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==Student life== [[File:Selwyn College, Cambridge Porters Lodge.jpg|thumb|Porter's Lodge]] Selwyn has a reputation as one of the most traditional but friendliest Oxbridge colleges.<ref name="Short History" /> The college is visited by many members of the university who come from the neighbouring Sidgwick Site in-between lectures and supervisions to take advantage of Selwyn's Servery and Dining Hall. Similarly, Formal Swaps are regularly arranged by the student councils to allow students from other Oxford and Cambridge colleges to dine at Selwyn during Formal Hall. Students of Selwyn College are required to wear their gowns to all formal halls, ceremonies and college functions. The Selwyn gown is made of a thick black cloth with dark navy blue inline lapels.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ryderamies.co.uk/shop/selwyn-college-undergraduate-gown/|title=Selwyn College Undergraduate Gown – Ryder & Amies|website=Ryderamies.co.uk|access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref><ref name="Short History" /> ===Common rooms=== Selwyn College [[Common Room (university)|Junior Combination Room]] (JCR) is the students' union for undergraduates students. Elected in Michaelmas term, it organises social and welfare events, negotiates with the college on the students' behalf, and represents Selwyn on [[Cambridge University Students' Union]] (CUSU) Council. JCR is affiliated to CUSU and by extension to the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students]]. In recent years, four presidents of Selwyn College JCR have become CUSU president, one of whom, [[Wes Streeting]] MP, went on to become president of the National Union of Students and a Labour [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP). Another JCR President, [[Simon Hughes]], went on to become a [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] MP and candidate for [[Mayor of London]]. The Middle Combination Room (MCR) comprises the graduate students of Selwyn College, and is similarly represented by the MCR Committee (MCRc). The MCR is located in Cripps Court. The presidents and treasurers of the JCRc and MCRc have sat on College Council, the main decision-making body of the college, since it was reformed in 1989. [[File:Selwyn College M1, Lent bumps 2012.jpg|thumb|Selwyn College Boat Club (SCBC)]] ===Student societies=== The college is host to a number of student organisations, including the Hermes Club, Selwyn College Music Society and Selwyn Jazz, and on the stage by amateur dramatics society The Mighty Players.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mightyplayers.soc.srcf.net/|title=The Mighty Players|website=mightyplayers.soc.srcf.net}}</ref> [[Selwyn College Boat Club]] is the official rowing club. Selwyn has the longest continually running students' magazine— of any Cambridge College; ''Kiwi'' has been published from 1982 to present.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}} The chapel choir is a mixed choir that sings three weekly services during full term,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/about/chapel-and-choir/chapel-service-times|title=Chapel Service Times | Selwyn College|website=www.sel.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> has toured widely and has made over 15 commercial CD recordings under their professional director, [[Sarah MacDonald (musician)|Sarah MacDonald]].<ref>[http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Merchandise/CDs.html Selwyn College » Selwyn Merchandise] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224085022/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/Merchandise/CDs.html |date=24 December 2013 }}. Sel.cam.ac.uk (24 February 2013). Retrieved on 17 August 2013.</ref> The Choir has also included members of the neighbouring women's college, [[Newnham College]], since before the integration of women to Selwyn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/about/chapel-and-choir/choir-and-organ|title=Choir and Organ | Selwyn College|website=www.sel.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> ===Unofficial societies=== Like many Oxbridge colleges, Selwyn is reported to be home to secret societies and dining clubs including The Controversialists, The Cromwells, and The Templars. Some of these societies appear to function as ''de facto'' discussion and debate clubs while others appear to be drinking societies and for raucous parties. In the past there was a reported incident that brought a society into disrepute: in 2014, it was reported that members of Selwyn Templars were involved in a scandal where sexist and misogynistic messages were sent to members of the society.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/03/cambridge-university-drinking-society-selwyn-templars_n_6262248.html|title=Another Cambridge Drinking Society Is Under Fire|first1=Keumars Afifi-Sabet Freelance|last1=journalist|last2=satirist|date=4 December 2014|website=HuffPost UK|access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref><ref name="varsity.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/7950|title=Misogynist messages leak from Selwyn|website=Varsity.co.uk|access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref> [[File:SelwynCollegeSociety0187.png|thumb|Programme for a 1914 [[smoking concert]] of the Controversialists]] ====The Controversialists==== The Controversialists are the oldest secret society at the college and one of the oldest at the university, being founded by a group of students in Lent Term, 1893. The society's name is believed to pay homage to both their leftist political leanings and their discussion and debate of poetry and literature. The purpose of the Society, according to rules printed in 1909, was "the reading and discussion of English poetry and drama". The Society membership was made up of both undergraduate and graduate students at Selwyn College. Female students were able to join the society since women were admitted to the college. The total number of Controversialist members is not allowed to exceed twelve. Meetings are traditionally to be held on Sundays in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, as well as in May if a quorum of five members can be arranged. The badge and symbol of the Controversialists is a purple lyre.