Oxford and Cambridge current students discussion thread

[sandybayley]

Starting a new one as we filled it up!

Can't believe DS1 will be home in 2 weeks. Must remember to adjust the Ocado shop for when he's back. I suspect we may end up with a few days of his favourite meals 😊

in case anyone’s interested in The Tab

thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2021/01/13/someone-needs-to-say-it-cambridges-return-policy-has-been-utterly-horrific-143763

I'm interested PortusCale. These colleges should be ashamed. The Cherwell is reporting some equally limited thinking in Oxford too.

Fortunately not everywhere in either place but enough to mess up too many students.

I think this paragraph sums it up very well:

“Believe us, we’re not unintelligent: we know we’re in the middle of the pandemic, we know the lockdown restrictions, and we know the need to act sensibly to keep ourselves and others safe. The overwhelming majority of people returning are genuinely just concerned with protecting their mental health and continuing their academic work. Trust us, we’re not returning to an empty staircase and a ghost town just for the pure thrill of it.”

Ghost town? Or students pushing residents off pavements and into roads in the face of oncoming traffic? I wonder which version is correct?

slinking back into the thread after unhiding it. Thank you everyone for being so supportive.

The Tab is right. dd was actually turned down despite having full support of her tutor to return. Her college did rank people's circumstances and mental health against each other. The email she received was callous and damaging. I say that after due reflection and consideration.

Although I would have to say that DS college has been very supportive. But clearly immense disparity between colleges. I hope that students will be allowed to return - it seems ironic that students up and down the country are doing so relatively easily and yet, despite Oxford and Cambridge having effective Covid testing in place last term, they’re not allowed to. It doesn't make sense to me.

I'm really sorry to hear that OYBBK. You don't seem given to hyperbole so callous and damaging is quite an indictment; I'm sure justly so.

Nice to see you back OhYouBadBadKitten hope all’s ok.

That seems very harsh especially as your DD had the full support of her tutor. Is there perhaps a chance she could appeal that decision - although I expect she doesn’t want to go through any more upset. I hope things change.

@oxonian73, thank you for your insight. I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that some of the “sharp elbowed” students who felt the “stay put” at home message didn’t apply to them don’t think it applies in Oxford either. Very sad that it is preventing some with genuine need from returning.

@OhYouBadBadKitten - glad you're back as your insight and support is invaluable to us 'freshers'.

Isn't your DD coming towards the end of her course? Such a shame if this period taints her feelings towards her college. One thing which always strikes me about Oxbridge graduates is their enduring strength of attachment to their college. Both DMIL and DFIL are very engaged with their colleges still 60+ years on.

dd is reluctant to appeal it Portus, I'm not sure why - she gets very upset when I broach the idea with her.
Sandy she would like to stay on for a fourth year, but you are absolutely right. I think it will taint her and others in a similar situation bond with her college.

I want to intervene but I am scared of making things worse. I think dd would be utterly appalled anyway. I hate that I am even writing about this in a public space.

Hey OYBBK lovely to have you back. I was at risk of having to stalk you on your snow thread. Speaking of which Saturday in the Peaks???

I suspect that the Ghost Town Vs Pushing people off the pavement is a case of a visible few. When walking in the street most people drift by at the edge of your consciousness where as you remember the person you do the Are ye Dancin' pavement shuffle with.

We have a lot of "visitors" here walking in "huge groups" if you read the local FB page. The reality is that most of the groups are people who live here, but don't normally go walking b/c they used to do other activities. So yes there are more people out and about in the village. There are also a couple of notable groups (the infamous 30 lads from far far away and the coach load of Teir 2's) that everyone saw or heard reported about. This feeds into the narrative that we are overrun by huge numbers of people from out of area simply because the 2 are conflated.

Welcome back kitten. Some Cambridge colleges are obviously taking a much tougher line on this than others. Sending best wishes to your DD. It’s especially difficult for finalists, and so frustrating that some of the returners are reducing any opportunity for others to return at some point soon.
I have every sympathy with the Junior Deans at Oxford trying to decide who/how many to allow back.

No-one with a genuine need to return is prevented to do so under the guidance. That's colleges with shitty domestic bursars making life easy for themselves - they should shoulder any blame, not those who made early requests. Incidentally, I'm not following your logic here ofteninaspin: what leads you to think that those making early requests are the sharp elbowed rather than the students who were the most rattled by the prospect of not being able to return? My guess would be that it's the late requests that are inherently more likely to be flaky.

• No-one with a genuine need to return is prevented from doing so under the guidance.

Or the later requests could be more considered than a knee jerk early one.... is another way of spinning it. We have no way of knowing what the situation is.

Unfortunately there are people with need to return who have been prevented from doing so. In hindsight maybe the colleges should have had a clear prioritisation criteria for allocating space if they were limited.

That first line sounds more goady than I intended.... it is as well I am not in comms.

They've been prevented by their colleges though Unescorted. Any limits are being artificially imposed. That has nothing to do with those returning and everything to do with the colleges in question failing to follow the guidance.

There may be something in the theory that the more "sharp elbowed" people asked first, except I wouldn't use that term. DH is quite a confident chap and was happy to ask his college; for him it was work reasons rather than mental health so that makes it easier to explain. He's in touch with bubble mates who would like to come back (I'm not sure about need) but are too timid to ask in case it reflects badly on them.

I'm not quite sure why I'm debating this. I am now joining goodbye on the "neutral" bench!

I think what we can all agree on is that there are students who need to be back who aren't - and that is wrong.

I asked DS1 about it and he said he knows of noone in his O college who has been granted permission to return. He obviously doesn't know the details of individual circumstances or requests but thinks there are definitely some who do need to be back.

They can only return to a Covid secure place, so if there is not enough catering space or bathrooms for example then they will have to set a limit on how many people return safely.

I can say that isn't the case in dds case, she has an en-suite and sufficient catering facilities.
Her tutor really has tried, but they turned down his appeal too.

Student black humour emerging.

I don't blame any other students who have been allowed back. Who knows what they are going through, or how big that feels to them.

If anyone is returning tomorrow, Cambridge is on the edge of an amber snow warning. www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2021-01-16