St Anne’s JCR has unanimously passed a motion to give singer Cher, the “Goddess of Pop”, the status of honorary member.
The proposed motion noted that, “there is currently a lack of honorary JCR members, and a lack of glamour in JCR meetings.”
Cher is the first person to be granted the distinction of honorary membership of St Anne’s. The college was one of the first establishments in Oxford to offer education to women and remained an all female college until 1979.
Andrew Hall, who proposed the motion, claimed that Cher has “pioneered autonomy for women in the entertainment since the 1960s”, thus making her the ideal candidate for membership of St Anne’s JCR. However he also admitted that the proposal was mostly humorous, adding, “Let’s face it, honorary motions are just a bit of fun to liven up standard JCR meetings.”
The motion was passed without opposition. As Oscar Boyd, former St Anne’s JCR president, who seconded the motion, put it, “Are there any Cher haters in the world?”
However he himself was apparently sceptical about the motion at first, but conceded that “After Andy [Hall – the proposer] performed his Cher routine I was convinced.”
Yet there were some amendments made to the motion. There is to be a life sized cardboard cut out of Cher on display in the JCR room but until this arrives then Hall himself is required to dress up as Cher for JCR meetings.
Cher has been an incredibly successful artist since the 60s selling over 100 million solo albums worldwide. She has also had success in her other ventures including winning an Oscar for her acting work in the film Moonstruck.
This year she has released another studio album. The versatility and longevity of her talent will hopefully be reflected in St. Anne’s. Hall said, “After the nuclear apocalypse all that will be left will be cockroaches and Cher – I want that kind of durability for St Anne’s.”