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAE-AQAAMAAJ&q=Selwyn+Controversialists+Cambridge&pg=PA206|title=The Cambridge Review|date=26 August 1896|access-date=26 August 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Controversialists commonly organise [[smoking concert]]s where poetry and verse is recited by members before the political discussions. ====The Templars==== The Selwyn College Templars are reputed to be the second oldest secret society and the largest at the college. The society was initially only open to wealthy, upper-class Anglican students. The membership of the Templars Society were often involved with campus politics and were often members of the [[Cambridge University Conservative Association]]. Membership was to be decided by nomination from two current members and election at the society's Michaelmas meeting. New members of the Templars are reportedly 'knighted' with a ceremonial sword in a bizarre initiation ceremony that takes place on the Autumn equinox each year.<ref name="Short History" /> In 2014, a Cambridge student newspaper reported that the Selwyn Templars Society were involved in a scandal where sexist and misogynistic messages were sent to members of the society. The college condemned the content of the reported messages.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="varsity.co.uk"/> ===Hermes Club=== The Hermes Club, founded in 1920, exists to encourage, fund and improve sport at Selwyn College – a task it accomplishes by offering financial grants to individual sportsmen/women and college teams, through the lobbying of college, and by generally raising the profile of sport in Selwyn. Members of Selwyn are eligible for invitation to the club if they have been awarded a Full [[Blue (university sport)|Blue]] or Half Blue by the university, if they have captained a Selwyn College team in a 'First Class sport', or if they have competed on behalf of Selwyn in two 'First Class' [[Cuppers]] competitions.<ref name="Short History" /> Alumni of the club fund two major sports grant schemes which award thousands of pounds in grants every year – the Hermes Fund and the Vickerstaff Sports Bursary Scheme. Many members{{who|date=August 2017}} of the Hermes Club have gone on to become prominent in public life, particularly as politicians, actors and authors.<ref name="test">{{cite web|url=http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/GivingtoSelwyn/sportsbursaryscheme.html|title=Sports Bursary Scheme|website=Selcam.ac.uk|access-date=2017-08-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927015038/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/alumni/GivingtoSelwyn/sportsbursaryscheme.html|archive-date=27 September 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ===Winter and May balls=== [[File:Selwyn College May Ball 1948 Survivors Shot.jpg|thumb|left|Selwyn College May Ball Survivors (1948)]] Selwyn is unique among Oxbridge colleges in that it holds an annual Winter [[May Ball|Ball]] known as the Selwyn Snowball, which traditionally takes place on the night of the last Friday of Michaelmas term. In recent years the Snowball has developed into a larger event than it had been in the mid-1990s and now runs three full stages, with recent headliners including [[Mumford & Sons]] and [[Tinchy Stryder]], and caters for around 850 guests. The Selwyn Snowball has become better known than its May Ball which has been held in June of some years, after students have finished their examinations. The [[May Ball]] tradition at Selwyn began on 14 June 1948, as hundreds of students dressed in [[black tie]] to attend the all-night celebration. May Balls continued to be held at the college throughout the second half of the 20th century with a highlight being the performance of [[The Who]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge-University-ball-season-kicks-tomorrow-scenes-Week/story-22514993-detail/story.html |title=As the Cambridge University ball season kicks off tomorrow, we go behind the scenes at May Week | Cambridge News |access-date=2014-12-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923200208/http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge-University-ball-season-kicks-tomorrow-scenes-Week/story-22514993-detail/story.html |archive-date=23 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In recent years, May Balls have been replaced by the Snowball with notable exceptions: 2008, to celebrate the college's 125th anniversary; 2015 and 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.selwynball.com/|title=Selwyn May Ball|website=Selwynball.com|access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref> ===Selwyn College Boat Club=== The [[Selwyn College Boat Club]] (SCBC) is the rowing club for members of the college. The boat club was founded in 1882, during the Michaelmas term. During this early period, the Selwyn Boat Club trained several rowers who would go on to become Olympic Rowers and University Blues in the annual boat race against Oxford. The SCBC also achieved intercollegiate success during its early days, winning a second in the [[Lent Bumps]] of 1934 and third in the [[May Bumps]] 1931. The dedication and work of the early Selwyn rowers was all the more fitting given that George Augustus Selwyn had rowed for Cambridge in the first Boat Race at [[Henley-on-Thames]] in 1829. The SCBC still has one of the highest participation rates of novice rowers of any Oxbridge college. Notable alumni of the Selwyn College Boat Club include [[Hugh Laurie]], [[Tom Hollander]] and [[Richard Budgett]]. In 2014, Selwyn, King's and Churchill colleges announced plans for a new, state-of-the-art combined boathouse located on the River Cam. The boathouse features double-length beams and extensive gym and training facilities for all Selwyn College rowers and student athletes. This facility was completed in 2015–16 and now provides world-class rowing and training facilities for SCBC rowers and students across the University of Cambridge. The project was largely funded by donations and contributions from alumni and the Hermes Club. The two-storey combined boathouse is larger than its 1968 predecessor and provides facilities for socialising, training and boat maintenance in addition to an observation deck. The combined boathouse was designed by RHP Architects at a cost of approximately £2.20 million and was the winner of the 2017 [[Royal Institute of British Architects|RIBA]] East Award for Outstanding Architecture.<ref name="Short History"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rhpartnership.co.uk/projects/combined-colleges-boathouse|title=R H Partnership Architects|website=www.rhpartnership.co.uk}}</ref>
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