Finalists : poisoned with just days to go?
AN OUTWARDLY REFINED tea party was held at St Hugh's last Friday to mark the long awaited opening of the new Maplethorpe Building by Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd, MP. But she may have been present for the beginning of the wave of nausea which has engulfed the college. The Senior Tutor, who was ill himself last weekend, maintains that the widespread illness is unrelated to the College's standards of catering - although the kitchens have already been closed once in the last six months by Health and Safety reps. He called the bug a "severe stomach disorder" which was brought into the college "by an outsider."...
News: Footage from a small island...
THE REMOTE ISLAND of Capraia is a far cry from the Pathology Laboratories in Oxford. It is no surprise that Dr Mike Leahy jumped at the chance to join a team of scientists sent there for an upcoming BBC television series, Rough Science.
News: No smoke without fire at the Union
CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS THE Oxford Union yet again, as members await a referendum on a proposal to ban smoking in the bar. A private business motion was passed last Thursday, reading: 'This house believes that the current arrangements for smoking in the Union have made its rooms too smoky, and that the rules should be amended to allow for generous provision of both smoking areas and smoke-free areas.' More crucially, it went on to add: 'no member may smoke on the ground floor of the Society's rooms'. By a majority of 51 (133 : 62), the motion was carried - even though it was followed by a dramatic recount to determine that there were the necessary 200 people in the chamber....
News: Imagine if they did it to you
Magdalen College is fighting to recover from a public relations disaster after the release of an interview report on the state school candidate who failed to gain a place there, but went on to scoop a scholarship to Harvard. A copy of the report on Laura Spence's interview for a place to study Medicine was sent to the Daily Mail, The Journal and The Today Programme on Monday....
News: 'They are destroying a nation'
Sanctions dodger Kirsty Gathergood returned from Iraq last week, seemingly unscathed by her visit - previously reported in the Oxford Student. Representing the charity Voices in the Wilderness - and ignoring UN trade sanctions imposed on Iraq - she flew to Jordan with supplies of toys and medical equipment, before embarking on the 14hr journey by land to Baghdad....
News: The year's most explosive week
Animal rights activists targeted a meat factory in Oxford with firebombs on Sunday at an estimated cost of £80,000.
News: Ali G : da OUSU massiv is now online
BOYAKASHA! Da OUSU web site has bin givun a new himage courtesy of Ali G. That is, the OUSU web site has been given a new image, courtesy of Ali G. Type in www.ousu.org/alig and you will be connected to the AGSU - Ali G Student Union. Its web manager Jon Worth (Jon Worf) is very keen to points out that it does not represent the views of OUSU....
News: Ethics committee targets Oxford
'Many Oxford colleges have shares in arms manufacturers which fuel conflict and arm some of the world's most brutal regimes," declares Tom Harrison, Chairman of OUSU's Ethics Committee. If a new initiative is successful, a radical re-think of how colleges invest their funds could be on the cards.
News: Bacardi in the Breeze
BACARDI'S CELEBRATIONS OF its £625,000 deal with the NUS in April that made it the sole supplier of rum to the NUS for three years, have been short-lived. Student unions around the country are becoming increasingly aware of this rushed anti-humanitarian deal.
News: Protesters take to the streets over Third World Debt
Also marching in Oxford's city centre on Saturday were campaigners for 'Jubilee 2000,' the campaign to cancel Third World Debt. Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East, was presented with a petition in Broad Street.