in the local area. Many of the pupils
use the street as a shortcut when walking to school. The land agent of Balliol College however, who manages the
nearby Balliol nursery, has written to the council acknowledging
that “there are several institutions involving young
children established in close proximity to the site and their
welfare is of great concern to us”. Some residents believe the development is merely setting a
precedent for larger projects. St John’s bursar Anthony Boyce denied this, saying,
“We have no specific plans at the moment,” adding that
“one family house can’t be called cut-throat
development.”ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

A Bob Dylan expert who has not written a word of poetry since
his school days has been elected as Oxford’s new Professor
of Poetry. Christopher Ricks polled 214 of the 531 votes cast in
last Saturday’s election, beating his closest rival,
Australian poet Peter Porter, by almost forty votes. His election has sparked controversy, as many within the
university believe that the post should be occupied by a
published poet. New College’s Craig Raine believes that if
no poet can be found, then the post should be opened up to
playwrights and novellists, as well as Magdalen’s John
Fuller. Loon candidate and Oriel postgraduate, Marcus Walker, came
fourth of the five challengers. He polled twenty votes, beating
Ian McMillan, the poet-in-residence for Barnsley FC. He defended
Ricks, telling Cherwell that he “would rather see someone
who appreciates good poetry than someone who writes it
badly”. Walker described his own mood on hearing the results as
‘Tennysonian’: “Poets to the right of me, poets to
the left of me, poets ahead of me… but at least one left
behind.”ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004 

Altered Radio has launched a cheeky competition as flyers
featuring six naked girls were distributed around colleges on
Saturday. Entrants are asked to display the frequency 87.7fm in
an original way for the chance to win dinner at QUOD, cinema
tickets or designer clothes. The photos were taken in Teddy Hall graveyard but models
became bashful after it became apparent that Queen’s
students were watching the shoot from overlooking rooms.ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004