Magdalen College JCR voted to rename itself Gryffindor in a JCR meeting last Sunday. It will be referred to as such in “all official documents”. JCR President Laurence Mills has also been mandated to contact the JCR Presidents of Christ Church, St. Hugh’s and Merton informing that they should rename their common rooms Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively.
The move has created a great deal of interest outside Oxford, and has even made international new. On Wednesday, Mills had an interview with Danish radio station P3 Forside. It has also featured in The Daily Telegraph and on the BBC News website.
The motion, which was passed in the JCR’s General Meeting with only six votes in opposition, was proposed by a Magdalen t
hird-year. It noted that, “Magdalen College embodies the values of courage, daring, nerve and chivalry”, the characteristics of the Gryffindor house in Harry Potter novels.
The proposer said, “We found the resemblance between Hufflepuff and St Hugh’s to be particularly strong – they are, as the motion reads, ‘particularly good finders’. The amount of ‘pure wizarding blood’ at Christ Church is overwhelming, and our only conclusion was that they should be called Slytherin.”
The responses from the other colleges named in the motion have shown that the spirit of Hogwarts extends beyond Magdalen.
Christ Church has embraced the concept of being Slytherin; Evelyn Ashton-Griffiths, the JCR President, commented that, “Christ Church doesn’t deign to acknowledge the fancies of those mere Mudbloods. Forming much of the inspiration and some of the actual film set for Hogwarts, we are satisfied that others have finally recognised our superiority.”
There was also some suggestion that a motion accepting the name change of their JCR would be put forward at the JCR General Meeting on Sunday, but so far this remains unconfirmed.
St Hugh’s and Merton have also welcomed their new names, and the proposal has created a great deal of discussion in the colleges.
Third year St Hugh’s medic, Michael Allum, said “Though I’m not sure of the specific allocation of the house, we’re sure no muggles.”
St Hugh’s JCR President further commented that. “Some have suggested that an emergency meeting be called to ratify such a name change while others feel that such a move might for some reason undermine our credibility with college.”
However, the selection of Merton as Ravenclaw has caused some controversy, especially as they did not top the Norrington Table last year.
St. John’s JCR President Jason Keen expressed his outrage at Merton being chosen over St. John’s, stating, “Ravenclaw is famous for being the cleverest house, so to recognise Merton just flies in the face of fact. We’d also argue that members of Ravenclaw are marginally more fun than the students who attend the college placed 2nd on the Norrington Table, which makes us a much better candidate for renaming.”
He added, “I will be sending a Howler to Gryffindor about this immediately. If they do want to call themselves the bravest, then they should admit they’ve made a mistake.”
Matthew Shribman, the third year who originally raised the idea of Magdalen becoming Gryffindor during his JCR presidential bid last week, commented, “It’s not a question of whether we should rename to Gryffindor, it’s whether we should accept that we are
Gryffindor.”
During the debate on the motion, several amendments were suggested. One would have mandated the JCR President to write to the college President, Professor David Clary, asking if he would change his name to Albus Dumbledore.
Only one speech was made in opposition, and this was to suggest that the motion be changed to mandate the purchase of a sorting hat.
However, the opposition was withdrawn when a friendly amendment was added to the motion, stating that a sorting hat should be purchased. Matt Bilton, who proposed the amendment commented, “I think most of the JCR present agreed that a sorting hat was definitely necessary.”
Suggestions that this could become part of the admissions process across the University of Oxford were rejected on the grounds that it could be difficult to implement.
JCR President Lawrence Mills has been seeking to calm the hype over the name-change. “This motion was a bit of light-hearted fun. We definitely aren’t changing our name.”
However, Tom Meakin, President-Elect, has not spoken out against the motion, and commented, “Magdalen does after all look a little bit like Hogwarts, and not to put any noses out of joint, but my Vice-President does look a little bit like Hagrid.”
