[HDNG]OXFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENT UNION (OUSU):[EHDNG][PARA][GRPH]P4[EGRPH][STAT][BULL] 4 sabbaticals [BULL] Turnout at last ballot: 30%[ESTAT][PARA][ITAL]The big thing about OUSU is that it doesn't have a union building.  Well, they feel really insecure about it anyway.  Being a strongly collegiate University, the colleges provide most of the services that students' unions offer elsewhere.  The purpose of OUSU is largely to step in at a University-wide level on representation and campaigning.  It also provides a soap box for students who find their college's Junior Common Room ('JCRs' are mini students' unions) too parochial.  The JCRs affiliate to OUSU and give it much of its funding and so OUSU isn't a member of NUS, but some JCRs are.  Confused?  Well, don't worry, it's not important.  The important thing to know is that every student is a member of OUSU, but, like anywhere else, it is run by a collection of hack activists.  It is also worth noting the phenomenal number of clubs OUSU co-ordinates and their excellent publications such as the Oxford Handbook, the Alternative Prospectus (see above), Freshers' Guide, a variety of handbooks and so on.  Politically, OUSU is a bit to the left of many Oxford's students, but the far left are conspicuous by their relative rarity.  Many Oxford students (and this applies particularly to OUSU) are self-consciously tolerant and open to new ideas, but, at the end of the day, expect other people to listen to them and agree.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]SU facilities: [EBOLD]Stationery/sweetie shop and student discount cards.[HDNG]CLUBS (NON SPORTING):[EHDNG][PARA]Acoustic Music; Africa; Air Squadron; Alice (Lewis Carroll appreciation); Amnesty International; Apathy; Arcadian Singers (unaccompanied singing); Archaeological; Architectural; Art; Arthurian; Artificial Intelligence; Arts; Asian; Astronomical; Australia; Bach Choir; Ba'hai; Ballroom Dancing; Bell Ringing; Book-Lovers; Black Caucus; Bonn (Oxford's German twin town); Bow Group (Conservative ideology); Brazilian; Buddhist; Caledonian (Scottish dancing); Friend of Cambodia; Campaign for an Independent Europe (anti-Maastricht); Canadian; Caribbean; Caving; Central America Support; Ceroc (French-style jive dancing); Chamber Choir; Champagne Socialists; Choice (teacher and pupil support); Christian Aid; Student Christian Movement; Christian Science; Classical; Alternative Classical; Classical Drama; Colombian; Comedy Cellar; Comic Books; Community Church; Computing; Contemporary Music; Cranmer (Anglican Christian); Creative Writing; Cribbage; C S Lewis Appreciation; Cypriot; Dangerous Sports; Diplomatic (tactical board games); Dr Who; Douglas Adams ('Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy'); Early Music; East Asian Research; Educational Exchange (studying abroad); English-Speaking Union; Enterprise; Esperanto; European Community; Exploration; Film Foundation; Alternative Film; Food and Wine; Freedom (dance music); French; Gamelan (Javanese percussion); German; Gilbert and Sullivan; Go (oriental game); Greek; Guitar; History; History Alive!; Homeless Action; Hong Kong; Humanist; Hunt Sabs; Indie Music; Inner Temple (Law); International Political Economy; Investment; Israel; Italian; Japanese; Juggling; Kites; Laissez-Faire Dining (individual freedoms and food); Latin American; Law; L'Chaim (Jewish cultural); Legal Aid; Light Entertainment; Links (St John's Ambulance); Literary Society; Living Marxism; La Maison Fran¨aise (French cultural); Malaysia-Singapore; Malaysian; Middle-East; Middle Temple (Law); Monty Python Appreciation; Motor Drivers; Natural History; Natural Philosophy; New Testament; Numismatic (Coins); Ockham (academic); Opera; Ornithology; Pacific Rim; Past and Present Historical; Pastorate (Christian); Peripheral Vision (film/Third World issues); Club de Petanque (French game); Philharmonia; Plough (bio-environmental); Poetry; Polish and Central European; Politics; Pooh Sticks (A A Milne appreciation); Practical Arts; Psychology; Railway; Reformed Church; Role-Playing Games; Russian; Save the Children; Schola Cantoram (Chamber Choir); Scientific; Sci-Fi and Fantasy; Scottish Dance (not the Caledonian Club!); Scout and Guide; Sherlock Holmes; Sinfonietta (chamber orchestra); Soul Appreciation; Soviet Jewry Campaign; Space Exploration; Spanish; Star Trek; Strategic Studies; Tawney (discussion); Theatre-Going; Tolkein; Tory Reform; Turf (horse-racing and gambling); UNICEF; Upfront (soul/hip-hop/house disco); Vedic (Indian); Vegetarian; Visual Productions (film/video); Wagner (appreciation); Wargaming; Welsh; John Wesley (Christian); Wheatsheaf (pub philosophy); Wind Orchestra; Wine Circle; WWF; Wychwood Warriors (dark ages); Yank (Americans).[HDNG]OTHER ORGANISATIONS:[EHDNG][PARA][ITAL]Students who spend their days at Oxford doing nothing but their degrees are made to feel like Sonic in Marioland.  [EITAL]There are plenty fields of endeavour to choose from including various sports, OUSU and college JCRs as well as the following:[PARA][BOLD]The Oxford Union Society: [EBOLD]Not to be confused with OUSU (the students' union), 'The Union' is Oxford's world famous debating society.  