SprIng 2022
JeSuan news
ps://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/2020-09-03/breeders-season-2-release-date/
In this issue Message from the Master – Jesus College revives – Laurence Sterne’s chair – The fresh air of education – ...and much more!
COnTenTS FrOM THe MaSTer
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InTeLLeCTuaL FOruM
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by Julian Huppert THe KITCHen DeVeLOpMenT prOJeCT
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by paul Vonberg JeSuS COLLege reVIVeS COnFerenCe anD CaTerIng by alexis Moreau
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pOrTerS’ LODge by Simon Durrant TuTOrIaL OFFICe by Jenny Jenyon
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QuInCenTenarY LIBrarY by adam Williams garDenS anD grOunDS by paul Stearn WHaT LaurenCe STerne OnCe SaT On
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by rebecca Barr InDIgenOuS SOVereIgnTIeS
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natalia Buitron THe FreSH aIr OF eDuCaTIOn
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Daniel Moulin-Stożek THe JeSuS STuDenT
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by Jezz Brown neWS FrOM THe MCr by Charlotte Milbank WeLFare
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Medieval mystery play On Saturday 12 March 2022, the College grounds hosted the revival of an old Jesus tradition, the medieval mystery play. Mystery plays – dramatic retellings of Bible stories – were of old immensely popular here but have more recently receded from outings at Jesus. is year, a talented cast and crew of 50 undergraduates, postgraduates, Choristers and children from the wider community thought it was high time to resurrect the tradition, and brought the stories of noah, abraham and Isaac, and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, to life in various locations for an audience of 150, who paraded proudly through the grounds to the beat of a drum in order to watch the narrative unfolding. With current english students niamh Bradshaw and nathan Brooks (both 2020), and anika goddard (2021) at the helm, the production was entirely student-led, with Jesuans taking responsibility for writing, directing, designing, music-directing and corralling local children into playing noah’s animals. Such was the success of the event that we hope to have re-established the tradition for years to come, and we look forward to welcoming Jesuans past and present to witness the spectacle again in 2023 and beyond.
by eleanor Lancelot
JCC Gives
CareerS anD MenTOrIng by Sarah richey BeST OF YearS: a COLLege FOr aLL
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elizabeth McMeikan CHapeL IS Open . . .
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by James Crockford
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. . . anD THe CHOIr IS BaCK!
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by richard pinel
edited by James Woodall Designed by nikki Williams e Development and alumni relations Office Jesus College, Cambridge CB5 8BL Tel: +44 (0) 1223 339301 e-mail: development@jesus.cam.ac.uk Front cover by Jamie andersen, Deputy Head porter
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From 29 to 30 March, Jesuans had an exciting opportunity to join in with JCC gives, our first ever giving Day – and give you did! Over 36 hours you helped raise an extraordinary total of £133,845 from 356 donors. gifts from alumni and friends in support of Jesus College help to ensure we welcome the brightest applicants from all backgrounds and see them thrive while they call College home. http://jccgives.hubbub.net
Statement on the decision of the Consistory Court Shortly before printing this issue of Jesuan News, the Consistory Court of the Diocese of ely published its decision over the College’s petition for the relocation of the memorial commemorating Tobias rustat. You can read the College’s statement here: https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/articles/statement-decisionconsistory-court
From the Master Dear Jesuan It is difficult to believe this is the third time in my tenure as Master that I have sat at my desk writing the opening words of Jesuan News. e majority of my first two-and-a-half years have been overshadowed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and it is sometimes a struggle to remember the tranquillity and relative ease of my initial months in post. It really does seem to me now, however, that the light at the end of the tunnel is looming larger. Life at Jesus College is returning to normal.
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Brief years at Jesus are transformational: it is vital we prepare students as best we can for life
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Michaelmas 2021 was very nearly normal, with the student body in residence once more. It saw Jesus’s pioneering return of the Okukor, a bronze cockerel from Benin, and it is pleasing to see other institutions quickly following suit. We experienced another “first” during Lent Term, when the Chapel hosted the Consistory Court of the Diocese of ely, in the matter of whether a memorial to Tobias rustat ought to be relocated to and contextualised in an educational space elsewhere in College. We remain grateful to our student and alumni community for engaging so thoughtfully and with such interest in these matters. One of my main objectives when I started as Master was to embed a system of support to help our students in the transition from education to the world of work. e brief years spent at Jesus are a transformational time, and it is vital
that we prepare students as best we can for life after College. enabled by the inspirational philanthropy of a number of generous Jesuans, I have been incredibly pleased with the progress of the Careers programme at Jesus during the past year. Key among its achievements was the launch of our online networking platform, Jesus Connect, which has already reached thousands of Jesuans. I encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. Our Careers Mentor offers an overview on p.11. If you come to College this academic year, you might notice some new faces around the place: the construction teams who are busy maintaining and protecting many of our old buildings and facilities. e hammering and drilling sounds emerging from pump Court will result in an exciting new underground Kitchen to serve Hall and upper Hall, which are both closed for the duration of the works. In the meantime, students, Fellows and staff are coming together over meals and snacks in the Forum Hall cafeteria and roost Café in West Court. Further development is happening on – or rather, under – the cricket pitch, which will soon cover a ground-source heat pump serving the new Kitchen extension (for which see p.3). I look forward to bringing you news of many more exciting developments during the coming year. In the meantime, I hope that reading this issue of Jesuan News transports you back to Cambridge and helps you relive your fond memories of College.
JCCS Annual Dinner 2022 is year’s Dinner is scheduled for Saturday 24 September 2022. With refurbishment of the Hall continuing as part of the Kitchen Development project, College events are still being held in the Forum Halls. We very much hope to be able to return to the old Halls for this special autumn event but will not be able to provide guarantees until well into the summer. as work progresses, we will gladly share further information. notice of both the Dinner and the annual general Meeting will be sent out in May.
