Oxford and Cambridge current students - discussion thread for anyone with daughters, sons etc there for Michaelmas 2020 (and not just freshers!)

[DadDadDad]

A continuation thread for those attending Oxbridge for the first time this term, but it makes sense to throw it open to anyone with a DC there (or other family member, or maybe you're a student yourself or teach / work there - all welcome!) Share your thoughts and questions on college life, courses, etc. A certain virus has made it a bit different for everyone this year...

I have a DS who is a fresher at a small Oxford college in a small subject. We will be taking him there in just over a week.

Echoing the other posts to say sorry that you’ll be going, coleo, and you’ll be missed.
Pepermint, much sympathy for your DS. What a shame.

The live streaming of Evensong from college is definitely an unexpected bonus this term!

On Friday night, I wrote In other news, the general public is being advised to avoid Oxford city centre on Saturday.

It appears that wasn't a joke: www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18802999.anger-oxford-university-students-gather-matriculation/

Ofgs these moaning minnies could just not go to Radcliffe Square if they wanted to avoid crowds. The students were largely in groups of six, there were just rather a lot of them in that one place. DD4 said a really aggressive woman bore down on her group shrieking 'Which college do you belong to?', which elicited six different responses obviously, none of which were correct :)

I mean these are townspeople, they know full well that Radcliffe Square is busy on matriculation day. They seem to be seeking out trouble. Give the students a break.

All the best to you and the DTs @Coleoptera - hope you can return in some form when you feel able.

@Coleoptera it is a shame to lose you. Hope your DTs have a whale of a time.

goodbye I am sure Radcliffe Square is owned by Brasenose and the other colleges probably have similar land holdings in the centre of Oxford... maybe they should haver got temporary stopping up order. . Turning up in Oxford on matriculation or graduation day must be like going to Tescos on 24th December to buy a pint of milk having forgotten Christmas is the next day.

A quick flick through wiki doesn't throw up the ownership of Radcliffe Square Unescorted (I was curious) - but I doubt it's Brasenose. Apparently it was the side opposite Brasenose which was heaving so why the minnies couldn't take a detour round that side goodness knows. Almost like they wanted something to moan about! As if any self-respecting student is going to tell a chasing busybody what their actual college is! Schoolkids are usually lynched by their uniform (that's what usually did for me anyhow), whereas subfusc is perfectly universal. If you don't want to come across large groups in the current situation then stay away from places where they're almost bound to be.

As may be obvious: zero sympathy!

• a detour round the BNC side

I have my sources.....

I believe Radcliffe Square is indeed owned by Brasenose, apart from the area which is tarmacked.

What are they Unescorted? I know it's a minor issue, but I'm just slightly curious. It won't be a secret, just that a quick flick just told me a bit about the benefactor for the library and although he had to buy some outbuildings from Brasenose he also had to pay all sorts of other colleges off too, but none of that info suggests that any of the named colleges retain ownership, more that they ceded it - but not sure to who (well, the trustees of John Radcliffe, but whether they vested it on wiki doesn't relate).

Performers and film-makers who wish to set anything up in Radcliffe Square need to get permission from Brasenose. I have had to do this in the past for work.

On the less niche point of cordoning off the square, no doubt that could easily have been done - but there was hardly going to be a riot. If people are nervous or vulnerable then they have a responsibility to look after themselves and avoid problems, rather than propel themselves towards them (and then chase hapless students down little lanes shouting about which college).

But Flyonawalk is that because of nuisance potentially caused to Brasenose or because of ownership? There seems to have been quite a fuss and bother about buying the land to build the RadCam on, which suggests an independent body owns it. Obviously that could be very wrong.

But since you mention films etc in that vicinity DS3 is shortly coming to the small screen in the next series of The Crown, having been paid about £100 a day for being man in crowd c.# 26, chemistry student c.#6 and student # forget which in white tie thumping a table in the Bodleian when Margaret Thatcher tried to give a rousing political speech as a student. He got a great big full English on top of the £100 for the thumping - bargain :)

Ah I've read back. Sorry Flyonawalk I have a bad habit of reading backwards. Yes that makes sense, that the cobbled area in front of Brasenose is still owned by Brasenose, and that the area on which the library was built (and presumably the strip near All Souls (the not cobbled bit)) was the land where negotiations for the sale dragged on.

I have access to a land ownership data base due to my work. If it is not a private property it give the name of the organisation that owns the freehold and the extent of the title.

Interesting Unescorted. Where is the boundary then? Literally between the cobbles and tarmac? In which case who owns the tarmac? Is there a little island under separate ownership for the RadCam?

DS3 thinks there's a high chance he might be edited out for at least some of his appearances. DD3 was also paid handsomely while a student, for being girl smoking against a lamppost in Merton St , in The Riot Club, and was quite put out that they edited her right down to almost nothing.

We had a TV series filmed in our village - it kept us all in beer for months, so long as you had un dyed hair and no tattoos.

Sounds like it would be a lot of fun to pick up extras work in Oxford. Was that out of term time goodbye?

I heartily agree with you by the way. From what I can gather the "crowds" of students were limited mostly to the areas with the best photo backdrops, namely Rad Cam, Bridge of Sighs etc. It's perfectly possible to avoid those areas on this one day if you live in town and don't want to rub shoulders with students. Although I don't feel this way, I could understand some people being upset by the sight of large groups mixing together. But as goodbye said, they were in bubbles (with some blurring of the edges I will admit). All in all, a small fuss over nothing.

For DD3 it was term time and for DS3 it was after he'd stopped being an undergrad but was working in Oxford. Yes, good fun while at the same time being paid - what's not to like (well, for me it would possibly be the 6am start to thump at Margaret Thatcher).

I've noticed on my own towns social media, there are some people who look for the absolute worst all the time and decide issues exist where there are none.

I happened to be in Oxford this weekend - there were hundreds of students everywhere on Saturday. Lots of them drinking on the pavements. The pubs/restaurants were fairly full with them eating/drinking. A lot of people walking outside were wearing masks.

I thought it was lovely if I'm honest. I didn't know what it was but I stopped to speak to a small group of them and they explained the tradition and were nothing but polite. We also spoke to another group who sat next to us when we were eating and they told us where they were from/what they were studying.

I thought it was great to feel a bit of a young people vibe for a change! And none of them appeared to be acting unreasonably or horribly drunk.

We have to stop villifying students - it's outrageous. The university must be the biggest employer in Oxford and it's not like they were behaving in any way that was causing issues from what I could see anyway.

What a lovely post to read, thank you @HappyThursdays