Tsunami appeal Sixth sense Team America Morrissey magic Imperial alumnus Brian May gives Can animals predict natural Puppets protecting the Felix witnesses a live musical his support, page 2 disasters? Page 4 world, page 16 delight, page 12 The student newspaper of Imperial College ● Established 1949 ● Issue 1312 ● Thursday 20 January 2005 ● www.felixonline.co.uk Time to get a job? The Careers section returns with an in-depth look into Union divided over policy as consultancy, featuring an interview with Imperial alum- nus Michael Walton who now runs his own consultancy business. hall rents rise again uCAREERS page 10 By Dave Edwards cially Beit, are subsidising Lots of letters Editor those living in cheaper halls A full page of letters to the as a result. One argument is editor, covering pay prob- As hall fees at Imperial that students living in Beit lems, security, exam anguish, College look set to rise by can afford higher increases, Babar Ahmad and fun in around 5%, the Union Council whilst those elsewhere are Felix. is divided over its stance on less well off and hence can- uLETTERS page 9 how rents are calculated not. across the various different A Beit Hall resident told Starting your week halls. Felix: “The system really Felix kicks off a Monday The exact rent rises, which needs improving. Beit Hall morning at Brixton’s 414 club, will depend on the particu- is great but is it really worth a hidden treasure of hard lar hall or type of room, will £125 a week? And why should dance. be announced in the coming I pay over the odds to make uNIGHTLIFE page 14 weeks. There were disagree- the cheap halls cheaper? ments among student repre- What’s that about?” Dynamic dance sentatives as to whether or At Tuesday’s meeting of We savour Matthew Bourne’s not rents should be based Union Council, student repre- unique treatment of the clas- on students’ ability to pay, sentatives considered three sic ballet Swan Lake. and whether or not certain options. uARTS page 15 rooms should be overpriced Option ‘A’ was to maintain in order to make others the status quo, but ask stu- Student sport cheaper. dents to indicate the price Indoor frisbee fun for the The overall cost of an range they are prepared to Disc Doctors and cham- Imperial education is already pay. Expensive halls would pagne hockey from the medic set to rise markedly for some take most of the rent rises, Thirds. students with the introduc- subsidising cheaper halls. uSPORT page 23 tion of £3000 ‘top-up’ tuition Option ‘B’ was to spread out fees in 2006. the rent rises more evenly, The College currently guar- removing the artificial pre- antees all first year under- mium for rooms in the more graduates a place in hall. expensive halls. Students’ By law, College Residences ability to pay would affect must be self-funding. Each their rent. February, the Head of Option ‘C’ was the same as Residences recommends a ‘B’ but with no link between system of increasing rents rent and ability to pay. by different amounts in dif- Just over half the Council ferent halls and for differ- expressed an initial pref- The Disc Doctors ent types of room. This is erence for option ‘B’. After subsequently discussed by a lengthy discussion, a the Rector’s Committee on slightly amended version Student Residences (RCSR) of this option was narrowly THIS WEEK and the final decision rests defeated. A number of del- News page 2 with the Rector. egates supported option ‘A’. Business page 3 The current hall applica- Interestingly, the only people Science page 4 tion form allows students in support of option ‘C’ were Comment page 8 to express a preference for the President and the Deputy Careers page 10 room type (single, double, President (Education and triple, en-suite) and catered Welfare), who prepared the Students living in Beit Hall are likely to pay upwards of £130 per week in accommodation Around Campus page 11 or self-catered, but students paper and who represent the fees next year. Part of this cost is currently used to subsidise cheaper rooms elsewhere What’s On page 11 cannot choose a particular Union to the RCSR. Music page 12 hall or specify a price range. Sam Rorke, the Deputy port a link between rents of Residences at Imperial due to high costs in areas Nightlife page 14 In recent years, rent President (Education and and ability to pay, Mr Rorke College, told Felix: “Our rents such as construction, clean- Arts page 15 increases have been much Welfare), said: “We had a pointed out that “there are compare favourably with ing and utilities. Film page 16 higher in the more expen- useful discussion and I look already other mechanisms