St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College was formally set up as a society by the University on 5 October 1965; it was to admit its first graduate students (five in number) in the following year. Like the majority of Oxford's newer colleges, St Cross has been co-educational since its foundation.[4]

The early location of St Cross was on a site in St Cross Road, immediately south of St Cross Church. The college took its name from its proximity to these places. In 1976 negotiations began between the college and the members of Pusey House over the possibility of moving the college to the St Giles site. The negotiations were successful, and in 1981 the college moved from St Cross Road into a site owned by Pusey House for a leased period of 999 years. The old site on St Cross Road continued to be used, initially by the Centre for Islamic Studies (at that time an Associated Centre of the college), and then subsequently in the early 1990s the site was developed by the college in collaboration with Brasenose College. The site now houses two residential buildings, which were opened in 1996.[5][6]

On 18 November 2010, it was announced that Sir Mark Jones, previously Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, had been elected as the next Master of the college; he took up the post in September 2011.[7] Unlike every other college head (except the presidents of Kellogg and Reuben), the Master of St Cross is appointed not by the college's governing body but by the University Council.[8] Therefore, the election has only the character of a recommendation to Council, albeit one which is constantly followed.[9][10]

In May 2016, it was announced that the Fellows of St Cross College had elected Carole Souter, then chief executive of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund, as the next Master of the college. In September 2016, she succeeded Sir Mark Jones, who had been Master of St Cross since 2011.[11] In June 2022 it was announced that Souter will retire in September 2022.[12] In 2023, Kate Mavor was announced as the new master of the college, with effect from September 2023.[13]

The college is located on St Giles' near to the Ashmolean Museum, south of Regent's Park College and immediately north of Blackfriars, and faces St John's College. It is close to the Classics Faculty and the Oriental Institute.

The college buildings are structured around two quads, the Richard Blackwell Quadrangle and the new West Quad. St Cross shares the site with Pusey House, which comprises the first floor and parts of the ground floor to the eastern side of the Blackwell quad, a library on the first floor on its western side, as well as the chapel. The original Pusey House buildings around the Blackwell quad, including the chapel, date from the period of 1884 to 1926 and are mainly the work of the architects Temple and Leslie Moore and Ninian Comper. Discreet internal alterations were made when St Cross moved in by Geoffrey Beard and the Oxford Architects Partnership. Among these was the conversion of a cloister and store rooms into the Saugman Hall (now the Saugman Common Room) named after Per Saugman, a former Director of Blackwell Scientific Publications and a former fellow of the college. The first quadrangle was named the Richard Blackwell Quadrangle in honour of Richard Blackwell (another former fellow); both Saugman and Blackwell played a crucial part in securing the large Blackwell benefaction for St Cross. Most students, however, used to refer to the Richard Blackwell Quadrangle by its nickname: 'the Quad'. After completion of the second quad, it is now commonly known as 'the front Quad'.

At the west side of the Blackwell Quad lies the Four Colleges Arch, named after the four colleges which had contributed especially generous capital and recurrent funding to St Cross: Merton, All Souls, Christ Church, and St John's. Behind the Four Colleges Arch originally lay a large open garden bordered by medieval boundary wall. This offered the college the possibility of expanding its buildings and erecting a second quadrangle, the West Quad.

Work was first completed on the South Wing on the southern side of the West Quad, containing a hall and kitchen, with bar, the Ian Skipper conference room, and the Caroline Miles games room below, a guest room and study bedrooms above. This development has in part been financed by Ian Skipper, Domus fellow of the college, after whom the conference room on the lower ground floor was named.[14]

A second building to the western and northern sides of the West Quad was set to be completed in time for the college's semicentennial in 2015.[15] However, planning permission for the new building was rejected, as it required the demolition of a medieval boundary wall, an action which the council qualified as 'unjustifiable'.[16] Planning permission was subsequently granted following an appeal,[17] and the new West Wing building was completed in 2017.[18] The new West Quad includes 50 student bedrooms, a lecture theatre, a library with a garden room (the Douglas and Catherine Wigdor Library), several seminar rooms, and the Audrey Blackman Guest Room.[19] Soon after it opened, cracks in the glassfibre reinforced concrete window surrounds appeared, which were found not to have been manufactured to specification and required quality. The building subsequently closed for replacement with a different material, and should reopen in 2023.[20]

In addition to the current main site, the college still owns its original site on St Cross Road, located near the Law Faculty and English Faculty. After the college moved to its present location, this site was developed into student accommodation, the St Cross Annexe. The site is shared with Brasenose, who also own an annexe on the site. Additional buildings which are run by St Cross College as student accommodation include Bradmore Road House, Stonemason House, and the Wellington Square houses.[21]

The master's lodgings are also located in Wellington Square.

