From the ongoing student mental health crisis to climate change protests and leadership changes: the Varsity News team are here to take you through the stories that defined the last twelve months at Cambridge.

January: Twitter spats and misogynistic speeches

Varsity’s year began with increasing tensions between two professors. It began as Priyamvada Gopal published a Twitter thread about an article by her colleague David Abulafia, writing that “few undergrads produce work this weak after the first week or so”, and accusing him of dismissing a writer of colour by describing Black historian David Olusoga as “eloquent”. Abulafia denied the charge of racism to Varsity, calling the tweets “insulting or potentially libellous.”

Later, Gopal claimed in a tweet that she was a victim of a “coordinated attack” from Varsity. Gopal claimed that she had been targeted by an “attack” from Varsity over her opposition to the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism following “editorial changes” at the paper.

 The Cambridge University Jewish Society (CUJS) condemned the tweets as “conspiratorial attacks on Jewish students”, in a statement which denounced the professor’s employment of “historic tropes about media control”.

In the meantime, Varsity’s reporters were hard at work on an investigation gathering evidence to prove that verified Tinder profiles claiming to be senior Cambridge academics were trying to initiate relationships with undergrads as young as 18. In other news at the start of the year: XR Cambridge protested by throwing oil at Senate House; Cambridge scrapped the Learning Together programme; and the University’s Conservative society got drunk and made homophobic and misogynistic speeches (and then denied it).

February: Pride flags, hot tubs and occupations

February began with a new episode in a long-running dispute when Gonville & Caius College voted to no longer fly the pride flag and only fly the “politically neutral” college flag, ending a six year tradition. The move was condemned by both the JCR and MCR presidents. However, in May the College U-turned on the decision and decided to fly the flag on the first day of June for Pride month. A student vote later in the year did not reach the necessary turnout and level of support which means that Caius will not fly any pride flags in 2023.

Later in the term, more light-hearted news made headlines in Varsity. An exclusive investigation found that a student had kept a hot tub in his room for a year without his College finding out. Varsity uncovered that the student hosted “fairly nice” boozy evenings which would not be disturbed by lockdown-enforcing porters. However, one student did note that the practice meant you could be sitting in water “full of everyone’s bodily fluids” for hours.

The month ended with a dramatic lecture block occupation on Sidgwick site by Cambridge Defend Education (CDE). The students barricaded themselves inside the lecture block and made demands in support of the UCU strikes. Some lectures were put online as a result and the occupation ended after the University threatened legal action. The occupiers’ demands were not met.

March: Cambridge shows solidarity

The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated global headlines last year and Cambridge was no different – especially during the first full month of the invasion in March. Hundreds gathered at Senate House for a vigil in solidarity with those affected by the invasion. Students and university members stood draped in Ukrainian flags, while others wore blue and yellow clothing and ribbons. Later in the year Varsity covered the story of Danny Mykhaylyuk, a second-year student at St Catherine’s College, who spent his Lent term sending £6,000 worth of equipment to Ukraine.

In the wake of the invasion, the Cambridge Union received backlash over an “urgent” debate titled “This House would send troops to Ukraine” which was roundly criticised online and described as “tone-deaf and disgusting” as many condemned “conceited students who imagine dabbling in foreign policy one day”. Union President James Vitali apologised and expressed his “deepest sympathies to Ukrainian students”.

The SU elections also took place in March, as Zaynab Ahmed was elected as SU president. The vote only had a turnout of 12%, even lower than the 2021 figure of 18%. Only 16% of students voted in the SU’s reading week referendum, where 64% of voters supported the introduction of a reading week. The result is not binding for the University and only means that the SU will continue to lobby for a reading week.

April: Books returned to library, twenty years overdue

April began with some good news for Cambridge, as Charles Darwin’s diaries, which had been missing for twenty years, were found. The notebooks, one of which contains Darwin’s famous ‘Tree of Life’ sketch, were anonymously returned to the University Library after an appeal attempted to track them down.

Later in the month, an historic decision was made when the University agreed to recognise the University and College Union (UCU) after years of being the only British university to not do so formally. Fresh strikes organised by the UCU took place in the summer and more recently in November.

As Easter term began, outgoing vice chancellor Stephen Toope found himself making headlines in Varsity. Toope was recorded “storming away” after being asked questions about Cambridge’s connections with the fossil fuel industry. Toope covered the camera when he noticed he was being filmed. Fossil fuel research was a theme in much of the news concerning Cambridge students this year, as the University came close to a vote on ending fossil fuel investment before the vote was blocked by the University Council.

May: Meat and drink

May began with the traditional annual “C-Sunday” boozy event, where hundreds of students descended onto Jesus Green for a “final fling” before exams. The first post-Covid celebration was marked with heavy drinking for many, although the litter left on Jesus Green the following day was condemned by students and local residents.

It was not only intoxicated students who faced condemnation in May. Fellows at Emmanuel College faced criticism for eating steaks at a vegan themed formal. One student said it was “one rule for them and another for us” as the carnivorous dons faced disapproval from Emma’s student body.

Cambridge SU were also widely criticised during the first weeks of exam term. The SU voted to give sabbatical officers a £450 bonus and pay rise, in a vote that was described by one council member as “rushed”. The SU was also criticised for its proposal to campaign for a ban on private lawyers in student disciplinary hearings. The proposal was later dropped in October following the backlash.

