On Wednesday night the university’s LGBTQ+ Society held service for the International Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Trans members of the university performed selfwritten music and held speeches about the growing acceptance of the trans community, and the long way that still lies ahead.

The ceremony took place in Hertford College Chapel. While three speakers read out a list of the victims of transphobic murders, those attending the service were given the chance to light candles in remembrance of the killed members of the trans community.

For around twenty minutes, name after name was read out, with countless “Name Unknowns”. According to PinkNews, an online platform that features news on the LGBT+ community, 311 trans people were murdered last year.

The platform points out that the numbers may be skewed, as local authorities are not always required to report killings to central databases.

In a statement about the service, the LGBTQ+ Society said: “We ask that you stand with us during this time.”

They invited all, “regardless of identity”, to attend. In particular, they wanted to “honour the memories of transfeminine people of colour, who are disproportionately affected by violence caused by systematic transphobia, transmisogyny, racism, classism and ableism in our society today”.

The SU’s LGBTQ+ campaign estimates, as stated in their 2018 Trans Report, that there are less than 100 trans students at the University of Oxford.

Of those that responded to the SU’s survey, 2 in 3 had experienced transphobia or discrimination at the university. Few had reported it, most saying that they would not feel comfortable doing so.

One of the speakers said: “The UK isn’t safe, there’s a long way to go.” Referring to Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which prohibited promoting homosexuality and was not repealed until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in the rest of the UK, they added: “We grew up at a time where we weren’t allowed to talk about being gay”.

Another speaker emphasised the growing acceptance for the trans community, saying: “I love where we’re getting to.” Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place annually since November 20, 1998.

It was first organized by trans activist Gwendolyn Smith, following the murder of Rita Hester in Massachusetts.

Across the world, volunteers from the trans community hold vigils to remember those they have lost every year and read out the list of names.

After the ceremony, the society organized two welfare spaces at Harris Manchester College.

Oxford City Council activated its severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) from rough sleepers this week.

SWEP opens emergency accommodation for homeless people during the colder months of the year, extending to people who have no local connection to Oxford, no right to claim benefits or who have refused previous offers of accommodation and support.

This protocol was previously activated when the Met Office forecasted three or more consecutive nights of sub-zero temperatures.

People would have to present at O’Hanlon House between 9pm and 9:30pm on every night SWEP was activated before they knew where their bed for the night was.

This winter sees changes to the protocol.

SWEP beds are available for anyone who wants to come inside for one night, whenever the Met Office forecasts an overnight temperature of zero or below.

Outreach and assessment services will allocate SWEP spaces to people during the day and notify them where and when they need to go, removing the need to attend O’Hanlon House.

Aiming to improve the experience for people experiencing homelessness, the new process will reduce pressure on services provided at O’Hanlon House.

Stephen Clarke, head of housing services, said: “This winter we’re activating SWEP beds every night the temperature is forecast to hit zero. We’ve also listened to SWEP users who told us at the end of last winter that they didn’t want to register at O’Hanlon House every night.

“We’ve streamlined the registration process and will be telling people during the day where they’ll be sleeping if they want to come inside tonight.”

Using its discretion, the council will open emergency beds in other severe conditions, including snow on the ground, sub-zero “feels like” temperatures or a warmer night during “a prolonged freezing spell.”

In a statement, the council said: “The council hopes there will be less need for SWEP beds this winter given that it has opened two new homeslessness services in the last month.

“The Somewhere Safe to Stay service offers 12 beds for up to seven nights to people who are newly homeless or at risk of rough sleeping while they participate in an intensive “right first time” assessment that identifies suitable housing and links them with the other support they need to leave homelessness behind.

“A shelter offering winterlong accommodation for up to 13 people experiencing rough sleeping is also now open. The winter shelter is available to anyone, even if they do not have a local connection to Oxford or recourse to public funds. Referrals to the winter shelter must be made via the outreach and assessment team, OxSPOT.”

Churches Together will also offer 20 beds in the Oxford Winter Night Shelter from New Year.

Somerville College and the History Faculty of the University of Oxford are collaborating to launch a new scholarship for BAME postgraduate students.

The scholarship has been made possible owing to the financial support of Raj Tulsiani, the cofounder and chief executive of recruitment consultancy Green Park.

The Raj Tulsiani scholarship, for a taught Masters in History, will begin in the academic year starting in October 2020.

Mr Tulsiani said: “It’s a pleasure to be involved in the creation of future leadership. Oxford has done this through education for many years and, for thirteen years, Green Park has been placing diverse senior talent in leadership positions across the public, private and third sectors. This year Green Park has placed a diverse leader on a board every 8 days. By 2025, I want to make that a diverse person on a board every single day.

“For that we need a strong and diverse leadership pipeline that will become the robust, inclusive and representative board of tomorrow.

“Having the capability to support more diversity through this postgraduate scholarship, which will widen the gate for the brightest and the best BAME talent, is a step in the right direction and one that I’m very proud to have been able to take with Somerville.

“It may have been a long time since I lived above my family’s shop in West Croydon, but the lessons I learned growing up have impressed on me that while talent may be everywhere, opportunity is not. This scholarship is a part of my contribution to increasing opportunity.”

BAME students are relatively underrepresented in History, making only 9.3 per cent of students in the discipline compared to 22 per cent across all subjects at Oxford.

Chair of the Oxford History Faculty Board, Professor John Watts, said: “The History Faculty is so pleased to be able to join Mr Tulsiani in supporting this scholarship, and we hope that it will encourage more talented students from BAME backgrounds to apply to us.

