Letters
Dear Editors,
I am writing in response to your piece in last week's edition, 'Tutes Down Shute'. I was very disappointed to see the coverage of the Institute for the Advancement of University Learning's Student Experience Questionnaire as 'loaded' and a 'precursor to stint reform'. The IAUL is university department which seeks to foster an independent research based approach to learning and teaching. I have every confidence that it genuinely seeks to provide useful information not only to the university and colleges, but to JCRs and OUSU. It would be a great shame if your article gave students in Oxford the impression that this questionnaire has suspect or shady motives, and thus reduced the rate of return. It would be a disservice to improving academic provision in this university.
Yours faithfully,
Sonia Sodha
OUSU Vice President (Access and Academic Affairs)
Please can we put a stop to the cheap, and almost inevitable, shots at JCR Presidents littering the OxStu at present? To call students who continually work day-in, day-out for the good of their college "Stupid little presidents" (as in Letters last week) is unfair and inaccurate. And as for 'brainless,' which we were called a few weeks ago; I feel it should be remembered that we are all intelligent people, that's why we're here. Simply because we are mandated to vote in Council in ways that certain people do not think is 'right', does not mean that we are 'brainless' - it makes us accountable and representative of our position. Laura McInerney JCR President, St Peter's
Dear Editorially Dependent Children,
Greatly enjoyed your bitchy front page last week. The readers always prefer a spot of journohack squabbling to real news. To be fair, your story did have something to it - we now know that there is every possibility that this monk guy will be able to continue his studies at St Benet's as a lay undergraduate. Didn't really understand your criticism in the editorial about Cherwell not getting down with the spirit of Diversity Week - I assumed Josh was just following the attitude of the overwhelming majority of the student population and not giving a flying fuck.
Yours ever, James Kettle
20th Feb 2003