Plans submitted by the University of Oxford to redevelop their Wellington Square buildings could see the closure of Common Ground, a popular cafe and work space for students. The development work would see the rebuilding of 25 Wellington Square, the refurbishment of terraced buildings for graduate accommodation and a new “state of the art” academic facility.
Common Ground is a coffee shop, community arts and co-working space in the heart of Little Clarendon street, known for its distinct and creative identity. As well as serving refreshments, Common Ground also sells second hand clothes, vinyls, exhibits local art, and hosts live music and comedy nights. Developing 25 Wellington Square will require Common Ground to relocate whilst construction takes place. Although the new building includes plans for a cafe on the corner of Little Clarendon and Walton Street, it remains unclear whether Common Ground itself will have a future at the site.
Little Clarendon street which runs behind 25 Wellington Square has a reputation for being one of the ‘coolest’ places in the UK. One local resident told Cherwell that: “I’ve lived in Oxford my whole life. Little Clarendon has always been a vibrant, bohemian community with lots of quirky shops. It’s already lost a lot of that over the years and this development will yet again swallow up more community spaces like Common Ground.”
Managing Director of Common Ground Eddie Whittingham told Cherwell that the new development “endangers our mission. We are hoping to work collectively with Oxford University to preserve Common Ground’s spirit and what it means to our local community.
“Common Ground has always aimed to bridge the schism between Town and Gown, and we believe that with the right attitude and an effective approach, this redevelopment could do just this.”
Common Ground is currently in discussions with the University and hopes that it will be provided with a temporary home whilst construction is underway, as well as a permanent home once the redevelopment is completed. Eddie added that: “although it is fairly early on in quite a long-term process, we have been very impressed with Oxford University’s engagement with us”
One student who frequents the cafe told Cherwell that: “Common Ground has a really nice vibe. It adds something unique and special to Oxford that it would really miss if it were to go.”
A second public consultation on the University’s plans is open until 10th March and takes place ahead of a formal planning application in Spring. If approved, construction will commence in two phases beginning mid-2026 with completion planned for 2029. The first phase involves demolishing and rebuilding 25 Wellington Square. The new building will house teaching and administrative spaces, alongside retail units and public spaces.
In the second phase, University-owned terraces on Wellington Square and Walton Street will be refurbished for new graduate housing. These buildings will be more accessible with street-level entrances. Communal gardens will also be re-landscaped and additional bicycle parking spaces will be installed.
At the consultation, a local resident told Cherwell “this is just another case of the University taking over again. We haven’t been particularly engaged, and even if we were it would be a paper exercise. This development feels like a foregone conclusion.”
The proposed design of the new building seeks to respond to the surroundings of Little Clarendon Street and to enhance the public realm through wider footpaths. Both phases of the development will also have sustainability in mind, including features such as solar panels and energy-efficient lighting.
Cherwell has approached the University about the future of Common Ground and the Wellington Square Development but they are yet to reply.
Last term, I began my second year here at Oxford, and my first in Cherwell. I distinctly recall the elation I felt while I waited for the onboarding meeting to start, sitting at a battered wooden canteen table in the verdant lobby of a hostel I was staying at in central Berlin. The meeting began with slides detailing our roles as part of the paper, and there was a brief mention of the blind dating section, Cherpse, which needed someone to run it. I figured between that and the Agony Aunt, vicarious involvement in people’s dire dating lives sounded far more amusing. Although it was certainly not how I envisioned my very, very serious career in journalism starting, I was determined to make the most of it; after all, I’ve always felt there’s something about the odd Oxford dating scene that’s worth investigating (what with my entire friendship group’s 0% dating success rate, despite us being what I’d consider a very normal bunch of people.)
Sunday of week zero rolled around soon enough. Armed with a trench coat – worn frequently enough to expose my unfulfilled investigative student journalist fantasy to the entire student body – I was ready for a rigorous term of intense matchmaking, poem writing, diplomacy work, Oxfess mentions, and dating scene analysis.
Now, having exhausted myself with these relentless pursuits, the job has been passed on to a new bright-eyed Cupid, and in my retirement I’ve become fondly reflective, and decided to curate my insights into this list:
Next to nobody wants to date union hacks and rowers. That said, I have a friend who said she’ll occasionally agree to go for coffee with a hack just to feel like she’s going on a date.
Don’t be shy to sign up for a blind date. The people are generally very normal; only one person requested someone with a ‘massive c*ck’. Not sure how they expected me to know that… my passion for investigative journalism certainly doesn’t extend that far.
Corpus is the illuminati of Oxford. It’s a college no one’s ever been to, but if you look closely there’s definitely an underground network of Corpuscles running the University, and I fear my work has only entrenched this. Maybe having no grass in your front quad will do that to students.
There’s a concerning amount of third and fourth years who are willing to date freshers. At one point I had to start recruiting non-first years to match up with all the sharks in my (Google) sheets. Shameless.
Your chances of being set up with the president elect of OUCA are slim, but never zero. Especially if you’re one of the co-chair elects of OULC. According to her, it was ‘not exactly a love match, but definitely a plot twist’ – a plot twist indeed, as she was expecting a woman but discovered that her blind date was with OUCA’s male pres elect. Still, he informed me that they’ve organised a joint event in Trinity, so I guess I can list ‘Diplomat’ underneath ‘Cupid’ on my Linkedin.
Poetry is the best way to entice people to do anything – especially attend a blind date. Having spent many hours crafting couplets, it would seem I’ve mastered the art of rhetorical poetry. Although Walt Whitman claimed that ‘The greatest of thoughts and truths are never put into print’, clearly I did what he could not – my poems not only provided the much needed spark of romance for Oxford’s lovebirds, but also solidified my legacy as the Michaelmas ‘24 Cupid.
I hope these insights are as valuable to you as they have been to me. I can’t recommend being an anonymous, irrelevant third wheel to over 50 couples enough – really. Although I have come away with even less faith that I will ever find a partner here, it’s nice to know we’re all having the same experience.
On Tuesday the 18th of February, the world of Formula One took over the O2 Arena in a special livery reveal hosted by Jack Whitehall. What was framed as an event to celebrate 75 years of Formula 1 somehow slipped into a bizarre extravaganza of booing, DJs and Machine Gun Kelly.
