Guidelines
Information for members
The College Senior Common Room (SCR) exists in order to provide a friendly social environment for the academic members of the College community.
The activities of the SCR centre around dining together. There is also a termly programme of social and academic events, and a Common Room with various facilities and which provides daily and weekly newspapers together with some journals.
Members of SCR also have access to the College libraries and computing facilities. The following notes are intended to provide further more detailed information for members. If any questions arise, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with the Steward, Prof Jenn Strawbridge.
Membership
All academic appointments to the College, together with a number of other appointments and College members, gain membership of the SCR. Other members may also be elected. New members (such as visiting colleagues working with you on a project) can be proposed to the Steward and will be considered at the meetings at the start of each term.
SCR governance
A termly meeting of the SCR takes place every term in 0th Week (usually on Wednesday at 17.45). The meeting is chaired by the SCR Steward, and the purpose of the meeting is to raise, discuss and determine issues relating to the smooth running of the SCR and to enjoy some commensality together.
Meals, guest nights and special events
As a full member of the SCR you will be entitled to have lunch and dinner whenever there is common table. The meal is free but there will be a charge for all wines and spirits consumed. Appendix One (below) sets out the more detailed College dining arrangements, including special events and guest nights. Those who are not full members may have a restricted number of free meals.
Senior Common Room
The Senior Common Room is in the Main Building. Tea and coffee is available from the kitchen adjoining the Old Hall (next to the SCR) at all times.
Please be considerate if meetings are in progress in the Old Hall.
Sherry and port is also available in the SCR. This should be signed for and is charged to battels. The book to sign out drinks is in the drawer of the desk in the SCR.
For security reasons, it is helpful if the SCR is kept locked after dinner periods. It is open during working hours. The Porter will unlock it for you if requested.
Periodicals
A selection of newspapers and periodicals are available to all SCR members. These should not be removed from the SCR. If you do need to ‘borrow’ a periodical urgently, please return it as soon as possible. Members can opt to have older copies of a designated periodical deposited in their pigeonholes, with agreement from the SCR.
Battels
As well as SCR charges for drinks and guests at meals, monthly battels from the College may include other items, such as wine purchases (from the College Wine Cellar).
Blackwell’s Discount
Blackwell’s operates a system whereby College members receive up to 15% discount on everything except rare books and Blackwell's gift cards. You just need to present your University Card when making a purchase and confirm your name on a Mansfield College list, held by Blackwell’s.
Wine Purchases
Wine may be purchased from the College cellar. The key to the cellar is available from the Porter’s Lodge and you will also need to use your electronic fob to gain entry. A cellar slip should be completed for all wine purchased. Advice on this can be sought from the Bar & Cellar Manager (Alvaro). Wine purchased will then be charged to battels.
Lodge
The Porter’s Lodge is open on a 24-hour basis. The Head Porter is Tom Spasic.
Your mail can be collected at any time from the Porter’s Lodge, where a pigeon hole will have been organised for you. Mail is not delivered to the College during the University’s Christmas and Easter closed periods.
Keys and Electronic Fob
If you report to the Porter’s Lodge on arrival you will be issued with three keys and an electronic fob; one is your room key (where a room has been allocated), one gives access to the Senior Common Room and the other opens the vehicle gate, pedestrian gate and stairways (this is especially helpful when the College is closed over the Christmas and Easter periods).
The electronic fob key gives access to the main building between 9pm and 7am. It also gives access to the library areas.
Closed periods
The College is not staffed during the Christmas closure period. Access to the College is still permitted during these periods using your keys and fob.
Appendix One:
SCR Meal Arrangements
Meal times and locations.
Lunch is served between 12:00pm and 1:30pm on Monday to Friday.
Dinner is served between 6pm and 7pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesday and Friday, dinner is Formal Hall and is served at 7:30pm. Outside of term time, please discuss preferred time with catering staff.
Breakfast is served between 7:45am and 8:45am and must be booked by the previous day.
On Sundays there is no lunch but dinner is served between 6pm and 7pm. This must be booked by 10am on Saturday.
Menus
These are displayed in the Lodge and the Chapel Dining Hall.
