Letters to the Editors
Subfusc: the debate
Sir and Madam,
Your last editorial states that ‘it is easy to argue that a silly uniform alone is not enough to put someone off joining the country’s foremost academic institution. That is because it’s a pretty good argument. What most makes a difference to applications from students of non-traditional backgrounds is their having teachers committed to identifying potential and pushing pupils to apply to institutions where that potential will best be developed.
It is patronising to assume that potential Oxford applicants of whatever background hold your phobic aversion to a new culture or tradition. If, for that matter, they are so resistant to leaving their comfort zone, fitting into the real world after Oxford is going to present them with far tougher challenges than making that choice on their UCAS form ever did.
Richard Tydeman
Christ Church
Sir and Madam,
I feel compelled to comment on the OUSU motion • now passed • which proposes the voluntary wearing of subfusc at public examinations. I sincerely hope that students choose to save Oxford’s own brand of academic dress. Subfusc reinforces a sense of community, alleviates pressures of what to wear for exams and helps unite an otherwise incredibly diverse group of students.
We should not interfere with long standing customs; it is eccentricities such as these which prevent Oxford sliding into the homogeny of everyday life.
Daniel James Wilson
Keble
Subfusc off
Sir and Madam, I take great issue with your recent coverage of the ‘end of subfusc’ - not because I am an unquestioning troglodyte supporter of customs, but because “the dress code will be made voluntary, effectively abolishing it” is misleading.
I was at St Andrews, where gowns and white tie are common. Formality should be fun, not forced. If students vote to retain the obligation those who enjoy the subfusc tradition are forcing those who do not to comply with their preferences.Yet if students vote to remove the compulsion those proponents of subfusc will still be free to maintain it, whether individually or through organised opt-in groups dedicated to continuing the practice.
Either way, the subfusc diehards are unaffected; do they have the right to impose their will on the rest of us?
Marco Biagi
Wadham College
Goddard loving part III
Sir and Madam, I realise you have to be thickskinned in politics, but I think Cllr. Matt Sellwood’s letter last week was beyond the pale. As OxStu were happy to admit, they made a typo in transcribing Steve Goddard’s 0th week letter, which gave the impression Steve was MP for Oxford East.
He did, as we all remember, miss out by just 900 votes from unseating the pro-war New Labour MP on 5th May. It’s a little melodramatic for the Green Party to start branding others “delusional” on the basis of this newspaper’s typo. It wouldn’t have been much for Matt to just drop Steve an email, checking whether he was being fair in accusing Steve of misleading readers.
Richard Huzzey
St Anne’s
Coffing it up
Sir and Madam It is always reassuring to hear how well-behaved Oxford students are. This week, then, I was delighted to find that your ‘Oxford People’ column contained hardly any references to people at all. The column instead turned its rapier wit to Cherwell’s new website. All fine and dandy, were it not for the fact this is the first week in about 12 years that the OxStu’s website has been updated on time.
Issue 1 of this term never appeared at all, as far as I can tell. How’s that for being serious about a brand?
Ben Coffer
St John’s
Phill Jupitus writes
I received an e-mail just now asking if I would write something about the fact that Oxide student radio has had it’s budget cut, forcing presenters to invest their own money in the station. As a broadcaster, and one who has worked with student radio stations up and down the UK, I felt compelled to write.
Student radio stations provide a useful and vibrant autonomous channel for student communication. Gigs, sports events, clubs, essential announcements - all of them can be broadcast to the student body with their own voice. This unifying effect of a student run and staffed radio station is an invaluable asset to any educational institution, and that Oxford should be in such a parlous state strikes me as fucking insane (to use a broadcasting term...).
Please do what you can to lobby those whose decisions are affecting something that is an essential voice for you all. At the end of the day, every good school deserves radio. Fight for it.
Phill Jupitus
BBC.
26th Jan 2006