Sonita Alleyne
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I am constantly taken aback by the continued resilience of students, Fellows and staff, all of whom have complied respectfully with any imposed restrictions, demonstrated remarkable flexibility, and thought creatively about how to serve our core purposes and ensure progress in the trying times of the past two years. I am so proud of every member of the College community, and it has filled me with joy to see an increasing number of them out and about in the Courts in the past few terms. It is a pleasure to be able to welcome alumni back to College, for customary visits as well as the special events that we all enjoy.
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Intellectual Forum
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he Intellectual Forum has been making the most of the opportunities presented by the adverse circumstances going back to just over two years ago. is has resulted in an exceptionally busy 2021-22. We had already been building a global network, so have been able to capitalise on the Zoom-enabled movement to host some astoundingly good speakers, without needing to bring them to Cambridge. equally, we have been able to showcase some of the wonderful work being done by Jesus College academics to a wider audience than ever before. Many of our events are available to watch on the College’s YouTube channel. Our themed “Sleep Week” looked at many aspects of sleep: from the research behind it, the economic consequences of sleep deficits, and advice and technology to help you – or your children – sleep better. is was very well attended: one of the week’s events saw around 3,500 people register, far more than we could have fitted into the Frankopan Hall (even before social distancing). Continuing to seek a global reach, we launched our first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), with the online education-provider edX, which for us in 2021 marked a major advance. Our first two courses are “preventing and responding to sexual harassment and violence” and “Managing conflict and polarisation in the workplace and beyond”. ese courses are free to join and can be found on the edX website – https://www.edx.org/school/jesuscollege Work has started to produce a professional certificate in sustainable finance, which will aim to equip asset owners with an understanding of how climate change and other systemic risks are linked to our financial systems – and what they can do to mitigate these risks through their practices.
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each summer the Intellectual Forum hosts student interns, who carry out interdisciplinary research projects. In 2021 we welcomed four: their projects were varied –
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e Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP (1975) talks to IF Deputy Director Dr Sarah Steele at a recent in-person event
from sustainable menstrual products and period poverty to public attitudes to archaeology. as part of her internship, eliza Bond co-wrote an article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine entitled “Medicine, misconduct and confronting #MeToo”. e Intellectual Forum also conducts research. Dr Zheng Liu worked with us on a project led by professor peter Williamson about digital China and Dr richard Itaman worked with us on sustainable finance with Dr ellen Quigley: trying to build a fossil-fuel-free bond index – the first of its kind. We have lots planned for 2022. We will continue to livestream many of our events and hope you will join us either in-person or from wherever you are. Dr Julian Huppert, Director
Clockwise from top left: 2021’s interns Simon Collerton, Eliza Bond, Sebastian Tyrrall and Jess Molyneux
e Kitchen Development Project e significant undertaking to transform how the College enjoys its meals – and where they are made – has, for over two years, somewhat changed the shape of Jesus’s centre. Architect Paul Vonberg explains what has been done now that the project is close to completion here will be 65 rooms and spaces that comprise the catering operation lying at the heart of Jesus College. as more Fellows, alumni, staff, students and visitors are shown the site, I find myself increasingly waving in the air to explain how the finished building will prove functional and convenient, given its six levels, six staircases and four lifts (none of which will stop at the same combination of floors).
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and members and guests are to see after dark. e heat is generated much further down than the basement. Despite some significant drilling challenges, there are now 50 u-shaped pipes installed beneath the cricket outfield, each to a depth of 150 metres. ese will draw heat from the earth, removing any need for oil or gas throughout the Kitchen.
Catering has been focused to the north of the Cloisters since the 12th century. Moving it would have forsaken precious and meaningful history. So there was a need for the large basement below pump Court. Basement, Kitchen, ground level, Hall, the alcock room and upper Hall comprise the six levels. To make them function smoothly, they need to be linked together by a delivery lift, part of whose shaft is now just outside J Staircase, allowing fresh ingredients to be taken down to the Kitchen, along with dry goods, supplies and wine to the basement. Later, all these will be brought back up to the Kitchen, the main servery or to the upper Hall servery in the lift. e lift will, unsurprisingly, also take cooked food up from the Kitchen to the two dining levels.
It is no accident that Hall is on the first floor and the Kitchen a storey-and-a-half below. at arrangement has always been so. With the current project, however, there has been a determination to ensure that staff do not feel shut away below ground. eir eye-level windows onto pump Court are now being built. Ceilings will be higher than before and access to the upper levels infinitely easier. e chefs might still be physically low – but we all hope that their spirits will remain high.
Opposite the Marshall room, a passenger lift will bring College members and their guests from First Court straight up to Hall and upper Hall. e fourth lift, the “dirties lift”, though rarely seen by guests, will quietly spirit used plates back down from both Halls to be washed up at Kitchen level.
e basement is now all concrete blocks, imagined wine racks and heating plant but when the earth (or rather sand) beneath pump Court was hollowed out in September 2021, we felt its purest identity. e experience of standing in the created space was strangely moving. We were in an underworld, a place that had not existed before. From it, we could look above us to Hall, so old and yet so much younger than the earth within which we sheltered, its belfry reaching up into infinite sky.
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Four lifts allow one group of people to store, prepare, cook, and deliver food and drink to a second group without either getting in the other’s way. Water, electricity, air and heat must also be moved up and down within the building, occupying large amounts of space but unavoidable if food is to be cooked, staff to work in comfortable temperatures,
Having taken expert advice and following consultation with the Fellows, the College Council decided to remove the dais in Hall. For generations it has impeded wheelchair-users from reaching High Table. Its removal, together with the introduction of the passenger lift, will allow straightforward access to all dining areas and the Senior Combination room.