June: Slavery report debated and Facebook shenanigans

As Cambridge’s students pushed through exams with the promise of the excesses of May Week on the horizon, Caius College faced disapproval once again.  A researcher investigating Caius’ links with the slave trade quit after facing pressure from fellows who objected to the findings of the report. The environment at the college was denounced as the product of the “cliquey behaviour of life fellows in cahoots”, who themselves argued that the report was “infused with the ideas of Critical Race Theory”.

In lighter news, as students began to return home for the long summer holiday after the trials of examinations, many were disheartened to see Camfess, the Cambridge anonymous confessions page, deleted from Facebook. Following the temporary disruption, Camfess soon returned to its regular service of anonymous debate, praise and criticism when a new Facebook page was set up.

July: BP Institute under fire

After a series of direct actions against Cambridge and its ‘BP Institute’ by climate groups including ‘This Is Not A Drill’, reports emerged that the university planned to become the first to remove an oil company’s name from its buildings.

In the meantime, as students enjoyed their well-earned summer holidays, Varsity reported on vice chancellor Stephen Toope’s views on the “culture-wars” at Cambridge. In his lecture, Toope explained that he chose to listen to a speech by controversial politician Enoch Powell whilst at university, whose views he “despised”, instead of going to the pub.

August: Sewage in the Cam

In August, as stories of raw sewage in UK waterways shook the nation, evidence suggested that Cambridge was no exception. As Anglian Water ranked bottom of water company performance in monitoring sewage, up to 40% of river flow in Cambridge local beauty spots was shown to be sewage effluent.

Mid-August brought revelations from a leaked report, suggesting University mental health provisions were ineffective. Amongst other shortfalls, the report ​​found “pressing” gaps in strategy around suicide prevention, which carried “significant risk to the university, including of increased incidence of student suicide and near misses”. The draft of the report pre-dated several suspected suicides the previous academic year.

Later in the month, Cambridge looked set to become the first leading university to vote on a proposal to stop accepting funding from coal, oil and gas companies. Following information that Cambridge was the second highest university recipient of grant funds from fossil fuel companies, the vote was submitted by the Grace system. Later in the year, the University Council would intervene to delay the vote.

September: A Queen out, a King in

At the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, vice-chancellor Toope, colleges, and university societies made tributes to the late patron of Queens’ College and longest reigning British monarch. A former Varsity contributor and alumnus of Trinity College then acceded to the throne as King Charles III. Meanwhile, Cambridge had a transition of its own, with American academic Deborah Prentice nominated to replace Stephen Toope as vice-chancellor.

Later in the month, a report by by Cambridge’s Advisory Group on Legacies of Enslavement found a “significant part” of Cambridge’s collegiate endowment to be “ultimately derived from the slave trade”. Beyond this, university financial and cultural involvement was shown to have facilitated the trade. Recommendations set out plans to address the University’s legacy, including measures aimed at combating institutional exclusion of black British communities.

October: Protests and new leaders

In October, as the wider nation faced leadership upheaval as Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership ended, Cambridge also welcomed a new leader as Anthony Freeling officially took up the post of acting vice chancellor, replacing Stephen Toope.

Despite the lack of remaining coronavirus restrictions, October also saw the announcement that all Oxbridge interviews will remain online except for at Trinity College. In contrast, a number of departments stopped recording their lectures and making them available online, despite recommendations by the University’s own education committee to carry on the practice.

At the end of the month members of the Cambridge community united to protest an event involving 'gender critical' speaker Helen Joyce at Gonville & Caius. Though the College did not cancel the event due to its support for freedom of expression, Caius Master Pippa Rogerson sent an email to students calling Joyce’s views “offensive, insulting, and hateful to members of our community.”

November: Controversy at the Union

November began with the announcement that National Union of Students president Shaima Dallali had been removed from her role. Dallali had described Muslim Cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradi as “the moral compass for the Muslim community at large” despite his description of the Holocaust as “divine punishment” for Jewish people. Cambridge SU declined to comment on whether the NUS was right to sack Dallali, citing a “lack of transparency” about the investigation. The SU had also expressed concern that the claims of antisemitism were “being weaponised against students of colour and support for Palestinian rights.”

The Union also saw a string of controversies in November. The first began with backlash against comments made by Calvin Robinson in a debate on reparations. A later debate on the right to offend caused further unrest due to the presence of controversial academic Kathleen Stock. Some Union members were also disappointed when climate change denying, Trump-supporting activist Charlie Kirk unceremoniously pulled out of his scheduled appearance at the Union after disappointing results in the midterm elections.

The month ended with one of the most divisive Union elections in student memory. CUCA chair James Appiah III won the Easter term presidency after beating three other candidates from across the political spectrum. Appiah’s campaign attracted a number of electoral complaints which were ultimately dismissed and described as “outlandish in nature”.

December: Chaos at Magdalene

The month began with the resignation of the controversial Magdalene MCR president Antonio Rolo Duarte. Duarte had faced a vote of no confidence, following a number of misconduct allegations alongside a video in which Duarte proposed to solve “the biggest problem in College”, which he said is: “where is the pussy?”. The allegations shared with Varsity included claims Duarte had punched MCR vice president James Ball in the face.

Later in the month, Magdalene students also got a little too into the festive spirit as they threw a Christmas tree into the river Cam.

December also saw the approval of the return of 116 looted artefacts from the University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to Nigeria. This move followed both Jesus College and Oxford University returning their own collections.