Samuel Butler Room Society
Encyclopedia
The Samuel Butler Room Society (SBR) is the Middle Combination Room (MCR) of St John's College
at the University of Cambridge
. The objects of the Society are the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student Members of the College, the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room and the "provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit".
The society traces its foundation to 1960, when graduate student members submitted an application to College Council for official separation from the Junior Combination Room (JCR). The eponymous name of the society refers to the physical rooms which are used by the society. The room itself is named after the noted Johnian author and poet Samuel Butler
.
The modern society (which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010) now has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs; the newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students; and graduate students have access to a graduate study room (the first of its kind in a Cambridge college).
Two elections are held a year. The President and four ordinary members (two of which must be the Junior Treasurer and Secretary) of the Committee are elected in an annual election held in the second half of Lent Term. The remaining two ordinary members are elected in an annual election held in the first half of the Michaelmas Term.
, in May 1924. Among the earliest cohort of post-graduate Johnians was noted physicist Paul Dirac
. Dirac was awarded his doctorate in Physics in June 1926 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics nine years later, in 1933; his portrait adorns the Hall today. The first woman associated with this college in any capacity was a post-graduate student at Sheffield University, who was elected to a Meres Studentship in 1971. In 1981, nine research students were the first women to be formally admitted as members of the college.
In October 1957, the post-graduates started demanding the exclusive use of a room “in which to drink coffee”. The JCR of the day believed these graduates to be pre-occupied with the sort of coffee which should be drunk. By 1960, these pioneering post-graduate students formed a cohesive unit and were eager to have their own representation in College, separate from the JCR. The set in I1 First Court was declared a junior common room in 1957 and named in honour of the Johnian author and poet, Samuel Butler. This room was colonised by post-graduates from its beginning, and in 1960 they made an official application for approval of their de facto occupation of the space, separate from the JCR. This led to “border warfare between the two constituencies and resistance to the graduates' wish to use their territory for dinner parties and the entertainment of ladies”. Eventually, the College council accepted this new state of affairs, with the first constitution of the Samuel Butler Room Society submitted in 1968 and accepted in June 1973. Today, this constitution forms part of the standing orders of the College and the SBR is an integral part of the College community.
Fifty years after the events of 1960, the SBR remains true to its founding principles: “the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student members of the College and the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room, and the provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit”. The SBR has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs. The newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students.
Past Presidents of the Samuel Butler Room committee have been:
Past Secretaries of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
Past Treasurers of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
The Fellow Borderer of St John's College has been since 2002/03:
It is to be noted that in 2003-2004, a proposal consisting of an architectural and business plan to turn the showers and baths at the bottom of I Staircase First Court into a Johnian Graduate Hydrotherapy Centre (JGHC) was submitted to the Master Professor Perham at College Council (February 2004). The plan included drawings commissioned by the Samuel Butler Room Committee from the professional architecture firm in Chicago known as DLK. The plan, on file, demonstrated that is was possible to pay for the JGHC over six years by an increase in AFAC funding to the Samuel Butler Room which was to come from an additional £9/term charge to Johnian graduates. Further enquiries should be directed to the Domestic Bursar of St John's College, Commodore J.W.R. Harris.
Furthermore, it is noted that the vestibule of the Samuel Butler Rooms is known as the PALMFE.
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. The objects of the Society are the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student Members of the College, the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room and the "provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit".
The society traces its foundation to 1960, when graduate student members submitted an application to College Council for official separation from the Junior Combination Room (JCR). The eponymous name of the society refers to the physical rooms which are used by the society. The room itself is named after the noted Johnian author and poet Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler (novelist)
Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the Utopian satire Erewhon and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, The Way of All Flesh...
.
The modern society (which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010) now has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs; the newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students; and graduate students have access to a graduate study room (the first of its kind in a Cambridge college).
Eligibility criteria
The membership of the Society comprises all junior members of the College who are graduate students (including affiliated students), and all members of the College of the status of M.A. who are required to pay the Student Union Approved Fee or the Continuation Fee (GU and CUSU fees).Election process
The Samuel Butler Room consists of the single major office of President. The governing body of the Society is a committee, the Samuel Butler Room Committee, which consists of a Senior Treasurer, the President, six ordinary members, and co-opted members. Each member of the committee must be a person in statu pupillari engaged in (and not intermitting from) a course of study in the University.Two elections are held a year. The President and four ordinary members (two of which must be the Junior Treasurer and Secretary) of the Committee are elected in an annual election held in the second half of Lent Term. The remaining two ordinary members are elected in an annual election held in the first half of the Michaelmas Term.
History of the Society
The Cambridge PhD was only introduced in 1921, and the first Johnian to be awarded a PhD was Leslie John Comrie, a student from New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, in May 1924. Among the earliest cohort of post-graduate Johnians was noted physicist Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
. Dirac was awarded his doctorate in Physics in June 1926 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics nine years later, in 1933; his portrait adorns the Hall today. The first woman associated with this college in any capacity was a post-graduate student at Sheffield University, who was elected to a Meres Studentship in 1971. In 1981, nine research students were the first women to be formally admitted as members of the college.