Newly created space... (left ) ... now divided into rooms (right). Photos by Paul Vonberg Architects
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Jesus College revives Conference and catering reopening our doors in 2021 to summer schools and organising outdoor weddings, with on-and-off travel restrictions plus a lack of staff, we’ve faced a past year that has at the very least been unorthodox. Team resilience and our belonging to such an amazing community helped us throughout these challenging times. In Michaelmas, we prepared to welcome back all students. It was a great feeling to plan menus for Formal Halls, discuss options to deliver Freshers’ events safely and, overall, look forward to returning to what we know and do best. rebuilding a team was our key priority to ensure that all College members would be looked after and that we could maintain all our daily services. as we worked together, some days were easier than others, but we kept smiling and made sure that there was always a friendly face just around the corner for everyone in College.
a key aspect of the Kitchen Development project has been, as Jesuan News readers have already been informed, to install on site one of the largest ground-source heat pumps in the country. Once completed, our chefs will be able to prepare those amazing dishes using electricity produced on site in a fossil-free environment. green localised initiatives are very much happening weekly: new behaviour in this area and the engagement to make a positive sustainable change for generations are at the forefront of our day-to-day life at Jesus. Alexis Moreau, Manciple
e phone in the catering office started ringing again and the conference e-mails pinging. Fellows re-entered the fray wanting to organise events. Conference organisers quickly followed wanting to know if we had reopened for business. ere were suddenly a real buzz and a sense of recovery that was amazing. Michaelmas was extremely busy, time flew by and we were all planning a well-deserved Christmas break. as we were producing meals and serving dinners in the Forum, the construction of the new Kitchen wasn’t stopping.
Porters’ Lodge Freshers Week is a distant memory now and with preparations for exams, the May Ball and graduation ceremonies well under way, we are heartened to have some of the old regularity return to the College calendar.
It was a privilege to be joined by Yuval Weiss in raising the pride progress flag above College to mark the start of LgBTQ+ History Month in February, a welcome return of this tradition.
COVID-19 and the Omicron variant have been prevalent within our community but the future looks positive as we in the Lodge continue to assist our excellent COVID Management Team in providing support in the transition from the pool-testing programme to twice-weekly lateral-flow testing.
e Lodge was also proud to provide support and security to all as the College hosted the Diocese of ely’s Consistory Court hearing for the proposed relocation of the Tobias rustat Memorial. College life was rather different for those three days but our Jesuan family was impeccable in its support of all members and of those who were our guests.
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We are pleased to welcome Tonya McIntyre to our team of full-time porters and say a fond farewell to John Morris, our much-loved Deputy Head porter. During nine years of service, John has been a key College member giving guidance and support to all our students, Fellows and staff. We wish him a happy and well-deserved retirement. I know John will join me, too, in congratulating Jamie andersen, who will be his successor: he takes on the role as Deputy Head porter having worked for the College for over 12 years. I am very much looking forward to leading our graduands to Senate House in June and continuing my tradition of “Head porter selfies”– this year, without masks! Simon Durrant, Head Porter John Morris with Simon Durrant
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Tutorial Department We have gone through a period of change over the past 12 months, with new staff and adjustments required for working during a global pandemic. Included not least of all is my own move from admissions Coordinator to Tutorial Department Manager. I spent my first month interviewing and recruiting for the vacant positions, and by the start of the academic year the team was complete again. arriving as a part-time tutorial assistant 21 years ago, I could not have imagined that I would become so attached to the College; or, more importantly, how a commitment to student support, outreach and welfare might develop into a career.
e workload is continually evolving; and while we might not see as many students in person as we once did, with many preferring to e-mail, our door remains open. COVID has affected everyone and this will be felt for a long time. e transition from school to university is never easy but has been complicated further by the inevitable challenges of the past two years. e Tutorial team is working hard to accommodate these difficulties and be available to all students when they need us. after discussions with them, it became clear that more support around mental health was necessary. I am pleased to announce that the College has employed a Mental Health nurse, rachel Michel, who will work alongside the two (College-based) university counsellors: College nurse and physiotherapist. e focus will be on students’ wellbeing throughout their time here. e next big challenge for the team will be the appointment of a new Senior Tutor, as professor geoff parks completes his 10-year tenure. e team is looking forward to working closely with the next post holder, and helping them settle into the role and build on the successes of geoff’s contributions to the College. Finally, COVID has not gone away. We continue to manage and monitor any cases in College. While people are no longer by law required to isolate, we will be here for anyone who tests positive or has ongoing worries about the pandemic. Jenny Jenyon, Tutorial Department Manager
Quincentenary Library
However, through april and into May we gradually re-opened using the workspace booking system again. Developed by the Library and the IT Department, this allowed us to welcome back students in increasing numbers. It was strange not to see them fighting for elbow room during 2021’s easter Term but it was good to have them back, with socially distanced space restrictions in place. as of the start of 2022 the booking system is no longer used, and a natural respect for personal space and the wellbeing of others has taken over. away from things COVID, the June book sale was a huge success, so much so that we didn’t have books left for another at the end of Michaelmas 2021. Come this easter Term, though, another is planned, thanks to various donations and the removal of old, unused books from the Library itself. Many of our old editions were donated to the Cambridge university Law Society’s pro bono team for its work with the
International Law Book Facility. e books are now with overseas students who would not otherwise easily have access to textbooks. even after sales and donations, the Library still offers the range and quality of physical books that it always has, although digital formats are becoming increasingly important. We have been guiding the students to the electronic resources they require not only from us but from other libraries throughout the university. is mixture of traditional and modern learning will keep the Library an integral part of the College experience for many years to come. Adam Williams, Library Assistant
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after the closures of 2020, we found ourselves in another lockdown at the start of last year. We continued to provide click-and-collect alongside the print-by-request service to the students, both welcomed and used by many, and maintained contact with them – albeit virtually.
