Matriculation

This post is about a week past being timely but some people have asked about matriculation so I though I should explain. Matriculation is an official ceremony at Oxford by which students become members of the university. This comes matricula, the Latin for register, as students were officially entered into the Oxford register following the ceremony. Up until the 1960s students had to take formal exams administered by Oxford before they could be admitted into the university community. Perhaps the advent of standardized tests made this process a bit unnecessary and I for one appreciated this rare instance in which Oxford opted for efficiency over intransigence. Now that the colleges and departments have full purview over admissions decisions, the matriculation ceremony, whereby students process through the Sheldonian Theater, is the last vestige of this ancient tradition.

Subfusc (Latin for dark/dusky color) is the formal attire for Oxford students and is worn for matriculation, examinations and degree ceremonies. In addition to the black cap and gown, men are required to wear a tuxedo and white bowtie while women wear a white blouse with a black ribbon tied at the throat, a black skirt, black tights and heels. Of course this is Oxford so these archaic and at times incomprehensible traditions are accompanied by innumerable rules. For example, only the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Proctors may wear the mortarboard caps indoors. Women may wear a soft cap or a mortarboard but should they choose a softcap they are required to wear it indoors. Most people have stopped wearing caps altogether and merely carry them around. This has led a lot of students to erroneously conclude that the cap can only be worn after graduation, when fortunately enough, there is no need to wear it. But the truth is, people have simply chosen not to wear them as they look absolutely ridiculous and the bobbing tassel can make one positively dizzy. Undergraduates wear what is called a commoner’s gown- it is a short gown that barely covers the suit jacket and in place of sleeves it has two streamers coming out of the top of the shoulders (this is a remnant of the closed sleeve style). The graduate gown follows the same design but hits at the knee. The gowns are also required at formal hall dinners, chapel, and a variety of other college functions. And it seems as though learning to eat without getting caught up in the streamers coming out of the armholes is a bit of an acquired skill.

I wish I could say that matriculation was a profound experience but really I was just amused by all the pageantry. We spent an hour assembled in the Canterbury Quad of St. John’s waiting for people to drag their friends out of bed. (If you don’t matriculate, you cannot use the university facilities or attend classes, so obviously Oxford takes the tradition quite seriously). The Rhodes scholars in college tend to flock to each other at these formal functions and we entertained ourselves as best we could at 9AM on a Sunday morning. The men incessantly fiddled with their bowties and we took a ridiculous number of pictures, including a couple where we tried to get the whole group to jump at the same time, much to the amusement of the surrounding undergraduates. The pictures turned out great but I concluded that while the men look dashing in their tuxedoes and billowing gowns the women all look a bit frumpy- the neck ribbon looks silly no matter how you tie it, blouses won’t stay tucked neatly into the skirt and black tights are a bit matronly. But what can you do? The outfit was probably selected by a man and in their defense, it is difficult to find outfits that uniformly flatter women’s varied figures. When we finally filed into our seats in the Sheldonian Theater, the Vice Chancellor and podium processed in. The Vice Chancellor was mercifully brief, as I imagine he had about ten such ceremonies to perform. We were reminded of the rich intellectual history, the tremendous honor of being admitted and the serious academic work that lay before of. But of course, as soon as we walked out, all thoughts turned to the champagne receptions and sexy subfusc parties that were happening later on. At least the world is predictable. Oxford is reliably entrenched in tradition and students will always find ways to make even the most stodgy affair an excuse for a party.