On the surface, such excitement over a livery reveal may appear pointless: why such commotion over the colour of a car which is going to be exactly the same as last year? While it was officially in celebration of F1’s diamond jubilee, there seems to be something more commercial behind the proposal of this ‘anniversary’ event. F1 is in the honeymoon phase of unprecedented growth, where media conglomerates are opportune to capitalise on this popularity wave. ‘Bigger, better, brighter, bolder’ appears to be the agenda. Glitz and glamour, British icons, rehashing last year’s ‘beef’ between Russell and Verstappen. It’s simply giving the people what they want, isn’t it?
If adherence to fan’s wishes is the explanation for this increased showbiz we are seeing in motorsport, their interpretation of what fans want to see is somewhat inaccurate. Reception of the event has been controversial at best, with some fans appreciating the content at the end of a long winter break, while others describe reactions ranging from second-hand embarrassment to downright outrage.
When the day came, Verstappen’s dread seemed well-founded. All ten teams were offered seven minutes to display their liveries, mostly consumed by an entrance montage and brief driver interviews. The remaining time was filled with Whitehall’s comedic bits and music performances from Take That, Kane Brown, and MGK. One particularly memorable moment, if somewhat bamboozling to witness, included Bryan Tyler performing a lengthy solo DJ set to introduce the Alpine livery.
Despite dwindling hopes for the event, it was wonderful to see the 2025 grid and listen to interviews ahead of what is likely to be an eventful new season. The liveries themselves were eye-catching and beautifully crafted, and it was refreshing to see the rookies assimilating nicely into their new colours.
These positive features shouldn’t go unnoticed within the largely negative media whirlwind. However, what became apparent as the event progressed was that the F1 75 show was not necessarily a bad idea in principle, but it was almost undoubtedly a misfire in terms of its execution.
Verstappen in particular looked as if he would rather be anywhere else, and who can blame him? His suggestion that he may boycott the event if held in England next year, is unsurprising following the booing he received onstage. Granted, he was on British soil where allegiance to national drivers is fierce – it’s hard to imagine that the Dutchman would receive the same response in his home country. However, typical Verstappen sarcasm has made light of the whole fiasco, recently joking in a post-testing interview that ‘maybe I’m deaf…it was absolutely fantastic!’.
Another episode of crowd uproar was the FIA: the only acronym that produces more anger in a motorsport fan than DNF. The controversy around the FIA was bound to arise at this event, with recent introductions on swearing bans causing uproar among drivers and fans alike Indeed, One of the more redeemable moments of the evening involved Gordon Ramsay’s fine-worthy expletive when asked about the FIA’s new swearing policy.
Despite its disappointing execution, the growth F1-75 represents is not all bad. F1’s popularity has swelled recently, and the subsequent financial benefits can help fund grassroots programmes and increase employment across multiple sectors.
As sports go, it’s not inaccurate to argue that flashiness and prestige have long been part of motorsport’s identity. Often associated with wealth and Monte Carlo luxury, the recent media frenzy is perhaps just a more public extension of the glamour that F1 always held. But when events like F1-75 come with a tone of forcefulness and fabrication, it instead suggests the balance between sport and spectacle is starting to topple in an unsettling direction.
Verstappen could breathe a sigh of relief – currently, there are no plans for another livery reveal event next year. Still, as long as the fanbase continues its upward trajectory, it is entirely possible that similar episodes will take place in the sport’s future. If Britain does host another full-scale F1 spectacle, perhaps next time give Top Gear’s May, Clarkson or Hammond two hours and a microphone – if the FIA can handle a bit of profanity in the midst.
We are all waiting to hear Crofty telling us it’s ‘Lights out and away we go’ in Melbourne, but ‘lights, camera, action’ still doesn’t feel like an adequate replacement in the meantime. Formula One needs to find a way to balance the surge in media popularity while staying true to its identity as a sport, and the values and dignity of its participants.
You find yourself nestled in one of the cosier armchairs of your tutor’s office on a bright afternoon, your gaze momentarily drawn to the familiar wall of books opposite. Just as you manage to refocus, you are prompted to respond to a question – an intellectual challenge you are more than capable of meeting. In fact, you have a brilliant idea, one that is coherent, creative, and even exciting to articulate. Yet, as you open your mouth, an incoherent jumble of half-formed sentences and stammered repetitions emerges, a shadow of the argument you had so confidently formulated in your mind.
This struggle is not uncommon in an era where much of our most important communication takes place in writing – whether through emails, essays, or carefully crafted messages. For many, proper comprehension of an issue only emerges as we speak or write about it. What begins in your mind as a vague idea of belief can become refined or even changed once articulated into words. However, the written word offers the luxury of time: the ability to meticulously select words, refine phrasing, and anticipate responses. While writing remains a crucial skill, it represents only one side of the coin; the art of effective spoken communication has been relegated to the background.
In contrast, spoken communication demands immediate articulation, often under pressure. It is not uncommon to begin articulating a point, only to realise, mid-sentence, that your argument is nonsensical. This process – of thinking aloud, refining opinions, and learning through dialogue – is fundamental to intellectual growth. Constantly rephrasing arguments, taking a half-formed thought and articulating it to a full one as it moves from idea to speech, is a skill that requires practice and fine-tuning.
When considering public speaking at Oxford, one’s thoughts will likely stroll down St Michael’s Street to the debating epicentre of the city: the Oxford Union. The Union has long been a breeding ground for passionate speakers, boasting a formidable list of alumni who have gone on to hold significant positions in politics and beyond. Admittedly, speaking in the chamber is not without its challenges: instances of speakers talking over one another and bringing forward rash claims culminated in a particularly eventful Michaelmas this year. Yet, setting politics aside, the Union provides a valuable space where students can hone their public speaking skills in a structured environment – whether they choose to participate or simply observe from the chamber benches. Unlike aspiring politicians emerging from a day of PPE lectures, I find equal value in listening to my peers’ perspectives and analysing seasoned speakers’ techniques.
Not all Oxonian public speaking occurs within the context of the Union, however. There is a vast difference between delivering a speech to a chamber and presenting an argument in a tutorial or JCR meeting. Context is crucial: human nature dictates that we assess the stakes of our actions, and public speaking is no exception. The fear of judgment, the unpredictability of live discussion, and the absence of a backspace key all contribute to the apprehension and ‘word-vomit’ many experience when asked to speak in front of others.
However, attributing the decline of public speaking to the pandemic would be an oversimplification. Like the wider world, university life has been undergoing a slow but steady digitisation process for decades. Every generation of students has lived through its own version of the most technologically advanced society to date. I have no doubt that the students of our children and grandchildren’s era will have a whole host of technologies available to them that we couldn’t even dream of.
