There are some wars that will go on for all time. Good against evil. Light against dark. Jedi against Sith. And, of course, the undergraduates against the College. One of the current fronts of this conflict comes in the form of bicycles. For most of us our bikes (provided they have not been culled recently) live outdoors, possibly with a rickety lock on them, in barely usable condition. But for others, it’s a completely different matter.

Some people in College enjoy cycling as more than just a form of transport. These people disappear off on sunny afternoons to go cycling to places that are ridiculously far away, such as Headington. And for this these people need very good, ultra lightweight, extremely expensive bikes; Headington Hill is, after all, very steep. And here is where the battle begins, as these bikes, if left outside, will be stolen within a couple of days. College has tried to make provisions for this in the form of the bike store, however if the bike is left in the store it is not covered by insurance, whereas if left under lock and key in one’s room it is. The reason for this is that anyone from New College can just swipe into the Bike Store, which isn’t covered by CCTV, and walk away with a nice, new bike. However College don’t like bikes in rooms…

So this current battle is being fought by some valiant heroes from the Fourth Year, in the form of James McIntyre, Dave Bishop and Tom Buckley. On the other side are the Scouts and the Home Bursar. Or at least we think it is. College officers seem to enjoy saying how they don’t have the power to override the all-knowing College Handbook. Therefore you move onto the next person. Get the same answer. Bitch a bit. Move on. Get the same answer. Move on. Find yourself back with the bloody Home Bursar!

Sorry, I digress. The fact is that in the last few weeks they have been firing emails back and forth arguing this issue, with College not giving the Fourth Years a meeting with the Home Bursar and the Fourth Years refusing to move their bikes, locking them to the furniture in their room to stop removal. This continued for a while until the Home Bursar called in reinforcements in the form of the Dean, who informed the Fourth Years that this was now a disciplinary matter. Not to be outdone the Fourth Years called in their own extra troops, in the form of Robin Moss.

The Fourth Years sent four or so emails asking for reasons, which were listed as: they blocked the Scouts, they’re a fire risk or they would make the room dirty – however none of these seemed to make sense, since these bikes are rarely used and kept very clean, and in rooms the size of the Weston Buildings they can easily be stored away without causing obstruction. When explaining this in another email, asking for a chance for discussion, College were unwilling. The Fourth Years thus felt somewhat hard done by, especially since the next correspondence came from the Dean, informing them to move the bikes or face ‘further disciplinary actions’. This threat seems somewhat unfair when considering that a £2000 bike is such a tempting target for bike thieves.

When I quizzed the Home Bursar over the bike store, she did concede that the current security arrangements (swiping a Bod Card) are not sufficient and she has already started looking into changing that, promising to make it so that only specific peoples’ Bod Cards are activated (by asking College personally) and by getting a quote for CCTV coverage. However this still requires the owners of any expensive bikes to purchase their own bike insurance (over £100 a year for a £2000 bike) instead of it being covered by room insurance. This cost may easily be too much for the avid cyclist. If College wants to encourage us to partake in university sport they need to make sure that provision for any required equipment is made. Caroline Thomas said she was unaware of any insurance covering the bike store and it should be down to the cyclists themselves to arrange this. Surely if our room insurance will suffice to cover the sporting equipment kept in our rooms the onus is on College to make sure that their insurance will cover any equipment they insist on being kept in their rooms instead? College clearly feel otherwise, suggesting to one of the Fourth Years that: “It is not the responsibility of College to keep his bike safely.” And telling him that as there is still a waiting list for accommodation he could move out without a penalty! I would suggest that it is the responsibility of College to provide us with a way of keeping our (often expensive) personal belongings safe.
A motion trying to get College to change this rule has currently been submitted by the MCR, and one is probably going to be submitted to the JCR. However it looks like College aren’t quickly going to change their mind on this issue so it looks likely the war is set to drag on…