{"id":6238,"date":"2021-09-20T20:46:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T19:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/?p=6238"},"modified":"2021-09-20T20:46:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T19:46:55","slug":"university-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/2021\/09\/20\/university-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"University Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the time of year when students are in the process of returning to their many campuses (or going for the first time as Freshers). Cambridge University term starts later than many, and as a result few students are yet back. Consequently, the University has been cramming in, in the diary but not in numbers attending, ceremonies in the Senate House to confer degrees and to celebrate those who took their degrees in absentia<\/em> last summer. The occasions are not what they would once have been \u2013 no proud parents or friends in the Senate House, no clasping of the hands while the degree is conferred \u2013 but I hope they still feel like a special occasion. (I wrote about the form of my University\u2019s ceremonies, as indeed other graduation events in which I\u2019ve participated in different guises, in a relatively early post<\/a> on this blog).<\/p>\n

The pandemic has changed everything, across University occasions and well beyond the Senate House. A few people still seem intent on shaking hands in social situations \u2013 and I\u2019ve been giving them a metaphorical cold shoulder \u2013 but I wonder whether the Cambridge tradition of clasping hands in the Senate House will ever return, although I certainly hope the presence of families will. There are so many aspects of life, traditional customs which may seem totally inappropriate in the future. The Continental way of hugging \u2013 be that with two or three pecks on the cheek, I was always confused which to expect from whom \u2013 which increasingly seemed to be replacing the cool British handshake, even between academics, seems as unsuitable in these pandemic days as that handshake. I don\u2019t think the bumping of elbows is very likely to catch on, more appropriate though it may currently seem.<\/p>\n

I am very conscious of the approaching start of the Cambridge term, with its formal sequence of events, ceremonial and pedagogical, but also looking back, almost with horror, as I realise the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of my own matriculation is fast approaching. While Churchill finesses what new procedure we will follow \u2013 not<\/u> all freshers coming into the Master\u2019s Lodge one after the other and shaking my hand and then my husband\u2019s, while a couple of sentences are exchanged at close range \u2013 I try to remember what my own matriculation was like. No formal dinner, it would seem. I\u2019ve found the letter I wrote to my mother all those years ago, and it is not very enthusiastic:<\/p>\n

\u2018I may say the matriculation ceremony was a farce (I didn\u2019t even wear a gown for it \u2013 tatty old jeans instead!). It consisted of filing into the praelector\u2019s office and signing our name in two places \u2013 one swearing to obey the rules, regulations, ordinances [which I couldn\u2019t spell, getting confused with ordnances]<\/em> etc, and the other the college register. No pomp and ceremony and not even a glass of port.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Was I disappointed or relieved? I\u2019m not sure. There is no doubt that too much ceremony can overwhelm freshers who aren\u2019t used to that sort of formality and are convinced they will get things wrong. The matriculation dinner so many colleges \u2013 including ours \u2013 do have, may simply feel like an opportunity to demonstrate their ignorance by using the wrong knife or putting water in the wine glass. I always feel sorry for those who are placed next to me, in case that makes their anxiousness soar yet higher, although I\u2019ve had some amazing conversations with students who have done phenomenally enterprising things before they left school, or simply thought deeply about the issues that matter to them and which they are keen to discuss.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, myself as a fresher had little positive to say in this same letter about \u2018the Mistress\u2019s reception\u2019 (I was at Girton College, then for women only, and which has always had a Mistress).<\/p>\n

\u2018Tonight was the mistress\u2019s reception which was another farce. A sweet looking old woman, who gave the impression of being unused to making speeches and it didn\u2019t really look as if she was going to try to make personal contact with everyone \u2013 so we made off.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh dear. Is that how people regard me, sweet and unused to giving speeches? Checking Wikipedia, I see that the said Mistress was rather younger than I am currently so \u2018old\u2019 feels, to my present self, very harsh. It is undoubtedly wholesome for me to look back at what a young student may feel about the strange events that greet them when they first arrive in this venerable University. I should remember this! I still have to write this year\u2019s speech for the Fresher\u2019s dinner, but I\u2019ve been getting plenty of practice at giving speeches to other cohorts of students and alumni, so I hope I don\u2019t resemble that \u2018old\u2019 Mistress of mine.<\/p>\n

It is intriguing to note that, in my next letter home, I refer to being exceedingly exhausted:<\/p>\n

\u2018I have just returned from playing squash for an hour at Churchill. Made a real fool of myself but at least I know better what it entails.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As far as I recall, that was the only time I set foot in Churchill during the six years I was in Cambridge completing my first and second degrees. I was pleased to note that my opponent from that day came up to me at an alumni event a few years back, remarking (with pride, perhaps?) that he had been the one to introduce me to Churchill. We had not, to my memory, spoken from that squash day to the alumni event; he clearly had not been impressed by my squash-playing skills either. My defence is that it was my first time.<\/p>\n

We may all be hoping for an academic year that is closer to the \u2018normal\u2019 we used to know. However, I think we also understand that all kinds of differences will assail us, ranging from what incoming students will know, how confident they are and how they settle into a life that is still going to be punctuated by mask-wearing, one-way systems in buildings and \u2013 on top of the pandemic fall out \u2013 limited food choices in our catering facilities as much as in the supermarkets. It will be a long time before we know what the new normal looks like, and what habits and customs will never return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the time of year when students are in the process of returning to their many campuses (or going for the first time as Freshers). Cambridge University term starts later than many, and as a result few students are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1332,365,595,1168,372],"class_list":["post-6238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-admission-to-degrees","tag-freshers","tag-girton-college","tag-matriculation","tag-senate-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}