Letters to the Editor
ANNOYED WITH ORIEL
Dear Madam,
Oriel JCR's decision not to affiliate to the Student Union is a disappointment: Oriel members will continue to miss services and support integral to the life and successes of contemporaries at other colleges.
The problem with such referenda is that the true value of OUSU cannot be appreciated until it has been enjoyed. Common room committees work hard for their members, but can only do so much with the time available. Full time sabs offer specialist knowledge, crucial to the challenges students face today - rent and changes in teaching for example - which can only be tackled effectively at a university-wide level.
Full services would have cost Oriel only £570 more per year: affiliation would have cost £1,400 per year, but £830 is already spent on attending the Freshers' Fair and on publications.
There is a broader knock-on effect. Under law, Oriel is entitled to a certain level of service, the result being that students of the 29 affiliated colleges subsidise Oriel members, a point celebrated by the 'No' campaign in Oriel last week. If Oriel JCR members value these services, as they seem to, they should pay for them.
Our student union continues to evolve, we invite Oriel to join us.
JCR Presidents: Somerville, Magdalen, Pembroke, Mansfield, Wadham, Corpus Christi, Greyfriars, St Anne's, University, St Catherine's, New, Jesus, Hertford, LMH, Regent's Park, St Hugh's (Acting), Brasenose, Lincoln, St Hilda's, St Peters, Keble, St Edmund Hall and Balliol Colleges
Martin Kornicki
Lincoln College
HINDU SOCIETY RESPONDS
Dear Madam,
The Oxford University Hindu Society (HUM) is writing in response to your article of Thursday 20th May 2004 entitled "Hindu Society in militant fundamentalist controversy."
We would like to correct some of the fundamental misperceptions perpetrated by your article and to clarify the position of the Oxford University Hindu Society (HUM) for the benefit of its members and all interested parties. The HUM rejects any suggestion of links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any extremist groups. Such accusations are highly offensive and an affront to the values and ideals cherished by the Society.
As we hope you are aware, the HUM is an explicitly apolitical organisation and has neither the intent nor the desire to support any political agenda of any kind. We are a small student-run group which aims to provide a platform for anyone interested in Hinduism to explore the religion in its spiritual, cultural and social aspects.
Consequently we would like to assure you that no funds raised by the fashion show 'Mumbai Rouge' have been or will be passed on to Sewa International. Furthermore we would like to emphasise that the HUM has not thus far, nor ever will, support extremist groups or associations linked to such groups.
All monies raised have been donated to the 'British Heart Foundation.'
We sincerely hope that those who attended the fashion show 'Mumbai Rouge' enjoyed their evening. We look forward to their continued support in the future.
The President,
Oxford University Hindu Society
NO JUSTIFICATION FOR RULES
Dear Madam,
After subjecting students to months of hard work and possibly the most rigorous set of examinations ever, it seems that the Proctors have decided that people are having too much fun after they finish their exams.
This most recent diktat from the Proctors highlights the: "danger caused when crowds gather". At the time of writing, I'm still waiting to get the final figures for those injured by flour and confetti last year.
Bored with imposing three-figure fines, and with the Governing Body having allegedly vetoed public floggings this year (by a narrow majority), it appears that the Proctors are now keen to see imprisonment as a new form of punishment.
Thankfully, the threat of a mere £70 fine will deter only a few. I, for one, am more than happy to pay such a paltry sum in return for covering my friends in offal, slippery fish and urine.
Boris Olugboja
Brasenose College
27th May 2004