Tony Ward on the collegiate system

What really makes a college a college? Is the essence of a college its bar and dining room? Like Jane I agree that the notion of a communal dining room is somewhat dated, especially given the very good and well-equipped kitchens in the new college blocks. But the question of a college bar is different.

Each college is a unique community of people placed together in a social mix with, in part, the objective of encouraging students to meet and make new friends and to learn to live in a community. At the living level, each college community is divided into parts, be they blocks, flats within blocks or kitchens. In kitchens, strong communities usually develop; at the block level less strong. At the college level the community develops much more as a function of the college facilities and the activities of the JCR Committee. The bar is an integral part of the college facilities along with the Junior Common Room facility and serves as a social meeting point. Events in the college bar serve as the signal to members of the community to congregate and meet.

A well organised events programme in the college bar is, I suggest, an integral part of college life.
Alcuin Provost Tony Ward

Organised events draw in significant numbers, smaller casual openings very many less. So a well organised events programme in the college bar is, I suggest, an integral part of college life.

The next question is whether the organised events programme requires a bar or just an events space. Students are still drinking and this is evidenced by the often sizeable exodus to York’s bars and night clubs – to more organised events, in fact, that we are not rising to the challenge of matching. So the college should have a bar and should be offering events that meet the needs of its community as far as it can.

One part is loss making, it gets closed, the overheads are transferred to the others and ... another activity suddenly also becomes loss making – the whole business falls like a deck of cards
Alcuin Provost Tony Ward

But perhaps the real nub of the problem is the question of money – the financial viability of the bar. I have to agree with the point Jane Grenville made in her Nouse article – that the Residences and Catering Account needs to be a profit-making activity within the university. But where does it say, and where is the logic in saying, that every part of it must also make a profit? Just how far do you break the account down to assess profitability? Do we look at each college, each facility (for example B. Henry's as a café at lunchtimes and a bar in the evening – one activity or two?) or to each open evening for each facility? This is perhaps a tricky question because it opens up the age-old and unresolved matter of overhead allocation. It is easy to construct a scenario of a profitable business with multiple parts that overall makes a profit. A more detailed look shows one part is loss making, it gets closed, the overheads are transferred to the others and, even with some cuts, another activity suddenly also becomes loss making – the whole business falls like a deck of cards and a profitable overall business closes. It is very true to say that the overheads that must be recovered can be recovered more easily the more activity you can spread it over – so perhaps the solution is to look to open up more not close more, and really work collaboratively to make the overall budget work.

We need regular input on need, creativity to make good use of what we have and flexibility to produce an events programme that brings an overall win-win outcome.

To read the previous blogs in this series, by Erik O'Connor and Jane Grenville, click here and here respectively.

The Facebook event for the debate can be found here.

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