Editorials – Week 7 Trinity 2023

Read our Trinity 2023 week 7 print edition, where these editorials appear, here, or pick up a physical copy in your JCR, pidge room, or lodge!

Rose Henderson

The week starting with the Oxford Student website going down was an inauspicious start to the term’s final print edition. But a server upgrade later, alongside two days spent in the SU offices, Ayomi and I can, at the very least, point to a legacy of one more year of technological health for oxfordstudent.com. 

From the aforementioned crash to the OxStu’s highest views per day ever, the term has gone incredibly quickly. Being Editor in Chief has been such a privilege, and I’d like to extend a huge thanks to everyone on the team who has made this term possible. It’s been amazing to see the editorial team get involved at all levels of the paper, getting stuck in at lay-ins, and creating a vast range of interesting, entertaining, and elucidating content for the Oxford student community. 

While it is sad to see the reign of Worcester PPE over the OxStu end, I’m very proud looking back over our term. Ayomi has been a fantastic partner at the helm of the paper, providing lots of laughs, editorial guidance, and a keen eye for a good story, being the first to identify the tale of Trinity: Kathleen Stock’s appearance at the Union. Our official legacy is also down to him, as the birthgiver of the OxStu newsletter. 

I’ve made such wonderful friends at OxStu, and hopefully I’ll be allowed to stick around in some made up capacity next term. And for the future Editors in Chief, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. 

Ayomilekan Adegunwa

I sit here, on my 20th birthday, writing my final editorial. I’m back in the place where it all started – the SU building. In Trinity of my first year, I came here to lay in the Sport section. I had no idea what I was doing, nor had I ever used InDesign. 

A year later, I still don’t really know how to use InDesign, but many other things have changed. I’ve held pretty much every role at the paper – from section editor to deputy editor to associate editor and now editor in chief. It’s been an amazing four terms to be involved with the paper, and this last term as editor-in-chief has been truly remarkable. 

Having a good co-editor-in-chief is a massive part of having a good term as editor-in-chief, and I have been fortunate enough to have an excellent co-editor, the estimable and inimitable Rose Henderson. I’ve said in the past that the continuing functioning of the paper is down to Rose, and I still maintain this – she can (and should!) take lots of credit for the success we’ve seen as a paper. I’m sure I can speak for the whole paper in thanking Rose for her hard work this term. 

There are many other people who are worthy of a mention, far more than could be contained in this editorial – the whole team has been amazing. When I reflect on the past term, I feel a deep sense of pride for everything the team has achieved, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being a part of this. 

gratias ago, amici 

Emily Hudson

Wow, what a term it’s been. I’m very proud of all we’ve achieved these past 7 weeks, though my own presence has somewhat dwindled. At time of writing, I’ve finished exam two of six, and am about to wander off to another library and hole up for a nice sunny afternoon of study. 

We’ve seen some quite stunning pieces of work, from investigations to deep dives into politics, both in Oxford and farther afield. Thanks very much to all the wonderful dep eds, and also to our section editors who I hope will come back next term! The OxStu thrives on new people, as this term is testament to. Do consider applying – I promise it’s great fun. 

Matthew Holland

OxStu readers: In the event that this might be my last term at the OxStu, we are looking for an editor from Portsmouth who is able to fulfil our legal requirement to have someone from Portsmouth on the editorial team. Sadly, Charlie Bowden is from Basingstoke which, while being in Hampshire, is decidedly not near Portsmouth. 

Once upon a time in 2007, Boris Johnson said that Portsmouth was “too full of drugs, obesity, and underachievement”, and the OxStu has managed to prove him constantly wrong with our Portsmouth bias. It is imperative that we keep up this rebuke for the sake of Portsmouth’s pride. 

Thanks Blane and Emily!