Campus Folklore
Friday, 7th November 2008
By now, any freshers reading this should have just about got to grips with everything you need to know about campus. But how about the stuff you never need to find out? You could spend three years here and never find out these bits of information.
- Firstly, have you wondered yet about why your lectures and seminars start at quarter past the hour, rather than on the hour? Surely that would be more logical. Unfortunately it’s not because lecturers got sick of people walking in late so just put the lectures back. When the university started, classes were split between the site in King’s Manor and the campus you know and love. King’s Manor is where the Archaeology students go if you’re unfamiliar with it.
In days gone by lectures started at 45 minutes past the hour there, but 15 minutes past on campus. All this was down to the bus service between town and campus.
- Another thing you might have thought about is what actually resides in that lake of ours.
I can tell you that:
- eels
- rainbow trout
- carp
- tench
- chub
- roach
- rudd
have all been found in there. So, when people say to consult a doctor if you swim in the lake, they might actually have a point.
- Back in 1974, RAG organised a mock battle of Trafalgar. All the soot, oil and paint bombs they used contaminated the lake leading to the death of many of the campus fish. I expect this wasn’t the most successful of RAG’s activities, as the lake had to be dredged, all this being paid for by RAG.
- It is believed that soon after the University opened, Oxford suggested they could help to train the new academic staff at York. York was very enthusiastic to take up this offer, and naturally said they would train just as many members of staff from Oxford University. This caused Oxford to reconsider the plan before dropping the offer. Perhaps Oxford University didn’t respect the academic quality of York lecturers quite as much as the other way round.
- Electing a pirate as president of the Student Union isn’t the first interesting thing to happen to the SU. In the nineties, the Student Union centre was officially renamed "Daa Suu" in support of the Burmese pro-democracy activist.
- Underneath PX/001 (the big lecture hall where the Student Cinema is held) there used to be big stepping stones, to allow access when the lake flooded. This area was flattened in order to improve access for disabled students.
- And finally, York has previously held the world record for the most people to stand on a postbox.
So there you have it folks, a long list of York information to impress your friends with down the pub.
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