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Gardens and grounds early last summer, our wildflower meadow in north Court came up splendidly – patriotic in red, white and blue, with harebells, daisies, poppies and cornflowers, creating a mini-ecosystem for insects and other invertebrates. We have now sowed over the north Court area with seeds collected from a second year’s harvest from King’s College: cornflowers have been flowering since December. a further area earmarked for wildflowers is Library Court and a working plan has been agreed for later in 2022. established in 2018, our pond, situated close to the Lower park Street gates, is now full of wildlife. We had this spring our first true batch of frogspawn. ere are also lots of self-seeded cowslips and we all watch with great interest to see what appears each year. additions there of water boatmen, and dragonfly and damsel nymphs, have helped increase wildlife diversity. e woodland walk has become a lot more interesting throughout the year with the introduction of a butterfly glade where a large chestnut tree was felled. We were lucky not to lose too many trees during the recent bad storms, although boughs of some of our ash and chestnut trees were damaged. We always anticipate with pleasure our magnificent display of wisteria in First Court in May; and with additional planting in Chapel Court now in its third year, the bright purple blooms and heady scent of this joyful plant are certainly well worth a trip to College. I have been with Jesus for over 33 years. as I head for retirement, I recall one of my proudest moments being when we won the 2003 Biodiversity Challenge – not only for our work on planting but for the creation and protection of habitats for newts: a true team effort. I will really miss the people and the banter (and the cakes!) but I am confident I am leaving the gardens and grounds in the best hands, in the form of my replacement, Lee de grammont, who will be joining us from Fenner’s, the university cricket ground.
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Paul Stearn, Head Gardener
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One of my proudest moments was winning the 2003 Biodiversity Challenge – for planting as well as creating habitats for newts: a true team effort
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e Gardens team (from left to right: Danny Lawler, Michael Morris, Paul Stearn, Callum Norrie and Michael Andrews)
What Laurence Sterne once sat on A remarkable piece of Jesuan furniture was transported last autumn to the 15th-century home of one of the College’s most celebrated novelists. Jesuan News is thrilled to print a first-hand report from Dr Rebecca Barr, Fellow and University Assistant Professor in English
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n September 2021, after two pandemic years in which academic life had shrunk to the size of a computer screen, three members of Jesus College made an unusual road trip to Yorkshire. Strapped into the back of a scruffy Volkswagen polo was a chair that had sat (and been sat on) in College for just under 100 years.
rather worn and much-repaired, the chair bore a small plaque that claimed that its most famous occupant was the writer Laurence Sterne. Born in Ireland and educated at Jesus College from 1733 to 1737, Sterne is best known as the author of e Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, a humorous and frequently racy fictional autobiography. Full of innuendo, playful teasing of the reader and moments of sentimental pathos, Tristram Shandy found a rampant success that rescued Sterne from the tedium of being a parson in what he deemed the backwaters of Yorkshire. “I wrote not to be fed, but to be famous,” he quipped.
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Jesuans unfamiliar with his literary output might nonetheless recognise Sterne from his portrait that hung in Hall for many years. His saucy gaze and bemused smile suggest a man of cloth more forgiving of our weak flesh than was perhaps wise for the security of our immortal souls. Sterne would also have been tickled at the interest in his humble writing chair, now making its own sentimental journey from Cambridge to Yorkshire: returning on permanent loan to Shandy Hall, Sterne’s house in the village of Coxwold, Yorkshire, now a museum dedicated to his work. College archivist robert athol masterminded the trip: testing and tracing the provenance of the chair and liaising with patrick Wildgust, curator of Shandy Hall. Dr Hillary Taylor, an early-modern labour historian,
and Dr rebecca anne Barr, a specialist in 18th-century fiction and humour, provided map-reading support and some manual handling. While Sterne gleefully satirised the excesses of scholarly self-indulgence, three hapless academics driving across the country to return his chair is quixotic enough a mission to have pleased him. ankfully, chair and its three guardians arrived safely in Coxwold, where they were welcomed by patrick and several trustees of Shandy Hall and given a tour. as live-in curator, patrick’s enthusiasm for Sterne extends to artworks that embrace the author’s playful experimentalism. us georgian prints mingle with Japanese installation art; 18th-century books sit alongside work by artist Tom phillips and a DVD of Michael Winterbottom’s 2005 film based on the novel, A Cock and Bull Story. a modest but attractive building with large garden attached, Sterne’s home was enlarged as his fame and his wealth grew: he added rooms and renovated others so that they were suitable for entertaining. Shandy Hall’s warm 2021 welcome and proper Yorkshire supper was an antidote to the disembodied parenthesis of the pandemic. Sterne, whose irreverent wit was underlain by a lifetime’s struggle with chronic tuberculosis, understood the importance of life-affirming pleasures: pleasant company, the sharing of good food and mirth. We might turn to Sterne, now, to rethink some of what sustains us in the face of pain, loss and suffering: the work of community. From left to right: Rob Wyke, Tom Forrest (both of the Shandy Hall Trust), Patrick Wildgust, Hillary Taylor, Robert Athol and Chris Pearson
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Sterne understood the importance of life-affirming pleasures
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Indigenous sovereignties NATALIA BUITRON
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As we go to press in spring 2022, the word “sovereignty” has an especially urgent connotation. For Dr Natalia Buitron “sovereignties” is all about understanding Amazonian people’s rights. Jesus College’s first Fellow in Anthropology in nearly a decade talks about, among other things, her work in and on Pacific South America
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orn Colombian – her family is still in Cali, Colombia’s third city – natalia has led a remarkably cosmopolitan life. Her husband Hans Steinmüller, a Sinologist at the London School of economics, is german and some of their lockdown was spent in Bavaria, on her parents-in-law’s dairy farm. ey’d had their first child, Isabella, in mid-2020. “at’s what you need, with a tiny baby,” natalia says. “Countryside; proper isolation.”
