Somerville forced to lock its doors for drugs conference
Somerville College was forced to go into lock-down on the evening of Thursday 16th February when they hosted the Glaxo- SmithKline lecture in their Parks Road theatre. GlaxoSmithKline admit that around five per cent of their research involves animal testing, and they are a regular target for activists, who recently sent letters to the neighbours of two of their executives in which they accused the men of being rapists.
An e-mail sent to the entire college explained that the extra security provisions were ‘due to the nature of the event, people involved and the fact that there is a planned animal rights protest that afternoon.’ The Domestic Bursar attended the lecture theatre to check the university cards of everybody entering the conference, and the Proctor’s office and the university security services had additional staff at the theatre, providing a visible presence to deter potential activists.
Dave Davis, Domestic Bursar of Somerville College, told The Oxford Student, “These were precautionary measures due to the animal rights protesters. It is standard university procedure to take such measures, as I’m sure students are aware.” The college locked its gates from 5pm, as this was when the planned protest was expected to end, raising fears that protestors may move on.
Students were asked to be vigilant and report anything unusual, however in the event there were no problems, with conference guests able to arrive and leave without any confrontation with protesters.
23rd Feb 2006