other London universities Felix will bring you details Coffee Break page 22 sive halls than in the cheaper forward to returning to the for students suffering finan- and with the private sector.” of the RCSR’s decision and ones. Students living in the issue in the future.” When cial hardship”. She said that rents were like- the finalised rent increases Sport page 23 more expensive halls, espe- asked why he did not sup- Sharine Brown, Head ly to increase above inflation later this term. Felix 2 www.felixonline.co.uk Thursday 20 January 2005 NEWS [email protected] Issue 1312 Brian May offers support to News Editor Dave Edwards Imperial RAG’s tsunami appeal in brief Business Editor By Siddharth Singh Numaan Chaudhry RAG spokesman Mech eng library Science Editor Darius Nikbin RAG is proud to announce safe for now that it has just received a Music Editor letter of support from Brian The mechanical engineer- Andrew Sykes May, the lead guitarist from ing department’s library and Queen. reading room will not close or Nightlife Editor Mr May was an undergrad- be moved in the immediate Simon Clark uate in the Physics depart- future. ment at Imperial College. In Discussions have taken Arts Editor his letter, he recounts his own place on the possible clo- Paola Smith experience at Imperial and sure, as reported in Felix the need for students to be issue 1310, but the decision Books Editor aware of and committed to has been deferred “for some Martin Smith worthwhile causes. time,” according to Helen Meanwhile, the total has Dawson, the department rep- Film Editor now reached ‘never before resentative. Alan Ng seen heights outside RAG Ms Dawson said: “There is Careers Editors Week’ of £3569.38. the option of making the read- Cassandra Aldrich On behalf of Imperial RAG, ing room a faculty room for Gabriella Silvestri I would like to ask all of you the use of engineering stu- to contribute in whatever way dents in general so that it will you can. More craziness is not be lost.” Felix planned for RAG Week. She offered a note of cau- Beit Quad tion, warning that “the fight is Prince Consort Road not over for good” and pledg- London SW7 2BB ing to make sure that stu- dents are better represented Telephone: 020 7594 8072 when similar issues are con- Email: [email protected] sidered in the future. Web: www.felixonline.co.uk Registered newspaper Halal chicken ISSN 1040-0711 in College Copyright © Felix 2005 All freshly prepared chicken Printed by Sharman and dishes served in the main Company, Peterborough Imperial College catering outlets at South Kensington will be halal from Monday onwards. This fact will be demonstrated to customers on the menus. College Catering said they were pleased to have sourced halal certified chicken from their butchers. They also announced that they were looking at potential suppliers with regard to offering halal beef and other meats in the Former Imperial student Brian May’s letter to RAG encourages students to contribute future. Harry’s Nazi blunder By Emily Gwyer be sickened when they see the party, which was held by a to his brother that perhaps the young prince behaving British Olympic showjumper Hitler was not the best fancy Oops, he’s done it again. The like a drunken member of who also happens to be one dress role model. world’s most entertaining the Hitler Youth,” shouted of the people who invaded the However, just when the fuss royal didn’t so much stick in the paper, suggesting dubi- Labour party conference in was dying down, the papers a toe as belly-flop into the ously that “This outfit will support of hunting. latched onto the fact that waters of controversy again just encourage British neo- The Telegraph was sym- Harry’s blunder could have this week after photos of Nazis and racist skinheads to pathetic: “We can all agree cost London its 2012 Olympic Harry dressed as a Nazi were believe that their sick views that Prince Harry is not very bid. The London bid is large- leaked to The Sun. are right”. bright... it would be ludi- ly based around the city’s The relief on the pages Meanwhile, they praised crous to suggest that the status as officially the most of the tabloid was palpable. William’s choice of costume prince was displaying any multicultural city on earth; After weeks of being seri- (a leopardskin leotard with sympathy for Hitler when a member of the royal family ous and worthy while writ- paws and tail. And they won- he wore what looked like the prancing around as a mem- ing about the tsunami, at last der why this country is going uniform of Rommel’s Afrika ber of the SS is not really in- they had a chance to do what to the dogs).