Freshers Week
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Two Freshers give their verdict on the week’s events
Oxford Street
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Chris Clarke on shopping in the capital city
The
Heythrop Students’ Union Volume 2 Issue 2 Wednesday 19th October theheythroplion.co.uk
Postmodernism
The art world’s flavour of the month at the V&A
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Lion
MP Loses Heythrop Internship
Photo: catholic church/Flickr.com
• MP kicked off heythrop course by church for views on Abortion and Gay Adoption. • Spokesman: MP’s views “significantly at variance with catholic church”. Joshua White News Editor Labour MP Jon Cruddas has been dropped by the Catholic Church from an internship studying at Heythrop because of his views on gay adoption and abortion. cruddas was originally listed alongside tory MP conor burns, Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland, baroness hollins, cAFOD, caritas and the Public Affairs Office of the Diocese of Westminster to receive an intern for a 10 month full time placement in a public policy setting. According to Bishop John Arnold, who oversees the internship scheme, the aim of the project was “to help form the
consciences of the next generation of Catholic lay leaders; people deeply committed to their faith, who have a vocation to public service and a desire to put their faith into practice by working towards the common good”. the academic dimension of the internship scheme involves studying for a part-time MA at heythrop college, which is supplemented with seminars and discussions on a regular basis at the offices of the bishops’ conference as well as with lectures at public policy think-tanks. It seems cruddas was dropped after the church became aware of his views on these matters of great contention. On top of his strong voting record for equal gay rights, in the past cruddas has described his position on abortion
as “pro-choice” and has said in the past that abortions should be “safe, legal and rare”. As for gay adoption, cruddas has supported the adoption proposals that the New Labour government initiated under tony blair in 2007. the proposals were the source of great contention at the time and remain so today. Since then there have been cases of adoption agencies closing completely and instances of such agencies seeking exemption from the Sexual Orientation regulations act. In one such case catholic care sought exemption from the regulations which require them to consider gay and lesbian couples as prospective parents. Continued on P2>
tablet report heythrop cuts down to “Poor research” Advertisement
Joshua White News Editor The Tablet, the international Catholic journal, has reported that Heythrop College has received a funding cut of 6.8% as of this year due to its research being found to be “below the standard of nationally recognised work.” In this academic year, Heythrop will receive £1,576,231 which is around £115,000 less than last year’s settlement. A higher Education Funding council
for England (HEFCE) spokesperson has stated that there has been a withdrawal of £24 million from the teaching budget, specifically in relation to postgraduate provision. The Tablet notes that at the same time funding for Newman college in Birmingham has risen by 4.5% in 2012 and Liverpool Hope University by over 2%, though St Mary’s University College in Twickenham have received a funding cut of 0.1%. As the tablet has reported, the funding cut is down to the results of the research Assessment Exercise that last took place in 2008. It found that 10% of theology, divinity and religious stud-
ies research at heythrop fell “below the standard of nationally recognised work”. Out of a possible rating of four stars, 80% of the research was awarded one or two stars. The College’s Director of Administration, Elizabeth thussu, has said that the decline in funding had been predicted and will have minimal impact on the college. “It looks bad because it’s a percentage but in fact we have more than we did two years ago. There is a small loss because of the rAE but the main thing is that they have taken away a premium on postgraduate courses in humanities at all institutions.”
the tablet, a catholic weekly journal that has been in regular publication since 1840, reports on current affairs, politics, social issues, literature and the arts with a special emphasis on Catholicism. The College boasts on it’s website that “the Philosophy department is home to the centre for Philosophy of religion, and is a founding member, and on the management committee, of the Institute of Philosophy, which is part of the University of London’s School of Advanced Study. It specialises in philosophy of religion, mind, aesthetics and metaphysics”