Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Disabled students promised access to recorded lectures have been consistently denied this support by the University since its recommended implementation in 2016, an Oxford Student investigation has found. Further, support was denied despite the University recording all lectures this term, as part of all teaching being conducted remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many disabled […]
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Encaenia, the annual University ceremony for the conferral of honorary degrees, will be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Oxford honorands will receive their degrees in the next ceremony to be held on 23 June 2021, according to a proposed Congregation resolution likely to be approved without opposition. The seven people originally due to be […]
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Image Description: Corpus Christi students study outside in the Front Quadrangle. This week saw a dramatic announcement by the University of Cambridge. For the next academic year, all lectures will be online. This decision swiftly follows a similar move by Manchester University to shift all next term’s lectures online. Cambridge maintain that physical lectures would […]
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A new morale-boosting scheme for students who are social distancing at the University has officially launched, as Worcester College is the first to recruit its own ‘In-College Rep’. Beth Chamberlain, a student who is currently in University residence, has filled the ‘In-College Rep’ post at Worcester College. Speaking to The Oxford Student, Chambarlain emphasised that […]
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Image Description: U.S Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with Oxford Union President Robert Harris before delivering an address to Union members on 11 May 2016. The Oxford Union has come a long way from the all white, all male debating club that it once was. Now, the Union plays host to a Spotify podcast […]
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Image Description: Books on a shelf about eugenics. Warning: this article refers to content which may be considered disturbing, including incitement to hatred, physical violence, racism, ableism, eugenics, and Nazis. It also discusses trigger warnings, triggering content, prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes. The most frustrating thing in the debate about the SU motion, and in […]
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Image Description: Students playing croquet on the lawn of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Imagine that you have ordered £100 of groceries and only half of the order with some dubious substitutions turns up. Would you still pay the full price of the delivery? Yet still the university asks us to pay full fees for a […]
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Image Description: Students in academic dress outside the Exam Schools, Oxford. The Oxford SU’s recent motion to issue an amendment to make lecture and tutorial content “prejudicial on the grounds of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, cisgender/transgender status, or socioeconomic background” non-mandatory has sparked much controversy in the press. I have several concerns […]
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Historians, cultural commentators, and sociologists have long wrangled over the extent of secularisation in our society. Does yoga count as a religion? Is listening to Songs of Praise the same as attending church? In reading your horoscope, are you engaging in a new spiritualistic society? Are ‘new age movements’ hippy-dippy rubbish, or truly meaningful? And, […]
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A Student Council motion recently passed arguing that the current legal definition of what constitutes ‘hate speech’ is not enough. While the motion has good intentions, it is severely flawed and strikes in the wrong direction. The resolution sought to push for university policy to also prohibit hate speech regarding gender identity, socio-economic status, and […]
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‘Oxbuddy’ aims to connect Oxford students with potential applicants from historically underrepresented schools. Since the launch of the student-led scheme only last week, over 250 student volunteers have signed up. These volunteers will give advice and answer questions from prospective applicants. However, this initiative only highlights the university’s failure to recognise the root of the […]
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An open letter calling for changes to Oxford University’s plans to have students graduate without attending an official ceremony has attracted over 2000 signatures. The open letter calls for graduation ceremonies to be postponed or conducted in smaller groups, rather than cancelled outright. Graduation ceremonies meant to be taking place on the 2nd and 9th […]
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In the perennially wise words of Marge Simpson, it’s very easy to criticise. It’s much harder to come up with a sound policy for mitigating the effects of a coronavirus pandemic on hundreds of different examinations and types of examinations; at a university comprised of nearly 25,000 students of all ages; who study nearly 400 […]
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Image Description: The UCU stop tuition fees march. This academic year has hardly been the best. UCU Strikes disrupted Michaelmas and Hilary, and now Trinity is to be held remotely. It is not a stretch to argue that we have not got what we are paying for. This is what hundreds of thousands of students […]
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Image description: Handicap parking logo As we near the third week of quarantine, a worrying trend in our response to the coronavirus has started to emerge. Seen in both politicians and university faculty alike, the somewhat blasé attitude toward those of us with underlying conditions is concerning at best, and frightening at worst. “Concerning at […]
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Image Description: Sign relating to the Coronavirus pandemic outside the Oven Door, High Street, Wetherby. Pandemics are hard to characterise. Identifying a touchstone, emblematic of all they entail is by definition, difficult. Nevertheless, we can, paradoxically, rely upon a crippling lack of certainty. After all, global crises are periods of profound insecurity. Yet, even in […]
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Image Description: A girl using the Whatsapp messenger service to connect with friends. Five minutes ago, I left a four-hour Skype call with some of my Oxford friends. Yesterday, I spoke to another friend for four hours via Facebook. I have never socialised more than I am now. That’s despite being on vacation, so its […]
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To put it simply: the disturbance caused by the coronavirus pandemic should merit cancelling all exams in Trinity term. The UK government has already cancelled all GCSEs and A levels and shut all schools. Further, a majority of people in the UK are either working from home or not at all. This disruption to society […]
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Image Description: A sign on the entrance of a local school signalling closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the UK Government has taken unprecedented steps to combat the spread of the virus. The imposition of a temporary ‘lockdown’ since midnight on 24 March has been the most dramatic of […]
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