Cycling accident Am iuscidunt vendipi ssequat, vullamet adio od min ullaor in ut volorting erilis niamet, quate tat, ❝sectet utat einciniatem essence nullam volor of ad del us dolore❞ feuguerFREE iliquip hotspots 6 enisci blaore feui erostio del ipsumsandit velessim zzriusci blan eu feu feugiat.Take a Sit lor suscillaore dit, commolesecteLanguage tio con ut am,and sustrud identity do odipsusto odcopy etue do consequisit lam iurem volortion eum irit lore doloreeFeatures tummodolum 18-21 esequis nisci- duis dolenismod te faccum deliquis aliquamet veliquat vel ut am alis nonsed tate te digna ad modoleniam, sum vent lum zzriusto do consed min velessi. INTERVIEW Andit aut ipsummoMeals luptatis dolobortis on wheels autpat la core faccum ilit eu feu facil ipsusto Author corem quatem doloreet, e best quam, food commod vans tissiin Cambridge tio odignis nullandre tat. Duis nos nos John Boyne at. Pat, commy nulluptateVulture conum24-25 nonum erit wis et lor inci blan vulla facidui psus- News 8 trud ming ectet ip elessequisi blan heniamet prat. Em zzriusto ea facillu ptatio ea feuguer ciduismod ming et lutat, vercinis non ute tet utem vel ea facilla facing ea 70 No. 823 Friday 10th February 2017 varsity.co.uk Championing independent student journalism in Cambridge for 70 years Outrage at Queens’ ballot changes Merlyn omas Senior News Correspondent Students at Queens’ College have ex- pressed their outrage over a change to the room balloting system at the Col- lege which has let second-years feeling disadvantaged. Under the changes, students are no longer permitted to select other people to ballot with, meaning that they cannot be assured of living with their friends. Previously, the students were allowed to ballot in groups of four, six, or eight students. e new system has caused particular problems for second-years. Queens’ o ers second-year students a certain number of walk-through rooms which function as shared sets with an en suite. Previously, all those who applied to go into shared sets for their second year were placed in a priority group, mean- Senate House was lit up yesterday, as organisers prepared for the e-Luminate festival, which starts today ▲ DANIEL GAYNE ing they came before everyone else in the ballot. is was intended to incen- tivise students to choose these rooms. ose who did not receive a set were as- sured of a single room. As a result of the Privacy laws threaten Class Lists changes, however, students who apply for a shared set will be obliged to take one, regardless of its type and of who is living around it. e law will not come into e ect until was rst revealed by Varsity in April. A an unconditional opt out system,” but Many students are also unhappy with Louis Ashworth May next year – meaning that questions student campaign, ‘Save e Class List’ added “we may need to rethink how the arrangement of pairs in the room bal- Editor-at-Large over Britain’s continued membership of also called a referendum of the student we can honour this mandate while not lot. In the past, the ballot had operated the EU could now come into play. e body, which took place in November. In breaking the law” if data protection rules by giving the pair consecutive numbers. Ater long campaigns and two referen- University has sought legal advice, which it, students voted to keep the current change. is meant that those who did not re- dums in which Cambridge students and indicated that the new rules may mean system of publication, but called for a “Until the legal situation has been ceive a shared set could still live near Fellows opted to save them, new privacy students have to give explicit permission more simpli ed system for students to clari ed,” she said, “I will keep pushing their friend, but now that numbers are laws may mean that Class Lists disap- for their results to be published. opt out from having their results dis- allocated to each person at random, they pear ater all. “ e University is currently consid- played. Lists are may be hundreds of places apart. EU data protection laws, which will ering the potential e ects of this legis- At present, there is an opt-out system published in Queens’ students attempting to live come into e ect in 2018, mean that Cam- lation,” a University spokesperson told in place for students who do not wish front of Senate with their friends have also faced an ad- bridge may have to introduce a system Varsity, “including the possibility that the their results to appear to opt out, but House at the end ditional hurdle since last year. e overall where students have to opt-in to having public display of class lists may change it requires several stages of approval. of each year plan of room allocations is only available their exam results displayed. to an opt-in system – but no decisions e student referendum’s demands to view in the room when you choose, Varsity has seen an excerpt from un- have yet been made.” were based on the possibility of there for a review of the current opt out system and will not be seen by students before con rmed minutes of the General Board Class Lists, bearing the names and being a checkbox online, which exam to make it simpler and less restrictive for they make their choice. No ‘running list’ Education Committee. In it, Pro-Vice- grade classi cations of students, are candidates could untick should they not students this academic year.” of room choices made will be made pub- Chancellor Graham Virgo, who led a currently published at the end of the wish to have their results published. If e legal issue at stake, however, is lic during the process. review which called for the abolition of academic year – appearing both online, the new EU rules come into e ect, this not entirely clear-cut: under the terms Before last year, the room balloting the Lists last year, said new rules “place and on boards in front of Senate House. could be replaced with a system in which of the new EU law, the General Data system was supervised by the JCR. Now, greater emphasis on active consent be- ey have been the subject of some con- students instead have to explicitly con- Protection Regulation (GDPR), “explicit however, a committee comprising the ing sought from data subjects for data troversy, following campaigns claiming rm they want their results to be seen consent” is required for handling “special College sta supervises the choosing of collection and use, and it had been sug- they are damaging to student welfare. publicly. categories of personal data”, but it is not the rooms. gested that moving to an opt-in system In December, fellows and senior Roberta Huldisch, CUSU’s Education clear whether exam data falls within e college warned students that for publication of Class Lists might con- members voted to keep the Lists, over- O cer, said the student union is “com- sequently be necessary.” turning a motion for abolition which mitted to supporting class lists with Continued on page 7 ▶ Continued on page 4 ▶ 2 Friday 10th February 2017 EDITORIAL News Brexit means... University report what exactly? Equality and Diversity report shows BME and disability happened to be in Brussels on 23rd June last year – EU Referendum day. I have generally been open about having misgivings about the the past two years. More students with European Union, despite ultimately being a Re- Aoife Hogan disabilities sought support from Univer- Imain voter. I bought into none of the ‘Take Back Deputy News Editor sity bodies in 2015-16, rising 14 per cent Control’ arguments – that well-worn refrain over the past year. his relects eforts of the populist uprising; the same but diferent across he University’s Equality and Diversity by the University to better represent the centuries – but found other, legitimate reasons for Information Report, released last week, these students and diminish “any per- concern. I was, nonetheless, hoping for a Remain win, revealed an increase in representation of ceived stigma around the disclosure of and, like most of the country, I was surprised by the BME and disabled students, but showed disability”. he University hope to make result. Market Ward in Cambridge might have been continuing gaps between men and wom- further progress as the SPACE network, particularly surprised (see opposite). en amongst students and staf. which will host key internal diversity Walking through Brussels on 24th June was a strange he report, published annually, re- events such as the 13th Annual Disability experience. he discomfort I felt was all of my own mak- vealed an increase in the number of Lecture and the Annual Race lecture, will ing, of course, borne of an impression that passers-by BME undergraduates from 23.2 per cent be formally launched in 2016-17. both knew I was British and cared. Speaking to British in 2013-14 to 25.3 per cent in 2015-16. Al- Furthermore, the proportion of male colleagues in Belgium, there was a recurring theme: no though BME students only made up 20 and female students has remained rela- one knew what to think, what to say. he confusion of per cent of all accepted university places, tively even over a number of years at that June day has barely dissipated in the seven months BME students were awarded more Firsts both undergraduate and postgraduate since, and moments where it seems we might inally be than their fellow students who identify levels. Female students were more likely approaching some clarity rarely come through.