Ted Heath, Edwina Currie and Benazir Bhutto are among the many, many famous ex-presidents.  Its high profile has attracted some of the world's most famous speakers to take part in debates and discussions.  'The Union' is also their HQ building which offers a social scene, a bar, restaurant, the Comedy and Jazz Cellars, a library and all the paraphernalia of traditional gentlemen's clubs - but women can join too.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that it costs £90[ITAL] and The Union is a nest for some of the University's most arrogant and obnoxious nobs.  It's a group so tight-knit it's lycra.  Most students join in their first year and then avoid it like the proverbial Bubonic. [EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS):[EBOLD] Almost every day of every term, the population of Oxford is faced with a choice of several student theatrical performances.  Thesps visit each other's productions and thus the shows go on.  [ITAL]The standard often reaches a thoroughly professional level, but sometimes, well, it doesn't, and the selection is as diverse as any legal experience in a theatre can get.  Whether the star of Spielberg's last pic or the third sheep in the primary school nativity effort, new talent is welcomed to auditions with open arms, kisses on both cheeks and the words 'lovely, daaarling'.  The post-audition reception is more discriminating and bitter cries of 'Clique!' have echoes of truth, although drama at Oxford is so widespread that even the most wooden pretenders get a chance to try their board-treading technique.[EITAL]  Meanwhile, there are just as many opportunities to play the non-singing part of unsung hero backstage.  OUDS is the organisational body which co-ordinates and supports this plague of plays and runs the Cuppers drama competition.[PARA][BOLD]The Media:[EBOLD]  Magazines come and go as fast as the tourists in Oxford but there are several long-standing publications [ITAL]with excellent reputations[EITAL].  Primarily, there's Cherwell, Oxford's award-winning weekly student newspaper.  There's also The Word - nothing to do with Terry Christian - [ITAL]which concentrates on more artsy, featuresy matters and most definitely plays second fiddle[EITAL].  Last of the newspapers[ITAL] and least[EITAL], is OUSU's The Oxford Student.  For magazines, there's Isis,[ITAL] the students' answer to Vogue and verbosity[EITAL], and various others such as International Review, Amazon (women's), The Phoenix (termly magazine of student writing - both poetry and prose), Stomping Scene (student comic), Verdict (law) and a toilet bowlful of college gossip/scandal rags and societies' newsletters.[PARA][BOLD]Music:[EBOLD] It would be unfair not to mention Oxford's many student bands and classical music groups, so now, we've mentioned them.[PARA][BOLD]Rag: [EBOLD]With its own sabbatical co-ordinator, Rag raises over £50,000 a year with all the standard pranks, stunts and events.[PARA][BOLD]Student Volunteer Action:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Traditionally, Oxford has had a touchy town-gown relationship.[EITAL]  According to the University, things are getting better, but they would say that.  Volunteer Action links students up with nearly 40 help groups both in the University and the local community.[HDNG]RELIGIOUS:[EHDNG][PARA][ITAL]Put any group of self-consciously intellectual people together - such as Oxford students - and within minutes they'll have established as many different religious groups as they can invent and then some.  The fervour for activity amongst Oxford students extends to religion as much as anything else.[EITAL]  Many of the colleges owe their existence to funding from Christian sinners in fear of hell and the religious rock rolls on...[PARA][BOLD]Christianity: [EBOLD]Students at Christ Church who say they're popping down to the college chapel are talking about Oxford's Anglican cathedral.  The other colleges have less 'high church' chapels and most have at least one chaplain.  Other Christian denominations are also catered for around town: Catholics, Baptists, Evangelicals, Methodists, URC, Seventh-Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Pentecostals, Unitarians, Quakers, Orthodox, Cliff Richard Fan Club, and so on.  The Inter-Collegiate Christian Union brings these Christian groups together [ITAL](Ireland could do with them).[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Islam: [EBOLD]Mosque and prayer room at the Islamic Studies centre.[PARA][BOLD]Jews: [EBOLD]Local synagogue and large Jewish student population.[HDNG]PAID WORK:[EHDNG][PARA]With nearly 25,000 students (including [ULNE]Oxford Brookes University[EULNE]) living in - well, let's face it - not one of the world's great metropolitan centres, the number of job opportunities is somewhat limited.  But with the hectic pace of academic and social life at Oxford, it'd be hard to find the time anyhow, although some students earn a bob in college bars.  If you really need the cash, rob a bank.