| Institution | St John's College, Cambridge |
|---|---|
| Location | I1 First Court, St John's College |
| Established | 1960 |
| Members | 330 |
| Affiliations | Graduate Union (GU), Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU) |
| Coordinates | () |
| Website | http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sbr |
The Samuel Butler Room Society (SBR) is the Middle Combination Room (MCR) of St John's College at the University of Cambridge. The objects of the Society are the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student Members of the College, the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room and the "provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit".[1]
The society traces its foundation to 1960, when graduate student members submitted an application to College Council for official separation from the Junior Combination Room (JCR).[2] The eponymous name of the society refers to the physical rooms which are used by the society. The room itself is named after the noted Johnian author and poet Samuel Butler.
The modern society (which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010) now has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs; the newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students;[3] and graduate students have access to a graduate study room (the first of its kind in a Cambridge college).
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The membership of the Society comprises all junior members of the College who are graduate students (including affiliated students), and all members of the College of the status of M.A. who are required to pay the Student Union Approved Fee or the Continuation Fee (GU and CUSU fees).[4]
The Samuel Butler Room consists of the single major office of President. The governing body of the Society is a committee, the Samuel Butler Room Committee, which consists of a Senior Treasurer, the President, six ordinary members, and co-opted members. Each member of the committee must be a person in statu pupillari engaged in (and not intermitting from) a course of study in the University.
Two elections are held a year. The President and four ordinary members (two of which must be the Junior Treasurer and Secretary) of the Committee are elected in an annual election held in the second half of Lent Term. The remaining two ordinary members are elected in an annual election held in the first half of the Michaelmas Term.
The Cambridge PhD was only introduced in 1921, and the first Johnian to be awarded a PhD was Leslie John Comrie, a student from New Zealand, in May 1924. Among the earliest cohort of post-graduate Johnians was noted physicist Paul Dirac. Dirac was awarded his doctorate in Physics in June 1926 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics nine years later, in 1933; his portrait adorns the Hall today. The first woman associated with this college in any capacity was a post-graduate student at Sheffield University, who was elected to a Meres Studentship in 1971. In 1981, nine research students were the first women to be formally admitted as members of the college.
In October 1957, the post-graduates started demanding the exclusive use of a room “in which to drink coffee”. The JCR of the day believed these graduates to be pre-occupied with the sort of coffee which should be drunk.[5] By 1960, these pioneering post-graduate students formed a cohesive unit and were eager to have their own representation in College, separate from the JCR. The set in I1 First Court was declared a junior common room in 1957 and named in honour of the Johnian author and poet, Samuel Butler. This room was colonised by post-graduates from its beginning, and in 1960 they made an official application for approval of their de facto occupation of the space, separate from the JCR. This led to “border warfare between the two constituencies and resistance to the graduates' wish to use their territory for dinner parties and the entertainment of ladies”.[6] Eventually, the College council accepted this new state of affairs, with the first constitution of the Samuel Butler Room Society submitted in 1968[7] and accepted in June 1973.[8] Today, this constitution forms part of the standing orders of the College and the SBR is an integral part of the College community.
Fifty years after the events of 1960, the SBR remains true to its founding principles: “the representation of the interests of the Graduate Student members of the College and the internal management of the Samuel Butler Room, and the provision of such entertainment and amenities as are thought fit”. The SBR has representation at all levels of the college administrative structure; graduate students are overseen by a Tutor for Graduate Affairs; an SBR Committee is elected annually to serve the graduates’ needs. The newest College court, Corfield Court, is dedicated to the housing of graduate students.
The current president of the Samuel Butler Room committee is:
Past Presidents of the Samuel Butler Room committee have been:
Past Secretaries of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
Past Treasurers of the Samuel Butler Room committee include:
The Fellow Borderer of St John's College has been since 2002/03: