Van Mildert College
University of Durham
Van Mildert College
Arms of Van Mildert College
Arms: Gules, two scythe blades in saltire, in chief the cross of St. Cuthbert argent.
                                               
LocationDurham City
Coordinates54°45′47″N 1°34′52″W / 54.7631°N 1.5810°W / 54.7631; -1.5810
MottoLatin: Sic vos non vobis
Motto in EnglishThus do ye, Not for yourselves
Established1965
Named forBishop William Van Mildert
PrincipalTom Mole
Vice principalCraig Hunn
Undergraduates972 (2012/13)[1]
Postgraduates89 (2012/13)[2]
Website
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Van Mildert College, Durham is located in Durham, England
Van Mildert College, Durham
Location in Durham, England

Van Mildert College (known colloquially as Mildert[3][4]) is a college of Durham University in England. Founded in 1965,[5] it takes its name from William Van Mildert, Prince-Bishop of Durham from 1826 to 1836 and a leading figure in the University's 1832 foundation. Originally an all-male college, it became co-educational in 1972 with the admission of female undergraduates.

The college occupies grounds of eight acres (32,000 m²) alongside South Road and is centred on a small lake. The college's accommodation and communal facilities are modern and spacious.

The principal of the college is Tom Mole, best-selling author and Professor of English Literature and Book History at Durham University.

History and buildings

A view of the main building and lake at Van Mildert College in 1971

Van Mildert College was established in 1965 following recommendations of the Robbins Report looking into the future of higher education in the UK. In 1963, the University of Newcastle was officially established as a separate entity from the University of Durham, meaning new colleges were required to meet the new university places that the Government wished to create. As a result, the university planned to establish three new colleges on Elvet Hill and these went on to be named Collingwood College, Trevelyan College and Van Mildert College.[6]

Women postgraduate students were first admitted in 1967, studying Certificates in Education. Female undergraduates were first admitted to the college in 1972.

The accommodation blocks are named Tyne, Tees, Middleton, Derwent, Wear, Tunstall and Deerness, the latter two of which are fully en suite. These are named after local rivers (River Tyne, River Tees, River Derwent, River Wear, River Deerness), a town (Tunstall) and an architect (Middleton).[7] They are all situated within the college grounds, and the university is in the process of refurbishing each of the buildings in turn. In total the College can provide around 525 single rooms for its members.

Dining Hall

The college's Dining Hall, the Ann Dobson Dining Hall (colloquially the "Annie D"), is the largest student dining hall in the UK. It measures 30.8m by 13.2m and can seat approximately 350 members at Formal dinners.[8] The dining hall is used for a variety of functions over the academic year and plays a central role in the lives of livers in (students who live on the college site) as it is where college meals and formals are held. The hall also acts as a venue for drama productions, and as a sports hall.[9]

A copy of a portrait of William Van Mildert, whom the college is named after, hangs at one end of Van Mildert dining hall, along with portraits of the former Principals and Masters of the College.

Library

The College library is well equipped with over 12,000 books & journals and, along with St John's College Archives, is the only other College library in Durham to be listed in The National Archives.[10]

Bar and Junior Common Room

Van Mildert sports a recently refurbished bar which is extensively used by both members of the college and students from other colleges. It is also generally used for holding JCR meetings during term time. In recent years, the college bar has won the 'University Bar' category of the Best Bar None[11] awards for Durham City for the 2008–09 and 2010–11 academic years. Most recently, Van Mildert Bar won the 'Gold' category for the Best Bar None Awards for the year 2016–17.

Van Mildert bar

The Bar is currently run by Sabbatical Bar Steward (Prime Guinnesster) Jack Lewis.

The Junior Common Room is used for many of the social events that are organised by the JCR, such as bops, entertainment after Formal dinners, band nights and amateur theatre productions. Both rooms have large plasma screen TVs which are used to show major sporting fixtures during the academic term.

Other facilities

The College has a host of other social facilities, including a music/recording suite with drums, a grand piano and recording equipment. The College also has a gym, computer room, shop, tennis court and a full-size snooker table.

Arms

The shield of Van Mildert College

The college arms are blazoned as "Gules two Scythe blades in saltire in chief the Cross of St Cuthbert Argent And for the Crest On a Wreath of the Colours in front of a Castle of three Towers Sable a silver penannular brooch proper the ends charged with Gilded Crosses of St Cuthbert". The scythes and the red field are taken from Bishop Van Mildert's episcopal arms; the cross of St Cuthbert is a common emblem of Durham City and University. The college generally uses only the shield of its arms for most purposes.