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“My doctoral research looked at changes in their political culture, how they combined new values and practices, and a language of government, to be better able to negotiate with the state, rather than becoming entirely integrated. e Shuar have an ambiguous relationship with the state but they also want schools and health centres – to be treated like citizens, on a par with others. Yet self-determination requires engagement with national law.”
prior to that they had been in London, where Hans has a flat. “at’s where most of our friends are.” en, with further lockdowns, they cut their losses and flew to Colombia, not least of all to introduce Isabella to her other grandparents.
Looking closely at these kinds of conundrum – studying the subtle balance between amazonian autonomy, and the practices and advantages of a modern state – is clearly natalia’s life’s work.
natalia was raised in her native country but finished her secondary education near Vancouver in Canada, at Lester B. pearson College, one of the united World Colleges, an international network of coexistence schools founded in 1962. e scheme ends in the International Baccalaureate, prompting natalia in her late teens to wonder where she truly wanted to be an undergraduate.
Her phD will be published in the united States. Her next book she thinks might take five years – she’ll do the fieldwork in South america away from Cambridge in the summers. is will look more broadly at contrasting amazonian strategies to gain and secure territorial autonomies, environmental stewardship and indigenous rights: the plurality of regional sovereignty.
Siena, Italy, was the answer. “I wanted a humanist education. I focused on anthropology but also did history and philosophy. e renaissance view of education – inevitably, in a place like Italy! – really appealed. In your final year, you focus on your actual discipline. and it took me three months to learn Italian. Most exams there are oral, so you have to speak well.”
natalia has now landed firmly in Cambridge. post-doctoral work included a Leverhulme early-career fellowship at Oxford but this was blighted by the pandemic: she never actually got to the city. She joined Cambridge’s Department of Social anthropology in november 2020 as the Jessica Sainsbury Lecturer in the anthropology of amazonia and was elected to a Fellowship at Jesus College last autumn, terminating the Leverhulme post so as to redirect her energies entirely to her new university.
a Masters at LSe followed, then a phD there on the Shuar people of ecuador. e Shuar are that country’s second largest ethnic group, around 100,000 in total. ey were, natalia explains, sheltered from the Conquest and spared the worst of Spanish-imported 16th-century epidemics. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the state sought control of the amazonian part of ecuador: sovereignty over land that was seen as empty. e military and missionaries were sent in to “civilise” the Shuar.
Supervisions and lecturing aside, are there other things at Jesus she would like to get involved in? “I love interaction with my undergraduates. I am also very interested in student welfare and postgraduate life. Because of my relatively recent postgraduate experience, I know what it’s like: I’m used to being with international students and to that moment in life when you’re trying to find your bearings, deciding whether to go for an academic career or not. e idea of being a point of contact for phD students – here in the College – is extremely attractive.” and Cambridge? “It’s so nice to talk to people in the street, which you never do in London. everyone there’s just rushing. Here people say hello: a welcome change. I had been asking, during post-doc, Is this going to work? Do I have to reinvent myself? Hans and I were definitely going to stay in the uK, though we didn’t know for how long. But we can relax and plan a life. I’m a grown-up now!”
e fresh air of education DANIEL MOULIN-STOŻEK University Assistant Professor Dr Daniel Moulin-Stożek, our new Director of Studies in Education, thinks precisely about how his discipline has evolved and will evolve – and happens not to be a fan of the motorised steering-wheel
Daniel Moulin-Stożek: I joined the Faculty of education in September 2019. I’d given papers here a couple of times but there’s no further connection, until now of course. I was admitted to Jesus College last October but had already started supervising for the education Tripos. Jesus has a very strong tradition of students on the Tripos and, if I’m permitted to say it, while the past two years have been rough, the students have fared incredibly well – with absolutely fantastic 2021 exam results. JN: Can you expand a little on how you think the students navigated 2020-21? DM-S: e pandemic taught us how important education is in constituting a community of learners, as opposed to just learning bits of information. Zoom could only do so much. We realised how essential educational institutions were and are – primary schools, kindergartens, secondary schools or indeed colleges and universities; and how vital it is to study, in a systematic and sophisticated way, these processes and practices. JN: So the personal, one-to-one Cambridge interaction was sorely missed and its return is hugely welcome…? DM-S: at’s part of it. It’s not just about interacting. It’s whom you’re interacting with, and how and why, which underpins the raison d’être of the tutorial system. Traditions remain so important. Our understanding of education began with the medieval universities, then exploded, in universal education, in the 19th century. Of course there’s a lot of debate about the future of education and the legacy of ancient ideas. I write regularly about this. JN: How did your own education go? DM-S: I did english, History and art a-levels in a comprehensive in north Somerset. From there I went on to
On the Camino, in Navarre
read philosophy at the university of nottingham. I began teaching, then did a Masters in education: what we call “action research”, thinking about and enacting change in your teaching, then considering the impact of that. ere followed in 2008 a fellowship for teachers at Oxford, which is where I really began to research education – and did my Dphil. In 2013 I began a post-doc on inter-religious dialogue at the university of geneva. JN: Which is French-speaking. Does that in any way connect to the Moulin in your surname? – quite an unusual one! DM-S: French by heritage, polish by marriage… My polish wife and I decided we didn’t want to lose our identities, so we chose to create our own – her maiden name being Stożek. My family name is actually not Huguenot, just one from a long line going back to French labourers, through Jersey. Moulin is common in France but rare in england. JN: You list Spain as an interest. DM-S: after Switzerland I wasn’t quite ready to return to our island. So I went for three years to pamplona, to research education, religion and civil society. I love the Spanish language but I’m not a talented linguist. I love the culture and did do the Camino de Santiago. ere were some Korean students on the pilgrimage, for whom it was a module on their degree. educationally, you can see why: 28 days walking, and seeing the world in a completely different way, being outside and talking to people in such a special environment... is is quite a profound experience. JN: Listed also are “cargo bikes” and “kick scooters”… DM-S: I can drive but don’t own a car. I don’t think the future is even electric. e future is peddle power. I use my scooter, basically a skateboard with a handlebar, to commute around Cambridge. In 1992, the late Heathcote Williams published a book called Autogeddon: a prophetic poem about the evil of the car. In it there’s a superb quotation that goes something like “streets used to be universities”. at was my experience of Spain – the evening paseo. In the uK after Spain, I had a fellowship in Birmingham. people look at you there very strangely if you pedal around on a bike. For one of my Cambridge papers, given in the uL, I remember taking the train from Birmingham, which is very polluted, and feeling such fresh air on arrival. It’s not at all unusual in Cambridge to see a bike with a box, which is what a cargo bike is, laden with children, like ours. I use one the whole time, for Leo – three – and gabriel – three months.
