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How strict is Oxford?
I'm (hopefully) going to Trinity in October and I stumbled across the 'Trinity Handbook' and I was quite shocked at some of the rules in it. It seems so strict!
Also looking at the other thread about Facebook, I noticed some students were quite angry about some of the rules;
(Quote)
"I am fed up already with the way Oxford staff try to ban fun. Our Drink the Bar Dry is slowly being killed by staff being arsey about 'fire regulations,' so no more than 75 people are allowed in at any one time. They allowed over this number of people in for meetings during Fresher's Week, and for the firs JCR meeting of term, so why are they trying to kill the one event of the term where the bar actually makes money??
It makes me laugh when I see the proctor's refer to trashin as 'anti-social behaviour.' Even the 'trashees' look like they're having fun, it's done on Merton street and it's not like random members of the public are being trashed. Besides, Japanese tourists love to see Oxford students doing stupid stuff, they get good photos! How is it, in any way, anti-social??
"
I did my a levels at a very relaxed college, seriously. I can't imagine going from a place where i could do almost anything i wanted into an environment where (as it says in the handbook) I must 'wear my gown for evening dinner and prayers in the chapel' and 'ask permission to have more than so many people in a room' and 'be forbidden from any sports other than croquet on the lawn' etc etc( i cant remember some of ther other rules that annoyed me, these arent brilliant examples)
Is it actually as strict as I am seeing this? Or are these rules more 'guidelines' that aren't really enforced?
What do existing students think of this? or am i overreacting?
Also looking at the other thread about Facebook, I noticed some students were quite angry about some of the rules;
(Quote)
"I am fed up already with the way Oxford staff try to ban fun. Our Drink the Bar Dry is slowly being killed by staff being arsey about 'fire regulations,' so no more than 75 people are allowed in at any one time. They allowed over this number of people in for meetings during Fresher's Week, and for the firs JCR meeting of term, so why are they trying to kill the one event of the term where the bar actually makes money??
It makes me laugh when I see the proctor's refer to trashin as 'anti-social behaviour.' Even the 'trashees' look like they're having fun, it's done on Merton street and it's not like random members of the public are being trashed. Besides, Japanese tourists love to see Oxford students doing stupid stuff, they get good photos! How is it, in any way, anti-social??
"
I did my a levels at a very relaxed college, seriously. I can't imagine going from a place where i could do almost anything i wanted into an environment where (as it says in the handbook) I must 'wear my gown for evening dinner and prayers in the chapel' and 'ask permission to have more than so many people in a room' and 'be forbidden from any sports other than croquet on the lawn' etc etc( i cant remember some of ther other rules that annoyed me, these arent brilliant examples)
Is it actually as strict as I am seeing this? Or are these rules more 'guidelines' that aren't really enforced?
What do existing students think of this? or am i overreacting?
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
13
It's one of the things I hate about Oxford.
In practice, you can get away with loads of people in someone's room as long as you don't make too much noise. Just make sure you invite everyone from the surrounding rooms so nobody can complain.
I suppose no sports on the grass is a bit lame if you're into sports but that never bothers my college as we have our own sport's field.
The gown is part of the tradition. I wish they'd remove it as it's just another bother you can do without at exam time.
I think the people in charge just get off knowing they boss Oxford students around. They could do with relaxing many of the rules as we're just students after all. The worst power trip I heard of was when someone had mates over and they got a bit rowdy in the bar and almost broke a chair. Almost. The one who had the mates over had to apologise to the dean and they tried to make him pay for the chair because it could hypothetically have been broken! I suggested he give them hypothetical money.
In practice, you can get away with loads of people in someone's room as long as you don't make too much noise. Just make sure you invite everyone from the surrounding rooms so nobody can complain.
I suppose no sports on the grass is a bit lame if you're into sports but that never bothers my college as we have our own sport's field.
The gown is part of the tradition. I wish they'd remove it as it's just another bother you can do without at exam time.
I think the people in charge just get off knowing they boss Oxford students around. They could do with relaxing many of the rules as we're just students after all. The worst power trip I heard of was when someone had mates over and they got a bit rowdy in the bar and almost broke a chair. Almost. The one who had the mates over had to apologise to the dean and they tried to make him pay for the chair because it could hypothetically have been broken! I suggested he give them hypothetical money.
