St. John's

Well it is all well and good to know about the college system as a whole, but you are probably more interested in my particular college. The first question is, how did I end up at St. John Baptist College? When students apply to Oxford they get to preference a college, which often ends up being an interesting exercise in game theory. Some want an all graduates college, some want a small college and some just want to be near the city center. Most American’s tend to favor the older, more traditional colleges. Magdalen (pronounced Maudlin, because the English are special like that) is probably the most popular college because it is right on the river, has an expansive dear park and an enormous tower in the front quad makes for great photos. But the colleges try to admit a diverse group of students (as far as I can tell, that boils down to a mix of nationalities and degree programs) so not everyone gets into the college of their choice and getting assigned to a college with left over spaces is a risky proposition. I picked St. John’s because I knew that while it was a popular choice, it was also not the most sought after college and so my chances of getting accepted were fairly good.

With approximately 400 undergrads and over 200 graduate students, St. John’s is considered a large college. And after being at a school of over 25,000, I couldn’t fathom anything smaller. It usually ranks in the top five on the Norrington Table (inter-collegiate ranking system- but this is most relevant for undergraduate degrees). And it is one of the older, more traditional colleges. Now when people around Oxford ask what college I am in and I say St. John’s, their first response is “Oh, they’re rich!” And yes, that’s true, St. John’s endowment is be one of the largest and it reputedly owns more land than almost any institution in the UK (except probably Eton and the Church of England).  But Oxford has many wealthy colleges and what’s great about St. John’s is that they use their wealth to heavily subsidize the student costs, making the housing, dining hall and bar among the cheapest in Oxford. One policy that makes St. John’s the envy of every student is allowing students to turn in their room key to the porter’s lodge during nights they are away in exchange for a nightly-refund at the end of term. So basically St. John’s is paying us to travel, or at least subsidizing the cost of our hostel.

As an aside, porters guard the gates to the college and are the keepers of all wisdom and the latest gossip. They can tell you where to find the cleverly hidden power outlet that controls your heater, recommend the best falafel truck and may even look the other way if you have a raucous party in your room. But they are a good person to have on your side as many students have had to run across the multiple quads in a bath towel after locking their keys in their room while showering and it’s up to the porter how quickly you get let back in.

But back to St. John’s… It was founded in 1555 when Sir Thomas White obtained a royal patent and purchased a series of buildings from St. Bernard’s monastery. Initially it was not well endowed financially but some early property gifts that were shrewdly sold during the Industrial Revolution gave St. John’s new financial prowess. Notable alumni include Jane Austen’s father and brothers (the college library even has some of her letters) and more recently, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Despite many picturesque areas, some unfortunate architectural decisions during the twentieth century keep St. John’s out of contention for the most beautiful college in Oxford. The Front Quad was part of the original monastery and Canterbury Quad is a beautiful series of colonnades and the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford. But then you progress into North Quad, which is where an odd mix of 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century styles start to clash. When you wander into Tommy White Quad the sight of an enormous concrete monstrosity makes you start to wonder if you have entered a developing country. It was built in the 1970’s and of all the architectural styles St. John’s could have utilized, it chose the brutalist style- which employs a harsh blend of raw concrete and repeating angular shapes. Ironically this is the same style that UC Irvine selected when constructing its original ring of buildings in the 1960’s. So I have to admit that something about the hideous structure feels rather homey to me. Last week I was doing laundry in the bowels of the building and as I came up the stairwell and stepped onto the patio, I noticed a bronze plaque. Upon closer inspection, I learned that Tommy White won an architectural award in 1976 from the Concrete Society. Anyone who has seen this building has to wonder if the judges went on a little pub crawl before the voting session, but then again, given the chosen medium, they probably didn’t have many promising choices. If this nerdy little monograph has piqued your curiosity, the following link provides access to a virtual tour of the college: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/stjohnscollege/map.htm#