Yet, despite the shift towards digital communication, our tutorial system ensures that spoken discourse remains an integral part of academic life. While one can research, write, and submit an essay without uttering a single word on the subject, the following day’s tutorial offers no such refuge. The tutorial system is an intimate form of public speaking that cannot be opted into or out of here at Oxford. Unlike the Union, participation is not voluntary; you must be prepared to articulate and defend your ideas in real-time discussion.
So, while the Union-esque rhetoric of practised debaters may remain the domain of a select few, communicating with clarity and confidence is a skill that Oxford’s academic framework ensures no student can avoid.
Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Send us a 150-word letter at [email protected] and see your response in our next print or online.
You may have seen the headlines about income inequality – the top one percent in Britain earn somewherearound 15% of all income. Cherwell’s fourth annual Sextigation has found an inequality just as yawning in Oxford’s sex scene: just four respondents out of 445 found themselves involved in 15% of all unique sexual partnerships. Nearly a quarter of all partnerships involve the top two percent of shaggers, one of whom reported 90 sexual partners at Oxford.
The new college disparities report
It was a good year to be at St Edmund Hall. Buoyed, perhaps, by their alumnus Keir Starmer making it to Downing Street, they self-reported an average of 7.1 sexual partners. But, like most group projects, this was mainly the work of two dedicated individuals, with a combined Oxford body count of 140. When they were removed, the college average was 2.4. Without them, Trinity’s 4.5 average was the highest, followed by Queen’s and LMH. But it bears remembering that these were self-reported, and a different question revealed which colleges respondents had hooked up with.
(Colleges with only one respondent are omitted)
On that metric, Keble was the most promiscuous – 16.6% of respondents had got with a Keblite (or potentially a KCFC player). Following closely was Balliol with 14.7%. One Hugh’s student spoke of a hookup refusing to go home with them because of the astronomical distance. This doesn’t quite seem to be borne out. The college was tied with Brasenose in third, proving that, whether you’re on Radcliffe Square or St Margaret’s Road, you too can find love at Park End.
But all that sex did not necessarily leave people better off. On average, people with no sexual partners at Oxford reported the highest satisfaction with their sex lives and people with one reported the lowest, but beyond that there was no correlation whatsoever between number of partners and satisfaction.
What should you study?
Most Oxford students are not very promiscuous at all. Only half of respondents reported having had multiple sexual partners at Oxford. Though we only had a couple of respondents, Maths and Computer Science came bottom of number of sexual partners, with a whopping average of 0. Computer Science, despite the potential future earnings, really does seem to be neglected: last year, Computer Science and Philosophy came in at 0.75. Other low ranking subjects include Maths (1.2), Geography (1.4), E&M (1.5), and Biochemistry (1.6). This should be particularly disappointing for the geographers, who in 2024 were one of the highest performers – either the first years have lost their way around the place or the recent grads really knew their subject was ‘where it’s at’.
By contrast, Chemistry, ArchAnth and AMES came out on top, but all were bolstered by individuals reporting far higher figures – removing these anomalies puts the subjects in low-to-average terrain. More convincingly, Earth Sciences, MML, Biology, Human Sciences and Materials Science all did well, with figures ranging from 4.5 to 5.9. No matter how cool Humanities students think they are with their tute essays and no lectures, there’s no good evidence that they’re the preferred domain of ‘the two cultures’.
(Joint honours respondents are counted in both subjects studied. Joint honours typically studied together, eg. PPE, are counted as their own subject. Subjects with only one respondent are omitted.)
Nowhere is safe
Nearly a third said they had had sex in a public place. Chaplains, shield your eyes – there were tales of sex in an organ loft, a room dedicated to a Bible clerk, on a church altar, and in quite a few chapels. Academic places were scarcely treated with more respect. Various libraries, the New College belltower, and bathrooms of academic buildings were all shagging sites as well. Wheeled desk chairs apparently present logistical troubles. On the pastoral side, parks and forests were very popular locations – the presence of a few bushes seems to provide the mirage of privacy (even if you’re going at it in university parks at midday, as one admitted).
One place that doesn’t get the blood flowing though is the nightclub. 38% of respondents “couldn’t say” which club was the best for casual sex; 12% bluntly said: “none.” If they had to pick, Oxford students would go for Bridge, with a quarter of respondents putting it as their top location, followed by Plush at 19%.
It was a particularly surreal experience for the Features Team, going over the responses in the Social Science Library, all too aware of what had gone on in its toilets. And we hate to confess, dear readers, (somewhere in) the office of this venerable publication has not remained untainted.
Partners for life?
For those who do like sex, there’s one big question: how do you keep getting it? Unless you have some miraculous pick-up talent, the answer for many is, of course, to get in a relationship. But is this all that that relationships are for? You might think so, with the endlessly cynical claims about Gen-Z having no capacity for attachment – no doubt as a part of the woke crusade against all things good and proper. But in fact, our data shows that Oxford students are serious about their commitments, and traditional in their wants.
Second-wave feminists: bad news. Despite what you might expect given the waves of secularisation and increasingly liberal social attitudes, fully 72% of our respondents said that marriage was their desired form of future relationship. (We aren’t sure how they intend to square that one with certain acts in certain college chapels…) 55% said that their main goal out of dating in Oxford was ‘finding the one’; only a meagre 7% said it was casual sex. JD Vance can sleep tight, undisturbed by nightmares of “childless cat ladies”: 63% want to have children in the future, though the proportion is bigger amongst men than women.
And lest you think this is purely idle speculation from those dreaming of a non-existent lover, an impressive 57% of people currently in a relationship said they thought it would last ‘all my life’. Unfortunately for some, 7% admitted that their relationship wouldn’t make it past the end of this term. (If this is you, it’s time to send that ‘we need to talk’ message; don’t prolong it any further.)
Looking in from afar
Appearances are everything, and just as important as who is actually having the most sex is who everyone thinks is. In that vein, if personality isn’t exactly your top quality in a partner, you might want to head over to Balliol, Worcester, or Keble, the three most attractive colleges, according to our respondents. It bears taking with a grain of salt, though. 79% of those who said Worcester was the most attractive were from the college itself, which begs the question of whether they are particularly incestuous, or just have average Oxford levels of arrogance.