Reply 2
17
I think you're overreacting. Maybe these aren't brilliant examples as you said, but:
- Lots of events in life have a dress code - a gown on top isn't that big a deal. If you don't want to comply then don't go to hall/chapel or do they force you to eat there and attend chapel?
- You'll be thankful for some of the room regs when you're needing an early night! This one usually has discretion applied X+1 people in a room being raucous and disturbing to others = will be enforced. If you're not, then who's to know?
- Sports on the lawn - they're lawns not playing fields. Most colleges will have designated sports facilities you can go & use if you want to play sport? Or there's the university parks. The lawns are decorative & gardeners spend a lot of time on them - i'd prefer they didn't look like pitches & the people who use them for convenient change of scenery for socialising/revising in the summer probably wouldn't be happy to be in the middle of a scrum!
Was your college for A levels boarding? I think it's mostly communal living that means you do need some rules... you'd think common sense/courtesy could be enough - but you can be quickly shocked about how many people, ahem-undergraduates, lack that.
- Lots of events in life have a dress code - a gown on top isn't that big a deal. If you don't want to comply then don't go to hall/chapel or do they force you to eat there and attend chapel?
- You'll be thankful for some of the room regs when you're needing an early night! This one usually has discretion applied X+1 people in a room being raucous and disturbing to others = will be enforced. If you're not, then who's to know?
- Sports on the lawn - they're lawns not playing fields. Most colleges will have designated sports facilities you can go & use if you want to play sport? Or there's the university parks. The lawns are decorative & gardeners spend a lot of time on them - i'd prefer they didn't look like pitches & the people who use them for convenient change of scenery for socialising/revising in the summer probably wouldn't be happy to be in the middle of a scrum!
Was your college for A levels boarding? I think it's mostly communal living that means you do need some rules... you'd think common sense/courtesy could be enough - but you can be quickly shocked about how many people, ahem-undergraduates, lack that.
Reply 3
19
Agreed with Elles, to me it doesn't seem strict, just sensible. Not allowing sports on the lawns seems no stranger to me than, say, not allowing sports on the lawns at National Trust properties. Firstly, as Elles says, they're lawns - not pitches. Secondly - do you really want people playing a noisy game of football right under your window while you're revising for mods? Trust me, people sitting on the lawn reading the paper and chatting is bad enough by that point - had people been shouting tactics I would probably have gone and kicked somebody where it hurt.
As far as the dress code goes, I don't know about Trinity but for most places gowns = formal hall only. If you don't want to do it, then don't go to formal hall.
The only one that ever got me was the rooms, and as people of said that - like having guests for only a certain number of nights is simply not enforced unless you're making a nuisance of yourselves - and if that's the case then I, for one, would be happy to have the rules.
As far as the dress code goes, I don't know about Trinity but for most places gowns = formal hall only. If you don't want to do it, then don't go to formal hall.
The only one that ever got me was the rooms, and as people of said that - like having guests for only a certain number of nights is simply not enforced unless you're making a nuisance of yourselves - and if that's the case then I, for one, would be happy to have the rules.
Reply 4
11
In practice, you can get away with loads of people in someone's room as long as you don't make too much noise. Just make sure you invite everyone from the surrounding rooms so nobody can complain.
This is the essence of it, really! The rules are there, and enforced IF it's obvious you're breaking them. Most of the time it's not noticed - and that's the point. Noisy gatherings in rooms ARE very, very annoying. Everyone has different essay deadlines and priorities and stuff, so you can't assume that everyone's as chilled out as those attending the party. Most of the time it's fine if you ask people if you'll be disturbing them/invite them, and be reasonable about the time you finish & the noise you make. Remember, too, the people above & below you, as well as either side - I had the noisiest downstairs neighbour last year (and I'm pretty quiet when in my room, as I'm working or sleeping in there!), but we mamaged to get on really well with a bit of co-operation, flexibility and courtesy. I only had to evacuate to the library late at night once, due to very noisy sex from downstairs...
Reply 5
14
Bloody Trinity.
Anyway, every college has stupid rules. It's just that ours seem to be ignored a fair proportion of the time. It's got something, I think, to do with the fact that we have the most laid-back dean in Oxford. Practically horizontal. He's also, oddly enough, the college chaplain, camerarius and financial aid officer. An odd combination of roles, but it seems to work...
