Exeter Prospectus - Exeter College

Start-of-term barbecueCelebratingAt the College BallWatching the World CupSocial LifeFormal dinner in HallChatting at the riverThe JCR PraesidentStudent organisations/bodiesThe Junior Common RoomAll students are members of the JuniorCommon Room, while graduates, includingthose reading for second undergraduatedegrees, belong to the Middle CommonRoom as well. No-one has to belong tothese Societies against their will, but theyare centres of social life within the College,places where newspapers and magazinesare available, and TV, videos and CDs areprovided.The Common Rooms are also concernedwith student welfare, and they representthe wishes of the students in discussionswith the senior members of the College. Arepresentative from each Common Roomalso represents Exeter College’s students tothe Oxford University Student Union. Thestudents organise the College’s many clubs,sporting, dramatic, musical and artistic. Theyelect their own Presidents and officers, whoattend meetings of College committees wheretheir business is being discussed.MusicExeter is a very musical College, providingthe support and opportunity for any memberwho wishes to perform any kind of music;from jazz and folk to classical and choral. TheRector’s termly Musical Evenings are open toall, and are supplemented by regular lunchtimerecitals and evening concerts in theChapel, which has excellent acoustics. Forthose interested in less formal music, the Baris a good venue, providing the opportunityfor rock, folk, jazz and blues nights, as well asperformances by individual bands. Rehearsalfacilities are also provided in College. There isa Music Practice Room, with a piano, drumkit and other facilities, and there are twogrand pianos in College, both of which arein frequent use by students. In addition, theChapel also boasts an excellent Walker organin the French symphonic style, which wasinstalled in 1994.For students who sing, Exeter has much tooffer. The Chapel Choir is one of the beststudent-run mixed choirs in the University,taking up to four new choral scholars perannum (known as ‘academical clerkships’).Auditions are also held for students whowould like to join at the beginning of eachacademic year. The Choir has a wide musicalrepertoire and sings three Choral Evensongsper week in term, together with Mass settingsand other services throughout the year (fromAsh Wednesday to American Thanksgiving).Concerts and choir tours are a regular partof its life and past visits have included NewYork, Paris and Edinburgh. There are alsoopportunities to sing nearer to home in localparish churches, as well as settings such as StPaul’s Cathedral.If you enjoy singing, but don’t want toaudition, there are a number of informalchamber groups you can join and, if there isnothing that suits you, then start somethingnew! Each year students get together andestablish groups which enable them to singand perform together: from close harmonychoirs, to acappella groups. Musiciansquickly get to know each other and benefitfrom the wide range of opportunitiesprovided by Oxford as a whole and Exeter inparticular.Rector’s SeminarsAn unusual feature of life at Exeter College isthe series of weekly Rector’s Seminars. Thesebring distinguished figures from academic,public and business life in to the College, tolead informal discussions at which all ExeterCollege students are welcome. Among thosewho have spoken in recent times are LordWoolf, the former Lord Chief Justice; JosephNye, former Dean of the Kennedy School atHarvard University; Dame Antonia Byatt;Philip Pullman and Sir Trevor Phillips of theCommission for Racial Equality.The College also runs regular seminars at theSaid Business School, under a programmecalled “Exeter at the Said”. These attractsenior business figures, such as StephenGreen, chairman of HSBC, and Bill Emmott,former editor of The Economist, to lectureto students. The event is followed by a buffetsupper for the speaker and students at theCollege.Greeting John Kufuor3839