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4 Feb, 2020 17:29

175-year-old dinner club at Oxford taken down by outrage over 'elitism' and lack of diversity

175-year-old dinner club at Oxford taken down by outrage over 'elitism' and lack of diversity

An invitation-only dining club at Oxford's Christ Church College, where 13 prime ministers had been educated, has been refused recognition as an official society, after students rose up against it — because of 'elitism.'

College archives state that the secret Pythic Club (or P Club) dates back to 1845 and that membership is meant to be open to only students and undergraduates. Exposed online last year as being led by a professor, the P Club requested for official ratification — but the application was denied with the college's junior common room (JCR) committee slamming the idea as an intrinsically elitst institution which undermines the college's "access, inreach and equality objectives."

"We are absolutely delighted that the P Club has been banned from meeting on college premises, and that the ties between college and club have been decisively severed," they said, according to Daily Mail.

But considering how elitist universities like Oxford already are, a ban on a historic club with a dinner tradition smacks of petty PC leftist victimhood. Such clubs, while exclusive by definition, are essentially harmless, and often wrapped in rich history.

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These days, though, Christ Church college actively monitors any meet-up groups: "Since 2017, Christ Church has required all clubs and societies using the College's name or facilities to be formally registered and approved by the Censors," it said.

That's in Oxford, the home of the 200-year-old all male Bullingdon Club, where ex-PM David Cameron supposedly stuck his manhood in a pig's head.

With exorbitant tuition fees of up to £36,065 a year for foreign students, as a home of the super elite, it's perhaps ironic to have such dismay towards an upper class establishment that frowns upon such self-important secret dinners.

Figures from UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) state that the University of Cambridge and Oxford University are among the institutions accepting the smallest number of white students from poor and working class neighbourhoods.

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When it comes to "access, inreach and equality," posh boys' dinners are the least of Oxford's problems.

But with one student claiming she "felt self-conscious and inferior" in the company of two P Club members, and others questioning tutors' involvement with the historic club and the £90-a-head fee for its dinners, the society has now been utterly ostracized. Even worse, should the club go back to the underground, JCR says that would confirm the unflattering "views about its fundamental objectives, nature and bad faith."

Another victim in the superficial struggle for 'equality' in modern-day Britain, among those already more equal than others.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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