Anyway, every college has stupid rules. It's just that ours seem to be ignored a fair proportion of the time. It's got something, I think, to do with the fact that we have the most laid-back dean in Oxford. Practically horizontal. He's also, oddly enough, the college chaplain, camerarius and financial aid officer. An odd combination of roles, but it seems to work...
Reply 6
It depends on your college - at Hilda's, a fair few of the rather restrictive rules are enforced. For example, we have to sign guests in at the lodge if they're staying after 11pm, and we're not allowed to have a guest for more than three consecutive nights - a rule which I think is unfair, not least because it's a restriction on our sex lives. It's also strangely discriminatory against people in heterosexual relationships - I'm bi, and while I could let past girlfriends stay until, shock horror, half past eleven before kicking them out, because they could walk through the lodge without the porters realising they weren't members of the college, if a guy overstayed by more than a few minutes the porters would notice that he was, well, a bloke, and if I'd not signed him in I'd be warned I had to in future if he would be staying past 11. And the rules are strictly enforced - the only way into college at night is through the lodge, which is manned 24/7. And apparently if you're caught not signing guests in, you can be fined and your right to have overnight guests at all revoked.
I fully agree that if a student with an overnight guest is noisy, then there should be rules in place to ensure other students' work isn't affected - but I don't think the Hilda's approach achieves that.
(We're also only allowed two guests between 11 and 2, and one guest after 2 - but didn't like to mention that when arguing about my sex life being disrupted in case anyone got the wrong idea...)
I fully agree that if a student with an overnight guest is noisy, then there should be rules in place to ensure other students' work isn't affected - but I don't think the Hilda's approach achieves that.
(We're also only allowed two guests between 11 and 2, and one guest after 2 - but didn't like to mention that when arguing about my sex life being disrupted in case anyone got the wrong idea...
)Reply 7
Haha, you've quoted me there! I think the bar thing is more specific to Hilda's. I think because we're the all-girls college, our bar doesn't get used very much, whereas staff at other colleges probably accept it more as an integral part of college life. I'd imagine when the boys come in the bar will get used more and they'll probably fight harder for our right to be in it!
To be honest, the gowns and sub fusc are quite fun. I was p*$&£d off when they threatened to fine me for not wearing tights on the last day of my Prelims as I had been the other two days but they'd broken. Also, my outfit looked better minus tights, and in the heat wearing tights is booooooiling. So I reckon they should scrap the tights but keep the rest of it.
The trashing debate rages on
I don't mind it, but some other students do.
To be honest, the gowns and sub fusc are quite fun. I was p*$&£d off when they threatened to fine me for not wearing tights on the last day of my Prelims as I had been the other two days but they'd broken. Also, my outfit looked better minus tights, and in the heat wearing tights is booooooiling. So I reckon they should scrap the tights but keep the rest of it.
The trashing debate rages on
I don't mind it, but some other students do.Reply 8
PsychologyJen
The trashing debate rages on I don't mind it, but some other students do.
I don't mind it, but some other students do.The thought that there was probably someone waiting outside to trash me was the only thing that got me through the quantitative methods paper, it would have been a lot worse that it actually was if I'd thought I'd just have to walk serenely back to college rather than being greeted with champagne and glitter!
Reply 9
I can see the logic in the trashings restrictions, as would most people who had to walk down Queen's Lane in the last two weeks of Trinity - the mess and smell... its just disgusting! I think they got things right as Exeter, trashings allowed, but only with water, sparkling wine, and anything that wouldn't be too hard to clear up.
On a broarder note, most of the rules are really common sense, and whilst some are really archaic, they tend to be the ones which aren't enforced so strongly.
On a broarder note, most of the rules are really common sense, and whilst some are really archaic, they tend to be the ones which aren't enforced so strongly.
Reply 10
11
What's "trashing"? (Sorry!)
Hilda's seems really quite strict - argh! Hope the rules get broken sufficiently that they're negligible.
Hilda's seems really quite strict - argh! Hope the rules get broken sufficiently that they're negligible.
Reply 11
epitome
What's "trashing"? (Sorry!)
Hilda's seems really quite strict - argh! Hope the rules get broken sufficiently that they're negligible.
Hilda's seems really quite strict - argh! Hope the rules get broken sufficiently that they're negligible.