“Ours is a broad Faculty, with a huge range of interests, and we want to be as equal and inclusive as we can be.”

A Humanities Division spokesperson said: “There are ongoing efforts by the Humanities Division to offer more UK BAME scholarships.

“In this academic year, three studentships were offered to Masters Humanities students from BAME backgrounds in collaboration with St Cross College.

“For the 2020-21 academic year, in addition to the Raj Tulsiani Scholarship, three studentships will be available for Masters Humanities students from BAME backgrounds in partnership with Mansfield, Pembroke and Wadham Colleges.”

The new scholarship was announced by the Principal on Tuesday during a BAME formal at Somerville.

Students, workers and local campaigners gathered outside the Clarendon Building yesterday calling for the University to pay its staff the real living wage for Oxford.

A wide range of student societies organised the campaign in tandem, including the Oxford Living Wage Campaign, Oxford Feminist Society, Oxford Migrants Society and Oxford Climate Justice Campaign.

The Oxford Living Wage is set at £10.02, already higher than the national real living wage of £8.21.

The City Council sets the wage at 95 per cent of the London Living Wage, which is calculated by the Living Wage Foundation. The Council is scheduled to increase the Oxford rate to £10.21 for 2020.

Only Blackfriars, Campion Hall and St Cross currently pay all their employees the Oxford Living Wage or above.

At the event student campaigners from St Anne’s discussed their expeiences in negotiating with college authorities, noting the typical ‘excuses’ deployed by bursars across Oxford. Councillor Martyn Rush said: “how ridiculous it was that an institution as wealthy as Oxford didn’t pay a wage sufficient to subsist in the city.”

According to a press release from Oxford Living Wage, the University does not pay all its staff this rate despite having the largest endowment of any UK university.

Earning £308.3 million from its investments in the 2017-18 financial year, the university is the largest employer across Oxfordshire.

A campaign spokesperson told Cherwell: “This action shows how important it is for the University and colleges to take action. The popularity of this cause among a wide range of those involved with the University and the wider city makes clear the University and colleges can no longer fly under the radar, and shirk their responsibility to pay a real living wage for Oxford, of £10.02ph.

“The Oxford Living Wage campaign is determined to continually ramp up pressure on Oxford – the wealthiest university in the UK by endowment- as the movement gains further support.”

The spokesperson added: “Today, we have brought together a wide range of interested parties, uniting both Town and Gown in support of the Oxford Living Wage. We’ve shown our resolve to demand for change in the University and college’s pay policy and set out why it is so important.

“Actions like these serve to raise awareness in Oxford – among students and the wider community – of the University’s failings, and hopefully in time will lead to more colleges adopting the Oxford Living Wage, as Campion Hall among others have done.”

In a statement made on the rally’s event page in advance of yesterday’s rally said: “Fair pay is essential to combat poverty— an individual in Oxford earning £9 an hour would only have £25.97 to spend on food each week.

“With this being a standard rate of pay at the University of Oxford and its colleges, we must demand more. If it’s not the Oxford Living Wage, it is a poverty wage. As living costs rise, the wage should too.”

This comes as part of a series of rallies and marches held by the Oxford Living Wage Campaign increase pressure on the University to raise pay for staff.

Oxford University have been contacted for a comment.

From Monday 25th to Tuesday 4th December, staff members at 60 universities including Oxford will strike over pay and working conditions.

The move comes as attempts to broach an agreement between the Universities and College Union and staff failed.

Whereas 43 different universities are striking over pensions and pay/working conditions, academics in Oxford are striking over the pay and working conditions only.

UCU Oxford Co-President Aris Katzourakis said, “Strike action is a last resort, but universities’ refusal to deal with absolutely key issues have left us with no alternative.

“It is staggering and insulting that universities have not done more to work with us to try to find a way to resolve this dispute.

“We are heartened by the support and solidarity of the official student union of the University of Oxford and we hope students will continue to put pressure on university vice-chancellors to get their representatives back round the negotiating table for serious talks with the union.”

As well as an eight strike days, union members will begin “action short of a strike” from Monday – this includes measures like working strictly to contract, refusing to cover for colleagues and refusing to rearrange lectures missed due to strike action.

Staff will be on picket lines from 8.30am at several sites across Oxford – including the Clarendon Building, the Radcliffe Observatory and the Said Business School.

A rally held outside the Clarendon Building on Monday will have speakers including, “Oxford East Anneliese Dodds, Oxford UCU co-president Aris Katzourakis, Oxford Student Union president Anisha Faruk and Chair of Oxford and District Labour Party, Rabyah Khan.”

74% of UCU members polled in Oxford voted in favour of strike action. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has said she ‘fully supports’ the UCU members, and called for urgent talks to resolve the dispute.

She said: “I am deeply concerned that a combination of falling pay, rising workloads and increasingly insecure employment is making a career in higher education less suitable.”

Earlier this week, the UCU laid the blame for the strikes firmly with the universities, who they said had refused to even discuss changes to pay. This will be the second year in a row where Oxford academics strike over remuneration. Strikes were held in early 2018.

A spokesperson for Oxford University said: “The University is disappointed with the outcome of the Oxford UCU ballot in favour of industrial action over the national pay settlement.

“We understand the concerns many staff have on pay, as well as on pensions. We also have a duty to ensure our education and research activities continue as far as possible and will therefore have contingency plans in place to minimise the impact of any industrial action on staff, students and visitors.”