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Jesuan News: How new are you to Cambridge?
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e Jesus student As undergraduates emerge from restrictions and closures, President of the Jesus College Student Union, Jezz Brown (2021, Human, Social and Political Sciences), looks optimistically ahead to post-pandemic improvements all round e election of the 2022 JCSu Committee came at a bespoke time in the College’s history. e journey out of the turbulent times of COVID into a new normal offers plentiful and exigent challenges. I have every confidence that the Committee at large has the enthusiasm and determination necessary to manage the rebirth of our great College. Student life is beginning to bloom again. Friday night Jesus (FnJ) has returned in full force with weekly events arranged between the JCSu and the MCr. ese have included a creatively attended “anything but Clothes” bop; a quiz during Lent Term’s pink Week (a seven-day university-wide event raising money for breast-cancer charities); Où est le poulet? – a pub crawl, basically – with King’s and robinson Colleges; and a farewell “Friday night John” for the retiring porter, John Morris – I would like here officially to thank him for all his help and kindness. emed Formals also returned, dotted throughout the Lent calendar, including a superbly organised May Ball Launch Formal. rohit Kale and his May Ball colleagues will put together what is certain to be an outstanding event after two years’ painful absence.
Jesus continues to maintain its high reputation for sports with great performances during the academic year so far. We’re also making quite a name for ourselves in theatre, with many Jesuans appearing at the aDC, the Corpus playroom and other Cambridge venues. Student wellbeing and safety have become a top priority. a new door opening from postgraduate housing on to park Street now ensures swifter and safer entry into College; lighting has been improved; an additional porter and student stewards have been introduced at bops to deal with any issues that arise; and the Women’s and non-Binary Officer is arranging the provision of anti-spiking lids to guarantee student safety on nights out. e JCSu has also introduced welfare drop-in hours every day in its newly secured office on M Staircase. Our Ordinary general Meeting in Lent was well attended and a number of students contributed to the discussion. I am sure this will be the same at our next OgM, bound to be packed with initiatives. Honoured to be this year’s JCSu president, I look forward to continuing to find ways to improve the student experience at Jesus.
neWS FrOM THe MCr is year, the MCr Committee has been working hard to offer students the best of Jesus postgraduate life, while adapting to changing government COVID regulations. e academic year began with a successful Freshers Fortnight, with the College welcoming around 150 new students to the postgraduate community for two weeks of events including Formals, wine-tasting, grantchester trips, pottery-making and film nights.
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During Michaelmas and Lent, the postgraduate calendar was busy with social events, including themed Formals for Burns night and Chinese new Year, welfare brunches and yoga, and Formal swaps with other colleges. Our International Officer also hosts weekly Conversational english Teas, supported by the graduate Tutor, for our many students for whom english is not their first language.
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e MCr was pleased to play its part in two historic events, too: first, in October 2021, the restitution of the Benin bronze (see “From the Master”), and, in February this year, proceedings for the proposed relocation of the rustat memorial from Chapel. reem abbas, the MCr’s BaMe Officer, played an active role in supporting both events through her work in the College’s Legacy of Slavery working party. In March, the in-person postgraduate Conference, organised by amelia Ford, the MCr academic Officer, returned. e conference hosted presentations from over 20 postgraduates from diverse disciplines, and a keynote address from Dr rebecca Flemming on “pandemics, genomes and medicine in the ancient Mediterranean world”. is easter Term we look forward to a weekly seminar series for postgraduates to present their work: this year themed
around the topic of food. We are also glad to be working with the new College Careers Mentor on a range of networking, mentoring and entrepreneurship events targeted specifically at our postgraduates. e MCr has recently helped to establish a new entrepreneurship Society and once a month postgraduates have the opportunity for 1:1 business mentorship. Sustainability and ethical responsibility are significant within the MCr. With the College Sustainability Strategy and responsible Investment policy, published in Lent 2020, green Officer georgia nixon has established a new postgraduate environmental working group, discussing how we can continue to effect positive change in and through College. recent discussion includes sustainable travel, food menus and ethical banking practices. a sizeable number of postgraduates come to Jesus College with long-term partners and families, and we are keen to ensure that they feel as welcome to and included in College life as possible. Members of the Welfare Team continue to work with the Tutorial Officer to realise this ambition. We hope to end the academic year on a high, enjoying the best that Cambridge summers can give. as ever, we are grateful for the support from College staff and members, and the cooperation of the JCSu that makes Jesus’s postgraduate community the vibrant and friendly body it is. Charlotte Milbank, MCR President
Welfare recent challenges presented to the College have made it more important than ever to encourage everyone to look after their mental and physical wellbeing. We were delighted to welcome towards the end of Michaelmas Term 2021, as mentioned on p.5, the College’s Mental Health nurse, rachel Michel. rachel offers confidential support, assessments and advice on a range of mental-health and wellbeing concerns, and is available to all College members. at the start of Lent this year, rachel reminded us all that looking after our wellbeing is a conscious choice.