Trashing is a form of post exam celebrations, where people get covered in all sorts of stuff...eggs, flour etc. for the guys, champagne and glitter for the girls. Apparently it costs £20,000 a year to be cleaned up, i'm not sure who they're getting to do the cleaning up though at those prices! I think it's just being a bit dog-in-the-mangerish by the University (who are under pressure from the council). I mean, I dunno how the council have the right to moan, Oxford would be **** without the university, so it's not unreasonable to give something back.
Reply 12
I should think that it really pisses off the Colleges between Schools and the KA to have the road outside their gates covered in beans, flour, squid, and broken glass.
The proctors can't do anything, apparently, as it's happening on a public street and not on university territory; and the police can't be bothered.
I cycle up and down Queen's lane a lot. I don't mind the gaggles of fizzy-wine-bottle waving just-finishers, but I do mind skidding on assorted ****e as I weave around them. And it smells vile after a bit.
DtS
The proctors can't do anything, apparently, as it's happening on a public street and not on university territory; and the police can't be bothered.
I cycle up and down Queen's lane a lot. I don't mind the gaggles of fizzy-wine-bottle waving just-finishers, but I do mind skidding on assorted ****e as I weave around them. And it smells vile after a bit.
DtS
Reply 13
As a member of the university, you're under the proctors juristiction no matter where you are. If you get caught trashing people by the proctors, you will be fined regardless of which street you're on, except if it's in college in which case its left to college authorities to sort out in the first instance, although they can refer the case to the proctors.
Reply 14
Athena
The thought that there was probably someone waiting outside to trash me was the only thing that got me through the quantitative methods paper, it would have been a lot worse that it actually was if I'd thought I'd just have to walk serenely back to college rather than being greeted with champagne and glitter!
The thought that there was probably someone waiting outside to trash me was the only thing that got me through the quantitative methods paper, it would have been a lot worse that it actually was if I'd thought I'd just have to walk serenely back to college rather than being greeted with champagne and glitter!
I must admit, I felt a big sense of anticlimax after my last exam... I had to rush back to my room and get my kit on to cox Bumps!
I wish, in a way, we had more celebrations at the end of all exams- not just Finals where there's generally friends with champagne and balloons and stuff...Reply 15
13
FadeToBlackout
I must admit, I felt a big sense of anticlimax after my last exam... I had to rush back to my room and get my kit on to cox Bumps! I wish, in a way, we had more celebrations at the end of all exams- not just Finals where there's generally friends with champagne and balloons and stuff...
I wish, in a way, we had more celebrations at the end of all exams- not just Finals where there's generally friends with champagne and balloons and stuff...I finished my exams at 5:00. I had to get back to college and meet my dad, pack and go home. No time for a drink in the evening or anything. I've got 2 or 3 weeks for celebration next year though
And to an earlier comment, the thought that people would be armed with flour and eggs made me wish the exam would last longer!
Reply 16
ha, May Week FTW! 
Reply 17
FadeToBlackout
I must admit, I felt a big sense of anticlimax after my last exam... I had to rush back to my room and get my kit on to cox Bumps! I wish, in a way, we had more celebrations at the end of all exams- not just Finals where there's generally friends with champagne and balloons and stuff...
I wish, in a way, we had more celebrations at the end of all exams- not just Finals where there's generally friends with champagne and balloons and stuff...After my exams in second year I went straight back to my room, packed and went home... that really did suck, so I sympathise SsEe.
Reply 18
pinkpiggie
I can see the logic in the trashings restrictions, as would most people who had to walk down Queen's Lane in the last two weeks of Trinity - the mess and smell... its just disgusting! I think they got things right as Exeter, trashings allowed, but only with water, sparkling wine, and anything that wouldn't be too hard to clear up.
On a broarder note, most of the rules are really common sense, and whilst some are really archaic, they tend to be the ones which aren't enforced so strongly.
On a broarder note, most of the rules are really common sense, and whilst some are really archaic, they tend to be the ones which aren't enforced so strongly.
but... queens lane didnt smell. it was just messy.
Reply 19
Aww that's a shame for people who didn't get to celebrate after exams. After my last one this year (prelims) I got the standard glitter/champagne etc and about 10 people went for a publunch with me, then I drank until more people finished in the afternoon then we went for a meal and night out! At magd people celebrate your last exam every year, and everybody who had exams in 9th week stayed a couple of days after anyway to hang out and say goodbye for summer. Awww I love my college!
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