In October 1957, the post-graduates started demanding the exclusive use of a room “in which to drink coffee”. The JCR of the day believed these graduates to be pre-occupied with the sort of coffee which should be drunk. By 1960, these pioneering post-graduate students formed a cohesive unit and were eager to have their own representation in College, separate from the JCR. The set in I1 First Court was declared a junior common room in 1957 and named in honour of the Johnian author and poet, Samuel Butler. This room was colonised by post-graduates from its beginning, and in 1960 they made an official application for approval of their de facto occupation of the space, separate from the JCR. This led to “border warfare between the two constituencies and resistance to the graduates' wish to use their territory for dinner parties and the entertainment of ladies”. Eventually, the College council accepted this new state of affairs, with the first constitution of the Samuel Butler Room Society submitted in 1968 and accepted in June 1973. Today, this constitution forms part of the standing orders of the College and the SBR is an integral part of the College community.
Fifty years after the events of 1960, the SBR remains true to its founding principles: “the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student members of the College and the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room, and the provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit”. The SBR has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs. The newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students.
Committee
The current president of the Samuel Butler Room committee is:- David Waddilove (PhD, English Legal History).
Past Presidents of the Samuel Butler Room committee have been:
- 2010/11 -- Justin Hulbert (PhD, Cognitive Neuroscience)
- 2009/10 -- Shakir Mohamed (PhD, Engineering)
- 2008/09 -- Eva-Maria Hempe (PhD, Engineering)
- 2007/08 -- Margaret Olzewski (PhD, History and Philosophy of Science)
- 2006/07 -- Tom Neuhaus (PhD, History)
- 2005/06 -- Iain MacLeod (PhD, Molecular Virology)
- 2004/05 -- Mairi McLaughlin (PhD, Linguistics)
- 2003/04 -- Edward M. Anderson (PhD, Italian Literature)
- 2002/03 -- Nancy Priston (PhD, Biological Anthropology and Conservation)
- 2001/02 -- Felix Ho (PhD, Biotechnology)
- 2000/01 -- Richard Layfield (PhD, Chemistry)
- 1999/00 -- Erik Gimpel (PhD, Biotechnology)
- 1998/99 -- James Smith (PhD, Pharmacology and Drug Design)
- 1997/98 -- Lorraine Dunbar (PhD, Chemistry)
- 1996/97 -- Suzy Haywood
- 1995/96 -- D. Burns
- 1994/95 -- J. Ryan
- 1992/93 -- Sean Carmody
- 1991/92 -- D.P. Cryer
Past Secretaries of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
- 2008/09 -- Mateja Peters (PhD, Politics and International Studies)
- 2007/08 -- Beth Kahle nee Shaw (PhD, Geoscience)
- 2006/07 -- Lucy Rhymer (PhD, History)
- 2004/05 -- Robert 'Pub' Pugh (PhD, Earth Sciences)
- 2004/05 -- Richard Edwin George (PhD cand., Computer Science)
- 1998/99 -- David Rippin (PhD, Geography)
- 1997/98 -- Karen Fullard (PhD, Zoology & Molecular Biology)
- 1996/97 -- Robyn Sorensen (PhD, Psychology)
Past Treasurers of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
- 2008/09 -- Carl Scheffler (PhD, Machine Learning- Physics)
- 2007/08 -- Jessica Priestley (PhD, Classics)
- 2006/07 -- Sebastian Hew
- 2006/07 -- Claire Clement (PhD, History)
- 2006/07 -- Giles Parkinson (MPhil, History)
- 2003/03 -- Alistair G. Crosby (PhD, Something About Oil)
- 1998/99 -- Deneal Smith (PhD, Astronomy)
- 1998/98 -- James Smith (PhD, Pharmacology and Drug Design)
- 1997/98 -- James Martin (PhD, Mathematics and Statistics)
- 1996/97 -- Selwyn Blieden (PhD, Mathematics)
The Fellow Borderer of St John's College has been since 2002/03:
- 2002/11 -- Serena Professor of Italian Emeritus Patrick Boyde, FBA
It is to be noted that in 2003-2004, a proposal consisting of an architectural and business plan to turn the showers and baths at the bottom of I Staircase First Court into a Johnian Graduate Hydrotherapy Centre (JGHC) was submitted to the Master Professor Perham at College Council (February 2004). The plan included drawings commissioned by the Samuel Butler Room Committee from the professional architecture firm in Chicago known as DLK. The plan, on file, demonstrated that is was possible to pay for the JGHC over six years by an increase in AFAC funding to the Samuel Butler Room which was to come from an additional £9/term charge to Johnian graduates. Further enquiries should be directed to the Domestic Bursar of St John's College, Commodore J.W.R. Harris.
Furthermore, it is noted that the vestibule of the Samuel Butler Rooms is known as the PALMFE.
See also
- Middle Combination Room
- St John's College, CambridgeSt John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
- The University of Cambridge