With this in mind, there’s been a variety of events on offer to encourage staff to take time out to relax and recharge, whether by learning a new skill, doing something creative, or reconnecting with friends and colleagues. november 2021 saw the return of a College-wide Welfare Week, with activities including yoga in Chapel, free massages, nature walks and a visit to Cambridge’s award-winning eco-mosque. ese events have continued into 2022, with regular events such as the Jesus art Club, yoga and barre, and one-offs such as easter wreath-making, as well as a termly staff-welfare bulletin. We’re looking forward to a vibrant year in Jesus College, with exciting plans afoot, too, to celebrate the Queen’s platinum Jubilee. Eleanor Lancelot, Assistant Chaplain
Careers and mentoring
after a two-month pilot during long vacation last year, we invited all alumni and students to join Jesus Connect. at the end of January this year, we had 1,873 members across 58 countries and 73 matriculation years. So far, 801 members have joined as mentors; 73 mentorship requests have been made. We welcome all offers of internships and work experience, and have created a group on Jesus Connect to link alumni able to offer an opportunity with those seeking the essential experience for the future.
We ran another pilot during the summer of 2021. Jesus students were given free access to an app called Would You rather Be (WYrB), a career-planning platform powered by artificial intelligence, founded by Jesuan phil Hewinson (2001, Computer Science): 80% of users who gave feedback said they would be likely or very likely to recommend WYrB to a friend. alumni currently looking for a job, or who have recently changed jobs, can gain free access to the app following a 30-minute Zoom consultation with the WYrB team. Since the launch of the Careers programme we have run various events that have been very well received, with highlights including a peer-to-peer internships workshop, a CV and LinkedIn Clinic, and regular In e Business Of… events, with experts from diverse industries. I am delighted with the progress of the Careers programme at Jesus College, and am excited about our future achievements. It is really satisfying to consider the beneficial networks our students and alumni are creating. Sarah Richey, Careers Mentor Amatey Doku (2013) and Mohan Yogendran (1982) talked to our students at the launch of Jesus Connect about mentoring and being mentored
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until October 2021 I worked one day a week at Jesus College. now, I spend half of every week dedicated to the professional development of the College’s students. at the end of last year, we created another part-time role to help deliver the Careers programme, which has been a welcome boost to our resources. Our proudest achievement has been the successful launch of our mentoring platform, Jesus Connect.
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Best of years: a College for all ELIZABETH McMEIKAN She says she didn’t work hard enough but everything about this 1981 MML Exhibitioner contradicts her claim. Elizabeth McMeikan recalls her Jesus College years, including as an oarswoman, with affection, and reveals that an endless appetite for work in retail and marketing – in the 1980s and 1990s for Colgate-Palmolive and Tesco – formed the bedrock of a career in commercial environments unite – not the union but the largest purpose-built student-accommodation company in the country. Take cladding, as in the grenfell disaster. You’ve got 1,000 students in one building, living together. Fire is the biggest risk. Someone like me, on the board, will be part of discussion about and scrutiny on the company’s approach to cladding and that it is not combustible. If it is, what’s our plan to replace it? Is it safe for students to live there and what measures do we need to put in place to guarantee it’s safe? JN: How has your relationship with the College developed since you left – and who was important for you here?
Jesuan News: Did you feel that Jesus gave you precisely the right preparation for the world of work? Elizabeth McMeikan: When I left Cambridge I knew I didn’t want to teach, or, with my languages, be a translator or interpreter. I had no commercial background. Both my parents were medics. I decided I’d like to see what business was about. My year-group at College was going off to work for management consultants and in advertising. I’d find my own way.
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JN: Was there something in particular in those Jesus years that helped you with getting where you wanted to be?
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EMcM: In my final year I was doing the interview milkround. One interview fell on the penultimate day of Lent Bumps. Jesus Women were poised to go Head of the river: I was Captain of Boats. I said to this lady, “I can’t do the interview”. She asked me why not. Two things: one was the loyalty and the commitment to what I was doing that day on the river began, for whatever I’ve done, then. is has remained so. e other: the qualities, I said to her, that I assume you like in me are those that I’ve learnt in the Boat Club. She simply answered: “Yeah, I understand”. Yet that was a hairy moment. Sadly, we didn’t go Head (we couldn’t catch Churchill). But we did the year after I left. JN: Can you explain what you do today? EMcM: I’m a non-executive director of five companies. all the businesses are customer-facing. at comes with major focus on good governance. One company I work for is called
EMcM: ey were incredibly happy years and I was sad to leave. I was a bit wayward, that said, having had a very strict upbringing. So I threw off the shackles with gay abandon. I always knew when I was in slight trouble, because my pastoral tutor Stan evans would take me for a walk in the Orchard to talk kindly to me or offer me sherry. Cameron Wilson was MML DoS, much-loved, gentle, kindly. I had no idea of the complexity of the man until I went to his retirement dinner and sat with other Linguists. He had the entire place rocking with mirth. For a time I was a trustee of the Boat Club Trust. at a dinner, I think it was, for trustees, the Boat Club Captain said: “Does any of you here know elizabeth Dann?” Oh, I thought… – Dann’s my maiden name. a bit later on while talking to someone else, I lent back and asked the captain: “Did I hear you asking about elizabeth Dann?” He said yes. “She was first Captain of Women’s Boats. We want to name a boat after her.” “Well, that’s me!” I said. and it did happen. I still support the Club in a small way financially. and there’s the Intellectual Forum. I was asked to join a group of alumni who sit with Julian Huppert, with emily Williams and often the Master there, meeting on an ad hoc basis. We hear about what it’s been doing and talk about what’s possible, where it could go. JN: What else do you hope for the College? EMcM: I’m passionate about equality. and I think Jesus is starting to make real headway in ensuring that anyone with the intellectual equipment, regardless of background and circumstances, can study at this fantastic place.
