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Oxford college bans student representatives from joining secretive dining societies as it undermines inclusivity

Admission to an Oxford university dining society was once considered an indicator of social prestige - Getty Images Europe
Admission to an Oxford university dining society was once considered an indicator of social prestige - Getty Images Europe

Admission to a university dining society was once considered an indicator of social prestige, with invitations to join greatly coveted.

But now an Oxford college has banned student representatives from joining its dining clubs, on the grounds that they should be promoting inclusivity.

Students at Queen’s College passed a motion stating that Junior Common Room (JCR) executive members are not permitted to simultaneously be members of dining societies which are "secret and exclusive". They are still allowed to join societies which are open, or where anyone can ballot for a place. 

 “The presence of exclusive societies like these reinforces the idea that Oxford is not an inclusive space,” Alice Shepherd and Ciara Moran, the proposer and seconder of the motion, told the student newspaper, The Oxford Student.

“We think it’s important we pass this motion to show that this JCR at the very least stands for inclusion. This motion is targeted specifically at the exec because we believe we as exec members need to set the standard and embody the values of the rest of the JCR.”

Rowan Atkinson is an alumni of Queen's College, Oxford - Credit:  Imaginechina/REX/Shutterstock
Rowan Atkinson is an alumni of Queen's College, Oxford Credit: Imaginechina/REX/Shutterstock

 

The Bullingdon Club is Oxford’s most renowned private members' society, which counts the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and the ex-Prime Minister David Cameron among its former members.

Other secretive clubs in Oxford include the Stoics, which is for exclusively public school- educated students, and the Gridiron Club, which recently voted to allow female members for the first time and has a private room above a Pizza Express in the city centre.

Queen’s, whose alumni include the philosopher Jeremy Bentham and the actor Rowan Atkinson, has three exclusive dining societies: Reginae, Eaglets and Halcyon.

Queen’s JCR already discourages its members from joining these three exclusive societies, if they are invited, as they “do not align with the ethos of the JCR.”

The JCR President emails every undergraduate at the College each year discouraging JCR members from accepting invitations to any of the exclusive societies.

In the same meeting, Queen’s also voted to install a “Class Representative” to oversee “matters specifically concerning those members of the JCR who are working class, low income, state comp educated, and/or first gen students”.