Junior Common Room
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The term Junior Common Room (JCR) is used in many British universities to refer to the collective of students (similar to a students' union) at a constituent part of a university, typically a college or a Hall of Residence; the term is also used to refer to a physical room set aside for the students' use; colloquially it is often also used as 'shorthand' for the JCR Committee (e.g. "He sits on the JCR").
The Junior Common Room stands in contrast to the Middle Common Room, referring to postgraduates doing masters, PGCEs and PhDs, and the Senior Common Room, which refers to the collection of faculty, instructors, and advisors at the college.
The term is also used at some universities outside of the UK, primarily to refer to common rooms. Like many traditions borrowed from the United Kingdom, the term is also used in the undergraduate House system at Harvard University, to refer both to the set of undergraduates resident at or affiliated with the House and to a common recreation room set aside for the undergraduates' use.
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Form and function
The word "Junior" in JCR refers to the fact that under University statutes, students are deemed to be "junior members" of the university, in contrast to dons (fellow, professors, etc.) who are deemed "senior members".
Most Oxbridge JCRs confer honorary JCR membership on distinguished individuals who are not students at their college, though naming frivolous honorary members is also common. In a far rarer practice, some JCRs can vote to bestow collegiate accolades upon individuals who have rendered distinguished service to students or to the college.
In colleges admitting graduates as well as undergraduates, there are often separate associations that represent the unique interests of graduate students. These graduate associations are often called Middle Common Rooms (MCRs). At Oxford, this term is a misnomer: by the university's statute, graduate students are also junior members, and the term "middle member" is theoretically without meaning.
The function of JCRs varies from university to university, but they typically get involved in social and welfare aspects of the college or hall of residence. They may also have a representational element, either to the university/college and/or to the students' union of the university. They are also often a unit for inter-mural competition within the university, such as sports competitions or quizzes.
JCR Committees
Typically, students at a college will elect a governing body for their JCR, referred to simply as the "JCR Committee" (JCRC), "JCR Bench" or "JCR Exec" (short for "Executive Committee").
The roles included on a JCR Committee will depend on the function of the JCR, but some typical positions include:
- President or Chair,
- Vice President or Vice Chair,
- Secretary or General Secretary,
- Treasurer,
- Welfare Rep(s),
- Social Secretaries (aka Entertainments or Ents Reps),
- Sports Secretaries.
- Merchandise Rep(s)
- Sponsorship Rep(s)
- Web Officer
The JCR's office-holders may also sit on University-wide committees and have a say on issues affecting the whole student population, not just those from their college.
JCRs at different universities
Although all JCRs share common features, there is variation between their roles and structures at various institutions. Below are summaries of the feature of some of these.
There is also a List of Junior Common Rooms, which provides a list of JCRs at each institution.
Cambridge
In most cases, a JCR represents all students at a college, but in Cambridge colleges, it typically represents only undergraduates.
In the University of Cambridge, the acronym JCR has the same meaning, but can also stand for Junior Combination Room.
Durham
At Durham, honorary memberships are usually reserved for current members who are graduating but have been involved in college life.
Nottingham
At Nottingham, the majority of the Halls of Residence predominantly house undergraduates, with a small number of postgraduates living in hall as part of the pastoral and disciplinary system; in this instance, the JCR refers to the undergraduate members of the hall, and the postgraduates, along with a Warden, comprise the SCR (Senior Common Room). The Hall Warden is an academic member of staff who usually lives either in a special residence within the hall, or in a nearby house.
JCR activities include organising social events and sports teams that compete in the Athletic Union's Inter-mural sports competitions. Since most students move out of halls after their first year, it is common for students to retain a sense of affiliation to their hall while living 'off-campus'. Many JCRs include former residents of the hall in their sports teams.
Prior to approximately 2000, most members of JCR Committees would live in the Hall. In recent years this has been somewhat eroded. The extent of this has varied from hall to hall, but is now very common for committee members such as Sports Secretaries to live off campus; there have even been JCR Presidents who have not lived in Hall during their year of office.
Most of the JCRs at Nottingham are not part of the Students' Union; however, Cavendish Hall, Nightingale Hall, Ralgih Park and St Peter's Court JCRs are. Cavendish successfully applied for this change of status in the academic year 2002-2003. St Peter's Court is a recently established residence that the Students' Union was involved in establishing the community of from the outset.
Melton Hall houses only postgraduates, and the student organisation there is called an MCR (Middle Common Room).
Oxford
Oxford JCRs, unlike most of their Cambridge counterparts, usually comprise all student members of a college, including its postgraduate students. All but the very smallest colleges, though, also have Middle Common Rooms (MCRs) where postgraduates are represented separately.
The JCR presidents of all Oxford colleges are automatically members of Oxford University Student Union's governing Council, which meets fortnightly during term to decide on virtually all aspects of OUSU's policy. OUSU Council meetings take place in odd-numbered weeks of the University term but JCR Presidents also get together in even-numbered weeks for meetings of Presidents' Committee (popularly known as Prescom).
Reading
Reading JCRs are setup in a very similar was to their Oxford counterparts, as the University was founded as University College Reading, as part of Christchurch College. The JCRs at Reading are some of the oldest outside Oxbridge with some such as Wantage JCR founded in 1908 and Wessex JCR later in 1915. Today there are thirteen JCRs operating independently of each other, although they do work with the Students' Union. JCRs represent all Students in a particular Hall as well as having a large number of attached members living in houses.
The University of Reading, is seen by many, as anti-JCRs and has been trying for the last few years to 'reel' them in. This policy though, true or not, is not legal under UK charity law that governs JCRs and Students' Unions.
York
Unlike most other British universities, where a central students' union provides social activities and welfare for University students, such activities at the University of York are organised by a JCRC, making the JCR more important than the Student Union for such systems. Regardless, the Students Union still exists, and co-ordinates activities between the different colleges.
Yearly elections to each JCRC are held in November with people coming forward to stand for the various positions. Following a hustings night the other student members of each college then vote for who they want in each position. The successful candidates are then elected for a whole year. At York, the JCRCs are mainly involved in organising any major social events a college has, such as Christmas Balls, or events like Club D in Derwent College. They also offer welfare help to students in the form of welfare reps who can offer advice or give contact details of other groups to students through informal drop-in sessions.
See also
- List of Junior Common Rooms
- House system - a related concept for schools.