But even they were outdone for self-admiration by Lady Margaret Hall, with their 83% college representation. All the way in OX2, it’s highly likely that this result is influenced by never even catching a glimpse of someone from another college. For others, distance attracted. Of the three respondents that put Lincoln as the most attractive (0.8%), not one actually attended the college, but two went to Somerville. Maybe Lincolnites are only tolerable from afar.
When same-college respondents were removed, Balliol still came out on top, so it’s possible that there truly are some Adonises hiding on Broad Street. Equally impressive were New and St Catherine’s, neither of which had more than two respondents from their own college, but came in at second and third with 15 and 13 responses respectively. But it’s possible attractiveness brings its own issues – Balliol students had the lowest satisfaction with their sex lives, with an average of 2.7 out of five. All that glitters…
The apps: “Just try someone on and discard them”
Where can you find the top one, two, or ten percent of shaggers? Dating apps are a good bet. Only a quarter of all respondents have used the apps, but this included almost all of the top shaggers. One student who claimed 50 sexual partners in Oxford lamented that it’s “extremely easy to meet people, but sex becomes commodified … real conversations beyond the surface level are hard to find.”
That’s a common complaint: dating apps make the whole romantic experience superficial as people become commodities to browse through, with a better option always potentially being one more swipe away. 71% of students said the apps had not improved the dating experience.
But most respondents had nuanced feelings. A St Hugh’s student wrote that “dating apps are extremely superficial and overwhelm you with too much choice, encouraging people to think of each other as merely ‘options’. However, in some ways they’re a necessary evil with the lack of third spaces to find dates.”
The apps seem to be especially helpful for those seeking same-sex partners. 58% of gay and lesbian respondents had used a dating app, while only 18% of straight respondents had. 54% of gay and lesbian respondents said that the apps had improved the dating experience, while only 21% of straight respondents said the same.
While a Keble student said that “deep down, no one on Hinge wants to meet someone through Hinge, myself included,” a Lady Margaret Hall student said that she met her “boyfriend of over a year on Hinge and am embarrassingly in love with him, hate to tell ya.”
The darker side
It’s not all fun and games, though. Nearly 30% of our respondents said that they had at some point felt pressured into sex, the majority of whom (54%) were female. Another 6% said they were not sure if they had or not. This is just slightly less than the 35% of a national survey of 16-24 year-olds (and the same if you include the unsure category), suggesting Oxford is not much better than anywhere else. Additionally, 16% of respondents said they had felt pressure not to use contraception during sex.
Oxford is also not immune from what has been called ‘the phenomenon of sexual strangulation’. Unwanted behaviour, such as choking, as sexual strangulation is known, has become increasingly recognised as a national and international issue, with research finding that more than one in three Britons aged 16-34 had experienced unwanted choking during consensual sex.
Our survey, which asked about unwanted behaviour in general, found that Oxford came in below this result, but still had 21% of respondents having experience choking or slapping. A further 4% said they were not sure. Some respondents told us of dehumanising behaviour, such as damaging lip biting, being slapped in the face, and being groped whilst asleep.
Data and Methodology
Lastly, a word on the results. Cherwell’s Features team did the best it could to make our results as wide-ranging and representative as possible, but we recognise the limitations of the survey. With over 440 respondents including virtually every college and course, we cover the whole ground. But for some of these subcategories, like less-common subjects, we end up with only a few respondents in each, and hence averages are easily skewed by a single person.
We also recognise that, as a survey very clearly to do with sex and sexual activity, even despite our emphasis that we wanted respondents with or without experience, there may be a skew towards those people who have got more experience than average, as they self-select into participating. Nevertheless, of all our respondents, roughly half had had 0 or 1 sexual partners, with the other half having had two or more. There is also of course the possibility of exaggeration, underreporting, or preference-falsification. However, as our respondents were anonymous, we hope that there was little incentive to do so.
In choosing what questions out of the myriad possibilities to go for, we aimed to preserve the essence of previous iterations of this survey, in looking at the all-important numbers on how much sex people are having, but expand the scope to incorporate wider attitudes and beliefs. We did also, as one perceptive respondent noted, drop ‘the masturbation question’. Apologies for the disappointment.
With the termly set of Oxford Union elections imminent, Cherwell spoke to both candidates vying to become President, Chris Collins and Moosa Harraj, to hear from them about their motivation for running, their plans if they win, and what their favourite thing about each other is…
Introduce yourself briefly.
Chris: I’m Chris, I’m from London, and I’m a final-year Classicist at Corpus Christi. I had the thrill of being the Union’s Secretary last year and I’ve served seven terms on its Standing Committee.
Moosa: I’m Moosa Harraj, a second-year at Balliol studying an MPhil in Economics, and the current Librarian of the Oxford Union.
Why are you running for President?
Chris: The Union holds a uniquely special place in Oxford and in my heart. I love it, and I love you [sic]. In four years in this Society, I’ve seen it at its best and at its worst. I’m running for President because I believe we can – and we must – do better than the disorganisation and division that we’ve seen in recent months.
The Union must be a debating chamber, not an echo chamber, which fairly represents the whole spectrum of views. I want the Union to be a fun and inviting social space at the heart of Oxford life, reaching out to our community and bringing people in.
Moosa: When I was growing up in Pakistan, the country was under a military regime – an environment where free speech was stifled, and independence of thought discouraged. Coming from that, the exhilaration I felt when I sat on the front bench watching Nancy Pelosi speak on democracy was life-changing.
These experiences have made me truly appreciate the empowerment that comes from freedom of speech. I want to bring that to all the members, no matter where they come from, and that’s why I am running for President.
What experience do you have outside the Union?
Chris: I’m delighted to have been JCR Vice President of [Corpus Christi College], and I’m currently President of one of Oxford’s largest political societies.
Moosa: I have experience leading other student societies. As an undergraduate, I was the President of a London University International Development Society and arranged a development symposium.
I also have professional experience that I think is really worth highlighting. Having worked in the accounts team of a business with a £70 million turnover, I believe I have the experience necessary for managing the finances of the Oxford Union.
If you could only keep one of your manifesto pledges, which would it be?
Chris: I’d love to make the cost of membership more affordable, particularly through introducing an option to pay by instalments. We need to remember that people pay a huge amount to join, and we should concentrate on giving them value for their money with luxurious facilities and unforgettable events.
Moosa: I would have to say ensuring financial stability and expanding opportunity. Unfortunately, the Union is in a precarious financial situation. We have just celebrated our bicentenary, so to ensure that we are around for another 200 years, I would develop partnerships with businesses, alumni, and institutions, and secure more external corporate sponsorships.
