Cambridge View | Boat Race Equality

It's that time of year again. Two crews of two coxes and sixteen rowers will battle it out for their place in Boat Race history on the 6th of April. Nine months of gruelling training will be recorded by just one word; "win" or "lose". Of course, history will truly be made next year, when the Womens' Blue Boats will join the men on the 6.8km course on the Tideway.

(The London Transport Museum)

Despite the centuries old tradition that the men's race is steeped in, I can't help but feel that somehow the women's race has become more 'Cambridge'. Compare the crew lists for the men and women. The majority of men are graduates, who turn up to Cambridge already with a wealth of rowing experience, some national, some international. The Boat Race offers them a chance to participate in a world famous competition, gain fame and go through exhaustive training.

Yet, the men's race is so competitive it is no longer won in training, but won in the recruitment drives before the season even begins. The Boat Race resembles the episode of The Simpsons where the Simpsons build a tennis court in their back-garden, but try to outdo each other so much that none of the family actually end up playing, as their spots have been taken over by Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and the Williams Sisters. In this case, Cambridge students and rowers are the Simpsons family, and have ended up on the benches, cheering on a boat of people who they have no interaction with, as they are so far removed from the circles of normal students. (NB I am by no means belittling the training the Blues' men put into the boat race. They will often row or erg the equivalent of a marathon each day, whilst trying to balance a rigorous Cambridge education.)

But when you look through the women's crew list, they are much younger, much more inexperienced. And that is a good thing. Most female Cambridge college rowers will have rowed with one of the Blues' Women, some will have even noviced alongside them. This may be just a personal thing, but it seems much more genuine to have someone who learnt to row at Cambridge represent Cambridge.

A recent twitter feed also revealed that many in the women's Blue Boat, both in Oxford and Cambridge, have aspirations to go on to row for Britain. The Women's Boat Race is a breeding ground for future female GB rowers, while the men's side is a playground for international ones. It is extremely unusual to have men like Ivo Dawkins go straight from college level to the Blue Boat.

As the women's Blue Boat come from colleges across Cambridge (not just graduate ones), they are able to take their experience and feed it back into college rowing come Easter term. Also, it gives college clubs a huge morale boost to see someone from their club progress to representing the University, as well as inspiring more people to take up the sport.

However, the youth of the women's side means that most are undergraduates, they are balancing the future of what will probably be their only undergraduate degree to represent the University. The truth is, they are putting much more at stake for much less recognition.

For all these reasons, I am so happy to see the women's Boat Race finally getting the recognition they deserve. On the other hand, I worry that the women's race could come to emulate the men's race, where the rowers are part student, part mercenary. There is a genuineness about the Women's Boat Race that I hope will not be lost in translation to the Tideway next year.

Cambridge View | New Hall to Murray Edwards

The Dome in Snow (Holly Smith, iPhone)

This is my college. Looking like something between an observatory and a mosque. 

Before I came to Cambridge, I had no understanding of this funny college system, and I made sense of it by equating it to the houses of Hogwarts. It is exactly that. Although you study with students from all over the University, you eat, drink, sleep, and live with your college compatriots. 

The typical Cambridge View: King's College Chapel (Holly Smith, iPhone)

So there I was, a scared little UCAS applicant forced to pick one of these little buildings which are part of the bigger collection of buildings that I wanted to be a part of. I had a checklist too: old (must have turrets!), in the centre of town and fairly large. Boom, hello St Johns College, you look friendly. Evidently, I did not get a place at St Johns, but I was placed in the dreaded 'pool', to be fished out by Murray Edwards College. 

Clearly, there are no turrets. However, we do have a dome. THE Dome, in fact, as we are the only Cambridge college to have one. We are a college of unique elements in more ways than one; our acronym can stand for a debilitating sleep disorder and we have a split personality, as far as I'm aware, M.E is the only college to currently use two names, M.E formerly known as, or perhaps one could say, neé New Hall. 

Considering the names of the other colleges, something seems amiss: Christ's, Churchill, Clare, Clare Hall, Corpus Christi, Darwin, Downing, Emmanuel, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Gonville and Cauis, Homerton, Hughes Hall, Jesus, Kings, Lucy Cavendish, Magdalene, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Queens, Robinson, St Catherines, St Edmunds, St Johns, Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, Trinity, Trinity Hall and Wolfson. 

Of the above colleges, 11 have names relating to Christianity, 12 take names connected to their founding or first principals, 4 have names corresponding to their location, and 2 after notable alumni.  Only Lucy Cavendish bears its name in honour of the woman herself, despite her never being a member of the University of Cambridge or having nothing to do with the college sharing her namesake. Neither Sir Winston Churchill nor Sir David Robinson attended Cambridge, but both wished to leave a legacy within the University, and were heavily involved in the creation of their respective colleges, although Robinson's input seems mainly fiscal.

Undoubtedly, the trend of the founding benefactor's name being adopted for the college as a whole runs  throughout the history of the university. Yet I can only find one other case that is similar to Murray Edwards - Cambridge's second oldest college, Clare College. Originally called University Hall, it changed it's name to Clare Hall in 1338 to honour an endowment left by Elizabeth de Clare. 

Below is the account from Murray Edwards College describing the 2008 name change:

"In June 2008 the College announced that it was receiving a donation of £30million from Ros (1981, née Smith) and Steve Edwards, the largest personal donation to a Cambridge college in the University’s 800 year history. The College was founded in 1954 without an endowment, despite the founders' efforts to find a donor who would endow and name the College. So the founders decided to adopt the name "New Hall" until a donor could be found to endow the College and secure its future. This donation from Ros and Steve Edwards forms the College's foundation endowment, and so in 2008 the College announced its renaming as Murray Edwards College to recognise the vision of its first President, Rosemary Murray, and the generosity of the Edwards family."

While one cannot fault the Edwards' on their kindness towards the college, I feel disappointed. As one of the three all female colleges of Cambridge, I feel that the new name doesn't reflect the youth, dynamism and uniqueness that New Hall did. New Hall seemed like a bold statement in amongst the old, traditional and male collegiate world. Now we have taken on the name of an alumna who has taken on the name of a man. All this by a college which won't allow pole dancing classes run on its premises for fear of damage to its reputation, irrespective of demand. Personally, I feel this name sends out a worse image - we were up for sale to the highest bidder. My college was established in 1954 as "the third foundation for women" (the other two being Girton and Newnham), and the feminist inside me can't help but think that this is a betrayal of its principles. 

Autumn by Huntingdon Road (Holly Smith)

Murray Edwards Garden love (Holly Smith)

Yet perhaps, I am reading too deeply into this. A name is just a label for what happens inside the college, and no name could change the vision, drive and innovation of the students who I am honoured to share this college with. Eventually, in the perpetual and everlasting history of the institution that is the University of Cambridge, the name Murray Edwards will just be accepted, just as Downing is Downing. New Hall will join the ranks of University College (Clare College), God's House (Christ's) and Buckingham College (Magdalene), names of bygone eras. 

While I personally dislike the name 'Murray Edwards' (and its attached nicknames 'Mudwards', 'Medwards' and the legendary, 'Hurry Bedwards') I am proud to call myself a Murray Edwards student because of what the college stands for.