Southside Demolition Southside's much-publicised renovation make refurbishment cheaper, though delaying (Felices ad nauseam) may give way to its total it even further. demolition in a new plan drawn up by College. iff //$ 4 'V The proposed replacement building will hold The landmark building, much maligned by over 500 bed-spaces in extreme proximity to residents, currently houses 390 students dur- ' Awt* College, much touted as one of the Rector's ing term-time but has become steadily less main residences goals - a useful increase of habitable with each passing year. Plans to tear 100 beds to offset planned halls sales. down the building have been thwarted by its Union President Sen Ganesh said that he Grade II listed status: The structure is consid- was "excited about the provision of higher ered to be exemplary of its style. The result is ' Is quality residences" and "keen for a quick deci- that refurbishment would require a huge sion", but expressed concern that the demoli- investment by College to maintain original fea- tion bid may do little other than set back the tures while maintaining the infrastructure nec- inevitable refurbishment. essary for students to live there. David Brookes-Wilson, Head of Estates, was The Southside refurbishment plan has reticent to comment before an official decision, repeatedly slipped from its 2001 schedule due Southside: Home of bar and student but stressed that all the options were "benefi- mainly to funding problems. However, despite cial to students". financing issues, work had been brought for- will have to be de-listed - something the The redevelopment of Eastside (Linstead ward to 2003-2004 due to grave concerns College will have to agree with the Government Hall and tennis courts) will undoubtedly follow, that the "critical infrastructure" may fail before while gaining support from preservation groups but with so many slipping deadlines, it remains the most recent refurbishment date of 2005. - certainly the biggest obstacle to the College's uncertain who will benefit. In order to pull the building down, Southside plans. Equally, de-listing the building might AW Cynical Sykes Snubs Protest Tom investigates Sykes' motiva- 650 Imperial students lined the that he would walk the protest tions for the UCL merger and route between the Rector's office route, but seemed not to take the top-up fees... and 170 Queen's Gate last Friday crowd very seriously as he smiled to protest about the proposed broadly during his two minute Alex vents his spleen (amongst introduction of tuition fees for walk to the College Council meet- other organs) about his finan- Imperial College students. ing where the proposal was to be cial worries... There seemed to be some con- presented. fusion among protesters inter- At the meeting, the proposal 2<fi «o/a. quite-Halloween special, as viewed by Felix about whether was approved unanimously apart iy mixes our web reviews they could be liable for fees - a from the one vote awarded to the REFERENCE on with the Really Wild condition explicitly ruled out by Union delegate. Sen Ganesh said the proposal - but many were that the protest had "raised ques- there on behalf of the next gener- tions" at the meeting, but clearly COLLECTION gets slightly creepy... ation of students. had little effect on the outcome. Imperial College and t stay up late. The Rector agreed with Union The fees proposal now awaits 25th October 2002 President Sen Ganesh in advance Governmental approval. AW Science Museum Libraries "ltd be alright if you weren't such a bitch" http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/felix/ [email protected] 02 NEWS FELIX Crash! FELIX One of the minibuses provided by Issue 1245 the Union to clubs and societies was ... severely damaged in a crash last mt week, sending the Union's transport Editor Will Dugdale arrangements into chaos. li Deputy Editor Alisdair Wren Nobody was hurt in the accident, Science Rosie Chandler which left the unfortunate bus over- Music Sajini Wijetilleka turned on a grass verge. The bus, Nightlife Patrick Hoar affectionately known as 'Fleb' may Film Simon North be written-off after the accident dur- Web Jenny Lewis ing a tour by the Mountaineering Coffee Break Mike 'n' Jim Club. Unfortunately, the bus' MOT, Sports Alex Coby declaring the vehicle roadworthy, had recently expired leaving uncer- tainty over whether insurance will Felix, Beit Quadrangle, Prince cover the damage. Consort Road, London Other clubs booked to use the bus SW7 2BB have had either to cancel their trips or to hire private transport for their She canna take much more of this, Captain! Tel: 020 7594 8072 excursions. Private hire requires a E-mail: [email protected] driver aged over twenty-five, further