What’s something you would change about the Union?
Chris: Instead of focusing on delivering great events for our members and debating the issues that matter, the Union has become consumed by internal factionalism and petty student politics.
We need to be genuinely open to, and tolerant of, those of all backgrounds and beliefs, and we have to learn from the mistakes of the last couple of terms. Oxford should be proud of the Union, not embarrassed of it.
Moosa: Right now, we have access membership for those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, however, for some even that sum is too hefty on a student budget. Therefore, I want to launch a sponsored union scholarship programme where we partner with businesses, our alumni, and other institutions to further subsidise students who really need it to become members.
Furthermore, I am really proud to have started the work on this already this term, helping introduce access rates for postgraduate students, which previously they did not have access to.
Name something you admire about your opponent.
Chris: Moosa is a driven candidate, and I know he cares about the Union immensely. I think the emphasis he puts in his manifesto on the power of truth in the face of an oppressive regime is an invaluable insight into just how much free speech matters.
I wish him the best of luck, though, of course, not too much luck!
Moosa: I think that Chris is very driven; he really does not give up when he sets his mind to something!
If you could invite three speakers during your term, who would they be?
Chris: President Zelenskyy, Meryl Streep, and Serena Williams.
Moosa: Angela Merkel, Sam Altman, Timothée Chalamet.
What’s one debate you would host during your term?
Chris: “This House believes that AI will kill the creative industries.”
Moosa: “This House Welcomes a Multipolar World Order.”
Anything else you want to add?
Chris: I’m lucky to have seen the Union from many different angles. I arranged its elections as Returning Officer, I’ve served on the Finance and Access Committees, and I’m particularly proud to be the only Presidential candidate to have served on the committee that organises our competitive debating.
Wherever you come from, and whatever you study, I hope that the Union can offer you a second home.
Moosa: The Union is a really special place. It is where I’ve found some of my closest friends, and had some truly special experiences and I’ve given a huge amount of my life to it. Just over the last year, I have worked more shifts, scrutinised more budgets, organised more events and worked more vacation days than any other Presidential candidate.
It’s this experience that I think best places me to serve this institution that I love, as your President. But I also think that the Union is all about democracy, so at the end of the day all I can say is that I hope on Friday people come out and play their own role in shaping this wonderful Union which we all share.
You may not know him by name, but you’ve definitely heard him. If you picture the Wasabi on Cornmarket street, what may also come to mind is a man in front with a microphone and a speaker. On most days, you can find him with a black speaker and a microphone playing karaoke backing vocals to which he which sings along with his whole body. People have variously described Richard’s singing as “punk”, “hysteria”, or “literally screaming”, none of which are necessarily meant to be malicious descriptions. There is admiration when people speak about Richard – his presence is iconic.
I went up to Richard one day after he finished a rendition of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ and asked if I could interview him. Even though he agreed to an interview, he didn’t give me a place or time until the day of. We ended up meeting in Common Ground at 11.30am, and he sat on an orange sofa closest to the door.
Thirty minutes into our conversation, Richard leant forward to the table in between us, grabbed his green tea and let out a heavy sigh. He’d just finished telling me how he arrived in Oxford in late 2020, which is also when he started busking.
When COVID-19 first hit, divorced from his wife and without any reason to anchor himself in one place, he was out traveling. He rushed back to the Cotswolds to see his ex-wife and kids “just in case we all died… but we didn’t.” During his time in the Cotswolds he found no sense of community, so Richard moved to Oxford to be around people who were more his “spiritual age.” Before COVID, Richard had managed bars and restaurants so once he was in Oxford, he went for a couple interviews to try and get back into the motions of life. However, when the interviewer would ask if he really wanted the job, he would grit his teeth: “I would say ‘yeah, yeah of course’, but in my head I was thinking noooo.”
Richard partly aligned himself with the idea of ‘punk’. He told me that “proper punks are real lunatics” in reference to a street fight he once had with a ‘proper punk’ in Florence. While he did not self-describe as a “lunatic”, he did describe himself as a “nutcase”, but one with drive and passion. No matter how unconventional his life path, it is one that Richard took ownership over. Throughout our conversation, his sense of ownership became apparent through the various interjections he made of his theories surrounding life. Take theory one, which he told me after describing this aversion to working in restaurants again:
Richard’s theory of life #1: You’re not really required to do any work. We’ve got enough humans doing work all the time for existence to continue perfectly adequately for everyone’s needs. So there really is no requirement for everyone to work all the time. If you’re out of work, there’s guilt associated with it.
Not wanting to work in hospitality, and not knowing entirely what to do, Richard lived in Oxford at the backpackers hostel by the train station, and did, in his words, “nothing”. This nothingness consisted of sleeping, going to coffee shops, exercising and meditating, “mainly to block out the voices in my head saying, ‘What are you doing, you lazy bum?’”
At the backpackers hostel, he met a man who, for anonymity purposes, we’ll call Danny. Danny was busking and told Richard that if he liked singing, he should try busking too. Richard told Danny off: “I was like,‘Man, fuck you. Like, you’re bum. You stay in a fucking hostel. You got no fucking money, you don’t have a fucking house. Like, you know, you’re drifting around and you’re, like, kind of depressed.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but I got issues.’ I mean, he was telling me to do what he was doing! Man, it’s fucking insanity. He’s like, ‘Fuck you, man, my life’s great.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah bullshit, your lifes great, you’re just lying to yourself [sic].’”
Richard thought about it: he did like singing. At his third university, Richard had run two small record labels but felt that to be a singer, you really had to commit. “I guess I started to think about, yeah, you know, busking was something that possibly I could do, and then I started to think about how to do it, and then there was a fear aspect to actually being able to do it.”
As he eased into the sofa, Richard became quiet.
I propped myself up on my knees. “Wait, wait, say more. What do you mean fear aspect?”
“Well, to sing in the street.” Richard gestured out the window of Common Ground. Looking sidelong out to the broken cement, I shifted my gaze back to Richard.
“What does it take to sing in the street?”
Richard replied, “Go and do it, and you’ll find out.”
It was three months of back and forthin his mind, of convincing himself he didn’t have the money to get a speaker, didn’t have the time, needed to sleep more. But all that negotiating was silenced by four grams of magic mushrooms.
Richard’s theory of life #2: My loose theory is that we made psychedelics in the future, and we sent them back in time. I think any altruistic entity – of which humans are certainly altruistic – would [do so]: if we found a solution to a problem and we had the ability to go back and forth in time, why would we not place it everywhere? The quicker we could find it, the more help it would be earlier.
