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Murray Edwards College
www.newhall.cam.ac.uk/students/jcr/
Murray Edwards, formerly New Hall, is a modern and outgoing female college situated on the hill. It was built in the 1950s and is home to 360 undergraduates who live and work amongst the second largest collection of women’s art in the world. The new name came with a generous £30 million donation, bringing new and exciting opportunities to the college and its students!
Nicola Jennings
Linguistics, 2nd Year
Reading
Being an all-female college allows Murray Edwards to offer amazing support to all its students; women are truly cared for here, we are encouraged to lead the way in the future and empowered to do so. Yet this is only one aspect of our identity. We are also politically active and innovative. In late 2006 we became the first institution in Western Europe to divest from Sudan and earlier this year, at a time when public opinion was generally suspicious of Iran, we hosted an exhibition celebrating the works of female Iranian film directors and photographers. Students take an active role in university and college politics, the college isn’t tied down by tradition so students are given a real say and can affect change. To live in Murray Edward is to be a member of a vibrant student community which is also one of the most diverse and culturally representative within the university.
On site facilities for students are purpose-built, comfortable and modern. They include an airy and well stocked 24-hour library, a computer room, a multi-gym as well as tennis and squash courts. There are also practice rooms for the musicians among us and a fantastic art house with dark room facilities for the artistically inclined. At college level there are lots of clubs and everyone can get involved in college art, music, theatre, journalism and sport.
Food is high on the agenda for all here; each week there seems to be an opportunity to find free food in college (typically cake - we’re women after all!). Students can eat in the “Dome”, which is a beautiful and striking piece of architecture and the meals served within it are both tasty and reasonably priced. Formal hall, a silver service meal which costs around £8.50, happens once or twice a week and is one of the best around! However, it is the fantastic brunch on a Saturday morning which is the culinary highlight of the week (and is a miraculous hangover cure)! We’re lucky too to have ovens in about half of the accommodation, with many newly refurbished kitchens and dining rooms allowing self-catering to be a real option. Oh, and we have a pastry chef!
Best thing? The amazing support we get.
The gardens, actually the gardeners (look them up on facebook!), deserve a mention also, they’re quirky and we love them. They cook meals for us in clay ovens outside, organize picnics, outdoor film festivals, encourage us to pick flowers for our rooms and to take fruit, vegetables and herbs from the gardens. Summer months in Murray Edwards are beautiful in the gardens, working outside on the lawns when the college is in full bloom makes revision that little bit easier.
Socially, girls here are seen as some of the most outgoing and friendly in the university and there is a real sense of community among students. Friendships span the year groups and you will come to recognise almost everyone. Jake, our cat, lives in the laundry (he has a tendency to sleep on piles of clean, freshly ironed clothes) and is usually keen to be cuddled. Our TV room, newly refurbished with leather sofas, is one of the cosiest places in college where the girls go to watch films and chat at the end of the day. Also, the two-floor bar is equipped with a large plasma TV, sofas, a pool table and dartboard for students to enjoy!
Worst thing? The misconceptions of some other students!
Ents at Murray Edwards are fun, well organised and popular with students from all colleges. There is one large ent every term and several smaller music nights in our bar. In particular, our huge annual Garden Party is one of May Week’s must-attend events which receives praise every year for its success!
Murray Edwards is a friendly, relaxed college. We have no “type” of student and there is a niche for everyone. If you want to be challenged and excited by the people around you in an unusual Cambridge college, this is the place for you.