Castle changes JCR President to Senior Student

Castle college has bowed to pressure and voted to change the name of its JCR President to Senior Student.

It previously made national headlines for voting against the change and wanting to keep the title Senior Man.

The college was branded sexist and undergraduates voted two to one in favour of keeping the title.

JCR President for Castle Will Throp – who now calls himself Senior Student – called the decision a “positive step”.

In a welcome to freshers he said: “It’s my profound pleasure to welcome you here to University College, known affectionately by all its students as Castle. My name is Will and I’m the Senior Student for the coming year. And what a year it promises to be!”

You can now call yourself Senior Man, Woman or Student.

Following a vote at the end of last academic year, incoming leaders of the college’s JCR will be able to decide their title, meaning that they could be called Senior Man or Senior Student, regardless of gender or the majority opinion of the JCR body for that year.

This change in ruling came after last year’s tireless debate among Castle students. An original vote saw a majority win for the 60 per cent of students in favour of maintaining the compulsory title of Senior Man. In response to this decision, fourth year student Flic Burgess said the title was “exclusionary” and risked alienating “potential non-male candidates”.

JCR traditionalist thought appears to have had a rapid and unexpected move towards gender neutral ideas, as Current Head of the JCR, Will Throp, has taken the decision to call himself Senior Student.

University College first admitted women in 1987

He told The Tab: “The last few months have proven to be a highly fruitful and intensive period of discussion for our community on the subject of gendered titles”.

Following the decision of the JCR to allow the choice of title, Will said: “This is a positive step I feel, as it demonstrates a willingness on the JCR’s part to engage with the jury’s recommendation.

“This is something that I will be emphasising to the JCR in the coming term, and I look forward to speaking to students then.”