Student life

Common Rooms

All members of college are members of a common room – for example, Undergraduates are members of the Junior Common Room (JCR). The JCR elects an Executive Committee which ensures it is run successfully, in conjunction with the College Officers. The governance procedure of the JCR is stated in the constitution, which can only be amended by resolution of the JCR members during general meetings. Undergraduates constitute the majority of the student population of the college, with approximately 1200 JCR members as of the 2021-2022 academic year.[1] Up until 2018 the Junior Common Room of Van Mildert College had a 236-page constitution, making it significantly longer than the Constitutions of most sovereign states.[12]

Postgraduate students are members of the Middle Common Room (MCR), which hosts its own events and benefits from a refurbished Common Room and separate accommodation in Deerness block. All rooms in this block are en-suite and have access to kitchen facilities due to the fact that postgraduate students are often resident in college outside of normal term times. Postgraduate members of the college are entitled to make use of all the JCR facilities available. Academic and professional services staff of the University, alumni and friends of the college from the local community form the Senior Common Room (SCR).

Arts

The college has a number of groups involved in music, art, and the performing arts, collectively known as 'Van MildARTS'. The college hosts an annual arts week and annual musical, with recent productions being Cabaret, Our Country's Good, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Rent and Mama Mia![13] The college has a Big Band, Dance Society and Jam Society. This Society organises Jam by the Lake, the only open-air musical festival in County Durham and frequent winner of Purple Radio's 'Best Music Event' award.[14]

Sports

The college has a strong sporting profile with a number of successful teams across a range of both traditional and non-traditional sports, including eight male football teams; two male rugby teams; a Women's Rugby team, Van Maidan's (joint with St Aidan's College); Cheerleading (with the College team having won the Inter-Collegiate Competition for five consecutive years); Ultimate Frisbee; Darts (most notably the Women's Darts "D Team"); and many more. Awards for graduating sports players are given at the Annual Sports Formal. This event celebrates the work and success of the sports teams, but more so the JCR Members who captain the teams and make up their Executive Committees.

Boat Club

Van Mildert Boat Club is the college rowing club. It was founded in 1965 by Simon Scott, an Engineering undergraduate at Durham University and one of the founding members of Van Mildert College.[15][16] The boathouse of the club is on the River Wear, opposite Dunelm House and below Kingsgate Bridge.

The club competes against other college clubs in intercollegiate competitions organised by Durham College Rowing. It also takes part in regional events and national events (such as Head of the River Race, Women's Eights Head of the River Race and BUCS Regatta).

The college boat house burnt down after an arsonist attacked it on 21 December 2021.[17]

Outreach

High Table at the Mildert Day Formal Meal in 2008

One of the most notable aspects of Van Mildert's College is its passion for Community Outreach. Over recent years, six projects have been set up to provide support to a range of groups in the community. This includes visiting local young offenders (Secure Centre Mentoring Scheme), engaging with young children and teenagers (Primary School Project and Young Peoples' Project), visiting and building relationships with the local elderly community (Community Visiting Scheme); or working as respite carers for the families of young disabled children (Carers Respite Committee). The latest outreach project, Environmental Conservation Committee helps to raise the profile of sustainability by visiting rehabilitation centres, schools and recreational areas. These projects cumulatively raise over £15,000 each year to function. This is through a range of methods, but mainly through hosting large-scale College events such as Mildert Would I Lie To You? and Van Mildert Take Me Out.

Academic dress

At Van Mildert the undergraduate academic gown is not required to be worn to formal events or Matriculation; instead, formal dress is used. In addition, students wear black tie attire at the end of term balls.

Formals

Formals take place regularly during the academic term, with the college holding between three and five per term. Students are not required to wear academic dress to formal dinners; instead, formal dress is worn except when it is a Ball and dinner jackets are worn. At the end of the dining hall a High Table composed of members of the SCR and their guests are present at every formal. The principal's entrance and exit, announced to attendees by the ringing of the election bell by the JCR President, signifies the official opening and closing of the formal meal. Food at a formal meal usually consists of three courses and is often followed by evening entertainment.

Van Mildert Dimensions

The college has a student enrichment programme, known as the Dimensions Programme, which includes provision of a broad-ranging series of lectures, seminars and debates, along with skills-based activities such as networking sessions, employability initiatives and well-established work with the local community.