limited to those clubs with existing Felix could not establish any kind limiting the number of qualified driv- bookings. of repair and certification schedule Felix is a registered ers available to those clubs with can- The loss of 'Fleb' brings the total of for the buses, nor had any decision newspaper: celled Union bookings. available minibuses down to five out been made about whether 'Fleb' ISSN 1040-0711 An official responsible for transport of the Union's fleet of eleven, though would be written-off as the issue in the Union said that clubs would one of those is apparently "dodgy" went to press. Copyright © Felix 2002 not be refunded for money spent on while the other "has no oil", leaving In a new development, Imperial private hire due to concern that there only three that are genuinely usable. College Mountaineering Club may Printed by Witherbys, EC1 would be a "landslide" of claims for The rest are awaiting the MOT cer- now change their name to Minibus compensation - even if refunds were tificates that the crashed bus lacks. Crashers. AW Award for IC Radio IC Radio's science-based talk sponsors including BBC Radio 1, show Mission Impossible was BBC Radio Five Live and the nominated for a national Student Radio Academy. Many past win- Radio Award at a ceremony held ners and nominees have in London last week. launched successful careers in The show, put together by professional radio thanks to the Imperial's Science Awards. In 2000, IC Radio's web Communication stu- site www.icradio.com The won the award for the dents, was one of six Bank of England nominees in the cate- Best New Media gory of Best Speech- J Innovation. will be holding Based Programme The nominations a Career Presentation (Factual). were announced at at the To quote one of the several regional parties Sherfield Building, presenters, "Mission across Britain, with Impossible is to sci- the London event held Ground Floor, Ante Room ence what napalm is at LSE Students' to a bale of hay, Union. Up-and-coming 4th November, 2002 choosing to ignite the subject bands Careless and Bushbaby 6:30pm - 9pm with a refreshing brand of provided the music for a packed humour and intrigue." The show student audience. Also present blends together a variety of wide- were Radio l's Emma B, XFM's sign-up to attend at: [email protected] ranging ingredients, from topical Kevin Greening and the contro- science news to the radio soap versial presenter Jon Holmes. opera Empirical College. The main ceremony, hosted by The Student Radio Awards Emma B, will take place at began in 1996 and are strongly Goldsmiths College on Thursday supported by the industry, with November 14. Dave Edwards [email protected] We're still looking for departmental and halls correspondents FELIX COLUMN 03 What's In It For Sykes? During the last week, I have heard many sto- presided over the merger of GlaxoWellcome spending to cut taxes hence win votes. ries and ideas about the Rector's proposed and SmithKline Beecham. Even the Wellcome Drawing parallels to the rail industry, the gov- plans for the merger of UCL and IC, the £10k Trust (later pic) was not immune to him, being ernment is attempting to privatise an under- top-up fees, and the damaging effects that bought up in 1995 by Glaxo. He has a history funded state service. these will have on IC. Will the creation of a of merging organisations, so his philosophy is Sir Richard has a taste for running large 'new' University of London wobble the delicate very much 'bigger is better'. organisations. UCL is currently in a weak posi- balance already held, putting the smaller col- At least he can send his own kids to IC for tion; the incumbent Provost, Sir Derek Roberts leges into an endless spiral of decline? Why do £10k a year, since for 2000 and 2001, he is only temporarily on the job, and the previ- we want to dilute our good reputation with was paid a staggering £2.16m by gsk. But the ous Provost Sir Christopher Llewellyn Smith that of a University from which some of us Rector does not make as much money at IC as was booted out. Could Sir Richard be exploit- received an unconditional offer to study, whilst he used to at gsk, and merging with UCL is ing the situation to his personal advantage: an accepting an AAB offer from IC? unlikely to massively increase his own salary aggressive merger with a rudderless Conversely, many people have nothing but as Rector, currently about £140,000 pa. University? As merger partners go, LSE would praise for the plans. 'Fantastic!' 'Well done, But something must be on the cards; even a be a much better choice for IC, but LSE have the best thing that Imperial could do, merging man with his credentials wouldn't merge two already given us the proverbial finger.