Chapel is open . . .
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hapel life has been re-forming over the past few months, and it is wonderful to see the Chapel and College community back in action and in person. after the past two years the majority of the current student body are in a sense Freshers. So extra care and consideration are required to encourage and welcome them all to their Chapel, helping them to know the support, inspiration and formation it can offer. It has been wonderful too to see alumni and visitors back in Chapel, and Choristers and their families once again fully able to be present at our services.
is past year has seen our inaugural Inter-Faith Dinner, drawing together students from the College’s faith societies and beyond for a chance to share conversation and learn from one another. e Chapel book group has continued to meet, exploring e Book of Queer Prophets – a collection of personal essays by LgBTQ+ people of faith – and abbot Christopher Jamison’s Finding Happiness, about wisdom from the monastic tradition. Chapel has been host also to the ever-brimming creativity of the student body, with a fantastic offering of Jesus College Music Society concerts and recitals, Blues and Chill evenings, film viewings – to say nothing of the eighth John Hughes arts Festival. James Crockford, Dean of Chapel
Photo by Nick Rutter
During Michaelmas 2021, Sunday evensong speakers tackled topics on “Money, Sex, power”, which evidently pricked the ears of students and Fellows alike. In our first week back, we were honoured to welcome the former archbishop of Canterbury, Dr rowan Williams, to launch the series to a packed Chapel (indeed, the service was delayed as we found the need to set out 50 more chairs to accommodate everyone!). Other speakers addressed topics as broad-ranging as St radegund’s sex life, racialised power, the moral dilemmas
of politicians, and the phenomena of dating apps and “sexting”. Momentum continued through Lent with the theme of “Charity and the ird Sector”, with focus on the challenging work of several local charities, and explorations of the history and future of the charitable sector.
. . . and the Choir is back!
Towards the end of the easter Term our College Choir sang at Coventry Cathedral (where our former assistant Organist, Luke Fitzgerald, is now assistant Director of Music) and our CD of grayston Ives’ stunning Requiem, recorded with the Britten Sinfonia days before the first lockdown, was released to critical acclaim – “a treasure of a disc”, wrote gramophone Magazine. In Michaelmas, we welcomed 12 new Choral Scholars, who have been singing to an incredibly high standard right from the start. We were unable to put on our carol services or Christmas celebration concert in Chapel but the Choir did
manage a short tour of Handel’s Messiah, again with the Britten Sinfonia, under the baton of David Watkin. We performed for wildly enthusiastic audiences in St andrew’s Hall in norwich, and in the Barbican and Saffron Halls. Christmas 2021 was also momentous as we bade farewell to alice Kane, who has been Choir administrator for 10 years. She has seen the Chapel and Choir through some complex times and was truly devoted to all the Choristers, Choral and Organ Scholars, not to mention Deans of Chapel and Directors of Music. Lent 2022 kicked off with a bang: 18 students from the university of Delaware sang services jointly with our Choirs for a week. It was a real pleasure to be able to share evensong with others who had never been to it before. Fauré’s Requiem in Chapel, followed by two slots for radio 3’s Choral Evensong (one live – 23 March – and one for future broadcast probably this summer), rounded off Lent. and we still offer Sunday evensong to our online viewers via our Facebook page, building quite a following around the world. Richard Pinel, Director of Music
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his has been a period of renewal and rebuilding. While at the time of writing we are not clear of the pandemic, there is a sense of optimism in our music-making. We were able to resume in-person services in easter Term 2021 and the relief felt by our Choir members was palpable. after so many months of singing under tight restrictions, or not at all, it was an important reminder of quite how much being able to make music together means to us all. In particular it enabled our Choristers to sing evensong again for the first time since March 2020.
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VISIT OUR ONLINE GIFT SHOP
We are very pleased to be able to offer a wide range of gifts and mementoes, including cufflinks, silk ties, silver pins, tote bags, paperweights, tea towels, prints and books, cuddly teddy-bears, embossed Moleskine notebooks, the College flag and CD recordings of the Choirs of Jesus College.
www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/alumni/gift-shop
THREE GIFT IDEAS TO SUPPORT THE VISUAL ARTS AT JESUS COLLEGE The Jesus College Works of Art Committee is proud to offer: A limited-edition silk square scarf designed by Stephen Chambers RA and printed by the Armani silk printers, Maver of Como, featuring the cockerel emblazoned with the College motto and complete with presentation box. £325 plus postage and packing
“Art for Tomorrow”, a portfolio of 10 original prints specially curated for Jesus College, including works by world-famous artists such as Richard Long RA, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Humphrey Ocean RA, Alison Wilding RA and Cornelia Parker RA. Prices available on request
Thirty Years of Contemporary Art: Jesus College, Cambridge 1988-2018 by Jean Bacon and Jim Roseblade is a richly illustrated photographic memoir of three decades of Sculpture in the Close biennials at Jesus College and the development of the permanent sculpture collection. £12 plus postage and packing
To purchase, please contact the Development and Alumni Relations Office, Jesus College Tel: +44 (0)1223 339301 or E-mail: development@jesus.cam.ac.uk