This is the MCR report published in the 2008 Register. The full register is available at https://www.exetercollege.net/design/pdfs/08Register.pdf.

Trinity 2008

Our MCR, the William Petre Society, looks back to an eventful year. In Michaelmas 2008 the MCR bustled with excitement, not only due to the start of the new academic year, but especially with the prospect of getting to know the 82 new graduate freshers Exeter welcomed. The free MCR- branded T-shirts we organised were immensely popular, and it’s been great to see people wearing them throughout the year. With a Parenting Scheme set up for the first time, many graduates had a child they could show around, helping them with the secrets you simply discover by living in Oxford.

Patrick Wadden, Exeter House President, did a great job not only in helping with the day-to-day problems, but also in organising multiple social events at Exeter House. His movie nights proved to be a superb idea, put well into practice. Great thanks go to Brian Moss, Katy Barrett, Richard Chapman, and Therese Feiler, who all put special effort into making our social calendar even better than we could have wished for. This year we had exchange dinners with Green, Templeton, St Cross, St Catz, Magdalen, and Christ Church. The Social Secs also organised a couples dinner, as well as poetry evenings, movie nights, a jazz and cocktails evening, a New World wine tasting, a visit to the Sheldonian for a concert, a salsa night with Balliol College, numerous bops – including one organised jointly with the JCR – and other evening events of the like. Like last year, a self-defence class we organised proved very popular. Excursions included a visit to Bath for Christmas, an evening in London for King Tut, and a trip to Cambridge to visit our sister college, Emmanuel. We returned the favour by inviting Emma College to the Exeter Ball. Tea and Cakes is loved as ever, and Naomi Walker gave Hannah Perrin a great example of how best to please the MCR with selections of cakes, sweets, and increasingly fresh fruit. As highlights, we had Diwali Tea and Cakes with Indian cakes, and the ‘Bake your own Cake’ contest. We also introduced Fairtrade products. Ari Romney and Martin Williams ensured that the MCR stayed green and tidy. We’ve set up more recycling this year, including better support for paper recycling and encouraging the re-use of plastic bags. The MCR has also obtained some cloth bags. On the IT side, I have passed on the office to Ricardo Pachon, who had done well in representing the MCR at the IT Committee, and keeping both the website and our mailing lists up-to-date.

As always, we are proud to have lots of athletes amongst us. Matt Baker, captain of the Fencing team, secured victory over Cambridge in the Varsity Matches with his final bout. He also had the honour of being awarded a Vincent’s Sports Scholarship, congratulations Matt! Julian de Hoog, previous Exeter House President, is as keen as ever in Ice Hockey, and Oxford was very pleased when he scored 4 of the goals that decided the 8:2 triumph over Cambridge in the Varsity match. And Garrett Johnson not only supported the athletics Varsity team, but gave an impressive performance in the shot-put trials for the Olympics in Beijing this year. In no particular order, the following MCR members also participated in Blues or Half Blues, and made us all proud that Exeter and Oxford are as sporty as ever: Will Canestaro in lightweight rowing, Maddy Jones in rugby, Matt Rigby in football, Andrew van Biljon in hockey, Jenny Brown in squash, Ash Rust in Lacrosse, Jesse Elzinga in cycling, Mike Floyd in coxing, Alyson Goodner in swimming and water polo, Hannah Graff in swimming, Evren Cubukgil in power lifting, Tarunabh Khaitan in dancing, and our previous MCR President, Meredith Riedel, in golfing. This year, Exeter even had an all-graduate rowing crew, captained by Richard Chapman, that qualified for Summer Eights. Well done, Brian Moss, Richard Chapman, Akshay Bareja, Yaman Dalanay, Ricardo Pachon, Julian de Hoog, Patrick Wadden, Daniel van Binsbergen and Andrew van Biljon.

It has also been much appreciated by all MCR members that we offer free access to the Iffley Road Sports Complex. The previous Exec had established this, and it will continue in the next year. As a special addition, in the next academic year students will have access to the gym and pool via their University card, rather than signing out cards from Exeter Lodge. We also organised a punt that students will be able to rent out all summer long. It’s especially nice that we organised this together with the JCR, further increasing collaboration between the undergraduate and postgraduate members of College. In the same spirit the MCR Exec and the JCR Exec met for dinner to speak of further plans to work together.

Katherine LaFrance, who has been very active in the MCR throughout, was appointed Library Representative. It is the first year both MCR and JCR have representation on the Library Committee. This was established by the JCR President, Edward Moores, and myself. Given the exciting renovation plans for the Exeter library, it is great to see that Exeter College continually values its students’ input. In addition. I was able to establish a separate study room for graduates in Turl Street 18A, and it has been heavily used. This has proved a good solution especially during Trinity Term when the library is particularly busy.

Rents and charges were negotiated well, and College, JCR, and MCR came to an agreement that I think all parties can be happy with. In particular, we were able to eliminate the extra charge applied to meals between terms. Another change to the Red Book included summer activities – playing croquet is now allowed during the summer months. Last year Meredith had established an exception for playing croquet, and it seemed sensible to me to formalise this, so that this need not be an exception any more. It is good to see that College is willing to change regulations where possible to further extend offers to its student members. In that sense we were also able to draw College attention to the importance of the office of Exeter House President. Patrick provided a description of the duties at hand, and compensation for the office holder was improved. The newly elected Exeter House President, Hannah Perrin, will profit from this in the next year.

During the year there has been much discussion of graduates at Oxford University, and first results can be seen from the efforts to improve the integration of graduate studies within the university system. At the bi- termly Presidents’ Committee we have had the opportunity to talk to different representatives from the University, who have been particularly receptive to our concerns. We had a promising discussion with the new librarian of the Bodleian Library, Sarah Thomas; with Michael Sibly, the Academic Registrar in charge of all student services and support; with Paul Clark, the Director of Graduate Admissions and Graduate Funding; and with Richard Hughes, the University’s Head of Academic Policy. For the first time a year book for graduates is being offered. Nerisha Singh, MCR President in the academic year 2005/06, wrote Exeter’s entry, and she did such a good job that it was promoted as the main graduate article in the yearbook. A graduate prospectus has been prepared for the first time, and both College and myself, as MCR representative, contributed to Exeter’s entry there.

Exeter itself awaits great changes, and it’s exciting to be part of College at this promising time. Exeter House is being renovated to provide fantastic new graduate accommodation. 235 Iffley Road has already been refurbished, and will provide graduates with rooms while building is going on at Exeter House itself. For those staying at Exeter House during the building phase, care has been taken not to disturb students. College gave us the opportunity to talk to the architect, and our feedback concerning students’ needs was welcomed – and plans were changed accordingly. As to future plans, there is much to look forward to. The library is to be renovated starting in 2010. Exeter College has also secured a building on Walton Street. This will allow Exeter to expand to essentially have a third quad, which will give space for teaching, research, and extra student accommodation. It is an exciting time to be part of Exeter!

Finally, I would like to thank the previous and the current MCR Exec for all their time and devotion. Special thanks to Meredith Riedel, previous President; Lindsay Weichel, previous Vice-President; George Anstey, previous Treasurer; Daragh McDowell, current Vice-President; and Christo Fogelberg, current Treasurer. I know you have put a lot of time and heart into the leading of the MCR, and it has always been a special pleasure to work with such committed and able fellow students.

Sara E. Adams
D.Phil. Student Computer Science