The Cheese Grater - Notable Articles

Notable Articles

The Cheese Grater 's second issue came out in October 2004 and included a long article on the controversy between Ted Honderich and the newspaper London Student.

After London Student ran an issue (20 September 2004) with the front-page headline 'Racial Harm-ony' and the headline 'Honder-Sick' on page 2, in which it accused the UCL emeritus professor of philosophy of damaging race relations at the University of London, Honderich's lawyers wrote to the paper and demanded a right of reply, citing inaccuracies. The reply was duly published. Shortly afterwards came The Cheese Grater's account of the events, including a reproduction of part of the lawyers' letter. The article accused the London Student journalists of bad journalism and Honderich of overreacting. Although the then London Student editor took exception to the article, neither he nor anyone else has shown there was anything inaccurate in it. This was the first article to carry The Cheese Grater 's 'special report' banner.

The lashing out against UCL Union institutions which characterises The Cheese Grater only really got going in February 2005, with another special report accusing then UCL Union sabbatical officer David Renton of laziness, incompetence and general neglect of his duties. Although the article was qualified in its condemnation (the editor regrets that it was not more assertive) the level and detail of criticism was unprecedented in recent student discourse, and the subject was reportedly shocked.

Since then, The Cheese Grater has continued to espouse particular causes and criticise what it sees as failing institutions and people. It condemned UCL Union's executive in February 2005 for failing to stand up to the National Union of Students; it has criticised the union's awards process (Social Colours) and elections procedures; and it has attacked other media, including 'UCL News' (a UCL newsletter, no longer printed) but mainly Pi Magazine, on the grounds that it is bland, unoriginal, has no strong editorial controls, is badly written, full of spelling mistakes, frequently inaccurate, appallingly badly designed and a hub for reactionary forces in student politics. In March 2006 the magazine revealed - using the evidence of a leaked e-mail - that then student editor of Pi Magazine Simon Dedman had cheated in recent UCL Union elections, securing the election of Nick Barnard as Media and Communications Officer, and that neither person had been significantly disciplined for it.

However, the magazine has also covered issues of student welfare. In December 2005 it published a story detailing failings around the construction of UCL's new Anthropology building, which caused noise and dust pollution as well as severely disrupting the studies of students in neighbouring departments. In October 2008, another investigation revealed that UCL had failed to remove large quantities of asbestos from its premises, some of which were exposed and left in areas used by students and staff.

Since Autumn 2005, a series of articles have appeared under the heading 'UCL plc', written under the pseudonym 'Mr Chatterbox' (a reference to Evelyn Waugh's novel Vile Bodies). The articles were a series of attacks on UCL administration's plans for UCL and what the volunteers of the Cheese Grater perceived to be a corporate-style policies, including a new identity for the college, which Mr Chatterbox alleged to have cost around £600,000.

In 2008, UCL Union passed a motion at the Annual General Meeting to ban the military from UCL. In response, The Cheese Grater published a Special Report which looked at the supposed democratic failings of the AGM. The magazine alleged that the motion to ban the military was null and void, making reference to a breach of the 1994 Education Act and to repeated procedural irregularities during the meeting. Once the issue was put online, The Cheese Grater website received over 900 hits in three days.

In February 2011, The Cheese Grater published documents from UCL Academic Board meetings which revealed the potential impact of government higher education cuts at UCL. The findings suggested a £35 million budget shortfall for UCL even if it were to charge the full £9,000 undergraduate tuition fee. Following the publication of this article, the documents revealing this were removed from the UCL website. The article was later picked up by Times Higher Education, who published a piece using the magazine's findings on 24 February 2011.

In March 2012, The Cheese Grater investigated UCL's bid to build a second London campus in Stratford, uncovering local residents' objections to the potential demolition of their homes and inadequacies in Newham Council's consultation process. The story was later picked up by The Guardian and other national news sources.