In 2016, St Cross had over 550 graduate students, studying for degrees in all subjects.[22] There is a strong emphasis on international diversity, with regularly over 75% of the students coming from outside the UK (2016: 83%[23]). This is reflected in the college motto Ad quattuor cardines mundi, meaning 'to the four corners of the earth'. The fellowship is similarly diverse and represents a broad range of academic disciplines in the sciences and the arts.

The college awards a number of scholarships in different subjects, predominantly in the humanities and social sciences.[24][25]

Students are admitted and matriculated according to the same admissions procedures as the other colleges and halls of the University of Oxford. Unusually for an Oxford college, there is a founding tradition of sharing social facilities between fellows, members of Pusey House, the Common Room and students, with no separate high table or Senior Common Room.[26]

The college has a social calendar for both current students and alumni. There are a range of college societies and sports teams (often in collaboration with other colleges), as well as weekly academic seminars and annual conferences.[27]

Some students are provided with accommodation in the first year of study. College students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of extra-curricular activities. There are sports teams in football, rowing, netball and basketball as well as opportunities to play other sports for other Oxford colleges.[28]

The college's Boat Club shared with Wolfson College is like many other college boat clubs competes both within the university itself and in external competitions.[29] The St Cross has a women's football team which became Cuppers Champions in 2015.[30]

Other events in the college include regular formal hall, a feast once a term, 'bops' (informal college-based parties) and a yearly ball. St Cross was the first Oxford college to officially celebrate Chinese New Year.[31] Reunion events for alumni are hosted by the college annually both in Oxford itself and abroad.[32]

The Common Room also provides arts activities, such as an annual play and pantomime, as well as several social societies.[33] The cafe/bar area is a large oak-panelled room, including leather sofas, a TV, a sound system for bi-termly parties (bops), a football table. There is also a free DVD rental library. During Trinity Term, croquet and Pimms are enjoyed on the quad.

Together with Kellogg and Reuben, St Cross is one of only three Oxford colleges without a royal charter. It is officially a society of the university rather than an independent college.[34] The main difference from an independent college is that the governing body only recommends a Master, who is then appointed by Council; in other colleges, the head of house is elected and appointed by the governing body directly. For accounting purposes, the societies are considered departments of the university.[35] St Cross has one of the smallest endowments of any Oxford college, at approximately £8 million.[36] Nevertheless, the college has several scholarships that it awards to current and prospective graduate students and that are funded by third party donations and alumni.[37]

Peter Thompson, a Sydney L. Mayer Associate Professor of American History at St Cross College,[41] was accused of sexual harassment by a former students which came to light in 2021 after Al Jazeera investigation.[42] He has also been the subject of complaints by members of the Faculty of History in 2017, who claimed he was unfit to teach.[43] After an internal investigation by the university, Thompson has agreed not to attend any events or have any contact with students after the allegations of sexual harassment were upheld against him.[44] However, Thompson broke that agreement.[45]

Bibliography

• Kenneth Hylson-Smith, A History of Holywell and St Cross College/Brasenose College Residential Site (Oxford, 1996).
• Kenneth Hylson-Smith, David Sturdy & Brian Atkins, A History of St Giles and the St Cross College/Pusey House Site (Oxford, 1993).
• 'St Cross College', in The Encyclopaedia of Oxford, ed. Christopher Hibbert (London, 1988), 385–6.
• St Cross College Record, 1– (1980–).
• W. E. van Heyningen, The Founding of St Cross College, Oxford: An Interested Account (Oxford, 1988).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Cross College, Oxford.

• Official website
• Official website of the Student Representative Committee (SRC)
• Virtual tour of the Blackwell Quad