Two days after his magic mushrooms trip, he found himself standing on Cornmarket street with a speaker, about to start singing. As he was standing there, with the public passing by, and no particular obligation to sing, Richard said it was sort of like when you are going to kiss someone for the first time: “I guess it’s like, when you’re sitting next to someone, [and] you’re gonna kiss. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen, [and] you got [no] fucking idea why. You just walk away. Sometimes it’s the same with the singing out there. You could just turn around and, like, not do it. No one would know, no one would care.”
But that very first time, he didn’t walk away and he didn’t know why he didn’t either, he just started to sing.
When Richard is singing, he chooses to sing songs that are related to memory: “Sometimes, some songs are about people, things, in my past. You know, good memories, bad memories. I sing Nat King Cole’s ‘Love’ occasionally, and I sing Nina Simone’s, ‘My baby, something, something, something’, which are two songs from my wedding – good memories. Divorce – bad memories.” At first he didn’t take requests, but now, his attitude has changed: “If you want me to sing Miley Cyrus, and you don’t really care whether I get it right or not, because you just want to act like fools on High Street and jump around and dance and have a moment of escapism, actually that’s, in a way, more important than me and what I think about it, so why not?”
The first two months of busking was filled with adrenaline; that ‘kissing someone’ feeling. But now, things have become mundane.
“What’s your daily routine?” I ask.
Richard laughs and then sinks deeper into the sofa, “Get up, feel shit in the morning because of certain things which piss me off. Walk to the coffee shop, drink coffee, feel less shit because of the effects of coffee. Go exercise for an hour, feel less shit because of the effects of exercise. Go and sit and waste half an hour charging my phone because I haven’t got electricity, because I don’t have a house, and my phone’s running out of batteries, and I need my phone to work. Go pick up my speaker from where I store it. Eat when I’m generally not hungry, but it’s probably a good idea to have some form of food in the morning.
“Walk into town, start singing. Forget about all the crap. Sing, sing, sing, sing, smile, smile. Finish singing, go and have some tea, because my throat is completely fucked, because I sing every day. Drink the tea.
“Have nothing else to do, because I’ve got all of about three pounds ninety nine and no house. Sing again, because there is nothing else to do in my life, and it helps to try and develop something. Continue singing all the way till nine, and I’m no longer allowed to sing anymore because of the council – which is a good thing, because if that didn’t exist, I’d probably sing to around about four in the morning.
“Finish singing, go and eat dinner. Stuff myself with food – I [don’t] necessarily even want to eat, because I [ate] lunch slightly too late. I eat anyway.
“Stand in the shower at the youth hostel for an hour because I’m freezing. Warm up and then leave and go and sleep down by the river in a sleeping bag. Think vaguely about going to a nightclub or something, but I don’t drink, and I don’t particularly want to drink. I don’t particularly want to fuck up my sleep pattern, so [I] just go to sleep.
“Then I wake up and just repeat that over and over again.”
Richard coughed and grabbed his tea. “Maybe 2025 will be the year I busk in Africa.” He glanced down, and then waved to someone. He focused back on the floor, then my face. “Maybe [I’ll] go to America, and learn how to be a country singer.”
With Robert Eggers’ remake of the classic vampire horror Nosferatu taking the world by storm, now is a great time to look back at the cinematic legacy that precedes it. The original Nosferatu – directed by F.W. Murnau in 1922,– sits within German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of stark, stylised visuals, externalised emotion, and a refusal to conform to realist approaches to storytelling.
To aid anyone interested on their journey into the wonderful world of German Expressionist film, I present this brief list of recommendations (all of which should be available on YouTube or the Internet Archive, free of charge). Viel Spaß!
Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
To start with, we have the iconic horror flick that inspired Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (and Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre from 1974). Although it doesn’t feature the jumpscares and graphic imagery that aid the scares in Eggers’ version, Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror uses light and darkness to create ominous visions of Nosferatu the vampire terrorising his victims. Look out for the legendary shot of Nosferatu menacingly ascending a staircase, cloaked in shadows, towards the end!
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
Widely regarded as the most famous example of German Expressionist cinema, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) is another horror film. Centring around a series of murders amongst a community visited by a travelling circus, the characters of the mad ringmaster Caligari and his sleepwalking protégé Cesare are some of the most iconic from this era of cinema (and arguably from cinema full stop). The uncanny, jaggedly constructed sets are brilliantly visceral externalisations of the horror that lives within.
Metropolis (1927)
Clocking in at a whopping two-and-a-half hours, Metropolis is certainly a commitment but absolutely worth the time and effort. Featuring stunning visuals and groundbreaking special effects that remain impressive today, Metropolis depicts a dystopian society where the rich live in opulence on the surface while the workers toil in squalor underground. Metropolis is also an early example of sci-fi on film, featuring mad scientists and robots galore.
Der Letzte Mann (1924)
Here is another film by F.W. Murnau, but one that is very different to Nosferatu in both tone and subject matter. The film centres around a nameless, aging hotel doorman as he grapples with the loss of his identity after losing his job to a younger man. Despite a rather bizarre plot twist towards the end, Der Letzte Mann (or, to give it its adapted English title, The Last Laugh) provides a fascinating exploration into the dynamics of a community, and considers both the juxtapositions and similarities that exist between the rich and the poor in society. The film also features some fun technical shots akin to those found in Metropolis.
Asphalt (1929)
The conflicts that can arise from emotion versus duty sit at the heart of this drama, which depicts the relationship between Elsa, a glamorous jewel thief, and Albert, the young policeman who catches her stealing. Displaying the opulence of Weimar society before the economic devastation of the Wall Street Crash, Asphalt explores the lengths to which it is morally permissible to go for love, and the destructive fallout that can come as a result. Similarly to Der Letzte Mann, Asphalt has a more realist tone than some of the other films on this list, but does feature commonalities in cinematic technique, such as the use of emotive close-up shots and shadow.
Bonus: Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Although falling just outside the prime years of the German Expressionist movement, which had its heyday in the 1920s, it would be remiss not to recommend this groundbreaking example of LGBTQ+ cinema from the broader Weimar era. Set in an all-girls boarding school, Mädchen in Uniform (or Girls in Uniform)centres around new student Manuela, depicting her romantic obsession with a benevolent teacher, Fräulein von Bernburg. Themes of authoritarianism, childhood innocence and femininity run throughout, the latter of which is ensured through the film’s all-female cast.
