Labour MP urges Cambridge college to drop plans targeting private school admissions

The MP for Wrexham has issued a letter to Trinity Hall asking it to reverse its decision to target a select group of private schools in its student recruitment.

Andrew Ranger, a Labour MP, said he was “dismayed” by the policy memo, which would encourage students at around 50 independent schools to apply to undersubscribed courses such as languages, music and classics.

In the memo outlining the policy, Marcus Tomalin, the college’s director of admissions, claimed “reverse discrimination” is a concern and “the best students from such [private] schools arrive at Cambridge with expertise and interests that align well with the intellectual demands”.

However, in a letter addressed to Trinity Hall on Monday 12th January and published online, Andrew pointed out: “In Cambridge’s history, students from, privately educated backgrounds have been overwhelmingly overrepresented of the student population, despite constituting only seven per cent of the population”.

Referring to the memo’s argument that the college must not “ignore or marginalise this pool of applicants”, Andrew said the “irony is not lost that this is precisely the exclusion that many state-educated applicants have experienced at the hands of the university for generations”.

“One of my greatest concerns is how this language will affect current students at the university and prospective students in their decision to apply. The idea that widening participation efforts have diluted the quality of students at Cambridge is a common myth that many students from underprivileged backgrounds encounter and are weaponised against them. I am saddened to hear these narratives being further legitimised”, he continued.

via Wikimedia Commons

Andrew concluded his letter with an urgent request that Trinity Hall “look at the immediate reversal of this decision” and to redirect efforts towards supporting low-income applicants.

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The letter also cited findings from a large-scale survey of state school pupils conducted by the 93 per cent Club, the UK’s largest community of state-educated individuals. The results showed that 94 per cent of respondents felt that “university caters to the wealthy”, while 87 per cent believed there is a “divide between state educated and privately educated students on campus”.

Reacting to Trinity Hall’s policy memo, Sophie Pender, founder of the 93 per cent Club, posted on Instagram saying the college “should be ashamed,” and “this is so depressing, I have no words”.

Trinity Hall’s JCR also criticised the decision, arguing “targeting private schools with the aim of improving ‘quality’ is both reprehensible and fundamentally flawed logic”, before revealing it is “in active conversation with senior college staff regarding their recent rhetoric”.

In response to Andrew Ranger’s letter, a Trinity Hall spokesperson told The Cambridge Tab it has “re-iterated [its] admissions policy and commitment to widening participation have not changed” and “detailed that the proposed actions that have been approved were to support applications in a small number of subjects where fewer schools are offering key qualifications.

They said: “This will mean adding independent schools to an email list of a thousand state schools. It would also include adding more state schools where these qualifications are offered”.

“We acknowledged that the upsetting language used in a leaked internal memo had caused distress to many and we very much regretted that”, they continued.

Trinity Hall has an average of 73 per cent state school intake over the last three years, which has increased by 12 per cent over the last decade.

The college has stressed “there has been no change in our widening participation policy, and we continue to work very hard to support and attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds”.

The University of Cambridge has been contacted for comment. 

Featured image via Instagram @andrewranger  and FLPA/Shutterstock