The programme is based on three themes: engage and inspire wellbeing and community, and find your future. Events in the 2021-2022 academic year included "Doing justice" with Lord Anthony Hughes and Sarah Bousfield; "Boris Johnson: has the magic gone and can Labour win?" with George Parker; "A Choral Conversation" with David Wakeham; and "Are We All Doomed? The unravelling of the international order" with Rt Hon Lord Robertson.

The Kazu

A Kazu being performed by Kazu

The Kazu is a traditional ceremony performed by the winning candidate after elections to the JCR Executive Committee, following the announcement of results by the JCR Chair. In more recent years, it has only been the elected President that performs a Kazu. A Kazu is a celebratory action which requires the winning candidate of every election to kick a full can of Coca-Cola down the stairs in the foyer, throw it over their head three times and then opening the can over their head. The JCR Standing Orders and website note that it "may be done wearing clothes" and that "Wikipedia knows more about Kazus than anyone in College".[18]

The tradition was started by a Japanese exchange student called Kazuhisa who regularly performed the Kazu in the JCR foyer. The first official Kazu was performed by James Mackenzie in March 1997, upon being elected JCR President.[19]

Associated institutions

Following the tradition of Oxbridge Colleges being twinned with each other, as of 2012 Van Mildert College has been twinned with Halifax College, University of York.[20]

People associated with Van Mildert

Principal

Professor Tom Mole is the current Principal of the College. [21]

The following list is of the past Masters & Principals of the College:

Fellows

The college has two fellowships for visiting scholars; the Arthur Prowse Fellowship, named after the College's first Master, and the Arnold Bradshaw Fellowship. The fellowships are typically awarded for one academic term in conjunction with the Institute of Advanced Study with the fellow residing in the College and becoming a member of the SCR. Recent fellows have included Adi Ophir and Mikhail Epstein.

Notable alumni

Van Mildert alumni are active through organisations and events, such as the Van Mildert Association, which cater for the more than 7,500 living alumni.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 "Table 4.1 Accommodation, Undergraduates by College" (PDF). Durham University. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Table 4.1 Accommodation, Postgraduates by College" (PDF). Durham University. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Home Page". www.mildert.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "What does Mildert mean?". Durham University - Student Blogs. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. ↑ "Van Mildert College : Building the College - Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  6. ↑ Martin, Susan (2006). Trevs: A Celebration of 40 years of Trevelyan College Durham. Roundtuit Publishing.
  7. ↑ "Van Mildert College : Building the College - Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Van Mildert College : Meeting Rooms". Durham University. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival Durham 2010". Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  10. ↑ "Durham University: Van Mildert College". The National Archives. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  11. ↑ "Best Bar None". Durham University. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "JCR Standing Orders" (PDF). Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  13. ↑ "Lascivious 'Lysistrata'". Durham21.co.uk. 23 June 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  14. ↑ Archived 12 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "CUWBC Blondie 2011 Squad List". Cuwbc.org. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  16. ↑ "VMA Obituaries". Durham University. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  17. ↑ Mohamed, Waseem (5 January 2022). "Van Mildert boathouse fire was deliberate". Palatinate. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "FAQ". Mildert.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  19. ↑ Cowen, Rob (17 November 2019). "The Kazu: A Brief History". Van Mildert College Alumni Newsletter. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Archived 16 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  21. 1 2 "New Master of Van Mildert College Announced". Van Mildert College, Durham University. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  22. ↑ "The Durham Difference" (PDF). Durham University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  23. ↑ ‘ALAGIAH, George Maxwell’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  24. ↑ 'BAIN, Ven. (John) Stuart', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  25. ↑ 'BARROW, Prof. John David', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  26. ↑ "Jonathan David Edwards : Doctor of Civil Law" (PDF). Durham University. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  27. ↑ 'HUGHES, Rt Hon. Sir Anthony (Philip Gilson)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  28. ↑ 'KELLY, Prof. Francis Patrick, (Frank)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  29. ↑ 'MAITLAND, Viscount', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 5 April 2013
  30. ↑ "The Mildertian - 2014". Van Mildert College. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  31. ↑ "Van Mildert College : Obituaries". Durham University. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  32. ↑ "Bishop of Newcastle". Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  • Bradshaw, A. (1990) Van Mildert College: The First 25 Years, A Sketch.
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