Applying for a room or home online involves filling out an online rental application. But is it really as simple as that, or is there more to it? In this post, we’ll show you how to navigate the whole application process and avoid disappointment, especially as a student looking for affordable housing in a competitive market.
Documents You’ll Need for Rental Applications
Before applying anywhere, make sure you collect the necessary documents. The specifics often vary from one application to another, but you’ll generally have to provide:
Proof of your identity (such as a driver’s license or student ID)
Proof of income (such as bank statements)
An overview of your rental history
Details on your contract’s potential guarantor
These documents give the landlord confidence that you’re legitimate. They’ll know you can keep up with rent and that you’re who you say you are.
Many student rentals require a guarantor—usually a parent or guardian—to co-sign the lease. If you’re an international student, some landlords may require you to pay several months’ rent upfront or use a third-party guarantor service.
If the landlord is open to pets, you’ll likely need to provide information about them. For example, does the pet have all its necessary vaccinations? You might even arrange “pet references” from people who can vouch for their behavior.
Rental Application Fees
Even the application process itself could cost a pretty penny. The landlord will likely charge a fee to finance background checks and other administrative processes. Depending on the state (and your landlord), you can expect an application fee of around £20-50 in the UK.
Luckily, UK law prevents excessive rental application fees. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 prohibits landlords from charging excessive admin fees, making it easier for students to apply without hidden costs.
How To Avoid Disappointment When Applying for Rentals
There are scams and problems lurking around every corner. You’ll need more than luck to avoid problematic rental listings. Here are seven ways you can proactively steer clear of disappointing homes:
Read the fine print: Check the listing over repeatedly. Make sure you’re clear on the landlord’s pet policy and that there are no other red flags.
Contact landlords: Most platforms let you directly message or contact a landlord. You’ll have a chance to ask any questions before formally applying.
Be quick: The best homes on the market go quickly. Turn on email notifications to learn as soon as a good property becomes available.
Arrange a viewing: Photos alone won’t tell the full story. See the home for yourself, and you’ll get a better idea of if it’s the place for you.
Set your budget: You can’t enjoy a property if you’re struggling to keep the lights on. Be honest about your rental budget, and never go beyond it.
Avoid peak season: In most states, rentals are more expensive in summer. If possible, look for somewhere in winter for cheaper rates.
Use advanced search: Online platforms let you calibrate a search to your needs. Some sites (such as Zillow) are even using AI for better searches.
The Tenant Screening Process
Your landlord will want to know they’re renting to someone dependable. Proof of income alone is rarely enough to give them peace of mind. They’ll usually want to conduct a background check to ensure you don’t have any undisclosed convictions.
In addition, they’ll look for a healthy credit score of roughly 700 or higher. These numbers show how well you can pay loans back if you earn any outstanding debts. If yours is significantly lower than 700, your landlord might ask you for a guarantor.
They’ll also ask for references. On paper, your application fee goes towards these checks. If you keep anything from your landlord, you’ll face an uphill battle to get their approval.
Arranging Your Tenant References
Every landlord handles references differently. They might ask for a professional reference to see if your job is legitimate. Put down your employer’s name and contact details. If you’re freelance, you could add your accountant or biggest client’s information.
Your new landlord will almost always want to hear from your previous one. They’ll then find out if you have any prior evictions or problems with paying rent. First-time renters can instead use personal references from somebody who knows them well.
Before adding somebody’s information, contact them to make sure it’s okay. Even if you know it is, give them a heads-up. They’ll know to expect the landlord’s call or email.
Your Application Timeline
The landlord will likely get dozens (possibly even hundreds) of applications. They’ll need time to sort through each one. After about a week, you should have their decision. However, two weeks of radio silence is likely a no.
If the landlord approves your application, you’ll receive the rental contract within a few days. You may even be able to move in within the week. Always ensure you check the lease before signing to avoid any nasty surprises.
Conclusion
Online platforms make rental applications much simpler for both sides. However, the process still requires certain documents, absolute honesty, and a strong understanding of rental market trends.
For students, especially those in high-demand areas, preparation is key. Be aware of scams, plan ahead, and know your rights as a tenant to avoid costly mistakes. With the right approach, you can secure comfortable housing that suits your student lifestyle.
The rustle of a scholar’s gown. Dappled evening light glowing behind a stained-glass saint. The crackling of a candle being lit. The college chapel can easily feel removed from the 21st century university that surrounds it, with its breakneck pace and crushing deadlines. The robes, Latin hymnals, and retention of original features from centuries long gone by can almost convince the casual chapel-goer that they have stepped back in time… If they can ignore the digitally printed service card and electric lighting, that is. The chapel is a distillation of that special appeal of Oxford; surrounding oneself with that which is medieval, time-weathered, enduring.
That appeal, of course, raises a question: what is the place of the college chapel in the modern University of Oxford? In a community of which Christians, particularly Anglican Christians, are a minority, why does this particular set of religious forms and norms have an institutional place unlike any other? Chapels and their chaplains purportedly serve the multiplicity of faiths and belief systems Oxford houses – the phrase “all faiths and none” is beloved by Oxford chapels when describing their communities. At a glance, however, the Oxford set-up is an incongruous one: a largely non-religious population with a pastoral and welfare infrastructure which involves religious ministers.
How did we get here?
College chapels have been a part of Oxford life almost since the start of the University itself. The academic community in Oxford began to formalise its organisation in around 1249, with the founding of University College, originally intended to support masters of arts studying divinity. However, it was Merton College that first constructed its own purpose-built space for its academics to pray, sometime in the 1280s. Only later would the modern Christ Church College spring up around the older site of St. Frideswide’s priory. It became the city cathedral in 1546 at the order of King Henry VIII, head of the newly established Church of England.
The histories of Oxford University and the English Church are pretty inextricable. After all, Theology was one of three subjects awarded its own degree in the early University, alongside Medicine and Law. In the medieval period, scientific and theological knowledge were not distinct. When Philip Pullman chose to begin His Dark Materials, a story about an all-powerful world church, in Oxford, it wasn’t just because of his familiarity with the scenery. It was because the idea of the University being at the heart of the Church was drawn straight from history.
