GCR history
The Graduate Common Room at Christ Church was founded in 1960 at the behest of Dr. P.W Kent to provide a focus for the growing number of graduate students at the College. In its first year the GCR had eighty-one members, and membership remained constant until the late 1980's when the provision of new accommodation at St Aldates allowed an increase in the number of graduate students at Christ Church. By 1990 there were one hundred and three members of the GCR, and by 1995 that number had increased to one hundred and fifty. In 2003 there were over two hundred members, and the numbers were set to increase.
The GCR
In 1960 the GCR was given rooms in Tom VII (which were once occupied by Lewis Carroll). According to the Christ Church Annual Report of 1960 "after redecoration and refurnishing with the help of a grant from college it looks very comfortable and snug." Complaints of lack of space in 1961 resulted in the renovation and expansion of the buildings at Tom VII, and gifts of canvases from the store room of the Picture Gallery and curtains were made by college. The Writing Room was converted and equipped as the Computer Room in 1991, and the Study Room renovated in 1995. A redecoration in 1999 was a classic illustration of the limitations of a committee system - we have sofas in three different colours! The Dining room was transformed into a teaching and meeting room in 2001. The GCR looks much the same today as when founded.
Accommodation
St Aldates under construction in 1983
Graduate students lived in college alongside undergraduates in the early days. In 1979 the Governing Body began considering developing the college site on St Aldates. An appeal was launched and money raised for the new graduate accommodation block which was started in 1982. Despite problems with planning permission regarding the facades of the derelict buildings on the site, the new quad was completed in 1986 and provided forty-two new rooms for graduate students.
The GCR and Women
Christ Church, like many Oxford Colleges, was an exclusively male College. In 1978 the Governing Body decided to admit female undergraduates to male colleges, and in 1980 the first female under- and post-graduates arrived in Christ Church. Seven out of the eighty GCR Members were women in 1980, today almost a third of GCR members are female. The GCR's first female president was Catherine Elliot in 1983.
Social Events
There have been various social events and traditions in the history of the GCR, some of which have died out and some of which are still occurring. The first speaker dinner occurred in 1965, but this was frowned upon by the SCR; "One wants to go to the GCR to meet graduate members of the House, not to sit and listen to some lion or lioness from outside roar." (ChCh 1965). However, the speaker dinner has continued to thrive ever since, and speakers have included John Le Carré, Enoch Powell, Princess Margaret, Glenda Jackson, Norman Stone, Simon Jenkins, Jeremy Irons, Bill Emmott, Professor Brian D. Josephon, Shmuel Boteach, Frank Kermode, Germaine Greer, Susan Greenfield, Jane Glover, Terry Jones, Sir George Young MP and Henry Blofeld.
Les Jones
The GCR's most recent innovation has been a series of short talks given by its members on their research. This has ranged from Bushmen doctors of Namibia, aural sensory apparatus of ferrets and the connections between Greek and Hebrew conceptions of God. We hope this will continue to flourish in the coming years.
The first GCR ball was held in 1990 and is now an annual event in Hilary term. GCR guest dinners, a focus for the early GCR, are once again a termly event. There is a smaller guest dinner held every week, and we also participate in exchange dinners with other Graduate Common rooms. Events also include garden parties, dessert nights and the annual Graduate Dinner.
Thanks to Dr J.F.A. Mason, James Lawry, and Les Jones for their help in compiling this history of the GCR. All quotes taken from the Christ Church Annual Reports. Compiled by Melissa Terras and Ashley Hern.