Booking arrangements
SCR members can book into formal hall events online using the intranet: https://internal.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/. Once logged in select ‘Formal Hall Bookings’ and follow the on screen directions. If you do not have access the internet then you can book in by phoning the catering department. Note that some internet browsers do not work well with the Internal Booking system – Google Chrome does tend to work best if you have difficulties.
In order for new SCR members without a current University card to access the intranet they first need to complete a registration form that they can obtain from the College Office. Once completed and returned the form is sent to the Card Office and a University card is issued. When the new card is returned to the College Office, it will create a record in the College Database and this will allow the SCR member to access the intranet. New SCR members who already hold a University card can inform the College Office of the card number in order to be given access to the intranet.
Term Times
Lunch: no requirement to book. SCR members must tick their name on the sheet provided in Hall, and also indicate if they have guests and who will pay for these meals. Note that College Guests are those with whom you are doing College related work. All other guests must be ticked as Personal Guests.
Breakfast and Dinner: bookings need to be made by the previous day. Bookings that are not on the online booking system (only Wednesday and Friday evenings are on the online system) may be made in the Porters Lodge or by telephone to the Porter’s Lodge. There are no maximum numbers on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday but a maximum of 30 applies on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Meals and tables are prepared only for those members who book.
Vacation Periods
Bookings for all meals is required during vacations and may be made on the lists in the Porters Lodge and the Chapel Hall or by telephone to the Porter’s Lodge. Bookings must be made before 10am for meals taken that day.
Meals and tables are prepared only for those members who book in.
When booking in for meals, members may insert:
- S for salad (lunch only), V for vegetarian and, at dinner, F for fruit.
- For dinners, signing ‘one glass’ indicates that you will only consume one glass of wine, ‘no wine’ indicates no wine, ‘shared wine’ indicates that you will consume more than one glass (e.g. white and red with top ups as appropriate).
Gowns
Gowns are worn at dinners in the Chapel Hall on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Guests
Lunch guests
Guests are welcome, but are generally restricted to a maximum of 2 guests per SCR member. For any large number the kitchen should be notified in advance. The number of guests should be indicated on the meal booking sheet. Guest lunches will be charged to battels unless ‘College Guest’ is indicated (see note above about College vs personal guests).
Dinner guests
Guests are welcome on all weekday evenings, with a maximum of 3 guests per SCR member. The signing sheets are kept in the Chapel Hall and Lodge and need to be completed as explained above.
Friday guest nights
The meal, excluding wine and drinks, is free for those with common table rights. Guests will be charged to battels at current rates, including the cost of wine and drinks. Snuff, when available, is free for all at dessert.
Full SCR members may have up to three guests per night. Visiting members and others with dining rights may dine two Fridays per term with up to three guests. On occasional exceptionally popular guest nights, SCR members may be required to keep to one or two guests only.
The 6th Week Guest Night is a black tie (full formal dress) dinner.
New SCR Member and Domus Dinners
Friday of 1st Week of Michaelmas is a New SCR Members Welcome Dinner. Friday of 1st week of Hilary, and 8th week in Trinity Term, is a Domus Dinner which is restricted to SCR members only and for which no charge is made.
SCR/MCR dinner
Once a term there is an SCR/MCR dinner for which no charge is made for the meal or wine. Tutors are able to invite their research students, and a College talk is hosted prior to the dinner. All are encouraged to attend with their students.
Christmas Dinner
There is an annual Christmas Dinner for SCR members and guests, usually the Friday, Ninth Week. There may also be other special dinners organised during the year.
Dinners in the vacation periods
When full board conferences are in residence then dinners will be available as normal for SCR members.
When no conference is in residence, hot dinners will be provided on three days per week provided that at least 4 members of SCR including any guests have signed up by 10am the previous day.
SCR members will be informed by email on a week by week basis of vacation evening dining arrangements, given that the timing and location of dinners may vary from time to time due to conference requirements. Details of vacation evening dining arrangements can be requested from the Kitchen Manager and Hall & SCR Manager.
Booking special dinners and functions.
Members should complete a SCR Functions Booking Form if they wish to organise a special dinner or function. This is available from the Domestic Bursar whose room is located next to the Bursar’s Office.
Updated: 3 October 2019
Jenn Strawbridge
SCR Steward