Oxford was a site of high drama in the formation of Anglican Britain. A cobbled cross built into the pavement on Broad Street marks the spot where prominent Protestant theologians were burnt alive during the reign of the Catholic monarch Mary I. The city housed the ‘counter-Parliament’ of Charles I during the English Civil War, a conflict with heavy religious strains. During the 19th century, it was the centre of the ‘Tractarian’ movement, which argued that the Anglican Church was not unique, but a branch of the historic Catholic Church. Throughout most of the University’s history, the chapels were not spaces peacefully removed from the political upheaval of the day. They were at its core.
A changing landscape
Today, however, the picture is very different. Conflicts within Christianity are no longer a major factor in politics or academia. Furthermore, people’s personal beliefs have greatly changed. According to data collected by the University in 2020, 55.4% of its undergraduate population had no religion. Of the 32.7% who professed to have a religion or belief, only 22.9% were Christian. Of these, given the proportion of Anglicans in the British Christian population, less than a third are probably adherents of the Church of England, especially when the University’s large international population is taken into account.
It’s hard to get a sense of the significance of these figures, as historical statistics on religion are tough to find and dubious at the best of times. However, the British Social Attitudes survey, which put the Christian population of Britain at a little over 60% in 1985, would indicate a marked decline, even if Oxford is more diverse than the country at large. The predominance of Anglican forms among college chapels, then, is a little at odds with the population of the University as it exists today.
A home for all?
Most chapels are very explicit that their services and other events are open to people of “all faiths and none.” The diversity of college chapels and their chaplains means that it is impossible to generalise the experience of chapel life for students. While older colleges are bound by their royal charters to provide ‘divine service’ in accordance with Anglican liturgy, they are by no means the only model. More recent additions have brought variety to Oxford’s chapels.
Harris Manchester College has a Unitarian chapel. Mansfield College roots its chapel in a nonconformist tradition, advertising talks on queer spirituality and social justice issues. At Somerville College, chapel service is centred around ‘Choral Contemplation’. It reimagines the Oxford choral tradition, aiming to make it a place for “all faiths and none”. Somerville’s present chapel scholar and director, Arzhia Habibi, is of the Bahá’i faith, which emphasises the oneness of all religions. Though Anglicanism predominates in Oxford chapels, their gatherings can be a space for a wide range of students.
The brick and mortar of the chapels reflect historical faith movements just as much as their service cards. Student opinion on their suitability varies. In response to a Cherwell survey, some students said that the Anglicanism of a college chapel doesn’t necessarily impede its ability to be a space for all students. One respondent, not themselves a Christian, argued that “we shouldn’t let this traditional aspect… be an issue.” Others were more concerned. Several believed that, while non-religious students might not be put off participating in chapel life, students belonging to a religion other than that of their college chapel might be more alienated. One said that their chapel, as a “decidedly Anglican” space, was “exclusionary as a place of worship to non-Christian students”, while another pointed to the history of discrimination against non-Anglican Christians in Britain. According to them, a “hegemonic, institutional view of organised religion has no place in the modern university.” Chapels might welcome visitors from a range of religious backgrounds, but students seem ambivalent on whether this affects their actual impact.
A world away
Perhaps such concerns might be balanced out if the chapel is treated as more than just a religious space. Most chapels are designed to make the visitor feel as if they have stepped into a demarcated area, away from the parts of the college focused on education. The ante-chapel, the cross at the top of the capital T that forms the basic plan of several college chapels, marks a transition from the humdrum to the profound.
This intangible quality was a common response to the question of the college chapel’s place in the modern university. One student called their chapel “an escape, a place of calm and peace.” In an environment like Oxford, oriented so completely towards productivity, this is a valuable thing. In the words of another student, “in a university where studying can feel endless and hectic and weeks seemingly merge into one another, college chapels (or at least my college chapel) offers an opportunity for reflection and stillness.” The Revd Dr Jane Baun, chaplain at Wadham, told Cherwell that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was concerned to protect the chapel as a non-educational refuge, against thoughts of deploying it as a socially-distanced lecture hall
However, some found it off-putting that such relief was only offered in a religious context. One respondent made the case that while they tried “to appreciate the ‘peace’ and ‘vibes’ of these visually appealing historic buildings”, they were perturbed by their knowledge of the “tainted history” of the Church. For many students, Christian iconography signifies long histories of colonialism, patriarchy, and racism, although Christian ideas have been re-appropriated by movements for the liberation of marginalised people as well.
In fact, one Harris Manchester student saw their chapel as a catalyst for social consciousness. They spoke of the ethos of Unitarianism as a commitment to “truth and justice.” The range of speakers that are invited to address college chapel services indicate an effort to move away from a solely religious space. Representatives of various clergies appear, but artists, poets, scientists, and historians are often equally welcomed.
Still, chapels can’t be totally separated from the knowledge factory of Oxford. In many colleges, chaplains are a part of the infrastructure provided to students for pastoral and welfare support. Knowledge with religious bases can be helpful in day-to-day wellbeing, and chapel life seems for some to be a way to focus on mental, and spiritual, wellbeing in an environment that too often neglects it. However, there is something of a tension between the relief that a chapel is supposed to provide and the welfare system at Oxford, often focused just on restoring the student’s ability to work. Dr Baun told Cherwell that she was glad that welfare services are becoming more professionalised, so that full-time, fully secular members of non-academic staff are there for the student body.
The chapel can offer a space in which knowledge is absorbed, rather than reproduced around a tight tutorial deadline. Such opportunities should be extended as far as possible, and perhaps, in order for them to be extended to the non-religious or non-Anglican, beyond the chapel and into a wider variety of University spaces.
Common ground
There is no way to find the common thread connecting every person’s experience of chapel life. For some, the cold glare of a saintly statue and heavy-handed liturgical references to the virtue of virginity will be too much. For others, even those who are not religious, there is meaning in coming together with others on a Sunday evening, in the same way as people have gathered in that same space for centuries. Dr Baun lightheartedly referred to Wadham’s Sunday evensong as a ‘gathering of the tribe’.
Perhaps that is the most meaningful contribution of the college chapel. It is imbued with the generations of scholars and students who have passed through Oxford, each with their own ideas and inner lives. Every worn-down step or smoothened pew is a reminder of being a part of a greater whole, and not just in the college or university. Not every historical legacy associated with world religions is a comfortable one, and no two people will quite agree on the best way to reconcile tradition with modernity. Other parts of the built and lived-in environment might offer the same feeling. But if something can remind you of your own smallness, even just with its bricks and mortar, then maybe you can allow yourself to take a breath. Against the weight of time that these architectural relics represent, that deadline seems a little less crushing.
